UPSC to conduct personality tests for the Civil Services Exam 2019

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July 20, 2020

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) was in the midst of conducting the Personality Tests (PTs)/Interviews for 2,304 candidates for the Civil Services Examination, 2019 (CSE-2019) when the govt decided to impose a lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19. The Commission also reviewed the position and decided to defer the remaining PT Boards for 623 candidates of the CSE-2019 from 23.03.2020 onwards.

The Commission has decided to hold the PTs for the remaining candidates from 20th to 30th of July, 2020 and all the candidates have been suitably informed in advance. In order to address the safety and health concerns of the candidates, expert advisers and staff of the Commission, suitable arrangements have been put in place.

As train services are not fully functional, the Commission, as a one-time measure, has decided to reimburse the lowest ‘to and fro airfare’ to the candidates coming for the PTs. The Commission is also helping the candidates with their lodging and transport requirements.

Also read: UPSC allows candidates to submit revised choice of exam centre

On reaching the Commission, all candidates will be provided a ‘Sealed Kit’ consisting of a face mask, face shield, a bottle of sanitizer and hand gloves. Since the Interview Boards generally comprise of senior advisers, the Commission has taken all precautionary and safety measures for contactless PTs in order to shield the interviewers and the interviewees appropriately.

The Commission is committed to ensure the highest standards of health safety even as it fulfills its Constitutional mandate for selecting the most suitable candidates through its examinations.

HRD Ministry seeks feedback from parents over reopening of schools

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July 20, 2020

In the light of Corona pandemic, the Union Ministry of Human Resources and Development (HRD) has released circular asking states and UTs to seek feedback from parents over reopening of schools.

The HRD Ministry has sent a circular also asking the expectations of parents from schools once they reopen. The Department of School Education and Literacy has directed education secretaries of all states and union territories to revert with the feedback by July 20.

“I am directed to refer to the subject matter with a request to furnish feedback of parents of school going children on the following points by 20.07.2020 positively:

Also read: HRD Ministry issues new guidelines for migrant students

-What is the likely period when they will be comfortable with the reopening of schools —August / September / October 2020

-What are the parents’ expectations from Schools — as and when they reopen.

-Any other feedback/remarks in this regard,” the circular from the HRD ministry said.

The extraordinary situation which has arisen due to the COVID-19 crisis has also forced the Centre to slash the school syllabus up to 30 per cent for students of classes 9 to 12. The HRD Ministry had said that courses will be rationalized to lighten the load of the students.

The HRD ministry has been asking schools and colleges to adopt online teaching instead of classroom teaching during the coronavirus pandemic.

Madras HC allows private unaided colleges to collect 75 pc fees

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July 20, 2020

In a major development, the Madras High Court permitted private unaided colleges and schools to collect 75 per cent of the fee amount from students and parents for the academic year 2020-21. The court gave the decision in view of the uncertainty over the opening of the colleges and schools due to the Covid pandemic.

Around 40 per cent of the fees can be collected as advance fees on or before August 31. The balance 35 per cent shall be collected within two months, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said.

The judge was passing interim orders on a batch of over 30 PIL petitions from the private educational institutions challenging an order dated April 20 of the government preventing them from collecting the full fees and at the same time directing them to pay the salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff.

Also read: Madras High court denies to grant stay on digital classes in Tamil Nadu

The judge said that he was passing this order taking into consideration the present situation and to find an interim solution to clear the logjam and to balance the interest of all the stakeholders.

The unaided private institutions shall collect the arrears of fees payable for 2019-2020 on or before September 30. If any student has already paid the entire fees including arrears, the same shall not be a ground to claim refund of the fees, the judge made it clear.

The Fee Committee, constituted by the government, shall immediately start the process of the determining the tuition fees for the respective institutions and make an attempt to complete the same within eight months from August 2020.

HRD Minister: National Test Abhyas app offered 30 lakh free mock tests

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July 20, 2020

The National Test Abhyas app developed by National Testing Agency (NTA) has till date offered 30 lakh free online practice sessions/ mock tests within 55 days of its launch.

The information has been shared by Union Human Resource Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

The HRD Minister twitted “Happy to share that @DG_NTA‘s mobile application launched during #Covid19 lockdown for JEE (Main) and NEET aspirants called ‘National Test Abhyas’ has touched a milestone of delivering 30 lakh free online practice sessions in just 55 days,”.

The Union minister had launched the National Test Abhyas app on May 20 that provides free mock tests to the JEE and NEET aspirants. As the students are unable to attend their coaching classes due to the coronavirus lockdown, this mobile app helps the students to prepare for their examinations.

Also read: National Test Abhyas app used by over 10 lakh students

Within 3 days of its launch, the app was downloaded by over two lakh JEE and NEET aspirants of India and over 80,000 students had appeared for mock tests. The number of downloads rose to 10 lakh after one month of its launch, while the mock tests for a total of 26 papers were taken by over 17 lakh time till June 21.

NTA had on June 21 announced that the app will also have questions in Hindi. Earlier, the app only had questions in English language.

Happy to share that @DG_NTA‘s mobile application launched during #Covid19 lockdown for JEE (Main) and NEET aspirants called ‘National Test Abhyas’ has touched a milestone of delivering 30 lakh free online practice sessions in just 55 days. https://t.co/R0Ek3Cgfh1

— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) July 19, 2020

Ex-IAS Malini Shankar appointed as VC of Indian Maritime University

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July 20, 2020

In a major development, Malini Shankar, a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Maharashtra cadre, has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Chennai-based Indian Maritime University (IMU). The appointment has been announced by the Shipping Ministry.

According to the Ministry, Malini Shankar’s term at the IMU will be for five years.

The IMU currently has six campuses located at Chennai, Mumbai, Kandla, Kochi, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam. Most of these campuses are headed by the director in-charge of the campuses.

Also read: Himanshu Pandya appointed as vice-chancellor of Gujarat University

The IMU started functioning from November 14, 2008 after integrating the existing seven maritime academic institutions: National Maritime Academy – Chennai, TS Chanakya – Mumbai, Lal Bahadur Shastri College of Advanced Maritime Studies & Research – Mumbai, Marine Engineering Research Institute – Mumbai, Marine Engineering Research Institute – Kolkata, Indian Institute of Port Management – Kolkata, and National Ship Design & Research Centre – Visakhapatnam.

Malini Shankar is also the Chairperson of the National Shipping Board (NSB). NSB is the top advisory agency to the government on shipping-related matters.

Online learning platform Coursera raises $130M

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July 20, 2020

Country’s largest online learning platform Coursera, has raised an additional $130 million and now the firm valued at $2.5 billion. The online learning platform offers courses taught by teachers at top universities such as Stanford and Johns Hopkins.

The pandemic has given virtual learning providers a huge boost. According to CEO Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera’s enrollments have quintupled from year to year. “The global higher education market is worth $ 2 trillion,” he says. “It’s just huge and it was already online. So it is with Covid forced on-line.”

Coursera offers 4,500 courses with 160 university partners and 40 companies, including Google and IBM, who also create courses. A typical coursera course costs $ 49 and lasts 10 hours. An annual subscription of $ 399 gives learners access to the entire catalog.

Also read: Coursera provides free access to students

The free college programme was a blessing for students and also served as a great marketing tool. In September, Coursera charges between $ 250 and $ 400 per student subscription. Schools that are trying to offer online courses are already enrolling, including the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in South India with 20,000 participants.

Coursera was founded by Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng with a vision of providing life-transforming learning experiences to anyone, anywhere.

Meghalaya Board declares MBOSE SSLC result 2020;check details

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July 20, 2020

After months-long wait, the Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education has announced the Meghalaya Board 10th result 2020. Students who appeared in the exam can visit the official website to check their results by entering their roll number. Students must note that given the present circumstances the MBOSE SSLC result 2020 have been made available in the online mode only.

Students can check their results on megresults.nic.in.

The Meghalaya Board has published MBOSE SSLC Results 2020 online for nearly 51,000 students on Monday. The total number of students who had registered for Class 10 Board exams stands at 51,334, of which 28,412 are girl students, while the rest i.e. 22,922 are boys. All these students are eagerly awaiting the declaration of Meghalaya SSLC Results 2020 since nearly four months now. However, that end is about to end on 21st July 2020.

Also read: Meghalaya Board declares MBOSE Class 12 Result 2020

Steps to check MBOSE SSLC result 2020

-Visit the official site- megresults.nic.in

-Click on the link of Class 10 Results

-Enter roll number and other details

-Click submit to get results

Puducherry govt to provide money and rice to parents as schools closed

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July 18, 2020

The Puducherry government has decided to give rice and money to every parent, taking into consideration the fact that students are not getting their mid-day meals provided at government schools.

The information has been shared by Education Minister of Puducherry R Kamalakannan.

“As the schools are not functioning due to the corona, 50,000 students for four months will be given 4 kg of rice and groceries of Rs 250-330 per parent on the school premises,” said Kamalakannan.

According to the Health Department, the total number of cases includes 804 active cases and 28 deaths. Around 1,066 have been treated in the union territory, informed the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare Services, Government of Puducherry.

Also read: Parents’ role in making their wards confident and strong

With a spike of 34,884 cases and 671 deaths were reported in India in the last 24 hours, the total number of positive cases reached 1,038,716 on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total number of cases includes 358,692 active cases, 653,751 cured/discharged/migrated and 26,273 deaths, the Health Ministry informed.

SC rejects PIL seeking ‘one nation one education board’

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July 18, 2020

In a major development, Supreme Court dismissed the PIL seeking the implementation of ‘one nation one education board’. The plea filed by BJP Leader Adhwini Upadhyay sought a common syllabus and curriculum for the children between age groups 6 to 14 by merging the two national level boards – Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Board or ICSE board.

Supreme Court bend headed by Justice DU Chandrachud told the petitioner that such decisions cannot be taken by the court. “How can you ask the court to merge one board with the other? These are not the functions of the court,” asked the court. The apex court, however, directed the petitioner to approach the government with the proposal.

Also read: Aadhaar not mandatory for school admissions: Supreme Court

Many people have earlier proposed the one nation one education board. This proposal has been rejected and even invoked strong reactions from various parts of the country.

At present, India has three national level boards namely the CBSE, the ICSE Board and the NIOS which is a national open school board. Besides this, every state in the country has an education board. Some states like West Bengal, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala etc. have two separate boards – one for Class 10 or high school and the other for higher secondary – classes 11 and 12. Besides these, many states have separate boards for open school as well as madrasa education in the country.

Ed-tech firm uFony raises fund for School Diary platform

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July 18, 2020

With the onset of COVID-19, the ed-tech firms are making gaga from last few months. uFony Services, a Pune-based ed-tech firm, has raised funding from The Chennai Angels and other independent investors for School Diary, an interactive platform that brings education to smartphones.

School Diary is a user-friendly platform that caters to K12 schools, helping them engage students and conduct classes virtually without compromising on privacy.

It is an integrated virtual classroom with online teaching, virtual PTMs, instant academic and non-academic updates, and even an online store where parents can shop for school products.

Also read: Edtech startup Testbook raises Rs 60 crore in Series B funding round

The platform also has an administrator interface to collect online payments, automate accounting, manage transport, track live busses, monitor driver/staff behavior, manage payroll, inventory & accounts, and much more.

The company provides SAAS solutions to over 1,000 educational institutes including colleges, schools, coaching, pre-schools, and daycares across 10 countries.

The blended learning is the new normal for educational institutions in this pandemic.

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