Apeejay Stya University Wins Award at World Education Summit 2012

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July 27, 2012

Apeejay Stya University (ASU) has been conferred the “Best Innovation by Private University” award in the category of “Higher Education Institutes” (HEIs) at the World Education Summit 2012. The award was presented at a glittering ceremony held on July 23, 2012 at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi as part of the two-day World Education Summit attended by leading academic leaders and policy-makers from across the globe to discuss and deliberate on a wide range of pertinent issues related to Education. The Summit was jointly organised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Centre for Science, Development & Media Studies and Elets Technomedia, and supported by the Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGET), Gov ernment of India, UNESCO and other reputed organisations.

Speaking on the achievement, Sushma Berlia, ASU Chancellor & President, Apeejay Stya & Svran Group, said, “The award is a testimony to Apeejay’s 45+ years of commitment to education and its long-term vision of producing renaissance men and women who would be the thought leaders of tomorrow. The university was the culmination of the long-standing dream of our late Founder Chancellor Dr. Stya Paul, to establish a seat of global learning that would bring about transformation of society through value-based education, man-making and nation-building. This award will further encourage us in our endeavour to deliver quality education in sync with India’s emergence as a knowledge superpower.”

Commenting on the achievement, ASU Pro Chancellor, Aditya Berlia added, “At ASU, our effort has always been to provide a supportive and nurturing environment through an internationally-aligned curriculum designed to foster trans-disciplinary education, critical thinking and redefine academic freedom while linking it to market dynamics. We are happy that our teaching-learning pedagogy and Liberal Arts Approach has been recognized as a pioneering and innovative concept.”

Edexcel and British Council Conduct a joint Seminar on Vocational Education in Schools

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July 27, 2012

Edexcel and British Council conducted a joint seminar on the relevance and implementation of Vocational Education in schools in India. Edexcel and British Council have joined hands to bring the concept of vocational skill-based learning to schools in India through BTEC, a standardized Edexcel qualification of choice for educators.

Conventional thought in India is to compartmentalize knowledge and skills into two separate modes of education and tag them separately. The pursuit of knowledge at schools and colleges is considered desirable; skills have taken a backseat and are looked down upon. The situation is changing now as more and more educators and employers come to realize that knowledge and skills are interdependent. What is required in a successful student is knowledge and the skills to apply that knowledge. So the approach of fusing vocational and academic education is gaining momentum. With the involvement of international accrediting bodies and a range of options to progress into education or employment globally, vocational education truly opens new vistas.

Premila Paulraj Canitius, Assistant Vice President, Edexcel Academics – Indian Subcontinent said, “I am pleased that the British Council is partnering with Pearson / Edexcel to promote this initiative. Academics and parents have realised the importance of vocational qualifications being offered in schools as an extracurricular subject, which not only makes learning a practical and pleasurable experience, but also gives them grades / credits equivalent to an International GCSE and A level.”

Sarah Deverall, Director Examinations India & Customer Services South Asia for the British Council, said: “India has set a target of creating 500 million skilled workers by 2020 and set out a vision for reform of the vocational education and skills system. We are delighted to be helping to address this challenge by joining efforts to create awareness among schools in India of the expertise and assessment tools available from the UK, including Edexcel’s BTEC (Business and Technical Education Council) qualifications. This new system offers an experiential way of studying and when included as an essential part of the academic offering for school students, it has the potential to add enormous value to their skill sets and hence their employment and future study possibilities.

New Private University Bill in West Bengal

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July 21, 2012

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said a Private University Bill would be introduced in the assembly within a day or two for setting up higher education institutions by the private sector in the state.
Banerjee offered the school, which has a space crunch, a 4.2 acre plot near the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass behind Ruby General Hospital and asked the school authorities to set up a college and then a university. “South Point is a wonderful institution with possibly 20 to 25 lakh alumni spread all over the world,” she said about the school. It was set up by Satikanta Guha and his wife Pritilata in 1954 with 16 students to grow to be one with the highest number of students in the world within a span of 30 years while retaining the position for eight years.

The state-aided universities include one at Cooch Behar district while another has been named Kazi Nazrul University which would come up at Asansol, close to the birth place of the rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

Karnataka Govt Gets High Court Notice

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July 21, 2012

Karnataka high court, issued notices to the state government on public-interest litigation (PIL) filed against Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association (Kusma) for allegedly denying admission to students belonging to SC, ST and OBC communities.
It may be recalled that the association had initiated a protest against the state government over RTE, by calling for a week-long closure of schools under it starting from July 16. While it had sought clarifications from the state over the Act, a few other private school associations came forward to support its shutdown stir.

So, city-based lawyer S Vasudev filed a PIL against the association and his main contention was that closure of the schools was unwarranted and unconstitutional. However, the protest turned out to be a flop-show and the association, finally, called off its closure plans.
When the petition came up for hearing on Thursday, a division bench-headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen-asked Vasudev why the petition when the private schools have dropped their closure plans. To this, the petitioner replied that though the shutdown plan has been called off, the perpetrators should not be left scot-free. He argued: Who has given Kusma the right to shut down around 1,800 schools?

In his petition, Vasudev had sought a direction to the state government and its education departments to implement the Supreme Court judgment of April 12, 2012, that stipulates all institutions to give free and compulsory education under the Act.

India needs Massive Investment in Education, says Amartya Sen

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July 21, 2012

Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate said that it was massive investment in education in the select East Asian nations that not only led to their emergence on the international map, but also helped in the formation of their identity as East Asian giants. Sen was giving the 12th foundation lecture of Asian Development Research Institute (Adri) at a function otherwise held to mark the inauguration of the three-day international seminar organized by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) headed by former Union minister Dr Karan Singh and supported by ministry of external affairs (MEA). Thematically, the lecture of Sen was synchronized with the theme of the ICCR international seminar – ‘Civilizational Dialogue between India and ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations)’.

He also said Bangladesh, in recent times, had pumped in a huge sum of money for the promotion of elementary education, even as its growth rate in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) was lower than that of India. The all-round progress witnessed in China in Maoist China before 1979 was also propelled by the push given to its education sector, following which reforms brought in by Deng Xiao Ping became possible. According to Sen, the GDP of India is certainly greater than that of Bangladesh, but Bangladesh is the only country in the world where more girls than boys have been going to schools, and it had “definitely overtaken India”.

Sen recalled the local flora and fauna, people, rivers (specially the Irawady river), mountains and palaces, and also mentioned how he used to draw their images on the walls of the family house. While the locals were “happy and cheerful people, always showing their smiling faces,” the nanny who took his care left an indelible impact on him. “She was very beautiful; among the most beautiful I had seen. I still remember a few Burmese words,” Sen said, adding: “These impressions formed a standard of Asian identity within me that helped me in my later research.”

Pearson and Government of Assam launch Vocational Skills Training in Schools

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July 21, 2012

Government of Assam (GoA) and Pearson has announced a joint initiative to provide vocational skills training for young people in schools in Assam. This public-private partnership will serve as a platform for the introduction of the National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF), a more ambitious national program to integrate skills, training and qualifications in schools. The GoA-Pearson undertaking is without precedent in India, making Assam a progressive leader in reforming education and learning, to improve employment opportunities for young people.

Speaking at the launch of the partnership, in Guwahati, Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Tarun Gogoi, said, “I am proud to say that Assam is leading the way in India in preparing today’s generation for tomorrow’s world.”

Under this initiative, Pearson, the world’s largest education enterprise, will set up vocational skills centers in 10 specially-selected government schools, initially offering two training streams, in retail and computer hardware and IT. The design and implementation of the program has seen close collaboration between all stakeholders, from teachers, academic administrators, students, and trainers as well as officials from GoA. The courses will be introduced for students in standard IX in August 2012, before moving into higher classes with a wider portfolio.

Speaking at the launch, Khozem Merchant, President, Pearson India, said, “We are grateful for the opportunity to work collaboratively with GoA. We both obviously believe that young people in Assam deserve to be fully prepared for the challenges of an incredibly different and dynamic world of work and our common endeavor will be to achieve that objective.”

“Vocational education will allow young people to develop rewarding careers in multiple fields in our expanding economy, helping themselves as well as Assam,” said Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Hon’ble Minister for Education at the launch of the first skills delivery centre at Kamrup Academy Higher Secondary School in Guwahati.

Present on the occasion was S Ramadorai, advisor to the Prime Minister on National Skill Development Council, who said, “Vocational education in schools will harness the potential of youth and give them many more avenues for employment as adults.”

The program curriculum will be designed and administered by two Pearson operating companies: IndiaCan, which is one of India’s best-known vocational skills providers, with wide experience of training young people; and Edexcel, the UK’s largest qualification awarding body, recognized the world over for its rigorous accreditation of courses and students.

The skills courses will be held in fully and newly equipped classrooms and learning labs presided over by trainers specially prepared for the program. The curriculum encourages the use of audio-visual aids, and includes lectures by industry experts and visits to factories to familiarize students with real working situations. To ensure no disruption to the formal school day, the skills training will be held after school hours.

Punjabi Academy announces Literary Awards 2011

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July 21, 2012

Punjabi Academy, an academy which was formulated with a view to promote and revive consciousness about Punjabi culture and literature, has announced its “Annual Literary Awards” for the year 2011. The Awards were announced by the Award Committee of the Punjabi Academy with the approval of its Chairperson, Shiela Dixit, Chief Minister, Delhi.

The highest accolade has been given to Shri Nachhattar, as he has been bestowed with Life time Achievement Award for contribution to Punjabi Literature and Shri Som Dutt Battu, with Life time Achievement for contribution to Punjabi Culture.

According to Rawail Singh, Secretary, Punjabi Academy, “All through the year, the artists and performers put up a great show to highlight the Punjabi culture. The richness, essence and depth of the literature is par excellence. These awards are one of the way to boost them and motivate them to spread awareness about the culture in the form of literary work, which reaches the masses not only in India but world across.”

Kapil Sibal Launches NIOS’s Mukta Vidya Vani

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July 21, 2012

Mukta Vidya Vani, a pioneering initiative of the National Institute of Open Schooling, (NIOS) for using Streaming Audio for educational purposes, was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Kapil Sibal , on the occasion of the 22nd General Body Meeting of the NOS Society.

Mukta Vidya Vani on the World WideWeb is a modern interactive, participatory and cost effective programme, involving an academic perspective along with the technical responsibilities of production of audio and video programmes, which are one of the most important components of the multi channel package offered by the NIOS. This will enable a two way communication with any audience having access to an internet connection, from the NIOS studio situated at its Headquarters in Noida.

The new NIOS website, which has been designed in such a way that it not only meets the needs of learners but also disabled-friendly, was also launched on the occasion.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between the NIOS and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) with the objective of developing skill-based courses on web designing in accordance with the guidelines for Indian government websites. This will provide vertical and lateral mobility of learners from the school level in the web designing course.

Addressing the gathering, Dr S S Jena, Chairman, NIOS mentioned 1127 learners had qualified for counseling in AIEEE and 267 qualified for counseling in B Arch and nine learners qualified for counseling in the AIPMT exam from the NIOS.

Google Introduces Web Academy in Alliance with NIIT

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July 20, 2012

Google has introduced a comprehensive training program for young professionals in India in alliance with NIIT Limited. The programme ‘Google Web Academy’ aims to bridge the digital skill gap in the country and help students and professionals capitalize on the emerging job market for the online industry. Under the initiative, NIIT will be Google’s first partner to offer specialised courses through its centres across the country.

Google will provide NIIT with its training curricula and certification standards to offer advanced training programs that are specially designed to create a pool of high quality Google qualified professionals and help young professionals to gain useful skills required in the job market for the online space. The programme will be initially offered in India, and subsequently launched in other parts of the emerging world.

Speaking about the launch Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director Google India, said, “As the Indian internet market continues to show robust growth, we believe a capacity building program to help young professionals gear up for the opportunity is the need of the hour. Google Web Academy is part of our initiative for emerging Internet economies and we’re very excited to launch this in India first. We’ve been working with NIIT to offer advanced online advertising program and we’re pleased to strengthen our association to offer world-leading training curriculum and certification standards to offer advanced training programs to professionals and students in India.”

Commenting on the launch of this initiative, Vijay Thadani, Chief Executive Officer, NIIT Limited said, “At NIIT, we have always taken the lead to address the need for professionally trained manpower for promising sectors, through cutting-edge IT training courses. Perceiving the need for digitally qualified professionals in today’s environment, we are pleased to further extend our association with Google to launch Google Web Academy in India. This pioneering initiative will introduce the latest technology to students and working professionals to help them carve a challenging career path in emerging internet economies.”

The courses offered by NIIT under the Google Web Academy program will include certification programs for online professionals covering topics like search engine marketing, optimizing online presence with web analytics; enhance business productivity with Google products and technologies. Subsequently, the program will also offers technical courses for IT professionals and developers covering topics like building new web and mobile applications using Google technologies, integration across Google products and 3rd party APIs, Web optimization — bandwidth & loading performance, Introduction to cloud computing, including web standards, System integrator — Google Apps for Business, including configuration, deployment and management and Performance tracking & monetization (Google Analytics, SEM).

EnableM Launches Magic Pencil Tablet for Higher Education

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July 20, 2012

Enable Mobile Technologies has announced the launch of ‘Magic Pencil’ – an innovative tablet based solution targeted at the $10 Billion Higher Education and Distance Learning market in India.

Magic Pencil is a platform that allows educators to create courses, aggregate multi-media resources from the available global repository or upload their own learning content and then publish these courses for students globally. The Magic Pencil Platform enables the students to access these learning resources anytime, anywhere over multiple form factors; Tablet, Smart Phones and PCs, and also aids in collaborating and interacting with peers and teachers.

As part of the offering, EM has released Magic Pencil for management students and has partnered with reputed Publishing Houses to create a huge repository of premium management resources such as video lectures, case studies, industry reports, presentations, multimedia illustrations and management learning programs from global universities.
Commenting on the initiative, CEO EnableM, Amit Zaveri, says, “Addressing the needs of the 14 million higher education students, Magic Pencil is an integrated solution that leverages the mobility and interactivity of Tablet PCs to empower education. We are starting off with the Magic Pencil platform designed for management students and teachers and aim to soon expand to other higher education and distance learning courses”.

Having launched pilots in 5 Management colleges across Maharashtra and Gujarat, EnableM is in talks with several other Higher Education and Distance Learning Institutions for deployment of the Magic Pencil platform.

The Magic Pencil Tablet initially is available only to students participating in the various pilots, but will soon be made available across various app stores for download to students globally.

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