The first day at Educarnival 2016, a much-awaited annual event to which ScooNews is a media partner, had an exciting start today with Prof. Balakrishnan's inaugural speech, who gave an eloquent account of the challenges being faced by today's teacher. He touched upon a very pertinent issue of decreased attention span, which is normally talked about in almost all spheres of life today and suggested how it can be dealt with.

"More visuals, short content and videos are the key", he said. He even called upon teachers to take support from students stating that with their help it can be dealt with. Professor Balakrishnan stressed the need to incorporate professional ethics and social responsibility in the new curriculum.

Speaking on the goal of education, Pankaj Jalote, Director IIIT Delhi, said that it must primarily be producing and developing happy and responsible individuals. "School and higher education should work in partnership for delivering the best". Identifying bottlenecks in education, he said one of them was the stress on rote learning as opposed to learning and application. He stressed the need to build a forum which can help bridge the prevailing disconnect from school to college.

Dr Harish Chaudhary, professor of management at IIT Delhi and a key person behind Educarnival 2016 said in his inimitable humorous style that today's education is one without value. His lecture was interactive and he attempted to create his audience's involvement He cited an incident where he asked a bunch of students who their favourite teacher was, surprisingly all those responded were from coaching institutes and none from school. His thoughts on having a joint than a nuclear family were widely appreciated as he mentioned that ‘grandparental form of education’ was directly proportional to a child's performance. He lamented such an element was missing in today's education system.

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Rick Smith's ‘2 by 10 strategy’ generated a lot of interest in those present. In an impressive speech he said: "Pick the kids who drive you nuts and spend 2 minutes for 10 days”. Rick Smith is an international education consultant and is known for sharing practical teaching strategies to tens of thousands of teachers and teacher-trainers worldwide, including two years training American Peace Corps Volunteer Teachers in Ghana, West Africa. He stated that personal conversation, ongoing nature of connection is a positive connection and added that one needs to speak to the heart than the head. "A child's choices must be valued as it increases focus, fun and productivity", he remarked.

Himanshu Manglik from Brand Building said, while speaking on branding of schools that brand has to promise and live up to it. "You need to have coherence and brand responsibility", he stated and added that in a school setting a student is the biggest brand ambassador.

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