News and views about the Education in India

Weekly news updates on trends and happenings in the Indian Education scene

Tolerance at all levels can be spread only through the enlightenment of the mind. This fact is aptly justified by the move taken by the WBBSE to curb cruelty towards animals. The world moves towards being a global village as recognition of foreign medical degrees in India moves along side our schools achieving international standards in the field of education.

-Chillibreeze Business Research Team

India to recognize foreign medical degrees

India will provide "unilateral recognition" to post-graduate medical degrees of foreign universities, union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said in Chennai on Sunday.

Speaking at the inauguration of A. Ramachandran's diabetes hospitals and India Diabetes Research Foundation here, Ramadoss said post-graduate medical courses from the US, Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore universities will be recognised.

The Medical Council of India (MCI) had earlier refused to recognise any medical degrees offered by foreign universities.

The council, which regulates all medical colleges in the country, had not permitted foreign universities either to start an Indian campus or start a medical course leading to a degree equivalent to an MBBS degree in India.

August 27, 2007 
Source: indiaedunews.net

Intel Foundation to fillip women education in India

The Intel Foundation has granted a donation of US 60,000 (Rs.25 lakh) towards women's education and empowerment in India.

Intel has partnered with the Digital Empowerment Foundation, a New Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, to execute the fund in empowering women's education. The company will set up three Community Information Resource Centres at Dhanaulti (Uttarakhand), Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Kuppam (Andhra Pradesh).

These centres will facilitate women's education and empowerment by providing them soft training skills and guidance in various aspects such as getting a commercial concern going. The centres will focus on developing skills and learning abilities among women and children by training them in English language, computer literacy and subject-based learning with digital tools.

August 27, 2007 
Source: Digital Opportunity Channel

IIT grad wins Olympics of public speaking

An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur graduate - now a PhD scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - has won the 2007 Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking.

Vikas Jhingran, 34, a native of Morabadad, won the championship held in Phoenix, Arizona on Aug 18.

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organisation that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members to improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills.

Through its member clubs, Toastmasters International helps people learn the art of speaking, listening and thinking - vital skills that promote self-actualisation, enhance leadership potential, foster human understanding and contribute to the general betterment of humankind.

The contest is also known as the "Olympics of public speaking". This year's competition featured 10 finalists, each of whom presented a seven-minute original speech to a panel of judges.

"It's a big deal - two thousand people in a huge ballroom, most of them in formals. The energy was fantastic!" Jhingran said after winning the title.

Jhingran presented "The Swami's Question", a speech about finding himself through meditation and about getting into MIT, his dream school.

Contestants were judged on content, speech organisation, voice quality, gestures and delivery.

Jhingran has served as co-president of the Sloan Leadership Club and has co-chaired the 2006 Sloan Leadership Conference.

August 27, 2007 
Source: IANS via indiaedunews.net

British Council awards Indian schools

British Council's International School Awards were given out to 31 schools from all over India, including four from the city, at a ceremony in Kolkata on Monday. The International School Award (ISA) is an accreditation scheme developed by the British Council that recognises and celebrates the international dimension in school curriculum.

Rod Pryde, regional director of the British Council in India and Sri Lanka, who was in Kolkata to hand over the awards, said: "Our school programmes are aimed at developing sustainable partnerships, internationalism, providing professional development opportunities for teachers and encouraging international understanding among school students in India and the UK."

Since 2003-04, when the scheme was introduced in India, 41 schools have been accredited across the country.

Of the 31 schools joining this prestigious list this year, there are four from Kolkata - Apeejay School (Park Street), Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Salt Lake School and St. James' School. The previous winners of the award from Kolkata are Loreto Day School (Sealdah), Modern High School and Calcutta International School.

The British Council India introduced the International School Award to support and develop existing school partnerships between India and Britain, to encourage curriculum links between the two countries and build a network of Indian schools with international links.

August 28, 2007 
Source: IANS via indiaedunews.net

A DTP course in Urdu

The Computerised Calligraphy Training Centre established in 2001 at Jamal Mohamed College by the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, reflected a new thinking of the Council for promotion of Urdu language through linking it with computer skills to make it job-oriented.

The Council has established over 100 Urdu computer centres across the country, increasing job avenues for the students. The rationale is that the globalised era puts one who is comfortable with many languages at an advantage in the job market. Since Urdu is flexible, deriving words and syntax from Persian, Arabian, Hindi, Tamil and Sanskrit, computer applications in that medium poses no challenge.

At the inauguration of the seventh batch of ‘Diploma in Computer Applications and Multilingual DTP Courses’ at Jamal Mohamed College, the Department Head of Arabic, Persian and Urdu, University of Madras, P. Nisar Ahmed, observed that there has been an increasing demand for computer-related courses that offer multilingual papers.

One among the most spoken languages in the world, the scope of Urdu medium is quite high in India, Japan, America, China, Germany and Middle East countries. About 80 students, including 40 girls, would undergo this one-year programme that comprises subjects on Information Technology, business systems, web application development, programming through Visual Basic and multilingual DTP.

The Centre has been coordinating placements for the students for the posts of junior programmer, visual designers, accounts assistants, DTP operators and web designers. About 70 per cent of the students who had completed their courses have been placed in various organisations including BPO centres, printing and photo industries.

The growing demand for foreign languages in computer applications and the lucrative job opportunities abroad have been an encouraging pointer for the students to join the programme. Since the programme involves a basic course in Urdu, it attracts a large number of students without knowledge in Urdu as well, says Ahmed Jalaludin, a faculty at the centre.

August 27, 2007 
Source: The Hindu

AIIMS becoming 'doctors' factory' for export – Ramadoss

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has fired another salvo in his war of words with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) authorities, saying that the premier institute was slowly becoming a "doctors' factory" for foreign countries and not for the needy Indians.

"Over 60 percent of the AIIMS pass outs are going outside India. It's becoming a doctors' factory that is producing talent for foreign countries and not for the poor Indians," Ramadoss said.

"They pay a few hundred rupees as tuition fee for a whole year as against lakhs of rupees paid by the students studying the same course elsewhere," the minister told IANS on the sideline of an official function here Tuesday.

He blamed the AIIMS administration by saying that authorities were not trying to set things right.

"When these students are getting highly subsidised education, why are they going aboard? They are getting quality education and huge exposure here and going out to serve outside.

"They go out of the country and never come back. We will have to do something about this," the minister claimed.

Asked about his not signing certificates of hundreds of post-graduate doctors, Ramadoss said: "The AIIMS Act says degrees should be conferred on the convocation day. Can the institute administration explain why they have not had a single convocation in the last two years?"

Health ministry officials said many of those complaining about not getting degrees are the ones wanting to go abroad.

AIIMS is also the top government hospital of the country that treats over 8,000 patients every day including nearly 6,000 in its OPDs.

Over 500 resident doctors of AIIMS were on strike since Tuesday evening to protest the non-receipt of their post-graduate degrees despite though some of them passed out two years ago. "I think junior doctors at AIIMS are concentrating more on the strike and less on patient care. It's unfortunate," Ramadoss said.

Some resident doctors admitted they were facing problems in going abroad as they were yet to get their formal degrees.

"I have applied for a higher course in Australia but don't think I will be able to make it. They are asking for the original degree but we are yet to get it," said an AIIMS resident doctor who passed out in July 2005.

August 29, 2007 
Source: IANS via indiaedunews.net

West Bengal bans reference to cruelty to animals in textbooks

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) has decided to debar any reference or visual reproduction of animals that can be construed as cruelty in General Science and Life Science text books approved by it. Experiments will only be allowed on species not listed in existing legislation on wild life protection and in deference to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.

A circular to this effect would be sent to all approved publishers and authors of text books in the two subjects, Jayanta Joy Chattopadhyay, Deputy Secretary (Academic), WBBSE told The Hindu here on Wednesday.

Nearly 13,000 schools in the State are affiliated to the WBBSE.

The decision came in the wake of complaints reaching People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals, of unscientific and inhumane experiments on animals that were intimated to WBBSE.

“In one experiment, children [Class VI students] were advised to starve a parrot to death — denying it water till it dies — and seal a guinea pig till it dies of suffocation…,” a PETA release said.

The matter was referred to Partha Dey, Minister of School Education, and was subsequently placed by the WBBSE before its Life Science Subject Committee. Mr. Chattopadhyay also said that while acknowledging that experiments on animals were necessary for knowledge, the committee agreed that “in respect of experiments on animals about the necessity of food and oxygen [in Class VI General Science syllabus], the authors must avoid dissections using rats, birds and toads and instead can use common pests like cockroaches or common air breathing fish [cat fish].”

August 30, 2007 
Source: The Hindu

8 engineering colleges get AICTE nod

Eight more engineering colleges have been accorded permission by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

These colleges are likely to participate in the second phase of Eamcet-2007 counselling, which will begin after September 18.

"The colleges are yet to take the required affiliation of the universities concerned. If these procedures are completed by September 18, they would be allowed to attend the counselling," Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education secretary M D Christopher said. The second phase of counselling will include ranks from 40,001 onwards.

Twenty-five engineering colleges would also be allowed to enhance intake in B Tech courses, including information technology (IT), computer science, electronic and computer science. Seven colleges would be allowed to increase intake in various courses.

AICTE has also given permission to 37 new pharmacy colleges with an intake of 60 seats each.

August 30, 2007 
Source: The Times of India

Bid to create awareness on corporal punishment

The Education Department is not only sending circulars warning schools against abusing children, but also framing a training programme to create awareness among teachers and managements.

Kumar Naik, Commissioner of the Directorate of Public Instruction, told The Hindu that circulars would be sent to all schools in the State of Karnataka and they would draw from various court judgments on the issue, recent directive of the Nation al Commission for Protection of Child Rights and bylaws of the School Development and Monitoring Committees. A training module was also being evolved, roping in educational experts.

This would be incorporated into training of teachers at educational cluster levels and at the District Institute of Educational Training programmes, he said.

“We are also thinking of information campaigns,” Mr. Naik said.

The initiative comes in the wake of two shocking cases of corporal punishment reported within a week’s time in the State. Sangeeta, a student of Standard VI in a private school in Bangalore was beaten up on August 23, allegedly by a group of teachers, for not doing her maths homework properly. Tulasi, a girl studying in Standard IV in a government school in Kodaramanahalli in Hassan district, was beaten up on August 28 for an extra helping of rice during the afternoon lunch.

“Clearly, it is a matter of attitude and not restricted to government or private schools,” Mr. Naik added.

August 30, 2007 
Source: The Hindu

Cini-Asha’s back-to-school project

A three-year project, to educate children from the underprivileged section of the society has been undertaken by Cini-Asha, in Kolkata, the urban unit of “Child in need Institute” (CINI), along with five other city-based NGOs. The project, which also aims to bring school dropouts back to the classroom, is currently underway South Dumdum, Kamarhati and Baranagar municipalities.

Funded by the Axis Bank Foundation, the project, known as the “Lateral linkage model of capacity building and partnership”, will work towards spreading education among slum dwellers and children of sex workers.

Establishement of a study centre called “Anandolaya” in the red light areas will also be a major part of the project.

The project will work with children who have never been to school and those who were forced to discontinue their studies due to family compulsions.Ms Kalyani Mitra, member mayor in council, education department (KMC) said: “Working in backward areas is a big challenge that lies ahead of the system. A remarkable change can be brought about through a joint initiative between the government and NGOs.”

The project will look at direct enrolment of children in the age group of 5-6 years. School based preparatory centres will facilitate dropouts to enroll into age-specific classes. Further assistance in education will be provided to the children once they start going to schools.

August 30, 2007 
Source: The Statesman

Students to face prosecution

They have been accused of having obtaining admission by using fake certificates. Over 50 students of the University of Mumbai, who have secured admission by obtaining bogus certificates, will have to face prosecution after the city police busted a fake papers racket recently.

“We have found that 35 students obtained admission last year and another 16 in this academic year using fraudulently obtained certificates made by the gang busted by us. Action will be taken against them on charges of cheating,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said on Monday.

The Bombay Crime Branch has arrested eight people including the kingpin of the racket Kunjan Kumar Verma over the last fortnight and has also written to the varsity about it. “The arrested include one Arun Konkanwar, a police constable who was dismissed in the year 2000 after seven cases of cheating were lodged against him. We have also arrested a peon of the university and a lady social worker from New Delhi identified as Mamta Yadav,” he said.

Explaining the modus operandi of the gang, Maria said that they used to advertise in newspapers assuring school dropouts of admissions in engineering courses.

“They had four such agents who brought the customers. Fake certificates of varsities and education boards outside the city were made and applications for admissions were sent to Mumbai University. Bharat Mane, the university peon helped them here,” he added.

August 30, 2007 
Source: Cybernoon.com

International education getting national flavour

In the latest example of the global fascination with all things Indian, international education is getting a desi flavour.

The University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), which offers the renowned international ‘A’ level qualification, is creating a new ‘India Studies’ syllabus. “A Cambridge consultant will visit India in October for consultations before we develop this new qualification in India Studies,” says William Bickerdike, CIE’s regional manager for South Asia. “We want it to be relevant both locally and internationally.”

The consultant will meet representatives of the Indian schools affiliated to the CIE to discuss what the new syllabus should include. The international body is also collaborating with the Central Board of Secondary Education to create the new course.

The new syllabus will be offered at the IGCSE level, equivalent to Standard X, from 2010-2011. It will introduce students to India’s history, culture, geography, environment and development and teach them to examine different interpretations of historical events.

While it will cater to the growing Indian clientele opting for an international education, the new course is also aimed at Indian expatriates in the U.K. and around the world. In fact, the Singapore educational system, with its large Indian population, has shown a lot of interest in the new course, Mr. Bickerdike says.

Courses in Pakistan and Bangladesh Studies are already on offer from the current academic year, reflecting the CIE’s unbroken record in those countries.

However, Mr. Bickerdike feels that the British system is making inroads into the Indian educational market over the last four-five years. In fact, Indian affiliations grew at 52 per cent this year, a speed beaten only by China and Indonesia.

Of the 160-odd schools that offer CIE qualifications in India, 63 are in Mumbai. Chennai has only six affiliated schools, but the CIE expects the number to double in the next year or so. “Parents and schools in Tamil Nadu have a cautious and conservative mindset. It’s a wait and watch scenario... But now, I think the growth period has started,” Mr. Bickerdike says.

August 31, 2007 
Source: The Hindu

Delhi Education Dept. introduces 'CALtoonZ' program in schools

In a bid to make learning stress-free and joyful, the Education Department of Delhi Government has introduced CALtoonZ, a specialized Computer Aided Learning program, in all the schools run by it.

The 'CALtoonZ' is part of the YUVA program launched by the Department of Education to bring about a radical change in the system of education in government-run schools.

The program was proposed by Rina Ray, secretary, Education, Government of NCT of Delhi and was developed over a period of two years with the help of dedicated teachers who worked restlessly to make education more fun and meaningful for the children.

The program, first of its kind in the country was introduced in 200 schools of the Capital last year for an experiment basis. The success was overwhelming with huge response from the students. Now all government run schools in Delhi will implement this program to increase enrolments and performance levels.

"The success of the program has been astounding and has led to a perceptible drop in the dropout rate in schools. It has also shown higher learning achievements among the children. After the introduction of the program, the drop rate in Delhi schools fell from 19.7 per cent in 2004 to a mere 5.9 per cent this year. The enrollment in these schools has also shown an increase of 12.62 per cent. The performance levels in the class X and XII CBSE exams are also shown to have been increased significantly," claimed Ray.

September 01, 2007 
Source: indiaedunews.net

500 Indian students receive EU scholarship

More than 500 Indian students and scholars have secured admission to a number of European universities under the Erasmus Mundus (EM) scholarship funded by the European Union (EU).

Students from different parts of the country will go to universities in 27 EU member countries to pursue their respective masters level courses.

"This scholarship is a gesture of our growing relation with India. For the last 15 years our relation with India has improved a lot and we want these bright students to study in our universities and learn more," Alexander Spachis, acting head of the delegation of European Commission in India said in a farewell function for these students here.
The European Commission allocated a sum of 33 million euro in 2005 for the India Window, within the EM programme. For the academic year 2005-06, 133 scholarships were approved. In 2006-07, this number rose to 288 and in 2007-08, 403 students were granted scholarship.

In addition to this, 81 Indian students and 27 scholars received scholarships under the general EM programme in 2007-08. The 80 Erasmus Mundus consortia selected a total of 1,825 students and 273 scholars from all over the world.

All selected students have been awarded a scholarship of 21,000 euro per academic year (the maximum scholarship for two years is 42,000 pound), for attending one of the 80 masters courses selected under action 1 of the programme.

"I think the scholarship will help me in pursuing higher studies. I am going to pursue a master course in strategic project management," said Mayank Gupta, a student from Delhi. All students who have been awarded a scholarship are automatically and free of charge covered by an insurance scheme against risks related to health, accidents, death, permanent invalidity and civil responsibility.

The cover takes effect two months prior to the start of the Erasmus Mundus masters course in which the student is enrolled and is valid until three months after the end of the course.

September 01, 2007 
Source: indiaedunews.net