New Delhi, March 24: India will need at least 800 more universities and another 35,000 colleges in the next ten years to increase the percentage of students going for higher education from the present 12.4 per cent in the country, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said here today.
Hyderabad, March 24: The controversial Knowledge and Innovation Park proposed to be set up on the sprawling campus of the University of Hyderabad has been put on hold, thanks to protests against it by faculty, students and non-teaching staff who showed unprecedented unity in opposing the venture.
The university’s executive council on Tuesday decided to maintain status quo of the project scheduled to come up in 200 acres on the varsity campus in the Gachi Bowli area that houses several top institutions and corporate companies like Indian School of Business, Microsoft and Infosys.
New Delhi, March 24: In a bid to check middlemen and brokers promising recognition to medical colleges, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has written to medical colleges that admission of new batches could be debarred if they are found entertaining such people.
According to officials, the letter, which is posted on the website of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, was sent out last week after receiving queries from medical and dental colleges about the proximity of such people with Azad.
Chennai, March 24: Day one of the tenth standard examinations for students under the SSLC, Matriculation, Anglo-Indian and Oriental boards got off to a smooth start, barring a few glitches.
Four students of the Ebenezer Matriculation School appeared at the exam hall without their hall tickets.
They were not allowed to write the exam. A senior official at the Education Department said, these students had been missing from their school since December 2009.
Chennai, March 24: The fate of ten matriculation students and as many 10th standard students remains unknown as they were given the ‘wrong question paper’ owing to the carelessness of the invigilator in an examination centre at Palayamkottai when the Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination commenced on Tuesday.
New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) From outsourcing infrastructure development of educational institutions to adopting the “no work no pay” principle in government institutes, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Tuesday called for a better tie-up with the private sector.
Aizawl, March 22: The Mizoram government will soon set up four more polytechnic institutes and a National Institute of Technology (NIT) to provide technical education to the youth, state Education Minister Lalsawta said here Monday.
‘The polytechnic institutes and the NIT would be set up with financial assistance from the centre, which has already given its green signal in this regard,’ he told reporters.
There are currently two NITs in northeast India, one at Tripura’s capital Agartala and another at Silchar in southern Assam.
New Delhi, March 22: The introduction of semester system in Delhi University (DU) continues to face opposition from the teachers. And the protest is getting shriller as the March-end deadline to make necessary revisions in undergraduate course content (by March) comes closer.
The teachers, who oppose the new system, claim the course content will have to be cut to meet requirements of a semester-based system. In a document dated November 4, 2009, the Empowered Committee for the Implementation of Semester System (ECISS) mentions, “Some papers may have to be dropped.
New Delhi, March 22: The HRD Ministry’s decision to do away with the discretionary quota which allowed the minister to nominate 1,200 candidates for admission to Kendriya Vidyalayas and permitted each MP to propose two such candidates has not pleased everyone.
Some MPs, tired of being refused quota-based admissions, even went to the ministry to push cases.
Former Lakshadweep MP P M Sayeed’s son, Hamidullah Sayeed, was one of them. Sayeed junior went to the HRD Ministry in person to push for the admission of his private secretary’s wards in a Delhi KV.
New Delhi, March 20: Delhi University, one of the largest varsities in the country, Saturday awarded degrees to 67,000 students, including a record 485 for completing their PhD.
“The total number of degrees awarded for the year 2009 were 67000. A record 485 Ph.D degrees were awarded in 71 subjects,” varsity proctor Gurpreet Singh Tuteja said.
Of these, while 61,000 got graduation degrees, 2500 got their masters’ degrees in arts, 850 in science and 300 in commerce stream. Nearly 250 got their degrees after successfully completing their masters’ in business administration.
Hyderabad, March 20 (Siasat News): According to the SSC Board, all preparations are completed for the conduct of SSC Board Exams to be commenced from Monday, March 22, 2010.
This year 13,63,859 students will appear in the exams. The Board has introduced few changes in the existing method to ensure the smooth and transparent conduct of the exams.
Apart from this, at the time of the results, grading system is introduced. To implement this system, necessary steps are being undertaken.
New Delhi, March 20: There is help at hand for students of Classes IX to XII. With CBSE revamping its evaluation system recently, Hindustan Times will help youngsters address their academic problems through its very own coaching centres called Study Mate.
Students will no longer have to run from one tuition class to another as Study Mate will hold classes for all subjects under one roof and familiarise students with new concepts such as Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE).
New Delhi, March 19: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Friday said it will set up a Centre for Internal Quality Assurance (CIQA) to ensure quality in open and distance learning education system in the country.
‘(The move) has been initiated in order to augment quality-related activities and introduce effective accreditation and audit practice to develop self accountability in the system,’ said V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, chairman of IGNOU’s Distance Education Council (DEC).
Mumbai, March 19: A rural B-school in rural Maharashtra, designed for unlettered women, has been drawing international attention. Nearly three years after its inception, Mann Deshi Udyogini (MDU) — a business school founded by Chetna Gala Sinha, a Yale University World Fellow, with a $17,500 grant from HSBC — is ready to expand.
New Delhi, March 19: The World Bank approved a record $1.05 billion credit line to help get more children into schools in India, the largest ever investment in education by the poverty-fighting institution.
The loans will help Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a government program aimed at boosting education among young children. It is the largest program of its kinds in the world.
While the funding is a major investment by the World Bank in education, it is small for a populous country such as India with large numbers of poor.
New Delhi, March 18: Four education reforms bills of HRD ministry, including one seeking to ban unfair practices in technical and medical educational institutions and universities, are expected to come up before the Union cabinet tomorrow.
The other proposed legislations include the Accreditation Bill and the one to amendment the Architects Act. A group of ministers (GoM) has already cleared these bills.
Toronto, March 18: Many Canadian universities and colleges are likely to enter India after the Indian parliament passes a bill to allow foreign educational institutions to set up independent campuses in the country.
Currently, universities and colleges from Canada and the US run 26 collaborative projects in India with local universities and colleges.
Shimla, March 18: Himachal Pradesh has 3,352 children who are suffering from learning disabilities, Education Minister I.D. Dhiman said here Wednesday.
“There are 3,352 children in the state who are suffering from dyslexia and other such learning difficulties. Of these, 2,397 are those who cannot even go to school and are restricted to their homes,” he said during the question hour in the assembly.
The minister said special training programmes are being held for teachers to tackle and help such children.
New Delhi, March 17: After deciding to make Class X board exam optional, India’s premier school board CBSE is set to go global by introducing a new syllabus for international students and would affiliate any school from any country from the next academic session.
The Central Board of Secondary Education would introduce a new syllabus to make it on par with international boards like International Baccalaureate (IB).
The new syllabus will be only meant for international students and will be taught in the interested affiliated schools from abroad.
Mumbai: The Union cabinet has served a “wake-up call” on educational institutions in India by nodding for the foreign educational institutions (regulation of entry and operation, maintenance of quality and prevention of commercialisation) bill, 2010.
New Delhi, March 16: Higher educational institutions, including IITs and IIMs, on Tuesday hailed the government’s go ahead for a bill to allow entry of foreign education providers in India and sought to allay any threat posed by the institutions from abroad.
After the Cabinet approved the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010, these institutions appeared upbeat about prospects of entry of foreign universities in India.
New Delhi, March 16: Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan (KVS) is understood to have decided to scrap the discretionary quota system in admission of students.
The meeting of the Board of Governors of KVS, chaired by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, is understood to have decided to end the discretionary quota enjoyed by the Minister and the MPs, sources said.
Sibal, Chairman of the BoG of KVS, has been supporting the scrapping of the quota system in admissions, to make it fair.
New Delhi, March 15: The cabinet on Monday approved a proposal to allow foreign universities to set up campuses, a minister said, in a move that could reduce the flow of Indian students abroad.
Tens of thousands of students head to universities in the United States, Britain and Australia among others for quality education each year.
The long-standing proposal to reform the education sector will now go to parliament for ratification, Road and Transport Minister Kamal Nath told reporters following the cabinet meeting.
New Delhi, March 15: The government on Monday approved a bill to allow foreign education providers set up campuses in India and offer degrees.
The Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010, was cleared by the Union Cabinet presided by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This paves way for its introduction in Parliament.
“This is a milestone which will enhance choices, increase competition and benchmark quality,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said after the approval of the Bill by Cabinet.
Chandigarh, March 15: Haryana is the first state in the country to introduce solar education kits in senior secondary schools of the state.
Financial commissioner and principal secretary for renewable energy S.S. Prasad said Sunday that the kits have been introduced in the state to educate students about the application of renewable energy.
“This kit would be a very informative tool and would consist of mini-fan, LED lamps, solar radio, solar toy car, door bell, house name plate, traffic light signals, road stud, solar pump, thermometer, solar panel and other things,” Prasad said.