Sunday, May 31, 2026
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 578

Telangana Marching Towards Excellence in Higher Education

By
Akash
-
Higher Education in Telangana

Telangana’s capital city of Hyderabad today enjoys a world class reputation for its nationally and internationally known educational and research institutes. Top-class infrastructure and the Government initiatives are laying the foundation of a solid economic growth model, creating finest possible educational opportunities for all, observes Sudheer Goutham of Elets News Network (ENN).

The city bespeaks an impressive growth model being boosted and shaped up by an able State leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.

One of the most fascinating factors of Hyderabad is its consistent emphasis on consolidating itself as an attractive education centre. Today, it is steadfastly progressing to evolve as the biggest higher education hub of the country.

The Hyderabad has already made its mark as the IT Hub on a global platform and in the last few years it has also emerged as a Start-Up capital of India by promoting, encouraging and incubating the idea of startups over the years through various pro-active initiatives and policies.

Hyderabad – A Land of Premier Educational and Research Institutions

Higher EducationHyderabad holds a rich academic tradition and houses some of the most premier educational institutions of the country. It incorporates a large number of universities, management colleges, research centers and technical institutes.

In addition to one of the country’s oldest universities — Osmania University, the city of pearls, as the Hyderbad is described in common parlance, has three central varsities, including the University of Hyderabad, English and Foreign Language University (EFLU), and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad National Urdu University. The first technological university of the country – Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH and Hyderabad Central University, which are featured as one of the top universities in the country for academic excellence, as per Ministry of Human Resource Development’s survey conducted among 3,500 higher educational institutions.

Besides, these varsities, Hyderabad seats several research institutes such as the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Centre for Cellular Microbiology (CCMB), National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and some of India’s premium defense laboratories and space institutes.

Moreover, the city and its surroundings present an excellent mix of top-class business schools, engineering colleges, research institutes and Start-Up Incubators like the Indian School of Business (ISB), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ICICI Knowledge Park, Tata Institute of Social Science Research, Narsee Monjee, ICFAI, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and T-Hub which are continuing to boost Hyderabad as a Higher Education hub by attracting and generating a significant amount of talent while widening the city’s scope for advanced research and entrepreneurship.

On the other hand, the National Institute Technology, Warangal, IIIT, Basar (RGUKT), IIT, Medak and more than 300 private engineering and medical colleges and business schools are also significantly contributing and working as a catalyst.

Quality Education for All

To provide equal, qualitative as well as professional qualification to girls and boys, the State government is introducing various educational initiatives across Telangana.

Navin Mittal, Commissioner, Collegiate and Technical Education Department, says “The vision of the State Government involves three-pronged approach. First thing is to improve Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) which is around 36 percent. Though, the GER of Telangana is nearly 10 percent higher than that of the national average, the access of education to every student in the State is the top most priority of the Government.”

“The second focus area of the Government is ensuring basic infrastructure in both government and private sector. A lot of focus is on maintaining the infrastructure which includes buildings, laboratories, libraries, equipment, furniture and other basic amenities.”

“The third is improving overall quality in terms of teaching and learning. The latest practices are integrated into the education system of the State to improve the quality,” observes the Commissioner.

According to Ajay Misra, Special Chief Secretary, Department of Education, “The Government has initiated various schemes for the underprivileged and economically weaker section of the society including Residential Education Institution for socially backward classes, Ambedkar Overseas Vidhya Nidhi among others which are yielding excellent results.”

“Ambedkar Overseas Vidhya Nidhi (AOVN) has been introduced by the State Government to enable the benefit of higher education in foreign universities for PG & PhD courses to the meritorious SC Students. Under this scheme, a grant of Rs 20 Lakh in two installments — First installment of Rs 10 lakh on production of landing permit / I-94 (immigration card) and the second installment of Rs 10 lakh on production of second semester results is awarded.” T

TASK has been collaborating with various corporate and multi-national companies that will work towards setting up a ‘train- and-hire’ model for students of mechanical, electrical, electronics and aeronautical domains in TASK-registered engineering colleges.

The grants are issued for study in the foreign universities covering 10 selected countries – Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Singapore, United Kingdom, USA and others. So far, over 405 students have been given these grants after through screening of academic background.

“Also, the Government has instituted over 30 Women Degree Colleges in last four years to benefit young girls from Scheduled Caste community. This move has yielded excellent results with more than 80-90 percent pass outs, said the Special Chief Secretary, Department of Education, Government of Telangana.

Moreover, Telangana Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare Residential Education Institution Societies have been catering to students from these underprivileged sections, providing high standard education in junior and higher education.

All these initiatives are in line with the Union Government’s vision of aligning the students with modern means and promoting innovations.

Telangana Academy of Skill & Knowledge (TASK)

Higher EducationTASK is a not-for-profit organisation created by the Government of Telangana for bringing synergy among institutions of Government, Industry and Academia with an objective of offering quality human resources and services to the industry.

Value for Students: Granting access to modules for enhancing their technology, personal and organisation skills at highly subsidised rates.

Value for Colleges: Forging partnerships with colleges to create environs conducive for growth through faculty development, research pilots and help colleges provide quality education for the leaders of tomorrow with a focused systematic programme.

Value for Corporate: Programmes to help corporate gain access to a pool of trained graduates for suitable roles. Our students are trained extensively in latest technology to help companies find the right candidate.

TASK has been collaborating with various corporate and multi-national companies that will work towards setting up a ‘train-and-hire’ model for students of mechanical, electrical, electronics and aeronautical domains in TASK-registered engineering colleges. Companies have designed various training modules across these domains to help students get practical industry exposure.

Speaking over one such collaboration, TASK CEO Sujiv Nair said the industry-academic partnership such as these help bridge gaps, ensuring students stay relevant to the ever- changing requirements of the digital world.

Infrastructure and land space for Education Hub

The Jawaharnagar Education Hub after receiving a formal clearance from the Union Human Resource Development Ministry, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority decided to go ahead with its mega Education Hub plan, which is further transforming Hyderabad into a ‘Knowledge City’.

According to K. Gangadhar, Real Estate Officer, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), “Of the total 2,370 acers of land for Education Hub in Jawaharnagar, over 1,700 acres are in the position of HMDA are available to be given the education institutions. BITS Pilani has been given 200 acers of land for their phase 2 extension of the campus, where they came up with an excellent world- class infrastructure. Similarly, other educational institutions and associations like All India Institute of Management School, Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi has also applied for the land and have given advance amount for the institutions,”

Metropolitan Authority plans to develop and manage other infrastructure centers under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) module, such as sports complexes, housing arrangement for delegates coming over to conduct or attend conferences, hostels for students, and quarters for scholars, faculty, and staff members

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), in association with the Centres of Excellence, has prepared a blueprint for the Jawaharnagar Education Hub, and has already acquired 700 acres of land, where 500 acres of land will be set aside for establishing campuses, and the remaining 200 acres for supporting infrastructure facilities like roads, hostels, and auditoriums.

Premier institutions like BITS Pilani, Army Dental Sciences College, and Geethanjali College of Engineering and Technology already have campuses in the area. While other institutes of global and national repute in various fields like science, medical, journalism, sports, defense, and aerospace have been approached to set up their campuses in the education hub.

As per the proposal, HMDA will allocate land between 5-25 acres to each educational institution, depending on the academic activity they intend to take up. Besides land, infrastructure facilities like electricity, water, sewer, communication, connectivity, and transport would be provided by the Metropolitan Development Authority.

Additionally, the Metropolitan Authority plans to develop and manage other infrastructure centers under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) module, such as sports complexes, housing arrangement for delegates coming over to conduct or attend conferences, hostels for students, and quarters for scholars, faculty, and staff members. Facilities like cafeteria and shops would be set up purely on a commercial basis.

There is also a good demand for spaces in the Jawaharnagar Education Hub, as various educational institutions like the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, All India Management Schools Association, and XLRI Jamshedpur have already expressed their interest and placed requisitions for land to set up campuses.

The easy availability of required facilities is attracting a slew of educational institutions as well as domestic and multinational companies, who are on the hunt for high-quality talent. It is worth mentioning that the talent pool generated by Hyderabad is socially diverse, considering the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of backward sections in Higher Education here is one of the highest in the country, according to the All India Survey on Higher Education 2015-16. All of these factors combined together are pushing Hyderabad to emerge as a major higher education hub in the years to come.

Women’s role in education sector is enormous: Temjen Imna Along

By
Akash
-

“Women in our country are doing great and in education sector, their contribution is enormous,” said Temjen Imna Along, Higher and Technical Education Minister, Government of Nagaland.

The Minister was in Chandigarh today to be a part of 10th Higher Education and Human Resource Conclave as Guest of Honour.

He inaugurated the conclave in the presence of other eminent dignitaries including Navin Mittal, Commissioner, Collegiate and Technical Education Department, Government of Telangana; Manish Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, National Accreditation Board for Education and Training – Quality Council of India; Dr Dalip Kumar, Additional State Project Director, RUSA, Department of Higher Education, Chandigarh Administration; and Dr Madhu Chitkara, Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara University, Chandigarh.

Emphasising on the need of country’s development to face the challenges ahead, Along said, “Governments may come and go but we must stick to one belief that our every action must lead the nation on the path of development.”

“Our country can only grow when all the States grow together in every sector including education,” the minister added.

During his speech, Along touched various aspects like importance of digitisation in education, need of North East States’ inclusion for holistic development of the nation and important factors to impart quality higher education in the country.

Temjen Imna Along also unveiled a special issue of digitalLEARNING magazine along with other dignitaries. The magazine has touched challenges, scope, and opportunities in higher education sector of India. It has also featured the “Top Private and Deemed to Universities of India Ranking 2019”.

The senior IAS officer Navin Mittal, Commissioner, Collegiate and Technical Education Department, Government of Telangana emphasised on the Government, industry and academia collaboration for all round development of students.

He said, “We have to increasingly collaborate to bridge the gap between Government, Industry and Academia which will lead to holistic development of students.”

Sharing his views on how technology is transforming the learning practices, Mittal said, “In coming future, students will need not to go to campuses for studies rather the technology will facilitate anytime and anywhere learning.”


Manish Kumar, CEO, National Accreditation Board for Education & Training – Quality Council of India, said, “We need to shift from subject-based assessment or evaluation to competency based evaluation of students.”

Dr Madhu Chitkara, Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara University, Chandigarh, said that the incubation centre at Chitkara University aimed to nurture “Job Creators”.

The day-long summit witnessed sessions on higher education and human resource such as: New Age Innovations Redefining Higher Education Landscape in the country – Transitions and Transformations; Present Digital Era and its Implications in Human Resource Management; Changing Enrolment Trends at Indian Institutions; and others.

During the 10th Higher Education and Human Resource Conclave Chandigarh, over 20 institutes were felicitated from across the Northern region of country to showcase their exemplary contribution to impart quality education.

The summit also included industry presentations from renowned edupreneurs, stakeholders, and industrialists on their latest innovations and the best practices.

Chandigarh to host 10 th Higher Education and Human Resource Conclave on Friday

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-
Chandigarh to host HE HR Conclave

Chandigarh is all set to host 10 th Higher Education and Human Resource Conclave on Friday. Top-notch edu-leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders from the industry will gather in the city to deliberate upon the best practices in higher education.

The day-long conference is meant to foster partnership between Government, industry and academia and bridge the gap between the three.

The summit is scheduled to be organised by Temjen Imna Along, Minister, Higher & Technical Education, Government of Nagaland in the presence of Navin Mittal, Commissioner, Collegiate and Technical Education Department, Government of Telangana; Manish Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, National Accreditation Board for Education & Training – Quality Council of India; Dr Dalip Kumar, Additional State Project Director, RUSA, Department of Higher Education; and Shankar Ji Shah, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University.

Powered by NoPaperForms, the 10 th edition of the conclave is going to be organised by Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd with Chitkara University as university partner and QS I-Gauge as Supporting Partner.

The summit is supposed to showcase the best Higher Education and HR practices from across India to boost employability among students.

A special issue of digitalLEARNING magazine will also be launched during the 10 th Higher Education and Human Resource Conclave Chandigarh showcasing new challenges, scope, and visions of the education sector, especially in higher learning, and an evolving role of HR professionals in the corporate world.

Also, there will be panel discussions on various current challenges with expectations to enhance innovation and entrepreneurship among higher education students.

During the conclave, top universities, B-schools and engineering colleges ranked by digitalLEARNING magazine will be felicitated. HR leaders for adopting or innovating the new policies or practices for boosting employability will also be felicitated during the conference.

Microsoft introduces free Artificial Intelligence Courses for industry leaders

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-
artificial intelligence courses

Microsoft is releasing a new set of artificial intelligence courses framed for business leaders which will involve free instructional videos and case studies.

These videos and case studies will be focusse on the less technical aspects of the technology as it applies to top executives who are trying to integrate AI, including strategy, company culture and ethical responsibilities, into their operations.

They’re the latest in a series of instructional materials Microsoft has released, as it looks to address the usual shortage or absence of educational resources and talent in the Artificial Intelligence sector.

Also Read: Is Artificial Intelligence redefining Women Power?

As per Mitra Azizirad, Microsoft’s Corporate VP of AI Marketing and Productisation, the study material is the result of three-year conversations that Microsoft has had with client executives, who opined that there was a dearth of educational resources on AI that reached beyond the nuts-and-bolts technical level.

“We wanted to make sure we were meeting the needs of business leaders and really empowering them, no matter where they were on their journey, to drive an AI transformation with a focus on strategy, culture and governance,” Azizirad added.

The development comes about a week after the publication of a Microsoft-commissioned survey gauging executives’ priorities when it comes to implementing AI.

Is Artificial Intelligence redefining Women Power?

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-
Is Artificial Intelligence redefining Women Power?

Nandita KoshalArtificial Intelligence is nowadays one of the most popular topics to discus upon. It only continues to significantly increase in its role in business and daily life in general. It is important to discuss that what role women are likely to play in the world of Artificial Intelligence, writes Nandita Koshal, Research Associate, International Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building, O P Jindal Global University.

AI and IoT technologies are increasingly being fashioned on women and their perceived roles. They play the role of our guide as GPS that takes us to our destination; as Cortana and Siri they become our personal assistants who aid in expediting our day to day commitments; and as Alexa and Google play they become our companions and friends who respect and fulfil our requests. It often makes one wonder why all these technologies have woman automated voices along with feminine names. The argument becomes even more compelling when we see the existence of social humanoid female robots like Nadine and Sophia. And now as women Artificial Intelligence have started dominating in the popular entertainment culture as Tony stark’s trusted AI ‘Friday’ in Avenger series (a selection made after being betrayed by his own creation Ultron), a lonely man’s sole companion in ‘Her’ or as conscious synths to ‘Humans’, a stronger attention to this trend is drawn.

There is a growing concern amongst a certain section that such technologies may provide a direct competition to the roles that have been traditionally viewed as the domain of the women, signaling to the society that the role of women is replaceable by technological innovation and AI This is further accentuated by the reports by World Economic Forum and IMF that have highlighted that women face a higher risk of being pushed out of the workforce by automation and Artificial Intelligence an inference incumbent on the fact that occupations that have the highest risk of automation like cashiers, caregivers, and sale operators, employ higher proportion of female workers. Therefore, can we conclude AI is a threat to women at both personal and professional fronts? Not necessarily.

Also Read: IIT Hyderabad partners TalentSprint to equip young talent in AI

While it indeed makes one think why developers have made AI inherently feminine, the probable reason could be to make technology more trusting, acceptable and seductive. The traits of trust, loyalty, patience, effective communication, empathy, care, companionship are often associated more with women. Using automated female voice for AI or IoT makes one less vary and more open to their usage. The trust that they emanate enables them to become more intimate part of our lives both at home and at workplace. However, as AI takes over these mundane jobs, should women be worried about their role and positions? On the contrary women should view Artificial Intelligence and technological innovation as an elixir for rejuvenating their perceived roles.

As more and more routine jobs are automated, it provides women with a much needed impetus and push to explore the hitherto less ventured field of technology. According to Amrita Choudhury, Lead Asia-Pacific Internet Society-Women Special Internet Group and President & Director, CCAOI, “The advent of new technologies such as A.I is an opportunity for women especially in emerging countries like India to acquire new technological skills, apply for new types of jobs and get into new bastions which till now have been male dominated. Such an environment will also encourage more women to take up STEM studies”. Her statement acquires special significance in the light of the findings of various agencies on growing skill gap.

Also Read: IIT-Kharagpur to launch course on Artificial Intelligence

The National Sample Survey of India has pitched the ratio of men to women in highly skilled occupations to roughly four to one. Similarly, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has propounded the gender gap especially among Artificial Intelligence professionals to be more than three times and has expressed concern that “unless women are encouraged to enter the field of science, technology and engineering, the gender skill gap could widen”. In this context, the area of AI and new technologies presents a massive opportunity for women to narrow down the gender gap and break into new fields as programme developers, coders, technological entrepreneurs, heads of technological organizations, and policymakers. In fact, Vera Songwe, the Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa recently observed that ‘increased access to the Internet would bridge women’s skill gap’.

Concurring with Vera, Shveta Kokash, Vice-President, ISOC (Internet Society) India Mumbai, an international not-for-profit, says, “A good understanding of Internet and related e-learning applications, technologies, machine learning undeniably provides women with greater opportunities in the job market. Artificial Intelligence hold the promise of reinventing our professional experiences as a woman. To leverage this, technology related skillsets and self-awareness will play a critical role.”

AI and other technologies in a way are giving women a chance to redefine and reimagine their roles, passions, professions and lives. It would hence be difficult to say if woman is reshaping Artificial Intelligence or AI is redefining the woman, but one can foretell that future of AI is Woman.

International Women’s Day: Better scheme implementation vital to boost Girl Child Education

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-
international women's day

Education is a vital tool for empowerment, and India rightly believes that educating its girl children will help in fulfilling its vision of creating empowered women and securing their rights. Though the nation has been successful in improving enrolment of girl children in elementary school, the bigger challenge is addressing enrolment and drop-outs, especially at secondary and higher secondary levels.

However, improving the retention ratio is interlinked to several enabling and disabling factors, as highlighted by a recent study done by CRY-Child Rights and You, ‘Educating the Girl Child: Role of Incentivisation and Other Enablers and Disablers’. The study is released on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

The study finds that dependency on someone to go to school is the biggest disabler for girls (90%) in attending schools. Frequent absenteeism (29%) and discomfort in absence of female teacher (18%) were identified as some of the other disabling factors that are often interlinked with the drop out of girl children. Delving deep into the reasons behind frequent absenteeism from school, frequent illness (52%) and being engaged in household chores (46%) surfaced as the biggest deterrents across four states.

Also, infra-structural issues like poor roads and unavailability of transport to schools were highlighted as some of the top reasons for girls to miss education. Girls in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh mentioned about the distance and cost of transportation as some of the main reasons to miss school.

In Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, menstruation emerged as another important reason for missing school, which highlights the vital need for improved infrastructure and amenities in school. Though 87% of schools reported to have separate toilets for girls, not all of them were found to have running water and hand wash facilities.

Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, the study was conducted with more than 3000 interviewees from 1604 Households across four states, namely Haryana, Bihar, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Among the enablers, self motivation to go to school (88%) and inspiration from family (87%) were the most sought after motivating factors for girls to go to school. No resistance from family (94%) and community (95%) were also reported as some of the prominent encouraging reasons by majority of school going girls, while 70% of school going girls claimed to have received government incentives and/or benefits in the school.

Also, the study assesses the role of parents in shaping their girls education as a significant percentage of school going girls parents in Gujarat (89%) and Andhra Pradesh (98%) believed that education is of foremost important than anything else. However, the percentage was comparatively low in Bihar (76%) and Haryana (75%).

However, while analysing the most prevalent factors likely to hinder girl child education, the most spontaneous responses from the parents highlighted requirement of female labour within the household, indicating discontinuation of studies for the girl child.

The interesting aspect is that when both the spontaneous and the aided responses are combined, marriage of girls (66%) emerged as the chief factor that hinders girls’ education, followed by household chores (65%) and cost of education (62%). Amongst the underlying causes, elopement/love affairs followed by caring for siblings, predetermined gender roles and physical insecurity of girls were some of the top responses in this area.

Besides assessing different factors impacting girl child education, the study also evaluates the effectiveness of 21 government education incentivisation schemes, of which 12 are monetary and the rest provide non-monetary incentives.

Despite a large number of schemes being implemented, the analysis reveals that 40 percent of parents across the four states were unaware of the schemes. Among the parents who had not heard of any scheme, 9 in every 10 parents, majorly from Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, revealed that if they were aware of the schemes they would have availed benefits provisioned under the same.

According to Puja Marwaha, the CEO of CRY, “This indicates that though a number of government schemes are available for promoting girl child education, their benefits are yet to reach and touch the lives of girls due to lack of awareness and knowledge about the schemes.”

However, in terms of individual state analysis, a higher proportion of parents – 74% in Bihar and 88% in Gujarat were found to be aware of schemes promoting girl child education, while only 20% of parents in Andhra Pradesh were aware of any such schemes.

While assessing awareness about the various schemes for girls, the study finds that ‘Mukhyamantri Cycle Yojana’ by some state governments and Centre’s ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ were most popular among parents across the four states.

However, in terms of utilisation of the schemes, findings of the study reveals that in many cases girls have not been able to avail the schemes due to delay in distribution of scheme benefits and other factors like stringent eligibility criteria and conditionalities, complex processes to avail the benefits, and mismatch of the scheme benefits with the requirements of girls and their families. Also, the analysis highlights that majority of the girls who did not receive any benefit in the school were in the age bracket of 11-14 years and belonged to lower socio-economic strata.

Citing findings from the study, Puja Marwaha said, “For increased utilisation of incentive schemes, there must be better implementation to ensure timely provision of scheme benefits. It is also required to address the disablers through policy provisioning, which include safe and frequent transport facilities; provision of entitlements under RTE; investing in social behaviour change and communication to enhance status of girl child, and universalising crèche facilities.

Centre approves continuation of Atal Innovation Mission

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-
Atal Innovation Mission

The Central Government has approved the continuation of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).

Till 2019-20, the expenditure of AIM is around Rs 1,000 crore majority of which is used in expanding the Atal Tinkering Labs to 10,000 schools in view of their huge success at school level.

The Atal Innovation Mission has undertaken many bold and forward-looking initiatives such as Alal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and Atal Incubation Centres (AIC), which have received great traction.

State of the art Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) have been established in thousands of schools across the country to promote innovation and creativity among students. On similar lines to promote innovation in universities and industry, world class Atal Incubation Centres (AIC) and Atal Community Innovation Centers (ACIC) are being established under AIM.

Each ATL receives a grant in aid of Rs 12 lakhs in the first year, and up to 2 lakhs per year for subsequent 4 years, for maintenance of the ATL equipment and operational expenses.

Each selected AIC would be receiving grant in aid up to Rs 10 crore over 3-5 years in tranches per year, based on review and evidence of planned milestones reached.

Atal New India Challenges (ANICs) under AIM has supported promotion of product development in areas of national relevance and social importance.

Gradeup crosses 13 million registered users on its platform

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-
Gradeup

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

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-
faculty jobs

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

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-
Captain Amarinder Singh

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
1...577578579...1,773Page 578 of 1,773

LATEST NEWS

EDITOR PICKS

Top Trending News

POPULAR POSTS

Top Trending Categories

POPULAR CATEGORY

Latest Articles

© Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.