Education and Career

New Delhi, December 27: The premier Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur is the best technology school in the country followed by IIT-Delhi, revealed a new survey released Sunday.

The survey that studied 111 engineering and technology schools in the country said: “IIT Kharagpur has topped the list for the third consecutive year.”

On a scale of 100, this elite engineering institute has scored 81.9 points, which is closely followed by IIT-Delhi that has scored a close 78.49 points. The survey was carried out by research firm IDC and technology magazine Dataquest.

Lucknow, December 27: Meet R.K. Rai, a scholar extraordinary. Over the years he has acquired MA degrees in 22 subjects, five PhDs and three D.Lits. But at the age of 65, he wants more.

Rai is a retired professor and resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district, some 280 km from Lucknow.

‘I firmly believe learning is a life-long process. Just following this principle, I acquired all my degrees and want to continue studies so long as I am alive,’ Rai told IANS on phone from Ghazipur.

Srinagar, Dec 25: The Jammu and Kashmir government has submitted a proposal to the centre seeking pre-matric scholarship benefits for students belonging to minority groups, a minister said here.

The proposal projects Rs 2.67 crore as additional expenditure for extending the benefits of scholarship to the fresh chunk of students, the Minister for Social Welfare Sakina Itoo said at a function in Jammu on Thursday.

Iktoo said the proposal which has been sent to the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs includes students from Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities.

Ahmedabad, Dec 25: Focusing on giving better job offers to its students in terms matching their choices, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) will be changing its campus placement process from a run-on daily basis to a cohort (group) based system to be conducted only on weekends. The new system will begin from the forthcoming placement season in the second week of February next year.

Bangalore, Dec 25: The Bangalore University (BU) will approach the deputy commissioner of Ramanagaram for a piece of land to set up a Post Graduate (PG) centre.

Giving a fillip to its efforts in roping in expert faculty, the syndicate decided to enhance the honorarium paid to guest faculty. Those with Ph D/NET qualifications and retired professors for full-time teaching will get Rs10 less than basic pay plus DA of a lecturerand for those teaching foreign languages, it is Rs350 per hour.

Mumbai, Dec 25: Parents of Class IX students of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board are in a dilemma. Though the Delhi-based board has made the Class X board exams optional from the next academic year, not many are convinced about the idea.

“There is a huge risk in skipping the board exam, as is the criteria for admission to higher education everywhere. Although the board has taken a commendable step in releasing children from a lot of stress, I would not like my daughter to take any chances,” said Amrita Pillai, a parent from DAV School, Navi Mumbai.

Hyderabad, December 24: SSC examinations are not likely to be held in March this year. They may well be postponed to April given the pressure mounting on the SSC board in view of the political crisis in the state.

Various private schools from the state, especially those in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions are asking for postponement of the SSC 2010 exams. The department of school education has received hundreds of requests from various schools in the past one week due to the crisis in the state.

Hyderabad, December 24: SSC examinations are not likely to be held in March this year. They may well be postponed to April given the pressure mounting on the SSC board in view of the political crisis in the state.

Various private schools from the state, especially those in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions are asking for postponement of the SSC 2010 exams. The department of school education has received hundreds of requests from various schools in the past one week due to the crisis in the state.

New Delhi, Dec 24: Within six months of Parliament passing the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, the cabinet is expected to consider first amendment to include differently-abled children within the ambit of the law.

The law, also known as the Right to Education (RTE) Act, will undergo changes following protests from disability rights groups and minority schools.

Bhiwani, December 23: Haryana Board of School Education (HBSE) has displayed the STET result 2009 for Middle and secondary examinations.

The Examinations for HBSE STET result 2009 were held in October 2009.

The HBSE STET result 2009 is available on following link: http://www.bseh.gov.in/default.asp. The direct link to HBSE STET result 2009 is: http://www9.indiaresults.com/Haryana/HBSE/HBSE-09/HBSE-09Res.htm.

For further details kindly visit the official website of Haryana Board of School Education. HBSE is pioneer institution in the state as far as school education is concerned.

Lucknow, Dec 23: Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Tuesday asked students in Uttar Pradesh to emulate a development model he had successfully implemented in Tamil Nadu years ago to bring urban amenities to rural areas.

Addressing the 7th convocation ceremony of the Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU)here, Kalam sought to introduce the “Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas” (PURA) concept that he had experimented with at the Periyar Maniammai College of Technology for Women in the state’s Tanjore district.

Aligarh, Dec 23: The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) will award D Lit (Honoris-causa) degrees to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, painter M F Hussain and former Chief Justice of India A M Ahmedi for their outstanding contribution in their respective fields.

“The degrees will be awarded to these personalities at the forthcoming annual convention of the university, date of which will be announced soon,” an AMU release said today.

The decision to honour them was taken at a special meeting of the university’s executive council held yesterday, it said.

New Delhi, Dec 23: Parents successfully clearing the rigorous nursery school admission process of their wards in Delhi find themselves staring at one last but big hurdle – fees that even top the annual Rs 50,000 charged for admission by IITs. With thousands of parents fighting over a few hundred seats in a limited number of good schools, the private institutions call the shots during the admission season.

The current fee structure in the IITs is around Rs 50,000 per annum. Besides, students pay about Rs 20,000 annually for other purposes like accommodation, alumni and admission fees.

Jaipur, Dec 23: A government school teacher in Rajasthan’s Kota district was today suspended for being on leave without prior information and necessary sanction.

“Kota Collector T Ravikant ordered to suspend the lady teacher posted in Government Primary school at Mukandpura who was found absent without leave sanction and prior information during a visit by the collector,” an official said.

New Delhi, December 22: Seeking to boost ties in the areas of education and vocational training, Britain today expressed its keenness to increase partnership between its universities and their Indian counterparts by 10-fold in the next five years.

New Delhi, December 22: HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday harped on a national mission to increase the enrolment rate in higher education from 12 per cent now to 30 per cent by 2020 and asked institutions and policy makers to work towards this goal.

There will be additional 40 million students in institutions of higher learning if the country achieves 30 per cent of gross enrolment ratio by 2020, he said at a function organised by DAV College Management Committee here.

Currently, about 220 million students enrol into schools.

New Delhi, Dec 22: The Delhi government today pulled up four private schools in the city for not following guidelines on nursery admissions.

“Acting on the complaints of parents, the education department has asked four private schools for a reply into the alleged irregularities in the nursery admission process,” an education department official.

Admission process for nursery classes started on Dec 15 across Delhi and since then the education department has received more than a hundred complaints against various schools.

Pune, Dec 22: The first ever entrance exam for doctorate programme in the University of Pune will be held in the first week of January, 2010. The entrance exam is now a must for the PhD aspirants as per the new guidelines of University Grants Commission (UGC).

Acting Vice-Chancellor Arun Adsool said the varsity had finalised the criteria for entrance exam and was all set to conduct the PhD entrance exam. The issue of conducting entrance exam was discussed at large in the academic council meeting held in October.

New Delhi, December 21: The Delhi government Monday pulled up four private schools in the city for not following guidelines on nursery admissions.

“Acting on the complaints of parents, the education department has asked four private schools for a reply into the alleged irregularities in the nursery admission process,” an education department official.

Admission process for nursery classes started Dec 15 across Delhi and since then the education department has received more than a hundred complaints against various schools.

New Delhi, Dec 21: A bill will be brought in Parliament for setting up a finance corporation to provide low-interest loans to higher educational institutions.

The HRD Ministry has already prepared a concept note on creation of National Higher Education Finance Corporation (NHEFC). It has started drafting the NHEFC bill, official sources said.

Earlier, the government was undecided whether to set up this body under an act of Parliament or register it under Section 25 of the Companies Act.

New Delhi, Dec 21: With growing focus on global warming, the Indira Gandhi National Open University will launch a programme on climate change from next year.

The diploma programme on climate change would be available through all the 2,500 IGNOU study centres across the country.

“The programme that would be available from 2010 will also look into the Kyoto protocol and the recent Copenhagen summit,” V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor IGNOU told.

Highlighting the university’s initiative in the field of climate change, Pilai said a programme for climate managers is already on.

Ahmedabad, Dec 21: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), a premier B-school, is organising a conclave of recruiters in Mumbai tomorrow to finalise the change in campus placement process, ahead of the final placements session this year.

IIM-A has decided to change the campus placement process to suit the recruiters, IIM-A placement committee head Dr Saral Mukherjee said.

“We have kept a meeting with the top recruiters in Mumbai tomorrow and would know their views on campus placement process,” Mukherjee added.

London, Dec 21: Thousands of young Indians, mainly from Punjab, are entering Britain on falsely obtained student visas, a report claimed on Sunday.

Undercover reporters found foreign agents offering would-be students 10,500 pounds loans so they can convince the UK Border Agency in their visa applications that they have enough money in their bank account to pay fees and support themselves in Britain.

The money is handed back to the lender as soon as it has appeared on bank statements for a month, report said.

Panchkula, Dec 20 (PTI) Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal today said the government was changing the basic structure of education system so that young generation can compete with the people in developed countries.

Our education system has a great challenge to meet the necessities of 21st century, Sibal said during a function at a private school here.

He said the role of private schools is very important in providing education as government alone cannot fulfil the necessities of modern India.

–Agencies

Noida, December 20: Schools located at National Thermal Power Plant complex at Dadri preponed the Christmas holidays following death of a woman due to swine flu in the area.

A woman died of swine flu in the colony on Thursday. So keeping in view the health of students, NTPC decided to prepone Christmas holidays in its schools by five days, a senior NTPC official said.

So instead of closing the schools from December 24, the holidays were declared on Saturday itself, he said, adding that the schools have been asked to get their premises clean and sensitised.

–Agencies