>Ex-IITian starts world-class school in Bihar village

>In a remote corner of the state, at Chamanpura village of Gopalganj district, a story is unfolding of unique enterprise and innovative methods in school education. Situated about 30 kilometers from Gopalganj, this school, known as Chaitanya Gurukul Public School, was founded in 2009 by an ex-IITian, Chandrakant Singh, now based in Bangalore.

Bereft of electricity till date, about 450 children, both boys and girls, are imparted lessons in physics, chemistry, mathematics and computer through Skype, video conferencing and Internet. Eight of Singh’s associates, sitting in various corners of the world, have joined hands to teach children right from Class I to Class VII, through video-conferencing. Apart from distance learning, 16 teachers, who reside on the campus, are helping the students in their studies. Here, teachers mark their attendance using a biometric finger-printer and students too log their attendance in computers.

The computers run on gensets owned by the school. Once computers were in place, the teaching did not have to wait. Pankaj Kumar of NTPC, a technocrat, teaches physics from Singrauli. Working with HAL, Sanjay Rai, an alumnus from BITS, Pilani, teaches chemistry from Korwa in UP, while M. Vats, a US-based technocrat teaches math.

“With a view to providing world-class, technology-enabled education to the children of this backward village, where I was born and where I had my primary schooling, I set up this institution,” said Singh. The push came when the Mahartashtra Navnirman Sena was attacking Bihari migrants in Mumbai. Singh then decided to do something immediately for his home town. “I was greatly disturbed, and wanted to arrest the migration of students from Bihar in my small way,” he said. He then sought the advice of Surya Narayan, Dean of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, who was his teacher also. Narayan suggested him to make a plan for revenue-generating, self-sustaining model instead of taking the charity route. Singh then prepared a blueprint and e-mailed it to 3,000 friends, eight of whom agreed to fund it.

After the state government approved the proposal, the friends, who formed a trust, met the villagers and convinced them about the school. Within three months, they had 13 acres of land — from 100 villagers, who sold plots from 3 decimals to an acre in the area. Soon a big building started coming up, a part of which is still under construction.

With quality class rooms and campus, tuition fee starts from Rs. 300 for Class I and is increased annually by Rs. 100 as a child goes to a higher class. However, the school is run on self-sustaining basis, and not for profit. Chandrakant himself is doing his job, but takes classes through video-conferencing. Every year, one more class is sought to be opened at the school.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), February 3, 2011

>Microsoft, Cognizant, HCL and Wipro to hire designers this year

>Technology majors are headhunting at an unlikely place this year — design school. Software majors Microsoft, Cognizant, HCL and Wipro, e-commerce giant eBay India and the local research laboratories of SAP and HP are knocking at the doors of design schools to hire graduates who can lift the aesthetic appeal of their products, sites and services. And to boot, the number of designers in technology firms is expected to see a 20-25% spurt over the next 2-3 years.

As e-commerce grows, the web interface becomes crucial for internet firms pushing up the need for designers. For software firms too, client presentations over the web and providing design services are becoming important and de rigeur. While there is no concrete data on the number of designers in IT, rough estimates put it at between 5,000 and 7,000 — from 2000 till date. Designers are also being put to use to make web graphic design uber cool, bring snaziness to the user-interface for gadgets, write content for web and develop e-learning solutions for internal use.

Non-engineering graduates have been trying their hand at technology firms for sometime now. Along with designers, the number of non-engineering graduates on the rolls of IT companies will go up from 10% of their current workforce to nearly 20-25% at TCS, Wipro and HCL over the next one to two years. Fast-growing rival Cognizant already has 20% of its workforce as non-engineering graduates.

Says Vaithilingam Sairaj, Director, Content & Design Services, Cognizant: “The industry has evolved with a large number of online users turning to e-commerce. Thus, the importance of visual appeal and aesthetics is going up. Cognizant is a major hirer of designers from National Institute of Design (NID) and has created an exclusive portfolio called content and design services. The team is over 1,200-strong, of whom 400 are specialist designers who design websites, applications and convergence devices. Cognizant this year has made 18 offers at NID while last November, eBay India, SAP Labs and HP Labs also recruited students from India’s premier design school.

Professor Ravi Sinha, in-charge of placements at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai — which has a course on interaction design — says: “Yes, IT companies are queuing up to pick up designers from our campus. It is not just the SWITCH (Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant and HCL) companies, but even smaller firms are showing interest and scouting for talented designers.” But why? “Globally, it is common to see designers in IT firms but the trend is just picking up here. Designers are working on projects like web designing and user interface. Going forward, as local IT firms move up the value chain, demand for designers will rise,” he added.

A Cognizant employee, who also got an offer from an advertisement agency, says: “I got a good package from a leading advertising agency. But I chose IT because the options are more. In an advertisement firm, I have to work on a single project. On the other hand, I can work on different platforms in an IT firm,” he added. “I do the work of an interface designer as well as a content designer. And it is really challenging and exciting,” he says.

Not everyone gets to do what Jony Ive — the famed industrial designer at Apple — does, but work is exciting enough, say employees. “When a customer comes online to check a product detail, it has to be narrated like a story. That is where designers come handy. For social networking sites, the games, user experience designs and interactive technologies are done by designers. There is scope in the mobile space too,” says an Infosys employee.

The IT bellwether has a large number of designers on its rolls. A team called communication design group at Infosys is a multi-disciplinary one with 140 people involving graphic design experts, user experience designers, instructional designers, technical writers, content developers and editors, video specialists and interactive multimedia specialists. “We have roles from entry-level designers to managers which are aligned to the company’s role and career enhancement track. We at Infosys support communication and design requirements for the company, both internal and customer facing,” a spokesperson said. “The potential of the web, the lure of using the latest design technology, regular updating of skills, and all this possibly for a better pay, are reasons why designers are choosing a career with an IT company,” says Vaithilingam Sairaj of Cognizant.

Salaries offered are also at par, or even more, than what an advertisement agency offers. Though IT firms did not want to disclose what their packages are, sources said the salary for a fresher could be anywhere between Rs. 500,000 and Rs. 900,000. “The salaries offered by IT companies for designers are encouraging. Packages for a fresher is anywhere between Rs. 600,000 and Rs. 800,000,” says Sujitha Nair, industry relations and students’ placement officer at NID. “Around 8-10% students at our campus have already accepted pre placement offers (PPOs),” she added. Though Sinha did not want to divulge salary details, IIT-Mumbai design students say they are paid at par with their peers. “On an average, students are offered anywhere between Rs. 600,000-12,00,000 a year,” one student said.
Source: The Economic Times, February 3, 2011