Global Scholar-nominations closing on Dec 10

New Delhi, Nov 25: The nominations for the GlobalScholar-EducationWorld Young Achievers Award 2009 close on December 10, 2009.

The awards aim to acknowledge and inspire young achievers (between 12- 25 years of age) across India in four fields of endeavor – Science, Math’s and Technology: Arts and Music: Social Work and Sports.

HC pulls up state govt for occupying schools in Lalgarh

The Calcutta High Court today directed the state government to shift the Central-state forces from all the schools of West Midnapore before December 30 .

Rejecting the state government’s request for a three-month time to shift the forces, a Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice Prasenjit Mondal said schools could not be used for other purposes.

Trinamool-CPM war sucks in college

Kolkata, nov 25: Violence erupted at Panihati College in North 24-Parganas over distribution of nomination papers on Tuesday. Dozens of supporters of Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) and local party leaders, including former legislator Nirmal Ghosh, were injured in the clash with SFI cadres.

The police were called in and had to resort to lathicharge to control the situation. Over a dozen students have been arrested.

The incident took place in the morning when the college authorities began distributing nomination forms for election of class representatives.

Funds for minorities unused for second year

New Delhi, Nov 25: For the second consecutive year, the Delhi government has failed to utilise the funds provided by the Ministry of Minority Affairs for the upliftment of the Muslim community in the Capital.

The yearly grant of Rs 22 crore remains unutilised when Muslims, who constitute 12 per cent of Delhi’s population, have a literacy rate of 66 per cent, according to reports.

In a meeting held between Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Congress MLA Mateen Ahmed, it was revealed that the funds will now be returned to the Centre.

Private schools not ready to get accounts audited, High Court told

New Delhi, Nov 25: An initiative by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), jointly with the Directorate of Education, to audit records of Delhi’s “private, unaided and recognised” schools to check money collected in fees and contributions seems to have hit a roadblock.

Many schools are resisting the audit by taking cover behind what they call an “assurance” by the Delhi Education minister to “withdraw the order of audit”, the High Court has been told.

US universities welcomed for joint ventures: PM

Washington, Nov 24: Noting that human resource development was critical to India’s development,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the dearth of quantity and quality of teachers is the main obstacle and invited US universities to forge partnerships with their Indian counterparts.

Singh said his government was working on a major plan to expand education system for which 40 universities, including IITs and IIMs, would be set up.

Diploma courses cannot be termed full-time, warns varsity

Pune, Nov 24: The University of Pune (UoP) on Monday warned all the management institutes recognised or affiliated to it to refrain from running diploma course as full-time course. The university has decided to come up with its own norms, which will be binding on the institutes besides AICTE norms, failing to follow which will invite stern action.

Malaysian university students visit KU

Srinagar, November 22: Kashmir University students today had a chance to interact with their counterparts from a Malaysian varsity and exchange views on academic and cultural issues.

The special interaction session, held at the KU’s Allama Iqbal Library here, was organised by the department of students welfare, university Spokesman Shoukat Shafi told PTI.

The students from International Islamic University (IIU), Malaysia and KU exchanged their views on teaching methodology and the cultural activities in Malaysia and Kashmir, Shafi said.

IGNOU’s web presence increases

New Delhi, November 22: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has been ranked 15th in India in terms of its visibility on the internet and scholarly papers on the worldwide web, university vice chancellor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai said Sunday.

The ranking by Spain-based public research institution Cybermetric Lab was based on the number of people who searched the details related to the varsity through four search engines – Google, Yahoo, Live Search and Exalead.

Teachers suspended for being absent from classes in UP

Mainpuri (UP), November 21: Over two dozen primary school teachers have been suspended by Mainpuri district administration after they were found absent from classes during a surprise check conducted by education department here, officials said.

“As many as 26 primary school teachers have been suspended and directives issued to deduct one-day salary of 12 ‘shiksha mitras’ for not taking classes regularly,” district magistrate Sachidanand Dubey said here today.

President highlights role of IGNOU in education

New Delhi, Nov 21: President Pratibha Patil on Thursday said the Indira Gandhi National Open University could play a significant role in reducing disparities in education by extending education opportunities to villages and remote areas of the country.

“IGNOU has over 15 per cent of all learners enrolled in higher education in the country,” the President said at the IGNOU silver jubilee celebrations at Maidan Garhi here.

100 million children denied basic education

United Nations, Nov 21: The UNICEF’s latest report also says that 500 million to 1.5 billion youngsters suffer violence and abuse every year

The UNICEF in its latest report estimates that around 100 million children, mainly girls, of primary school age are not enrolled in primary school and around 150 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labour.

The report also said that between 500 million to 1.5 billion youngsters suffer violence and abuse annually, and more than 24,000 under five die every day largely from preventable causes.

139 schools not complying with Delhi govt’s order

New Delhi, November 21: As many as 139 private schools in the city have not complied fully with Delhi Government’s order to give free education to 20 per cent of children from weaker sections despite having agreed to the condition at the time of land allotment at throwaway prices.

Minister of state for HRD D Purandeshwari informed Rajya Sabha that the Delhi government had in 2007 issued a direction to those schools, which were allotted land at concessional rates, to reserve 20% of seats for the children from weaker sections.

In a first, GNLU to offer space law course soon

Ahmedabad, Nov 21: Though several international conventions on space technology are held in India, for the first time a concrete step has been taken in the direction of framing legislation for space applications.

In a first across the country, the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) is launching a degree course on ‘Space Law’ from 2010.

The single semester optional course (at PG degree level) will be conducted in coordination with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and will be offered to 160 students.

Schools oppose state’s SSC till Class-V move

Pune, Nov 21: A recent state circular asking schools following CBSE, ICSE and other boards to switch to SSC (state board) from Class I to Class V is being fought by school managements that feel it would bring down standards in their schools.

The circular says English medium schools affiliated with CBSE, ICSE and other boards like IB, ICGSE, CIE would have to adopt the state education board syllabus for Classes I to V. “Schools that have not adopted the syllabus must do so from academic year 2010-11,” states the circular.

Students to evaluate teachers at Punjab University

Chandigarh, November 20: You have heard of teachers evaluating their students – but vice versa? Very soon Panjab University (PU) students will start grading the performance of faculty members.

“Teachers will be judged by students on various scales like style of teaching, communication skills and teacher’s personal involvement in class. Thereafter, teachers will be assigned grades,” a senior university official told the media on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Students to evaluate teachers at Punjab University

Chandigarh, Nov 20: You have heard of teachers evaluating their students – but vice versa? Very soon Panjab University (PU) students will start grading the performance of faculty members.

‘Teachers will be judged by students on various scales like style of teaching, communication skills and teacher’s personal involvement in class. Thereafter, teachers will be assigned grades,’ a senior university official told on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

Panel to fix fee structure of unaided schools in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, Nov 20: A committee will soon be constituted to determine the fee structure for unaided private schools in the State, including those affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Panel formation cleared
Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has cleared the formation of the panel. He would make a formal announcement, School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu said here, and a government order would be issued.

Primary edu dept beckons VIII

New Delhi, Nov 19: The state government is considering the possibility of including class VIII in the primary education department. As of now, students from class I to VII come under this section.

The move comes in the backdrop of implementation of Right to Education Bill passed by the Central Government recently. According to the Bill, education to children in the age group of 6 to 14 is compulsory and free. A primary meeting to discuss the ways of implementation of the Bill was held in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Pioneer of Vivekananda movement in Kashmir honoured

Kolkata, November 18: The Ramakrishna Mission today conferred the Vivekananda Award to eminent educationist and social worker Prof Brij Nath Kaul who pioneered the Ramakrishna Vivekananda movement in Kashmir Valley.

The award was conferred on Kaul by West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi at a function held at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture here.

Receiving the award, Kaul spoke about the development of Kashmiri thought which culminated in the philosophy of “Shaiva Advaida”.

Schools to admit students in Class XI on basis of aptitude test

New Delhi, Nov 18: Clearing the dilemma of schools regarding giving admission to students in Class XI, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced its scheme of Global Aptitude Test for Class X students. It would be on the basis of this test that the school would promote a student to Class XI admitting him/her in a particular stream.

Private school set afire in Manipur

Imphal, Nov 18: In yet another attack on educational institutions, a private school has been set ablaze by some miscreants in Manipur’s Thoubal district after it defied the diktat of three students’ organisations to boycott classes.

Some assailants entered the Khongjom Standard English School complex, about 35 km south east of here, on Monday night and set the building on fire, a delayed official report reaching here today said.

Melbourne college demands infusion of funds for education industry

Melbourne, Nov 18: A Melbourne-based private college today asked the government to infuse short-term funds to financially support the education industry to help absorb displaced students in case of any further big college collapse.

According to The Australian newspaper report, the demand by Carrick Institute follows private colleges facing additional burden to accommodate 2,500 displaced students from the collapse of a city-based Meridian college, some of whom will be owed at least part of their tuition for free.

Empowering students for informed choice

Chennai, Nov 17: Now, students and members of the general public who wish to seek information regarding quality of education offered by various educational institutions, being inspected by the UGC, can do so by logging into the website of the University Grants Commission < www.ugc.ac.in>.

China seeks State expertise on Activity Based Learning method

Madurai, Nov 16: China has sought the Tamil Nadu government’s support to introduce the Activity Based Learning (ABL) methodology being implemented in government schools in the State.

A communication was received from officials in China following a recent visit of a Chinese delegation that undertook a study tour to various schools in which ABL is implemented under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme and saw for themselves the classroom practices.

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