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MAHAR, Dehradun Invites Application for Admission

June 12, 2012

Madhuban Academy of Hospitality Administration and Research (MAHAR), the institute in Northern India associated with a group having four star luxury hotels for live wire training, announced admission to their 3 years Advance diploma course in Food Preparation & Culinary Arts for the academic session 2012-15.

This innovative program from IGNOU incorporating courses of American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AH & LEI) is a first of its kind in the learning system. It is the most comprehensive; industry oriented advanced diploma Programme available in India.

Application forms are available at all major book stores in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. The forms can be downloaded or can be filled online from their website.

IIT Delhi to Expand its Footprints

digitalLEARNING Network

June 11, 2012

IIT Delhi has announced to set up its extension campus at the Rajiv Gandhi Education City in Sonepat.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that his government would provide 50 acres of land at the RGEC in Sonepat for setting up the campus.

Addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stone of 10 educational institutions, Hooda claimed the development would change the entire picture of the state.

Microsoft Helps Schools with Teaching Tools

News

digitalLEARNING Network

June 11, 2012

Although multimedia teaching is the new flavor of the education system, much needs to be done in this space. To fulfill the need Microsoft – the world’s leading software solutions provider – has come forward to help schools improve the quality of teaching-learning as part of its corporate social responsibility.

It has designed several subject-wise teaching tools suited to the English medium syllabi taught in the national school boards – the CBSE and the ICSE or ISC.

Also, this bouquet of software is completely free and can be downloaded from the web by schools for use in the classrooms. Recently, Microsoft India has invited principals of the top ICSE and CBSE schools for a workshop at La Martiniere for Girls to generate awareness about these tools and how they can be used in the classrooms.

Richa Bhatia, the training co-ordinator of the project said, “What is different about these multimedia lessons is that they are also interactive. For instance, a teacher just cannot play a chapter on the 1757 Battle of Plassey and sit quietly. The tool will work only when she fills in the gap through her lectures and every lesson is planned in that way. Interestingly, self training kits are also provided for teachers of respective subjects that are absolutely necessary if the tools are to be used”.

“Most principals who are participating are extremely senior and have been in the profession for years. In all these years, a lot of change has taken place in come into the field of education, especially when it comes to IT-related educational tools. Principals need to be oriented towards this so that they can implement the right tools that will help to improve the standard of the students,” said Loren Mirza, principal of La Martiniere for Girls.

“There is no credit in the top 10 per cent of the class scoring beyond 90 per cent. If 80 per cent of the class scores above 80 per cent, therein lays the credit of the teacher. That is possible only through proper use of the multimedia because chalk and talk is essentially boring and cannot attract the average student,” said Mukta Nain.

IIT Kanpur to Carry Out Its Own Entrance Test from 2013: Who’s Next?

digitalLEARNING Network

June 11, 2012

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, has decided to conduct its own entrance test for undergraduate programmes from next year.

The decision has come in rejecting Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal’s ‘one nation, one test’ proposal of having one common entrance test.

In a resolution on Friday, IIT Kanpur’s 210-member senate slammed the proposed common entrance test, and said the “decision was academically and methodically unsound and in violation of the IIT Act.” It also authorised its chairman to constitute a committee with the help of the dean of academic affairs for conducting “JEE 2013 by IIT Kanpur”. (Full text of IIT-Kanpur Senate’s resolution)

“The proposal that is being given by the council is not acceptable, is not right. So, the IIT senate has today unanimously resolved that it will conduct the JEE 2013 on its own,” Deepak Gupta, PRO, IIT Kanpur said.

A senate consists largely of professors who are made responsible by the IIT Act of 1961, “for the maintenance of standards of instruction, education and examination.”

The students of IIT Kanpur have also strongly condemned the proposed common entrance test.

Supporting the resolution, the All India IIT Faculty Federation has said IIT Kanpur will coordinate with other IITs who chose to join their admission process. “Five out the seven IIT Senates have decided that there should be no change for the year 2013…Therefore, it can be concluded that the current common examination announced by the HRM is in violation of the majority Senates views on more than one count,” the Faculty Federation said in a statement.

The federation has written to the Prime Minister’s Office, asking for Dr Manmohan Singh’s intervention. Members of the federation are scheduled to meet Dr Singh on Tuesday.

Mr Sibal had, on Thursday, had rubbished claims that a majority of the IIT senates were opposed to the HRD Ministry’s proposal. He said that senates of IIT Guwahati, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee had suggested the final formulation. “Guwahati, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkie were the four supporters of it. Incidentally, as far as Bombay is concerned, they also supported,” he said.

The proposal to hold a common test under the new format was cleared at a meeting of the Councils of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) on May 28 chaired by Mr Sibal.

The common entrance exam would have two steps – a “main” and “advanced” stage. The results of Class 12 board exams would also play a role in deciding whether a student gets into an engineering college.

Engineering colleges will use a 40:30:30 formula – with Class 12 board results counting for 40 per cent, and the two stages of the entrance exam counting for 30 per cent each.

Some IIT officials objected to this one-size-fits-all formula and won the right to form their own criteria. Starting next year, most IITs will give equal weightage (50 per cent each) to Class 12 results and to the performance of the candidate in the main exam. 50,000 shortlisted students will then move on to the advanced exam.

But striking a note of dissent, IIT-Kanpur’s faculty federation had last week called the introduction of this new format a “breach of trust.”

“The examination announced by the HRD Ministry is a unilateral decision of IIT Council against the advice and decisions of IIT-Kanpur Senate, which has the prerogative of deciding its admission criteria,” it said in a statement.

The IIT Delhi Alumni Association has also threatened to sue Mr Sibal over the decision. The body has also sought an appointment with the Prime Minister, slamming the HRD ministry for what they call “tampering with the autonomy of the institutions”.

City Colleges Gear Up to Rope in Foreign Institutes

News

digitalLEARNING Network

June 11, 2012

With the UGC’s clearance for foreign college collaboration with the Indian institutes to run academic courses, city colleges are making efforts to rope in foreign courses.

While Goswami Ganesh Dutta Sanatan Dharam (GGDSD) College, Chandigarh has already been running a course, other private colleges plan to start courses in the coming years – in a move to ensure that Indian degrees of their students are recognised when they go abroad for further studies.

GGDSD College principal Meena Prabhakar said, “We have been running a Canadian BBA course in our college for the past five years and we have received an overwhelming response from students. The biggest merit of the course is that students receive international exposure.”

The UGC has developed a formal mechanism to grant recognition to foreign colleges. The move will end the era of fake foreign educational institutes operating in India. According to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), over 631 institutions have been operating so far without anyone knowing their credentials.

But now, any foreign educational institution which figures among the top 500 in global QS rankings or Times Higher Education rankings will be formally allowed to offer any degree in general education – BA, BSc, BTech- in India by entering into a collaboration with a top Indian university or college, which has the highest accreditation grade back home.

Indian colleges with Grade A accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation or National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) alone will be eligible to partner with foreign colleges.

The arrangement has been approved by the UGC Commission through a regulation, Promotion and Maintenance of Standards of Academic Collaboration between Indian and Foreign Educational Institutions. The regulation will be sent to the MHRD for notification after which any Indian college can approach the UGC with a proposal to partner with a foreign college. The UGC will soon issue a public notice asking all existing foreign education providers and their Indian partners to fulfill the accreditation norms required under the new regulations within six months.

Once the regulation is notified, the UGC will call for Indian partners of foreign educational institutions to seek certification within six months.

Haryana Government Brings Rajiv Gandhi Education City at Sonepat

News

digitalLEARNING Network

June 11, 2012

For Haryana it’s the beginning of a new era for sure.

Haryana Chief Minister Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda laid the foundation for the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Education City’ in Sonepat. The campus will house some of the country’s best educational institutions and Universities set up over a vast expanse of 2000 acres.

On this momentous occasion, the foundation was also laid for the North Campus of Higher Education of Manav Rachna Educational Institutions (MREI). MREI shall initially have a Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Engineering & Technology and Faculty of Management Studies.

Also present on the auspicious occasion were Smt. Geeta Bhukkal, Hon’ble Education Minister, Haryana; Shri Kuldeep Sharma, Hon’ble Speaker, Haryana Vidhan Sabha; Shri Deepender Singh Hooda, Hon’ble MP – Rohtak; Shri Jitender Malik, Hon’ble MP – Sonepat; Shri Rao Dan Singh, Hon’ble Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Education, Haryana; and Shri Jai Tirath Dahiya, Hon’ble MLA – Rai.

The Faculty of Medicine shall offer an MBBS program to begin with. For this, a 300-bed hospital will be established in 2013, eventually being upgraded to a 700-bed hospital in phases, as per Medical Council of India norms. The admission in MBBS program is likely to take place in 2015. Faculty of Engineering & Technology and Faculty of Management Studies shall offer UG, PG and Doctoral Programmes in Engineering & Technology and Management respectively, with a strong focus on developing industry-ready trained manpower.

Honorable Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “Education and industrial growth are indispensable for speedy development of the state and the Haryana Government has been consistently making efforts in this regard. The State Government is also taking effective measures for the development of Rai, Kundli and Sonepat in order to meet the anticipated growth along the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway, which will play a crucial role in overall development of the area.”

Along with these major steps undertaken by the State Government to promote higher education in Haryana, there is also provision to set up an International University Centre in Education City.

Dr O.P. Bhalla, President, Manav Rachna Educational Institutions said, “This venture has come through successfully thanks to the unstinted support of the Haryana Government. MREI is a name committed to the provision of quality education in the country and with this initiative we intend to scale new heights of educational excellence within a short period and open a new chapter – not only in the educational history of Haryana but of India as well.”

He further added: “The Faridabad campus of the university is already a well-established, renowned name in the country. With the launch of the Sonepat campus, we are confident these students will also graduate from MREI with higher levels of knowledge and a consummate range of skills to master new challenges, backed by a broad choice of careers to make a mark in their professional lives.”

Manav Rachna Educational Institutions (MREI) are adding a new University in the group in the name of ‘Manav Rachna University’ to be established under section 2(f) of UGC Act, 1956 and Haryana Private Universities Act, 2006 for which a Letter of Intent has already been granted by the State Govt. of Haryana.

MREI looks forward to tie-ups with reputed International Universities for academic collaborations in terms of teaching and learning processes, teaching pedagogy, credit transfers, faculty and student exchange and joint R&D projects. Admission for B.Tech, M.Tech, Integrated B.Tech & MTM, MBA and Integrated Bachelor and Master Programmes in Applied Management shall be offered from the academic session 2013-14. Learning by Development shall be the forte of Manav Rachna University at Sonepat Campus with great emphasis on tangible and intangible outputs/outcomes through R&D.

MREI deploys modern technology to enrich the educational experience of its students and emphasizes overall personality development embedded with the traditional value system. The MREI campus at Sonepat shall stand out as an architectural marvel lighting up the skyline of Rajiv Gandhi Education City on NH-1, replete with state-of-the-art infrastructure and lab facilities, while also being one of the first Green Campuses in the region.

The Education City will also have provision for hostels, residential accommodation for staff, hotels, multiplex, shopping complex, medical centre, post office, police station, convention centre, seminar rooms, art gallery, auditorium, weekly market and food court.

Vocational UG Degrees within Reach Soon

News

digitalLEARNING Network

June 8, 2012

Bachelor’s degrees in vocational education will be a reality soon besides the undergraduate degrees in arts, science and commerce. Vocational education will be available in colleges across the country from this August. AICTE chairman SS Mantha said he has received applications from 300 colleges to introduce vocational education.

Mr. Mantha commented, “Around 100 trainers have also applied for this stream. This year, we plan to have 4-5 such colleges in each state. After monitoring it for a year, we can increase the number of such colleges from next year”.

Stating that these courses would boost skill development, he said: “It will bolster employment opportunities for college graduates. The student will have to choose a sector and a specific specialisation from each sector. For now, 10 sectors have been chosen — including tourism, construction, printing, telecom, information technology, mobile and communication.”

To begin with, five sectors have been proposed for each college, Mantha said.

Each sector can have a maximum of 100 students, which means that a college can initially admit 500 students under the programme.

Under the entertainment sector, a student could opt for specialisation in theatre/stage craft, western classical dancing or even acting. All the other sectors have related specialisations.

Students who did not opt for vocational education at the school level can simultaneously do extra hours to make up for lessons they have missed under a specific trainer.

Union human resource development minister Kapil Sibal had launched the National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) for implementation in polytechnic as well as engineering colleges, besides other colleges in the university system, from 2012-13.

CBSE School Fees to be Declared in Two Weeks

News

digitalLEARNING Network

June 8, 2012

Within a period of two weeks the CBSE schools in the city will get to know how much fee they can charge this academic year. The Private Schools Fee Determination Committee has virtually completed hearing CBSE schools that had sought a fee revision and is expected to release the revised amounts in two weeks.

According to the head of a CBSE school, Justice S.R. Singharavelu, who chairs the committee, is said to be giving a patient hearing to schools that want their fees revised. CBSE schools that were earlier wondering if they came under the purview of the committee have now been given a chance to represent their cases. The regulation also becomes important in the context of some city schools charging up to Rs. 40,000 for the first term in PRE-KG.

Parents, however, feel that unless there is a monitoring agency schools may not follow the recommendations. “The School Education Department should ensure schools follow the committee’s direction. We cannot be protesting every time,” said a parent of a matriculation school student, on condition of anonymity.

The issue of private schools charging high fee amounts has resurfaced with school reopening. In regard to matriculation schools, there has already been a series of protests by parents, including on DPI complex on Monday. It all began in 2010, with the committee, then headed by Justice K. Govindarajan, prescribing school fees for nearly 11,000 private schools in Tamil Nadu.

Jack, No More a Dull Boy with Sports Outsourcing

Magazine

digitalLEARNING Network

June 8, 2012

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy – the very famous saying goes well with today’s young children. They might not be bookworms, but they are mostly lazy bones as they have limited options to indulge in sports and physical activities”

By Pragya Gupta, Elets News Network (ENN)

A decade ago children used to play for long hours. But the expansion of cities happened in such a way that this has become applicable to almost every student studying in schools especially in metro cities. There are parks, but many of them have restrictions. The sports coaching are far from home and parents are busy in earning, all these leave children with very few options. The stress of studies and other extra- curricular activities have also robbed their free time to play.

Such urban environments lead to the development of lazy habits in kids, who prefer to have fun with TV and computer games.

Vasanth Bharadwaj, Co-Founder of TENVIC says, “The natural tendency of a child is to play. Sports are a necessary part of the growing up process, and it is often independent of any expectations to develop excellence at it. From the perspectives of focus and determination as well as courage and persistence, sports is a source of many invaluable lessons in life”.

Many institutions seem to have developed the opinion that the best possible way of providing quality sporting facility to their students is to outsource sports to competent private companies.

Sports education outsourcing-On a rise

Government has now started emphasising on the importance of sports and physical education at the school level. But schools have their own challenges; they do not have the proper infrastructure and the trainers. The mindset is a challenge; some traditionalists believe that sports is not as important as other branches of study.

CBSE, ICSE and other state boards and governments have seriously taken it on their agenda for having sports education in schools with some regulations and compliances associated with it.

To fulfil the need of sports education, schools are now looking out to acquire sports and physical education infrastructure. Schools have been joining hands with companies to provide complete sporting solutions from infrastructure to curriculum and training. Mostly eminent sportsmen are associated with these companies or directly with schools.

Some of the leading sports solution providers in the Indian education segment are Edusports, Kooh sports, Sportseed, Tenvic, The Sports Gurukul, and Leapstart, etc. The charges depend on the service they offer to each child. The range starts from rupees 150 per child.

Jay Shah, Director, The Sports Gurukul says, “The country does not have very well trained faculty yet in sports education. By outsourcing the sports faculty needs to private companies, institutes can start offering quality sports facilities to their students at very low costs. Focused effort on developing sports education in schools will only help in creating a fitter generation and it will also result in our bagging high awards at major international events”.

Martin Gleeson, Chief Executive Officer, Sports Education Development India Ltd says, “Sport is a rapidly developing industry in India and alongside the professionalism on field there is also a growing need for qualified sports management professionals to effectively administer sporting associations, events and sports programs.”

Some international schools and big school chains have shown aggression in adopting sports education but the level of adoption is not yet up to the mark.

KOOH-IMRB has conducted a research across 394 English Medium Schools across all boards and 120 colleges in India. The Survey was conducted in 8 cities in India including Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.

In this special focus on sports education, digitalLEARNINING has made an attempt to talk to education outsourcing companies and schools alike on the importance of sports on the overall develoApment of a child and about sports outsourcing in India. >>>

KOOH – IMRB survey result indicates the following:

Schools:
• Out of the total 394 schools surveyed 70 percent of the schools were interested in sports outsourcing
• Out of 394 schools surveyed 14 per cent have outsourced their PE program
• 75 per cent of the interested schools have some form of sports facilities that includes sports ground and sports equipment
• On average each interested school caters to 7 sporting discipline and have 2 Physical Trainers per school
• Kids spend 90 minutes per week on PE classes

Colleges:
• Out of the total 120 colleges surveyed 75 percent of the colleges were interested in sports outsourcing
• None of the colleges that were interested have outsourced their PE program
• 55 per cent of the interested colleges have some form of sports facilities that includes sports ground and sports equipment
•
On average each interested college caters to 7 sporting disciplines and have 3 Physical Trainers per college
• Average number of students interested in sports was 250 per college

“The country does not have very well trained faculty yet in sports education. By outsourcing the sports faculty needs to private companies, institutes can start offering quality sports facilities to their students at very low costs. Focused effort on developing sports education in schools will only help in creating a fitter generation and it will also result in our bagging high awards at major international events”ay Shahirector, The Sports Gurukul

“Parents are Now Realising the True Potential of Sports”

Magazine

digitalLEARNING Network

June 8, 2012

Anupama Sagdeo, Principal, SG International School, Bangalore, shares her views on the importance of sports in overall education being offered at schools

http://sginternationalschool.com

What steps is the school taking to emphasise the need of sports development in the overall education of the student?

While there is no denying that we provide our students the best of academics, we do make sure that our students get the best in sports as well. We understand and believe that sports can play an integral element in the holistic development of a child. We need to ensure that when our students graduate from our school, they are not just nurtured intellectually, but are also filled with sporting spirit. Being a performance oriented school, we decided to rope in TENVIC as we wanted trained coaches who will provide focussed and sincere training to our students in a student friendly manner.

Please provide us with an overview of sports infrastructure and solutions installed in the school.

The school has a playground and a volley ball court. We have Table Tennis tables in the school. We have implemented the Edusports programme for Primary and Middle school students, while the TENVIC programme, which is optional, is available to all students. We provide our students with customised coaching in the field of cricket, badminton, table tennis and chess. The coaching is offered at Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels.

Tell us about the company from which you are getting your solutions.

We share a fruitful association with TENVIC, a sports consulting and training company founded by Anil Kumble, Diinesh Kumble and Vasanth Bharadwaj. TENVIC has understood our needs and has helped bridge the gap that existed between learning sports and enjoying sports. The company teaches sports to students in a manner that is engaging and fun. The performance of the students is analysed by the parents as well as the teachers. The students can also conduct self analysis on basis of the data that has been provided by TENVIC

How do you see the sports education in the school curriculum?

Being in the education sector, I have noticed that parents off late have started to realise the true potential of sport. Sports is a dynamic field, it helps in the overall development of a child. It teaches the students the art of managing challenges with the right attitude. The recent announcement by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to offer Fitness and Gym Operational vocational courses in sports for class 11 and 12 from the academic year 2012-13 shows that sports education in school curriculum is heading for a much needed revolution.

Please mention the benefits that your students, parents, and teachers have received as an outcome of these solutions?

Parents and students enjoy lots of benefits. There is state of the art sporting facility in the school so students don’t have to join training academies and clubs. They can learn sports in the school itself. We as a school can promise parents that not only can we have students excel in academics, but also excel in their choice of sport at the same time.//

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