Bangalore, January 18. The Bangalore-based The Teacher Foundation (TTF, estb. 2002), a nationally reputed not-for-profit which has trained over 75,000 teachers during the past 16 years, launched its Indian Social and Emotional Learning Framework (ISELF), a curriculum for developing social-emotional competencies in children of the 6-18 age group.

“There are no existing well-researched and articulated standards for social and emotional learning of Indian school children. Despite the high importance accorded to social and emotional education in NCERT’s National Curriculum Framework 2005, this domain has been largely ignored and sidelined by schools. TTF has designed a contextualised framework incorporating some major international SEL frameworks including the Collaborative of Academic Social and Emotional Learning of USA and Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning from the UK and WHO life skills. ISELF can be included in school curriculums through integration into the academic curriculum or taught separately as a subject,” said Maya Menon, founder-director of TTF, speaking on the occasion.

 

Fujitsu Scholarship Programme

Bangalore, January 16. Fujitsu India Pvt. Ltd — a subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd, Tokyo (annual revenue: $39 billion or Rs.280,800 crore) which provides a full range of ICT (information communication technologies) products, solutions and services for the global market — announced the launch of the 40th edition of its Fujitsu Scholarship Programme for India. Selected participants will attend the Fujitsu-JAIMS Foundation’s Global Leaders for Innovation and Knowledge (GLIK) 2019 study programme, conducted in four countries — Japan, US (Hawaii), Singapore and Thailand. To qualify for consideration applicants should have a bachelor’s degree, at least three years full-time work experience, and over 750 points in the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) examination. The scholarship covers tuition for the Fujitsu-JAIMS Foundation’s study programme. The application deadline for the programme starting on August 23, 2019, is March 8.

GLIK is a three-and-a-half-month certificate programme providing continued education for experienced business professionals. “In Fujitsu-JAIMS Foundation’s business management programme, our objective is to provide practical knowledge to participants to transform into leaders in innovation. This intensive training will help them push their boundaries towards shaping a prosperous tomorrow. There is a great chance for cross pollination of knowledge and skills as we select participants from all over the world,” said Andy Stevenson, managing director of Fujitsu India Pvt. Ltd.

Thus far 190 participants from 17 countries including India, Japan, the US and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region have completed the programme, which the foundation has been offering twice a year since April 2013.

Byju’s buys Osmo

Bangalore, January 17. The Bangalore-based Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd aka BYJU’s, has acquired the US-based Osmo, an award-winning playful learning system for creating healthy screen time experiences for US$120 million (Rs.864 crore). According to BYJU’s press statement, Osmo will continue to scale as a standalone brand as BYJU’s taps the company’s physical-to-digital technology and content to expand and enhance its current product and service offerings.

“Our vision is to make learning fun and engaging across all age groups and geographies. I strongly believe that using technology we can make children all over the world fall in love with learning. Together with Osmo, we have the critical elements needed to build an unprecedented library of engaging and entertaining educational content for a global pre-K-12 student audience,” says Byju Raveendran, founder & CEO of BYJU’s.

Launched in 2015, BYJU’s Learning App is a market leader in offering personalised learning programmes for students in classes IV-XII in India. Currently, 30 million students with over 2 million annual paid subscriptions are learning from the app.

 

Arc Skills launches SOAR

Mumbai, January 25. Arc Skills — a subsidiary of the Dubai-based Varkey Group — announced the launch of its SOAR programme in India. According to company spokespersons, SOAR is “a research backed learning pathway that nurtures values, skills, and career-based competencies in a child, at each step of her school life”. The skills are aligned with children’s age and development to enable them to develop the skills needed for the present and future.
“SOAR prepares students for tomorrow’s world through an integrated and continuous learning pathway. With SOAR programmes, we intend to equip every child in India with much needed new-age skills to develop and confidently grow their strengths to prepare them for the future. A strategic blend of interactive technology, game-based learning, and thought-provoking reflection, SOAR enriches the learning experiences of students and helps them explore new ideas while imbibing key life skills and dispositions needed to thrive in these dynamic times,” said Kakul Misra, chief operating officer of Arc Skills, speaking on the occasion.

According to company spokespersons, the SOAR programme has impacted thousands of people, businesses, and schools across the US, UAE, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia, and India.