Day 1: February 07
10:30 am
Inauguration and lighting of the lamp by Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
followed by inaugural keynote speech by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
11:15 am
Public education: Is RTE Act the way out?
- Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Human Resources Development
- E.S. Ramamurthy, Founder-Chief Mentor, Sikshana
- Dr. V. Vasanthi Devi, Chairperson, Institute of Human Rights Education, Chennai
- Ambarish Rai, Convener, People's Campaign for Common School System
- Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Life Trustee and Co-Chairman, Bharti Foundation
12:15 pm
Preparing a school syllabus that generates knowledge
- Prof. S.K. Thorat, Chairman, ICSSR & Former Chairman, UGC
- Lata Vaidhyanathan, Principal, Modern School
- Rajendra Dixit, Former Dean Faculty, Education and Social Sciences, NCERT, New Delhi
- Sridhar Rajagopalan, Managing Director, Education Initiatives India
- J. S. Rajput, Former Director, NCERT
02:15 pm
Deregulating education: What can be done?
- Prof. P.V. Indiresan, Former Director, IIT Madras
- KM Chandrashekhar, Former Cabinet Secretary
- Jayanti Ravi, Commissioner of Higher Education, Government of Gujarat
- Rajan Saxena, Vice-Chancellor, Narsee Monjee Institute, Mumbai
03:30 pm
The war for talent: Will better salaries get us better teachers?
- P P Mathur, Vice Chancellor, KIIT University, Orissa
- Maya Menon, Founder, The Teacher Foundation
- Dr Jancy James, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Kerala
- Santanu Paul, MD & CEO, Talent Sprint
- Prof. Giridhar, Registrar, Azim Premji University
05:00 pm
Can a vocational degree put food on the table?
- Venu Srinivasan, CMD, TVS Motor Company
- Ashok Reddy, Managing Director & Co-Founder, IIJT
- Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, National Skill Development Corporation
- Krishan Khanna, Founder, India Watch Foundation
06:15 pm
The politicisation of education
- Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister, Delhi
- Vijay Bahuguna, Chief Minister, Uttarakhand
- Rajnath Singh, BJP President
- Sukhbir Singh Badal, Dy CM of Punjab
- Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of State for Environment
- Ramesh Chennithala, Chief, Kerala State Congress
- LK Advani, Chairman, BJP Parliamentary Board & Former Deputy Prime Minister
Day 2: February 08
10.00 am
Secularism in education: For or against
- PK Biju, Member of Parliament and HRD Standing Committee Member
- S Gurumurthy, Co-Convener, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch
- Kancha Ilaiah, Associate Professor, Osmania University
- Mridula Mukherjee, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
- Prof Makhan Lal, Convener, Academic Council, Vivekanand International Foundation
- Shankkar Aiyar, Author-Analyst
11:00 am
Gender & class bias in the classroom: True or false?
- Leela Samson, Chairperson, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)
- Dr YG Parthasarathy, Dean & Director, PSBB Schools
- Meenakshi Sivaramakrishnan, Honorary Member, Indian Montessori Centre
- Lata Vaidhyanathan, Principal, Modern School
- Maya Mohan, Principal, Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kochi
12:15 pm
Why aren't India's professional colleges considered world-class?
- Prof NR Madhava Menon, Founder, NLSIU & NUJS
- Mallika Srinivasan, CEO & Chairman, TAFE
- Bala V Balachandran, Founder, Great Lakes Institute of Management
- Dr Archita Patnaik, Professor, Dept of Chemistry, IIT Madras and a Fulbright Fellow
- Dr. S. Vaidhyasubramaniam, Dean - Planning & Development, SASTRA University
02:15 pm
Can Indian students afford a global education?
- M Narendra, CMD, Indian Overseas Bank, Chennai
- Aman Singh, Project Lead, Intl Foundation for Education and Research
- Padma Chandrasekharan, Angel Investor & Consultant
- Dr Balakrishnan Shankar, Associate Dean, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amritapuri Campus)
- R Ravichander Group President & Head - Business Development, Yes Bank (South)
- Neharika Vohra, Professor, IIM Ahmedabad
03:15 pm
Are our graduates job-ready?
- Dr. P Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
- Dr Preetha Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals
- Anupam Pahuja, Head, India Development Centres, PayPal
- Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice Chairman, Cognizant Technology Solutions
- Balbir Punj, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
- Shankkar Aiyar, Author-Analyst
04:30 pm
An Elitist Education: Boon or bane for India?
- Dr Subramanian Swamy, President, Janata Party of India
- Baijayant Panda, MP, BJD
- Manish Tewari, Minister of State, I&B
- KN Govindacharya, Social Activist
- K Pandiarajan, MLA & Founder, MAFOI
- Amitabh Jhingan, Partner, Ernst & Young India
06:00 pm
Keynote address by Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development
