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‘Right To Education bill to make India a knowledge hub’

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digitalLEARNING Network
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In order to make India a 'Knowledge hub' in future, a bill aiming to provide free and compulsory education to children in the age group of six to 14 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal explained after introducing the bill that the bill was extremely important because it talked about not only taking children to school but also about providing quality education. It is meant to create intellectual assets and encourage creativity of mind. The minister said that the the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Bill, after becoming law, will provide 'free education to students' and all states will compulsorily have to provide it.

Talking about the quality of education, the minister said an academic committee will be set up to evaluate the quality of teachers and if a teacher does not have adequate qualification, then he or she will have to acquire it within five years and failing to do so will mean losing the job. The minister said the idea of such a bill was mooted in 1993 and in 2001, the Constitution was amended to make education a fundamental right. But the amendment also had a rider that to make education free and compulsory, a separate bill has to be introduced. The minister said once this bill becomes a law, it will ensure 25 % reservation in private schools.

Education revolution from Solar powered ePOD

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digitalLEARNING Network
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Sakalvara is the site where an ambitious project was launched last month by the local Rotary Club by handing over 30 ePODs, each costing about INR 4,000 ($82), to the school's principal, reports the maiden issue of Technology Review, the 109-year old journal from MIT brought to India by CyberMedia. ePod is set to bring about a renaissance in the way education is administered and managed, especially in rural and government schools with inadequate infrastructure. The project aims to combine the fruits of the latest computing technology with the specific requirements of millions of young boys and girls, to give them a jump start in the learning process. The hand-held device, ePOD, manufactured by Tidaldata, a storage devices company, based in California, had become a rage with the students in the U.S. in 2008.

Now Indian students in rural schools are also in a position to reap the advantages of this exciting device. Tidaldata is working with other civil society groups and NGOs to reach out to thousands of school children in the country. Pothapragada plans to ensure distribution of at least 200,000 such devices within a year. The device retails for INR 22,000 ($450) in California. It uses the same chip set of Apple's iconic iPhone but with a larger screen. The device, manufactured by another Indian promoted company, MyFi Networks, based in San Diego, California, has been extensively redesigned for the Indian conditions. Pothapragada says a consortium of NGOs, Tidaldata, MyFi and philanthropic organizations are working together with education software providers to make available school curricula in local Indian languages. School lessons up to Class 8 in all subjects are available in five languages

A national level case study competition, Winners bagged INR 75, 000

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digitalLEARNING Network
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K.Balaji & Sabina Khan are the winners of the Vidyadeep, a national level case study competition conducted by Sikkim Manipal University – Distance Education (SMU-DE) at 'EDGE', the national forum focusing on 'Emerging Directions in Global Education'. They received a prize of INR 75,000 from the guest of honour Sri Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovation. The contest was a culmination of more than six weeks of activity and enthusiastic participation from MBA students of SMU-DE, one of the largest providers of Distance Education in India. At this prestigious forum, the six zonal winner teams presented their solutions of a pre-distributed case, to distinguished academicians and marketing specialists from across industries.

The first runner up team of Ajay Maheshwari & Nishchint Gogia took home INR 50,000 & the second runner up team of Tasaduq Bhat & Pallavi Singh won INR 25,000. The other teams took home a consolation prize of INR 10,000. As part of the Vidyadeep scholarship programme, the Vidyadeep annual case study contest 'a pioneering initiative' was launched specifically for MBA students of SMU-DE, thus providing them a platform to showcase their superior problem solving skills and decision making abilities in a business environment. Over 250 teams from across the country participated. SMU-DE in December 2009, in an effort to recognise and reward meritorious and deserving students and help them in their quest for quality higher education, launched Vidyadeep a Nationwide Scholarship programme for 1500 meritorious and deserving students of SMU-DE programs across India. Out of these 1500 scholarships, 500 scholarships are earmarked for students from the North East alone. This scholarship is a 'first-of-its-kind pioneering initiative' in the field of distance education in the country!

For enabling ICT learning amongst youth MP is to pay GH

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digitalLEARNING Network
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GH

Sibal to revamp country’s education system

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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The country's education system is set for a total revamp with the new HRD minister, Kapil Sibal, planning to put in place a process to bring in transparency and accountability in institutions and curb unethical practices, including capitation fees. 'I am going to restructure the complete education system in the country. We need to restructure the system so that we do not need to go through the punitive routes,' told HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. There has to be 'corrective steps with human face,' he said against the backdrop of a raging controversy over huge capitation fees being demanded by professional colleges from students, including one medical college said to be run by a Union Minister from Tamil Nadu.

The measures under the revamping process will include expansion, access to quality education for all sections of society and review of the procedure for grant of 'Deemed-to-be -University' status. The new mechanism will also have steps to check capitation fees by professional colleges and setting up of a national council for higher education as a regulatory body. On reports of two Tamil Nadu-based institutions allegedly demanding huge capitation fees, Sibal said the ministry will 'rethink' the process under which institutions are given the 'Deemed-to-be-University' status and will set up a committee to review the functioning of the existing ones.

Technology, Learning integration though Online Quiz for students

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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The National Education Network has collaborated with the Government agency for technology in education, Becta to integrate technology across the entire curriculum of learning and launched the first ever nationwide online schools quiz. Becta seeks participation of thousands of primary school children up and down the country, to compete simultaneously in this interactive online competition to become the 'Brainiest school in Britain.'

The Next Generation Learning National Schools Quiz aims Key Stage 2 and is open to students, aged eight and nine years. The online competition will be taking place at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 12. The winning pupil's school will be awarded with up to $4,736.34 worth of ICT equipment or training. This nationwide knowledge quiz launched by Becta is an exclusively online competition, via the National Education Network The quiz will be wide in scope and varied, covering curriculum areas such as history, science, citizenship, numeracy and literacy.

6 months at IGNOU for BPO training

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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For an aspirant who is dreaming of a well-paying job in India's big BPO industry, here's something to give you a head start. IGNOU, a popular distance learning university, is offering a six-month online course to train aspirants for BPO industry. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) claims to have got a good response to the 'Business Process Outsourcing-finance and accounts' course, and feel the BPO industry in India will welcome the trained lot. Most of those enrolling for the course are students of commerce and accountancy. R. Krishna Prasad is pursuing his bachelor's degree in commerce from Bangalore.

The diploma course that has an intake of 50 students is structured in such a way that apart from the classes conducted on weekends, the students are exposed to an 'online lab' which will simulate the working environment of a BPO. According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), over 1.1 million people are employed in the BPO industry in India. A significant number are below the age of 30. The industry is expected to employ 2.5-3 million professionals by 2010, contributing 7-8 % of the national GDP. India, which has a large English-speaking work force, has seen BPOs and call centers mushroom, particularly in major metropolitan cities. Nanda Gopal, another student pursuing the course, finds the weekend classes convenient and plans to shift to a BPO firm from his current job as an accountant. The course was launched in January this year, in collaboration with IT firm Accenture Services Pvt Ltd. IGNOU invested INR 4 million to set up the course while Accenture invested INR 1 million.


Joint working group of India and US to boost education

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

India and the US will set up a joint working group to boost bilateral relation in the field of education, it was announced on Thursday after a meeting between Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal and the US Under Secretary William J. Burns. The group will be headed by Sibal and US Secretary of Education, and it will meet once a year alternately in India and the US. The group will focus on institutional linkages in the field of secondary education, higher education and vocational education.

'The US side expressed keen interest in pursuing a Bilateral Education Dialogue with India for fruitful cooperation in the field of education,' said HRD ministry in a statement. Sibal, while interacting with a US delegation stated that the 21st century will be a Knowledge Century and India, with its young population, will be a major provider of trained workforce to the entire world. The minister underlined that one of his focus areas would be to better the gross enrollment ratio. India tops the list of countries sending students to the US and nearly 90,000 Indian students annually go to that country to pursue higher studies.

FOGSI launches satellite based education programme for Indian medical colleges

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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The Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India has collaborated with the Indian Space Research Organisation for the satellite based education programme for medical students.

 

Indian Space Research Organisation has launched the satellite based education programme for medical students and doctors to update their latest information. According to the FOGSI president Duru Shah, FOGSI has launched satellite based education programme for doctors and medical students in over 100 municipal and government medical colleges of the country. Initially, Cosme Farma Laboratories Limited (CFLL) will install satellite dishes with technical support from ISRO. FOGSI doctors will develop the course content and distributed live through satellite to over 100 municipal and government medical colleges of < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />India. The satellite centres would be launched in medical colleges of Jaipur, Jammu, Gorakhpur, Patna, Guntur, Manipal, Vadodara and Goa.

TIME selects Karnataka based Excelsoft to deliver online mock CAT exams

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digitalLEARNING Network
-

Mysore (Karnataka) based Excelsoft, an e-learning and e-assessments technology company, has announced that it was selected by T.I.M.E., India's largest training institute for CAT preparation, to deliver over 3.5 lakhs fault-free online mock CAT exams in a span of about 20 weeks. With CAT going online, T.I.M.E offered a comprehensive series of mock tests online during the run up to CAT 2009 for all their students using Excelsoft's flagship product SARAS (for the Test and Assessment sector). Said D. Sudhanva, Managing Director of Excelsoft, 'T.I.M.E, India's biggest management entrance training institute, evaluated several online assessment engines before finalizing on Excelsoft's SARAS due to configurability of the application and reputation of our organization. The tests were delivered through 195 franchise centers of T.I.M.E spread across the country. SARAS's capabilities of delivering tests in online and mixed modes ensured that T.I.M.E was able to meet their requirement of conducting online/computer based tests even in remote areas with unreliable internet connectivity.'

'Excelsoft solution has inbuilt mechanisms to handle loss of power, loss of network, low bandwidth and combinations of such operational scenario. In all these situations, the end user's test-taking experience is unaffected. Tests were delivered with minimal disruptions in all locations' added D. Sudhanva. The number of test takers on weekends was almost 8 times that on week days which would result in high deployment infrastructure costs to meet the peak load requirement. Excelsoft hosted the platform on Amazon Cloud Computing infrastructure that provided flexibility to scale up/down the hardware infrastructure depending on the expected load. This took care of the variability in load without having to spend on dedicated servers for peak load. Excelsoft's award winning technology for Test & Assessments has been used to deliver over 15 million online & computer based tests and exams in leading organizations worldwide. These comprise of a wide gamut of tests such as entrance exams, education assessments, certification and promotional exams, skill based assessments and Test preparatory including diagnostic, practice and mock tests.

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