IIM Lucknow's Ocumen 2010 mentors students from schools India
Ocumen provides an introductory snapshot of management to young students of class XI and XII
Tweet-- After the success of Ocumen 2009, IIM Lucknow again played host to 19 schools selected from all across India. Ocumen 2010 provided a platform for class XI and XII school children selected from all over India to get a first hand feel of management.
From 125 schools all over India, top 19 schools were selected for the Ocumen 2010 (12 outstation schools, including those from Kolkata, Mumbai, Meerut, Kanpur, Agra, Chandigarh and 8 local schools), based on a case study solution. The event saw the participation of students & teachers on campus on the day of Ocumen.
Some of the schools participating for Ocumen included: La Martiniere School for Boys- Kolkata, Modern School- Delhi, Navy Children School- Delhi, Lilavatibai Podar Sr. Sec. School, ISC- Mumbai, Bal Bharati Public School- Delhi, Cathedral and John Connon School- Mumbai, DPS- Chandigarh, Calcutta International School- Kolkata, Loreto Convent- Lucknow, Kendriya Vidyalaya- Lucknow, Colvin Talqudar- Lucknow, Army Public School- Lucknow and City Montessari School, Station Road- Lucknow.
The event also witnessed 40 teachers from the participating schools who were invited to the campus to discuss the best education and management practices from world renowned management gurus and professors at IIM Lucknow.
Ocumen 2010 provided an introductory snapshot of management to young students through a variety of games and competitions, at the same time providing them with a unique opportunity to experience life at a B-school. Last year the 60 students & 30 teachers participated in the event.
Ocumen acts as an aegis to build a long lasting bond between all stakeholders of the education system namely, school students, b-school students, academia and the corporate world. The event helps spread the knowledge about the best practices in the education sector to the schools, which are a vital cog in the development of Intellectual capital for the nation.
It was well-appreciated by the students and teachers. Mrs. Lopamudra Sen of Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai said, "This is indeed a commendable effort on the part of IIM Students. It'll help the students experience the life in a business school and try their level best to be a part of a prestigious institute like IIML in the future"
Nischay Mehta, a student of Bal Bharti Public School, Delhi ,who participated in the operations event organized by the operations interest group of IIM Lucknow, said, "We always thought of operations as a difficult subject which only involved tedious calculations. I could never imagine how interesting it is in reality"
The event also engrossed the teachers in several panel discussions and team building games. Mr.DK Chatterjee accompanying the students of La Martiniere School for Boys, Kolkata was highly enthusiastic during the event and said "It gave us a chance to interact with the professors of IIM Lucknow. We could learn several techniques to creatively improve the pedagogy that we had been adopting for years. "
OCUMEN 2010 had some remarkable improvements planned over the previous years. The games cover all the gamut of functional areas such as finance, marketing, HR, strategy, and operations. The games had been especially designed to be exciting, fun, easy to understand and at the same time, educative enough to sow the seeds of management in the children's minds.
Highlights of the events scheduled for this edition were:
A Finance game that aims to make young minds conversant with the risks and returns, interest rates and investments. SIGFI, the special interest group in finance at IIM Lucknow, aims to imbibe in the students a rudimentary knowledge of the financial function in organizations and has designed a special game for OCUMEN 2009 to serve this purpose.
A Marketing Game: PRiSM, the special interest group in marketing in IIML, is an integral part of Ocumen 2009. Marketing is one of the core managerial functions and we hope to use this event as a useful platform for information sharing across educational institutes.
An Operations Game: The Operations Interest Group (OIG) will be conducting a simulation game for school children aiming to introduce them to the basic concepts of operations management.
A HR Game: This game highlights the importance of teamwork for creation of a successful enterprise. The participants would be expected to use the individual skill sets in a manner conducive of creation of synergies, and ultimate achievement of their common goals.
The Strategy Game: This event would expose the students to various strategic situations, in which they decide the course of their organization by indulging in strategic decisions, which shape the future of their organizations, and the ultimate winners.
Vision India 2025: As a novel initiative in this edition of Ocumen, the objective of the event is to create among the youth, a sense of belongingness for the country and a feeling that each one us is an INDIAN not just on some special occasions but all the time. This game is designed to simulate the cabinet discussion environment within the classroom. The objectives of the game are:
- To make the students think about 'The Future India they dream of'
- To help them practically experience a sense of democracy
- To create in them a sense of team spirit
- To help them discuss in a logical and structured manner
- To make them feel empowered as 'change agents'