Big-ticket investors, including private equity players and high networth individuals (HNIs), have been betting on the potential of the sector as it has begun to witness actions from the government too. During the last one year, major companies
Funds to Secondary education programme by The World Bank
The World Bank has expressed interest to support the newly launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme for improvement of quality of secondary education in the country. The Ministry of HRD has agreed to the proposal of the World Bank and has written to Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) for further action, DEA sources told PTI. The Bank at present also supports the government's flagship programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which aims at universalisation of elementary education. The Bank has taken interest in RMSA keeping in view the objective of the programme to check drop-out rate at secondary level completely by 2020. The scheme also aims to achieve a general enrollment target of 75 % for classes IX-X within five years from 52.26 % as in 2005-06 by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance of every habitation. The government has allocated INR 20,120 crore during the 11th Plan for the scheme.
As per the provision of the scheme, Centre shall bear 75 % of the project expenditure during the 11th five-year plan while states' share will be the remaining 25 %. Sharing pattern will be 50:50 for the 12th five-year plan. For both the 11th and 12th five-year plans, funding pattern will be 90:10 for North Eastern States. Apart from improving quality of education at secondary level by making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, the scheme also aims at removal of gender, socio-economic and disability barriers and ensuring universal access to secondary level education by 2017 and universal retention by 2020. It would also provide facilities for estimated additional enrollment of 32.20 lakh children by 2011-12 through strengthening of about 44,000 existing secondary schools, opening 11,188 new secondary schools, appointment of 1.79 lakh additional teachers and construction of 80,500 additional classrooms. The other interventions are providing infrastructure in schools such as new classrooms with furniture, library, science laboratory, computer room and disabled-friendly provisions. Besides, more teachers would be recruited with emphasis on science, mathematics and English faculty. Teachers would be provided in service training along with teaching aids such as ICT and special focus would be given to SC/ST/Minorities girls. Steps such as priority for opening or upgrading of schools in areas of SC/ST/minority/weaker section concentration and enrollment drives and special coaching classes in these areas are also envisaged under the scheme.
TERI University partners with Deutsche Bank for MBA Scholarships
Deutsche Bank Scholarship for the MBA (Infrastructure) programme was launched by Deutsche Bank in partnership with TERI University. R.K. Pachauri, the Chancellor, TERI University and Caio Koch-Weser, Vice Chairman, Deutsche Bank Group, signed a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the above. The MoU was signed in the presence of Shrinath Bolloju, Chief Operating Officer, Deutsche Bank, B. K. Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission and Group Captain Rajiv Seth, Registrar, TERI University. The Bank will provide three scholarships under this MoU, for MBA programme, per year with each scholarship being given for maximum of two years.
The MBA (Infrastructure) programme has been designed to create a cadre of professionals who have a sound understanding of the technical, policy, legal, financial, social and environmental dimensions of large infrastructure projects. The aim is to achieve a critical mass of expertise and academic excellence that would provide a basis for influencing public policy and regulatory practice and for developing effective management practices in infrastructure industries through research and teaching. The programme encompasses a comprehensive and well-structured two-year curriculum to enable students to formulate, analyze and evaluate regulatory policies and manage alternative regulatory regimes in the best interests of their businesses. The curriculum is designed specifically to provide specialized training in the concepts and skills involved in the regulatory process and competition policy, as well as helping the scholars understand regulation from technical, economic, social, legal and political perspectives.
Education sector to welcome private and foreign institutions says Sibal
Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday reiterated the UPA government's keenness to open up the education sector to foreign education providers and private players. The minister made this clear in his keynote address at the plenary session of the World Conference on Higher Education at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Earlier this week, Sibal had told Parliament that the government was considering introducing a legislation allowing foreign education providers to set up campuses in India. In Paris, Sibal said higher education providers delivering cross-border education should ensure that their programmes are of comparable quality to that provided in their home country. Flagging issues that will come up when the domestic legislation is introduced in Parliament, Sibal pointed out that increased cross-border education required networks of equivalence of degrees and diplomas. The minister asked the UNESCO to helping member states to develop national standards of accreditation for bench-marking higher education, improving and maintaining the quality of education. This, he suggested would ensure that private players do not become 'teaching sweat-shops'.
Touching upon another contentious domestic issue, that of greater private sector participation, Sibal said that public institutions cannot keep pace with the rising demand. The minister said that there was a need to realise the importance of private sector in making investments in higher education. In Parliament, Sibal had made it abundantly clear that allowing private sector a larger role was the way to move forward.
NGOs desire Hike in Education Budget
Various child rights organisations have demanded that the budgetary allocation for education – for the 40 % young population of the country – be increased when the union budget is presented early next month. Jayakumar Christian, director of the Chennai-based World Vision, said, 'As of now only about 4.8 % of the GDP is dedicated for children in terms of education, who constitute 40 % population of the country. We want this increased to at least six percent.' Legislation on the proposed Right to Education bill, which makes education free and compulsory for children in the age group of six and 14, is another demand that organistaions have been long championing.
Umesh Gupta of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a Delhi-based child rights organistaion, said, 'the UPA government's promise, as laid down in the common minimum programme, of spending six percent of the GDP as public resource for education remains unfulfilled with the combined outlay for the primary education departments of the centre and states remaining at a meager 2.84 % of GDP in 2007-08.' He added, 'We, therefore, urge the government that the spending on education should not be less than six percent.' In a letter to President Pratibha Patil, several voluntary organisations, including BBA and World Vision, put down their demands for implementation of the Right to Education Bill and realising the millennium development goals.
Tech value amongst teachers
Out of 20 finalists four teachers were honoured on Monday as the South African winners of the Fourth Annual Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum Awards, in Bryanston. 'The awards represent the pinnacle of work done to create local communities of teachers who can share challenges, ideas and best practice solutions with their peers, supported by ICT,' said the Department of Education's National Director of Curriculum Innovation, Trudi van Wyk. She commended the teachers, adding that their hard work will give the future leaders of SA the skills they will need for employability. The teachers designed learning projects using Web 2.0 multimedia technology, which includes content from social network sites such as Facebook, as well as blogging, video streaming, video conferencing, online network groups, virtual classrooms, cellphone photography and DVD compilations.
Fiona Beal, of Fish Hoek Primary, in the Western Cape, was the winner of the Innovation in Community category, for teaching Grade 4 and 5 learners how to blog and, in turn, the learners taught the local elderly community to blog as well. Cheryl Douglas, of Bishops High School, in Cape Town, won the Innovation in Collaboration award for teaching her learners how to use social networking to promote sustainability around climate change. Rae Gagiano, of Eunice High School, in Bloemfontein, was awarded the Innovation in Content prize by showing her learners how to create a virtual reality art museum using digital imagery. Hlengiwe Mfeka, of Mconjwana High School, in Pietermaritzburg, took home the Innovation in Context prize by allowing her Grade 10 learners to address community problems using Web 2.0 technological tools. The winners were chosen from a host of entries submitted by teachers around the country
100 days Agenda for Education by HRD Minister
A 100-day agenda has been rolled out by the Ministry of Human Resource Development with an aim to set up an autonomous overarching authority for higher education and research, making the Class 10 board exam optional, review the functioning of deemed universities, give interest subsidy on education loans taken by poorer students, and public-private partnership in school education, among others. The authority for higher education and research is based on the recommendations of the Yash Pal Committee and the National Knowledge Commission. It will subsume in it agencies like the University Grants Commission (UGC), Medical Council of India (MCI) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
The Yash Pal Committee, in its interim report in March, had asked the government to change its definition of a university to free it from the hands of bureaucracy, make it autonomous and have a single higher education commission as powerful as the Election Commission. The committee had also asked for an immediate stop to the practice of granting deemed university status to a large number of institutions. The proposed apex body, to be called the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER), might not necessarily be a part of the ministry. The nature and shape of this body has not been decided, but if it is an independent body, then it will not be a government entity. It will formulate policies for law and medical schools, engineering colleges and technical institutions, among others. Another initiative is to make a law for mandatory assessment and accreditation in higher education through an independent authority, which will regulate the accreditation process by setting strict entry barriers. So, if an institute satisfies the pre-requisites like the experience required to be a university, then it will become a university and not a deemed-to-be-university. Besides, the 100-day agenda also mentions a law to regulate entry and operation of foreign educational providers that will regulate these and let good foreign universities enter India.
India: Akshaya e-Centres ready for launch
A special programme for giving Internet training to school students in Malappuram district, Kerala through the Akshaya e-Centres will be unveiled today. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
The Education Minister, Mr M.A. Baby, will inaugurate the programme, named `Studentsnet', through video conferencing from Gorkhi Bhavan. The Minister will interact with students at the studio in Malappuram. About 150 students from classes eight to 10 will be selected from each panchayat/ municipality in the district for the programme. Each student will be given an e-mail address and each will be capable of using net for educational purposes. An Akshaya centre will get Rs 25 from the student and Rs 100 from the State IT Mission for each student.
Tie-up between Oxford and McGill universities for brain research
Two prestigious universities – Oxford in Britain and McGill in Canada- have joined hands for research on the human brain. The two universities are among world leaders in neuroscience research. Montreal-based McGill University said on Friday that it is partnering with Oxford 'to broaden understanding of the human brain and take research to new heights.' Under the collaborations in training and research in neuroscience, the two universities will have regular exchanges of students and professors.
McGill University, which has 34,000 students from 160 countries on its rolls, runs one of the largest integrated programmes in neurosciences, aided by its Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. Oxford University has over 130 principal investigators conducting brain research. It also has about 250 research assistants and more than 200 postgraduate research students. Its Centre for Functional MRI for the Brain offers the latest developments in brain imaging.
Free Education to 6-14 age group
Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared Right to Education Bil, a big-ticket move to make education a fundamental right for every child in the 6-14 age group. It's slated to be introduced in Parliament in the current session of Parliament. When passed by it, one of the longest awaited political promises would have been honoured. The first UPA government spent five years discussing and debating it through various committees and groups of minister, and by the time it was finalized, the Bill could not be introduced in Rajya Sabha. Therefore, the Bill, incorporating three major suggestions by the Standing Committee of Parliament, had to be brought to the cabinet again. When RTE becomes law, it would empower the seven-year-old 86th Constitutional amendment that made free and compulsory education a fundamental right. The RTE Bill sets down guidelines for states and the Centre to execute and enforce this right. Earlier, education was part of the directive principles of state policy.
Both the Centre and states will be responsible for the finances. The Centre will prepare the capital and recurring expenditure and provide it as grants-in-aid to each state from time to time. However, the share between the Centre and states will be decided later. The cost to the exchequer will be nearly INR 12,000 crore every year, even private unaided schools will get assistance as 25% of their seats will have to be reserved for poor children in the neighbourhood. However, the Bill is clear those schools that got land at a concessional rate and were anyway obliged to give reservation to 25% poor children in the neighbourhood will not be compensated. Compensation will be based on per child expenditure by government on education. Currently the per child cost borne by government is around INR 3,000 per annum. The principals of many schools raised the compensation issue with HRD minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday. But minister said schools should not mind losing their profit a little bit. The legislation has a host of features that stress not only on reaching out to every child in the 6-14 age group but also on quality and accountability of the state and education system. To ensure that the law gets effectively implemented, the Bill has provisions prohibiting teachers from undertaking private tuition as well as not letting them being used for non-educational purposes.
