Present grade-based education system needs to be reformed: Dr. Ajay Jere
– Two best teams from Pune selected for First Tech World Championship in Detroit, USA from April 28 to May 2.
Pune, February 3, 2020: “Recently a study was done by Stanford University on problem-solving skills, cognitive skills and design-thinking skills of our students, who were compared with the Russians and the Chinese. The results, however, were not good as our students fared poorly when it came to problem solving skills. That is because of our grade and exam-based education system, which needs a change. To reform our education system, we’ll introduce a new education policy soon, which will give a huge impetus on projects and assignments and everything will be done practically by the students themselves,” said Dr. Abhay Jere, CIO, Ministry of HRD, Government of India.
As a Chief Guest, Jere was speaking at the award ceremony of First Tech Challenge (FTC) competition organized by InfinityX Tech Systems at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mhalune – Balewadi on Sunday.
Dignitaries including Guest of Honour, H.R. Gaikwad, Chairman and Managing Director, BVG, India Ltd, Ashvin Savant, Founder and CEO, InfinityX STEM Foundation, Dr. Yogesh Deshpande, Director, VIT, Ravi Gogia, President, Fiat India, Rajesh Lahoria, Director, PTC, Vidyadhar Purandhare, VP, SEAP, Bhawna Shukla of NRB Bearing Ltd, Parag Matey of We Community and Parag Mundhe, Education Officer, PCMC were present at the function.
About 47 teams of various schools from cities including Pune, Satara, Jalna, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Rajkot and Bangalore participated in FTC 2019 – 20 India Championship where students in the age group of 12-18 years assembled Robots on the theme of ‘Skystone’, based on Star Wars movie theme of building a city in space.
Speaking at the event, H.R. Gaikwad said, “Use of common sense and general knowledge is important to succeed in life. I request all students to try and acquire skills and progress in their respective fields. They should also focus on the use of technology in agriculture and develop ideas to help our farmers.”
On the final day of the FTC two Pune-based teams- ‘2126 BSRC M.A.R.S’ from Bishop’s School Robotic Club (BSRC) and ‘3101 Horcruxes’ from Robominds Club were selected to represent India FTC World Championship in Detroit, USA from April 28 to May 2, 2020.
The collective best performers who stood out in the competition included, 2126 BSRC M.A.R.S in the categories of ‘Inspire Award’ and the ‘Finalist Alliance Award’ and 3101 Horcruxes that excelled in the categories of ‘Winning Alliance Award’ and ‘Think Award.
Similarly, ‘1120 S.M. Tech 9.0 stood out n the ‘Connect Award’ category while 2128 BSRC Niwant, Pune excelled at ‘Pathbreaker Award’ category. The ‘Collins Aerospace Innovate Award’ was received by 2123 Mad Engineers, Mumbai and the ‘Control Award’ was received by 2119 Sigma, Mumbai. 2110 Champions Instinct, Ahmedabad excelled in ‘Design Award’ category while 2120 Blue Blizzard, Rajkot excelled in ‘Motivate Award’ category. 2130 Chennai Robo Rockers, Chennai stood out in the ‘Rising Star Award’ category.
