DST sanctions Rs 115 cr to IIT Jodhpur to set up technology and innovation hub

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August 18, 2020

Providing huge boost to the innovation and technology, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has sanctioned Rs 115 crore to Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur to set up a technology and innovation hub on augmented and virtual reality.

Named as iHub Drishti, this technology and innovation hub is being incorporated as a company with the initial seed funding from the DST under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).

The five verticals that iHub Drishti will focus on are dependable computer vision for autonomous systems, bio and medical imaging for healthcare and ecological sustainability, and intelligent multimedia platform for digital learning, computer vision, and AR-VR for Industry 4.0 and artificial intelligence-driven augmented and virtual reality applications.

Also read: Naidu: IITs must provide sustainable solutions to nation

IIT-Jodhpur Director Santanu Chaudhury, also the chairman of the Hub Governing Board, said iHub Drishti would support and nurture start-up ecosystems, operate upskilling and reskilling programs and enable appropriate technology interventions in relevant areas.

The hub will host teams of faculty members, research scholars, developers and scientists who will work towards achieving the hub’s targets.

SC reserves order over UGC final year exams

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August 18, 2020

The Supreme Court of India has reserved its order in the students’ plea against University Grants Commission’s (UGC) decision to make final-year exams compulsory. This plea is against UGC’s July 7 decision asking institutes to conduct final year exams by September 30.

SC has asked all the parties to give a note on their submissions within the next three days.

The apex court bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan is hearing the matter. During the hearing, Justice Bhushan questioned whether the final semester examinations can be skipped by students.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for UGC said that many universities have conducted their examinations already. He added that while the universities can ask for an extension of the September 30 deadline, these entities do not have the right to confer degrees without conducting examinations.

Also read: UGC final year exam: SC adjourns hearing till August 18

Senior advocate KV Vishwanathan appearing for the Delhi government said that there is a divide between rich and poor students and that the latter may not have access to technology to write online exams.

Responding to this, Justice MR Shah said that UGC is not conducting exams and that it upto the universities.

Also, Justice Bhushan added that only the authorities will be able to decide students’ welfare and that students are not ‘competent’ enough to decide.

However, Justice Bhushan responded saying that not all universities in India follow the semester system. Students had sought cancellation of the examinations citing health concerns due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

Atal Ranking 2020: IIT Madras tops the list, followed by IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi

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August 18, 2020

Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu has announced The Atal Rankings of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2020. The IIT Madras and the KIIT Odisha have bagged the top positions in the Centrally funded institutions and Deemed/Private universities category respectively.

A total of 10 ranks have been announced. The IIT-Madras is followed by IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi. At rank 4 and 5 were IISc and IIT-Kharagpur, respectively. Avinashlingam Institute of Home Science and Higher education for women has been ranked 1 followed by Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical Education for Women, Delhi.

The ARIIA 2020 rankings have been released in a virtual ceremony in the presence of Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, State Minister Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre as well as Higher Education secretary Amit Khare.

Also read: Melvano App by IIT Madras Alumnus becomes popular choice for IIT JEE & NEET aspirants

This year, ARIIA 2020 has six Prize categories. In the newly introduced a special category for women- only higher education institutions, Avinashilingam Institute For Home Science And Higher Education For Women has been named as the best.

Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman of AICTE, highlighted that the world is witnessing a noteworthy improvement in India’s performance in the Global Innovation Index ranking. India, in the last 5 years, has risen 29 spots in the Global Innovation Index.

ARIIA is an initiative undertaken by the Education Ministry to rank Higher Education Institutions and Universities of the country on the basis of indicators such as Innovation, Startup and Entrepreneurship Development within its students as well as faculty.

HRD Ministry officially renamed as Ministry of Education after President Kovind’s assent

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August 18, 2020

President Ram Nath Kovind provided his formal assent for renaming Ministry of Human Resource Development to as the Ministry of Education as part of the New Education Policy 2020. This suggestion was provided in the latest draft of the New National Education Policy, NEP 2020, which was prepared by K Kasturirangan.

The changing of the name was approved by the Union Cabinet on the very day of the suggestion that is on July 29, 2020. The name was changed on the ministry’s official website as well as the education minister’s social media accounts on August 4, 2020.

The President’s nod was essential to bring about any changes decided upon by the cabinet in the government machinery. The name change was approved by Ram Nath Kovind on August 14, 2020. A gazette notification published on Monday said the President had given his nod to changing the name.

Also read: Industry experts laud National Education Policy 2020

A panel which was headed by former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan was tasked with working on the new NEP. It had first proposed that the name of the ministry must be changed again.

In the year 1985, the Ministry of Education’s name was changed to the HRD ministry. The last National Education Policy, NEP was made in 1986. It was later amended in 1992. Now almost 30 years have been passed since the first policy came into being. Thus on July 29, 2020, the Union Cabinet approved a new education policy and took some major decisions regarding the Indian Education System.

Facebook launches ‘Educator Hub’ to help teachers

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August 18, 2020

Facebook launched the Educator Hub to help the teachers find and build their online community. The hub will also discover resources for the classrooms and beyond as the schools are set to reopen soon.

Parents, teachers, and students around the work are facing different challenges from remote teaching and learning along with balancing work and home responsibilities, and with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Educator Hub will also include information and guides from relevant organizations to help teachers have conversations with students regarding racial inequities to create an inclusive environment.

Facebook also added that it will be sharing Anti-Racism Guides on Instagram to help cater to a more inclusive and respectful community and provide access to information and inspiring content.

The Educators Hub will also include activities, lesson plans, conversation starters, videos, and other tools to help young people develop the skills needed to navigate and thrive in the digital world. It will also help the teachers to connect with other teachers and find support from the online community.

Facebook has also mentioned that the Educators Hub offers self-care strategies, mental health tips, and other resources from experts.

Facebook is planning to share mental health and anti-bullying guides to help the educators, parents, and students to manage stress and maintain a positive environment in this academic year.

NTA releases JEE Main 2020 admit card; check details

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August 18, 2020

Providing relief to lakhs of aspirants, NTA has released the JEE Main 2020 admit card for all the successfully registered candidates. The admit card of JEE Main 2020 has been released by the NTA in the online mode. Aspirants can now download from- jeemain.nta.nic.in.

Following the dismissal of a plea by the Supreme Court demanding postponement of the JEE Main 2020 second phase exam due to the rising number of COVID-19, the admit cards for the engineering entrance have been finally released.

The JEE Main 2020 admit card was to be released by the testing agency 15-days prior to the examination. The engineering entrance exam is scheduled to be held from 1st to 6th Sept 2020; which means that the admit card should have been out on or before 15th August 2020.

Also read: JEE Main 2020 online application ends on Sunday

However, owing to the pending hearing of a plea demanding postponement of JEE Main 2020 and NEET 2020 exams, the apex testing agency decided to postpone the release of hall tickets.

Steps to download hall ticket for JEE Main 2020 Admit Cards:

-Visit official exam website- jeemain.nta.nic.in

-Click on Link 1 / Link 2 for downloading JEE Main admit card 2020

– Enter application number in the first field

– Enter date of birth in second field

-Verify the details and submit

– JEE Main 2020 Admit Card will be displayed

Naidu: IITs must provide sustainable solutions to nation

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August 17, 2020

Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu directed all IITs and higher educational institutions (HEIs) to do research on societies and provide solutions to the problems faced by it. Naidu said Indian institutions will be counted among the world’s best only when they start impacting the societies around them by developing optimal and sustainable solutions to the problems faced by the nation.

He also asked the IITs to prepare for future pandemics like the current COVID-19 outbreak that has pushed classes and all celebrations online.

Naidu also added that this situation has to change and there has to be a concerted and collective action from all the stakeholders—governments, universities, educationists and the private sector to bring about a radical improvement in the standards and quality of education of our institutes of higher learning.

Congratulating IIT Delhi for emerging as a leader in the entrepreneurship space, the Vice President said “It is good to note that institutions such as IIT Delhi are producing job providers rather than job seekers and becoming trendsetters for other institutions in the country”.

Union Minister for Education Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Professor V Ramgopal Rao, Director of IIT Delhi were also present on the occasion.

Union Education Minister defends exams at VC’s meet

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August 17, 2020

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has defended the UGC in making the final year/ semester examinations compulsory for the students stating that it was done so that the students do not face any difficulty in the future. The meeting was held in the Association of Indian Universities’ Annual Conference of Vice-Chancellors meeting has stated that the decision regarding conducting the final year examinations by the UGC has been taken keeping in mind the future of the students.

The UGC has decided to conduct the final semester examination in the online or offline mode or in both. During the meeting conducted the union minister stated that some of the universities have conducted the exams or are going to during the pandemic situations keeping in mind the future of the children.

The universities have been given the option of conducting the examination in online, offline or blended mode. He said during his interaction with different universities that some of the universities have already conducted the examination or is doing it, or is doing good work during the COVID-19 pandemic as the future of children is equally important. He was addressing the Association of Indian Universities annual vice-chancellors meet, through webinar.

Also read: Union HRD Minister shares initiative on digital education

He also said “We have always been in favour of giving autonomy to universities, in the phased manner we are looking at how to improve the 45,000 degree colleges and give them autonomy. Right now only 8000 colleges have the autonomy, but in the phased manner this will be increased.”

AIM, NASSCOM launch ‘ATL AI Step Up Module’ for school students

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August 17, 2020

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission in collaboration with NASSCOM launched the ‘ATL AI Step Up Module’ for students. The move is to drive AI education and innovation to the next level in schools across the country.

After a successful launch of a unique initiative to take Artificial Intelligence (AI) to schools through ‘ATL AI Modules’ in February this year, this module is the next step in bringing AI to Indian classrooms. The module will provide a comprehensive set of learning it yourself Advanced modules to those who wish to expand their knowledge base after becoming familiar with the basics of the AI discipline through the AI base module.

With this new launch, through hands-on projects and activities, the step-up module encourages a deeper understanding of AI which can be applied in the real world. The module is designed in an attractive graphical manner that is comprehensible for all students belonging to rural and urban areas.

Also read: Minister: Delhi govt’s free coaching scheme for meritorious students to resume soon

CEO NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant said the AI step-up module is the future of this country as it targets the youth which in itself is path-breaking. AI is really the future for our children and it is the truly unique endeavor by AIM and NASSCOM.

Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, R Ramanan said “that this first-ever Industry government academia initiative has received a huge response from students by the introduction of a base module and now AIM, NITI Aayog and NASSCOM is proud to launch its step-up module. Inputs from leading academic institutions including IITs have contributed to the development of these modules”.

SC: NEET, JEE Main to be held in September; rejects plea

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August 17, 2020

The Supreme Court today dismissed the plea seeking postponement of NEET 2020 and JEE Main, scheduled in September. The apex court said the NEET medical entrance exam and the JEE for admission into the IITs will be held as per schedule.

“The careers of students cannot put under jeopardy,” the top court said as it dismissed a petition by 11 students to defer the exams due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The two exams are scheduled to be conducted in September. “Life cannot be stopped. We have to move ahead with all safeguards and all… Are students ready to waste one whole year? Education should be opened up. Covid may continue for a year more. Are you going to wait another year? Do you know what the loss to the country and peril to the students is?,” Justice Arun Mishra, who headed a three-judge bench of the top court said.

Also read: HRD Minister: JEE Main 2020 eligibility criteria reduced for NITs and CFTIs

The 11 students from 11 states, who filed the plea, had wanted the authorities be asked to conduct the exams only after the normalcy is restored.

Nearly 25 lakh students have registered to appear for the national level engineering and medical entrance examinations scheduled to be held in September.

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