Models for the modern Indian sishya
Indian educational system is still gaining its pace to reach to the global standards, and one of the main challenges we face is in making our education go digital. Rama University and School Time have come together to provide a solution for this, called Students. Guru. Excerpts from a conversation with Dr Rushen Chahal...
Can you explain the features of Students.Guru as a management portal?
India is the IT hub of the world and yet 95 per cent of our schools do not have basic level of automation built into their operating frameworks. The teaching-learning process remains based on the archaic models of simple class room-based instructions. Students.Guru is a free initiative between Rama University and School Time which is trying to make the much needed evolution of our traditional educational system.
Students.Guru — modules available right now are for Academics, Communication, Operations, Finance, Examination & Reporting functions. Google classroom integration, Clever, Quickbooks, Social integration- Facebook, Google+, Picasa, Flickr are also available.
What difference do you think the schools which stick to old practices would feel switching to a management portal?
We have till date signed MOUs with 75 schools, imparted training to 55, and 12 are fully operational. Target for the year 2017 — 1000 schools and colleges.Though the change is immense moving from a paper based operation to paperless functions however post the initial adjustment phase — many have come to appreciate the simplicity the Students.Guru offers and now comprehend the benefits they can derive from the clear line of sight provided. The students and their parents too who have direct login access are now able to see their performance versus the class. The strength of Students.Guru is the seamless flow the portal offers, more so while starting up — unlike the various paid ERP softwares available in the market.
What kind of schools are you expecting to take up Students.Guru?
Students.Guru is available for all schools, colleges, degree colleges, ITI institutions and universities for free.We are also seeking help from all Government bodies, NGOs and social welfare organisations to help spread the deployment of this platform.
What are the future plans of Rama University?
It is a three-year-old setup growing at 50 per cent per year for most courses and at 100 per cent plus for some. We already have 11 constituent faculties and six teaching hospitals with 4000 students and we are just starting.
Reach Out: https://students.guru/