ThinkingOutOftheBoxInEducation Aparna

Observer Research Foundation Mumbai

Ideas and Action for a Better India

What India can learn from Israel

Aparna Sivakumar

Educationists should build the capacities capacities of the spirit spiri t of inquiry, creativity, entrepreneurial and moral leadership among students and become their role model. “

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- Abdul Kalam

Picture Courtesy: http://urbantimes.co/2011/04/skype-school-neighbour/,

Charlie Hilton

Front Cover - Confident children, high class-participation – children raising their hands to answer a class quiz.

Photo courtesy: ORT Israel , http://en.ort.org.il/352/

Foreword

JONATHAN MILLER Consul General, Consulate General of the State of Israel, Mumbai

The foundations of a country’s future are only as strong as the investment made in its youth. Education has always played a central role in Jewish culture. This principle was embraced and incorporated in the establishment of the State of Israel where educators played a major role in formalising the new culture and society. We dealt with major challenges of children from different backgrounds and cultures, different socio-economic levels. It was understood already then, that in a country like Israel, the lack of natural resources must be supplemented by innovative and creative approaches to education of the young generations. Our school education system played an important role in shaping the generation that realised the dream of State of Israel. Israel earned global recognition for its agricultural development shortly after its independence, which was not less than a miracle but that was not enough. Continuous wars and terrorist campaigns waged against our country, in addition to immigration manifolds the size of its population, put severe pressure on its economy and the sustainability to continue as a state. After the oil crisis of 1973, inflation in Israel started creeping up. It reached 400% in 1985 causing near zero growth, high unemployment, depleting foreign reserves and a looming threat of outbound immigration. n o i t a c u d E n i x o B e h t f o t u O g n i k n i h T

That was the time when our government decided to take a leap from agriculture to hi-tech. It was an endeavour aimed at getting recognition for our scientists, innovators and highly skilled technicians. The government liberalised the economy and undertook several reforms. Reforming our education system and the government’s priorities was at the heart of those reforms and many of the leading

educational institutions and successful experiments mentioned in this report were initiated during this period. Due to the relatively small size and centralised education system in Israel, we have been able to continue adapting and altering the system throughout the years at a fairly rapid pace.

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In response to a rapidly changing world and in order to enable the education system to give the pupils the right tools and capabilities to deal with the challenges we are facing, we have realised that we must seek educational approaches that are “outside the box”. We strive today to create a generation of students that ask “why?” and query what they are tol d, a

system that enables students to be b e creative in all fields of life, to initiate and lead, to bring out the best in each pupil. Despite the differences in size there are similarities between India and Israel: thousands of years of oral and written traditions, cultures respecting scholarship, like the Sanskrit verse which says that comparison cannot be made between a King and a scholar. While a king is worshiped in his own country, a scholar is worshipped everywhere. Many of prominent freedom fighters and social reformers in India were also educationists. The challenges faced by both the countries are enormous and similar: food, water, energy security, providing employment and social opportunity. A modern and invigorating education of our young generation is the key to finding solutions to these challenges. This report is an excellent reference that showcases what Israel has achieved and what Israel and India can achieve together. We remain committed to seeking ways to cooperate, learn from each other for the benefit of the future of our two countries. The foundations of a country’s future are only as strong

as the investment made in its youth.

16 October 2013

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n o i t a c u d E n i x o B e h t f o t u O g n i k n i h T

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Foreword

SUDHEENDRA KULKARNI Chairman,

Observer Research Foundation Mumbai

How Israel Educates Itself ─ for for Security and Prosperity ISRAEL has its admirers and its critics. Some of its admirers are its critics, but most of its critics are,

whether they say so openly or not, also its admirers. History and geography have placed Israel in an unenviable situation. It is a situation in which Israel is both a victim and perpetrator of injustice. As such, there are many, including this writer, who disapprove of Israe l’s policy and conduct in the Israel -Palestine conflict even though they don’t hesitate to acknowledge and admire its incredible accomplishments. accomplishments. These accomplishments beget a question which was most sharply formulated by the authors, Dan Senor and Saul and Saul Singer, of Singer, of the celebrated book Star t-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle . How is it that Israel – a small country of only 7.9 million, a young and vibrant democracy, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources – produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK? What explains Israel’s resilience , its can-do-spirit, its chutzpah?

Senor and Singer – the latter gave a talk at the Observer Research Foundation Mumbai in 2011 – examine this question and provide compelling answers. The bottom line is that Israel needs technology for prosperity as well as for security. Unlike many countries, including India, geography has been very unfavourable to it in terms of natural resources. This handicap is heightened by its unfriendly neighbourhood, which provides few opportunities for either imports or exports. Therefore, it perforce has had to depend on two inter-locked strategies: firstly, to gain markets in distant parts of the world with its unbeatable competitiveness in hi-tech products; and, secondly, to maximise the potential of its human resources. Israel has implemented both strategies with stunning success. Jewish intelligence, adversity-driven creativity, innovation-led entrepreneurship and economic productivity have made this tiny nation the cynosure of the global community, including its detractors.


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At the root of Israel’s success is its education system. And this report by my colleague Aparna Sivakumar provides a fascinating first- hand account of one important facet of the country’s educational landscape – the philosophy and pedagogy of its school education system. Childhood is that period in a person’s life when she or he is, in many ways, the most creative and, certainly, the

most receptive. However, for children to blossom to their full potential, they need, in addition to a congenial family atmosphere, an encouraging school environment. As described in this report, Israel’s school system has been designed to develop children’s all -round learning abilities without fear of failure: learning by doing, giving free play to curiosity, experimentation, questioning and independent thinking. “Catch ‘em young” is the guiding principle in Israel, where education begins at a very young age, giving

children an augmented advantage. Many two-year-olds and almost all three and four-year-olds attend some kind of preschool facility. Kindergarten for five-year-olds is free and compulsory. A strong focus on science and technology, with a problem-solving orientation, is the hallmark of the school education system in Israel. Just as China spots and trains its Olympics talent at a very early age, Israel searches and grooms its scientific and technological talent in the same determined manner. For instance, the Hemda Centre for Science Education in Tel Aviv is one of the world’s best institutions for exceptionally bright children. They are taught by the country’s best scientists, including globally renowned scientists. No wonder, these children grow up to become great scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs. However, and quite remarkably, inflexibility is not a characteristic of Israel’s education system. Being a famously argumentative society, and education being the ministry with the second-largest budget (after national security), Israel routinely introduces innovation and experimentation in different parts of its education system. For example, here is an excerpt from a news report in The Times of Israel (March 18, 2013). Israel’s new education minister brings fresh mindset to Israeli education Fight for post wasn’t wasn ’t just between Piron and Sa’ar and an d their parties — it was also over how, what and why we teach our children

For more than a week, negotiations between the Likud-Beytenu faction and the Jewish Home party were deadlocked over the identity of Israel’s next education minister 1. Finally, last Wednesday, the as made: Gideon Sa’ar – out; Shai Piron – in. decision w as n o i t a c u d E n i x o B e h t f o t u O g n i k n i h T

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Sa’ar and Piron represent two different mindsets, both in their stated political ambitions and with regard to the Education Ministry. What was partly a battle of strength between two parties, then, will determine the direction of the country’s country’s education education system. The incoming Piron, a former teacher and principal given the second spot on Yesh Atid’s list, views education as the most important thing in life. In contrast, Likud’s Sa’ar, who will instead now head the Interior Ministry, saw the post at least in part as a stepping stone toward heading his party, and the country.

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http://www.timesofisrael.com/politicians-powwow-to-punch-through-education-roadbl http://www.timesofisrael.com/politi cians-powwow-to-punch-through-education-roadblock/ ock/

In December, Sa’ar’s Education Ministry proudly claimed that Israeli students had c limbed to seventh place in the world on their math results, and to 13 th in the sciences. The minister, pleased, attributed the high rankings to a “new organizational culture” 2 in the educational system, and claimed that allocating extra hours for study, and developing curricula based on international testing standards, were responsible for the improved results. But to some, Piron among them, the outgoing minister was taking pride in what is actually the biggest problem afflicting the system – the emphasis placed on standardized tests and results at the expense of educating the next generation. “We need to deal with education and not only the education system,” Piron wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday night, looking ahead to his new ministerial role. “We can’t allow the education system to be a system obsessively dealing with measurement,” he elaborated – striking an immediate contrast with Sa’ar. Piron presented his core educational values – ideas like Zionism, Judaism, and love of humankind, as well as the imperatives to strengthen schools at the bottom end of the socioeconomic ladder and to recruit quality teachers. Though grades and academic excellence are important, he wro te in his Facebook post, they “can’t contradict the focus on educating toward values, building a complex personality that is capable of dealing with the challenges of the 21 st century.” Piron has called for the number of nationwide standardized tests to be reduced, but also emphasized that the other subjects would still be needed to graduate. Subjects like history and science are no less important than math, but could be graded by the teachers and not by the ministry, he suggested. The contrasting positions and ideas of Piron and Sa’ar aren’t theirs a lone; there are plenty of teachers and parents who side with each of them. It’s clear both believe their way is the best for the students, and the country.

How one wishes that we had similar debates and arguments on the purpose, content and direction of education in India! Indeed, one of the useful sections in Aparna’s report pertains to what India can learn from Israel in the field of education. This is not to suggest that India doesn’t have its own innate

strengths in education. Nor does it mean that th at all is well with education in Israel. Issues in education are hotly debated by Israelis. And the country certainly needs to do a better job of integrating the concerns, sensibilities and needs of its own religious groupings into its education planning, paradigms and outcomes. In spite of this, Israel undeniably offers to us in India many useful lessons in our attempts to build a knowledge society. I commend Aparna for producing this highly informative and well-illustrated report. Anyone reading it will know that the visit to Israel left her awe-struck. Nobody, I am told, returns from the Start-Up Nation without the same overwhelming experience. I, who haven’t visited Israel so far, am eager to be

awe-struck myself. Your critical comments on the report are most welcome.

3 October 2013

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Executive Summary My visit to Israel to attend a conference on science and technology in education affected me in many ways, mostly positive. Apart from the education system itself that was commendable, many factors stood out: 1. Education is considered an essential and important investment here, not as an expense (over 7% of Israel’s GDP is channelled towards education) . Almost all schools in Israel are public schools and education up to high school is ‘free and compulsory’ . What is even more noteworthy is that, most schools have great infrastructure. While interacting with the children, it is impossible to miss their vibrancy and eagerness to learn, experiment and innovate. 2. Military education is compulsory for most Israelis, with a few exceptions – two years for women and three years for men. Though there are concerns associated with this system, it appears to bring out the strengths, a sense of discipline and confidence in youth. Youth’s integration into mainstream (education and employment) after the mandatory service is also mostly seamless. 3. Surprisingly (or not), Israel, the ‘land of milk and honey’ is mostly a desert, starved for natural resources. Without succumbing to constraints, Israelis have converted miles and miles of almost arid land into green vegetation. Their success stories in irrigation, water recycling and desalination and agriculture are truly epic! From conserving natural resources, to making the best use of space (solar panels in window panes, on top of most roofs), ‘sustainable living’ is a mantra here. 4. The patriotism of almost all the residents of Israel united towards countering obstacles and building their country is almost infectious! unifier. What’s really fascinating is that, a language, 5. Hebrew, their official language is also a great unifier. that almost died out from ‘common’ usage was revived to create the modern Hebrew, and not just that, a great deal of scientific knowledge, technology and literature has been created, almost from scratch.

It is difficult to not wonder what we, in India can learn from this small, power-packed country. Their education system that truly promotes innovation revolves around a few basic principles: 


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Catch them Young – Science, technology and life skills are integrated into the teaching-learning process from early childhood . It’s exhilarating to watch school children explain their projects in

robotics, ideas for patents or design plans to turn their schoolyard into an ecological zone. 

Learning by Doing – A practical and problem solving approach to learning is followed here.

Children are provided free access to dabble in experiments and involved in inter and multidisciplinary projects. It is extremely important to skill resources and expose them to working with the hand in addition to learning theoretical concepts in the classroom. 

Spirit of Enquiry and thinking out of the box – Children’s curiosity is nurtured and their enthusiasm to try new things is encouraged. Children are merited for ‘trying’ without any stigma of

failure. 

Emphasis on science, mathematics and technology in education .

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Fast-tracking Fasttracking children’s development – There are several avenues to identify children with spark

and provide them avenues and personal attention to explore their interests and learn further. Children with special needs are also identified and provided individual attention and support to cope with learning. This report, written from my experience in Israel, talks about what I saw there (a small percentage of the technology and education system in Israel) with a few thoughts on collaborations, partnerships and what we could  Design a conducive environment for enjoyable adapt from Israel and adopt in India. learning and development. In India, on the one side, there are several waves of positive change and improvement in education. On the other side, there are several avenues for further advancement and betterment as well. The platform provided by the current government policies itself (for instance, the flexibility of ‘no exams, no detention till Standard VIII’ of the RTE Act) can be leveraged to make ‘learning and education’ education’ more enjoyable, better, relevant and effective in schools and colleges – involving children in innovative experiments, glocal projects of social significance, and by imparting them life skills, instead of subjecting them

to examinations that are mostly designed around rotelearning. Educational institutions can also engage with companies and industries in nearby locations to expose and involve children in real-world scenarios and challenges. The fact that the Companies Bill 2012 now mandates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) further opens up more avenues to actively involve companies to revitalise the education system in our country. Companies can ‘adopt’ schools (and colleges) in their

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Incorporate principles.

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Strengthen special ‘support and parallel’ institutions for learning and experimentation that can augment the education delivered in the regular school system.

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Innovate in professional development of teachers.

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Empower school principals.

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Digitise learning material and make them freely

twenty-first

century

education

available, across the board. 

Harness the power of mobiles and latest technology in education.

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Think ‘long’ term – tightly integrating education

with future needs of the country. 

Mandate early education , the time when the human brain is most receptive to learning.

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Amplify efforts to integrate youth-at-risk/ drop-outs in our economy – from social support to education and training.

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Invest more in the power of localisation and the importance of the vernacular.

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Factor in the human element as well as the strengths and pitfalls of the digital era in policies and change management.

radius and help towards achieving holistic education, better employability and entrepreneurship. Can we all come together and work in unison to strengthen the pillars of our education system , break barriers (where they exist), unify and amplify the good efforts , many of which are happening in silos, address the different issues, many of which are solved problems in some quarter, and learn from the commendable work of others!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS


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1. ISRAEL – THE LAND OF INNOVATION, A COUNTRY OF SURPRISES

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2. A JOURNEY OF LEARNING LEAR NING AGAIN BEGINS…

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3. MY WOW MOMENTS!!!

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4. THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN ISRAEL

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5. MY VISITS TO SCHOOLS

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6. EDUCATIONAL AND EDUCATION SUPPORT ORGANISATIONS

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6.1. Eshkol & Karev – Extracurricular & Learning Augmentation Programmes

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6.2. ORT Israel

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6.3. Centre for Educational Technology (CET)

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6.4. Ecological Greenhouse

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6.5. Good Thought

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6.6. Open University of Israel

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6.7. Higher education and Centres of Excellence

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7. PEDAGOGIES & FUTURISTIC LINES OF THOUGHT

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8. NOT WITHOUT THEIR SHARE OF ISSUES

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9. ISRAEL AND INDIA

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10. REFLECTIONS

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11. RECOMMENDATIONS: WHAT INDIA CAN LEARN FROM ISRAEL

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11.1. Provide a better environment for Learning, Teaching and Growing

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11.2. Empower School Principals

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11.3. Professional Development of Teachers

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11.4. Digitisation of learning material

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11.5. Mandating ‘Early education’

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11.6. Inspirations from Eshkol, Open University of Israel, Ecological Greenhouse

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11.7. Think ‘New’, ‘Long-term’

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11.8. Vocational Education in Israel

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11.9. Harness the power of mobiles and latest technology

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11.10. Localisation in IT – Hebrew

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11.11. Education Support Technologies

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11.12. Inspiration from sessions that will stay with me forever

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ANNEXURE 1. MASHAV AND A. OFRI CENTRE

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ANNEXURE 2. YAD VASHEM, THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM

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ANNEXURE 3. THE EAGER TOURIST

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ANNEXURE 4. INSPIRATIONS FROM MY COLLEAGUES, MY NEW FAMILY

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1. Israel – the land of innovation, A country of surprises ISRAEL, the globally admired start-up nation, is indeed a power-packed country of surprises. Despite

the contradictions, I believe that everyone has a lot to learn from this world’s 100th smallest country with less than 1/1000 th of the global population that continues to forge ahead despite adversities. You read about Israel, you watch them on the news, but nothing prepares you for what you see, hear and feel, in this country. One trip to Israel or a look at even a fraction of their achievements (the complete list would almost be endless), will tell us why in India we have so much to learn from them!

The celebrated book Start-

The country is technically a desert – but it’s mostly green. Israelis have managed to “make the desert bloom” 3 with agriculture and technology.

up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle by

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Israel is small, but uses space Dan Senor and and Saul Saul Singer optimally. To put things in perspective, India is the seventh largest country in the world and over 158 times the size of Israel – you can drive through the length and breadth of Israel in a day. 

It is conflict prone – perennially under threat externally, but you feel safe (I definitely did feel so, despite the swarming presence of armed men and women around).

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It has a high immigrant population, from varied religions and regions – but you see unity and co-existence in this diversity.

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Continuing, last year’s trend, three of Israel’s eight universities

Comparing the size of India & Israel Even a state like Kerala is 1.8 times the size of Israel!

made it to the top hundred in the 2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) as well4. Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world5. 

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Israelis buy 12 million books every year, making them one of the highest consumers of books per capita in the world. More than 90% of Israelis read a newspaper at least once in a week. 6

David Ben-Gurion, the first Israeli Prime Minister’s dream http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2013.html http://www.shanghairanking.com/A RWU2013.html 5 http://www.educationnews.org/higher-education/most-educated-countries/ http://www.educationnews.org/higher-education/most-educ ated-countries/ 6 Ministry of Industry, Intellectual Capital of the State of Israel, p. 25. 4


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The World Economic Forum in its 2012-13 ranking 7 lists Israel first in the world in the quality of scientific research institutions and fourth globally in utility patents per million populations.

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Israel has the largest percentage of scientists and technicians in its workforce – 140 academically educated engineers, scientists and PhDs per 10,000 population, the highest such ratio in the world (compared to 85 per 10,000 in the US) 8.

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Over just the last decade, Israel has produced six Nobel laureates, no eight including 2013.

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Israel’s R&D expenditures account for around 4.5% of the country’s GDP, higher than most countries and twice the OECD average (a large percentage of the funding for research comes from overseas and the private sector).

http://www.educationnews.org/higher-education/most-educated-countries/ cated-countries/ Source: http://www.educationnews.org/higher-education/most-edu

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In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of start-up companies in the world – it has emerged as the Silicon Valley of the Middle-East. On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech start-ups.

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The cell phone was developed in Israel at Motorola’s largest development centre. The

technologies for ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger, Voice over IP, several processors of Intel including the Intel 8088 were all developed in Israel.


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Israel leads the world in water recycling – about 80% of its wastewater is recycled for irrigation, over four times the figure of the second-place recycler, Spain (17%). Desalination helps meet about 40% of the country’s total water needs and is perched to grow to 80% by 2014 9.

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Israel, the pioneer of drip irrigation, supplies the technology it invented to more than 50% of the world market. It is also a pioneer in solar energy.

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Some 40% of European tomato greenhouses use long-shelf-life hybrid seeds produced and developed in Israel. Israel is also behind the development of several new fruits and vegetables 10, including our now- common ‘cherry tomatoes’.

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http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalCompetitivenessReport_2013-14.pdf http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalCompetitivenessReport_201 3-14.pdf http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2013/4/21/at-65-israel-defies-economic-meltd http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2013/4 /21/at-65-israel-defies-economic-meltdown own 9 http://www.jta.org/2013/05/28/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/water-surplus-inhttp://www.jta.org/2013/05/28/news-opinion /israel-middle-east/water-surplus-in-israel-with-desalination-once-unthinkable-is-possibl israel-with-desalination-once-unthinkable-is-possible, e, http://www.globalwaterforum.org/2013/03/18/tackling-water-scarcity-israels-wastewater-recycl http://www.globalwaterforum.org/2013/03/1 8/tackling-water-scarcity-israels-wastewater-recycling-as-a-model-for-the-worlds-arid-lan ing-as-a-model-for-the-worlds-arid-lands/, ds/, http://www.timesofisrael.com/with-desalination-a-once-unthinkable-water-surplus-is-possible/ 8

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Israel has the unique distinction of being the only country in the world that entered the twentyfirst century with a net gain in its number of trees.

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Israel is not behind in medical innovations either – development of emergency bandage, PillCam to video record internal organs, robot that performs spine surgery are just a few of them... 

2. A Journey of Learning Again Begins … A fantastic opportunity to know more about Israel and understand this awe-inspiring nation’s education and technology presented itself when I got selected to attend an international seminar on ‘Science and Technology and ICT IC T in Education’ conducted by MASHAV (more about MASHAV in Annexure 1) in Jerusalem, in January-February, 2013. With extreme delight, excitement and minor trepidation, I rejoiced when I got my seminar acceptance letter! My limited understanding of education stems from my own experience as a student in good schools and colleges in India, my work on product design for an educational application for tablets and research-advocacy work in Observer Research Foundation Mumbai. Though I am not an expert, “The world is a book and those who do not experienced educator or academic, I have always travel read only one on e page”. been interested in the science and technology of - Augustine of Hippo education. This seminar presented the perfect opportunity that I was looking for, a formal and immersive exposure to understand the science, process and multifarious perspectives of education – experiences, best practices and policy implementation – in Israel and in countries participating in the seminar. The seminar brief had indicated that the participants would be visiting several schools and attending lectures on educational pedagogies and technology implementations. I intended to take copious notes and preserve the learning in my head to share and discuss with friends and colleagues in India to see what we could adapt and adopt back here in India to improve our education systems and processes. This was definitely going to be an interesting four weeks of travel, discovery, learning, meeting new people and sharing experiences, discussing issues, deliberating on solutions to aid positive change and improvement. There are multiple threads of snippets and thoughts that I would like to share, ranging from my ‘jawdropping moments’ and experience in Israel, an overview of the Israeli education system as understood by me from the seminar, professional visits to schools and centres of education, to my thoughts on what we can learn from this small but power-packed country to adopt in our country. 

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http://israel21c.org/environment/top-12-new-fruit-and-vegetables-species-developed-in-israel/ http://israel21c.org/environment/top-12-new-fruit-and -vegetables-species-developed-in-israel/

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3. My WOW moments!!! I almost fell off my chair when I heard that there are no ‘private’ schools in Israel. Except for a few special purpose schools (and private Christian schools), everything belongs to the Welfare State System. According to the new government policy, education up to high school is free and compulsory for everyone. And parents only pay for books, which will also change with the complete digitisation of textbooks and course material! The free and compulsory education is completely inclusive without exception (though equitability is at the centre of many debates). Several conscious efforts to integrate students from different cultures and regions – be they Jew, Arab or Druze – in the mainstream education have been made, apart from special parallel educational institutions for the minorities as well, with due adjustments made to suit their specific culture and language. Sincere efforts and creative methods ensure that the Israeli law that does not allow children to repeat courses is adhered to. Children with special needs are identified and provided additional support every week to help cope with their classes. I saw schools that had special classrooms and personal spaces for children with special needs, ably supported by expert There are programmes to support sick children in hospital staff with specialised training. There is also with their studies. Photo courtesy: World ORT www.ort.org provision for schooling in paediatric units in hospitals, for children who are sick and cannot attend regular school. There were so many other things that I saw and experienced which I couldn’t help bu t admire.


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The patriotic spirit and passion of the people I had the fortune to meet gave me goose bumps. Israelis are extremely proud of their country, but vocal about their rights and policies and do not hesitate to call a spade a spade, if they find something is wrong or unfair. It was interesting being there during the national elections – seeing people ensure that they exercised their voting rights, listening to heated discussions and arguments on their political leaders, parties and the state of the government in Hebrew and Arabic , though I couldn’t understand a word.

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Though it was heart wrenching to see parents worry about their children’s mandatory military p eople service that could disrupt and endanger normal life, I was utterly fascinated by it. From the people I interacted with, I could only infer that it made them stronger, more assertive, confident, assured and aware of their country, their own strengths and what they wanted to do in life. The rigorous programme appeared to ascertain and polish the strengths of young individuals, assets to the country’s future. Education and training programmes also appeared to fit in well with this challenge.

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Israel’s teaching and learning process is tightly integrated with innovation, creativity, inquiry, problem solving, project and purpose-based learning, with elements of community participation

and service.

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Policy makers and curriculum developers are thinking ahead of the curve – children from as early as primary school are engaged in learning robotics; high school students learn even electronics and nanotechnology!

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It was delightful to see school children confidently and enthusiastically working towards patents, designing, creating and enhancing their ecological schoolyard and greenhouse, studying meteorology and confidently making weather predictions, preparing for an international robotics competition, creating artefacts from scrap, relaxing with yoga and da nce…

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The Ministry of Education has an airtight process that constantly evaluates, appraises and improves the process and quality of education , addresses current issues and loopholes (internet security, cyber discipline for instance) and ensures professional development of teachers.

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The Israelis know how to respect, preserve and present their history, natural treasures and achievements to the world that’s willing to see – the special video presentations that narrate the story of their archaeological sites and prepare you for the wonders before you proceed on a tour, the virtual reality guides and the organised, well-kept tourist-friendly sites are praise-worthy.

“It has been said that the Franco-Prussian Franco-Prussian War was won by the German grammar-school teacher; after all, Prussia based its military prowess on its rank-and-file citizenry. Young men, who had been imbued with patriotism and received their physical training as part of their education, went directly d irectly on from school to military training and service.” - Israel Tal Israel's legendary military strategist who designed Merkava tanks ,

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4. The Education System in Israel The education system and policies in Israel singularly echo the sentiment ‘Education is an investment, not an expense’ expense ’. Israel has five school systems – state (secular) schools, state-religious ( Datim or Modern Orthodox) schools, Haredi (Traditional Orthodox) schools, Arabic-language schools (for Arabic speakers) and Shas (schools for political party’s supporters, predominantly poor Mizrahi Jews) 11. Here’s a brief overview of the system that compri ses of both formal and informal education frameworks. The formal education system consists of the regular school and higher education, as

outlined in the diagram on the next page, along with the key objectives of the school system. Military service is an important component of education of the Israelis that cannot be ignored. Either

before or after taking the Bagrut, both genders are eligible for military service (usually at the age of 11


Barry Rubin’s Israel – An Introduction

6

eighteen) – two years for women and three years for men. This is compulsory for all Jews and Druzes, but voluntary for Christians, Circassians and Muslims. It is exempted for ultra -orthodox Jews 12. Industry

Higher Education

GRADE

AGE

12

10 9

Technical Sciences

Senior High y r a d n o c e S

Junior High

7 6

Primary



Reduce the number of subjects learned at the same time.



Increase independent and original work of students.



Introduce subject clusters and interdisciplinary subjects.



Use alternative means of evaluation (to include cognitive skills like critical thinking, creativity, originality, ethical considerations).



Outline clearly the roles of Homeroom (class) teacher and subject teacher as educator.



Develop teamwork – amongst and between students and staff.



Develop and constantly improve basic skills such as reading, numeracy.



Offer students greater opportunity to exercise personal initiative and free choice.



Lay the foundations for an information-intensive learning environment; science & technology in society.

1

Pre-primary


7

General Education



Develop children’s language and cognitive skills.



Promote learning and creative abilities.



Nurture social and motor skills.

18

15 14

12 11

6

5

In secondary education, students split up into academic and vocational vocational tracks. In academic schools, children take general courses and specialise in the last two years. In vocational schools, student s engage in technical, maritime, domestic or business studies. National school leaving examination called Bagrut (required for higher education) is offered in the twelfth grade. Students of vocational and kibbutz schools may or may not take the Bagrut.

Higher education is offered by non-university institutions of higher education (in technology, arts, teacher training), regional colleges and universities. Israel’s Bachelor’s and Master’s degree, doctoral

and post-doctoral programmes are similar to those in India. Medical degree is conferred upon completion of Bagrut and six years of study (general, dental or veterinary v eterinary medicine). In post-secondary post-secondary 12

Israel is however looking at forcing military service for ultra-orthodox Jews now - http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/ http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/07/israel-looks-to07/07/israel-looks-toforce-ultra-orthodox-jews-into-military-service/

technical education, Bagrut is not required for admission into vocational programmes that is offered at specialised technical and vocational colleges. Here, the degree of Technai (Qualified Technician) is awarded after the first year and Handassai (Licensed Practical Engineer) is awarded after two years of engineering education. With Bagrut and these degrees, students can c an get access to higher education.

Israel’s Education structure – with higher education explained. Source: http://shelbycearley.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/the-israeli-bagrut-and-3-year-bachelor-degree-

evaluation-placement-and-recruitment-considerations.pdf

Teacher training in Israel is imparted through teacher training colleges and university ’s faculty of education. Teacher training colleges are either two or three thr ee year programmes – teachers preparing for

kindergarten and primary school must complete two years of training. Lower secondary teachers may complete a three-year programme or a four-year integrated programme at a teacher training college that will give them a bachelor’s degree in addition to the teacher’s diploma. Upper secondary teachers must hold a bachelor’s degree from the university in a field other than education in addition to the teacher’s diploma ( they may do so with a one year programme after their bachelor’s degree or in a four-year integrated programme). 13 There are also designated training institutions for ‘continuous’

professional development of all those associated with pedagogy, be b e it:      

13

Teachers of Teachers and Ministry of Education employees, Inspectors and Instructors, School’s ICT Coordinators, School Principals, Teachers, Trainee Teachers.

From lectures and handouts during the seminar (Pedagogical Horizons for Learning by Anat Zohar, Chair, Director of Pedagogical Affairs, Israel Ministry of Education) and presentation on ‘The Education System of Israel’ by Tara Schumacher for AACRAO Orlando Conference 2008


8

For evaluation, support and guidance of school teachers, a strong network of inspectors, Ministry of Education instructors, district instructors and professional forums are in place. The informal education system includes social and youth activities in various educational spheres as well as adult education. The Ministry of Education also has a Special Administration (Youth and Society Division) to define and implement social education in the formal and informal education systems to address social and value-oriented topics that are important to the growth of adolescents preparing for life, towards becoming responsible and involved citizens. The Administration has four divisions: 1. Programmes, Curriculum, Training • Offers professional services for curriculm and training design. • Adapts educational methodology and tools to fit various education systems

–

school and community.

• Has an active website and resource center for digital initiatives.

2. Social Education Community and Youth Division • Conducts educational programmes that allow youth to develop personal interests and contribute to their

community.

• Mandates social education for Grades 7-12 (this is implemented by the class teacher). • Designs topics in a spiral mode to promote social, personal growth, social interaction, personal, social, national

identity, awareness, commitment.

• Offers programmes tailored for the community, junior counselling, youth councils and youth movements.

3. Advancement of Youth at Risk Division • Provides educational assistance services for alienated youth at risk of dropping out of the education framework. • Ensures individual treatment and organises several social group activities and study programmes.

4. SHELACH (Field Study), Israel's Geography •Aids in increasing the youth's sense of belonging to their nation by familiarising them with the land, scenery, natural

values, cultural and historic heritage.

•Combines field and classroom studies to impart hands-on experiential learning.


9

Though it would not be possible to elaborate on all the education laws and policies in Israel here, it would be useful to outline a few laws to give a reasonable idea of the different facets of education that are being governed and managed by the government of Israel. 1. Compulsory Education Law makes education compulsory for all children and youth residing in Israel from pre-primary school age to 12 th grade (extended from 10 th, to be implemented by 2014/15). 2. State Education Law is responsible for establishing a framework of State education with uniform objectives, which includes setting regular, supplementary and experimental curriculum for schools,

supervision of inspectors, teachers, principals and schools, undertaking measures to ensure that the educational needs of non-Jewish students are met as well. 3. Supervision of Schools Law is for for the supervision of opening, running and closing closing of educational institutions, terms of employment, licensing and qualifications of school teachers and staff. 4. Education Ordinance – Dating back to the times of the British Mandate set up after World War I, this includes the state of sanitation, visits, enrolment and teacher dismissal in educational institutions. 5. Special Education Law mandates special education, free of tuition, to children with special needs, and sets rules for eligibility, placement, appeal and a shortened enrolment procedure. 6. Safe Transportation for Children with Disabilities Law ensures safe and worry-free conveyance facilities for children with disabilities. 7. Long School Day and Enrichment Studies a. Mandates additional hours to expand student knowledge and education; b. Provides for more hours to include social s ocial activities and values education; c. Creates equal opportunity for education to all children. 8. Students’ Rights Law upholds children’s rights and dignity by safeguarding them from any form of discrimination, physical/ humiliating punishment, unfair removal from school and so on. 9. Free Education for Sick Children Law includes facilities to provide schooling for children who cannot attend regular school since they are in hospital. 10. School Meals Law ensures provision of food, within educational institutions for students of primary school as well as to the Long School Day implementations. 11. Unique Cultural Educational Institutions Law is in keeping with the unique cultural groups in the country, to ensure that all cultures are accounted for, and are nurtured. This overview would be incomplete without discussing Israel’s Guidelines of the National Education Plan and ‘New Horizon’ Horizon’ known as OFEK HADASH, the new reform that is currently being implemented, mainly in primary and lower secondary education. These guidelines and reforms are about adapting the education system to the twenty-first century, with emphasis on teacher development to ensure quality education with global standards. The Guidelines of the National Plan are shown here. From what I witnessed during my professional visits to multiple schools around the country, there was no doubt that these were not just a few catch phrases in a policy document. They are indeed being implemented across the board. A few of the components of the Guidelines of the National Education Plan have been described here for a better understanding.

Guidelines of Israel’s National Plan for Education.


10

The Infrastructure and Maintenance component of the National Education Plan goes beyond just schools and classroom structures. It ensures: 

Mandatory laptop for every teacher.



Computers, projectors, smart-boards in every classroom, to integrate technology in teaching.



High-speed internet connection in every school.



Computer access for children – the computer-to-child ratio could vary from one-to-one to one-tofive, for instance, based on the school, grade and subject.



For seamless maintenance of hardware and software as well as support, a technician is assigned to every institution by the government.

“In every era you need to learn how to use the elements that influence the generation.” - Harav Kook, an Israeli thinker of the 19th century

The Education Ministry works through the Municipality systems to provide high-level specifications for computers, internet, etc.; however, schools are given the freedom to select and roll-out specific brands and technologies, based on their plans and needs.

The curriculum and pedagogies are in line with twenty-first century education and are continuously upgraded, in conformance to global standards, needs and relevance. With respect to Digital Content, considerable development is (complete and) underway to create digital books and online course content. In fact, the Ministry is working to provide around six different options of approved digital content per subject that the schools and students can choose from!


11

21st Century Education theme

Digital content Dashboard

Source:: http://teacher.scholastic.com/produ Source http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/expert21/skills_strate cts/expert21/skills_strategies.htm gies.htm

From what I could surmise, Israel takes meticulous planning and execution of Professional Development for teachers to another level. In this modern era, the teacher is no longer just a keeper of knowledge, but a mediator who also facilitates and promotes knowledge . To give a concrete framework for teachers to work in, the New Horizon reforms stipulate that teachers plan their thirtysix-hour working week to include: 

Twenty-six hours of traditional classroom teaching,



Five hours for individual teaching (individuals or groups of two to five students),



Five hours for staff work (meeting parents, students, and correcting homework) and lesson preparation.

‘New Horizon’ (goals shown here) is a multi-year programme with a focus on

teachers who are the pillars of education. Apart from raising the salaries of teachers who are a part of this programme, and structuring their working hours, the reform lays down guidelines for what a teacher must have learned at each ‘stage’ of his/ her professional development as defined below:

•First 3

years Entry Level

Initial consolidation •4 - 6 years

experience

•7 - 10 years

of teaching Advanced consolidation

Expert •Over 10

years experience

The New Horizon Plan – Teacher’s stage in the system based on experience.

At each of these stages, teachers are required to complete sixty hours of course work per year, year , chosen from around two-hundred Ministry-approved courses courses taken in consultation with the school principal, based on the teacher’s field or pedagogy, relevant to his / her experience. The teachers are also incentivised for the same. Every 180 hours of continuing education entitles a teacher to a 7.5% raise . The different stages of the National Plan have been clearly chalked out to bring about changes in the curriculum, teaching- learning methods, teacher’s role and evaluation process.




12

5. My visits to schools Visiting schools in Israel served to only illustrate and magnify what I had read and heard from lectures on educational policies and implementations during the course of the seminar. Israel’s vision, focus and efforts towards excellence was scintillating and inspiring. To me, a few things stood out: 1. Twenty-first century education , all the way. One could see children learning mathematics and science with interactive multimedia, games and quizzes. It was refreshing to see almost every student eagerly raising their hands to answer questions asked during the interactive sessions in the classroom; and no, they were not afraid to get an answer wrong. It almost felt like several chapters out of a book on twenty-first century education was being played out in front of our eyes: a. Interdisciplinary, project-based, research-driven curriculum with community connect and focus. b. Impeccable classroom infrastructure – every class that we visited had computers connected to speakers and projector, installed with interactive learning and collaboration software, smart boards and white boards, subject-related software and tools, notice boards and more. c. Teachers were more like friends and guides to the children, effortlessly tailoring their teaching process to blend in the use of technology and ‘learning-by-doing’. d. Use of relevant digital and interactive course material in the classroom to make learning fun. e. Green Education – lessons on environmental awareness, responsibility and sustainable living. f. Information and media literacy – demonstrating various ways and approaches to access, analyse, evaluate, create, visualise and communicate information effectively. ICT is strategically used to teach different subjects. Smart-boards, computers and multimedia equipment are ubiquitous.


13

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela

2. Well-equipped labs for basic and environmental sciences – children could learn via experiments

and practical exercises, without facing any dearth of equipment or raw material, in a safe environment, with guidance from trained staff. 3. Technology integration – electronics, robotics – Children as young as eleven years (in their sixth grade) were working on Robotics projects! All of us who visited the school stood transfixed, in utter fascination and disbelief, while the young children confidently explained and demonstrated their robotics projects. What’s also interesting is that the children are given a global social theme every year for their projects. This year’s theme being technology to help the elderly , children were programming robots to pick up specific coloured tablets from one location to another, for instance (in lieu of handing it over to a wheel-bound elderly patient). A kid also proudly shared with us a device he had designed and intended to patent to help old people who cannot see too well, understand the temperature and level of liquid in their cup before getting their tongues scalded by a hot beverage. Another sight I cannot forget is of eleventh graders busily working on an electronics project – building a parking Sixth graders explaining their robotics project to the MASHAV sensor and counter! team.

An eleventh grader industriously working on a parking counter electronics project.

The Robotics project arena – robots pick up and drop ‘coloured’ tablets for elderly from one place to an other.

4. Experimental classes – To make learning more interesting and meaningful, teachers are constantly experimenting with multidisciplinary education. In a class of eleventh graders dressed in khakis (these were students preparing to join the Israeli Air Force), students were using technology to learn history and reconstruct stories of people in the Holocaust through the agency of the Yad


14

Vashem (Holocaust Museum) – indeed a brilliant way of tying together technology, research and history while weaving in a personal touch to create an impactful learning methodology. 5. Classes for children with special needs – staffed with additional teachers to ensure that students

with special needs received the attention they required (for most children, it was primarily, emotional support and assurance). The individual attention and assistance provided, helps these children cope better with the curriculum. In a school we visited, the dedicated and thoughtful attention given to each child extended to them being allocated an exclusive space of their own in the classroom. Children decorated this space, like they would do their own room at home and it served as their ‘go-to-place’ at school, when they felt low or upset.

A special child’s very own personal space in her classroom.

6. Other unique features – a.

Specialised multimedia labs – Well-equipped studios and labs for creating videos and music,

and advanced audio-video editing-processing, for students to explore and create media themselves! b.

School’s own radio station – Where students get the unique opportunity to plan, design,

jockey and relay their programmes on their own radio station for a few hours every day. They receive expert guidance in terms of content, format and technology, to design and create programme segments. The content and quality is carefully reviewed before broadcast. n o i t a c u d E n i x o B e h t f o t u O g n i k n i h T

15

c.

Meteorology – What better way to

learn geography and meteorology than in a weather station based at school where children learn to School’s own community radio station ! – measure the weather temperature, air pressure, wind, humidity and more – and even make weather predictions. We (MASHAV team) were taken through a very interesting video of children measuring different weather parameters and announcing the weather forecast for a rainy day in their own inimitable style, with a sense of humour. Imagine their excitement, when, Israel experienced snow for the first time in many years, just a few days before we visited them!

d.

Yoga – Imagine a dimly lit room full of children on yoga mats, learning yoga, relaxing and

connecting with themselves. The school we visited ensured that every child attended the class at least once a week to rejuvenate themselves. Children really looked forward to these sessions that served as a welcome break.

Yoga & Relaxation session for children is in progress, while a few of my colleagues from the seminar try to blend in without disturbing the children.

e.

Arts and Dance workshops in school that served as avenues for creative and cultural

enrichment and expression. f.

Medical first aid workshops where children are taught the basics of first aid; senior students

get to administer first aid on real patients even. Apart from giving children the requisite first aid life skills, it also serves as an orientation of sorts for students who intend to take up the medical profession, by giving them a feel of what lies ahead g.

Green house & ecological school yard – Most schools we visited had a greenhouse (even if it

was small due to space constraints) where children grew their own plants, studied them and even sold them (in case of one school, these earnings were pooled into the school fund). One school, in fact, had an ecological school yard that the children themselves had designed and were in the process of setting up. The planning and execution does not stop at just planting a few seedlings, or bringing in a few animals – the children did extensive research and planning on the design and layout of their school yard, the aesthetics, what plants can be grown in their yard, the animals and birds that could make this yard their home, what they should grow/do to attract more birds, and animals; and how they can do all this without endangering other plants or animals. A message from the students –


Earth’s globe created out of ‘waste’ to highlight waste generation and recycling .

16

The young green thumbs show off their gardening experiments.

A school’s greenhouse with a sweet garden gnome,

toadstool, crocodile and other embellishments.

7. Student projects and research methodology Children are involved in several group projects and solo assignments, for which they receive training on research (from investigation, planning, evaluation, implementation, data gathering and analysis to presentation of results) principles and methodologies as well as support and guidance from their teachers.

A teacher explaining the research methodology that they teach their students, while the principal and participants of our seminar listen in rapt attention.


17

R eading encouragement 8. Library and Reading

It is extremely critical to inculcate the habit of reading in children, to point them to books they can read and engage them in lively book discussions. A school that we visited went to the extent of maintaining reading charts for every child in the class. Points got added against the student’s name in the chart as and when they completed reading a book – this helped create a self-monitoring system and some healthy competition that contributed towards improving the reading habits of the students.

> e m i T

1 2 3 4 t t t t n n n n e e e e d d d d u u t t u t u t S S S S

… … …

. . … …

n t n . . e d … u t … S

A chart similar to the one shown a bove was used to encourage the reading habit in children. Whenever a child completed reading a book, he/she got an extra point – one more colourful star – in their reading graph. This created an environment of healthy competition that encouraged children to read more and earn more stars, while sharing their reading experience with peers.

A teacher conducting a reading session for children in a library. (Photo courtesy http://israelnonprofitnews.co http://israelnonprofitnews.com/introducing-kinderga m/introducing-kindergarten-kids-to-the-library/) rten-kids-to-the-library/)

9. School Principals – It was assuring to see Principals of public schools work like managers and team leaders – planning detailed schedules, striving for the well-being and constant improvement of

their staff (expertise, teaching process and skills), as well as innovating on courses and different pedagogies for implementation at school. The principals persevered to create new benchmarks for their school and endeavoured to be ahead of other schools in the neighbourhood and the country. One of the Principals we met (at the Pisgat Zeev School) had created a programme called ‘Breakfast with the Principal ’ where one student from each class is invited to have breakfast with her, once a week, every week. In this informal meeting, students freely discuss their class projects, the books that they have been reading and other general topics of interest. During the course of an academic year, every student gets an opportunity to interact closely with her. 10. School interval fun – We witnessed an enchanting primary school interval session. The bell rang for the interval and students from different classes poured into the courtyard. A young DJ (a sixth grade student), assisted by a few peers, played music from around the globe, taking requests from


Children playing and dancing in the school playground during the school interval.

18

students and us (their esteemed visitors), while a few children broke into a jig to show off their grooves and moves and a few invited us to join them in their circle c ircle or train of dance. Well, that was fun indeed! And above all, I will cherish the images in my mind, of children who looked to be completely on top of the world, beaming with confidence, full of zeal, fun and laughter . And as my colleague Edna Estrada from Guatemala terms it , it’s an education system ‘MADE in ISRAEL’. 

6. Educational and Education support organisations Education and planning for good quality, inclusive and relevant education does not happen only in the schools and in the Ministry of Education, like in our country. There are many institutions and support systems that work round-the-clock to make education more meaningful, comprehensive and inclusive. There are a few organisations and institutions that I had the opportunity to visit and interact with, during my trip.

6.1. Eshkol & Karev – Extracurricular & Learning Augmentation Programmes We visited a vocational high school of science and arts for junior high school children called Eshkol in Israel. These are special schools for science and arts, where students come to learn for a few days, every week, in the morning or evening, in addition to their general schooling. There are fifteen such schools in Israel, one in each city. These schools conduct special classes for robotics, earth sciences, environment studies, outdoor activities, drama, theatre, dance and arts. The curriculum and courses are planned in such a way that they aptly augment and facilitate the child’s learning process in school as well.


19

Eshkols have specialised staff to ensure inclusive development of children with special needs. Cultural knowledge, development and global integration is also given utmost importance here – for instance, student delegations are sent to Germany, Poland for a few weeks every year, special days and holidays such as Holocaust Children cleaning up their school yard. Memorial and Hanukkah are celebrated with programmes where children’s cultural and artistic skills are showcased to parents and the entire school. An open day is also organised every year, when children from primary schools are invited to visit this vocational school. Currently this programme is being extended to children in primary and senior high school as well.

The school we visited, Eshkol-Gilo had around 180 staff, selected from different schools and specifically for specialised courses conducted here. On an average, there were around 29 students per class. Students showcased their Robotics, Meteorology, Ecology and Art projects to us and it was evident what a practical and project-based learning augmentation system can do to enhance children’s intellect, confidence and creativity. Though I did not visit a Karev, it is also an interesting programme that’s worth a mention here . The Karev Programme for Educational Involvement, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Education and Keren Karev, is one of the largest extracurricular programmes that operate during school hours to help bridge learning gaps across the society for primary school children. The schools that choose to participate in Karev select three hands-on courses per grade (that are not part of the general curriculum) that students can attend thrice a week. The curriculum itself is flexible, which is designed by a committee consisting of educational staff as well as parents. The options range from drama, origami, gardening for students of first and second grade; to bird watching, cooking and electronics for students in third and fourth; comics, community service, and robotics for fifth and sixth graders. Teachers are hired from the local population or come from other schools. The ministry and the municipality share the budget to ensure that the fee is subsidised and parents only pay a small token amount (for instance, 200 shekels per year for three courses – private classes would cost the same amount for just one course per month). 14 The enriching programmes of Karev are tailored to suit the unique and different needs of various institutions and ‘seeks to activate capabilities and encourage initiative, choice, involvement, responsibility, cooperative ventures, dialogue and a humanistic approach’. Children engaged in learning and a wide variety of activities through Karev.

Gardening, Arts & Crafts, Community work – cleaning their neighbourhood, a day for showcasing talents and awards, learning computer skills, robotics

14

The Karev photographs (on the next page) and details are from http://israel21c.org/social-act http://israel21c.org/social-action-2/in-school-enrichment-peps-up-pup ion-2/in-school-enrichment-peps-up-pupils/ ils/ and http://www.karev.org.il


20

6.2. ORT Israel The Organisation for Rehabilitation and Training , ORT, founded in Tsarist Russia in 1880, is the leading technology and science education network in Israel Established in 1949 with the firm belief that education is the foundation for a strong nation , its mission focuses on three educational banners: Values, Excellence, Technology & Science . The ORT Israel network serves over 10% of Israel's postprimary students and its institutions include comprehensive middle and high schools, industrial (workexperience) vocational schools, practical engineering and academic colleges and adult diploma studies centres. With over 30% of the Israeli engineers being ORT graduates, ORT Israel has a proven record of being the leading network that develops and implements technological and scientific educational programmes, and has in fact led to broad and in-depth changes in the Israeli society and industry. Their main focus areas 15 are: 1. Curriculum development – The best teachers from around the country come to the centre and work for a year to work on 21 st century education-focussed education-focussed curriculum development. 2. Teacher training and student empowerment – Lecture training and workshops, including online training (~ 300 courses) are conducted for over 4,000 trainees annually. Teacher trainings focus on improving teachers’ inter-personal skills, disciplinary knowledge, and leadership and dialogue skills. 3. Innovative Pedagogical Approach to Science & Technology – To unlock st udents’ creativity and fetterless imagination, ORT Israel implements an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to learning science and technology. A key role is played by their project and problem based learning approach as well as STEM 16 programmes, that help in broadening students’ knowledge base, indepth understanding of concepts as well as in development of leadership and interpersonal skills. 4. School and College management – ORT is also developing the Digital School by integrating new technologies, tools and the internet platform for teaching, learning, socialising and assessment. They also help in learning environment design – to improve student motivation and achievements. In addition to these main focus areas, ORT Israel is also involved in initiation, development and execution of international collaborations , that are tailored to adapt to the needs and capabilities of their partners. ORT R&D in Israel is the only research and development - Dr. Eli Eisenberg, centre outside of United States to receive certification ORT Israel Senior VP and Head of R&D and Training Administration from Google to train and implement Google tools in education. Few of ORT’s projects in Israel include:

".. As part of our international partnerships, we bring teachers here, train them up, and when they return to their home countries we send various staff members with them to oversee the final stages of preparing and launching the programs.” programs.”


21

 

15

The joint+, a virtual campus that enables students from science and technology schools in Israel and Europe to study nanotechnology via the internet. Pre-Army Community service, a programme designed to help students (who have the option to delay army service by one year after completing their matriculation) to work in science and technology schools in the periphery with at-risk youth and take part in community projects.

Information on ORT from lecture notes, inputs from ORT team and ORT brochure and http://www.ort.org/en/ STEM education is an acronym for studies that focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

16

 



Programmes for multidisciplinary engineering implemented in a few schools to prepare students for various engineering fields. Mechubarim (‘Connected’) connects Holocaust survivors to the internet – students of science and technology help the elderly by setting up computers in their homes, connecting them to the internet and showing them how to use technology. Municipal Holistic Education Programme involving elementary, junior and high schools working collaboratively, along with local authorities for a holistic approach to students’ emotional, familia l and financial needs and development.

ORT Israel’s international activities extend to:  Europe – In the framework of Nanotechnology Education for Industry and Society projects initiated

by EU, ORT developed nanotechnology curricula ( http://nanoyou.eu/ and http://www.nanochannelsfp7.eu ) for over 1,000 schools across Europe. This has been implemented in 22 countries and 9 languages. 

North America – ORT Israel is leading a five-year STEM project for development and

implementation of Biomedical Engineering and Engineering Sciences curricula in dozens of highschools. In this project framework, American teachers are being trained to develop Project Based Learning (PBL) skills, towards developing independent thinking and skills among students. 

Russia – ORT Israel has initiated a STEM program to involve primary and middle school children in science and technology though their Kids Lab and Young Engineers projects respectively.

Aviation Industry school students working on an unmanned drone.

A student demonstrating solution to g-force on jet pilots.

Electro-optics students preparing for futuristic careers.

20,000 students changed the face of community buildings.


Photos courtesy: ORT Israel

22

The highlight of my visit to the ORT centre was, however the inspiring lecture by Yoel Rothschild, Head of Research and Development at ORT, Israel. There are several quotable quotes that still ring in my ears, a few of which I would like to t o share, in no specific order. 

We teach our children more about the past when they are ready for the future. Yes, we should teach them about our roots, but we should emphasise on the ‘new new’’ and skills of the future .



As appetite is to food, motivation is to education . We should teach our children how to cook an intellectual meal . We should also teach children how to ‘clean the dirt’ dirt ’ – not just to do new things but also to keep their environment clean for everyone.



The centre of education is not the curriculum. It’s the student, and curriculum is just the servant .



All over, education is starved for resources – what better partners than parents themselves! t o the main foray of education. Irrespective of their background, they Parents should come back in to should actively complain and help change and improve the education system .



To teach technology without projects is like teaching swimming without a pool !



Three things needed for a start-up are Creativity, Optimism, Risk-taking and Innovation.



Science, technology and engineering makes an economy independent . We need to ensure its growth. Israel is a fine example of this! Technology is about translating ideas and imagination into reality. It also means upgrade. Technology and engineering needs to be used appropriately, by complying with ethical, legal and social aspects .

6.3. Centre for Educational Technology (CET) CET is a fascinating non-profit, autonomous organisation of over 450 employees established by the Rothschild Foundation, Educational Television and the Open University without funds from the Government that provides cutting-edge technology solutions and expertise for education. ( An aside: they outsource part of their software development to India, with good success; they also have an inhouse software team of over eighty people). CET’s core functional areas with a few key points have been summarised in the diagram below. •Integrating latest technology n o i t a c u d E n i x o B e h t f o t u O g n i k n i h T

23

trends for education •Experimenting and devising new pedagogies for effective education

•Teams creating content in

Large-scale evaluation for the Ministry • Approached by PISA 2015 for digital testing

•

Technology and Pedagogy

Assessment and Evaluation

Content Development

Professional Development

science, math and humanities (digital and printed) • Lot of open resources • Mobile focus

•Teacher training (evenings) •Projects and virtual classes

with teachers • Over 2,000 sessions/ year

CET’s core functional areas

CET participates in different tenders and bids to win projects and implements custom solutions in different schools where the government pays for the operational cost. While interacting with Guy Levi, the Chief Innovation Officer of CET, one could see how they have been constantly reinventing themselves to keep up with the times, transitioning from printed textbooks to digital learning resources. They have recently developed a digital schoolbag ( e-Bag e-Bag ) that serves as an interactive learning platform with digital textbooks, supplemented with learning objects, Representation of e-Bag, CET’s interactive digital simulations and other interactive elements. Users can learning platform. take notes and create annotations in their eBook; tutors can set and schedule assignments for students, maintain a calendar and so on. e-Bag also has a school portal and seamlessly integrates with the learning management system of the school. e-Bag is functional in around 1,500 schools in Israel and can be accessed via mobiles/tablets as well.

Guy Levi showcasing various interactive course materials created by CET to the MASHAV team – learning about the ecosystem and physics (Principles of Reflection).

What’s also interesting is that Guy Levi acknowledges the need to constantly innovate to stay ahead –

even a comprehensive solution like e-Bag would last for only another three years or so, before which he and his team will have to prepare for the next wave, well in advance. In terms of technology choice for their product, they are moving from proprietary technology on .NET to HTML5, and integrating single sign-on with Google applications and so on. CET has another interesting product-service called ‘Virtual Mentoring’ Mentoring ’ (Nachshon) where mentors (typically senior students) can volunteer to teach students (mostly homogenous groups of 3-5 students) through their online-synchronous-tutoring platform for around two hours a week and get paid a third of the tuition fee. The mentors themselves are selected via an online examination and have


24

to undergo a two- day training programme followed by ‘practice’ mentoring sessions with peers before they become eligible to virtually mentor junior students. Another recent initiative of CET, MindCET17 has been set up as an independent unit within CET. The main premise of MindCET is that the communication and information revolution is still taking its first steps in education and significant change can be brought about only by breaking barriers, adapting technology to education and promoting a new culture of learning and teaching . And since innovation can only come from out-ofthe-box thinking , MindCET brings together

entrepreneurs, educators and researchers to create new models of education, powered by information and technology. The centre has three divisions, with interesting names and focus areas:

Garage

Aquarium

Laboratory

• An incubator for educational technology start-ups, it provides professional guidance, a

learning environment and connection to relevant investors for budding entrepreneurs.. •Also collaborates with teachers and researchers. • The communication and information network of MindCET - a knowledge hub that also

connects the 'Garage' entrepreneurship and 'Laboratory' field work.

• Works on hands-on research & knowlege generation and dissemination.

• A professional community of EdTech enthusiasts - network of schools and educators. • An experimental ground : Connects MindCET's developments and schools.

Another ambitious project of CET (a joint initiative with the th e Education Ministry and Trump Foundation) 18 is to expand the concept of a Virtual High School . To revive science and math education in Israel’s schools, CET offers advanced courses in mathematics and physics for high school students, mostly in the periphery, whose schools cannot offer these courses. This programme uses a combination of synchronous virtual learning in school for a group of no more than twenty students, with personalonline mentoring and self-paced, self-directed practice home-work activities. n o i t a c u d E n i x o B e h t f o t u O g n i k n i h T

25

6.4. Ecological Greenhouse Step into this Eco-Greenhouse located in a Kibbutz19 called Ein-Shemer that specialises in education, research and social action through innovations and exploration in ecological sciences and you will 17

Information on CET has been consolidated from the presentation by Guy Levi, Chief Innovation Officer at CET and http://www.mindcet.org/en/about-en/ and http://storage.cet.ac.il/cetpress/CET_WO http://storage.cet.ac.il/cetpress/CET_WORK_PLAN_2011_2.pdf RK_PLAN_2011_2.pdf 18 http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.538884, http://mediaedlab.com/2013 http://mediaedlab.com/2013/06/19/the-future-of-online-learning/ /06/19/the-future-of-online-learning/ 19 Kibbutz, the Hebrew word for ‘communal settlement’ is a community dedicated to mutual aid and social justice – of joint ownership of property, equality and cooperation of production, consumption and education. Read more on wiki, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/kibbutz.html

almost feel like Alice in a green wonderland. So many avenues to explore, marvel, get fascinated by and lose track of time. Stacks of plants from ground to ceiling, herbs held up with strings, fresh and crunchy lettuce, succulent tomatoes hanging from above on tender stalks, countless bottles gurgling with multitude green potions, water ponds with exotic floating plants, fancy water sprinklers, mini aquariums, children engrossed in planting, replanting, moving plants, sawing wood, loads of ‘what you think is waste material’ (thermocol, planks of wood, rubber, metal sheets – that go into setting up sheds for plants, experimenting and building new mini robots), quaint human operable robots that look like toys, graffiti and more ….

The guzzling green potions – water purification.

Plants floating on a mossy pond.

A verdant wonderland – Eco-Greenhouse at a Kibbutz called Ein-Shemer

Well, this is just a summary of a fraction of the visual treat in this independent set-up recognised by the Ministry of Education, run by a passionate and professional team of teachers, educators and experts in social and behavioural sciences guided by three basic principles – Ecology, Education and Coexistence. Multiple workshops and summer camps are held here for children throughout the year. Students from both Jewish and Arab communities study and work side-byside on different projects – researching marine agriculture, green and renewable energies, ecological systems and agricultural technology. Children are encouraged to dabble in nature with

Small agriculture experiments, each marked with a number for identification and study.


26

several easily available resources, under the able guidance of the staff. The projects that children engage in, range from development of single-celled algae, creation of water purification systems, methods of making organic food more efficient 20, producing renewable energy to biological pest control.

Students busy working together in their gardening and carpentry workshops.


27

Atar Geva, an artist, promoter and teacher at the Ecological Greenhouse in Ein-Shemer demonstrating different irrigation solutions to the MASHAV team.

20

Innovative irrigation solutions:

Water sprinklers sprinkling water from all directions.

Seufert’s meta-analysis study indicates that crop yields from organic farming are as much as 34% lower than those from comparable conventional farming practices - www.nature.com/news/organic-farming-is-rarel www.nature.com/news/organic-farming-is-rarely-enough-1.10519 y-enough-1.10519

6.5. Good Thought Despite sincere and best efforts by the Government to take care of different aspects of education from early literacy to adult education, there can be certain areas that do not get sufficient attention or are missed out. To fill these gaps, like in India, there are various non-profit, independent organisations that strive to make the country and the world a better place with their relevant efforts. We all have problems – it’s how we tackle the issues and endeavour to solve them, make changes and create a difference that counts. The mobile computer unit that is carried around in trucks – Exactly, my line of thought when I visited equipped with laptops, routers, etc. an NGO, ‘Machshava Tova’ Tova’ (Hebrew for Good Thought) which deals primarily with computer classes for the differently-abled, elderly and kids. This organisation is involved in multiple initiatives like: 

Computer literacy for the disabled, youth and people with special needs.



Business Entrepreneurship certifications – teaching youth (ages 15-17) mobile application development, Search engine optimisation (SEO) and website development along with business skills – so that they can start enterprises of their own and not face issues related to unemployment.



Courses for hardware certification like Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA).



A mobile computer unit – a truck with computers that travels around to neighbourhoods with low IT penetration to tutor and increase computer literacy21.



21

A computer repair and assembly lab that serves as an excellent recycling centre, where students (mostly youth-at-risk and IT volunteers) are taught to build and repair computers and load them with

The computer repair and assembly lab with many CPUs, monitors and accessories.

Read more about Machshava Tova at http://israel21c.org/culture/a-21sthttp://israel21c.org/culture/a-21st-century-israeli-bookmobile-offers-kids-c century-israeli-bookmobile-offers-kids-computers-and-opportunities/ omputers-and-opportunities/ and http://www.mtova.org.il/en/


28

relevant software, to make them more self-reliant. These computers are then donated to the underprivileged population, including students and organisations. Machshava Tova is the only Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher in Israel. 22

6.6. Open University of Israel Distance and online learning holds the key to help increase the reach of education to people who cannot make it to formal universities due to limitations imposed by work, time and distances as well as social, financial and personal constraints. Just like we have several national and regional open universities and distance education institutions in India that make distance learning possible for its millions, Israel has the Open University of Israel (OUI) whose facility we had the delightful opportunity of visiting. In the interest of brevity, I’ll only list out a few interesting sights and facts: 

This university has more students than any other university in Israel ; students from around the world are enrolled here.



They have around 50 study centres throughout Israel.



Their students are as young as twelve to as old o ld as even eighty-six !



The nature of students who study here range from: 

High school – bright students who are passionate about fast tracking their education

process. 

r egular university. Soldiers on active duty who cannot attend a regular



st udents work, mostly full-time). Workforce (over 90% of the Open University students



Retired people – Holocaust survivors, other senior citizens who could not afford education

when they were young.


29



A unique feature of this University is that students can transfer to another University to continue their education, when they want to, and can also transfer the credits that they earned at OUI.



They have a flexible, open study path – At the time of enrolling, students do not have to decide their ‘degree’ – they can choose to compile courses and stack them up for learning at their own pace. Students can take one or many courses without receiving a degree or take different courses and become eligible for a degree when they complete all its prerequisites. The exams are, however, a strict affair.



Within a course, students are provided with a detailed schedule, course material, assignments and auxiliary learning material like CDs and online resources.



OUI is the largest academic publisher of books in Israel , with more than 1,300 titles to its credit, over one million print copies despatched every year, and 30-40 new titles added every year.

22

http://israelnonprofitnews.com/daniel-weil-%E2%80%93-machshava-tova/ http://israelnonprofitnews.com/daniel-weil-%E2 %80%93-machshava-tova/



– Opening the Treasures of the Mind The Open University of Israel has a programme called PE’ER – Opening – to give free, online and public access to their academic resources, which includes over thousand open courses, e-books (where users can maintain their personal copy with highlights, bookmarks, etc.), audio books, study material, lesson plans, video lectures (on YouTube as well), interactive exercises and learning aids 23.



Majority of OUI’s programmes are in Hebrew, a few in Arabic and Russian .



They have a few technology focus areas:





Learning Management system for every course – This includes learning material, exercises, and interaction with students. OUI currently uses moodle (an open source learning management system) extensively.



OUI’s books digitisation effort, to make available their large repository of textbooks in web and mobile-friendly formats (including ePUB) and upload them on the internet. Audio books are also being created.



Video lessons for students, live as well as recorded – The staff at OUI opined that students prefer recorded sessions over live sessions since it gives them more flexibility (time and learning pace).

OUI’s infrastructure is exemplary, the ir massive scale leaves the visitor dazed, be it the maze of

books in their inventory and library, the study material dispatch centre, video-conferencing rooms, studios for recording sessions, dashboards to monitor different classes, study-centres for contact study. 

The OUI team proudly describes the qualities of an Open University survivor (well, I would say the qualities of any lifelong/ passionate learner ) as: 

Self-disciplined,



Motivated,



Excellent in time management,



Strong in technology,



And knows how to constantly upgrade and update their skills on their own.

Inventory maze of books with a ladder truck, in between – everyone wanted to take a picture!


23

For more reading - http://www.openu.ac.il/Personal_sites/d http://www.openu.ac.il/Personal_sites/download/OUIsrael-ocwc2010.pdf ownload/OUIsrael-ocwc2010.pdf

30

A recording desk, with whiteboard, screen and presentation control.

Learning material packaging and dispatch department.


31

A single dashboard to monitor the different distance learning programmes being conducted in multiple classrooms.

6.7. Higher education and Centres of Excellence To give a more complete picture of education in Israel, here’s a short overview of Israel’s higher

education system and institutions, other than OUI. Institutions of higher education in Israel operate under the Council for Higher Education (CHE) , which is headed by the Ministry of Education. The CHE, which is constituted of academicians, community representatives and a student representative grants accreditation, authorises the awarding of academic degrees and advises the government on development and financing of higher education and research. Another independent intermediary body called the Planning and Grants Committee (PBC) composed of four senior academicians from different fields and two public figures from the business/industrial sector looks into the financial matters (including budget proposals and allocation of budget) and promotes cooperation among various institutions. 70% of the budget for higher education comes from public funds, 20% from tuition and the rest from private sources. The institutions of higher education enjoy full academic and administrative freedom within the framework of their budgets and terms of accreditation.

According to 2011/12 statistics, Israel has 66 higher education institutions – 7 research universities, one open university (OUI), 23 teacher-training colleges, 21 academic colleges, 14 private colleges that are not budgeted by the state. It is incredible how a country so small can produce so many world-class institutions for education and research. OECD’s ‘Education at a Glance 2012’ report revealed that Israel ranks second in ‘world’s most educated countries’ after Canada. 46% of Israeli residents had a tertiary education compared to the OECD average of 31 percent. To give some perspective, India’s Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) currently stands at around 18.8%, with an aim to reach 30% by 2020! This background gives a new dimension to making sense of a few astounding facts and figures on Israel, such as 140 engineers, scientists and PhDs per 10,000 people in the Israeli workforce and highest per capita rate of patents filed in the world! A few of Israel’s top institutes of learning and research have b een outlined here 24: 

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (established in 1924 in Haifa), that has graduated the highest proportion of the country’s engineers, architects and town

planners serves as a major centre for basic and applied research in science and engineering, and includes departments for medicine and life sciences. It has 18 academic departments and 52 research centres 25. Ranking 77th in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2013, their Computer Science department is ranked 18 th in the world. 

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (opened in 1925) is the top university in

Israel according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2013, 59 th best in the world, 17 th in mathematics, 28 th in Computer Science and in the top 100 in Business/Economics. Business/Economics. Offering a range of subjects, the university boasts of several 24

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/education/pages/education-%20higher%20 http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/about israel/education/pages/education-%20higher%20education.aspx education.aspx http://www1.technion.ac.il/en/


25

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things – the world’s largest Jewish studies library ; an elite first Board of Governors that included Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud (neurologist, father of psychoanalysis) , Martin Buber (prominent philosopher, religious thinker, political activist and educator) and Chaim Weizmann (the first President of Israel) , to name a few. Five graduates of the University received the Nobel Prize in the last decade!26 

Weizmann Institute of Science (established in 1934, in Rehovot) is a multidisciplinary research

centre with 1,000 scientists and scientific staff, 1,000 research students, 220 postdoctoral fellows and 400 administrative employees. The institute has five faculties (Mathematics and Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biology), 17 departments, one graduate school and 50 interdisciplinary centres working on multiple fields that include nanotechnology, renewable energy sources, cancer research, brain research, biological physics, genetics, study of auto-immune diseases and so on 27. 

Tel-Aviv University (established in 1956) is Israel’s largest University, and comprises of

nine faculties, 106 departments and 90 research institutes and centres. Another top ranking university, it houses institutes that focus on strategic studies, health systems management, technology forecasting and energy studies28. 

The Interdisciplinary Centre, Herzliya – Established in 1994 by renowned Israeli Professor Uriel Reichman, with the motto of ‘Liberty and Responsibility’, the Interdisciplinary

Centre (IDC), Herzliya, is the first private (non-profit) institution of higher education in Israel. Modelled after the Ivy League schools in the US with the underlying principle of students-as-partners in their own education , IDC offers innovative and challenging interdisciplinary programmes that use advanced technology while keeping a strong focus on improving Israel and Israeli society 29. Other top universities of Israel are University of Haifa, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Bar Ilan University. 


33

26

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_university http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_univers ity,, http://www.arwu.org/ http://www.weizmann.ac.il/pages/facts-and-figures http://www.weizmann.ac.il/pages/facts-and-figures 28 http://international.tau.ac.il/about-tau/discover-tau.html http://international.tau.ac.il/about-tau/d iscover-tau.html 29 http://www.herzliyaconference.org/eng/?CategoryID=4333, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interdisc http://www.herzliyaconference.org/eng/?CategoryID=43 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interdisciplinary_Center_Herzliya iplinary_Center_Herzliya 27

7. Pedagogies & Futuristic lines of thought To advance education, one must advance the pedagogy, the science and art of education. I could not help but applaud the focus and emphasis that Israel ’s education system has towards 21 st century pedagogy and skills. This clearly stood out while talking to a few of the school principals, teachers, representatives from the Ministry of Education E ducation and students.

Critical Thinking

Active Learning

Agility, Adaptability

Problem solving skills

Communicating, Connecting, Expressing

Contextualised knowledge

Collaborative team work

Accessing and Analysing Information

Initiative and Entrepreneuralism

Building blocks of twenty-first century education.

While a lot of thought and action is driven towards technology t echnology and pedagogy, the personal, societal, local and global angle is very much at the epicentre epicentre of the education system. 



Considering the unrestricted, open digital world that even young children have access to, via the internet, Internet Safety is given considerable importance. Children, teachers as well as parents are being taught cyber-etiquette, and are sensitised about content that can be and should not be shared or posted on a public and social forum. Ensuring that children are safeguarded from becoming victims of cyber-bullying and cyber threats and also refrain from being perpetrators themselves, is critical in this age. A video that was shown to us during the sessions, of how a kid who went into depression after being ridiculed by everyone for his appearance, was helped to recover and gain confidence, by a few of his school mates who decided to cheer him up, by posting several encouraging messages about him on social networks was indeed heart-warming. The human factor in technology – This is especially important for the digital immigrants, (teachers and principals born before the digital revolution) who are currently trying to adopt the use of computers and mobiles in their daily life and teaching, not having experienced these technologies in their growing years. Programmes designed for ICT adoption, or for that matter any change should be sensitive to the fact that people are being asked to move out of their comfort zones. People’s needs, positioning and balance should be recognised and defined, an open environment must be created, where internal communication, interpersonal barriers are broken and


34

reservations on uncertainties are mitigated. Only by doing so, can the doors be opened for impactful change. 

Learning and caring for sustainable development – This includes teaching children about

contributing towards a green, sustainable world and understanding ecological hazards. Children are not educated with just a few sessions conducted within the confines of their classroom, but with field activities, assignments and projects in and around their locality. 

Life and career skill support – The Israel Government fully appreciates the fact that a country will have a chance to grow only if it invests in its people . Life and career skills orientation, training and

support for the citizens to promote local and global citizenship and instil a sense of cultural awareness, personal and social responsibility is paramount. 

Simple, but powerful thoughts can help combine the power of multidisciplinary learning and innovation with a sense of social responsibility – for instance, every year, the robotics classes and competitions have a socially relevant theme, this year’s being ‘Helping the Elderly ’. “Tell me and I will forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve Invol ve me and I learn.” - Benjamin Franklin



8. Not without their share of issues No system is perfect; there is always scope for introspection and improvement. Though there are several positives, Israel ’s education system also has its share of issues, which are currently being addressed by the government and stakeholders. The divided school system – Israel is a divided society with ‘divided’ schools – four separate and distinct streams to cater to their different social, religious and ethnic groups. Though it’s not

uncommon to have separate school systems for different cultures (like the madrassas in India), the n o i t a c u d E n i x o B e h t f o t u O g n i k n i h T

35

large segmentation with different teaching structures leads to inefficient management and deployment of teachers and lower student teacher ratios (especially in the state religious and ultra-orthodox schools). This, combined with Israel’s extremely disproportional population growth ( here’s a

comparative birth rate in terms of children per woman of different socio-ethnic-religious socio-ethnic-religious groups: ultraorthodox – 6; modern-orthodox – 2.1; Arabs – 3.1; Bedouins – 5) is having a profound impact on the overall quality of schooling and as a result, on higher education (many students, especially Arab are at a disadvantage due to their inadequate knowledge of Hebrew, the primary language used in higher

education as well as the below-par technical and scientific training in their schools compared to secular schools) 30 and the society as a whole. Performance in international assessments – The performance of their students in international assessments like PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment to assess fifteen year olds in reading, mathematics and science), TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study – given to fourth

and eighth graders), PIRLS (Progress in Reading and "If not addressed, poor educational outcomes – Literacy Study – given to fourth graders) as well as particularly in math and science (78th) – could undermine their own internal assessment, Meitsav is a cause of the country’s innovation-driven innovation-driven competitiveness strategy major concern to many Israelis. In PISA 2009, Israel over the longer term," was ranked 37 in reading, 42 in mathematics and Competitiveness iveness Ranking, 2013 - World Economic Forum Global Competit science, giving rise to several debates on the quality of Israeli school education. The ‘poor ’ ranking was broadly attributed to the effects of socio-economic inequalities (in 2008, 32% of Israeli families had gross income below poverty line 31), inequality in resource allocation to disadvantaged schools (this is on the road to recovery with Israel’s policy for funding based on socio-economic index) and inadequacies and issues in teachers and teaching (inadequate teacher salaries, ‘crowded’ curriculum "We need to deal with education and not only the education system. We can’t allow the education system to be a system obsessively dealing with measurement." - Shai Piron, Education Minister of Israel (quoted in The Times of

Israel, 18 March, 2013)

with insufficient emphasis on mathematics and science, strident teacher unions )32. There are also very valid debates on if this ‘obsession with measurement measurement’’

is indeed justified/ meaningful for quality education! Teacher unions in Israel who fight for teachers ’

rights are a formidable force to be reckoned with. Though they keep the authorities on their toes with respect to new policies, their resistance to change often impedes a few processes that are needed for improvement, like smooth implementation of teacher evaluation, firing of non-performing teachers and so on. However, significant steps towards educational reform are being taken since 2007, when the ‘New Horizon’ programme was launched for primary and lower secondary schools. In 2011, a similar programme called ‘Courage to Change ’ for upper secondary school was also introduced after government negotiations with the teacher union. Apart from addressing the angle of professional development of teachers, the New Horizon programme pr ogramme also: 

Increased the pay scale for teachers and principals;



Provided more autonomy and powers to the Principals in the affairs of the school as well as in hiring and firing teachers. A separate s eparate training college for Principals was also established;



Mandated all primary teachers to acquire an academic degree, within a five-year time frame.

To improve teacher training and quality of teachers, teacher training colleges are ensuring that they choose better candidates with a screening process. Smaller, weaker training colleges are being closed.

30

Education in Israel: The Challenges Ahead, Lawrence Wolff, Elizabeth Breit (May 2012) Ben David, State of the Nation 2009 pp. 41-42. Transfer payments from the state reduce this figure to 19.9%. 32 Education in Israel: The Challenges Ahead, Lawrence Wolff, Elizabeth Breit (May 2012) 31


36

Since periodic and continuous measurement of learning progress is critical for evaluation of the education system and to plan for its improvement, an autonomous institute to measure educational progress, National Authority for Measurement and Assessment ( RAMA – Hebrew acronym) was set up in 2006, based on the principle that ‘assessment serves the learning process’ and not vice versa. To bridge the gap between the various schools, Israel is taking several significant, affirmative actions to help the disadvantaged children (Arab, Druze, Bedouin) – raising their skill in mathematics, science and English, building new classrooms to meet the needs of the growing Arab population, support systems to help reduce school violence, drop-out rate and so on. 


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Israel Education at a Glance Source: Extracts from 18 things to know about Israel Education - http://www.edudemic.com/201 http://www.edudemic.com/2013/06/38110/) 3/06/38110/)

9. Israel and India Israel and India – two countries with vastly different cultures and ethnicities, enormous difference in size and population; one a developed country, the other, a promising developing country. It maybe difficult to imagine that India and Israel have many things in common, but they do! 

Country’s independence and the British angle The story of India’s independence, from the British is a story well known to all of us. The State of

Israel, the first Jewish state in 2,000 years, was proclaimed, not long after our own independence, on 14 May 1948, when the British mandate in Palestine was terminated, following the destruction of a third of the Jewish population during World War II. It’s an interesting aside that Mahatma Gandhi, affected by India’s partition on religious lines, was oppos ed to the formation of the state of Israel – a nation based on religion, Judaism. 

Old civilisation, new country

Though both the countries are only a little over sixty-five years old, they have many stories to tell of civilisations and religions from several thousand years ago; having witnessed the birth and evolution of major cultures and world religions – Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism – and undergone many changes with several invasions and migrations. 

Cultural diversity

India is a melting pot of cultural diversity and traditions – with an astounding assortment of religions, languages, literature, music, dance, art, architecture and lifestyles. Israel is also one of the most multicultural and multilingual societies of the world, due to its immigrant nature – Jews from over a hundred and thirty countries, representing over a hundred different languages have made Israel their home, since the creation of the state of Israel. 

Government and democracy

Both countries have a pluralist, democratic system that accommodates accommodates different communities and viewpoints. For instance, as a constitutionally secular republic, India permits the Muslim community to maintain its own schools and religious practices; the Jewish democratic state of Israel maintains a separate Arab school system and gives Christian, Druze and Muslim religious courts control of family law practices 33. Both countries have several political parties, none of whom enjoy a majority to independently form the government in their respective country. Even the current governments have been formed out of coalitions – in India, it is the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), a coalition of left-wing political parties under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed a coalition with the Yesh Atid, Jewish Home and Movement parties in February 2013. 

Socialistic leanings

The cultural, political and economic structures created during the Yishuv era – revival of Hebrew language, start of self-defence organisations, socialist-structured industrial economic base,

33

From a review of ‘The Challenge of Sustaining Democracy in Deeply Divided Societies’, Ayelet Harel -Shalev (http://www.gvpt.umd.edu/lpbr/subpages/reviews/harel-shalev0211.htm)


38

creation of innovative kibbutz (collective) and moshav (cooperative) farming communities – and factors caused by the conditions faced by Israel when it was formed, heavily influenced its socioeconomic policies for a long time. Public companies and enterprises, initially supported by Jewish capital from abroad helped lay the foundations for the economy that was largely dominated by Histadrut (trade union federation), its associated companies and cooperative enterprises. However, the country later transitioned to a larger degree of privatisation – it’s now a developed country, with an economy built on its strengths in science and information technology, agriculture and medicine34. India, by definition in Preamble of the Indian Constitution is a sovereign, ‘socialist’ (inserted with

an amendment in 1976), secular, democratic, republic. However, in early 1980s, India broke free from the highly regulated socialistic policies that were contributing to corruption and slow economic growth, with significant s ignificant economic reforms. India formally established diplomatic ties with Israel in January 1992 and since then, both countries have enjoyed an extensive economic, military and strategic relationship 35. The bilateral relations extend in areas of military and intelligence ventures, aerospace (India launched a military satellite for Israel through Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO), manufacturing, agriculture, diamond industries and technology (nanotechnology, information technology, biotechnology and water technology). India-Israel trade rose to six billion dollars in 2012-2013. Israel’s relations with India have been growing from strength to strength in the last two decades and

both the countries have identified that the future lies in the intellectual domain. In the last few years, both governments have acknowledged the potential and have taken concrete steps in this direction. Of late, many Israeli universities have started offering a few of their programmes in English for international students. There are several academic and research collaborations as well as joint initiatives between India and Israel:


39



Israel declared 2012 as the Year of Asia in Israel and sponsored a Science Camp that attracted over two-hundred Asian students to join forty Israeli students for a week long programme of lectures by renowned Israeli researchers.



General Scholarships and 100 Post-doctorate Fellowships for Indian and Chinese students – In

addition to scholarships offered to foreign students (including Indian students), Israel funds up to 100 three-year fellowships to outstanding post-doctoral researchers from China and India every year. The amount of a fellowship will be not less than t han NIS 100,000 a year (approx. 30,000 USD) for a period of up to three years. Around eighty researchers have already started their research in Israel (in the academic year 2012/13), thanks to this programme. Majority of these post-doctoral fellows are from India. 

India-Israel Joint Academic Research Programme, 2013 – University Grants Commission (UGC),

India and Israel Science Foundation Foundation (ISF) have launched a 50 million USD joint research funding funding programme for Israeli and Indian academic researchers, funded by the Indian and 34

Israel – An Introduction, Barry Rubin; Yale University Press http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-india-relations-strong-but-low-key-1.258562 http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-ind ia-relations-strong-but-low-key-1.258562

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Israeli governments to boost scientific collaboration in sciences, IT, technology, humanities and agriculture. This five-year joint research plan aims to support around fifty projects annually. Each side will finance the principal investigator of its country up to USD 300,000 for an experimental project, or up to USD 180,000 for a theoretical project for up to three years. Eligibility for submission of proposals and for receiving funds will be decided by UGC and ISF 36. 

India-Israel Industrial R&D Cooperation Framework (i4RD) – The India-Israel initiative for

Industrial Research and Development is a bilateral framework that provides active support for collaborative and commercially focused R&D ventures between Indian and Israeli companies. This is implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) of the Ministry of Science & Technology in India, and MATIMOP, on behalf of the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) in Israel. An agreement was signed between Israel and Karnataka 37 (a marriage of human resources from Karnataka and innovations from Israel) and a similar one is in the works between Israel and Gujarat. 

India’s Tata Group has invested five million US Dollars in Tel Aviv University’s Ramot (their technology transfer company ) to kick-start their Technology Innovation Momentum Fund 38.



It is a well-known fact that Israel is a world leader in agricultural technologies. Israel is already offering some states in India, the technology and know-how to increase yield and diversify its fruit and vegetable crops, as well as milk output. This is set to increase. Israel will help set up 28 centres of excellence in ten states, of which eight will be functional by the end of 2013 39.

India and Israel could also explore conducting formal and customised teacher-exchange programmes (a more rigorous version of the seminar I attended in Jerusalem). Such seminars and workshops can serve as a platform to share best practices and expertise, discuss solutions to issues faced by the two countries as they scale education and adapt it to the needs of the new generation, learn and experiment with project and research-based learning and teaching methodologies. Indian jugaad meets Israeli chutzpah Indian jugaad Creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit are just a few words to describe Indians and Israelis

alike! India with its large work force and Israel, the powerhouse of innovations with its smaller workforce – there are indeed myriad ways to collaborate and work together to address issues ranging from agriculture, irrigation, desalination, food security, renewable energy, education and technology to manufacturing that are still left to be explored. A lot can be learnt from understanding why seventeen of the world’s top technology companies including Microsoft, Google, Intel (started in 1974!), Oracle, IBM, Yahoo!, HP, General Motors and Sears have their R&D centres in Israel. With the threat of India’s demographic dividend becoming a disaster looming large, it is extremely critical that

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A joint proposal can be submitted by an Israeli researcher and Indian collaborator to ISF (www.isf.org.il), (www.isf.org.il), which will transmit an identical copy to UGC. Submissions are open from 1 September 2013 to 6 November 2013. 37 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Israel-Karn http://timesofindia.indiatimes.co m/business/india-business/Israel-Karnataka-ink-pact-to-boost-RD/articleshow/1994 ataka-ink-pact-to-boost-RD/articleshow/19940481.cms 0481.cms 38 http://israel21c.org/technology/indian-conglomerate-puts-its-cash-in-future-israeli-inv http://israel21c.org/technology/indi an-conglomerate-puts-its-cash-in-future-israeli-inventions/ entions/ 39 http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/agriculture/israel-to-help-india-diversifyhttp://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/agricultu re/israel-to-help-india-diversify-fruit-vegetable-crops/article475638 fruit-vegetable-crops/article4756384.ece 4.ece


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we look at out-of-the-box out-of-the-box ways to educate and employ the youth and create the next wave of manufacturing, industrial and green revolution with ‘ Davka’40. And as R Gopalakrishnan, Director, Tata Sons, beautifully puts it, “Indians (like the Israelis) already have three Cs needed for innovation – Challenge, Creativity and Chaos. What is missing is the fourth-C – Channelisation or discipline. This, we can definitely learn from our friends in Israel! ”

10. Reflections During and since my trip, my mind has buzzing with many thoughts – a lot of wow! What if? Why not? Can’t we? Shouldn’t we?


41



Would I have been a different person had I received the kind of education I saw in Israel? Would I have understood the educational concepts better, experimented more, argued and reasoned differently, taken more risks in life, had my education been like the one I had witnessed there? Would I have chosen a different profession, had I the chance to know more about various career possibilities – explore, understand and try out elements of different lines of work?



Why just me, who, in fact, had a reasonable standard of education! How about the many, many children in our country who are not as lucky as me... Wouldn't our children be different, if they are equitably provided such avenues for learning?



This seminar presented a great platform for educators and education administrators to discuss and deliberate on issues, pedagogies, education policies, case studies as well as share and learn new things. Countries like Ghana and Kenya with approximately just 24 and 41.6 million people respectively had five and four representatives each. I was surprised that I was the only representative from India attending this seminar, though teachers from our country could have immensely benefited from this exposure. We should spread the word out about the programmes by MASHAV to more people and encourage more participation by deserving candidates from India.



How can the pedagogies that I witnessed, coupled with best practices, learning from experiences, success and mistakes of other countries be put to use in our country in a contextual manner? What factors of improvement can this have h ave on our country!



In India, one of the oft-emphasised issues is that of scale and diversity. But we are not the only country that faces this ‘issue’ . Without patronising or advocating that everything Israel has done, does or is doing is right, there are many things that we can learn from them. A country that was born just sixty-five years ago and has been built almost from scratch on a largely barren land, Israel has diversity, a large and constant stream of new immigrant population that needs to be integrated, volatile neighbours and a constant threat perception. Despite these challenges, Israelis are constantly finding and implementing ways to deal with adversity, to innovate, provide quality education to everyone and compete with rest of the world.

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Davka is used to describe the response to a threat and means 'in spite of' , or what Indians might term as 'kar ke dikhana hai' (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-12-06/news/27592253_1_chutzpah-david-ben-gurion-innovation) (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-12-06/news/27592253_1 _chutzpah-david-ben-gurion-innovation)



In India, we do have extensive laws and policies on education, great thought leaders and policy makers, exemplary initiatives – the National Policy on Education, Right to Education (RTE) Act that mandates the importance of free, compulsory and inclusive education for children between six and fourteen. Without the intention of being critical, there are many slips between the cup and the lip. Though one cannot make an apple to apple comparison between the two countries, there are definitely a few things that we could learn from them and do better.

11. Recommendations: What India can learn from Israel Three things stand out from Israel’s education system: 

‘Catch them Young’ – T he process of learning for ‘life’ starts from early childhood/ primary school

itself; 

‘Learning by Doing’ – A highly practical and problem-solving approach to learning is followed.

Children are not wary of trying things and not afraid of failure. They are merited for trying! 

‘Spirit of Enquiry’ Enquiry’ – Children are always curious and eager to learn new things. Often enough in this ‘spirit’ is either suppressed or lost in the way, in our education/ upbringing. Israel’s education system nurtures the ‘whys’, ‘hows’ and ‘why nots’ and keeps ‘thinking out of the box’ alive.

Real-world knowledge Ownership & Responsibility

Catch them Young

Learning by Doing

Spirit of Enquiry

Problem solving & Innovation Entrepreneurship skills Life-skills

By adopting these three principles in the Indian context, we can give our education system, our children and youth the much-needed boost. Innovation and entrepreneurship is definitely the way forward for us, and what better place to start from, than the schools with our citizens of tomorrow – effervescent children bubbling with endless ideas, imagination, creativity, enthusiasm and new ways of seeing things, optimistic and unfettered by inhibitions and fear of failure. In fact, the stage for this has already been set with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, 2009 (RTE) Act, with clauses like: 

The right to free and compulsory education for every child in the age group 6-14 in a neighbourhood school till the completion of elementary education;


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‘Inclusive’ admission in schools;



Provision for better infrastructure, improved student-teacher ratio, enhanced role of School Management Committee (SMC);



Not holding back/ expelling a child till the completion of elementary education;



Ensuring all-round development of the child through a system of child-friendly and child-centred learning.

Though certain aspects of the RTE Act, like ‘not conducting exams till the eighth standard ’ have generated a lot of debate and received a lot of flak, these very provisions can serve as the foundation to judiciously build a more meaningful education system. The flexibility of not having to subject children to exams, for instance, can be leveraged to make their learning experience more enjoyable, better and effective – with real-world projects of social significance and innovative experiments instead of examinations that are designed around rote-learning. Schools can also engage with companies and industries in nearby locations to expose and involve children in real-world scenarios and challenges. The fact that the Companies Bill 2012 now mandates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) further opens up more avenues to involve companies to revitalise the education system in our country, for instance.

Companies can ‘adopt’ schools (and colleges) in their radius and contribute according to their capacity c apacity in a variety of ways: 


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Projects, excursions and real-life immersion experiences – Involving

children in projects ranging from crafts to building robots, encouraging them to contribute their ideas and solutions to real-life problems, taking them on field-trips exposing them to different facets relevant to ‘life’ like ecology, agriculture, industry, energy including renewable, technology. Companies can also organise special programmes in Staff of an IT firm at a craft session with special children. collaboration with other agencies or Photo Courtesy: The Hindu Business Line centres. Children can be involved in http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/csr-a-great-leap-forward/article4554892.ece different projects and activities according to their age and interests. What is critical is that they learn to use their hands as well, apart from just their heads . Imagine the world that will open to a child who has visited a water-purification plant, an automobile factory, a small-scale handloom unit, a greenhouse, a wind energy plant, a s olar set-up, an e-waste recycling facility, a glassblowing factory, a food-processing unit, a logistics company or even the insides of a post-office, for instance. And the impact that can be created by following these up with even small experiments that help them delve deeper into how things work!



Skill-development and training – These could be aligned towards the skills and technical training

required by the students to eventually qualify to be employed in the company. Tata Steel, for instance, has even helped coach c oach students for entrance exams for professional courses. 

Infrastructural support – For instance, drinking water, toilets, classroom and furniture, electricity/

lighting, labs, libraries, gardens and playgrounds. 

Community integration – Involve children in social activities, that go beyond cleaning streets or collecting money for an old age home. Can children help transform society? – Yes, in fact, they are

powerful catalysts! They can help adults pick up computer skills or even improve literacy for that matter, help improve the overall consciousness of cleanliness and hygiene by being agents of change in their own family or even community. They can transform the very environment in which they live in, with projects like making their local garden green, saving an endangered species of bird in their area, making their lakes and rivers effluent-free and many more. 

Health and Nutrition support – For instance, nutritional mid-day meals.



Monetary support – Which could include scholarships, free training, books and stationery.



Faculty training – Last but not the least, it’s extremely important to ensure ensure that teachers are involved in involved in these initiatives and also trained to ensure that wheels that have been set in motion

continue to spin and move forward. Teachers, often unfairly blamed for the state of education, need to be able to break-free from monotony and feel energised. They should be invited to regularly participate in industry-interface programmes as well as visit institutions of higher education and research. These will help them develop professionally as well as equip them to design projects around experiment, research and problem-based learning for their students. Once the different stakeholders are aware of the wide canvas for collaboration, learning and innovation, the positive impact that their synergies create will have no bounds.

Children & Youth

Government

Teachers

ORT Israel, Ecological Greenhouse of EinShemer, the schools, eshkols and karevs provide fine examples of how even school children can be involved in different projects and pursuits Family & that go beyond textbooks and classroom Companies Community learning. The educational machinery in Israel is gearing towards creating the global citizens of tomorrow – life-long learners who are adept, confident, self-assured, tech-savvy and responsible, not just for themselves but for their community, country and the world they live in. India, the start-up nation

And why just Israel, even in India, there are several cases of exemplary initiatives by different organisations as well as schools and colleges that strive to improve the quality of education. We need only make people more aware, invest time and resources, scale these initiatives and spread these (in a region-appropriate manner) in every nook and corner of the country.


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Here are a few specific recommendations to recharge our education system, based on what I experienced in Israel.

11.1. Provide a better environment for Learning, Teaching and Growing It’s important to remember that any improvement planned for children should have the child at its

very centre. For effective implementation of the plans, they should be ably supported by the children’s family, school and community 41. Schools should provide a positive and conducive environment for children to learn while having fun with friends. Apart from classroom teaching, activities and games that also take into account factors of safety and health should be integrated, with the support of able and trained staff. The programmes designed for children should ensure social, emotional and physical support; access, inclusiveness, gendersensitivity and personal empowerment42.


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There are many mandates like the RTE Act, frameworks like UNICEF ’s Family, School and Community contribute towards a child’s Child Friendly Schools (CFS)43, which lay down rules as well as welfare. Picture courtesy: UNICEF guidelines to en sure that the ambience is right for children’s all -round development. CFS, for instance, expands on aspects of child safety, sanitation, health, inclusion, education and teaching standards which includes teacher-pupil ratio, the nature of class assignments and so on. We should have a more concrete, measurable framework for our schools to ensure at least a basic level of compliance. Workshops should be conducted for principals, administrators and senior teachers to disambiguate policies and provide them with training to create plans for school improvement along with support to implement them as well as measure their progress and effectiveness periodically – this should CFS in India – a child enjoying a swing, while two children happily await ideally be done before the policies are their turn. Photo courtesy: UNICEF rolled out for them. It is critical to mention here the role that can be played by School Management Committees (SMCs). Section 21 of the RTE Act indicates that SMCs should be constituted in all government, governmentaided and special category schools in India. SMCs have the potential to transform education by involving parents, teachers, local authorities, student representatives, academicians as well as 41

http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Child_Friendly_Schools_Manu http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/ Child_Friendly_Schools_Manual_EN_040809.p al_EN_040809.pdf df http://www.unicef.org/education/index_focus_schools.html http://www.unicef.org/education/index_focus_schools.html 43 http://www.unicef.org/cfs/

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students in the process of education. SMC ’s responsibilities range from making the School Development Plan (SDP) as per RTE guidelines, management and supervision of the school, to accounting, audits and even monitoring the academic progress of children. To ensure rightful and effective participation from stakeholders, RTE has strategically defined the guidelines on SMC composition as: 

75% members from parents and guardians, 50% of which should be women;



25% to be divided amongst representatives from local authorities, school teachers and academicians/ students.

It is, however, important that the formation, constitution, training and functioning of SMCs is ensured by backing them with adequate support, guidance and direction. The active participation, constructive dialogue and collective engagement of stakeholders generated by SMCs can definitely bring about radical change. It’s debatable if ICT is mandatory for quality education in elementary schools. However, in this digital en be introduced to technology at an early stage itself. This will age, it’s only appropriate that childr en help children familiarise themselves with technology when they are most receptive and inquisitive .

Moreover, tablets and computers enable children to consume several free (and paid), digital, interactive learning materials and allow them to learn at their own pace. Also, in a vast country like India, technology is the key to scaling and magnifying the efforts to improve the delivery and quality of education. Schools should move towards providing children (and teachers) access to well-equipped and well-maintained computer labs (owned / shared), classrooms with smart boards, computers and projectors. Relevant ICT resources coupled with supporting pedagogies, well-equipped laboratories for science where children can run experiments rather than only watch them, arts and crafts rooms, a greenhouse, library and a playground are also critical for children’s all-round development. It was impressive to see that many public schools in Israel had uniform access to high-end technology and good infrastructure. Unfortunately, only a few elite private schools in India – a small fraction of the total number of schools in the country – can boast of this. It made me think what a quantum difference it would make to the life of children and teachers, if all government-run (and private) schools in India also had access to these facilities? However, technology by itself cannot make education better. On a related note, the book by Amanda Ripley on ‘The Smar test test Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way’ has interesting insights on how education has been overhauled in countries like Poland, South Korea and Finland, supported by observations made by American teenagers who spent a year as foreign exchange st udents in these countries. Here’s an excerpt from The Economist’s article 44 on the same, ‘Best and Brightest – only a few countries are teaching children how to think’: “… (American teenagers) are startled by how hard their new peers work and how seriously they take their studies. Maths classes tend to be more sophisticated, sophisticated, with lessons that show the often often fascinating ways that geometry, trigonometry and calculus work together in the real world. Students forego calculators, having learned how to

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The Economist, August 17, 2013 - http://www.economist.com/news/book http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21583609-only-few-count s-and-arts/21583609-only-few-countries-are-teaching-children-howries-are-teaching-children-howthink-best-and-brightest


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manipulate numbers in their heads. Classrooms tend to be understated, free of the high-tech gadgetry of their schools back home. And home. And teachers in every subject exhibit the authority of of professionals held in high high regard.”

Coming back to the Indian context, towards setting benchmarks of excellence in schools that other schools can learn from and replicate, the Model School Scheme was launched in November 2008. One school per block level would be assigned to serve as a model school, with respect to infrastructure, curriculum, evaluation and school governance. This, in turn, will help establish high standards of quality and set the pace for other schools in the area. Another programme, ICT @ School was launched in December 2004 to bridge the digital divide between schools by providing them access to ICT resources and by propagating ICT skills. The plan entails setting up ‘smart schools’ in Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas (both run by Government of India under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan ). The working model of Navodaya Vidyalayas 45 (residential schools primarily catering towards nurturing rural talent) is by itself a great template for expansion and replication. According to the Government of India ’s Economic Survey 2012-13 46 (data as of 31 Dec 2012), Model Schools are functional only in 473 schools in Punjab, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand out of the 6,000 planned schools. The PPP component of the scheme that could have helped fast-track its implementation was launched only in 2012-13. During my visit to schools in Israel, and an elite school in Mumbai, we were specifically pointed towards squeaky clean restrooms. Yes indeed, sanitation is a critical aspect of infrastructure that is disregarded in most schools – toilets are often a part of ‘harrowing experiences in school’ tales for many of us. Lack us. Lack of good sanitation facilities in fact causes ‘educational deprivation’ 47 and a large drop-

out of girls from secondary s econdary and high schools 48.

11.2. Empower School Principals


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This point is best illustrated with a true and inspiring story – of the Pisgat Zeev School in Israel that had to fight against many odds to remain open, when faced with competition from new schools in the locality. Now the school stands tall, setting a fine example to many for its great facilities, zealous staff, enthusiastic students and good education. A few years back, the t he Ministry of Education/ Municipality decided to shut down the Pisgat Zeev School since the ‘quota’ of schools for that locality (schools are distributed based on demography in Israel) was being met by new, better schools in its neighbourhood. The Principal of the school (empowered by the New Horizon reform) decided to fight against closure, by innovating and elevating the standard

45 46 47

http://navodaya.gov.in/welcome%20sbs.htm http://navodaya.gov.in/welcome%20sbs.htm http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2012-13/echap-13.pdf http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2012-13/e chap-13.pdf

Educational Deprivation in India: A Survey of Field Investigations, Kiran Bhatty, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 27 (Jul 4-10, 1998), pp 1731-1740 48 http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-07/guwahati/3 http://articles.timesofindia.indiatim es.com/2012-09-07/guwahati/33676003_1_hygiene-water-facility-pro 3676003_1_hygiene-water-facility-proper-toilet-facilities per-toilet-facilities

of her school with excellent infrastructure, better curriculum and superior teaching methodologies. She and her team focussed on:    

Strengthening the school’s curriculum, Their own professional development, Building relationships with industry and Upgrade of school infrastructure – this included smart-boards, computers and projectors for classrooms, relevant educational software and fully functional labs.

They introduced changes like:      

Longer hours in school to extend and enrich children’s learning, English classes from the first grade itself (though it’s mandatory only from fourth grade in Israel), Lessons in ecology, sustainability and reuse with hands-on projects, Group and research projects to promote team work and familiarise children with research methodologies, Programmes to increase reading and class participation and Extensive use of ICT in teaching.

entrepreneurs ’ as well, to expose With the help of industry relations, the Principal started a ‘class with entrepreneurs’ her students to the world of start-ups, innovation and business – involving them in small projects related to product ideation, design, implementation and problem solving. Children were given more responsibility and recognition – good students were encouraged to mentor and teach younger and weaker students; best students in science and technology got four extra hours a week for more studies and experiments free of cost. Democracy and nationalism were also made a part of the education process – campaigns and voting was introduced for selection of school prefects; patriotic connections were strengthened with singing of the national anthem, lessons on Declaration of Independence and programmes centred on days of national importance. The Principal here functioned as an approachable team leader, with the support of her staff, planning and executing the project of ‘school improvement’, with excellent vision, time management and people skills.

Can we give more autonomy and power to the school principals, with action items like creating a ‘School & Teacher Improvement Plan’ ? Creating a competitive environment in public schools, where the principal and staff are encouraged to increase their enrolment, reduce their drop-outs and ‘repeats’ and improve results (which are not measurements of mere academic output, but also sports, participation in inter-school competitions, science fairs, and so on) by working on noteworthy initiatives, improving their infrastructure, teaching and extra-curricular activities, may be instrumental in setting the ball rolling. Given the right nudge, responsibility, training and empowerment, Principals can spearhead positive change in their schools/ colleges as well as the ones in their neighbourhood. Their role and impact can be strengthened by supporting them with special training (institutions), giving them more powers of autonomy within their institution and creating a network of principals who can help each other and share best practices.


“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy j oy in creative expression and knowledge.” - Albert Einstein

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11.3. Professional Development of Teachers Teachers are a critical part of the education process and it’s a well-known fact that “no system can rise above the status of its teacher…” 49. The importance of professional and personal development of teachers can never be over-emphasised. In India, National University of Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA), Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), initiatives under Sarva Shishka Abhiyan (SSA), state-led implementations of Prathmik Shiksha Parishad and pre-service teacher training institutions work on professional development of teachers. Independent set-ups like Azim Premji Foundation and University School Resource Network (USRN) also contribute towards teacher training and educational development. Though it would be incorrect to comment on these programmes without a data-backed study, a few prominent issues in the current system became apparent in my conversations with a few teachers in Maharashtra and their exchanges on a locallanguage discussion forum 50: Upgrade of the curriculum for teacher training to ensure its currency, relevance, contextual utility Upgrade and integration of new technologies is lagging behind; Measurement of Measurement of sufficiency and effectiveness of the in-service training needs needs improvement; gaps in the in-service training and support programmes for teachers on technology, There are gaps pedagogy, teaching, content resources, etc. Many teachers do not have not have access to, or are unaware of good, free/ reasonably-priced, local language content and resources that they can use in their daily teaching and learning.

There are a few pages that we could borrow from the New Horizon programme in Israel. It is a great development of teachers, example of a well-rounded programme with goal-based incentives for ongoing development taking into account teachers’ experience and subject expertise while ensuring that they are aligned with the school’s requirements and outlook . There are criticisms from a few corners on the rigidity of the

process, additional hours of work and so on. However, I believe that criticism is also good, since there’s no scope for improvement without counter viewpoints and arguments. A few thoughts and queries (all not entirely relevant or valid in our context) have crossed my mind: 

Can we create a bouquet of programmes that would be useful for teachers – that consider teachers’ expertise, experience, geography (and hence the socio-cultural, regional and linguistic setting), school requirements and social relevance ? These should include classes on problem and


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project-based learning as well as pedagogies to help teachers teach their subjects with digital resources. Also, these programmes should not be created in silos , by just a few experts, but with a wider participation, involving school staff, parents, community, academicians, NGOs working in education and industry, from across the states, from cities, towns and small villages.

49

Education Commission (1964-66) http://quest.org.in/

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Consider social & community relevance

Recognise and design multiple learning strategies, considering individual and sociocultural and language differences

Facilitate collaboration among educators

Encourage analysis & research

Teacher educators must have experiential understanding of pedagogy

Contextual learning & preparation

Link pedagogical research with the practice of teaching Digital empowerment

Foster multi and cross-disciplinary learning and teaching

Incentivise

Set-up a mentoring network

Emphasise on learning by doing and project-based

Provide autonomy

A few critical components of an effective programme for professional development of teachers. 

Can we tie up teacher training, attendance and course work/ presentation to tangible incentives ? For a teacher to be eligible for promotion (and/or other opportunities), he/she should be mandated to complete a stipulated number of hours of training, project or course work, based on his/her experience and expertise. These, however, should be done without overloading the teacher who is already overworked with various tasks and responsibilities within and outside the context of education. Teachers in many parts of our country, apart from being responsible for hundreds of students across different grades are often deputed to fill in gaps in personnel for administering government programmes like immunisation, survey for national census and election duty at polling stations 51. A randomised experiment 52 on the effectiveness of performance-based bonuses for teachers in India has shown some outstanding results 53 (excerpts below).

Students who had completed their entire five years of primary school educat ion under the programme scored 0.54 and 0.35 standard deviations (SD) higher than those in control schools in math and language tests respectively. These are large effects corresponding to approximately 20 and 14 percentile point improvements at the median of a normal distribution….. distribution ….. Most importantly, these students also perform significantly better on subjects for which there were no incentives – scoring 0.52 SD and 0.30 SD higher than students in control schools on tests in science and social studies (though the bonuses were paid only for gains in math and language). 

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Can we create teacher-buddy programmes , programmes , where teachers from less-privileged/ under-performing schools are given mandatory internships to work with their peers or seniors at ‘better ’ schools? This will give the former an exposure to better teaching practices and technology. It will also help them learn, gain confidence and try out new programmes at their own schools. The concept of model schools (under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan) could also be utilised as a platform for dialogue with experts, mentorship for teachers who often have to work in silos s ilos in far-flung corners of the country and collaboration between private and public schools. Model schools can thus help

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3160 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3160 http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/201 http://marginalrevolution.co m/marginalrevolution/2013/03/shout-it-from-the-rooftops-performance-pay-fo 3/03/shout-it-from-the-rooftops-performance-pay-for-teachers-in-india.html r-teachers-in-india.html 53 http://econ.ucsd.edu/~kamurali/papers/Working%20Papers/Long%20Ter http://econ.ucsd.edu/~kamural i/papers/Working%20Papers/Long%20Term%20Effects%20of%20Teacher%20Perform m%20Effects%20of%20Teacher%20Performance%20Pay.pdf ance%20Pay.pdf

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fast-tracking the process of replicating good educational practices by serving as torch-bearers and

facilitators for other schools in their locality. 

Block Resource Centres, Urban Resource Centres and Cluster Resource Centres in collaboration with District Institute of Educational Training (DIET) centres in India currently provide continuous

academic support to schools through teacher training, meetings for academic consultations, reviews. However, they need to be recharged with deployment of additional resources, simplification of a few processes, use of technology, training and learning from best practices in other states to overcome a few of the current issues 54. They could play an extremely critical role in

aggregating best practices and measuring, monitoring and streamlining s treamlining the functioning of schools. 

Can we ensure that every teacher is digitally literate and is provided with a laptop/ tablet with internet connectivity? Digital literacy stresses on the ability to use digital devices to discover, access and analyse information as well as create, communicate and collaborate. This will enable teachers to effective use technology to plan, create and deliver lesson plans, videos, course presentations, class projects and assignments.



A vibrant self-help and discussion network of teachers, principals, academicians and entrepreneurs (who can help create apposite projects for students and provide an industry/ reallife problems perspective) can go a long way in giving the much needed impetus to social integration, collaboration and development of all the stakeholders. Seeding such a network with expert input and engagement will also be critical to success – experts should unfailingly allocate time every day to reply to queries, encourage discussions, introduce new topics and share resources.

11.4. Digitisation of learning material The merits of digitisation are well known. E specially when it comes to children’s education, digitised and online learning material should go beyond being just a plain and boring digital version of its hardcopy-counterpart. A good digital learning resource should be appealing, enriched with relevant, engaging, multimedia content, meaningful interactivity and should tickle the learner’s imagination and inquisitiveness. It should facilitate better self-paced, personalised learning with assignments and support social-learning and collaboration. n o i t a c u d E n i x o B e h t f o t u O g n i k n i h T

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I could not help but compare the educational digitisation efforts of Israel and India . Israel’s Ministry of Education is working on digitising all its educational material, including textbooks and assignments with the help of multiple experts like CET – they are, in fact, going the extra mile and creating as many as six options of digital content for schools to choose from. These digital resources would be made available for schools, teachers and students for free. Citing a few examples in India : the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NME-ICT) and National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) have been instrumental in integrating technology and high quality content in education for 54

http://teacher-ed.hbcse.tifr.res.in/documents/brc-crc-guidelines http://teacher-ed.hbcse.tifr.res.in/documents/b rc-crc-guidelines

students as well as teachers – be it in using ICT to scale teacher training programmes, software and tools for rich media content creation including videos, free and open video lectures by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) professors in different engineering streams, virtual labs to help colleges that do not have access to high quality infrastructure, Spoken Tutorials as self-study tools to teach different open source technologies (like Linux, MySQL, LaTeX, PHP, Java, C/C++) via video lessons, available in multiple vernacular languages. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has made many school textbooks available online 55 – they can be viewed directly from the website or downloaded for offline use. The online versions are, however, just scanned versions of the school textbooks, with a hyperlinked table of contents. Unfortunately, these digital versions are not free from errors either – with issues like page not found, partially snipped images/ text due to poor quality scanning. C-DAC has also made a noteworthy attempt by consolidating a few learning lessons for primary school children in regional languages – these are available in India Development Gateway portal56. Focussing on the self-study market, iProf India Limited has launched a tablet-based education delivery platform called iProf for for Android phones and a large digital library, TheDigiLibrary.com. Both these products offer a large repository of educational resources, including free content – audio/ video lectures, K-1257 school curriculum learning materials, evaluative practice questions for test preparations (like IIT-JEE, CAT, GMAT, IAS) and even vocational courses. Another interesting initiative is that of InOpen Technologies , which offers computer science education (ComputerMasti) in a ‘fun’ way at the school level. However, to be able to cater to the unmet needs – free, quality content for K-12 in all regional languages, non-engineering streams in higher education, to name a few – of a Aggregate With public-private the best large percentage of our population, we resources collaboration and efforts have a long journey of extensive planning and innovative execution ahead of us. A formal, Government-funded initiative that consolidates best practices and open learning resources from across the world and our own country (with local- and

With regional, sociocultural context and examples

context-specific inputs and customisation as needed – boosting the almost obscure Sakshat58 portal) can help fast-track the process of making rich, quality digital content available for our children, teachers, schools and colleges . This would

Local language emphasis

Resources should be free, open, reusable & extensible

Made available across different modalities computer, tablets

Pointers that would be crucial while creating an extensive usable, open, digital resources plan.

be in addition to any traditional investment on building new customised learning resources. There are many players in the market who create (digital) educational content, a few excellent, a few mediocre, and some below par. A semi55

NCERT Online textbooks - http://ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/ http://ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/textbook/textbook.htm textbook.htm India Development Gateway Portal - www.indg.in 57 KG to 12th standard 58 Sakshat Portal (under NME-ICT) - http://www.sakshat.ac.in/ 56


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regulated and mutually beneficial arrangement between the Government and private service/ content providers (after ascertaining quality and skill-set) could foster and fast-track the process of creating quality, contextual and relevant content that can be equitably made accessible to all. It’s important that the new and existing resources are made available to all stakeholders in an open, standard format , so that they can be reused appropriately; this can also help create new models of content delivery and opportunities for collaboration and innovation. A clear, time-bound roadmap should be charted out , so that there are clear deliverables and milestones that can be monitored.

11.5. Mandating ‘Early education’ education ’ Research indicates that the human brain is most receptive to learning between birth to three years , and quality early education in these formative years up to the age of six, contributes positively towards favourable cognitive, language, social and emotional growth 59,60. It is important that children get sufficient nutrition, nurture, and stimulus towards well-rounded development at this stage. A few studies like HighScope Perry Preschool Study 61, Abecedarian Project 62 and by James J. Heckman 63 indicate that intelligence and social skills developed at an early stage are essential to success. In fact, these studies have shown that early childhood education yields significant long-term benefits for the individual. The social benefits translate to greater high school completion rates, lesser remedial/ special education, higher lifetime earnings and healthier lifestyles for the individuals and lower crime rate, and remedial education/ ‘filling -the-gap’ spend for the government. Lessons from Heckman’s Equation (though done for USA) are useful for every country. In Israel, Australia and many countries in the West, for instance, reforms have been made to make early education mandatory with emphasis on quality and training of staff.


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In educational and developmental Tresources for S disadvantaged Efamilies to Vprovide equal N I access to successful early human development.

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Cognitive and social skills in children early P(from birth to Ofive) when it L matters most E V E D +

Rates of return to human capital investment at different ages vs Return to an extra dollar at various ages. Source: James Heckman, www.heckmanequation.org

Eary development with effective education N I through Aadulthood T S U S +

More capable and valuable citizens that will pay dividends to the N I country (America) Afor generations G =

The Heckman Equation

John Hopkins University, Early Learning - http://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/early_l http://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/early_learning/ earning/ Infancy and the Developing Brain, by Eric Jensen - http://www.education.com/reference/articl http://www.education.com/reference/article/infancy-developing-brain/ e/infancy-developing-brain/ 61 HighScope Perry Preschool Study - http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentId=219 62 The Carolina Abecedarian Project - http://projects.fpg.unc.edu/~abc/ 63 The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children - http://jenni.uchicago.edu/papers/Hec http://jenni.uchicago.edu/papers/Heckman_Masterov_RAE_2007_v kman_Masterov_RAE_2007_v29_n3.pdf, 29_n3.pdf, http://www.heckmanequation.org/

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Understanding and appreciating the significance of early education, it is imperative that India also moves towards prioritising mandatory, quality, early education . We have a brilliant, well-functioning concept of Anganwadis that effectively works towards early childhood healthcare and basic pre-school education. Could this framework be strategically expanded and augmented to SPICE-up a young child’s development – by promoting the child’s Social, Physical, Intellectual and Creative abilities, while ensuring their Emotional well-being?

11.6. Inspirations from Eshkol, Open University of Israel, Ecological Greenhouse How many of us have selected an undergraduate course, only because our parents or seniors told us so, or it was considered as one of the more employable ‘qualifications’, or was perceived as the ‘coolest’ thing to do, or the ‘easiest’ one to get admission into, against what we thought our interests were? How many of us have not even explored what our ‘real’ interests are! I would think many... After visiting an Eshkol and interacting with a few high school students, I could see that the children in Israel’s senior schools have an excellent opportunity to explore subjects in depth, work on inter- and multidisciplinary experiments with the guidance of experts and people from diverse subject backgrounds and dabble in various fields of science and art . This helps them unravel their true interests and take a more informed decision on their next pursuits – what subjects they would like to pursue further, what highlights of of Israel’s education and professions they would enjoy and so on. To me, this was one of the highlights support system that throws open a wide variety of learning and career options to the young and spirited minds.

The Ecological Greenhouse is another fantastic institution where children work together, learn and explore freely without bounds in an open, friendly and experiment-rich environment in close proximity with nature. The signs of an evolved and mature education system are also evident in Israel’s higher education system, the Open University for instance – students here have an option to choose a flexible study path, by taking multiple, different courses before deciding on a ‘degree’. An extensive parallel support system for children (learning and observations from Chapter 6 ) to foster their curiosity, eagerness to learn and know more, experiment and try out new things, interact with peers from varying backgrounds, while strategically bringing together the elements of environment, community and enterprise is what our children need, outside of the deadlines-assignments-continuousevaluation-intensive schooling . Instead of taking children only on regulated trips to the museum, zoo or park, or mandating a restrained SUPW (Socially Useful Productive Work) class every week, can we offer them more out-of-the-box experiences – in free, secure and guided spaces where they can explore by themselves, and use their hands for different activities and experiments? Yes, of course we can, and

we should. I am in touch with a few children from the Eshkol, the one where children were working on enhancing their school yard, cleaning it, setting up a water pool, p ool, planting saplings to attract different animals and birds that can coexist. Recently the children completed the first phase of their plan, there's a video of this on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09dS7ReBj1k). Their experiments look at analysing


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the different microorganisms microorganisms in the pool, the birds b irds and animals that are visiting their schoolyard and so on. The chil dren’s enthusiasm, eagerness and curiosity are indeed infectious. In India, institutions like National (Jawahar) Bal Bhavan 64 aim at enhancing the physical, creative and innovative potential of children by offering several extracurricular programmes in a barrier-free environment. There are also a few schools and motivated teachers who independently design and run special, after-school programmes, enrichment programmes aimed at unlocking and nurturing the creative, analytical, critical thinking and experimenting sides of children (like Mindsprings65). Can we

create more such institutions of excellence that can be availed by a large majority of our children? Can we partner and collaborate with schools, institutions and private enterprises that currently run such programmes, to make these more equitably available, affordable and accessible to a large number of children, from different schools and backgrounds, including the less privileged municipal schools?

11.7. Think ‘New New’’, ‘Long-term Long-term’’ While we are still in the process of deliberating and partially implementing the use of computers and tablets in schools – by teaching students word processor, spreadsheets, presentation software and a smattering of programming languages in schools, giving away free/ subsidised tablets (Aakash) to children – Israel has upgraded their classroom infrastructure to include high-tech equipment, introduced robotics, hard-core electronics, earth sciences and nanotechnology in their curriculum. In fact, Israel is pioneering several initiatives around the globe on Nanotechnology, like NANOCHANNELS is a joint initiative to design and undertake a programme of NANOChannels, NanoEIS. communication, dialogue and engagement in


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Without overtly obsessing over Robotics as a subject, I must issues of nanotechnology (NT), where ORT, Israel is the coordinator. admit that I was impressed with the integration of robotics in the school curriculum. Children do not have to go to expensive training centres outside the school system to learn robotics, for instance – schools, Karevs and Eshkols are An EU-funded project, NanoEIS catering to all-round development of children. Robotics is not new Nanotechnology to children in India; we have students from (mostly) private and Education for national schools competing in national and international Robotics Industry and Society 66 competitions, centres like Children’s Technology Workshop , Robosapiens67 that offer workshops and courses for children to learn robotics, Robosoft Systems that provides DIY kits and accessories to ‘change the world with automation’ 68. But we need to think how we can make this accessible to more children, cutting through the social divide, be they from a public or private school, residing in a rural hamlet or an urban city.

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National Bal Bhavan - http://nationalbalbhavan.nic.in/ http://nationalbalbhavan.nic.in/index.asp index.asp Mindsprings – catering to gifted children and the learning disabled – http://www.mindsprings.in 66 https://sites.google.com/a/stemroboticsindia.com/robotics-institute/ oticsindia.com/robotics-institute/ Children’s Technology Workshop - https://sites.google.com/a/stemrob 67 Robosapiens, India - http://www.robosapiens-india.com/ 68 Robosoft Systems - http://www.robosoftsystems.co.in/ 65

While acknowledging India’s efforts in the right direction with good policies and schemes like Rashtriya Prathmik Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan, ICT @ School that are paving the way for sustainable development and capacity building, there are a several implementation areas where we need to take giant strides. As a nation, we should go back to the drawing board and rethink long-term – how to integrate the technologies of ‘tomorrow’ and not just ‘today’ in education, and effectively bridge the gap that exists between academia and industry as well as society . The good part is that we do not have to do all the hard thinking ourselves! And in fact, we should not try to reinvent the wheel (apart from making it suitable for our roads); we should discuss with more experts from around the globe, establish partnerships, collaborate, adapt and adopt the next-generation subjects, projects and courses in our country. The systems we have should be independently appraised and enhanced periodically. A setup like ORT where we depute top performing teachers and academicians – representative of our rich and diverse background and expertise – from across the country (and partnering countries) to brainstorm, review the education system, analyse, confer and join forces with peers from industry and other countries in a dedicated manner to help drive the change could work wonders for the system.

11.8. Vocational Education in Israel The economy needs qualified and adept technicians, gardeners, plumbers, good carpenters, nurses, craftsmen and mechanics as much as it needs its doctors, engineers, architects “The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a and accountants. Yoel Rothschild, Head humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy of Research and Development Centre because it is an exalted activity will have neither good at ORT, mentioned that Israel faced a plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its few issues with respect to their theories will hold water.” vocational education a few years back. - John W Gardner Secretary of Health, Education and But they worked on an effective plan to Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson, USA address the root cause of their problems, and now with better integration of skills training in their education process , apart from scientists, engineers and doctors, they have also developed the ‘mid -power’ people who can run the production line of industries. People’s perceptions have changed as well, vocational jobs garner more respect and it is no longer considered as just a safety net . ,

In India, the National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) has been set up to integrate vocational education in school and higher education, and look at principles and guidelines for vocational education, central, state and a few community-industry schemes. There are other formal and informal initiatives underway with the support of NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation)69 as well as independent initiatives like Vigyan Ashram70, PARFI71 (PanIIT Alumni Reach for 69

National Skill Development Corporation - http://nsdcindia.org/ - http://nsdcindia.org/ Vigyan Ashram - http://vigyanashram.com/ http://vigyanashram.com/ 71 PanIIT Reach for India - http://www.parfi.org/ 70


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India). However, there are problems and opportunities that need to be addressed, like under-utilisation of the vocational education options available at secondary school, lack of qualified teachers, prevention/ reduction of drop-outs, identifying and assisting drop-outs to attend courses that will skill them for better jobs, utilising ‘idle -time’ of technical institutions to run skill -development courses and increasing participation of private and industry players . Excerpts from an interview with S. Ramadorai 72, the

Advisor to the Prime Minister in the National Council for Skill Development since February, 2011, talks of the huge and complex skilling challenge that our country faces. Though I did not get to learn more about the process of change in vocational education and employment, I am certain that we can benefit by adapting relevant systems and changes that are taking place in Israel, in our country.

11.9. Harness the power of mobiles and latest technology With an endeavour like Aakash, that has the lofty goal of empowering every child (and teacher) with a tablet which can be used as a personal device for learning, with access to multitude of rich, digital educational resources, one cannot for a moment doubt our Government’s laudable effort to ride the new wave of capitalising on change agent devices that have the potential to transform the way education is delivered and consumed . The Aakash tablet However, considering the time it has taken to effectively deliver on this promise, with several hiccups on the way and more hurdles to cross (apart from recent news like, speculations on scrapping the Aakash project73, penalty to the service provider for late delivery of consignment 74, talking about an Aakash-3 when neither Aakash nor School children trying out Aakash tablets at a conference. Aakash-2 has seen the ‘true’ light of day75), my head is rife with thoughts:


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Should we really stick to only Aakash, when the whole world is shifting to the concept of BYOD (Bring your own device)? Even M.M. Pallam Raju, the Minister of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) appears to have endorsed this when he said “Let’s not get obsessed with hardware. The overall (issue) is how we enable students. Let the students decide which device is useful … 76 Government’s role is that of an enabler .” An arrangement where the Government provides subsidies

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http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/s.ry/s.‘This year we will fall short of the target’, S. Ramadorai on the national skillin g challenge - http://businesstoday.intoday.in/sto ramadorai-on-skills-gap-in-india/1/193110.html, March 31, 2013 ramadorai-on-skills-gap-in-india/1/193110.html, March 73 http://www.livemint.com/Politics/fmEi8gsOSFgOzSTFfLsw6J/Gov ics/fmEi8gsOSFgOzSTFfLsw6J/Govt-almost-gives-up-on-Aakash-says t-almost-gives-up-on-Aakash-says-no-noGovernment’s yo-yo on Aakash - http://www.livemint.com/Polit point-in-hardware-ob.html 74 IIT slaps delay penalty on Aakash 2 supplier - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/iit-slaps http://www.indianexpress.com/news/iit-slaps-delay-penalty-on-aakash-2-supplier/11 -delay-penalty-on-aakash-2-supplier/1103061/ 03061/ 75 Aakash 3 - http://www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/ http://www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/464831/20130506 464831/20130506/datawind-aakash3-tablet-india-price-launch-su /datawind-aakash3-tablet-india-price-launch-suneet.htm neet.htm 76 Pallam Raju on BYOD concept - http://www.livemint.com/Pol http://www.livemint.com/Politics/fmEi8gsOSFgOzSTFfLsw6J/Gov itics/fmEi8gsOSFgOzSTFfLsw6J/Govt-almost-gives-up-on-Aakash-says-no t-almost-gives-up-on-Aakash-says-no-point-in-hardware-ob.html

for ‘tablet’/ ‘computer’ integration and lets the student/ school/ teacher select a device best suited s uited to their needs could work better (recommendations could however be given). The free and open educational resources that are made available to schools and colleges should be designed and developed to work across devices and form-factors. Apart from the issues and limitations experienced in the Aakash versions so far, (IIT-Bombay is working on testing and creating new applications for it) which includes concern over support for regional languages, challenges related to device guarantee, repair, maintenance, training, support for new version updates will come to the fore with the formal roll-out of the device across the country. Do we have the infrastructure, network and trained staff to ensure that this is taken care of? I am not so sure. Though One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) 77 did not see the uptake that it deserved in India, it is an exemplary device that makes learning and collaboration extremely simple and enjoyable and defies many adverse situations – it is sturdy and resistant to fall, easy-to-repair-in-rare-cases-where-it-may-have-issues (even children can repair them, if needed) and is designed to consume very little power with innovative charging options (regular battery, solar and hand crank).

hardy use and self-reliance, being a core philosophy.

An Indian child proudly demonstrating learning Hindi alphabets in the XO-PC at Khairat.

Photo courtesy: blog.laptop.org

Photo courtesy: greatnonprofits.org

Children’s workshop to repair the OLPC’s XO PC,

More @ http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_India/DBF/Khairat_Chronicle

In a session on using mobile applications in education led by Bonnie Perlman, Senior Instructional Designer at Plarium Education 78, we went through interesting exercises of evaluating mobile applications' suitability for children, in different contexts – like age, learning purpose, subject. The process was guided by an extensive checklist and scorecard. I remembered the many checklists I have used during software design, testing, release management and so on, and wondered if we mandated such processes for assessment and evaluation before implementing software and new pedagogies in schools. Adhering to processes like these ensure that irrespective of the vendor or evaluator, the software children use will conform to requirements, be relevant, useful and of reasonable quality. In fact, this does not apply to only software; hardware and other tools used should also be checked for usability and utility under different conditions – be it a user

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One Laptop Per Child, OLPC – XO - http://one.laptop.org/

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Plarium Education, where Bonnie Perlman who conducted a session on ‘Mobile applications in education’ works -


http://www.plariumed.com/

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from a rural village who has limited access to electricity, or no access to internet, or a user who can read/ write in only his/ her mother language.

Picture of one of an ‘Application Evaluation Rubric’ that we used during the seminar that

graded applications from one to four on aspects like:  Curriculum connection  Authenticity  Feedback  Differentiation (flexibility to be modified)  User friendliness  Student motivation These are detailed and fool-proof mechanisms to truly assess applications before using them for education.

There are sites like apptivities 79, which focus on activities/ application of mobile applications giving children interesting assignments and exercises to tingle their sense of creativity, inquiry, logic, analysis, and so on. Can we integrate these in our teaching-learning? There are many mobile/ tablet applications that are suitable / created for people with special needs – this could be explored further and used in India as well, where not used. ALEH80 (Israel's network of facilities for children with cognitive and physical disabilities) has a unique programme that uses Virtual Reality to help children. Simulated environments provide children with motor and cognitive limitations the ability to interact freely with different elements from nature and life with several therapeutic benefits. PlayStation games and activities, iPad applications and adaptive switches are also put to many uses at ALEH – to learn colours and shapes, communicate with family, overcome motor disabilities with eye control and so on.


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A child learning how to play the guitar with the help of an iPad application.

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A child exploring nature – grass and flowers with a virtual reality simulation. Photos courtesy: www.aleh.org

Fun applications and exercises with mobile applications, Apptivities - - http://www.apptivities.org/ ALEH, Israel’s Network of facilities for children with cognitive and physical disabilities - http://www.aleh.org/eng/news.asp?AID=566

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11.10. Localisation in IT – Hebrew Hebrew, the official language of Israel is truly the official language of the country – be it in conversations and announcements, signboards, books or even computers. The first thing you will notice is the right-t0-left flow of text and instructions – you will find the all familiar Start icon of Microsoft Windows in the bottom-right corner of the monitor, the Facebook menus in the right, for instance. And this is not all, all the applications and their functions are all in Hebrew! Even for one moment, an Israeli won’t feel that he/she can’t operate a computer because he/she does not know English. Language is not a barrier to scientific s cientific thinking, innovation or development . IT in Hebrew is so

pervasive and well-implemented! well-implemented! Why can it not be so for Indian languages? We in India, with several vernaculars, have made significant progress with respect to local language computing, but we have miles to go when it comes to standardisation and comprehensive implementation. Imagine what a difference it would make to our majority, if learning, development and scientific discovery in this information technology age could blossom unhindered by the need to know English.

11.11. Education Support Technologies If any country is in dire need of solutions for automation of the above and more, it's India, with a large population of over 1.27 billion 81 people. It is easy to short-sightedly jump to a conclusion that smaller volumes can be managed manually without investing in automation. However, though the number of students and teachers involved in the education system in Israel is much lower than in India, Israel is working on automating multiple functions like assignments and evaluation, class management, calendar, announcements, so that quality time can be spent on other value-adds . Collaboration tools are being developed and deployed to ensure seamless communication, information sharing and networking. Inspiration can also be drawn from the clever use of technology and automation in Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) that are being conducted by edX, Coursera, Udacity for instance. Technical process reengineering and automation is the need of the hour for us to be able to scale and ease the task of teachers who have to work on multiple fronts – from lesson planning, teaching,

designing projects and tests, correcting assignments and examination papers of hundreds of students (in many cases) on a regular basis to being a mentor to students and organising events for the school. We should integrate e-portfolios, learning plans and Personal Learning Environments in our educational technology implementations. We have to create and make available an environment for online collaboration among teachers and students. There are several free and open source options that are available to implement the above, including assignment evaluation, e-books with features like bookmarks and annotations, grade-books, online forums and discussion boards, content management for learning material. We should review, customise and implement them for our schools and colleges, without necessarily trying to reinvent the wheel. Implementations and best practices should also be shared across networks and executed with the help of agencies for speedy roll-out. 81

Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & I nformation Technology http://www.dot.gov.in/sites/default/files/rs/population.pdf


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11.12. Inspiration from sessions that will stay with me forever We had a wonderful session called Creativity in Science by Dr. Oved Kedem. Oh! Who wouldn’t love to have him as their Physics teacher! In his class, we were all transformed into children playing with pinhole cameras made from paper cups, working on experiments to ‘hear without our ear ’ (by holding a pencil wound with magnet and coil connected to a music system between our teeth), ‘see sound ’, by connecting a microphone to Audacity and viewing the sound wave on the computer screen and so much more. Just one session like this, and you start looking at science in a way you have never before, opening your mind to think differently and uncovering new possibilities while having fun. We have wonderful Listening to music with ears shut! people in India like Arvind Gupta, who has popularised 82 science with concepts like toys from trash , initiatives like Chai and Why83 (jointly organised by Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Prithvi Theatre) that makes relevant science and technology more accessible, engaging and interactive. Also many major cities have excellent Science Museums and Planetariums, like the Bloomfield Science Museum 84 in Israel, for instance. Can we make these more known and accessible to everyone; unleash a larger movement that ties in fun and experiments with teaching and learning and reach it out to more children ? Dr. Osnat Dagan, Head of ICT, Beit Berl gave us an overview of Technical Education for All and Evaluation and Development of Thought and ePortfolios in Israel. Apart from the main subject


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matter of the session that I have shared in this report, Bloomfield Science Museum – an entire section dedicated she gave us an exercise of building a tower with towards explaining water wastage and recycling. straws and cello tape, within a stipulated time, that would be strong enough to hold a bottle of water on top; the team that built the tallest tower that can balance the bottle without falling would win. It was incredible how, like school children, we brought out our latent (non-existent) skills of architecture, physics and chutzpah to build a straw tower that couldn’t be ‘huffed puffed and blown away’.

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Arvind Gupta, Toys from Trash - http://www.arvindguptatoys.com http://www.arvindguptatoys.com// Chai and Why - http://www.tifr.res.in/~hbbccc/chai.php 84 Bloomfield Science Museum Museum in Israel - http://www.mada.org.il/en, with excellent demonstrations of Israel’s water recycling process, water wastage, solar panels and several science experiments for children to engage in, with self-help material / self-explanatory set-ups.

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We took home more than we expected in a lecture by Daniel Segre on the Human Factor in Technology, where apart from technology and human factors, we laughed as Daniel regaled us with stories of cross-cultural differences (how, for instance Daniel’s team in South America

thought that he was very cold, when he greeted them with a formal handshake on his first day at work instead of a warm hug, having gotten accustomed to the European culture), reflected on human touches in management – how subordinates perform better if they feel they have a safety-net in the set-up, with support

Yippee! We made a wobbly tower of straws for the water-bott le!

from the boss – and listened in dumbfound reverence while he talked briefly about how they performed psychological evaluations in the Israeli army. The session by Dr. Ariela Magen-Nagar on ‘Saving the Lifesaver’ Lifesaver ’: Burnout Risks and Burnout Prevention came as a balm to many.

The questionnaires and group discussions revealed that most of us were in a profession that we loved, which was great; however, a large number of us got a high ‘burnout score’! Such is the lifestyle these days – coping up with constant interrupt-processing and schedule A team huddle – I think we were learn learnin in Hebrew Hebrew!! overhauls, increased stress and workloads, working over weekends without a break, managing work pressures along with domestic responsibilities and fitnessdietary compromises. We ran through a list of things that could help us unwind, reduce stress and avoid burnout that I am sharing here. Another interesting session was on Creative Thinking by Dr. Janet Jino, where we played with words, pictures, patterns, and ideas, learnt to think in many ways, and challenged ourselves to express creatively. How often do we resign to conforming to rules and conventions and suppress creativity and free expression in ourselves and in children. By giving a space, an encouraging platform and nudges in the right direction, creativity can be taught as well as nurtured . Mr. Yoel

Suggestions to prevent burnout.


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Rothschild of ORT narrated a story of how his art teacher at school had snubbed his painting skills saying, “You!! You will never be a painter. ” A few years back, he went to an artist at a community centre, saying he wanted to learn how to paint. This art teacher, just gave him stationery, colours and brushes, a corner to work, and asked him to keep painting without even bothering to check what he was doing for over a month. And, when he finally came to see him, he just exclaimed, “You paint well! You don’t need a teacher… Y teacher… You ou just need to believe in yourself.” Can we give children in India a taste of this?

I could go on and on about my experience and thoughts... Whatever I have written here is not to say that our education system is in shambles, and everything is bright and cheerful in Israel. But yes, we could definitely do with a few breakthroughs, changes in the right direction, a few realignments and revamps, teacher empowerment, integration of technology and effort, more independent support organisations for holistic development and people like you and me to help create change and BE the CHANGE.... Can we do it, YES, OF COURSE!!


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One of my favourite photographs, taken during our trip to Nazareth – green meadows, open skies, rays of light and cheer…

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Annexure 1. MASHAV and A. Ofri Centre It is important that I at least briefly outline the organisation and team behind the extraordinary course that I attended and many other exemplary initiatives. MASHAV is Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . MASHAV’s philosophy is to encourage professionals from the developing world to find their own solutions to development issues and adapt them to the reality of their countr y’s own specific needs and potential. p otential. They are guided by the internationally agreed principles of aid effectiveness such as demand driven programmes, country ownership, improved coordination and more85. Across their different centres, they run professional programmes on topics ranging from climate change, agriculture, food security, human capacity building, education, e-governance, social media to women’s development and have trained over 2,70,000 people from across the world since

inception. MASHAV organises programmes in primarily three different formats: 1. Training in Israel – Seminars like the one I attended. The calendar is published by the Embassy, MASHAV and respective centres. Eligible candidates can apply for these courses via the Embassy. 2. On-the-spot courses – A specific course or training can be requested to any of the different centres via the Embassy to be held at the requestor’s country. The centre co -ordinates with relevant experts, while the requestor arranges for the participants (including the training facilities), stay, food and airfare for the experts. 3. Consultancies, Tailor-made programmes – In this scenario, the participating country can plan programmes with MASHAV and conduct them in collaboration. The participants pay for their travel (or get scholarships from their country) and MASHAV covers the participants’ cost of stay, transport and expenses for the professionals. The centre that organised the programme that I attended was the A. Ofri International Training Centre, established in 1989 to focus on: 

Education, technology and science,



Education and community,



Adult Education,



Special issues (like, youth at risk – preventing dropouts, drug abuse, etc.; rural education).

Tikkun Olam – Olam – Heal Heal the World

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

What’s also praise-worthy is that the A. Ofri International Training Centre was staffed with just four

efficient, insightful and passionate people who took on tasks from designing, coordinating and conducting courses to impeccably managing multiple programmes with their personal touch throughout the year – Director Yudith Rosenthal, course coordinators Tracy Adams and Damien Filut,


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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashav htt p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashav

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and secretary Noa Karazi. During our seminar, there was one concurrent seminar that was being conducted for La tin Americans in Spanish, ‘ Capacitación de Educadores en Áreas de Pueblos Originarios’. This only proves the fact that you do not need too many people to seed change, even just a few people with the right vision, drive and focus can create a world of difference. I did briefly wonder during the first few minutes of the course: “how are so many different people

from different countries, cultures and backgrounds speaking different languages going to bond and live, learn and work together for four weeks?” I did not have to wonder for for long – the ice-breakers, group exercises and discussions shepherded by our very able course coordinator, Tracy, broke the imaginary social fetters and everyone became one big, happy family. Little things like being assigned a personal ceramic mug throughout the course (to be environment friendly by not using disposable paper cups), appointing two monitors every week to ensure uninterrupted hot beverages supply, s upply, class punctuality and taking attendance, especially during field trips (I loved being the class monitor for a week), creating a newsletter for the course were thoughtful touches that we all appreciated. A grand cultural night where all participants from different countries showcased their culture – singing, dancing and sharing souvenirs was the highlight for everyone; for India, the public request was ‘Bollywood’. If only I could describe in words, my emotions and excitement when, everyone danced animatedly to the ‘Rang De Basanti’ title track song (it went on to become everyone’s favourite high energy song and dance routine). Apart from f rom the professional boost, every member went back to their respective homes feeling more connected, recharged and socially enriched .


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The Grand Family of MASHAV Students at the Cultural Night – 31 January 2013 

Annexure 2. Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Museum Each and every one of us have studied, read and/ or watched movies on the brutalities of the Holocaust. But nothing prepares you for a few hours in Yad Vashem86, the Holocaust Museum where every moment plays out in front of you, every person from the Holocaust talks to you and you are not the same person anymore… There are several sights and stories that haunt you – of friendship, positivity and hope; of helplessness, hopelessness, loss, death and despair; of ruthlessness and apathy; of life and death. I will particularly remember the stories that stood for hope and strength – women in concentration camps making up mock recipes of their ‘dream meals’ to survive their hunger pangs and cheer

Yad Vashem - “Hall of Names” http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com Photo courtesy: http://yad-vashem.blogspot.com

themselves up87. And another one of two friends were reunited after decades, thanks to two fragments of a flag that they exchanged when they parted from their concentration camp and contributed later to their respective country’s Holocaust Museum (not knowing if the other was alive).

Years later, tourists from Australia in Israel recognised the connection and helped the team at Yad Vashem to reunite the two friends. “Your parents, Oskar and Mina. They ar e dead and gone now, Yanek, and we would grieve them if we could. But we have only one purpose now: survive. Survive at all costs, Yanek. We cannot let these monsters tear us from the pages of the world.” - Alan Gratz, Prisoner B-3087

Annexure 3. The Eager Tourist Though I went without any expectations about tourism, to my surprise and excitement, we had several interesting excursions interlaced in our course itself. “I, Jehovah, have come to deliver the Israelites from I fell in love with Jerusalem, my home for nearly a month that literally has layers and layers of multiple civilizations. A few days are just not enough to explore the Old City 86 87

slavery, To take them to a large land, the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey”

http://www.yadvashem.org/ http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/books/holocaust_cookboo http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/ed ucation/books/holocaust_cookbook.asp k.asp

- Exodus 3:8, Old Testament, The Bible


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and experience the culture. Trips to the Wailing Wall, Dome of the Rock, Western Wall Tunnels, Via Dolorosa (the path of Christ), the Holy Sepulchre, Nazareth, Golan Heights, Caesarea, and Masada were extremely enriching and memorable. And the buoyant feeling in Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth surpassed any expectation. Since my travelogue could be very boring and long, here are a few pictures that speak more eloquently than words on this ‘land of milk and honey ’.

The spectacular Dome of the Rock

The Nun’s Ascent – Via Dolorosa

Jerusalem is poetic! Take a walk down history; Soak in the tales of civilizations, religions, cultures wherever you go Royal bath chamber


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A view of the Roman settlements from Masada

Masada – an ancient Jewish rebel fortress on a plateau in Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea, built by Herod the Great between 37 and 31 BCE. A majestic fortress, with a poignant story! Stands tall, symbolising heroism and sacrifice – “Masada shall not fall again” .

Caesarea - Aqueduct

Caesarea – Columns & Chambers

Caesarea – the Roman Theatre

Caesarea - Breakwater

Basilica of of the Annunciation

Church of the Beatitudes

A feast fit for the king that was laid out for the MASHAV participants, during the course of the seminar…

Every single day!

All photos unless stated otherwise otherwise are of the author’s/ colleagues from the MASHAV seminar 


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Annexure 4. Inspirations from my colleagues, my new family Twenty-five different people from diverse cultures and backgrounds had assembled in one place from fifteen countries (Belarus, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, R ica, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, South Sudan, Thailand and Vietnam) to attend the seminar and learn more about science and technology in education and experience Israel. Surprisingly, within no time (facilitated by our course coordinator Tracy Adams), we blended well together as one happy, caring, family, sharing stories, working on projects, planning trips around the city and playing pranks. I have special memories with each and every member of the family that I ’ll cherish forever.

There was something to learn from every single person who attended the seminar. It was striking, how though we came from disparate parts of the world, we talked about similar issues; what differed was just the scale and magnitude of the problems we had and what we were doing to cope with/ overcome them. Accepting our imperfections, if we look around to learn and share, the world is indeed our oyster. Sharing here, a few inspiring stories. 1. The Director of a vocational high school from Guatemala, Edna Estrada told us about how she mandated music and other cultural activities in the curriculum for her school. The difference she saw in her students' behaviour and performance, she says, was phenomenal. Constantly striving and innovating to provide career opportunities and vocational training to underprivileged youth in Guatemala, she and her group of passionate colleagues have designed relevant and specialised programmes for youth based on market-study, ranging from Dental Technology and Hygiene, to Computation, Engineering Drawing, Industrial Engineering, Reforestation Technology and so on. They

also have a content platform that caters to the different languages of the natives who access the system. 88


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2. My three family members from Kenya with whom I worked on a project, Rebecca Auma Otieno, Rosemary Njenga, and Sheila Musanga Deche had plenty to share. We have heard of Kenya's concept of mobile money (M-Pesa), a revolutionary wallet (and more) that has truly transformed the way users across the board transact. Mobile telephony has truly taken over what only banks used to offer at one point in time, for the Kenyans – from saving money, paying bills to buying airtime and internet bundles. Seeing its A user using M-PESA for transactions. interface and the different functions it offered http://bsr.london.edu/blog/post-127/index.html g/post-127/index.html Photo courtesy: courtesy: http://bsr.london.edu/blo left no doubt in my mind that this is something

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http://mprep.it/gallery/

that India (and for that matter other countries too) should be implementing for its people! Our discussions about a mobile learning solution called Eneza (earlier MPrep), where school lessons and assignments are provided on the mobile (via SMS and mobile-web) at a nominal cost was very interesting. In fact, beyond simple teaching-learning, Eneza also provides KEPSHA (Kenya Primary Schools Head Teachers ’ Association) tools to monitor and evaluate their projects that span over 10,000 schools. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development is responsible for the curriculum and also oversees the development and evaluation of educational content across providers. Radio broadcasts are also used to transmit educational lessons (this, in fact, was started as early as 1960, briefly discontinued in 1995 and revived in recent times) – they have shown to improve the standard of education and increase access as well as contribute towards teachers ’ development. Kenya has rolled-out Child Friendly Schools (CFS) in all primary schools by training the administrators with extensive workshops and seminars. The positive changes that a detailed framework to evaluate, Students using Eneza/ MPrep. monitor and improve school systems like CFS can help Photo courtesy: accomplish, is irrefutable. Kenya’s Ministry of http://mprep.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/turned-offdevices-means-turned-off-children-2/ Education is also developing a manual for CFS trainings and is working on training in association with KEPHSA. As of now, the training has benefited more than twenty districts in the country with some districts initiating their own self sponsored trainings because of the benefit they have received from past trainings. A recent share from Rebecca, an Administrative officer in KEPSHA on the concept of ‘democracy in schools’ (video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK1_UQCPzso) and how it is helping improve the participation, leadership and responsibility in students is impressive and encouraging. In fact, towards democratisation, Kenya’s first Children Government conference is to be held in 2013 -2014. The current government has also promised to introduce laptops from Grade 1 in primary schools – a pilot study has already been completed for the same in 6,000 schools. MASHAV has signed an agreement with the Kenyan government towards helping Kenya with ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ and has been conducting several workshops for the teachers in Kenya. 3. Learning about Colombia Ministry of Information and Communication Technology's Technology's (ICT) exemplary rollout of telecommunications and fibre network across the country, process of integrating the installation of computers and ensuring connectivity in schools with tenders for fibre optic network setup, imprinting stringent rules of service levels for uninterrupted connectivity, service and support from Jorge Moreno


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was scintillating. The Colombian government’s policies and ‘Vive ‘ Vive Digital’ Digital’ programme gave the much needed boost to large scale public-private partnership, created an environment of healthy competition, quality deployment and massification of technology and Internet. Their efforts were acknowledged at the Global Telecommunications Conference in Barcelona in 2012, with a GSMA Award for government leadership. The Vive Digital plan also provisioned for reaching computers to children and youth across the different municipalities in multiple educational sites through the ‘Computers to Educate’ programme. Colombia went from 2.2 million Internet connections to 6.2 million in the last two and a half years. In 2013, Colombia will reach 7.8 million Internet connections; and in 2014, 8.8 million connections. The National Fibre Optics project that commenced in 2010, when only 200 municipalities were connected with optical fibre, has changed the topology of the country, currently connecting 553 municipalities with over 15,000 kilometres of optical fibre! Plans are in place to connect 96% of the country with diverse topography, by reaching out to 1,078 municipalities by 2014. 89 A lesson or two can definitely be learnt from the success story created by the combination of smart policies, nimbleness of execution and quality of delivery.


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Children strike a happy pose at the ‘Vive Digital’ Computer centre. Photo courtesy: courtesy: http://www.facatativa-cundinamarca.go http://www.facatativa-cundinamarca.gov.co v.co

Equally fascinating was understanding Eugenia Yglesias from Costa Rica’s innovative methods of

teaching a new language (Spanish, English) to her students at La Universidad Veritas, by interlacing her classroom lectures with interesting field trips, social and cultural immersions; Fwanshishak Daniel from Nigeria’s community programmes via the Millennium Project to spread educational and ICT awareness among teachers; Thailand’s outreach and implementation programmes for equitable education with

twenty-first century flavour and execution spanning rural areas as well, from Thunyanut Budsabong;

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Vive Digital, Colombia - http://www.colombiaemb.org/sites/d http://www.colombiaemb.org/sites/default/files/Colombia%20in%20Foc efault/files/Colombia%20in%20Focus%20(Vive%20Digital)% us%20(Vive%20Digital)%2012-3-12.pdf 2012-3-12.pdf

learning about Georgia’s ICT programmes like IT School, e-student for student e-portfolios across the

country, e-books library for secondary school students, Skoool 90 for learning and teaching resources in collaboration with Intel from Natia Gorgadze; experiences of implementing ICT and e-learning based pedagogies at University of Cape Coast, Ghana from John Kwame Eduafo Edumadze; stories of struggle and starting anew from Reat Bol Ngundeng Bong of South Sudan, the world’s newest country; Nepal’s

co-operative system based college and its unique programmes from Naresh Shrestha, the Principal of Prime College91 in Kathmandu; Benjamin Wiredu’s (from Ghana) zeal

to rise above adversities in life, continuously learn, dream and plan for the country with infectious passion – he started as a pineapple farmer and is now teaching computer science in the University of Ghana; he will be soon completing his PhD in Computer Science Education); and so many more.

In 2012, Georgia’s average ratio of pupils per computer was 7. Photo courtesy: courtesy: http://www.mes.gov.ge

Overview of Thailand Ministry of Education’s online initiatives. Picture courtesy: Presentation by Thunyanut Budsabong

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Intel’s Skoool – Learning and teaching resources @ Skoool.ge Prime College, Nepal - http://www.prime.edu.np


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Acknowledgements After my trip to Israel to attend a seminar on ‘Science and Technology and ICT in Education’ in JanuaryFebruary, 2013, conducted by MASHAV (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel) at the A. Ofri Centre, Jerusalem, I was bursting with several stories to recount, of my fascinating and inspiring experience. I would like to thank Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chairman, Observer Research Foundation Mumbai (ORF Mumbai) for encouraging me to pen my Israel experience as a personal account. His guidance and mentorship helped me present my thoughts and shape my journal into a report. I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to the Consul General of Israel, Mumbai, Brett Jonathan Miller, for taking time from his busy schedule to read and review my report in detail. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the wonderful team at A. Ofri Centre – especially Yudith Rosenthal, Director of the Ofri Centre and Tracy Adams, our Course Coordinator – for the wonderfully conducted seminar and a memorable trip. I am also extremely grateful to Yudith for reviewing my report. I would like to share here, a quote sent to me by Yudith on on education in the words of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist: “Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.” “Thoda Raba, Yudith and Tracy”, as one would say in Hebrew.

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to my colleagues from the seminar, Shukrani to Rebecca Otieno from Kenya and Gracias to Jorge Moreno V from Colombia and Eugenia Yglesias from Costa Rica for their review and suggestions. Many thanks are also due to the ORT Israel team for their encouragement and suggestions for the report – Dr Eli Eisenberg, Senior VP and Head of R&D and Training Administration, Yoel Rothschild, Head of R&D Centre, Tomer Naveh, Director of the Shalev International Cooperation Department. Special thanks to Nir Bahagaly, International Products & Projects Manager at the Shalev International Cooperation Department, for his invaluable support. I would like to thank Anay Joglekar, Media and Information Coordinator, Consulate of Israel, Mumbai for pointing out the opportunity to apply for the seminar on education and his extremely valuable suggestions for the report. Special thanks to Dr Sudhakar C. Agarkar, Retired Professor, Homi Bhabha Centre of Science and Education for sharing his insights on Israel, after his visit to schools and colleges in Israel earlier this year. I would like to thank my colleagues at ORF Mumbai; Radha Viswanathan, Research Fellow and Editor, for reviewing my report several times, and helping me make it more accurate and error-free. I would also like to thank Dhaval Desai, Research Fellow and Programme Coordinator, for his detailed review and editorial feedback. I also appreciate the feedback and suggestions given to me by Dr Leena Chandran-Wadia, Senior Research Fellow, which have helped shape the report. Thanks are also due to Payal Tiwari, Associate Fellow, for reviewing my report and Dr Sumedh, Fellow and Programme Coordinator, for his creative inputs. Last but not the least, I would like to thank R. Sivakumar for the ‘tourist’ pictures of Israel and all my colleagues at the seminar for sharing their experiences and photographs.

About the Author

Aparna is a Computer Science engineer from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum. After working in technology firms such as Infosys and Netcore Solutions, a start-up in mobile value added services, she was part p art of the founding team of Mobilox Innovations, a first-of-its-kind mobile agency in India where she was Director - Technology. She has led teams in engineering, programme management, professional technology solutions, services and marketing in her previous firms. As a researcher, she is interested in quality of education and integration of technology in education and governance. Aparna can be reached at [email protected]

ORF MuMbai’s india -Israel Innovation Initiative

Israel has emerged as a powerhouse in innovation and hi-tech industries in the recent past. India, on the other hand, together with China, has become an engine for global economic growth. India and Israel share common values of democracy and entrepreneurship. Both are knowledge-driven societies. The economies of both are complementary to each other. In the last decades, Indo-Israel cooperation has grown exponentially, with bilateral trade expected to soon cross USD 5 million. This special relationship has a long way to go, particularly in the field of joint R&D and innovation. Against this backdrop, ORF Mumbai has established the India-Israel Innovation Initiative. This is an alliance comprising academia, public and private sector companies, and think tanks from India and Israel, for a deeper engagement with the subject of innovation-led cooperation between the two countries.

About Observer Research Foundation Mumbai

Observer Research Foundation (ORF) is a leading non-partisan, not-for-profit and

independent Indian Think Tank that seeks to influence public policy formulation. It was established in New Delhi in 1990 by the late R. K. Mishra, a widely respected public figure, who envisaged it as a broad- based intellectual platform pulsating with ideas needed for India’s nation-building. In its journey of over twenty years, ORF has brought together leading Indian policy makers, academics, public figures, social activists and business leaders to discuss various issues of national importance. ORF scholars have made significant contributions toward improving government policies. ORF has produced a large body of critically acclaimed publications. Beginning 2010, ORF Mumbai has been re- activated to pursue the Foundation’s vision in India’s business and finance capital. It has started research and advocacy in six broad areas:

Education, Public Health, Inclusive Development, Urban Renewal, Youth Development, and Promotion of India’s Heritage of Arts and Cultural. It is headed by Sudheendra Kulkarni, a social activist and public intellectual, who worked as an aide to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the PMO. ORF Mumbai’s mission statement is: Ideas and Action for a Better India. It champions the cause

of balanced socio-economic development and a better quality of life for all Indians. It also works towards strengthening India’s democratic institutions to become more responsible, responsive and sensitive to common people’s needs and concerns, especially those of most

vulnerable sections of the society.

Recent Publications

Forthcoming Publications

Children in India and Israel

Similar, yet so different

Observer Research Foundation Foundation Mumbai Ideas and Action for a Better India

NKM International House, House, 5th Floor, 178, Backbay Reclamation, Babubhai Chinai Marg, (Behind LIC – Yogakshema), Mumbai – 400020, India. Tel: +91-22-61313800

Website: www.orfonline. www.orfonline.org org

For feedback and queries, contact Aparna Sivakumar at [email protected]

ThinkingOutOftheBoxInEducation Aparna

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