India’s 1st Mock Entrance Test by Merit Trac

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March 26, 2009

MeritTrac Services has announced the launch of 1score, India's first unified mock entrance test. This test claims to help students in evaluating their preparedness for various engineering entrance examinations by taking one common test. The students get a comparative analysis of how they would perform on various leading engineering entrance examinations, including IIT-JEE, AIEEE, CET, EAMCET, BITSAT, Manipal UGET, etc. Edurite Technologies is the academic partner for this test and provides the test design know-how for this program.

1score evaluates students on Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry, and creates a readiness index on the student's preparedness to face various engineering entrance examinations. The students are given a feel of new exam procedures like online applications, OMR answer sheets, etc. A detailed report and analysis of how the candidate has performed in 1score is shared along with constructive inputs on topics of strength and areas of improvement. 1score also provides a topic-wise readiness report for each subject. The 1score test is scheduled on March 29 in Bangalore, Bijapur, Gulburga, Hubli, Mangalore, Shimoga, Bijapur, Mysore, and Hyderabad. Interested students can visit www.merittrac.com/1score to understand the registration details for this test. Registration for the test is being handled at all the Edurite Tutorials centers and COMAT computer centers across Karnataka. The examination fee for 1score is Rs. 350.

IT centres in 6000 SriLankan schools by next year

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March 24, 2009

The Government of SriLanka is planning to provide IT centres for 6,000 schools next year. IT education is essential in building a knowledge economy and the Government's objective is to provide IT centres for 6000 schools by next year. The role of IT in education is essential in building a knowledge economy and the Government's objective is to provide IT centres for 6,000 schools by next year. 3500 IT laboratories have already been provided by the Education Ministry. He said that a knowledge based society is needed to radically reform conventional schools and the education system that supplied the labour force of the industrial age. Adoption of ICT in education is the most important driving force and the basis to enable educational reforms.

The Government of SriLanka has also initiated a project to provide 1,000 IT centres run by solar power for rural schools that do not have access to electricity. Microsoft Sri Lanka's Country Manager, Sriyan De Silva Wijeratne said that Microsoft supports the Government's vision to put Sri Lanka on the global IT map, whilst also realising its long term objective of providing skills amongst youth to meet the local and global demands. Microsoft believes in transforming education through the use of advanced technology, customized training and strong partnerships by exploring solutions in three interconnected areas, building vibrant educational communities and agile infrastructure in the country. The Year 2009 has been declared as the 'Year of English and IT' by the government of SriLanka.

CBSE to start accreditation of schools

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March 20, 2009

Setting benchmarks for schools, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will for the first time give accreditation to
institutions affiliated to it on the basis of quality of education. The country's premier school examination board has decided to launch the initiative, the first by any board in the country, before commencement of the next academic session. 'The governing body has decided to start accreditation of the schools for the first time from this year. The purpose is to set benchmark for quality assurance among the schools in the country, said the CBSE chairman Vineeth Joshi.

A committee has been set up by the CBSE to frame guidelines for assessment and accreditation. The committee will also suggest detailed modalities on formation of separate committees for the purpose of accreditation. 'The basic focus of the assessment would be finding out the quality of education, teacher-pupil ratio, mode of teaching, students' participation in the teaching-learning process and library among other things,' said Joshi. The infrastructure facilities in the schools will be part of assessment and accreditation procedure, he said. The accredited schools will be provided grades which will indicate their standing with respect to quality. The CBSE will also launch a sensitisation drive during which it will reach out to the schools and make them aware about the benefits of being accredited. The drive will cover about 10,000 schools in the country, he said. The CBSE's effort assumes significance in view of quality becoming top priority in education with the entry of foreign players in this sector. A number of international schools have come up in the country which are affiliated to foreign boards like IB and Cambridge Systems. At present, accreditation and assessment are done in colleges and universities. The government has decided to make accreditation and assessment mandatory requirements for making them eligible for getting grants.

68% students says yes to sex education

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March 20, 2009

Regardless of political opposition to sex education, about 68% of boys and girls in schools want adolescence education, revealed a study to be released today. The students however wanted sex education from someone other than their class teacher, according to the study conducted by the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education. The study was carried out in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and in a few slums of Bangalore. Based on sex education imparted in schools in the last five years, it found that students were not comfortable asking their class-teachers sensitive questions about sex. In schools where adolescence education was delivered, about 91% students in urban areas and 95 per cent in rural areas said the decision to have a baby should be made by both partners in a marriage.

A significant number of girls who had been through the programme said they would decline to have sex without a condom and oppose sexual abuse. It was also found that the number of girls are coming forward to obtain knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases increased from 27.9% in 2003 to 42.3 % in 2008. Class 10 students, the survey said, who had been through the curriculum, were able to reject common misconceptions about masturbation and HIV. But class 11 students, who had not studied sex education failed to do so. Girls in class 10 were able to understand that the contraceptive pill did not protect them from sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.

Pitroda: India must initiate structural educational reforms

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March 20, 2009

India has to initiate 'structural reforms' in the educational system if it wants to reap the benefits of its 'demographic dividend,' National Knowledge Commission (NKC) Chairman Sam Pitroda said here on Thursday. The demographic dividend denotes a rise in economic growth due to an increasing share of working people in population. Speaking to reporters after a seminar on on 'Roadmap for Reform: NKC Recommendations', Pitroda said if reforms were not initiated to meet the challenges of the knowledge economy, demographic dividend would become a 'demographic nightmare.'

According to him, reforms were necessary in five core areas – access to knowledge, concepts, creation, applications and services. 'Today education has become indispensable to the country's ambitions in the knowledge economy and therefore there is a need to develop a new knowledge paradigm, simultaneously addressing concerns of disparity and inclusion,' said Pitroda. The seminar was was jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and NKC as part of the commission's outreach programme. On the occasion, Pitroda released NKC's 'Report to the Nation', a compilation of the over 300 recommendations it has made to the government.

Rajasthan project wins UNESCO literacy prize

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March 20, 2009

Rajasthan's Directorate of Literacy and Continuing Education has been awarded the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO's) Confucius Literacy Prize for 2006 for its Useful Learning through Literacy and Continuing Education Programme in one of India's poorest and largest states.

The Rajasthan project was one of two winners of the US$ 20,000 Confucius prize, the other being Ministry of National Education, a national literacy initiative designed specifically for marginalised adolescents in rural areas. The UNESCO prizes are awarded annually in recognition of particularly effective contributions to the fight against illiteracy, one of UNESCO's priorities. The National Commission for Human Development of Pakistan won the US$ 20,000 International Reading Association Literacy Prize for a national programme that provides literacy classes to adults and out-of-school children, collects data through door-to-door surveys and encourages community involvement in the enrolment of children in schools. The winners will receive their prizes from UNESCO on International Literacy Day, September 8.

Drive for grooming more IT talent in India

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March 20, 2009

The study conducted by NASSCOM and KPMG, shows that there would be dearth of IT talent by the year 2010, in the country. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The estimation comes more than 2.35 lakh jobs in IT and ITES sectors that may go weird for lack properly trained personnel. Human Resources executives and educational institution representatives discussed the issue in detail at the `HR Summit' organised by NASSCOM on `Profile of the emerging IT-ITES workforce: shaping the talent pool' in Chennai recently. The key factor emerged in the summit was not the `number of students', but the `average suitability of students for the market'. As a solution, it was highlighted on the relevance of 'softskills' which is important for the students to know how to behave in a cross-cultural work environment. That is the present and the future of IT sector. On contrary, it was also perceived that, certain jobs would require less of communication skills and 'more of coding'. It is better to work on one's strengths and the upcoming graduates should be groomed to face the situation.

AMA Education Group to replace financial system with Oracle E-Business Suite

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March 20, 2009

The AMA Education Group (AMA), the pioneering and largest ICT university in Asia, has decided to replace its outdated financial system with Oracle E-Business Suite. AMA faced challenges as its corporate growth and restructuring activities rendered their present financial system unable to cope with new demands and requirements. The current system was also unable to provide reliable support, and made it difficult for AMA to upgrade or re-implement other applications or technology.

AMA needed an enterprise system that could grow when rolled out across the company's diversified interests. Oracle E-Business Suite is a comprehensive, industry-focused suite of business applications for the enterprise. It is an integrated and scalable solution that can be rapidly implemented. The entire AMA education system will implement a centralized, financial system through a 'shared services' environment that utilizes the Financial Shared Services capabilities of Oracle E-Business Suite, along with Purchasing and Inventory modules. Adopting the shared services delivery method, AMA also expects to benefit from the other capabilities of Oracle E-Business Suite to achieve significant cost savings, generate accurate financial reports, access timely and consistent information, provide better customer service, and provide a consolidated end-to-end view of AMA's diverse lines of business. After a successful implementation of the Financial System, a roll-out into a shared service model for AMA's franchisees is also expected to take place. AMA has chosen to implement the applications solutions through distributor Active Business Solutions, Inc.

Broadband essential for learning

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March 20, 2009

The UK government's recent interim report on 'Digital Britain' makes a powerful argument for universal access to modern technology as a key driver of the country's economic prospects. Universal access to high speed broadband by 2012 will be vital for business, not only to continue to transform business processes, but also to deliver the education and skills required. Connecting the last 40 % of the population to our digital society gives a huge opportunity to raise education standards and provide powerful incentives to continue learning throughout life, across the population. Never has it been more important to provide all of those facing the challenges of the labour market with the support they will need. It is clear that digital connectivity and discriminating use of digital technology have a vital role to play. Technology helps schools, colleges and universities to run themselves more efficiently; to make more effective use of data to monitor progress and tailor the curriculum to individual needs; to motivate learners to achieve and continue in education; and to communicate effectively and interactively with learners, parents and carers.

Becta research shows that schools which have achieved a key national benchmark for use of technology for learning, the ICT Mark, are four times more likely to be rated as outstanding in the overall effectiveness category of Ofsted inspection reports. And pupils at ICT Mark schools achieve better results. We see similar benefits in further and higher education, and in learning in the workplace. Our ITC Test Bed programme showed that using technology in further education programmes increased learner satisfaction from 50 to 99%. For those in employment, in particular, there is a huge opportunity to promote anytime, anywhere access to online training and development which can be built around busy working lives

MTN Donates 50 Generators to Education Ministries

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March 20, 2009

MTN Rwanda on Wednesday donated 50 second-hand generators worth US$500,000 (Approx Rwf 280m) to the ministries of Education (MINEDUC) and Health (MINISANTE). 20 of them will go to the MINEDUC while the rest were donated to MINISANTE for use in schools and health centres, respectively. According to the MTN Rwanda CEO, Themba Khumalo, the generators have only been used for less than a year and are in perfect working condition. While announcing the donation, he explained that the increased capacity demands on networks required MTN to upgrade the power generation at base stations. 'This is why we have decided to give away the generators to these institutions given the power shortage currently characterized due to the current insufficient electricity supply,' said Khumalo.

He added that breaking from the tradition of disposing of used property through public auction, the company has shown commitment through its Corporate Social Responsibility Programme by donating the equipment. Speaking at the ceremony, State Minister for Education Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, acknowledged the development and urged MTN to keep up the spirit. 'Many schools lack electric power and with the newly introduced ICT education on the curriculum, the generators will definitely have an impact,' said Mutsindashyaka. Twenty head teachers from some of the remotest schools attended the ceremony and their schools will be among the beneficiaries. On behalf of MINISANTE Steven Karengera commended the donation and accepted it was a life saved in case of danger. The ministries on their part made the selection where best to allocate the generators.

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