Allegation of millions of British money spent on Indian education to get wasted or misused have hit the headlines recently. Over the last eight years, Britain has invested
Education to be affected by 6 technologies
Collaborative environments, cloud computing, and 'smart' objects are among the technologies that a group of experts believes will have a profound impact on K-12 education within the next five years or sooner. The group, called the New Media Consortium (NMC), has come out with an annual report on emerging technologies in higher education for the last several years. This year, for the first time, NMC has issued a K-12 version of its 'Horizon Report' as well. The Horizon Report: 2009 K-12 Edition, released earlier this month, identifies and describes six emerging technologies that will have a huge impact on K-12 education within the next one to five years. The report groups these technologies according to their time-to-adoption horizon–one year or less, two to three years, or four to five years. It also outlines key trends and challenges associated with the their adoption.
Made possible through a grant from Microsoft Corp., the report draws on published resources, current research and practices, and expertise from an advisory board of experts in education and technology. Members include representatives from the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), technology vendors, EDUCAUSE, and U.S. school districts and universities. 'This is the first report we have developed with a focus on emerging technologies for elementary and secondary schools, and we hope that K-12 educators will use it as a resource for robust dialog and technology planning,' said Larry Johnson, NMC's chief executive. 'The technologies we identified have the power to transform teaching and learning both in the short and long term.'
MCD plans Biometric attendance system for teachers
After much hullabaloo created by the Delhi University teachers about the biometric attendance system, the teachers at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools may soon join the league. The MCD is also planning to introduce the system in its teaching department in order to keep a check on its staff. The biometric attendance system has been successfully implemented in almost all the departments of the civic body extending to the education sector.
According to the plan, the MCD will bring 23,000 principals, teachers and staff providing education in 1780 primary schools run by the civic body under biometric attendance. Mr. K.S. Mehra, the Municipal Commissioner has said that after successful implementation of the biometric system in all the departments the same step will be taken for the principals, teachers and staff. “Installation of such a system will ensure the accountability and responsibility of the teachers for the prescribed hour in the school,” said Mr. Mehra.
For the students the MCD has a different course of action. Instead of the biometric system, it plans to introduce the Management Information System for the students. MIS and biometric system is a part of MCD's ambitious e-governance project. “Introduction of the biometric for students will be a tedious and time-consuming task. We have kept them away from this system in order to keep things simple.
Their attendance will be monitored by MIS,” Mr Mehra added. This new attendance system will help us provide better primary education to the children studying in MCD schools. The first biometric system was introduced on August 1, 2008 at the Commissioner's office in Ambedkar Stadium and MCD's headquarter at Town Hall.
DU distance learning students left in the jitter
Many aspirants for government jobs have been left in the lurch after the Delhi University distance-learning course they undertook was not recognised by the recruitment body Staff Selection Commission (SSC). SSC, a government recruitment body constituted by the government, has cancelled the candidature of all the students who graduated from School of Open Learning (SOL), University of Delhi, claiming their degrees were not recognised by the Distance Education Council (DEC). 'I have received a memorandum from SSC instructing me to get a certificate from DEC failing which my candidature will be cancelled,' Subhash Chandra Tiwari, a graduate from SOL selected for the post of tax assistant, told sources.
The memorandum sent by SSC says, 'If the universities offering Distance Learning Mode of Education are not recognised by the Distance Education Council (DEC), the degrees issued by it are not valid. Graduation is essential qualification for the above noted examination.' After completing the SSC examination that consists of a written exam as well as an interview, the candidates are appointed for posts such as excise, income tax inspectors and section officers. When the source approached the DEC, he was told that they had no problem in recognizing SOL, but they had not been approached. DEC director Manjulika Srivastava said, 'We don't have any problem in giving them recognition but till now nobody form SOL has tried to contact us in this regard.' Delhi University SOL deputy registrar M.A. Shikandar argued, 'We do not require any recognition from DEC as SOL, Delhi University is India's oldest institution providing distance education. Moreover DEC is governed by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and one university cannot give any kind of recognition to another.' 'We are also challenging the issue in Delhi High Court Friday and we will soon get it sorted out,' said Shikandar. Delhi University has been providing higher education through distance learning since 1962 while IGNOU which came into being much later. 'In this fight of ego between the two organisations we are suffering. DEC is ready to give their recognition to Delhi University SOL but DU authorities think they will not seek affiliation from DEC as it is matter of prestige,' Deepak Sharma, a SOL student who qualified for the post of excise inspector told sources. 'Around three hundred thousand students from across the country are enrolled in SOL in courses offered by the Delhi University,' told H.C. Pokhriyal, Executive Director, SOL. The selection panel has even started cancelling candidature of students who have failed to submit required certificates from the university regarding recognition of SOL by DEC.
CAT exam to remain online
In a meeting between the IIM directors, CAT committee members and officials of the MHRD in New Delhi, it was decided that the computerised exam will not be scrapped and the papers of 2.16 lack students who completed the exam will be evaluated. The idea of a retest conducted in paper pencil format was completely discarded as this would have thrown the 2010 academic schedule totally haywire and clashed with other MBA exams. While the top brass were engaged in the meeting with HRD, a section of the public shouted slogans and protested outside IIM Ahmedabad premises. The online test that was conducted over 11days starting November 28, was marred by technical glitches affecting thousands of students appearing for the test. The IIMs have announced an extra date sometime in mid January.
Out of the 2.41 lack students who sat for the test, nearly 2.16 lack completed the test. The IIMs are in the process of identifying a system which can provide another opportunity to the genuine students. The problems that arose during the exam were premature exit through the exit/end button, slowness of computers, disruptions, rebooting of computers and missing of graphics and data. Paper-pencil mode of testing that was the practice for the CAT exam for the last 33years was changed to the computerised system from 2009 and the task for conducting the test was handed over to the US based company Prometric. The problem occurred from the very first day of the exam, the directors of IIM Ahmedabad and Bangalore were not in favour of retest while the heads of other five institutes were in favour of reexamining the students.
Business School alumni arranges placements
At University Business School (UBS) of Panjab University, the alumni has come to the rescue of students passing out this year and joined hands to help them sail through the economic slowdown phase. The faculty at the department attributes all the placements held for the graduating batch of students to its alumni members. Training and placement incharge at UBS Professor S K Chadha said, 'We are really thankful to our alumni as they have helped us sail through the slowdown. Almost all our placements have been possible because of the alumni's assistance.' After a gap of several years, the department had arranged for an alumni meet this year and the response turned out to be overwhelming. It was here that the alumni members stepped forward to help the students after they put forward their concerns regarding the ongoing meltdown and companies not turning up for recruitment.
The highest pay package offered to students this year is from Bharti Airtel of INR 12 lakh per annum. Meanwhile, the faculty claims that the average pay package that the students have been receiving is INR 5.28 lakh per annum. In all, out of a batch of 120 students, only 60 have got placements. With an excellent record of placements and companies flooding the B-School, the department is one of the most sought after institutes by students seeking a degree in management. This year, however, the department has seen very few companies coming to recruit.
Quality education for all kids
Equal educational opportunities for all children were demanded by a large contingent of people who walked to Bal Bhavan in support of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsary Education Act, 2009. December 11 was the day India ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to demand the right to education for every Indian child. Seventeen years after India ratified the UNCRC, millions of children do not have access to good quality education. Child Rights and You marked this occasion with a national campaign in which more than 7.7lack people from 18 states have signed a charter demanding equal quality education for all Indian children.
Children from various sectors also raised their voice for equal opportunities of education. Eminent economist Jean Dreze who was also a part of the contingent said the current Act does not hold anyone responsible for the children not being in school. There is no punitive action taken for schools for not coming forward and taking proper action. According to him, the Act needs to be strengthened to meet the realities. The Act needs to be equally applicable for private schools according to activist-advocate Ashok Agarwal. The activists claimed that the Act is limited in scope and it needs three key amendments—including children below six years as well as 15to 18 years in the Act, ensure a complete education for every child below the age of 18 years and prevent drop-outs, especially for girls.
Insufficient funds: A threat to Nigerian Varsities
Yar'adua, who was speaking during the official commissioning of the Umaru Musa Yar'adua University in Katsina, also said the coun-try's universities whether states or federal have been battling with the common challenges of achieving their developmental objectives due to inadequacy of funds. This, according to him, necessitated the federal government to commence a process of repositioning all educational institutions to meet their developmental objective by committing N33 billion as special intervention fund to six selected universities across all the six geo-political zones. The money, he also said, would be channelled throu-gh the Education Trust Fund (ETF) to support the universities upgrade some critical infrastructure and facilities in identified core areas in order to meet up with global realities.
The president particularly tasked all states universities in the federation to develop special mechanism for investing resources for development and other purposes by developing linkages with reputable local and international agencies, collaboration with local governments and through internally generated revenue. He said the federal government has begun a systematic provision and upgrading of critical infrastructure in addition to the provision of funds for advanced focused research, training, ICT development as well as laboratory and library facilities to endanger educational standard to conform with best international practice. He said Umaru Musa Yar'adua University was conceived as a model and world class educational institution of the 21st centaury, and therefore urged the council, staffs and management of the institution to live up to the vision of its founding fathers by ensuring excellent academic standard. Earlier in his address, the Katsina State governor, Ibrahim Shehu Shema, said the state government budgeted over N6 billion for the development of the second phase of the university which would include the construction of other faculties and laboratories as well as the development of the university village among others.
Now a patient safety course through the use of ICT
Leeds-based CPD4 Health Innovation is holding a master class that brings together the health technology industry, researchers and healthcare professionals to help develop better patient safety through the best use of ICT in healthcare. The course, System Safety for Patient Safety, will take place on Thursday, April 2 at the University of York. Featuring leading experts in safety engineering and management from the University of York, the course is suitable for professionals in the healthcare technology industry, academics and NHS staff who are involved in design, evaluation and implementation of healthcare technologies.
Elaine McNichol Director of CPD4 Health Innovation said, 'Patient safety is a major priority for healthcare managers and practitioners and this course will look at the latest developments in safety management systems, whilst also looking at the practical implications of the ideas during a ractitioner's iewpoint discussion.' Mark Nicholson, Research and Teaching Fellow at the Department of Computer Science at the University of York and event leader said, 'We have run courses across the world on system safety engineering for safety critical devices and information systems, so it is great to be running on a course in York to benefit UK healthcare businesses and the NHS.' The one-day event will look at how innovative ICT can increase patient safety, including taking inspiration from how other industries deal with safety issues, such as the nuclear and civil aerospace industries.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Director signs MoU with the British Council for classroom project
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) director has signed a MoU with the British Council on Monday to implement the Connecting Classroooms project in Tamil Nadu. The agreement was signed by R Venkatesan director SSA state project and Sally Goggin, director-education, British Council (India and Sri Lanka). The programme is designed to build cultural awareness and skills among young learners to help them develop into global citizens, the programme will build on leadership development skills, especially of district education officers and state-level officers.
The programme comprising of capacity building training sessions on Information and Communication technologies (ICT) and an overview of Connecting Classrooms project will begin in 40 schools in Thiruvallur. Sixteen schools will be selected to participate in the programme directly while the training sessions will cover all the schools in the neighbourhood. The 16 schools, split into two clusters, will be linked with four schools each in the UK and work together on collaborative projects. The project gives opportunities to the government officials, head teachers and ICT teachers to visit the partner schools in the UK during the next academic year and vice-versa. The visits will enable the teachers to get an accurate picture of the education scenario and plan joint projects better.
