Bengaluru, November 6. The Bengaluru-based Sportz Village and EducationWorld recently hosted a ‘Maintaining fitness and good health during the pandemic’ webinar moderated by Summiya Yasmeen, managing editor, EducationWorld. The eminent educators’ panelists included Dr. Ashok Pandey, director, Ahlcon Group of Schools, Delhi; Dr. S. Bhavanishankar Subramanian, senior principal, Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, Chennai; Saumil Majmudar, co-founder/CEO, Sportz Village, Bangalore; Venkat Raman, senior vice-principal, CHIREC International School and Praveen Raju, founder-director, Suchitra Academy, Hyderabad.

Speaking during the webinar, Sportz Village’s Saumil Majmudar warned that with schools shut down for over six months and classes being held online, there is high risk of a spurt in obesity and mental health problems of children. “Sportz Village introduced an online once-a-week health and fitness programme for primary school children in June. Within a short time we’ve witnessed a huge improvement in the well-being of children and parents who participated in our online classes. Fitness and good health doesn’t require equipment and external devices. Whatever is available at home is good enough for children to keep fit and going,” says Majumdar. (see www.educationworld.in)

Super computer for Marwadi University

New Delhi, October 6. The state government-promoted Gujarat Council on Science and Technology has installed a unit of the indigenously developed Param Shavak supercomputing system at the Rajkot campus of Marwadi University.

“Setting up a supercomputer centre will stimulate cross-sectoral collaboration at scale. For example, medical researchers and computer scientists may collaborate to discover application advanced technologies to research complex medical issues making actionable data available in the process,” said Dr. Y.P. Kosta, vice-chancellor of Marwadi University, speaking on the occasion.
Added Ketan Marwadi, founder-chairman of this new greenfield private university (estb.2016): “The establishment of a supercomputer centre is pivotal for government, industry and academia to converge, and develop collaborative solutions to tackle some of the biggest issues affecting society today.”

Pearson Classroom

New Delhi, October 7. In partnership with the Australia-based E2Language, “the world’s most popular and trusted English Language test preparation company,” Pearson India announced the launch of Pearson Classroom, a fully online teacher-driven platform for students to prepare for English language exams. The platform is designed to support institutes, teachers, students and administrators.

The Pearson Classroom programme provides students with practice, assessments and mock tests and also enables teachers to overcome the challenges of online delivery with quality teaching and learning content, proven methodologies, and skill-building. “We are confident that Pearson Classroom, powered by E2Language, will help students writing PTE-A, IELTS-A, IELTS-G, & OET for nursing and medicine exams,” said Ramananda S.G, vice president (sales), Pearson India, speaking on the occasion.

Microsoft Innovative Educators

India, October 5. Microsoft welcomed 4,366 Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts (MIEE) on board its Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) programme for the Asia region. This is a two-fold increase over the previous year. In India, 2,669 experts joined the ranks of certified MIE experts in the year ended March 31.

The MIEE programme, initiated in 2014, certifies educators who have successfully completed online professional development courses, accessed resources, and shared learnings with training professionals in Microsoft Innovative Educator Centres worldwide.

Moreover, this year 49 schools signed up for Microsoft Showcase Schools programme including Welham Boys, Dehradun; Bluebells School International, New Delhi; and Presidency School, Bangalore South. “These schools thoughtfully integrate a variety of Microsoft solutions such as Windows, Office 365, OneNote, Skype and more to enable anywhere, anytime learning for students,” says Larry Nelson, regional general manager (education), Microsoft Asia.

SNU’s Dassault Centre

Greater Noida, October 5. The multi-disciplinary research-focused Shiv Nadar University (SNU, estb.2011), Dadri (UP), designated an Institution of Eminence (IoE) by the government of India, has established a Shiv Nadar University-Dassault Systémes Centre of Excellence (SDC) on its campus. Powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform of Dassault Systemes for research, innovation, design and entrepreneurship, the centre will enhance the effectiveness of multidisciplinary education at SNU.

“The SNU-Dassault Center underscores our determination to foster research and innovation to develop real-life, sustainable solutions suitable for the 21st century. We’re delighted to partner with Dassault Systemes and collaborate with their great team to enable our students to access mind-boggling technologies and faculty. This is a new high in academia-industry partnership in India,” says Dr. Rupamanjari Ghosh, vice-chancellor, SNU.