The GBM, DESC assembled online at 11.00 AM IST, to discuss upon the agenda points which were already floated amongst the Members and also are showcased on the website at the following link – https://descworld.org/desc-management-notice-and-agenda-for-the-gbm-on-21-may-23/.
A total of 21 Members out of 60 attended the meeting and casted their opinion on the Agenda points discussed. The meeting continued for 2 hours and 46 minutes.
Agenda 1 : Introduction of New Members of DESC
Mr Rohit Kale, was introduced to the members. He hails from Jalgaon, Maharashtra and is a dynamic leader with lots of Experience in Sustainability and Social Work.
Agenda 2 : Partnership and Collaborations
During the last 15 days, DESC Management got into two new Partnerships. First one is an Academic partnership with CompTIA, and the Second one is with a Social enterprise of Chhattisgarh in Udayachal.
Agenda 3 : Online Mentorship Webinars and Workshops
A thorough deliberation on this agenda was carried out by all the members present. The Major points which have emerged are-
*Every member welcomed this initiative and almost everyone agreed to participate and present a topic of their specialization and interest in this weekly to be held webinar online.
*Mr KK Jha, suggested that some current and relevant points should be included in the topic list, so that maximum benefit can be derived out of it. A topic bank to be identified by everyone and every member to then conduct the webinar as per their specialization. Ex of ChatGPT and other new subjects were given. Webinars can be conducted in Hybrid mode, both offline and online.
Action point – Point accepted by all and a Google form to be created seeking ideas on topics from members and also each member will speak to college faculty, students, School Staff, and other eminent authorities in the fields of Education in their respective areas and a topic bank to be updated periodically. The possibility of offline mode to be explored in conjunction with the requirement and resources available by respective Regional Chapter President and the team.
*Mrs Sasmita ji added that the same to be conducted by mentoring rural and marginalised community pause she also said that college youth be targeted, and we should seek volunteers from each college who will also act as a representative of desk. The webinars to be conducted in bilingual mode and there should be no language barrier for its wider dissemination. The timing can be on a Saturday as more people are expected to attend to it.
Action point. The point was accepted by all and for future all the webinars and seminar posters and brochures to be made bilingual so that people who are not comfortable in English can also understand it in their regional language oblique Hindi.
*Mr Samir suggested that Saturday would be a better day for conduct of the webinar and also the topic bank to be created group wise similar to our constitution and composition in the governing council. The point was appreciated and accepted by everyone, every member to connect with their respective group decide amongst themselves on the available topics and then volunteer for a webinar at a given date and time.
*Mr Sandeep Budhrani also suggested that the topic so identified should be presented in the promotion material oblique brochures which should appeal to the people and not a straight away point. This was widely accepted by everyone that we need to be more creative for finding the topics and the headings for each webinar and the same shall be ensured by using artificial intelligence and other SEO methods available
*Mr Sarath also emphasised on the relevance of the topic and its correct wording to attract more people attending to it.
*Mrs Ashoo kalra suggested that we need to prepare a detailed handout and a brochure which should contain a list of the suggested topics with a little profile of all the speakers so that the same can be disseminated to schools and college as an advance information for them to identify the takeaway’s from each webinar and can accordingly plan their attendance.
Action Point Mrs Sasmita also added that we need to be sending lot of emails to all government institutions, colleges, educators, people involved in skill and education industry. A Database is available with her, and the same will be provided to DESC for quicker and wider dissemination of our programs and Events.
*Dr Madhuri added a point that unless and until each webinar mentions its take away’s or benefits associated, there would be very less people interested to attend to it. Thus, it was decided that every brochure will contain the takeaways and also an hyperlink will be placed in each email which would highlight the relative importance of each webinar along with the benefits which a student a college goer or a professional will accrue out of it. We also need to identify some certifications and awards for people who are undergoing these webinars to gain more traction and attention in masses.
*Mr Pradeep added the relative importance of seeking permissions, availability and schedule of schools, including reaching out to principles, management and then plan our events and webinar’s accordingly. It was then decided that the regional chapter president, vice president and their team will carry out physical / telephonic interaction with the above entities to ascertain their schedules and plan future events accordingly, as appropriate.
*Mr Rakeesh Kriplani added that based on his experience of last 20 years plus, planning a webinar/ session based on the school availability is very difficult, as these days almost every school and college is being approached by a number of speakers to provide free / paid sessions and it is very challenging for the school and college administration to accommodate it. Instead he suggested that area wise / state-wise programs for principles be started in which an interaction is carried out with respective principles to understand their requirement and then take them on board while carrying out these webinars / presentations / talks.
Decision. The point was very well accepted by every member, and it was decided that Regional chapter Head will plan/ suggest these programs / interactions with various principles and Educators through their respective team and network and will then also identify the requirement for future planning and conduct of webinars/ sessions.
*Dr. Sridhar added that there are so many programs being run by the Government of India like Atal incubation program in which schools and colleges are required to identify correct mentorship opportunities and provide the same to the students offered by Government and social organizations. Some Google and LinkedIn forms to be created which shall invite ideas from students, educators and teachers for subsequent implementation by DESC. All sessions to be conducted in hybrid mode having awards for innovation and for research work being conducted subsequently. He further suggested that he has worked upon this idea previously and has got some connects which can be referred and be explored by him and DESC to start with.
Agenda 4 : Medical surveillance through Education System
A detailed deliberation was given by Mr Abhay on the process and takeaways of conducting medical surveillance through existing education system and its network. Certain takeaways and proposals to achieve the desired effect are –
—development of framework for providing medical surveillance be identified,
—target audience and they are education procedures need to be identified,
—a detailed research framework to be prepared including developing some education material for dissemination and referral, be made to make people understand its requirement and the procedures,
—some awareness campaigns in form of captivating and visual material like brochures / posters / infographics / videos be prepared and be distributed for generating more awareness and traction,
—a multi channel approach to include digital platforms, interactive engagements, online questionnaire, student and youth participation, interviews and other social engagements be adopted to gain more information to be able to take corrective measures for smoother implementation of medical surveillance, as proposed,
—a task force within DESC needs to be incorporated which shall identify the campaigning aspects, interact with schools and colleges, seek their volunteers for integration into own effort, and be able to train teachers oblique staff plus committee own task force to supervise the process.
—The ultimate aim is to identify the root cause and the limitations, once it is achieved same should be utilised to support the government initiatives and in partnership with other health service providers public hospitals oblique system towards implementation and benefits to the society.
Agenda 5 : Research and Publication Wing
Detailed discussion took place on the composition the ideas and the theme on which the research and publication wing of DESC should function. The idea was very much appreciated by every member and accepted that this would become a major platform which will give a lot of credibility and public visibility to our work. The wing should facilitate conduct of studies, research papers, interviews other important educational aspects for implementation through government or public private mode. It was also suggested that offline conferences and forum discussions, both national and international be carried out under this wing subsequently so that researchers from all over the world can be invited and subsequently their research work can be published through the research and publication wing. More and more collaborations with known Journals and publishers be carried out to make our own Publication more popular and acceptable. It was also discussed that we need to seek volunteers and the strategy to be identified for Cross disciplinary collaborations between schools and colleges and certain gifts, prices and public awards be institutionalised for each volunteer and participant. Activities of all members to be showcased on the web along with their photos for each event they do undertake in their professional capacity. Dr. Dilip Kumar suggested that he has a good network which can be introduced to DESC and his help can be sought to develop networking in regional colleges, institutions and schools for more people and volunteers to join our organisation.
Agenda 6, 7 and 8
These agenda points were deliberated upon in the previous meeting and thus a follow up to them were discussed. These have been discussed in detail and the points were very well accepted by each member with the focus that we need to be implementing TPMS model as soon as possible. Mrs Ashoo Kalra ji, was designated as the task force leader towards identification of perquisites to the TPMS model and the team for its implementation in a phased manner with various schools and colleges as was discussed in the last meeting. All the required assistance shall be provided by the management and all the members of DESC to her in order to plan, prepare, and accomplish the mission.
ThriveDX . All the required efforts to get into partnership with ThriveDX will be made by the DESC management and its members. Everyone assured of their complete corporation and full assistance in order to achieve it in a time bound manner.
CompTIA has accepted DESC as their academic partner in India, all the members were briefed upon the various programs and certifications offered by CompTIA in the field of cyber security, information security and networking. They were also requested to identify institutes, coaching centres, colleges and every educational./ Skilling institutions which can offer CompTIA certifications being our franchises or centres of excellence and the rates will be offered at a very-very competitive and discounted price than available in the market elsewhere. Every member undertaking this effort will be compensated on revenue sharing model on case to case and occurrence basis.
Agenda 9 : Executive Council
A deliberate discussion on the requirement for a National and Regional executive council was discussed with each member present during the GBM. The management has been deliberating on this very specific requirement for enhanced coordination, cooperation and delivery of their initiatives and programs in various parts of the country. After a due deliberation and seeking acceptance from various officials, a National executive council and 5 Regional chapter councils were announced today, the details of which are given under –
After announcement of respective National and Regional chapters, most of the queries pertaining to appointments like creation of an email ID, certifications, their roles and responsibilities were asked by the members. It was in a limited manner explained with an assurance that the detailed role, responsibilities and authority vested in each designated National and Region heads will subsequently be posted on website and also in the WhatsApp group for each member to analyse and ascertain their respective authority and scope of work respectively. It was also deliberated that majority of the project work, interaction with government and private and any other representation of DESC including membership and Volunteer registrations will be made at the Regional level by the respective teams so designated and in case of any assistance, the national executive council or the board of directors will be available full time for a resolution. Regional Chapter heads will enjoy both financial and Administrative authority in their respective regions towards functioning and smooth implementation of the efforts undertaken by DESC. During this announcement, a requirement for identification cards for each designated authority was also deliberated for which it was told that voting will be conducted in the group, since this involves a certain expenditure . Initially, a digital Iden card will be prepared and if desired an order on payment basis will be made online to get the card dispatched to each member as per their convenience and place of their choice.
Dr Naveen Bafna, the Deputy chairman of DESC highlighted the importance and requirement of the identity card towards correct representation of DESC to public entities, government offices and other places of interest, and the same was appreciated and acknowledged by other members. Upon a decision to print the physical Card, the same will be implemented by the management as decided thereafter. Thank you note was given by given by Dr Naveen Bafna to each member present during the GBM for their patience, perseverance and valuable suggestions as have been contributed in making this meeting successful with lot of action points at hand towards their correct implementation.
Thanking everyone.
Rashmi Gupta
Co-Chairman, DESC
21 May 2023
1 Comment
Thanks for prompt share