Gradeup crosses 13 million registered users on its platform

Corporate Updates

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March 7, 2019

Gradeup, India’s largest preparation platform for competitive exams has crossed 13 million exam- specific registered users community.

The company has achieved the milestone within three and half years of its inception in 2015.

Gradeup is freely available to those who are preparing for competitive exams by visiting the website or downloading the app. The platform allows students to access abundant study material to practice and prepare for the exam.

Users can avail platform’s premium offerings including ‘Classroom live courses’ and Test Series to enhance their preparation.

Gradeup is aimed to deliver value in the form of high-quality content curated by its expert faculty. It enabled the platform to become a subject matter expert across exam categories. Year on year, the company has seen steady growth in terms of its user base and services offered, as well as an enhanced consumer experience.

In September 2018, the platform crossed the 10 million subscribers mark. Furthermore, there have been more than 6 million tests submitted on Gradeup, with more than 155 million question attempts per month.

Commenting on the platform’s growth and future plans, Shobhit Bhatnagar, Co-founder, Gradeup said, “As a 3-year-old company, crossing the 13 million mark is quite a feat. It’s an exciting time for us at Gradeup, where our platform has a number of users that equals the population of a small country.”

“We can happily say that currently, 1% of India’s population is on Gradeup. The success rate for competitive exams is between 1 to 3 percent on an average. We have seen that those who prepare with Gradeup generally have a success rate that is 2-3X greater than the average, and we hope to take this higher,” he added.

Centre approves ordinance to restore 200-point roster in faculty jobs

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 7, 2019

The Union Cabinet on Thursday has approved the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s proposal to bring an Ordinance for restoring 200-point roster system for reservation in faculty jobs in higher education.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar had on Tuesday reiterated the Government’s commitment to the old formula for reservation in teaching jobs in higher education.

Last week, the apex court upheld the Allahabad High Court judgment favouring the 13-point roster for the third time. The High Court had ruled that reservation in faculty positions in universities should be calculated department-wise and not by taking the total seats in a university as the basis.

Also Read: Over 379K new jobs in government departments

The judgment and subsequent UGC order of March 2018 implementing the verdict had irked political parties with a substantial support base among SC/ST and OBC communities because it results in limited seats available for recruitment by each department under reserved categories.

The switch from university-wise to department-wise reservation in faculty positions in universities and colleges is expected to make a big dent in SC/ST and OBC representation among teachers. This is evident from the projection made by the Union government in its review petition filed in the Supreme Court last month. If reservation is implemented department-wise, the total posts across SCs, STs and OBCs in 21 central universities will shrink from 2,663 to 1,241.

Punjab Cabinet regularises services of over 5,000 teachers

News

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digitalLEARNING Network

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March 7, 2019

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s cabinet has approved the regularisation 5,178 government teachers on Wednesday.

The order passed by the State Cabinet will effective for the teachers with full pay scales from October 1, 2019.

Moreover, not only teachers, the cabinet has also regularised 650 nurses of the Health Department as per probation rules. From some time, these contractual nurses have been agitating for regularisation at basic pay.

According to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office, the cabinet also decided that the services of those teachers recruited during 2014, 2015 and 2016 would be regularised at full scale on completion of their two-year probation.

Further, the teachers would be assigned seniority from the date of completion of their probation period.

Benefits after regularisation:

These teachers are currently paid Rs 7,500 per month
Their salary would now be fixed at a minimum of grade pay of Rs 15,300 per month till the time they are given full scale
The Punjab cabinet has reduced the probation period from three years to two years

IIT Hyderabad partners TalentSprint to equip young talent in AI

By

Akash

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March 6, 2019

The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad has announced a professional programme on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emerging Technologies in partnership with TalentSprint.

The first-of-a-kind five-week residential programme is designed for the graduating students and senior college students. The course is likely to commence from May 27, 2019.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr U B Desai, Director, IIT Hyderabd, said: “Our new Centre for AI will impact industry and society in manifold ways. While other executive programs focus on upskilling senior professionals, we will develop smart young talent with strong AI and emerging tech capabilities to fuel the future of India’s tech sector. This summer program with TalentSprint is a significant initiative and will leverage the expertise of many acclaimed professors at IIT Hyderabad.”

Under National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), IIT Hyderabad (IITH) is ranked 9^th among Indian engineering institutions in 2018. The institute is in list of top ten engineering colleges consistently for the last three years.

IIT Hyderabad is the first institute in India to offer a B Tech programme in AI announced last month. The institution is considered a leader in state-of-art R&D and academic innovations.

Dr Santanu Paul, Co-Founder and CEO of TalentSprint, said: “In the next decade, AI will power a new wave of careers and create millions of high-value jobs worldwide. We are delighted to partner with IIT Hyderabad on this novel program aimed at preparing young talent.”

“On offer is the rich expertise of IIT Hyderabad professors combined with TalentSprint’s digital platform and industry connect. The residential facility will enable participants to experience life on a premier IIT campus, while the final certificate will prepare them for exciting careers in the future,” Paul added.

India records highest unemployment rate in February 2019: CMIE Report

By

Akash

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March 6, 2019

The unemployment rate for February is highest in India in last two years, revealed a report by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

According to CMIE report, in February 2019, the unemployment rate in India increased to 7.2 percent which is significantly higher than that of February last year (5.9 percent). It was the highest since September 2016.

While the Indian government is stepping up efforts to curb unemployment, a new report has revealed worrying numbers on the unemployment rate in India.

According to CMIE Head Mahesh Vyas, the number of employed professionals in 2019 is 400 million lower than the 406 million employed persons last year during the same time period.

Citing an estimated fall in the labour participation rate, Vyas said, “The downward projection is regardless of the narrowing figures in terms of job seekers and labour participation in the country, he added.”

CMIE has drawn the figures in its report after surveying tens of thousands of households across the country.

CMIE also released an analysis report in January this year which stated that the demonetisation has had a great impact on unemployment in India. The report also revealed that introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017 was one of the major reasons for job loss of nearly 11 million people of which 85 percent were from rural India.

In Mumbai, over 200 schools are unauthorised

By

Akash

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March 6, 2019

Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s Education Department has released a list of 211 unauthorised schools in the city.

Schools are asked to close down immediately as they run without the permission of the Government and the municipal corporation. The education officer also appealed to parents to look for their wards’ admission in recognised schools only and not to fall for fake schools.

According to the Right to Education Act, it is mandatory to take approvals from State Government and Municipal Corporation for a school to run in a city. In case of failing to do so, there is a provision of taking penal action against the school management if these rules are ignored.

Mumbai Municipal Corporation declares the list of unauthorised schools annually. Last year, the education department had declared 231 schools unauthorised. This year, the department has announced a list of unauthorised schools, which includes 211 schools, most of which are English medium.

Among the unauthorised schools, nine schools are in the F South Zone, 13 schools in F North Zone, 3 in east part, 4 in east, 4 in west, 4 in P west, 2 in P north, 2 in R North, 4 in R Middle, 1 in West, 2 in R South, 56 unauthorised schools in M East area, 4 in M West, 1 in F South, 1 in R South, 3 in M East, and 3 in R North.

ISRO’s Young Scientists Programme to train class 9 students

By

Akash

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March 5, 2019

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched “Young Scientist Programme” or “Yuva Vigyani Karyakram” to impart basic knowledge on space technology, space science and space applications to the students of class ninth onwards.

ISRO has chalked out this programme to ‘catch them young’.

Under the programme, students will be provided residential training of around two weeks during their summer holidays. Every year, ISRO will select three students from each State/Union Territory (UT) to participate in this programme. The programme will may choose any student irrespective of their boards i.e. CBSE, ICSE and state-board.

Students who have passed their class eight recently and currently studying in class nine are also eligible for the programme.

The selection of the students will be based on the academic performance and extracurricular activities. A circular in this regard has already been circulated to chief secretaries of States/Administrators of UTs.

Students belonging to rural areas will be given special weightage in the selection criteria. ISRO is likely to release the list of selected candidates from each State by end of March.

IAF pilot Abhinandan to be a part of Rajasthan’s school syllabus

By

Akash

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March 5, 2019

Rajasthan’s school students are likely to read the brave story of Indian Air Force’s pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in textbooks.

Rajasthan’s Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra proposed the same citing that Abhinandan’s school education was done in Jodhpur. He tweeted on Monday “Abhinandan’s story of bravery will be introduced in the school syllabus of Rajasthan in a bid to honour him.” He also wrote a similar Facebook post late Monday using the #AbhinandanDiwas.

Dotasra did not mention the classes where Wing Commander Abhinandan’s story will be studied.

Earlier, the education minister also proposed to add the stories of troopers died in the Pulwama attack in the syllabus. The syllabus review committee accepted the proposal. Dotasra recently constituted two committees to review the syllabus of the school textbooks of the state.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman emerged as a hero after shooting down a Pakistani F-16 fighter plane with his MiG 21. During this Varthman’s plane was also downed forcing him to bail out. He was captured and spent about 60 hours in Pakistan’s custody before returning home.

Professor Dr Rajiv Dharaskar becomes director of IIIT Kottayam

By

Akash

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March 4, 2019

Profesor Dr Rajiv Dharaskar has been appointed as the Director of Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kottayam – An Institute of National Importance.

Earlier, Dr Dharaskar was serving as the director of Matoshri Pratishthan Group of Institutions (MPGI) Integrated Campus located at Nanded.

As a director of MPGI, he was responsible for handling management of group of institutes (Engineering, Polytechnic and Management), which have 3 Principals, 7 Assistant Directors, 15 Head of the departments, over 200 staff members and 2200 students.

He also served as the Director, Disha Education Society (DIMAT – Disha Technical Campus), Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

He had completed PhD in Computer Science & Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Technology in 2007 from SGB Amravati University.

Post completion of his BSc in Computer Science & Applications in 1991, he completed his M Tech in computers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dhanbad.

Dr Dharaskar published/presented 370 research papers, guided 35 M Tech projects and 12 PhD scholars.

Currently, he is guiding three PhD scholars in variety of computing fields such as Digital Forensics (Mobile, Networking, Cloud, VANET, Data Mining, DataBase, Image Processing) and Human Computer Interaction (Mobile, Hand Guesture, Sign Language).

Dr Dharaskar also has written various books for improving Indian education system and also for academics.

Like ATM, Swayam is ATL – Anytime Learning: Prakash Javadekar

By

Akash

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March 4, 2019

“The portal SWAYAM offers 2,000 courses and like ATM, this is ATL ‘Anytime Learning’ for everyone for free”, said Uninon Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar.

The minister described about various initiatives taken by the Central Government to improve the Indian education ecosystem in his address during convocation at D Y Patil University in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.

Describing about the importance of education for current Government, Javadekar said, “The government expenditure on education has gone up from 3.8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014 to 4.6 per cent during the NDA rule.”

“It is our priority that 6 per cent of GDP should be allotted to education…While total expenditure by central and state governments on education was 3.8 per cent of GDP in 2014, it has increased to 4.6 per cent now. This indicates that we are progressing towards 6 per cent,” he said.

He also outlined the initiatives taken by the government to expand educational infrastructure in the country adding, “Educational infrastructure too is being expanded and reformed.”

“We are making continuous efforts to improve educational facilities….Seven new IITs, seven new IIMs, two new NITs (National Institutes of Technology), three central universities and around 125 Kendriya Vidyalayas have been started,” Javadekar said.

The Union minister also said that the NDA government took a “historic decision of introducing graded autonomy, while ensuring quality education”.

Speaking on how a “new India is emerging” under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he told graduating students of the university, “We need to take a decision to live for society, this is necessary for a new India which is free of corruption, uncleanliness, terrorism, poverty, communalism and casteism.”

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