News and views about the Education in India

The male female literacy ratio is widening while there is a move to set up an educational loan authority. Dalai Lama goes to IIM- A and Shashi Tharoor sets up a finishing school. Sex education and nursery admissions got significant coverage.

-Chillibreeze Business Research Team

Tourism ministry starts 'earn while you learn' scheme
College students keen to earn while studying can now enrol themselves into a tourism course, which will help them land jobs and also give them an insight into the booming industry.

The union tourism ministry Monday launched the training programme under its 'Earn while you learn' scheme with the primary aim to sensitise the youth about tourism. A brainchild of Tourism Minister Ambika Soni, the main objective of launching the scheme is to inculcate tourism traits and knowledge among the selected trainees that will enable them to later work as student volunteers.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 24, 2007

IGNOU to launch two new channels of Gyan Darshan
In order to widen the scope of transmitting lessons to students through distance learning programmes of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Prasar Bharti has agreed to place two new channels of Gyan Darshan, GD-1 and GD-2 on Direct to Home (DTH) platform of DD, Direct plus.

The placement of teleconferencing channel on DD Direct plus has enhanced the viewership. Also, it has reduced the maintenance cost and cost of teleconferencing equipment.

Source: www.indiaedunews.com
December 22, 2007

CII to adopt 15 technical institutes in Rajasthan
Rajasthan's 15 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) will be turned into centres of excellence, thanks to a decision of the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

'Under the union government's new scheme for adoption of ITIs by the industry in the current budget, the CII has agreed to take up 15 ITIs in Rajasthan to convert them into centres of excellence,' R.K. Poddar, chairman, CII Rajasthan state council, told reporters here Saturday.

The central government has identified 300 ITIs in the country and requested various organisations and associations to come forward in a unique scheme to bridge the gap between the educational institutes' output and industry requirements.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 22, 2007

AIIMS looking for new director, even abroad
The Indian government on Thursday cast its net wide in its hunt for a new head for the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), saying it would welcome foreign applicants as it aims to take the institute to an international level.

Source: www.indiaedunews.com
December 21, 2007

Dalai Lama to teach leadership at IIM-A
After Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, it's now the turn of Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to teach management and leadership qualities at the premier Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
The Tibetan Buddhist leader will take a couple of classes at IIM-A in January 2008. The exact date is to be finalised soon.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 20, 2007

Shashi Tharoor to start finishing school in Kerala
Former UN Under-Secretary General and chairman of Dubai-based Afras Projects India Shashi Tharoor signed an agreement Wednesday to start a finishing school in Kerala for the young software professionals at the Technopark here.

Tharoor and Technopark CEO R.K. Nair inked the agreement to start the school -Academy for Personality Development and Communication - by March. The school will focus on the capacity building of young professionals.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 19, 2007

India to set up education loan guarantee authority
India is to set up a Higher Education Loan Guarantee Authority (HELGA) that will make it easier for needy students to secure bank loans for education and also pay the interest till they complete their course.

Currently, the interest of the loan is added to the principal amount and thus the compound interest puts a lot of burden on students.

The mega plan, orchestrated by the Planning Commission and the human resource development ministry, will help students with annual family income of Rs.250,000 or less to avail of the loan.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 19, 2007

Amartya Sen calls for accountability in education
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen Wednesday called for accountability in delivery of elementary education and urged authorities to utilise resources generated from economic growth in pubic services.

'Resources generated from economic growth should be used for public services and public goods in general, rather than being absorbed only in private consumption,' Sen said here.

The economist was speaking at a seminar on 'Right to Education: Action Now', organised by the industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

He underlined the centrality of expansion of elementary education for sustainable and inclusive growth and advocated deployment of more economic resources in education and better organisation of public services.
He emphasised the role of organisational reforms in efficient delivery of public services.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 19, 2007

Budding Punjabi poets meet on Orkut, produce book
Some hail from as far as the US and Australia, though most are from Punjab, but love for Punjabi poetry brought 13 budding poets together on social networking site Orkut and they have now come out with a book.

These young men and women, hailing from diverse professions, met on Orkut and have released their collection of Punjabi poems 'Kose Chaanan' (Warm Enlightenment), meeting for the first time at the book launch in Ludhiana.

Released in October by prominent Punjabi poet Surjit Patar, the book has evoked strong interest amongst the diaspora, setting off a keen desire to revive Punjabi poetry.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 19, 2007

Male-female gap in literacy widening: UN report
The male-female gulf in literacy rates in Asia and Africa seems to be widening, says a UN report. In India, more than half of young women aged 15-19 years have no primary education.

'In India, the proportion of girls enrolled in primary education rose from 84 to 96 percent between 1998 and 2002. Nevertheless, many countries, particularly those in South Asia, still have a long way to go to achieve gender parity in education,' says the report titled 'World Youth Report 2007' released Wednesday.

'Poverty is a major barrier to schooling. When poor parents need to make a choice, girls tend to be excluded first from attending school. The gap between male and female literacy rates in Asia and Africa appears to be widening.'
The report focuses on challenges in youth development in Asia, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, small-island developing states, countries with economies in transition and developed market economies.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 19, 2007

Age limit for nursery admission puts parents in trouble
'The Supreme Court judgement giving more autonomy to schools for nursery has been mis-utilized by some schools in the capital', alleged some parents. Parents have complained that schools are showing "autocratic behaviour" giving admission to their children.

Parents of children above the age of four years, who were left out last year, are facing a lot of difficulties this year since most schools have closed the doors on them again. Some schools have already started distributing forms without finalising any parameters for the nursery admissions; which is a violation of the apex court's order.

Source: www.indiaedunews.com
December 19, 2007

Alter, not ban, sex education for children, say experts
Just because some parts of the material on sex education for school children are objectionable to certain people, sex education cannot be banned in totality. The material can always be reviewed and altered, said experts

A gathering of over 40 representatives of NGOs, women's groups, child rights groups, researchers and academics from across the country participated in the two-day National Consultation on Sexuality Education for Young People Dec 17-18 in the capital.

'Banning sex education is not the solution. If there is a problem with the material, that can always be reviewed and modified,'

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 18, 2007

70 percent engineering colleges are in just four states
Pointing out that 70 percent of the country's engineering colleges are located in only four states, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh Monday called for removing regional disparities in the availability of technical education.

'There is a wide discrepancy in the capacity between the states with over 70 percent of the capacity in degree-level engineering education being available in the four states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra,' Arjun Singh said in a statement at a technical education conference here.

'This regional imbalance has to be minimised so that people from all parts of the country have a fairly equal access to quality education.

'Public-private partnership, in this regard, may also be desirable. While we do so, we must ensure that opportunities of quality technical education are provided to all, equitably,' he added.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 17, 2007

Nalanda dream gets thumbs-up at Tokyo meet
India's dream of reviving Nalanda, the ancient seat of Buddhist learning, moved a step closer to reality with the mentor group headed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen fleshing out the details of the proposed international university which will act as a bridge between East Asia and South Asia.

'The Mentor Group agreed that Nalanda University should be an international university enjoying academic autonomy. It would be a secular academic institution,' the external affairs ministry said here Monday in a statement after the second meeting of the group in Tokyo last week.

The mentor group underlined the importance of the project in the context of 'an Asian renaissance' as they firmed up the details of the university, which will be guided by 'a global philosophy while maintaining local relevance.'

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 17, 2007

Social divide, poor quality hit Jharkhand's mid-day meals
The mid-day meal scheme meant to provide students nourishment and also an incentive to keep them in school is facing problems in Jharkhand, thanks to the age-old practice of untouchability and poor quality food.

Last week 50 children of a school in Dhanbad district took ill after consuming a mid-day meal of khichadi (made of pulses and rice), apparently after a poisonous snake accidentally fell into the vessel.

There are allegations that teachers sell off the food grains supplied to the school and replace it with poor quality grains.

Apart from this, untouchability is taking its toll on the laudable concept of mid-day meals. There are quite a few examples of children refusing to eat food prepared by either a Dalit or a Muslim.

Source: www.indiaenews.com
December 17, 2007