In line with international trends and specifically UK Universities, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Vice Chancellor Professor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai recently launched a 'Student Satisfaction Survey' for the benefit of its students. This is one of the initiatives started by the University in its Silver Jubilee year. It aims to assess student satisfaction levels specifically in the following areas: quality of printed learning materials and supplementary study materials like video/audio, the organization of academic sessions, performance of academic councilors and IGNOU staff in the Regional Centres and whether learning materials are received by students in time. Students can send in their feedback by clicking on the link 'Student Satisfaction Survey' displayed prominently on the home page of the IGNOU website. IGNOU plans to take corrective actions, based on the feedback received.
Corporal punishment not allowed says child rights panel
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) will soon write to the Collectors across the country, instructing them to hold meetings with all school heads and convey that no form of corporal punishment will be tolerated. 'These meetings will have to be held ahead of the new academic year,' told the Commission chairperson Shanta Sinha. The move followed the recent incident in which a 11-year-old Shanno Khan of a Delhi school was brutally punished by her teacher. 'Unless we learn to respect children and treat them as equals, the issue cannot be resolved. It is only because some teachers do not respect children and they call them 'stupid' or 'idiot.' No adult will dare call another adult in these terms, isn't it?' asked Professor Sinha.
Things have not changed radically in the last two years, if the number of cases of corporal punishment being reported is any indication. 'There were a few instances of teachers taking a proactive step to address the issue in States such as Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Idukki district in Kerala was declared corporal punishment-free. Unfortunately, we did not receive much feedback at the official level.' Speaking on the role of educational boards in resolving this problem, Professor Sinha says they play a vital role and need to strictly monitor schools. She added, 'In addition to this, parents should be given the confidence to provide feedback at PTA meetings. Many parents, who know that their children are being subjected to corporal punishment, are afraid to raise it at meetings, fearing the students may be victimised further.'
Apple Macs to enhance teaching and learning in BSF Schools
With over nine million Macintosh computers sold in the last year alone, Apple Mac's popularity as an education tool is growing, particularly in creative art subjects such as art, music and drama. Northgate Education has worked closely with the Apple Education Team to become an Apple Accredited Partner and will now be supplying Apple computers to schools as part of its managed service. Northgate Education provide ICT managed services to schools, predominantly through the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. Northgate's ongoing Innovation in ICT Programme investigates new technology which can be developed for schools. Enabling Macs to be used in school, as part of a managed service, offer numerous benefits to both pupils and students. Macs built-in features make learning fast and fun, while increasing student engagement through access to the latest technology.
Mac's are designed to support and enhance teaching and learning in schools, however as they traditionally do not run Windows operating system, until now they were not fully supported in a managed service. To rectify this, working alongside Bristol Brunel Academy and the Apple Education Management Team, Northgate Education conducted a pre-pilot research project and pilot testing to enable the use of Macs in schools as part of Northgate's managed services. The first BSF school to open its doors, Bristol Brunel was keen to take part in a pilot introduction of Mac's into the school. Working with Apple and Bristol Brunel, Northgate was able to successfully integrate Macs as part of a Macintosh Managed Service provision. Richard Goucher, E-Learning Director, Bristol Brunel Academy, commented, 'The Mac computers supplied as part of the trial integrated really well into our managed service at Brunel. The students found using the Macs a very positive and rewarding experience, the simplicity of use and the way the software and hardware seamlessly integrated together means they can concentrate on their creativity rather than on learning how to use the system.'
Ragging is a matter of concern expressed President
Concerned over rising incidents of ragging in educational institutions in the country, President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday called upon authorities to take special efforts to prevent students from indulging in such acts. 'It is unfortunate that there were several instances where the practice of ragging has escalated to the level of torture amounting to a crime. Such irresponsible behaviour would cause serious apprehensions in the minds of new entrants and their parents,' says an official release citing Patil. Patil urged students, especially senior students in institutes of higher learning to be more responsible in their dealings with juniors. She said, 'Universities and colleges are centers of learning and for developing mutual respect, friendship and understanding. Their sanctity cannot be vitiated year after year at the start of an academic session by those who indulge in mindless ragging.'
Patil also asked the state governments, university and college authorities to be vigilant and strict towards offenders and to take special efforts to prevent students resorting to such acts. 'The state governments may also consider appropriate legislation to tackle this menace in the college and university premises in order to provide credible deterrence,' said Patil. Three gruesome incidents of ragging have been reported in the country recently. A 20-year-old management student was left partially blinded after he was allegedly ragged by his seniors in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. In another incident, a medical student died in Himachal Pradesh after being ragged while a girl student attempted suicide in Andhra Pradesh after ragging by seniors.
Indian nuclear team to visit London next week
More than six months after the Nuclear Suppliers Group signalled the resumption of global nuclear trade with India, New Delhi is set to explore business and technology opportunities with Britain when a group of scientists led by Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chief Anil Kakodkar travels to London next week. 'The visit is significant as it follows the recent 123 agreement and will re-invigorate the UK-India bilateral relationship in this important area,' said a British High Commission press release , adding that the four-day visit would begin March 24. The visit comes at a time when the two countries are engaged in a dialogue for finalizing an India-Britain nuclear cooperation declaration, a bilateral pact like the ones India has signed with the US, France and Russia. The declaration may be signed later this year, said reliable sources.
The Indian delegation includes Srikumar Banerjee, director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai; Bikash Sinha, director of the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkatta; Vinod Chandra Sahni, director of the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore and P. Mohanakrishnan, head of the Reactor Physics Division at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam. B. Purniah, head of International Studies Division, Strategic Planning Group, DAE, will also be part of the delegation. Kakodkar will give a lecture in London on 'The Thorium Cycle and Clean Energy.' The group will visit Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) for an overview of the HiPER Laser Fusion Project. It will meet executives from a host of British commercial nuclear companies like Antech, Centronic, CMS Cameron McKenna LLP, Corporate Risk Associates Ltd., Halcrow, Herbert Smith LLP, Lloyd's Register Group, Simmons and Simmons, Thompson Valves, Urenco Enrichment Company Ltd. and the Nuclear Industry Association. The delegation will also visit Imperial College, London, and meet the British government's chief scientific advisor, John Beddington.
Lower cut-offs expected in IIT-JEE
Close to 4 lakh students across the country, a near 25% increase over last year's 3.2 lakh, appeared for the Indian Institute of Technology joint entrance examination (IIT-JEE) on Sunday for a shot at one of the coveted 8,000-odd seats across 15 IITs, the IT-BHU (Institute of Technology- Banaras Hindu University) and ISMU (Indian School of Mines University), Dhanbad. The cut-offs this year are expected to be slightly lower than last year, one of the reasons being that the paper was relatively more difficult. To make sure that the seats for SC/STs are not left vacant, IIT directors have decided to hike the 40 % relaxation in scores to 50 % from 2009. This, incidentally, was the second IIT-JEE exam after the 27 % OBC quota decision in premier higher education institutes was upheld by the Supreme Court. Last year, six new IITs joined the IIT bandwagon, while two new ones, at Indore and Himachal Pradesh, are to become operational this year, with an expected intake of 120 each. The overall number of seats will increase as all the IITs will implement the second phase of the OBC reservation.
IIT Kharagpur JEE chairman A N Samanta told ET, 'The exact number of seats hasn't been decided yet, but the total number of seats available to students is expected to be close to the 8,000 mark this year. For the second phase of reservation, most of the IITs, barring IIT-Roorkee, will be increasing the number of seats by 18%.' He added that the IIT-JEE examination had been conducted in more than 800 centres across the country. The exam, like last year, consisted of two papers of three hours each. The first paper had 60 questions and 80 marks per subject totaling 240 marks. Paper II, held between 2-5 pm, had 57 questions, again amounting to 240 marks. Maximum marks in both the papers was 480 as compared to 489 in 2008. Overall, Maths was voted the most difficult section, more so in the second paper than in the first. Career Launcher president and CEO Sharad Awasthi said, 'from the first-cut analysis, I think scoring around 150 is likely to get a general category student a rank. He added that, 'last year, the cut-off was around 172 out of 489 for a 7900 rank.'
The largest conglomeration of ICT practitioners and experts to meet in New Delhi: Press Release
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Three parallel conferences, egov India 2006, Digital Learning India 2006 and Indian Telecentre Forum will bring together 700 high-level participants from public sector, private sector and academia from India and world over. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> New Delhi 23 August 2006
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Government of India and United Nations Development Program are co-organising three joint conferences on 23-25 August 2006 at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi, India. These are egov India 2006, Digital Learning India 2006 and Indian Telecentre Forum 2006. Organized by the Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) a leading research organization from India, the three joint conferences will see around 700 high-level domain experts, policy makers and industry leaders. With the theme “Vision 2010”, these conferences would focus on the milestones to be achieved, strategies and steps to be adopted to leap forward to a much more developed and prosperous nation. It will provide a platform to deliver and deliberate on the realities and strategies of e-Governance, e-Learning and Rural Telecentres in India. It will have a grand inauguration, which will set the vision statement of the conference and will be graced by Kapil Sibal, Minister for Oceanography and Science and Technology, Government of India, Kraisorn Pornsutee, Permanent Secretary, Royal Thai Government, Kiran Karnik, NASSCOM President, Maxine Olson, Resident Representative, UNDP, Dr. M S Swaminathan, Chairman, MSSRF among others. The conferences are receiving sincere commitment and support from UNDP, USAID, The Asia Foundation, National Institute of Smart Government (NISG), GESCI, Telecentre.org, PLAN, Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), SIDA and has got overwhelming response from private companies like SAP, Nortel, Alcatel, Adobe, Cisco Systems, Microsoft among many others. Joint conferences spread over 3 days in plenary as well as parallel tracks will have around 200 speakers who will talk on important issues reflecting present situation and future aspirations of e-Governance, e-Learning and Rural Telecentres in India. With eminent speakers such as R. Chandrashekhar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication, Government of India Subash Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, Basheerahmad Shadrach, Senior Programme Officer, Telecentre.org, Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner, India, Neelam Dhawan, Managing Director, Microsoft, the conference will provide a great learning experience and a platform for sharing ideas. The ICT joint conference will host a 3-day exhibition that will showcase the latest e-solutions, services, initiatives and case studies from across Asia and beyond. Professional service providers, IT vendors, consulting firms, government agencies and national/international development organizations involved in the ICT, e-Governance and telecentres and education domain are participating in the exhibition.
Websites: http://www.egovonline.net/egovindia/conference.asp
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Three Indian Universities receive IBM Shared University Research awards
IBM announced Shared University Research awards (SUR) for International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT, Hyderabad), Indian School of Business (ISB, Hyderabad) and SP Jain Management Institute and Research (SPJMIR, Mumbai) to promote research in areas of mutual interest. The SUR awards, totaling 210,000 USD, will drive key projects across these three institutes and strive to connect the research and researchers at the universities with IBM experts in similar fields of work. IIIT- Hyderabad has been awarded to set up Center of Excellence on Cell and Power Multi-core architecture on campus to drive collaborative research to study the architectural and algorithmic aspects of Cell and Power Multi-core architecture; to develop Media and Computational intensive applications and benchmark IBM's Multi-core architecture performance; to develop courseware that includes architectural, algorithmic and application aspects of Cell and Power Multi-core architecture. ISB has been awarded to foster research on Service Supply Chain Management and Services Operations Management, which is related to deployment and management of technical resources. SPJMR has been awarded to enhance services course development and specific projects on Business Process Management & Simulations.
SUR awards in India strive to drive research on Cell Broadband Engine (multi-core architecture), System-z, game based education such as Innov8 Business Process Management and Services Science, Management and Engineering (SSME) Research. IBM is working with IIIT
Becta launches ICT Infrastructure Services Procurement Framework
The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) has launched a new ICT Infrastructure Services Procurement Framework.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
According to Becta the framework is expected to save 'tens of millions' of pounds for education institutions. Around 16 suppliers will handle the framework, which covers system design, hardware and software acquisition, training, implementation, and ongoing support. The EU approved framework is expected to reduce the risk and burden on schools and colleges. The framework offers a complete package, which will reduce the risk and burden on individual schools. Becta said schools and colleges which had embedded ICT into teaching could be assured the suppliers were able to make new and old equipment compatible, to reduce expenditure and disposal needs.
Corporate giants in talks with AP govt to run EMRI
Corporate giants GVK and Piramal are in talks with the Andhra Pradesh government to be its partners to run the Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI), a brain child of Satyam Computers founder B Ramalinga Raju. 'GVK and Piramal Groups have come forward to help us. A decision would soon be taken over the matter,' Finance Minister K Rosaiah told reporters today after a review meeting held by Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy with ministers and top officials.
The state government contributes 95 per cent of funds to run the EMRI and Satyam used to provide the remaining five per cent funds. Satyam is also the technology provider of EMRI. The EMRI was looking for donors, either individuals or entities, who can provide the funds in the wake of Satyam fraud. The GVK Group has been in talks with the state government and EMRI over the matter. The EMRI runs the popular '108' emergency ambulance service in about 10 states in the country.
