Education 2023: The need for new-age digital skills

Experts from an interview with some of the education players on 'A look at the year 2023 on education. Some of the experts witnessed that over 70 per cent growth in young professionals aimed to upskill themselves, indicating the growing need for new-age digital skills. Now the demand is of data science, analytics, technology and management courses. Supply chain management, cyber security, full stack development, data science and digital marketing. And aim to focus on creating holistic learning experiences backed by a complete ecosystem of highly engaging programmes, adequate learning resources and top-of-the-line technology to enable our learners to upskill efficiently.

Technology will make admissions & learning process more personalised

The integration of educational technology accelerated in the last two years, with Covid being the catalyst. Norms of social distancing disregarded all forms of traditional education. Technology spearheaded the change and transformed education at every rung of the ladder. However, many companies went down on their knees as the pandemic waned and the quest for in-person education strengthened. But the impact of the waning pandemic was not uniform. The model of business determined the effect.

Overseas education consultants found their footing growing strong as the pandemic waned and more international students were determined to study overseas in pursuit of a better quality of life and opportunities. 2023 will bring more success to the study abroad ecosystem as countries warm up to more international students and students explore new territories to chart their lives. Technology would make the admissions and learning process more personalized and inclusive. Transformative technologies like gamification, nano learning, and metaverse will seep into the learning narratives of tomorrow, bringing in paradigm shifts in education and creating enhanced opportunities for learners.

— Ashish Fernando, CEO, and Founder, iSchoolConnect

Lateral talent will be in demand

With digitalisation, the demand for tech talent is also increasing. Parallelly, technology is evolving at such a rapid pace that the new trends seem out-of-date before they even go live. The demand is now more for hybrid or physical talent rather than completely remote. Python was in demand in both 2020 and 2021 owing to the surge in digitalisation. However, the year 2022 witnessed a surge in demand for Java because of the hiring spree that is happening in the non-tech sectors. Since the non-tech sector is hiring, there is a need for more experienced or lateral tech talent which has brought down the hiring of freshers for tech roles. Non-tech sectors do not have the understanding and the bandwidth for training fresh talent like the tech sectors have- hence they prefer lateral or experienced talent. The lateral talent is again more in demand as a lot of low-level tech talent can be upskilled or reskilled. Experienced professionals should be encouraged to upskill to stay abreast with the ever-evolving technologies. There are several lateral skill enhancement programs to offer an in-depth understanding of the concepts and sufficient knowledge across domains. The tech talent must opt for skill enhancement programmes especially the ones following the experiential method to improve their employability.

— Narayan Mahadevan, Founder, BridgeLabz - an IP-driven incubation lab aimed at nurturing engineering talent and ideas, Mumbai, Maharashtra

India needs to leverage the quality of education

In the last two years, how important it is to keep India's educators up to date on new tools and techniques to achieve the best learning outcomes with their students. While schools have resumed physically, the ongoing Covid-19 situation indicates that we cannot be complacent. It is imperative to continue India's push to teach the teachers, to ensure they are fully prepared for any eventuality. This push is not only necessary for teachers to impart education in newer and more effective ways, but also for their own professional growth into seasoned and wise leaders. In 2023, we will continue to see teacher education being prioritised by the government, as well as educational institutions. The sector is being revolutionised globally, and India needs to leverage this to uplift our quality of education further. To be a global leader in all spheres, it is vital for our country to ensure our educators are well-equipped with all the knowledge and expertise necessary to develop students into able leaders of our future.

— Prodipta Hore, Director, Aditya Birla Education Academy

Guide students to face challenges

As students came back to school in 2022, schools across witnessed the emergence of new challenges. While, earlier, they were struggling to cope with online learning and isolation from their social groups on resumption of physical classes, many felt the pressure of going back to a school schedule they were no longer used to. For some, the online teaching learning had posed its own challenges thereby creating learning gaps which compounded the issue of getting 'back to school'.

It is the responsibility of all educators to continue to support them and guide them through the challenges they have been facing, and help them optimise their potential.

On the other hand, the two years gone by have taught us lessons in resilience and gratitude and whatever be the challenges in future, we would all be in a better position to handle change. There had been a significant paradigm shift in the nature of education. In keeping the best of both worlds, teachers will use e-games as well as other new pedagogical practices to engage students thereby making their learning contemporary and hence more meaningful. 2023 will take us onto new journeys and we are all geared up to take the strides towards excellence.

— Radhika Sinha, Principal, Aditya Birla World Academy

Provide top-tier education to learners

The introduction of new-age technologies and consumer adoption has led to an exponential rise in online learning. We have witnessed over 70 per cent growth in young professionals aiming to upskill themselves, indicating the growing need for new-age digital skills. Our learners primarily seek finance, data science, analytics, technology and management courses. Supply chain management, cyber security, full stack development, data science and digital marketing skills are in high demand.

We are focusing on creating holistic learning experiences backed by a complete ecosystem of highly engaging programs, adequate learning resources and top-of-the-line technology to enable our learners to upskill efficiently. As a result, 3 out of 4 of our learners landed a better-paying job with about a 67 per cent salary hike. We will continue providing top-tier education to our learners by collaborating with premier global institutions and introducing more job-guarantee programmes.

— Sonya Hooja, Director & Co - Founder, Imarticus Learning, Mumbai, Maharasthra