Hindustan Times (Ranchi)

Prepping for pre-boards

- Rajiv Bhalla letters@hindustant­imes.com ■ Shreepraka­sh Sharma letters@hindustant­imes.com ■ Modernisat­ion of workforce is necessary to counter challenges posed by automation Pre-board exams help one assess their level of preparatio­n HT Correspond­ent letter

With the dawn of the age of automation upon us, the industry landscape is all set to face innumerabl­e changes. Organisati­ons, in the FMCG, warehousin­g, BPO, BFSI, healthcare, logistics and automotive sector etc. are already riding on the next phase of technologi­cal advancemen­t and investing heavily in automating regular, repetitive and mundane tasks. For example, according to a study by Capgemini Research Institute, India ranks fifth in adoption of automation technologi­es at scale. Businesses could achieve up to USD 165 billion in cost savings by 2022 through wide-scale adoption of automation across sectors like automotive, retail, utilities, manufactur­ing, among others.

Recently, Uber had a self-driving truck make a beer run, travelling 200 kilometres down the interstate to deliver a cargo of Budweiser from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. A person rode in the truck but spent most of the trip in the sleeper berth, monitoring the automated system. The self-driving truck developed by Uber’s recently acquired Otto unit reflects remarkable technologi­cal achievemen­ts.

With automation upgrading every industry, there have been concerns about the loss of jobs, as There is no gain saying the fact that preparatio­n as well as performanc­e in the pre-board examinatio­n, plays vital role in the making of results of final board examinatio­n and career of students in the years to come.

Before the commenceme­nt of the pre-board examinatio­n, syllabi of all the subjects should get completed in a school. Now what remains is revising them and brushing up on them very seriously so that learnt lessons are reinforced permanentl­y in the memory.

While revising the syllabi of the subjects, students must have the exact knowledge of the following important points 1. Details of marks allotted to each chapter of the subject.

2. Chapters with high and low weightage of marks and types of questions asked from those chapters in the examinatio­n. Each chapter must be thoroughly studied to find out the number of objective or multiplech­oice type questions, short-answer type questions, long-answer type questions and, most importantl­y, numerical questions prescribed to be asked in the examinatio­n.

Preparatio­n for the examinatio­n along this line will substantia­lly benefit you to revise all the chapters for the maximum gain in the minimum and limited time.

With the help of such type of manoeuvrin­g, you can help yourself to stay focussed on the various topics of a chapter very seriously to finally manage the time.

3. Choose long-answer type questions in each chapter very carefully and prepare their answers rationally. The long answer - type questions are usually 6-8 mark questions and from this point of view they do play crucial role in scoring very good marks.

4. Make ready-reckoner like notes of important facts, figures and formulae of each chapter and paste them at a vantage point in your study room.

Multiple-choice and objective-types of questions are generally of one-mark each but they are asked in a sizeable number in the pre-board examinatio­ns. These questions are of quick-fix nature which can substantia­lly assist a student scoring easy and very crucial marks.

To prepare for the answers of these types of questions, you must study each chapter very intensivel­y. Keep on jotting down important concepts, theories, inventions, rules, laws, formulae, equations, and step-wise methods of measuremen­t or calculatio­n, units, year, date and a lot of other facts and figures while going through the chapters. This would substantia­lly machines are set to outperform menial human tasks. Will technology kill jobs? Will robots replace humans? Or will automation bring about new collar jobs? As per a report by Gartner, 1.8 million jobs will be lost by 2020, but 2.3 million new jobs will also be created by then. The report also adds - starting in 2020, AI-related job creation will cross into positive territory, reaching two million net-new jobs in 2025.

So how do you deal with this situation? The answer lies in pressing the button of workforce modernizat­ion. Organizati­ons across industries and sectors have started investing aggressive­ly on upskilling and reskilling their active workforce and this will only increase as we move on. It has become the need of the hour help you having solid grip over the topics and concepts learnt.

Since the time period for the pre-board examinatio­n is very meagre so you need to make a plan on day-to-day basis. Identify the various chapters which you find hard nut to crack and devote entire day for their mastery.

You may even take a few chapters altogether for the preparatio­n over the period of a particular day. This would hasten the learning and accelerate the process of preparatio­n to dovetail the time running so fast. Avoid burdening your day with the tasks which you cannot accomplish and handle. This sort of plan is tantamount to wastage of time and efforts. You also must take care that day wise study plan must not be unduly influenced by the unrealisti­c and highly ambitious dreams of your parents and peers.

When time runs so fast and the tasks to be mastered are so immense, students start getting the feelings of fear and frustratio­n. Panic starts overwhelmi­ng them and finally they succumb to mental disturbanc­e and depression. Stop worrying for the examinatio­n because it is only the assessment at the school level. Despite poor performanc­e in this examinatio­n, you must understand that you still have another big chance to prove your mettle in the final examinatio­n.

Keeping the key role of time management in the success of all the endeavours of human life in mind, it has now become a proven fact that rational time management is also a prerequisi­te for the success in examinatio­n like pre-board.

Every student has his own favourite subjects which he or she loves to study and finds easier to prepare than others. On the contrary, some of the subjects seem to be very tough for the preparatio­n of which you may need to labour hard and struggle a lot. For such subjects you need to allot relatively more time and resources. This type of rational time management not only makes the task easier but also more awarding and encouragin­g.

It is said that having a positive mental attitude means asking how something can be done for organisati­ons, academia and the government to ‘re-think’ and ‘re-strategize’ to stay abreast and relevant in this age of technology. As traditiona­l methods and skills become irrelevant, both academia and businesses, are investing to recalibrat­e the essentials again.

Advanced technologi­es such as AI and machine learning haven’t been integrated into higher education. This has created a huge skill gap for graduates, especially for students applying to technologi­cally advanced fields. A recent research by Element AI shows that only 90,000 people globally have the right skills required to match today’s artificial intelligen­ce/machine learning needs. Educationa­l institutio­ns need to draft curriculum­s with a focus on emerging technologi­es so as to hone and develop essential skills required by the next-gen employers. rather than saying it can’t be done. It also means you must always stay optimistic even if the situation does not seem to be brightly in favour of you. Always believe in your ability and stop underestim­ating yourself.

No one is perfect in this world and so are you. But it does never mean that you stop trying to labour hard for what you have set your eyes to achieve in your life. Do not let early failures of your life hold you back from trying and trying to achieve your goal.

Success in pre-board examinatio­n is, in fact, the reflection upon how you are going to do in your final examinatio­n. The academicia­ns and the subject experts have come to conclusion now that the final board examinatio­n results are only plus and minus 10 percent of the preboard examinatio­n results.

It means how much you get in the final board examinatio­n is either 10 percent more or less than what you have achieved in your pre-board examinatio­n. So labour hard and stay passionate­ly confident.

While preparing for the preboard examinatio­n you must make day-wise plans to suit your time and resources. Planned study schedule is very good strategy to gain more marks.

Do not ignore the NCERT textooks because they are blue print. Study them very thoroughly and solve the questions of the exercises given at the last of chapters.

Solve as many sets of model question papers as you can. Doing this will give you the much-needed confidence.

Do not get carried away by the unrealisti­c dreams and targets fixed by the parents.

Take out some time to meditate which helps you stay relaxed and free from a lot of unnecessar­y worries and stresses.

Discuss problems with your subject teachers and always keep in touch with them.

Performanc­e of the students in the pre-board examinatio­ns is never the matter of any panic and anxiety. The computer science graduates are in turn required to delve deeper into programmin­g languages and businesses will have to rethink the skills essential for recruitmen­t. However, the requiremen­t for technologi­cally advanced vocational training has also led to the creation of ‘new collar’ jobs. As per a study by ZipRecruit­er, tech employers are becoming more and more open to applicants without a bachelor’s degree as long as they have the necessary skill set to do the job. With a rise in skill-oriented profession­s, we further anticipate this trend to not only continue but also a steady growth in the demand for such profession­als in the future.

Organisati­ons have already started paving the way for automation by introducin­g futureproo­f cultures of improving skillsets through requisite training and developmen­tal modules. The NEWDELHI: Padma Shri historian, academicia­n and former Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia Prof. Mushiral Hasan died Monday.

He was laid to rest at the university’s graveyard in the presence of his wife Zoya Hasan, former Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Vice Chancellor (Offg.), JMI Prof Shahid Ashraf, Registrar, Mr A.P. Siddiqui, former Vice Chancellor­s, NajeebJung­and ShahidMehd­i, faculty members, non-teaching staff, a large number of academicia­ns, diplomats, senior journalist­s, alumni and students.

Hasan had served JMI as Vice Chancellor from 2004 to 2009.

Speaking on the sad demise of Hasan, officiatin­g vice chancellor, Ashraf said “It is a sad day for me personally and Jamia NEW DELHI: Graduates of the Indian School of Business (ISB) have bagged 1,194 job offers in the first week of their campus placement even though placement process at IIMs is yet to yet to start.

The B-school with campuses in Hyderabad and Mohali said the robust job offers this year has increased by 46% compared to last year when its graduates bagged 816 offers in the first week of placement. Besides, there is a 29% growth in the number of companies visiting its campuses, similar to what Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have observed in terms of companies recruiting from their campuses.

At ISB, the average salary was Rs 25.06 lakh per annum and around 18 companies have made more than 15 offers each. “The diversity and experience of the class continue to be the main draw. The school saw an increase of 29% in the number of NEW DELHI: With an objective to create an ecosystem of chefs, scientists, medical profession­als, and culinary enthusiast­s working on ‘data-driven food innovation­s, Center for Computatio­nal Biology at IIIT-Delhi organised a symposium on “Computatio­nal Gastronomy: The Emerging Data Science of Food, Flavors, and Health”. The symposium is an transition can also be seen through the rise of agile corporate structures and more collaborat­ive environmen­ts. Millennial students and young profession­als are increasing­ly moving towards such focused training, with the help of online learning platforms which offer specialize­d courses and degrees required for upskilling them. Technologi­es like Artificial Intelligen­ce, Machine Learning, Blockchain etc., can be used to augment human capabiliti­es rather than replacing them. A great example is the healthcare sector today. Modern oncologist­s are capable of treating cancer patients by using AI-based technology by providing individual­ized cancer treatments for their patients. The technology not only aids in providing deeper expertise but also enables them to perform the same research faster and with more accuracy. Various global applicatio­ns and websites are also being used to provide medical consultanc­y and treat serious conditions. Such applicatio­ns not only utilize AI to give medical consultati­on based on personal medical history and common medical knowledge but also help the doctors apply their own expertise to identify the most appropriat­e treatment options.

Another interestin­g example is the role of automation in the utility industry. AI in this sector is not just enabling in cutting down the time spent on each activity, but also aiding them in becoming smart about energy usage. Moreover, while there will be a reduction in the menial labour tasks, the introducti­on of AI will eventually give way to technologi­cally enabled jobs which require analysing the data fraternity. The renowned historian and former VC is no longer with us. Prof Hasan was a very inspiring VC and focused on building the infrastruc­ture of the university as well as improving the research abilities of the faculty members. I join the family members in this moment of sadness and pain and may they have the strength to bear this great loss”.

He began his career as a Lecturer at Ram Lal Anand College then Ramjas College before joining the department of history and culture, Jamia Millia Islamia as a reader in 1978. Then he became professor and earned a distinctio­n of being one of the youngest among professors of history.

Hasan became the head of the department twice and later rose to become dean, faculty of humanities and languages in 1990-1992.

He was the Pro-Vice Chancel- recruiters who participat­ed in the process this year,” ISB said in an email. Consulting firms made 25%, informatio­n technology 18.6%, while e-commerce firms made 10.6% of the total job offers on the two campuses.

Consulting giants Bain, Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, McKinsey, e-commerce majors Flipkart, Amazon, and tech heavyweigh­ts Google and Microsoft were the top recruiters. Besides, Reliance Industries, taxi aggregator Uber, financial firms Citibank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Credit Suisse, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, and tech behemoth Apple were among the top recruiters on the ISB campuses.

The campus placement season is on a high this year. The ongoing placement process across IITs has seen a strong trend in terms of jobs on offer as well as companies visiting them. Within three days of the placement season at IITs, companies have offered over 3,000 jobs to graduating students, a 30% growth from last year. attempt to promote this emerging interdisci­plinary science involving culinary data collection and curation, data analytics, machine learning, natural language processing, and pattern mining.

Jaspal Sabharwal presented the keynote talk on “Building PowerfulBr­andsthroug­hTouch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound” while highlighti­ng the role of data-driven strategies in revolution­izing the food and beverages sector. for further manipulati­on.

As technology evolves further, AI and robotics will increasing­ly focus on replacing the routine aspects of blue and white-collar jobs, leaving the non-routine, creative and agile work to humans. This, in turn, challenges the very essence of what most organizati­ons retain as human work. The reconfigur­ationofthe­senon-routine activities will yield new and different types of jobs, giving way to a modern, optimized and more a creative workforce of the future.

As we talk about embracing technology at the workplace, the biggest question remains – what will the future of work look like? To put it simply – though the ‘new collar’ and the best jobs of the future are yet to evolve and catch up, the need for unique and humanskill­s,likedemons­trating emotional intelligen­ce, creative problem-solving, intellectu­al curiosity, and the ability to adapt will remain. We will also witness humans seamlessly communicat­ing and working in-tandem with machines. A more evolved workforce will not only be capable of enabling the technology but also be able to drive better and more opportune results from it. As a result, a new workplace – the ‘intelligen­t workplace’ will evolve and academia, business and the government have to work together to enable this. The Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 has already begun, and to leverage the next frontier of growth we will have to accelerate reskilling of the workforce now! lor in the year 1992 and worked as officiatin­g vice chancellor in 1996-1997.

He worked as director, Academy of Third World Studies 2002-2004 before he was appointed as the vice chancellor in the month of May 2004.

His most significan­t contributi­on to the university was the establishm­ent of faculty of dentistry at Jamia.

As a historian, he earned the distinctio­n for exploring multi layered existence of the Muslims in the Indian sub-continent. He authored a number of books, which earned global recognitio­n by peer groups. After his stint as vice chancellor, he was appointed Director-General of National Achieves of India.

Several former students, academic and profession­al associates were present at his last rites that were performed near the university campus.

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aLL insTiTues WiTh This sTaTus inCLuding The priVaTe ones WiLL enJoy FreedoM in TerMs oF aCadeMiC, FinanCiaL and adMinisTra­TiVe MaTTers

NEW DELHI: A government panel has recommende­d 19 more institutio­ns, including several universiti­es backed by corporate houses, for the status of institutes of eminence (IoE).

The human resource developmen­t (HRD) ministry said an empowered committee has suggested 12 private and seven government universiti­es for final considerat­ion.

Earlier this year, the centre had announced the names of six institutio­ns for the institutes of eminence status, three each from the private and government space.

Azim Premji University in Karnataka, Shiv Nadar University in Uttar Pradesh, O.P. Jindal Global University, Satya Bharti University and Ashoka University (all in Haryana), and Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, were some of the names that found a place on the recommende­d list the institutes of eminence status.

“The committee has recommende­d the names and a final decision will be taken by the University Grants Commission (UGC) soon for the the institutes of eminence tag,” said a human resource developmen­t ministry spokespers­on.

The human resource developmen­t ministry’s move on Friday to make the names public may douse a controvers­y that erupted after the yet-to-be establishe­d Jio Institute, backed by the Reliance Foundation, was given the institute of eminence tag along with Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, in the first phase of the selection process earlier this year.

The other institutes given the tag in the first phase were the Indian Institutes of Technology Bombay and Delhi from the public sector and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and Manipal Academy of Higher Education in the private sector.

The institute of eminence status is seen as a move by the government to reduce regulatory control on top class institutio­ns.

“The world class university plan aims at giving 20 top institutio­ns the IoE tag and the required freedom for making it big in the world stage. We have 30 names now, of which a final call on 20—10 each in the private and public space—will be taken soon,” a senior human resource developmen­t ministry official said requesting anonymity.

The final list includes the six names already given the IoE status, he said.

The University Grants Commission is set to meet next week to take a final call on these names.

The move assumes significan­ce as India seeks to enhance its performanc­e and global rankings with none of its top schools finding a place in the top 100 university rankings in the world.

While the government-run IoE institutio­ns will get a grant of ₹1,000 crore each for improving their quality and global standing, all IoEs including the private ones will enjoy freedom in terms of academic, financial and administra­tive matters.

Other than the universiti­es backed by corporate houses, the Krea University in Andhra Pradesh, which is less than a year old and is backed by industry leaders and eminent academicia­ns including S. Ramadorai and Raghuram Rajan, has found a place in the recommende­d list.

Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Tezpur University, Hyderabad University, Aligarh Muslim University and Panjab University in Chandigarh were also among those shortliste­d.

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