Shop-stops for Holiday Homework

K-12

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July 1, 2009

On the outside, it's a nondescript stationary shop. But a few parents in Indirapuram (Ghaziabad) know that there's a lot more to this place than just stationary. It outsources project work assigned by schools. Parked in Shipra Society's central market, the store is the parents' means to rid themselves of homework blues. Projects are taken care of here if you're willing to shell out a few hundred rupees. Every vacation break, several enterprising housewives and schoolteachers come to the rescue of parents bogged down with holiday homework. The unassuming shop is just one among several in the National Capital Region through which they meet the need of parents.

Chanda Saxena (35), who works with a multinational company, is one such parent who has been forced to resort to outsourcing some of her son's homework every year. 'My kid has to complete a Mathematics project in which he has to prepare a chart, two models and a report demonstrating the use of multiplication during a visit to the candy store. The school has completely gone overboard in name of innovation,' said Saxena. Her child is seven years old and a Class II student of a school in Noida. 'Last year, I had to take a week off from work to help him finish his homework. I have no choice but to outsource it to a neighbourhood homework aunty. I usually spend anywhere between INR 250 to INR 300 on it every vacation,' added the parent. Parents, especially working parents, can spend anything between INR 200 to INR 1,000 for project that has been outsourced. The higher the class is, the more expensive the project rates. This reporter approached the stationary shop in Shipra Society's central market pretending to be a parent distressed by her (fictitious) five-year-old child's project work. The reporter was told that the project (model of an oasis) would be made by a biology teacher for about INR 250 and would be handed over in week's time.

Tech colleges to autonomous says Sibal

Policy Matters

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 1, 2009

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal told that the research in the field of engineering needs a boost and for the same the universities must make engineering colleges autonomous. After releasing a book, 'Engineering Education in India', at Observer Research Foundation Sibal mentioned that the number of students doing research is far below than the national requirement. Sibal said less than one percent of our engineering students were doing research in the field. India produces nearly 260,000 engineering graduates every year.

IIT-JEE results today

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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July 1, 2009

The results of IIT JEE (Joint Entrance Exam) 2009, held on April 12, will be declared today. A whopping 3.98 lakh students had applied for the JEE this year for admission to nearly 6,000 seats in 15 IITs. The result will be available on the IIT JEE website from 8 am. After the results are declared, the counselling of successful candidates for allocation of seats will be held from June 9 to 16. This year, admissions will also be made to two new IITs IIT Indore and IIT Himachal Pradesh. Both new IITs will have 120 seats each. IIT Indore will be mentored by IIT Bombay while IIT Himachal Pradesh will be looked after by IIT Roorkee.

All seven of the old IITs at Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Roorkee will reserve 18% seats for OBC candidates this year. While at the new IITs at Bhubaneshwar, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Patna, Punjab, Rajasthan 27% of the total number of seats will be reserved for the OBC candidates.

Certiport to support development of Critical Digital Skills amongst students

Corporate Updates

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digitalLEARNING Network

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June 30, 2009

A pilot project will be launched by the Certiport to enable 500 students of twelfth-grade with little or no computer experience to develop critical digital skills through Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC

NDMC and NIIT collaborate to provide ICT to schools

Corporate Updates

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digitalLEARNING Network

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June 30, 2009

The New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) has signed an agreement with NIIT Limited to provide ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) Education in 29 Municipal schools in the city. As per the initiative, NIIT will train the teachers, and offer computer aided education to 11,500 students from 29 Municipal schools in the capital. The customized training program will be offered to students from Classes 6 to 12 initially for a period of one year. Speaking on the association, Mamta R Agarwal, Director (Education), NDMC said, 'The Chairman, NDMC is constantly striving to make our schools the best in education and facilities. In this regard, we have partnered with NIIT for this project to provide the best of computer education and training to our students.' According to L. Balasubramanian, President-School Learning Solutions, NIIT, 'NDMC's initiative for encouraging computer education for children belonging to lower socio-economic strata of the society is laudable. NIIT's customized training programs will open new vistas of teaching and learning for Municipal School staff and students, and will integrate technology in teaching-learning process.'

NIIT will setup computer labs furnished with hardware and connected accessories inside NDMC and Navyug Schools; offer training on Computer Science and Informatics Practices for +2 level students; and offer basic computer education programs for students of Classes 6th to 10th. The new program uniquely positions NIIT to become the only training company in India to offer comprehensive ICT education in over 9,500 Government, Municipal and Private schools across the country. Recognizing the potential of Information and Communication Technologies to transform the teaching-learning process in the non-formal and formal education space, and its potential in changing the way teachers and learners gain access to knowledge and information, NIIT's ICT in Education initiative focuses on using IT to enhance the reach and quality of teaching and learning.

First virtual classroom in Turkey supported by Cisco, Intel, Polycom

Corporate Updates

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digitalLEARNING Network

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June 30, 2009

It happens every day, in every corner of the world. In the past week alone, we've seen the Mexican government leverage its network to bolster teaching programs, a British university implement a new voice system as part of a wider IT expansion and a Texas school district operate more efficiently

International Education Roundtable to be held at Singapore

News

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digitalLEARNING Network

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June 30, 2009

All over the world governments spend billions to bring about reforms and improvements in eductaion, yet it is seen that some schools systems perform better than others. From July 6 to 8, an International Education Roundtable (IER), is to be held in Singapore. It will bring together education ministers and senior government officials from Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and the US for an open dialogue. India was invited to the IER would not be able to attend.

Conceived in 2008, the IER is a joint project by Singapore's ministry of education and McKinsey & Company. The roundtable will be co-chaired by Sir Michael Barber, partner at McKinsey & Company, together with Singapore's minister for education and second minister for defence, Ng Eng Hen. Chan informed that the meeting will include conversation on educational themes such as preparing educated citizens of the future, attracting & recruiting good teachers, grooming school leaders and impact of ICT and education.

Tally India to foray into China with languages software

News

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June 29, 2009

Accounting software company Tally India, which has launched its concurrent multi-lingual business accounting and inventory management software, Tally 8.1 in ten Indian languages, is all set to take the product to China where it will offer the same in some of the dialects.

The company is also working at launching it in other Indian languages, including Urdu, and will launch the products in Arabic for West Asia and other foreign languages, including for markets in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Patent-Teacher meet at IIT Delhi

News

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digitalLEARNING Network

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June 29, 2009

IIT Delhi comes out with a new definition for 'innovation.' Hooking to the idea of Intellectual Property Rights, the institute is now seeking protection for its pioneering technology and ideas, though traditionally it was less inclined towards the same. IIT-Delhi had approved of 35 of its innovations for patent filling in 2008-09, the highest ever for IIT Delhi. Professor Surendra Prasad, Director IIT Delhi, mentioned that the above was a result of change in the thinking of the faculty. Initially they just wanted to get their work published quickly, however, now the focus is also on retaining patent rights to work they present. For the uninitiated, IPR is a legal right granted to the owner of a creation, both artistic and commercial. Patents, trademarks and copyrights are kinds of IPR.

180 patent applications have been filed by IIT Delhi, since its inception, with 60 under its belt presently. 2004-05 saw filling of 24 patent right applications, after which there was a steady rise in innovations approved for filling IPR.

10th CBSE Boards to be optional from 2010

K-12

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digitalLEARNING Network

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June 29, 2009

Kapil Sibal, on Tuesday, mentioned that from the coming year Central Board of Secondary Education examination will be optional and a nine point grading system would be implemented replacing the marks system. The minister denied the claim that one national board will replace all existing 42 state education boards. He added that the attempt was to make a child friendly educational system and not forcing rules down throats of the people. It was in 2005 that the bill to make class X board exams optional was passed by Central Advisory Board on Education, the country's top education policy-making body which has state education ministers as members. Same was also suggested by National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in order to reduce stress on children, in 2006. Sibal explained that Class 10 exams will be made optional for those children who want to continue in the same school. Continuous internal assessment will decide whether a child will be promoted to class XII. The new system has following additional features. Those who secure over 90% will get grade A. Mark sheets won't use the term failed for students who score less than 33% in particular subject. They will be given an E grade that will imply improvement required. And only when a student gets an E in more than one subject, student will be considered as failed. The grades consist of A, A1, B, B1, C,C1, D, D and E.

For prescribed affiliation from CBSE, internal assessment is mandatory for students till class 10. However, CBSE will continue to conduct exams for those students who wish to join pre-university professional courses. There is already an existence a grading system in place till class 9.

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