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Uttarakhand’s Governor Smt. Baby Rani Maurya inaugurates University of Engineering and Technology in Roorkee recently

University of Engineering and Technology in Roorkee

The University of Engineering and Technology Roorkee (UETR) was launched on July 11 in Roorkee. It has now opened its doors to welcome students. The launch happened in the presence of Smt. Baby Rani Maurya, Hon’ble Governor of Uttarakhand.

Speaking at the launch, Smt. Baby Rani Maurya, Hon’ble Governor of Uttarakhand said, “It is a warm experience to be a part of a new beginning, the one that shall lead to expanding youth’s horizons and honing their skills to prepare them for the future.”

She added that the university explores the highest potential of students and guides them through their paths with a collective mission to support the country economically and intellectually.

J. C. Jain, Chancellor, UETR said, “It is extremely overwhelming to see our dream come alive and our hard work finally getting paid off. With the launch of this premier university, we have big plans for the upcoming batches and will direct all our energies in helping students shape their dreams.

“At UETR we aim to make students competent enough to have a success story of their own by providing them with international quality education with world-class infrastructure and a research-driven academic environment,” he added.

Also read: IIT Roorkee to launch AI in banking programme

“Technology is breaking conventional barriers to evolve our country and introduce new advancements. This university serves not only as an institution but a ray of hope that will guide young aspirants and help them attain their ambitions while boosting the technological progression in the world. We look forward to University Of Engineering and Technology, Roorkee creating more opportunities for the youth and preparing them for their professional career paths,” said Dr. Dhan Singh Rawat, Minister of Higher Education. Govt. of Uttarakhand during the opening ceremony.

With this launch, UETR mission is to make a brand name that gets established in the minds of young professional technocrats and managers and establish UETR as one of the top and most leading universities of India.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announces NEET UG examination date

NEET UG 2021 exam date

The undergraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET UG) 2021 date has been announced. The Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan declared on Monday that the examination will be conducted on September 12.

The application process will begin from 5 pm on July 13 through the website of National Testing Agency (NTA), Pradhan added.

“The NEET UG 2021 will be held on 12th September 2021 across the country following COVID-19 protocols. The application process will begin from 5 pm tomorrow through the NTA website(s). (sic),” the Minister tweeted.

The number of cities that will conduct the examination has been increased from 155 to 198, Pradhan said. However, the number of examination centers will also increase to 3,862. The examinations will be conducted under strict COVID protocols.

EduMentum, an incubator plays a crucial role transforming education sector

EduMentum

With a shared vision to transform the education landscape across contexts in India, nine early-stage nonprofit organizations have joined the 5th cohort of EduMentum, an incubation program by Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiative in association with Mantra4Change. Since its inception in 2017, EduMentum has incubated 32 organizations working to improve the quality of education across 18 states in India. These organizations work with under-resourced schools and communities that are either marginalized or come from low-income backgrounds.

Mr. S.D. Shibulal, who co-founded Infosys in 1981 and was a member of the Board of Infosys and CEO & MD between 2011 and 2014 and currently serves as Permanent Trustee, The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives said, “India aims to reach its 4th Sustainable Development Goal and make Quality education a reality for its millions of students by 2030. India has 220 million school-going children who will join the workforce by the year 2025. Large scale systemic transformation of the education system is an important step towards achieving the above goal and enhancing economic growth. An incubator like EduMentum plays a crucial role in developing entrepreneurship in the area of systemic education transformation”

Also read: Digital Literacy Transforming Education System Globally

Permanent Trustee, The Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives said, “India aims to reach its 4th Sustainable Development Goal and make Quality education a reality for its millions of students by 2030. India has 220 million school-going children who will join the workforce by the year 2025. Large scale systemic transformation of the education system is an important step towards achieving the above goal and enhancing economic growth. An incubator like EduMentum plays a crucial role in developing entrepreneurship in the area of systemic education transformation”

The 5th Cohort of EduMentum brings together organizations for six different states of India. These organizations are:

  • Pencilbricks Foundation – Karnataka & Maharashtra
  • Kalpakta Foundation – Maharashtra
  • Ashayen – Odisha
  • Community 1st Foundation – Maharashtra
  • Samavesh Trust – Gujarat
  • Sushakti – Haryana
  • Neev Shikshan Sanstha – Gujarat
  • Better Education Lifestyle and Environment Foundation (BELiEF) – Maharashtra
  • India Foundation for Education and Transformation (IFET) – Arunachal Pradesh

Launched in September 2017, EduMentum is a 3-year program that focuses on empowering local change leaders across the country who aim to transform education and design interventions that address the scale and scope of India’s education system. With over 1.5 million schools across 29 states, the need to enable social entrepreneurs to transform the education landscape in India and ensure that every child receives quality education is urgent and essential – this gave birth to the idea of EduMentum.

EduMentum offers seed funding of up to Rs 7.5 Lakhs per annum along with a series of intensive, knowledge and capacity-building workshops for incubatees in collaboration with an eclectic mentor panel. It would also provide a network and connect to the right ecosystem for the organizations to flourish. The program aims to successfully incubate 50 organizations working in different parts of the country by 2025.

Prof. (Dr.) Nupur Prakash takes charge as VC of The NorthCap University

Prof. (Dr.) Nupur Prakash

The NorthCap University announced on Monday the appointment of Prof. (Dr.) Nupur Prakash as its Vice-Chancellor.

Prior to joining The NorthCap University, she served as the Vice-Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, Principal of Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Dean, School of Engineering and Technology and Dean, School of IT, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.

Speaking to reporters, Prof. (Dr.) Nupur Prakash said, “I am excited to be associated with an acclaimed institution which has a long tradition of academic excellence. I look forward to working with the talented and dedicated faculty and staff at The NorthCap University to steer the university towards greater excellence.”

In her role, she will head all academic schools and departments and chair the Board of Management, the Academic Council, and all other statutory bodies.

She earned her Bachelor’s in Electronics and Communication Engineering and Master’s in Computer Science and Technology from IIT Roorkee, where she received the Chancellor’s Medal. She did her Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from Punjab University. She has published and presented more than 100 research papers and articles in national and international journals and conferences. She has been a strong propagator of STEM education for girls and has won many accolades including the “Inspiring Women Edu-leader” in 2014, 22nd Devang Mehta Business School Award for “Outstanding Contribution to Education” and several other laurels. With her sound technical background in technology, she will be at the forefront of driving innovation at The NorthCap University and facilitate its transformation to a digital-first university matching global standards.

Edtech startup Birla Brainiacs plans to raise $10 million from investors

Birla Brainiacs

The Edtech startup Birla Brainiacs plans to raise $10 million in order to hire 1500 teachers in the next two years. This is an external round of funding and the company is in talks with the investors, the founder, Nirvaan Birla told a daily news portal recently.

The e-learning startup, which was launched last year in April, is a collaborative learning app for imparting teaching and learning in Mathematics, Science and English for Classes 1to 12.

Also read: Edtech startup Teachmint raises $20 million capital for growth

The company will hire teachers to expand the business and to meet the requirements. The focus of the platform is not limited to the school curriculum; it also offers courses on software coding, mental ability, vedic math, competitive exam preparations (IIT/medical), etc.

India’s education sector is poised to grow from the current $117 billion to $225 billion by financial year 2025.

Puducherry schools will reopen from July 16

Puducherry schools

Puducherry is ready to reopen schools from July 16 onwards. The COVID 19 cases are taking a downward graph after the governments have made follow strict covid protocols.

Puducherry schools will reopen from Friday after a long break of over nine months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Directorate of School Education has released a statement of reopening schools, including privately managed institutions on Monday.

Also read: Puducherry starts free breakfast scheme for school students

The classes from 9 to 12 standards are expected to be opened in the union territory. The Chief Minister of the Union Territory, N Rangaswamy made the announcement on Sunday. The schools will have to follow strict Covid protocols to keep things at order.

Edtech company WhiteHat Jr Announces ‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’ for young learners

Edtech company WhiteHat Jr

Leading EdTech company WhiteHat Jr announced the launch of an exciting virtual event ‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’, the third such event in the series on Open Learning Events – Global Experts for Young Learners.

The event offers students a rare opportunity to engage and learn about outer space directly from an astrophysicist.

The ‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’ will be held on 10 July 2021 at 7:30 pm IST / 10:00 am EDT. It will be open to all young learners between 6-18 years of age. Trupti Mukker, Head of Customer Experience, WhiteHat Jr said, “Outer space has always inspired a sense of wonder amongst children and we want to feed this curiosity further by helping them understand various aspects of space. CreatorSpace: Mission Mars is an incredible opportunity for children and parents to meet and interact with key experts who can help them understand the infinite beyond a little better.”

‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’ is a part of WhiteHat Jr’s flagship virtual interactive learning series titled CreatorSpace which addresses an exciting new topic each month with the help of world-renowned experts. Earlier editions of the event have seen students engaging with global STEM leaders in the areas of Math, Coding, Satellite and Gaming. ‘CreatorSpace: Mission Mars’ is the third such event in the series, the earlier two editions of which saw participation from 50,000 and 60,000 students, parents and teachers respectively.

The CreatorSpace: Mission Mars event will feature interactive sessions by:

An astrophysicist, a NASA Living With a Star – Jack Eddy Postdoctoral Fellow, working to demystify the sun and solar system and a Professor of Astronomy working with the Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He will be conducting a hands-on session with access to streaming of an exclusive video showcasing various space missions undertaken to explore the infinite beyond.

VP Coding and New Initiatives at WhiteHat Jr, will host a session focusing on tips and tricks required to succeed in the Mission Mars Coding Hackathon.

Bihar Board reopens registration window for Class 10 and 12 exams

Bihar Board reopens registration window

The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has reopened the registration process for Class 10 and Class 12 exams for 2022. The board said the students who were unable to submit applications for the exams, may now submit the exam forms between July 9 and 15.

The form can be submitted online and other details are available on the official website of the board. The application window is activated now.The Matric exam registration fee for regular students is Rs 220 and the fee for regular Inter students is Rs 370.

The deadline for submitting applications for Class 11 has also been extended. Applications through the Online Facilitation System for Students (OFSS) will now end on July 18.

OFSS is a centralised registration portal for admission to intermediate Class 11 and degree programs in Bihar. This is the second time that the Bihar board has extended the application deadline.

However, the schools and colleges in Bihar are expected to reopen with 50% attendance.

Announcing the reopening of educational institutions, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said special arrangements will be made for vaccinating adult students, teachers and staff of educational institutions.

Gujarat to Reopen Schools for Class 12 and Colleges in July

Gujarat to Reopen Schools

After reviewing the COVID scenario in the state of Gujarat, the government is planning to reopen schools and colleges from July 15 onwards. Schools will resume Class 12 regular schooling and colleges are expected to start classes for undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

Only 50 per cent of students will be allowed to attend campuses. Students can attend physical classes on a voluntary basis. Attendance will not be mandatory, as per guidelines.

“We have decided to reopen the education institutions from July 15 in a phased manner with 50% strength initially. All COVID-19 norms will be enforced by the schools and colleges who reopen their classes,” a state government release said.

Also read: Gujarat passes bill sanctioning 7 new private universities

Schools and colleges will have to follow strict COVID-19 guidelines and follow the standard operating principles including mandatory masks, social distancing, sanitization among others.

PM Modi interacts virtually with tech institute heads on Friday

PM Modi interacts virtually

On Friday, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, interacted with 106 centrally-funded technical institutions (CFTIs) including 23 IITs, 31 NITs, and 25 IIITs.In the virtual meeting, Modi emphasized the importance of offering technical education in other vernacular languages.

The interaction focused and addressed the challenges that occurred due to COVID pandemic. It also laid emphasis on research and development (R&D) carried out by the CFTIs in the last two years for the country’s development and growth.

Dharmendra Pradhan, the new Union Education Minister, started his first day in the education ministry by talking to the tech institute heads. He later tweeted that his ministry was “committed to making students and youth the primary stakeholders in propelling India towards an equitable knowledge society.”

The new education minister will now focus on the National Education Policy (NEP)and time-bound implementation of it.Taking charge with his ministry, Pradhan along with his three junior ministers, Annapurna Devi, Subhas Sarkar and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh reviewed the NEP.

Pradhan also holds a portfolio of skill development and entrepreneurship.

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