Need More Skilled Teachers For A Better New India: Educationalist

Educationalists urged the need for teachers to be trained for 3 to 6 months before being absorbed at the job. They further stressed on the need of having quality faculty, revised curriculum and in-class infrastructure.

“Faculty is the fulcrum of any academic institution and it is very important that first 3-6 months should be spent on the faculty whom we are hiring”, said Dr Manoj K Arora, Vice-Chancellor, BML Munjal University.

A panel discussion was held at the launch of Microsoft Artificial Intelligence Digital Labs in the national capital, today, where the panellists discussed the importance of digital learning and how to provide content easily at any time from different mediums.

Panellists also discussed the need for more skilled staff in the education sector who require a complete new type of skill set which is very different from what exists today.

One of the panellists expressed that the Universities in India lack resources to improve the education system and infrastructure and the need for a learning leader within the organisation.

With the evolution of AI and other emerging technologies, the creation of new jobs with a new set of skills is expected. To address the same, Microsoft has introduced a three-year program which will support the selected institutions with best in-class infrastructure, curriculum and content, access to cloud and AI services and developer support.

Training programs for faculty will be launched and will include workshops on cloud computing, data sciences, AI and IoT. The faculty of the institutions will receive assistance in strategizing content and curricula for project-based and experiential learning. 

“As AI becomes mainstream, organizations will require talent with skillsets that are very different from what exist now. Educators and institutions are integral to the skilling revolution taking root in the country. With the right technology infrastructure, curriculum and training, we can empower today’s students to build the India of tomorrow,” said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India.

The company will also facilitate setting up of core AI infrastructure and IoT Hub as well as provide access to a wide range of AI developmental tools and Azure AI Services such as Microsoft Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning and Bot Services.

The institutes covered under this program include BITS Pilani, BML Munjal University, ISB, Kalpataru Institute of Technologies, KL University, Periyar University, Karunya University, SRM University, SVKM (NMIMS) and Trident Academy of Technology.

(With inputs from Nishtha Dhingra)