ConnectEd Technologies to provide free online access to quality educational content in local language to Govt. School students across Maharashtra & Goa

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March 23, 2022

ConnectEd Technologies to provide free access to online education to goverment school(1)

Mumbai

ConnectEd Technologies, India’s leading EdTech social enterprise, today jointly announced an initiative with Forever Living Products India (FLPI) to provide free online access to curriculum-linked educational content across government schools of Maharashtra and Goa. The program, CSR-funded by FLPI, and executed by ConnectEd Technologies with support from Seva Sahayog Foundation aims to provide quality vernacular educational content to government school students, in a bid to improve learning outcomes, especially during the on-going Covid-19 pandemic.

Providing quality education to government school students has been a goal for ConnectEd Technologies, and as part of this program, more than 10,000+ government school students from Grade 5 to 10 across Maharashtra and Goa will be provided with free online access to a web and mobile app platform. The platform contains quality educational content in local languages, that is in-sync with the respective State Board curriculums, and can be viewed online or downloaded onto a device for viewing later. Initially, the initiative aims to benefit students from government schools located in Raigad district of Maharashtra, and North Goa district of Goa. Subsequently, the initiative will scale to students from other regions as well.

On the occasion of this announcement, Dr. Kiran Patil (I.A.S.), CEO – Raigad Zilla Parishad, said, “The Covid-19 pandemic and resultant school closures emphasised the need for a parallel, digital framework through which quality education could be served to govt. school students. It gives me immense pleasure to announce this initiative for Zilla Parishad schools in Raigad. We hope more organisations will come forward to support this initiative & ensure it benefits every student in Raigad as well as Maharashtra.”

Lehar Tawde, Co-founder, ConnectEd Technologies, further added, “The Covid-19 pandemic made India realise the need for a digital approach that makes quality education accessible to government school students in regional languages. We have been working in this direction since 2020, and are pleased with our association with Forever Living Products India (FLPI) and Forever Giving Foundation, which enables us to benefit nearly 10,000 more students in Maharashtra and Goa. We hope to scale our presence with support from authorities, FLPI and other organisations”

Mr. Harish Singla, Country Sales Manager, Forever Living Products India (FLPI), “As a responsible and caring brand, FLP India has been leading on the CSR front since the beginning, and today we’re happy to participate in this noble cause for the betterment of society and the future of Govt.School students.”

During the course of this initiative, ConnectEd Technologies will coordinate with government schools to sensitise parents and students about the platform, where they can access curriculum-linked educational content for free, using any device and connectivity at their disposal. Furthermore, the EdTech company will provide school teachers with valuable statistics pertaining to content consumption by each student, thereby enabling them push parents and students to meet learning targets that have been set by the school. Currently, ConnectEd Technologies has deployed such programs across 8 states in India.

Common entrance test for UG admissions in central universities in July, Class 12 marks won’t count

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March 23, 2022

New Delhi

The UGC chairman M Jagadesh Kumar announced on Monday that the first ever mandatory common entrance test for admission to undergraduate programmes in all the 45 Central universities will be held in the first week of July.

The Common University Entrance Test (CUET) is a computerised exam and will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), which will announce the test pattern on Tuesday, Kumar said. The application window for the examination will open in the first week of April.

Admission to undergraduate courses in these universities will be solely based on the CUET score, and Class 12 Board marks will not carry any weightage, Kumar said. The universities can use the Board exam marks as an eligibility criterion for the test, he said.

This effectively means that performance in the Class 12 Board examination will no longer be a factor in admissions across Central universities.

Following the CUET, each university will admit students based on a merit list prepared by NTA, and there will be no common counselling.

Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Indira Gandhi National Open University in the national capital, and Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University in UP, are among the well-known Central universities that will now be covered by CUET.

“The only difference is that these students will also have to come through CUET, like students to be admitted on general seats. The reservation policies and ordinances of the universities will remain unchanged,” the UGC chairperson said.

AMU and Jamia have not clarified their stand yet on joining the entrance test.

CUET will carry multiple choice questions based on NCERT textbooks and students will be marked negatively for incorrect answers. The entrance test will have three sections (see box). The CUET 2022 will be offered in 13 languages, namely Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, Assamese, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia and English.

Private school body writes to CBSE to reduce weightage of Term 1 exams

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March 23, 2022

New Delhi

In a letter to CBSE Chairperson Vineet Joshi, the National Progressive Schools’ Conference (NPSC) has suggested that the weightage of the Term I examinations should be reduced in the range of 20 percent to 30 percent while the weightage of the Term II Examination should be increased in the range of 70 per cent to 80 per cent. This letter comes a few days after CBSE shared the Term-1 results of classes 10 and 12.

“It was observed that during the Term I examinations, which were conducted at the home centres, many schools adopted unfair means and malpractices. Consequently, many students of these schools scored full marks in most of the subjects. We are sure that CBSE must also have received a similar feedback on this issue,” the letter read.

The NPSC is an association of senior secondary schools across the country and has 195 private schools under its umbrella. It has argued that the performance of students of the schools where the “exams were conducted with complete honesty and integrity has not been at par with the afore mentioned” which has adversely affected the morale of all the stakeholders.

The board has already released the date-sheet for the Term-2 exams. The exams will commence from April 26.

DU plans to set up centre to offer job-oriented courses

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March 21, 2022

New Delhi

Delhi University is planning to consider a proposal for setting up a Centre that will be offering job-oriented courses for students enrolled in the Campus of Open Learning. The discussion about establishing the centre would be taken up at the meeting of the academic council, scheduled on March 22.

The director of the Campus of Open Learning Payal Mago, said, “This centre would house a media centre and will provide online and experiential learning courses to students. To enhance the employability of students of the School of Open Learning (SOL), these will be skills-based courses and tailored as per their needs.” “Students will also get to learn basic computer skills and some languages that will help them,” she added.

The centre will offer three diploma courses – journalism (English and Hindi), post graduate diploma in library automation services, and mushroom cultivation.

There will be a mix of online and offline classes.

The journalism course will be carried out in collaboration with Delhi University’s Hansraj College while for the other courses, experts have been identified. Nominal charges will be levied on the courses, The courses will be in accordance with the National Education Policy, according to the agenda of the meeting.

AAP nominates IIT faculty Sandeep Pathak for Rajya Pathak

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March 21, 2022

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh, AAP MLA Raghav Chadha and IIT Delhi faculty Sandeep Pathak are among the five candidates nominated by the Aam Aadmi Party from Punjab to Rajya Sabha.

It may be noted that elections to fill 13 Rajya Sabha seats across six states will be held on March 31.

Sandeep Pathak, a professor of Physics at the premier IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), has been strategising for AAP for years and laid the groundwork for its stupendous recent victory in Punjab. A PhD from Cambridge University, Pathak is said to be close to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann.

Pathak has been working with the AAP for a few years, but has mostly remained behind the scenes. He camped in Punjab for nearly three years and formed an organization at the booth level.

Government of Maharashtra partners with Khan Academy to improve Math Learning outcomes of Government School students in Maharashtra

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March 21, 2022

$Math Learning$

Maharashtra

The Government of Maharashtra’s School Education and Sports Department has partnered with Khan Academy India to improve math learning outcomes for students across Grades 1-10 in government schools in Maharashtra. This partnership will enable access to high quality math learning content in Marathi so that students can learn in their own language. The first phase of the implementation will empower 488 model schools in Maharashtra with new math content and advanced online resources. Additionally, all teachers in these government schools will be trained to leverage online teaching resources and offer personalized learning experience based on progress data of individual students.

Since 2021, the Government of Maharashtra and Khan Academy India are working together to recreate Khan Academy’s high quality math content consisting of 700+ videos, articles, and practice exercises in Marathi which will be available on SCERT Maharashtra website in addition to Khan Academy. This will allow students to build a solid foundational understanding in Math, at their own pace, using any device and free of cost. Further, teachers will have access to necessary online tools and real-time data to identify learning gaps and address them, at a classroom and individual-level.

As a part of this partnership, the team at Khan Academy is working closely with the Maharashtra Government to educate over 2000 teachers, 36 District Nodal Officers, and 488 Principals on the use case of Khan Academy and how to use Khan Academy’s learning content and effectively implement personalized math learning in the classroom. In its first phase, the focus will be on successfully implementing a personalized math learning environment across 488 schools for over 1,00,000 learners in Maharashtra. This will further be extended to more schools and independent learners who can benefit by accessing the entire library of content for free.

Launching the Khan Academy initiative on International Women’s Day, Ms. Varsha Gaikwad, Minister of School Education, Maharashtra, expressed her profound excitement on the partnership. “It is our duty to offer the best quality education and facilities to our students who are the future of the society and the country. I am happy how organizations like Khan Academy are working together with the state government towards a common vision of creating better learning infrastructure.”

Talking about the initiative, Mr. Vishal Solanki, Commissioner, Education added “ Our partnership with Khan Academy is aimed at offering the best learning infrastructure to our learners aided by technology and world-class content in their own language. As schools are reopening, we are enabling a superior classroom experience that will help us address the learning gap in students by offering them personalized learning.” Additionally, Mr Devendra Singh, The SCERT Director, said, “I am delighted that the new math learning content will be on SCERT Maharashtra website in addition to Khan Academy enabling students to access world class education for free of cost.”

Commenting on this development, Mr. Sandeep Bapna, MD, Khan Academy India, said, “We are honored to be working with the Government of Maharashtra on this noble project of improving learning quality in government schools. We are jointly aligned in our vision towards making high quality educational content available for free in Marathi. We are grateful to the State for their support and for making their teaching resources available to us for creating this Marathi content.”

Khan Academy is committed to making world-class education accessible to students in India and all over the world and currently available in English, Hinglish, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and Gujarati, aligned to the Indian curriculum.

IIT-Madras develop AI-powered algorithm with US university to enhance 3D effects in smartphone videos

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March 21, 2022

Chennai, Tamil Nadu

A team of researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras and the US-based Northwestern University have developed deep learning algorithms that can greatly enhance the depth perception and 3D effects in videos shot using smartphone cameras.

According to the officials, such algorithms will prevent mobile phone images from being “flat” and impart a realistic 3D feel. A crucial advantage of the algorithm developed is that it eliminates the need for fancy equipment or an array of lenses to capture videos with depth.

“It is a common complaint, especially among amateur and professional photographers, that photographs and videos shot using smartphone cameras have a flat, two-dimensional look. Apart from the flat look, some 3D features such as the Bokeh Effect, the aesthetic blurring of the background that is easy with the DSLR camera, are challenging in smartphone cameras,” Kaushik Mitra, assistant professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras said.

“While a few mid and high-end smartphone cameras are now programmed to incorporate such effects in still photographs, especially in portrait mode, it is not yet possible to render them in videos captured using smartphones,” he added.

Mitra explained that the advanced professional cameras capture information about both intensity and direction of light in a scene, known as Light Field (LF), to give the perception of depth.

“The LF capture is achieved through the use of an array of microlenses that are inserted between the main lens of the camera and the camera sensor. Multiple microlenses cannot be placed on mobile phones because of space constraints. Instead, algorithms that can post-process the image captured by the existing mobile cameras are being developed.”

“Artificial Intelligence and machine learning techniques are used for such image manipulation. Our team looked into this issue and has built a deep learning algorithm that converts the stereo images captured using a smartphone into LF images,” he said.

“A crucial advantage of the algorithm developed by our team is that it eliminates the need for fancy equipment or an array of lenses to capture videos with depth. The Bokeh and other such aesthetic 3D effects can be achieved with a smartphone that is equipped with a dual-camera system. “In addition to providing depth, our algorithm enables us to view the same video from not just one point of view but from any of the 7×7 grid of viewpoints,” he said.

Be a part of the conglomerate of best from the Higher Education sector at the 23rd World Education Summit 2022 – Higher Education

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March 17, 2022

Get ready to witness the best from the Higher Education sector coming together and discuss the most pertaining issues at the 23rd World Education Summit 2022 (Higher Education) on 24, 25 and 26 March 2022. The virtual summit is being organised by Digital Learning Magazine and is Co-Powered by Adobe. The partners for the three day event are UpGrad (Skilling partner), Samsung (Display Partner), IES University (University Partner), TruScholar (Credential Partner) and Ecophon (Associate Partner)

The event is the biggest platform that brings together the best of the Higher education sector and witnesses them sharing insights and views on topics that trend in the education ecosystem.

Giving details about the event that explores the latest innovations in education, Dr Ravi Gupta, CEO, Founder and Editor in Chief of Elets Technomedia said, “Elets has always been a pioneer in showcasing innovations in education and WES has been a global event which is in its 23rd edition now. In the Higher education edition, we have some of the top names from Universities and institutions from across India.”

It is a well aware fact that the education sector has undergone a major transformation during the pandemic times. Blended learning, E-learning and technology support played a vital role in transforming the education ecosystem and ensuring continued education even during the lockdowns. in a big way. The three day event would see experts talking on the need for constantly evolving technology and learning technologies to ensure industry ready curriculum.

The event will also see the experts and educationists talking about the best practices that has been used in the last two years and share their experiences on the same.

Here are a few topics that will be delved upon by experts –

National Education Policy (NEP): Approach, Opportunities and Challenges
Impact and Role of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education
Education & training for integrated urban & rural development; stepping stones for curriculum development & skill enhancement
Reimagining Higher Education: The Post Covid – Campus
Rise of Massive Online Open Courses – Roadmap Ahead
International Collaborations for building Future Ready Workforce – a Global perspective
Block chain technology redrafting the blueprint in the Indian Higher education sector
Creating a synergy between technology and curriculum for better employment ready courses – How can digitalization help this goal ?
New UGC Reforms: How should HEIs adopt?
Challenges in intersection of SaaS and Higher education to deliver exponential growth for the education sector
Blended and Multi format digital learning – can they be the building blocks of higher education in India.
Enhancing classroom experience – Key Infrastructure aspects which can aid the teaching-learning process

Do not miss a chance to be a part of the event.

Visit Here: Education Conference

IGNOU extends admission deadline for PG and UG programmes

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March 17, 2022

New Delhi

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has extended the deadline for fresh admissions for the Post Graduate and Under Graduate programmes — both for online and ODL mode, and re-registration for the January 2022 session. Candidates should note that this extension will not be applicable for semester-based and merit-based programmes.

As per the official notification issued by IGNOU, the new deadline for re-registration and fresh admission is March 25, 2022.

Interested candidates can apply for ODL programmes on ignouadmission.samarth.edu.in. The Online Programmes on offer can be applied through ignouiop.samarth.edu.in and candidates can submit their re-registration form for the next year/semester through onlinerr.ignou.ac.in.

Candidates are advised to read and check all the given instructions carefully before registering and submitting the admission application.

The last date for registration, re-registration for January 2022 session was earlier scheduled to be March 5, which was then extended till March 15, 2022. Now, the university has announced that candidates have time till March 25, 2022.

Former Director of AIIMS Dr. Gitanjali appointed as Pro VC Medical Sciences in GITAM Deemed to be University (Vishakhapatnam)

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March 17, 2022

The former director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Bhubaneswar), Dr. Gitanjali Batmanabane has been appointed as the Pro VC Medical Sciences at GITAM Deemed to be University in Visakhapatnam. Along with the GIMSR Medical College and Hospital, Dr. Gitanjali will also oversee the schools of Nursing, Paramedical Sciences, and Physiotherapy in the Visakhapatnam campus.

Dr Gitanjali has retired recently after a long and illustrious career as a Professor of the Pharmacology department of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry. She is a lifetime JIPMER product, having done all her medical studies there including PhD and serving as a faculty member there since 1984.

Dr Gitanjali held several crucial leadership positions at JIPMER in her tenure along with important deputations to WHO as Technical Officer – Essential Drugs and Other Medicines and most notably to AIIMS Bhubaneswar as its second director. During her successful stint as AIIMS Bhubaneswar director, she also held additional charges of AIIMS Patna, AIIMS Guwahati and AIIMS Kalyani as a director ranging from 1 to 3 years.

She has worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) and headed the WHO Collaborating Centre for Training and Research in Essential Medicines and Rational Use of Medicines. She has also formulated innovative academic programs in medical education and published around 78 high-impact research papers. She was the Convener, MCI Regional Centre for Faculty Development Programs.

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