- Sweeps the Digital Learning category, winning three awards
- ICT Enabled School of the Year Award – The Scindia School, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh
- Civil society / Development agency Initiative of the year - Hole in the Wall Education
- Government / Policy Initiative of the year - Implementation of Shared Computing Technology in 5000 Govt. schools of Andhra Pradesh
New Delhi/ Hyderabad, August 28, 2009: ICT learning solutions by NIIT, the Leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest IT Trainer, received commendation at eINDIA 2009 summit- India’s largest ICT event, for making significant contributions to the society. The Awards were announced at eINDIA 2009 summit, which was held on 25-27 August, 2009 in Hyderabad. The event brings together ICT experts, practitioners, business leaders and stakeholders of the region onto one platform, through keynote addresses, paper presentations, thematic workshops and exhibitions.
The innovative learning solutions of NIIT received three recognitions out of the total four in the Digital Learning India 2009 Awards category. Scindia School, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh received the ICT Enabled School of the year Award while the Andhra Pradesh Government project for implementation of shared computing technology in 5000 Government schools in the state received the Government/ Policy Initiative of the year Award. NIIT’s prominent project, Hole-in-the-Wall, an initiative to promote Minimally Invasive Education (MIE) amongst the under privileged children, received the Civil Society and Development agency initiative of the year.
Commenting on the achievement, it’s Chairman, Mr. Rajendra S Pawar said “NIIT has always believed in developing innovative learning solutions which make a meaningful difference to society. We continue to innovate for a better tomorrow. ”
Speaking on the recognition received for its work with Scindia School for the ICT enabled solutions, Mr. Vijay K Thadani, CEO, NIIT, said
“The guiding principle of teaching is that teachers should seek to empower students with the necessary skills to take control of their own learning. ICT complements it by creating a supportive, inspiring, and exciting atmosphere in the classroom. Scindia School, which pioneered ICT education in schools, partnered with NIIT to strengthen its ICT offerings with successful results.”
Added Mr. Rajendran, COO, NIIT,
“Hole-in- the- Wall Education is an innovative effort by NIIT for enabling computers to touch millions of lives globally, by bridging the digital divide”.
Commenting on the Andhra Pradesh Government project for implementation of shared computing technology, Mr. L. Balasubramanian, President, School Learning Solutions, NIIT said
“NIIT is committed towards making education more impactful and affordable, by leveraging IT and ensuring that the best tools and resources are made available to millions of school students.
eINDIA 2009 Awards felicitates the most innovative initiatives in the domain of ICTs for Development. It seeks to spread awareness about the role of ICTs in addressing social concerns by identifying and felicitating projects that exemplify the kind of implementation that can be easily replicated and at the same time proves efficient and sustainable, especially projects implemented in India and the South Asian region.
The Nominees were evaluated on the basis of economic cost and sustainability, stakeholder support and other inclusiveness indicators; the impact on livelihoods and society in general; demonstrable effects on the project target groups; Community initiatives and ownership and the measure of replication and the extent of collaboration.
About The Scindia School, Gwalior: ICT Enabled School of the Year Award.
In 2001, The Scindia School invited NIIT to assist in construction of a framework of an IT integration program at the school. NIIT presented a solution which in addition to empowering teachers and engaging students also involved the collaboration of Parents in the progress of the student.
The project is now into the eighth year of implementation. The School and NIIT have partnered to bring in numerous changes that impact the learning, teaching and administrative processes. From the first teachers’ training which started in January 2002, there has been increasing momentum to use technology driven aids for learning and teaching. Today, the results speak for themselves. Students creatively use multimedia technologies to develop innovative projects while Teachers are computer-savvy and develop subject content using multimedia and internet technologies. Policies on IT Security, Network Usage, E-Mail Usage and Internet Usage define the maturity of the ICT processes. Online collaboration between stakeholders has become a reality with active participation by Parents through an online 24/7 portal. The feather in the cap was when The Government of India presented the Award for Excellence in IT Literacy to this school.
The Scindia School is now well positioned on the International arena both in terms of ICT infrastructure and usage. With NIIT’s assistance, it looks forward to achieving greater progress in using ICT in education. NIIT is providing onsite learning management through expert teachers deputed at the Scindia school.
Shared Computing Technology: Government / Policy Initiative of the year
In November 2007, NIIT and US based NComputing formed an alliance to offer affordable computer education to Indian schools. As part of this partnership, NIIT would provide its expertise and deliver computer and computer-aided education across the schools in India, while NComputing would offer its technology. The NComputing technology creates multiple virtual desktops on a single PC, enabling several users to tap unused capacity and share the system simultaneously. Its patented technology drastically lowers costs, improves manageability and reduces energy consumption.
Andhra Pradesh, the largest and most populous state in South India, is the first state to provide computing access to 5,000 government schools, covering 1.8 million school children. The state is installing a total of 50,000 computing seats in these schools, deploying the low-cost and eco-friendly virtualization tool provided by NComputing.
The Andhra Pradesh government has outsourced the education services project for five years to leading educational IT companies, such as NIIT, based on a Build- Operate- Transfer (BOOT) model. NIIT is currently present in 2678 schools in Andhra Pradesh.
About HiWEL: Civil society / Development agency Initiative of the year
Hole-in-the-Wall Education Ltd (HiWEL), a joint venture of NIIT Ltd. and the International Finance Corporation (an affiliate of The World Bank Group), was initiated as a research initiative in 1999 and later established in 2001. Through its product and service offerings HiWEL facilitates learning through unconditional and public access to computers. In its endeavor to positively impact learning outcomes in elementary education and computer literacy, HiWEL also addresses the digital divide and school drop-out rate, and works towards providing effective and interesting minimally invasive learning experience.
Today, HiWEL has set up more than 500 learning stations till now in various parts of country including in J&K, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Maharashtra. In addition, Government of India has gifted HiWEL playground learning stations to many African countries including Zambia, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, Botswana, Swaziland and Mozambique as well. In all, more than 350,000 underprivileged children have benefited from Hole in the wall learning stations till now. This has also inspired an author, whose work provided the basis for the production of the Oscar winner “Slumdog Millionaire”.
About eINDIA 2009:
eINDIA 2009 is a unique platform for knowledge sharing in different domains of ICT for development and facilitates multi-stakeholder partnerships and networking among governments, industry, academia and civil society organisations of different countries, including the host country- India. The objective is to bring together ICT experts, practitioners, business leaders and stakeholders of the region onto one platform, through keynote addresses, paper presentations, thematic workshops and exhibitions.
The eINDIA Award programme is held annually alongside the eINDIA conference proceedings. eINDIA Awards are open for all national and international government organisations, civil society organisations, bi-lateral, multi-lateral developmental organisations and enterprises who have transformed social development opportunities into a sustainable social enterprise through innovative use of ICTs. Apart from the general category of awards eINDIA have special categories for performers who manifest extraordinary achievements in different domains with individual capacity and efforts.
About NIIT
NIIT Limited, leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest IT trainer, offers learning and knowledge solutions to over 5 million students across 40 countries.
Leading IT magazine Dataquest has conferred upon NIIT, the ‘Top IT Training Company’ award successively for the past 15 years, since the inception of this category. Rated among India’s Business Super brands 2008, NIIT’s Individual Learning Business offerings include industry-endorsed programs for students seeking careers in IT -
GNIIT, Edgeineers and Globalnet+ for IT professionals.
NIIT has provided computer-based learning to over 12,000 government and private schools. The futuristic NIIT eGuru range for schools is a holistic education package that comprises of
Interactive Classrooms (an embedded Teaching Learning Material, that uses elements of interactivity, automation and web links library);
Math lab (technology tools that enable school students to learn and explore mathematical concepts);
IT Wizard (equips the students with core computer knowledge and IT skills); and
Quick School (an Education Resource Planning solution for School Management).
For working professionals,
NIIT Imperia, Centre for Advanced Learning,offers Executive Management Education Programs in association with Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at Ahmedabad, Indore, Kolkata, Lucknow, IMT Ghaziabad and IIFT Delhi.
NIIT Institute of Finance Banking & Insurance (IFBI), formed by NIIT with equity participation from ICICI Bank, offers programs for individuals and corporate in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance.
NIIT Uniqua, Centre for Process Excellence, addresses the increasing demand for skilled workers in the business and technology services industry by providing training programs in relevant areas. This is a part of NIIT Institute of Process Excellence, a NIIT-Genpact venture.
NIIT’s Corporate Learning Solutions, offers integrated learning solutions (including strategic consulting, learning design, content development, delivery, technology, assessment and learning management) to Fortune 500 companies, Universities, Technology companies, Training corporations and Publishing houses.
NIIT delivers a tailored combination of catalog learning products, technology and services through Element K offerings. These include: lab®: hands-on labs, instructor-led courseware, comprehensive e-reference libraries, technical journals, and Knowledge Hub™: hosted learning management platform. This makes NIIT the first and the best choice for comprehensive learning solutions, worldwide.
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