Education and Career

Bhubaneswar, August 07: The bill passed by parliament on Tuesday to ensure free and compulsory education is unacceptable in its present form, child rights activists said on Thursday.

“It is unacceptable because by no means it guarantees the quality of education,” Prabir Basu, national convenor of Campaign against Child Labour (CACL), told sources.

CACL is an umbrella organization of over 6,500 groups working to eradicate child labour in the country.

New Delhi, August 07: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the revision of pay scales of more than 50 institutions of faculty, design and scientific and other academic staff of the centrally funded institutions including the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) with retrospective effect from January 1, 2006.

The Government had set up a committee under the chairmanship of Prof. Govardhan Mehta to recommend revised pay scales for faculty of centrally funded technical institutions.

Washington, August 07: An American professor has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright scholarship for a project in Kerala focusing on helping women discover the power of their voices in all aspects of their lives.

Kathleen Mulligan, assistant professor of voice and speech in Department of Theatre Arts at Ithaca College, New York will work closely with the women’s centre at the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in Kochi as well as with adolescent girls in the community.

Guwahati, August 07: Four postgraduate students including two girls were suspended for allegedly ragging juniors at Dibrugarh University in Assam, officials said Friday.

A university spokesperson said the decision to suspend was taken after three first-semester girl students of Political Science Thursday lodged a written complaint with the vice chancellor alleging that four senior students had ‘mentally tortured’ them by asking obscene questions.

Bhopal, August 07: Students of classes 5 to 9 in schools run by the Catholic church in Madhya Pradesh will now get extra marks in their examinations if they plant saplings and take care of them.

The programme, christened ‘Matra Chhaya’, has been launched in all the 50 districts of the state, the programme’s director Anand Muttungal told IANS, adding that it will be part of environmental studies.

New Delhi, August 07: The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the government should regulate the fee structure of private schools and it should not be commercialised.

Schools cannot increase the fees without the permission of government and it has the right to stop commercialisation of education, the apex court said.

New Delhi, August 07: As the country grapples with swine flu, educational institutions here seem to have been worst hit in view of a number of students testing positive for the virus.

After a student of Sanskriti School here tested positive for the virus, authorities have closed down the school for today. It will reopen on Monday.

Similarly, a 13-year-old girl student of Viswa Bharti school and a 18-year-old girl student of Amity University in Noida have tested positive for the H1N1 virus.

New Delhi, August 07: With the Common Admission Test (CAT) organised by Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) going online from November this year, the going may get tough for the rural student community, say educationists.

Teachers who have been preparing students to realise their dreams for the most sought after management courses believe this decision is not fair. There are also others who say that this is a welcome step and would make the test more convenient for all.

The test is held for admissions in various post-graduate management courses in the country.

He is all of 15, but Delhi lad Diwakar Sharma is now set to be a school principal.

The boy who charmed the country with his melodious voice in the TV talent hunt show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs, Sharma is set to head an upcoming music school for other visually impaired children in the Capital.

The music school, named ‘Parampara’, is being set up by Shyama Chona, the outgoing principal of Delhi Public School, RK Puram — Sharma studies in Class IX of the same school.

New Delhi, August 06: The School of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, a curiously unpretentious space for young artists, often throws up interesting works on its dull walls. This time, a 24-year-old Australian, Alana Hunt, has brought together 27 artists from India and the Down Under to present a panoply of works, from photographs of Delhi nights to installations relaying noises of Delhi streets to a Kashmir diary on the wall.

New Delhi, August 06: Mahira Khan has just finished her entrance examination for a Bachelor’s in Business Studies (BBS) programme at Jamia Millia Islamia, and as expected, she is pleased as punch.

But Khan’s story has a rather difficult-to-practice moral for all students: do not lose your cool if you find another person occupying your seat in the examination hall — armed with your roll number at that.

New Delhi, August 06: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has warned schools against operating coaching institutes on its premises on the pretext of preparing students for various entrance examinations.

The measure comes after the board noticed the practice becoming rife and schools using various stratagems for coaching classes to pass muster.

Schools have been found conduct coaching classes and, at times, even parallel classes for competitive and entrance examinations.

New Delhi, August 06: With about 1.5 lakh children in its primary schools attending classes sitting on the floor, the Delhi civic body will soon purchase 70,000 desks-cum-chairs to facilitate them.

The Education Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is in talks with the Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan to acquire the ‘dual desks’.

Out of the approximately 9.5 lakh students in 1,671 MCD-run primary schools, some eight lakh children were using the dual desks, official sources said.

The remaining 1.5 lakh students have been provided with jute mats to sit on the floor.

New Delhi, August 06: Students appearing for the Common Admission Test (CAT) this year need not worry much as the examination pattern is unlikely to change even though the mode will shift from paper to a computer-based one.

The candidates will be divided into 20 batches with two batches sitting for the test everyday over a period of 10 days.

Prometric, the firm entrusted with the task of conducting this year’s test, has said that CAT will be held in 20 possible sittings across 23 cities.

New Delhi, August 05: A parents’ group in the capital has moved the Delhi High Court, challenging the fee hike imposed by two schools run by the Indian Air Force Benevolent Cultural and Educational Society.

Filing a petition through counsel Ashok Aggarwal, the Delhi Abhibhavak Mahasangh (parents’ organisation) alleged that the schools – Air Force Nursery School and Air Force Junior School – run by the society, failed to comply with the court’s May 28 directions to schools on fees.

Bangalore, August 05: With Pune girl Reeda Sheikh succumbing to the swine flu, the Karnataka government has instructed over 85,000 schools across the state to be on the alert to prevent its spread since school students seem to be highly susceptible.

‘A circular on the do’s and don’ts was sent out to all schools Wednesday,’ a spokesperson for Primary and Higher Education Minister Vishwanath Hegde Kageri told IANS.

New Delhi, August 05: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed what Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal termed “historic” legislation providing for free and compulsory education for all children in the 6-14 years of age-group.

“This is the first time an effort has been made to universalise education in the country,” the minister said, adding: “We have been talking about it for the last 16 years.”

He said it was high time “we gave every child a legal right” to education.

New Delhi, August 05: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Education Bill which makes education free and compulsory for children aged between six to 14 years of age.

Speaking on the debate on the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009, Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal said it would also benefit disabled children.

He also emphasised that it would be for the first time such children would be integrated in the school system.

Ahmedabad, August 05: The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM- A) may have a satellite centre in Hyderabad soon.

Sources said the IIM-A is currently mulling a proposal put forward by the Andhra Pradesh government to set up a satellite campus in Hyderabad.

After the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry said no to another IIM at Hyderabad, the Andhra Pradesh government approached the IIM-A to set up a satellite centre in the city.

New Delhi, August 05: CBSE has warned schools against operating coaching institutes for entrance exams or conducting parallel classes in its premises besides charging fees which are not commensurate with the facilities.

Running of classes of coaching institutions in school premises on the pretext of provding coaching to students for various entrance examinations is not approved by the Board, CBSE said in a circular.

Jammu, August 04:The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday committed its support to a campaign for the opening of a central university in the Jammu region instead of the Kashmir valley.

‘Our party will fully support the cause of opening the central university in Jammu region and be one of the groups in the amalgam carrying out the campaign in this regard,’ BJP state unit chief Ashok Khajuria told reporters here.

Various student bodies have been holding a series of demonstrations demanding the immediate opening of a central university in the Jammu region.

New Delhi, August 04: The Lok Sabha Tuesday passed what Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal termed ‘historic’ legislation providing for free and compulsory education for all children in the 6-14 age-group. This is the first time an effort had been made to universalise education in the country.

Chandigarh, August 04: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s alma mater Panjab University (PU) has set up a chair in his name.

The Dr. Manmohan Singh Chair will be in the economics department, where the prime minister had once himself studied and later taught.

Manmohan Singh did his graduation and post-graduation in economics from this university in the 1950s. Later, he joined the university as a lecturer in the mid 1960s and went on to become a professor at the young age of 32 years.

New Delhi, August 04: Parliament on Tuesday approved a Constitutional amendment bill seeking to extend by another 10 years reservation of seats for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

The Constitution (109th Amendment) Bill 2009, passed by Rajya Sabha yesterday, was today approved by Lok Sabha with 375 members voting in favour, one opposing it and another abstaining.

Two final-year Kirori Mal College students were expelled from college and arrested on Monday after a first-year student lodged a complaint of ragging against them.

The suspects, Akshay Chaudhary and Hani Mohammad, were expelled by the college’s disciplinary and anti-ragging committee earlier in the day.

According to information, the college also rusticated a third student who reportedly sent the junior to the seniors’ room.