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Study

India to Have 600 Million Internet Users by 2020, Says ASSOCHAM-Deloitte Study

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

India to Have 600 Million Internet Users by 2020, Says ASSOCHAM-Deloitte Study

With increased 4G and 3G penetration, the number of Indians using the Internet is expected to reach 600 million by 2020 from 343 million currently, even as several challenges remain in realising the mission of Digital India, according to a report.

Spectrum availability in metros is about a tenth of the same in cities in developed countries. This has put a major roadblock in providing high speed data services and public Wi-Fi penetration remains low, said the ASSOCHAM-Deloitte study.

Globally, there is one Wi-Fi hotspot for every 150 citizens. For India to reach that penetration level, over 8 million hotspots are needed, of which only 31,000 hotspots are currently available, the report added.

Currently, over 55,000 villages remain deprived of mobile connectivity. This is largely due to the fact that providing mobile connectivity in such locations is not commercially viable for service providers, it said.

“Challenges in policy, such as taxation, right of way and restrictive regulations are major roadblocks in realising the vision of Digital India…lack of clarity in FDI policies, for instance, have impacted the growth of e-commerce,” it said.

The study observed that implementation of Digital India programme has been hampered by various issues, such as projects assigned to PSUs being delayed due to challenges related to skills, experience and technical capabilities.
Non-availability of digital services in local languages is also a major concern, added the study.

“With the proliferation of cloud-based services like DigiLocker, data security has emerged as a major challenge. The data breach in August in which debit card data of over 3.2 million subscribers was stolen highlights the importance of implementing foolproof security systems,” it pointed out.

The study suggested that effective collaboration with the private sector is critical to the development of the digital infrastructure, noting that innovative engagement models that ensure commercial viability need to developed jointly through consultation with industry bodies.

Moreover, startups need to be incentivised for the development of the last mile infrastructure and localised services and applications. In rural and remote areas, private sector players should be incentivised to provide last mile connectivity.

The study observed that going forward, rural adoption of data-enabled devices is expected to increase with the BharatNet initiative under Digital India.

India is the second largest mobile phone market globally with over 1 billion mobile subscriptions. Of this, smartphone users account for approximately 240 million subscribers which is expected to grow to 520 million by 2020, noted the study.

However, it said despite rising smartphone penetration and Internet user base, digital literacy in India has been low.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Education

Grammar school entrance exams undermined by study showing how children learn

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

A new psychological study has cast doubt both on the saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and claims that entrance exams for selective schools can accurately determine a child’s “true potential”.

The researchers tested more than 550 school pupils aged 11 to 18 and more than 100 adults on various skills such as “non-verbal reasoning”, a process involved in maths.

And they found that children aged 11 to 13 – older than the age when children typically take entrance exams – were able to improve their performance by 10 percentage points in just three weeks.

They also found a greater effect of training on older adolescents than on their younger counterparts, according to a paper in the journal Psychological Science.

Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, of University College London, who led the research, said: “Although adults and older adolescents benefited most from training in non-verbal reasoning, the average test score for adolescents aged 11-13 improved from 60 per cent to 70 per cent following three weeks of ten-minute online training sessions.

“This calls into question the claim that entry tests for selective schools that include non-verbal reasoning ‘assess the true potential of every child’.”

In the non-verbal reasoning test, participants were shown a grid of different shapes and colours with one space left blank. They then had to work out the correct shape to complete the pattern.

Another test, which measured “numerosity discrimination”, they were shown two groups of different coloured dots in quick succession and had to judge which group had the most dots.

“We find that these cognitive skills, which are related to mathematics performance, show greater training effects in late adolescence than earlier in adolescence,” said Dr Lisa Knoll, who co-wrote the paper.

“These findings highlight the relevance of this late developmental stage for education and challenge the assumption that earlier is always better for learning.

“We find that fundamental cognitive skills related to mathematics can be significantly trained in late adolescence.”

Delia Fuhrmann, another of the researchers, stressed there were limits to what could be claimed about good performance in such tests.

“However, there is no evidence that this leads to an improvement in overall cognitive ability. All we can say for sure is that training to spot patterns in a three-by-three grid of abstract shapes improves your ability to spot patterns in a three-by-three grid of abstract shapes.

“While this ability is commonly tested in IQ tests, it might not be appropriate to make judgements about other forms of intelligence based on the outcomes of such tests.”

[Source:- independent.co.uk]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Education

Outstanding schools take too few poor pupils, study says

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Poor children in England are less likely to attend the best schools, even if they live nearby, suggests a new analysis of official figures.

The Schooldash blog compared the proportion of poor pupils in every school in England with the proportion in their local areas.

Poor pupils were notably under-represented at schools rated outstanding by Ofsted, says the report.

The government says all pupils deserve a world-class education.

The bloggers looked at the proportion of pupils on free school meals in every mainstream state school in England at both primary and secondary level.

They compared this with a measure of the proportion of children in income-deprived families in the population within 4km (2.5 miles) of secondary schools and 2km (1.2 miles) of primary schools.

‘Substantial bias’

They found wide variations between schools, between different types of school and between secondary and primary levels.

In particular, the intakes of grammar schools, single-sex secondaries, non-Christian faith schools and schools rated outstanding by Ofsted all fail to reflect the proportion of poorer children in the areas immediately outside their gates, the report found.

Outstanding schools showed “a substantial overall bias against poorer pupils”, the analysis suggested, while “inadequate” schools showed “a bias in the opposite direction”.

The study also looked at the intake of poorer pupils for different types of secondary school, finding:

little overall bias in council-run schools
converter academies, which have to be rated good or outstanding, took a smaller share of poorer pupils
sponsored academies, often struggling schools run by trusts, took an above-expected share of poorer pupils.

Primary schools, whatever their type, appear to be fairly balanced in terms of intake, the report found, except in the case of primary free schools which “appear to take less than their fair share of poor pupils”.

Unintended consequences

The figures do not “necessarily mean that anyone is deliberately conspiring to keep poorer children out”, say the authors.

They are more likely to be the unintended consequences of admissions policies or the result of different school choices between social groups, they believe.

“But until something changes it is hard to see how poorer kids will get a fair chance when the schools that are most open to them are largely the kinds that no-one else wants to attend,” the report concludes.

“The data presented here suggest that the ‘postcode lottery’ is far from the only effect keeping poorer children out of good schools, even those poorer children who do live close to a high-performing school are less likely to end up going there,” added Schooldash founder Timo Hannay.

In a speech in June, Ofsted’s outgoing chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said disadvantaged pupils in relatively wealthy areas were being let down, with the attainment gap between rich and poor wider than the national average in the home counties of Kent, Buckinghamshire and Surrey.

Education Minister Nick Gibb said the whole purpose of the government’s education reforms was to improve poor children’s chances.

“There are now over 1.4m more children in good or outstanding schools than in 2010 and the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is narrowing at primary and secondary level.

“The pupil premium has resulted in over £11bn in funding provided to tackle educational inequality and we are committed to doing more to help the most disadvantaged pupils succeed,” said Mr Gibb.

[Source:- BBC]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Internet

India’s E-Commerce Sector to See $120 Billion Revenue by 2020: Study

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

India's E-Commerce Sector to See $120 Billion Revenue by 2020: Study

The country’s e-commerce sector is expected to see revenues of $120 billion by 2020 from $30 billion at the end of last fiscal, a report said.

The increase would be mainly on the back of young demographic profile, rising Internet penetration and relatively better economic performance, the Assocham-Forrester study said.

India’s e-commerce sector saw revenues of $30 billion (roughly Rs. 1,99,450 crores) at the end of the financial year 2015-16. It is expected to reach $120 billion (roughly Rs. 7,97,800 crores) by 2020, it said.

“While in terms of base, India may be lower than China and other giants like Japan, the Indian rate of growth is way ahead of others. Against India’s annual expansion of 51 percent, China’s e-commerce is growing at 18 percent, Japan 11 percent and South Korea 10 percent,” the study noted.

The report further said that India has an Internet user base of 400 million in 2016 whereas Brazil has 210 million Internet users and Russia 130 million, among the BRICS nations.

About 75 percent of the country’s online users are in the age group of 15-34 years since India is one of the youngest demographies globally and one out of every 5 (online user) visits the Indian Railways site, the report said.

In India, about 60-65 percent of the total e-commerce sales are being generated through smart phones. Branded apparel, accessories, jewellery, gifts, footwear are among the major hits on the e-commerce platforms, it added.

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Education

Study in India: Govt sets target to attract 200,000 foreign students

by Loknath Das May 8, 2018

written by Loknath Das

Currently, India has some 47,000 foreign studentsâa tiny number compared to countries with traditionally strong higher education sectors. Photo: HT

Currently, India has some 47,000 foreign students—a tiny number compared to countries with traditionally strong higher education sectors. Photo: HT

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday announced an ambitious plan to attract 200,000 foreign students to India, more than four times the current number.

The target is part of a “Study in India” scheme launched jointly by four ministries—human resource development, external affairs, home and commerce.

From easing the visa process to giving a sizable fee waiver to foreign students from Asia and Africa, the scheme marks a concerted effort to make Indian campuses diverse, in terms of the number of international students.

Union human resource development minister (HRD) Prakash Javadekar said Indian higher education sector often complains about restrictive rules but now the government is making a conscious effort to liberalize it. “India can become a hub of affordable education for foreign students,” he said, adding that they are opening up top universities to foreign students.

“Study in India will open the gates of prominent educational institutions of India for foreign students,” Javadekar said.

As part of the move, India will target students from countries in South, South-East and West Asia, Africa and Commonwealth of Independent States that were part of the former Soviet Union.

“Initially, we are targeting 30 partner countries,” said R. Subrahmanyam, higher education secretary, adding that his ministry has shortlisted 160 colleges and universities to execute the plan initially.

Authorities said that in order to make the plan attractive, institutions and government will offer fee waiver—partial or full —to over 53% of these foreign students. All admission will happen via a single window system: applicants from these 30 countries will apply on an online platform for selection to 160 institutions.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said that though her ministry attracts foreign students through two dedicated institutions—Nalanda University and the South Asian University—the new move has limitless possibilities in terms of attracting foreign students and tying up with other countries. “Study in India is an invitation to foreign students,” she said.

“The move will bring multiculturalism and diversity to Indian universities,” said Satyapal Singh, minister of state for HRD. The lack of diversity on Indian campuses is affecting institutions’ international rankings.

Besides, it is expected to bring in revenue over time. Currently, India has some 47,000 foreign students—a tiny number compared to countries with traditionally strong higher education sectors. The US in 2016-17, for instance, was home to more than one million foreign students, including around 187,000 from India alone.

The “Study in India” scheme also marks a departure from the government stand that it must attract foreign universities to India. The union government put its plan to allow foreign universities to operate in India on the back burner after pursuing it for the last several years, Mint reported on 14 August 2017.

[“Source-livemint”]

May 8, 2018 0 comment