KU IT MEET 2017 was begun with a slogan Ideate | Startup | Innovate and collaborated with Kathmandu University Business Incubation Centre(KUBIC) to host KU IT MEET 2017 Idea Hunt, where people from all areas and backgrounds are welcome to come, pitch their ideas in front of a panel of judges. The judges considered idea by creativity, marketability, feasibility, cost, etc. The top five teams will see their ideas get wings with free incubation space provided to them at IT PARK, Kavre. Opinions must be primarily based on but not limited to “Using information and technology as a product or service.”
Each team was given a total 3 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for QA. I presented on the idea of computing program for school children. My pitch went as follows.
Hello Everyone,
My name is Kumod, studying CSIT and currently my 6th semester exams are going on. During my exam gap, I am here while my friends are preparing for exam on Monday.
I don’t want to tell you a story. I want to make a case. I want to make a hard headed solid evidence based case, for rethinking where our next generation is heading.
In this picture they are my nephew and niece, Payal and Sahil. She studies in class 10 while he is in class 4. They do their homework and tasks regularly. They are not the best but above average students. Homework finished means study finished. He insists to watch Motu Patlu while she on Kumkum Bhagya, on Youtube. They agree on one thing, Tarak Mehta ka Oolta Chasma and on mobile they play either Candy Crush or Subway Surfer. No, they are still not into Clash Royale or Mini Militia. They are mere consumers of technology. The problem with them is that they are very good at pattern based questions but when it comes a question out of pattern even in English, Nepali, Maths and Social, they are stuck, they can’t answer.
They both have these three similarity. They both lack critical thinking skills. They both lack confidence and They both obviously lack creativity.
This is not just their problem. This is the problem of 42% of our population who are below the age of 18. Nearly half of the population is still in formative years. Shouldn’t we invest in this generation for sustainable development. But are we? not. Are we preparing them for 21st century with global skill set, no.
What are we preparing them for? We are preparing them for this, semiskilled and unskilled foreign employment. It is a repetitive cycle. We are turning them into remittance generation machine.
Our education system needs to be updated. It should come from the central government with nation wide reach. However, while we advocate for such changes and wait for government, we need to take immediate steps.
Through backward planning and lot of research, we choose computers for two reasons. First it is most accessible and second being the fastest growing field. So, we came up with 1 hour workshop on creative computing using scratch for a age group 10–12. We engage them in creation of computational artifacts like games, animations, creativity is the limit. They develop computational thinking, they can draw on computational concepts, practice and perspectives across all disciplines and contexts.
We follow constructionist approach of learning where young people plan, make and share. Students learn to think, creatively, work collaboratively and reason systematically.
Here’s the best part, how we convert this service into business. This is our Business Model Canvas. I can explain about it in the QA session.
This is our startup cost. It is only 10K. It is a private limited company with a capital of Rs 1 lakh. We develop our website ourselves. We do not need office or furniture or computer as we only operate on weekends in the concerned school. Our class size is only 20 students for better interaction. Our price per workshop is also very affordable. As a volunteer ourselves so we don’t need to pay anyone till now. This year we have planned at least 10 workshops. The best part is that we can break even just after four workshops. We will move beyond 1 hour workshop in Second and Third year which I can later discuss in the QA session.
This business is of course innovative but more executive. It depends upon how well we execute. Our strength is that we have a very affordable pricing and we don’t need to pay any staff. We bring our friends as volunteers for lunch. Our problem is that we can conduct these types of programs only on Saturday and class size is only 20. We have the access of technology but much has not been done, so it can be easily copied. This is our team.
Thanks
The slide deck can be found here on Slideshare.
