Dell Technologies organizes PolicyHack for teachers in partnership with UNESCO MGIEP at Vishakhapatnam
Vishakhapatnam: Dell Technologies today hosted a PolicyHack for teachers in Vishakhapatnam at Transforming Education Conference for Humanity (TECH) 2019. Dell has partnered with UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) to provide a forum for teachers, schools and education experts, to present real-life solutions for the advancement of the education system in India. Dell Technologies PolicyHack is a global forum of public policy discussions that invite teachers to share their biggest challenges in coping with technology and come up with solutions that serve as input for governments, local organizations, think-tanks, industries and school administrations.
The Dell Technologies PolicyHack invited entries from across 7 states with over 45 schools participating in the hackathon. The participants were presented with a set of themes from which 11 shortlisted schools presented their problem statement and solutions to the jury, which comprised of the day’s guest of honour, Mr. Sanjay Awasthi, Member Secretary- National Council for Teacher Education, Professor Dr. G. Viswanathappa – Director, SIEMAT, Mr. Narendra Mehrotra, Senior Consultant, UNESCO MGIEP and Ms. Ritu Gupta, Marketing Director, Consumer & Small Business, Dell Technologies, India.
The themes were:
· Technology to promote diversity and inclusion in a classroom
· Leveraging technology acting as an aid for teacher development
· Creating customized content using technological aids
· Technology fostering collaboration among teachers
· Assessment, evaluation and monitoring of digital initiatives
‘Leveraging technology as an aid for teacher development’ stood out as the most engaging and presented subject. The Vishakhapatnam Hackathon was won by Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Tamil Nadu, with AP Model School Marupaka, Vizag as the first runner-up team and Delhi Public School, Bangalore South as the second runner-up team.
Speaking about PolicyHack, Ritu Gupta, Director- Marketing, Consumer & Small Business, Dell Technologies, India said, “Digital literacy is the new norm with schools becoming the first point of introduction to fundamental technology in early years of development. At Dell, we believe technology is a key enabler in transforming the way education is imparted and our efforts with Atal Innovation Mission, EduVision and Dell Aarambh are testimony to that. The Dell PolicyHack series has gained good traction from the education community especially teachers, showing the keenness to address gaps that exist in a ‘digital first’ world.”
“Technology is a transformative medium that can potentially empower both educators & learners, if implemented with the right design and context. Technology in general & AI is progressively transforming teacher’s role definition within the learning spaces that should be increasingly embraced but not without asking pertinent questions about data privacy & ownership or vested profit making. At UNESCO MGIEP, we take these questions and learning contexts very seriously and through well thought-out scalable & secure architecture powering our indigenously developed Digital Platform FramerSpace, we try to address these big barriers for increased global adoption of technological tools within educational context. Capacity building & education community engagement initiatives like the Dell PolicyHack series is integral to our outreach strategy”, said Sourabh Roy, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), UNESCO MGEIP.
This edition marked the conclusion of Dell’s four-city PolicyHack series. The series witnessed participation from 700 teachers and over 270 entries from schools across India. The winning teams will work with Dell Technologies and other relevant stakeholders to further develop their policy solutions into workable solutions for the teacher community.