News and views about the Education in India

A week of contrasts. While female literacy in India is amongst the lowest in the world, Indira Nooyi has inspired the creation of an All Women’s business school in Haryana. While only 8% of Indians opt for higher education; this year marked the highest number of students going to the US for higher studies. Focus remained on primary education, school syllabus as well as the setting up of the 7th IIM at Shillong.

-Chillibreeze Business Research Team

Affordable but unfashionable
The country needs more polytechnics. But is anyone listening? Most polytechnics face a shortage of funds.
The recommendations of the 11th Plan for education, released by the Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD), draws attention to the fact that the industry faces an acute shortage of middle-level technical personnel. Though polytechnic education is essentially a State subject, the Plan stipulates that for six lakh engineers in the country there should be a minimum of 20 lakh technicians. The current intake of polytechnics cannot meet that demand.

The demand for such shop-level technicians is so acute that many industries have started training centres to get the right people for the job. A CII-Mckenzey study (2004) estimated the exports in the automotive sector at 1.3 billion and projected the figure to soar to 25 billion by the year 2015. With such growth and focus on exports, the role of polytechnics and ITIs comes to the forefront.

November 26, 2007
Source: The Hindu

U.S. still the top destination
For the first time in three years, the number of foreign students in the United States is on the up. Last year alone, there were close to 6 lakh foreign students in the U.S., according to a recently released study by the International Institute of Education (IIE). The largest contingent was from India — a sizeable 15 per cent. The U.S. continues to remain the most popular destination for Indian students, particularly for postgraduate courses in engineering and manage ment. Australia, however, is quickly catching up, and has even overtaken the United Kingdom as the second most favoured education destination, especially for vocational training and courses in hospitality. Last year, 71 per cent of the 83,833 Indian students in the U.S. pursued master’s and Ph.D. degrees, mostly in the sciences and engineering. Columbia University in New York, the University of Southern California and New York University were the largest recruiters of foreign students, according to the IIE.

A significant reason for the continued dominance of the U.S. is the availability of financial loans and fellowships, for both graduate and postgraduate programmes. Another is the wide variety of short-term technical and management programmes on offer. According to Professor Jane Schukoske, executive director, United States Education Foundation in India (USEFI), the last year saw a rising number of applicants from India pursuing shorter non-degree programmes, such as one-year diplomas in both technical and management disciplines. As many as 10,898 Indians travelled to the U.S. last year to pursue short-term courses — a 48 per cent increase from the previous year.

The growing trend of pursuing diplomas has also contributed to Australia’s sharp rise as a prime destination for Indian students. Australia has quickly overtaken the U.K. as the second-most popular education destination. Last year, the number of Indian students in Australia grew by 62 per cent to 56,622, compared to 21,157 in the U.K.

November 26, 2007
Source: The Hindu

British varsity to train Indian multimedia students
University of Teesside, a leading British university at Middlesborough in northeast England, will train students of Takshaa Academy for the Artist in multimedia, animation and gaming under an agreement signed here Monday by the two partners. In a statement, Teeside deputy vice-chancellor Cliff Allan said the partnership was aimed at producing graduates with proficiency in the fast-emerging areas of multimedia and gaming to meet the growing demand for skilled artists in the animation industry.

November 27, 2007
Source: www.indiaenews.com

Court asks UGC to grant recognition to Amity
The Delhi High Court Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging its order that the University Grants Commission (UGC) grant recognition to Amity University. A division bench of Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Reva Khetrapal upheld the decision of a single judge bench, directing the UGC to give recognition to Amity University.

The UGC had refused to grant recognition to Amity on the ground that the private university was incorporated through a legislative enactment of the Uttar Pradesh assembly without the Commission's prior inspection and approval.

November 27, 2007
Source: www.indiaenews.com

Court asks Delhi schools to employ counsellors
Concerned about the increasing numbers of students committing suicide, the Delhi High Court Wednesday asked all senior secondary schools in the capital to have full time counsellors.

Acting on a public interest petition, a division bench of Chief Justice M.K. Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna ordered all schools to employ counsellors to ensure that stress levels amongst students reduces.

November 28, 2007
Source: www.indiaenews.com

Haryana Education Dept to change pattern of school exam
The Haryana Education Department is continuously adopting several methods to transform school education system of the state. After the successful implementation of the semester system that has brought about marked improvement in the learning and the results of government schools, the dept. is now trying to bring about some changes in the pattern of the examination too.

As per the Department's recommendations, the objective type pattern in the first semester be done away with and replaced with brief descriptive questions instead. This is to check the approach of mugging up questions and reproducing answers without applying mind.

November 28, 2007
Source: www.indiaedunews.com

Nooyi inspires all-women business school in Punjab
Inspired by the success story of Indra Nooyi who heads PepsiCo worldwide, the management of a business school announced setting up of an exclusive all-women management school by next year.

Admissions for the all-women college, proposed by the Aryans Business School (ABS) near Rajpura town, will be made in the 2008-09 session, ABS chairman Anshu Kataria announced.

November 28, 2007
Source: www.indiaenews.com

Only eight percent of Indians go for higher education
Only eight percent of Indian students finishing school go for higher education - compared to 20 per cent in China - and the country needs 1,500 new universities in the next seven years to bridge the shortfall of skilled workers, India's Knowledge Commission has said. A Knowledge Commission report has said that India would need 1,500 new universities in the next seven years.

November 29, 2007
Source: www.indiaenews.com

Court raps JNU for caste discrimination
The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to admit a student, who had complained of caste discrimination, to the course of his choice. Justice S. Ravindra Bhat also imposed a fine of Rs.25,000 on the university, which will be paid to the petitioner, Amritashva Kamal, within two weeks.

'The university is directed to offer the petitioner a seat according to his choice in the reserved/Scheduled Caste category and admit him to the course of his choice. The university shall bear the costs of these proceedings,' the court said in its order.

November 29, 2007
Source: www.indiaenews.com

The vanishing art of shorthand in India
The Greeks and Romans are known to have practised it and, until not so long ago, it was a much sought after skill in India too. But stenography or shorthand writing has all but disappeared now.

Under the impact of IT, shorthand has become a vanishing art in India. Ironically, this has happened at a time when there is a clamour for skilled stenographers from the corporate world.

'This demand can never be met as few people take to learning shorthand, since it is no more a lucrative job,' said S.V. Ramaswamy, president of the Chennai-based Stenographers' Guild of India (SGI).

Alternatives to shorthand like voice recognition software have not been much of a success. As a result, at a time when corporate executives at home and abroad are looking for efficient shorthand writers, they are not available.

November 29, 2007
Source: www.indiaenews.com

India among bottom five in female literacy: Unesco
India is among the bottom five countries in South and West Asia when it comes to female literacy rate, says a new report released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

With a mere 47.8 percent female literacy rate, India sits at the bottom fifth position with countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan at more dismal positions.

According to the data presented in the report for the period between 1995-2005, Bangladesh's female literacy rate is 40.8 percent, Pakistan's is 35.4 percent, Nepal's is 34.9, and Afghanistan's female literacy rate is just 12.6 percent.

Also, less than 60 percent of the total adult population of South and West Asia can read and write.
The report says that India, Nigeria and Pakistan account for 27 percent of the children in the world who are not enrolled in schools.

India's education satellite Edusat, devoted to distance learning courses, is one of the saving graces in the face of a poor education scenario in this part of the world, the report says.

Calling it a revolution in distance learning, the report says that a year after its launch in 2004, 'virtual classrooms have become a reality with the connection of more than a dozen teacher-training centres and 50 government schools in Kerala'.

November 30, 2007
Source: www.indiaenews.com

Medicos to form All India Medical Federation
In a move to further intensify the protests against the Centre's proposal to make one year rural service compulsory for the MBBS degree, medical students in Chennai have decided to form an All India organisation that could attract students from all parts of the country to face future challenges.

November 30, 2007
Source: www.indiaedunews.com

Foundation stone of seventh IIM laid in Shillong
Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh Saturday laid the foundation stone of the country's seventh Indian Institute of Management (IIM) here. Speaking at the ceremony, the minister said, 'The launching of this institute would contribute to the manpower of tomorrow, not only in the northeast, but also in the whole country and abroad.'

The institute - christened Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management - is the seventh IIM in the country after Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode. Admissions are expected by the next academic session in July with an intake of 60 students. The strength would be subsequently increased to 120 in 2010 and 180 in 2013.

December 1, 2007
Source: www.indiaenews.com

Govt. to introduce Science, Maths at primary level
The Government of Maharashtra has decided to introduce Mathematics and Science, to be taught in English, in all primary schools where presently, the medium of learning is not English.

Earlier, the State Government had successfully introduced English at the primary level. The new subjects will be implemented from the forthcoming academic session i.e. 2008-2009. Students will have the option of choosing the medium of instruction for the subjects.

December 1, 2007
Source: www.indiaedunews.com