Date: Apr 11–12, 2014
Location: Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Culture, New Delhi & Taj Palace, New Delhi
India Council for Integral Education (ICIE), a unit of Sri Aurobindo Society, organized a two-day conference titled ‘Innovation in Education’ on April 11 and 12, 2014, in New Delhi, in association with Litchi Knowledge Centre (an organization that works with educators, thought leaders and institutions to incubate innovative programmes in the field of education) and Hewlett-Packard.
Earlier, in 2011, the ICIE and Hewlett-Packard formed the Educational Innovation Fund for India (EIFI)—a US$1 million competitive fund for innovative educational projects. The first EIFI National Challenge received more than 800 entries and grants were given to 18 outstanding initiatives.
The organizing team for the Conference included:
Sambhrant Sharma, Director, ICIE; Director, Vision Implementation, Sri Aurobindo Society. He is also the founder of Litchi Knowledge Center, Delhi NCR.
David Morris, Director, ICIE; Executive Director, EIFI; and Managing Director, Hospital & Educational Foundation Trust.
Vijay Poddar, Chairperson, ICIE; Member Executive—Administration & Finance, Sri Aurobindo Society.
Daljeet Wadhwa, Director, Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Communication (SACAC), New Delhi.
Sumedha Garg, Operations Manager, EIFI (Project of ICIE), Puducherry.
Day one of the event was held at the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Culture (SACAC) and focused on celebrating the achievements of the EIFI award winners. The sessions were lively and informative as each of the Awardees shared the innovative work they had been doing at the grassroots level both in rural and urban areas.
Katherine Caro, First Secretary and Cultural Attache, Education, of the US Embassy and Natalle Mufel, Education Specialist, UNICEF, were the keynote speakers of the day and spoke about their views on educational realities and the need for educational innovation both in India and globally.
The second day of the event was held at the Taj Palace, New Delhi. It was a platform for leaders, educators, innovators from the field of education to receive and share world views and perspectives on education in multiple panel discussions.
Some of the keynote speakers and panellists were,
• Ashutosh Chadha, Director Corporate Affairs Intel South Asia
• Sanjeev Gupta, MD Corporate Affairs, Accenture
• Vineet Nayar, Former CEO, HCL Technologies and Founder Sampark Foundation
• Pramath Sinha, Founder Dean ISB Hyderabad
• Gautam Gandhi, Google India
• Dr Kavita Sharma, Director India International Centre
• Abha Sahgal, Principal, Sanskriti School
• Rachna Pandit, Principal, Delhi Public School
Mr Sambhrant Sharma gave a presentation on Zero Investment Innovation for Educational Initiatives (ZIIEI) as an example of sustainable innovation and ways to disseminate them at a minimal cost. In addition, he was also the moderator for separate panel discussions with students, academicians and educators, respectively. The flashes of brilliance and experienced knowledge from the keynote speakers and panelists continued from the opening session throughout the day. The speech given by Vijaybhai in the session on Integral Education was truly remarkable for the clarity of thought and the vision it conveyed. A summary of lessons learned from the Conference and introduction to ICIE’s contribution to the movement for educational innovation and transformation taking place in India through EIFI 2014, the ICIE Consortium and ICIE Conference 2015 was given by Dr David Morris. Ms Wadhwa and Ms Garg were majorly involved with logistics, planning, coordination and execution of the Conference.
The event brought together thought leaders, educators, innovators from the private and public sector, NGO’s, schools, along with teachers, parents and the youth on one platform to engage and share their views on innovation in education that will nurture young leaders of tomorrow.
The Full detailed Report will be published soon.