Indian Army after positive response to its engineering “super 40” scheme from Kashmiri youth has now started the “Kashmir Super 30’ initiative for medical aspirants.
“I believe the children will do well and serve the country. Since a year,our aim has been to engage youth and bring them to mainstream,” said General officer Commanding 15 corps Gen AK Bhatt.
Last year, Indian Army’s initiative – “Kashmir Super 40” helped 28 students from Jammu and Kashmir belonging to economically weaker sections qualify for institutions like IITs and NITs. The students enrolled under the ‘Kashmir Super 40’ initiative are trained under the aegis of the Centre for Social Responsibility and Leadership (CSRL) and Petronet LNG Limited (PLL).
Of the 40 students under the initiative in 2017, 35 boys received coaching in Srinagar while five girls received training in Delhi. Of them, twenty-six boys and two girls qualified the IIT–JEE mains exam while nine made it to the IITs.
At the inaugural ceremony, Lt Gen Bhatt also said, “There’s peace among public due to ceasefire. If in these 30 days there’s no civil casualty it would be good news for us. Pakistan is still trying to infiltrate & our troops are being deployed to retaliate.”
Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have called a special meeting today on declining numbers of qualified candidates in the merit list of JEE Advanced and to discuss that the number of qualified candidates is enough to fill 11,279 seats of the institutions.
Since 2013, when IIT-JEE was renamed JEE Advanced, number of candidates who qualified the exam has always been at least twice the number of seats on offer. With 18,138 qualified students this year dropping to a seven-year low, the number is 1.6 times the total seats.
“There is a feeling that we may be on the razor edge. Some institutes have expressed concerns, which is why a meeting of the JAB (Joint Admission Board) has been called tomorrow (Wednesday) morning to discuss this and, if needed, think of a solution. It is in the interest of students that none of seats goes vacant,” said a member of the IIT-JAB on the condition of anonymity.
Despite adding 800 supernumerary seats exclusively for women with the objective to improve gender ratio on campus, the institutes are particularly concerned about the number of female candidates (2,076) on the merit list this year, which is also the lowest in seven years.
“The women, our experience over the last few admission cycles has shown, are usually a little inflexible in filling up choices (of institutes and seats). If cut-offs cannot be lowered, then candidates, especially women, will have to encouraged to fill as many choices as they can to ensure they are accommodated and seats don’t fall vacant,” said another member of IIT-JAB, who did not wish to be identified.
Out of the 18,138 who qualified JEE Advanced, 8,794 are general candidates, 3,140 are from the OBC category, 4,709 are Scheduled Castes (SC) and 1,495 are Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Andhra Pradesh (AP) Board intermediate supplementary exams’ results have been released on the official website bieap.gov.in.
The Board of Intermediate Education of Andhra Pradesh (BIEAP) has conducted the supplementary exams in the month of May. The annual exams for the first year began from February 28 and for second year, the exams were started from March 2.
The Intermediate 1st and 2nd year results were released in April. The overall pass percentage for Inter supplementary exams is around 73 per cent (excluding vocational). Among regions, Krishna district is at 84 per cent while Nellore is at 72 per cent and Guntur at 76 per cent.
AP Inter Supply results 2018: How to check
Step 1: Log on to the official website bieap.gov.in
Step 2: Click on the link for results
Step 3: Enter the required details in the provided fields and click on submit
Step 4: Your result will be displayed on the screen
Step 5: Download the result and take its printout for future reference
The board has instructed the students to check the results on the official website and also that the students should take a print out of the scorecard for the future reference.
This year, nearly 5.53 lakh appeared for the first year intermediate exams while in the second year, approximately five lakh students have given the exam in February.
Pranav Goyal from Panchkula has bagged the first position in JEE Advanced 2018 with 337 marks out of 360. He appeared for the exam from Roorkee zone.
Pranav is followed by Sahil Jain from Kota region and Kailash Gupta from Delhi region with second and third ranks, respectively.
Meenal Parakh from Kota is the topper among the female candidates appeared in JEE Advanced this year. Meenal scored 318 out of 360 marks and is placed 6th in Common Rank List.
K V R Hemant Kumar Chodipilli is the topper from IIT-Kharagpur region, reported Times of India. JEE Main topper Suraj Krishna secured 49th position in JEE Advanced results.
In OBC NCL category, Mavuri Siva Krishna Manohar from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh topped the exam, while, Aayush Kadam (Kota) and Jatoth Shiva Tarun (Hyderabad) came first in SC and ST categories respectively.
There have been 8,794 general (GE) candidates qualified while there are 3,140 OBC candidates, 4,709 SC candidates and 1,495 ST candidates.
IITs this year has 800 supernumerary seats for female candidates. Out of the total 800 seats, IIT Kharagpur has 113 seats, IIT Dhanbad has 95 seats, IIT Kanpur has 79 seats, IIT BHU has 76 seats, IIT Roorkee has 68 seats and IIT Delhi has 59 seats for female candidates.
The JEE Advanced was conducted for around 1.6 lakh candidates in two papers – paper 1 and paper 2. More than 65,000 selected candidates out of the total 2,31,024 had chosen not to appear for JEE Advanced this year.
JEE Advanced Result 2018 has been announced by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur declared on the website results.jeeadv.ac.in.
The examination was conducted on May 20 for admission to 11,279 seats of 23 IITs across the country.
Admission to the IITs will be done after counseling by Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) scheduled to be conducted from June 15 onwards.
JoSAA conducts counselling for admissions to IITs, NITs, IIITs and GFTIs. All eligible candidates can register and fill their choices of college and courses till June 25, 2018. Seven rounds of JoSAA counselling 2018 will be conducted where the eligible candidates will be allotted seats according to their merit and preferences.
Candidates who have qualified JEE Main will be eligible for admissions to 31 NITs, 23 IIITs and 23 GFTIs whereas JEE Advanced candidates will be able to apply for admissions into all participating institutes including 23 IITs.
JoSAA 2018 Counselling Process
JoSAA 2018 counselling is a step wise process which all candidates will have to follow for admissions. Candidates are advised to check the eligibility criteria before registering for the counselling of JoSAA 2018.
Step 1 – Registration
Step 2 – Filling and Locking of Choices
Step 3 – Seat Allotment and Rank List Announcement
Step 4 – Availability of Allotment Letter and Payment of Seat Acceptance Fee
Uttar Pradesh today ranks among top States of India in terms of number of institutions of preschool, schools, and higher learning. As these institutes lay the foundation of any generation’s development as a literate society, it’s important to evaluate and innovate curriculums and pedagogies on a regular basis.
In this light, our latest issue of digitalLEARNING magazine has focused on current and prospective educational scenario of Uttar Pradesh in a broad way.
Our cover story “Destination Uttar Pradesh – The Next Big Education Hub” talks about the initiatives taken by the Government to make education available to every section of the society and simultaneously ensuring opportunities to learn skills in this tech-driven world. It also highlights improvements made by the State in the education sector in last two decades.
Our Special Story “UP Government Schools: Ray of Hope and Learning for All” talks about how the State Government and its policies are playing a seminal role in transforming and improving the school education sector of Uttar Pradesh.
“Nurturing Tomorrow with Best Higher Education Practices” is another special story which dwells upon the vital role of Higher Education in overall development of a State and how the Government and private players are taking initiatives to understand the current requirements and future prospects.
The edition also features the interview of Ramesh Mishra, Secretary, Higher Education, Government of Uttar Pradesh; Selva Kumari J, District Magistrate, Etawah, Government of Uttar Pradesh; Narendra Shankar Pandey, Special Secretary, Higher Education, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Director, Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan, Uttar Pradesh; Dr Vedpati Mishra, Special Secretary, Basic Education Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh, and State Project Director, UP Education for All Project Board and Mahendra Bahadur Singh, District Magistrate, Rampur to offer a glimpse of the future growth of education sector in Uttar Pradesh.
Besides, we are also carrying interviews of government officials, school owners, university vice chancellors, principals of higher education institutes and leaders from edu corporate to showcase the overall education scenario in the State.
We are also carrying conference reports of 7th Higher Education & HR Conclave, Pune and 7th School Leadership Summit, Chandigarh. The summits highlighted and shared finest practices, ideas and latest trends about school and higher education among those who matter for overall growth of the Indian education landscape.
Presenting latest bouquet of articles, special stories and interviews along with industry initiatives, we hope to get an invaluable feedback of our readers.
Indiannica is today a pioneer in creating products that foster exploratory learning, guiding learners to attain the right attitude to seeking knowledge, says Sumit Gupta, Managing Director, Indiannica Learning Pvt Ltd, in an interview with Souvik Goswami of Elets News Network (ENN).
Our mission at Indiannica Learning is enriching experience of the learners. Today’s learning is rote- learning developed initially with a focus on not on learning but on getting good marks irrespective of student understanding the concept or not. So, this is what we are working on to develop the solutions that make learning interesting and interactive.
What innovations are you introducing to make the content more enriching for learners?
We are trying to develop the kind of solutions which rather than pushing the students towards learning, fascinates them towards it. As we all know that the best learning is what we gain after experiencing something rather than reading or studying. So, we are developing games, animations, videos and graphics using technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to make the learning more interesting.
Indiannica is working on curriculum and digital interface, what are the focus areas in curriculum as well as in digital interface?
In curriculum space, there are text book publishers which B2B (Business to Business) and most of these publishers are using digital component as a gimmick and others are edtech players which are B2C (Business to Customer). Due to paucity of time, we need learning solutions which comprised text book, digital solutions which may be online or in form of an application. This is exactly what Indiannica Learning is doing. We are serving K-12 segment and developing the digital solutions inclined with the curriculum.
What are your expansion plans in India and globally?
We have very ambitious plans of expansion. Presently, we cover only 45 per cent of the total market and we are planning for gradual increase in the market coverage in the upcoming years.
The second is portfolio increase. We are investing heavily into that for developing physical products i.e. digital and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) along with the curriculum products. This is what we believe will give us the required growth. We are very cautious about price hike and last year there was no increase in our prices. Personally, I would like this company to be three times of its assets in next three to four years.
As per our vision, India and beyond, we want to be the most trusted learning solution company in India and beyond. In early ages, India used to be the knowledge provider to the world and we want to continue that legacy through our various tested products. We have our business in Srilanka and we are planning for expansion in the SAARC countries as well.
We believe “What India thinks today, the world will think tomorrow”. In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Make in India”, we partnered with Britannica and named the organisation as Indiannica. Today, the world is looking at us and our Government is also focusing a lot on health and education. We are in the education arena and here we can do a lot to serve our customers.
We are trying to develop the kind of solutions which are rather than pushing the students towards learning is pulling or attracting them towards it. As we all know that the best learning is what we gain after experiencing something rather than reading or studying.
What are your plans for working with the Government?
As a business, we are focusing only on private sector. We have kept our market very limited to ICSE, CBSE and few State board schools. As we see that NCERT is being pushed a lot, though it is not able to supply the books and NCERT books are no match to our books in terms of quality, we are looking for engagement with the Government in textbook side. We are already supplying books to Army schools along with few State board schools.
What challenges are you facing?
In a majority of schools infrastructure is unavailable. It is important to understand that teachers are not burden. The average class size nowadays is of 40 students and if a teacher is teaching three sections of three classes, he/she is dealing with 300 to 400 students. In addition to that they have to prepare tests, check test copies and perform other duties as well. So, reducing the burden on teachers is important which is possible digitally. Providing assessment solutions, test generators will reduce their burden. It will be only possible with technology and good infrastucture.
The second one is the mindset, as whenever we visit a school, they say that we don’t want to expose our children to the Internet. We can restrict a child accessing the Internet at school but at home every child has a laptop, tablet or i-pad etc, which is connected to internet 24×7.
The third challenge is Government initiatives like making use of NCERT books in every school. The parents are getting their children enrolled in the private schools for quality education and, in my view, such initiatives are not good. Another one is the implementation of new tax regime i.e. GST. Though the textbooks are tax-free, unless the supply chain management is made tax free the cost will keep rising and we have to increase our prices and ultimately the customers have to suffer.
Is it needed that company like yours, government officials and the school decision-makers should sit together to overcome these challenges?
Definitely, it is very much needed though it is happening in smaller ways. I am in the publishing committee of the FICCI and most of the private sector publishers in meetings discuss various challenges. FICCI takes those challenges to the government bodies. I think, such meetings should happen more frequently and not only FICCI but other bodies should also come forward. I think, the Government is more open to such things nowadays and it will definitely help if go forward and come together to discuss the challenges. We are part of Navneet group which caters to the Government’s Corporate Social Responsibility activities and related various State board schools.
What is the vision of your organisation for the days ahead?
We want to be the most trusted learning solution brand in India and beyond. At the same time, we just don’t want to focus on selling or becoming the largest, we want to grow the trust for our brand among students, teachers and parents, which will help us to grow three times with a span of three to four years.
Lucknow Public School (LPS) believes that the purpose of education should be to stimulate and guide the self-development of students and nurture innovation among students, says S P Singh, Former Member of the Legislative Council, Uttar Pradesh and Founder Manager, Lucknow Public Schools and Colleges, in a conversation with Arpit Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN).
What is the vision and mission of LPS?
S P Singh, Former Member of the Legislative Council, Uttar Pradesh and Founder Manager, Lucknow Public Schools and Colleges
Our vision is to empower and make our country prosperous by providing quality education to a large number of students. Our mission is to try to impart the best quality education to students with support from principals and teachers. It is with our combined efforts that we are producing the best results in the country.
What innovations are adopted in your school and what is the role of technology in improving the educational practices?
When we started the school, only blackboard used to be the tool of the teaching. Nowadays, the technology plays a vital role in education as the entire education sector is using digital tools and devices like tablets, i-pads, smart phones etc to get the knowledge. We also encourage our teachers and students to attend conferences and summit to remain updated about the latest and the best practices of the education segment. Technology is supporting the education fraternity well as the whole world is online and anyone can access unlimited knowledge with a click of mouse.
You have opened a new branch of LPS in New Delhi, please elaborate on the infrastructure and other facilities it offers to students.
This is our first branch out of Uttar Pradesh. The Lucknow Public School branch is located at Asthal Mandir Marg, Sangam Vihar, New Delhi. It has been opened with the unique vision of value based quality education. The school with its world class infrastructure, best teaching practices, digital classrooms, vigilance, security and surveillance system will help students to nurture in a friendly yet secure environment. Like New Delhi, my plan is to open schools in other metropolitan cities of India along with in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Mauritius.
When we started the school, only blackboard used to be the tool of the teaching. Nowadays, the technology plays a vital role in education as the entire education sector is using digital tools and devices like tablets, i-pads, smart phones etc to get the knowledge.
The group is into school education as well as in higher education, how has been the sync between the two fields?
We have a staff of more than 2,000 people and are teaching more than 28,000 students. We focus on commerce and science till secondary level. We have adopted the curriculum designed and developed by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) at pre-primary, primary, secondary and senior secondary levels.
At higher education level, we follow the norms decided by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The professional courses conducted in our institutions are as per the industry demand. These professional courses make the students job ready. We always try that the students pursuing degree courses in our institution get the campusplacement and do not remain unemployed after completing their degree.
Recently, we conducted a national level job fest in which over 50 multi-national companies participated and over 500 students received job offer letters. It is our efforts to provide quality education and job offers to as much candidates as possible.
Recently, you got two awards in Dubai for the special contribution in education sector. To whom would you like to give credit for this success?
I was given away two awards in Dubai — The World’s Greatest Brands 2017-18 and The World’s Greatest Leaders 2017-18 Asia and GCC. This achievement becomes possible due to the efforts of complete Lucknow Public School family. Every staff in the school contributes the fullest to impart quality education to students. These efforts helped our students to settle not only in India but also abroad. Their achievements are mirroring our efforts which is helping us to establish our name among the best educational institutes not only in the country but also across the globe. The award is the result of our 35 years’ continuous efforts. The passed out students are fulfilling our vision of nation building by working in the government, public and private organisations in India as well as abroad. Whenever achievements are recognised, it motivates us to continue the good work with more enthusiasm.
In the recently announced board results, Lucknow Public School has performed extremelywell which ranked it among the top 10 schools of the country, what is your take on this?
For the first time, in our school’s history, the first and the second toppers of the ISC-2018 exams are from our college. It is a lifetime achievement for us. Some of our schools are affiliated to CISCE, which is spread across the world and scoring the top positions by students of LPS has established our brand’s name globally. I would like to congratulate students, teachers and their parents for achieving this landmark. Both the toppers have been studying in our school since their early childhood which clearly reflects that we help every student in achieving his/her dream.
YES BANK has partnered Coursera to offer “Professional Technology Programmes” to its employees. Under the partnership, YES BANK will provide its employees with access to latest, innovative training and learning material, hyper-relevant to the specific and evolving challenges of the industry.
With increasing demand for training, especially new-age tech skills that let employees skill-up at an organizational level, YES BANK has identified ‘Future Ready’ courses on themes such as – Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Big Data/Advanced Analytics, Cryptocurrency & ICOs, Internet of Things (IOT), Digital Marketing, and Robotics/Process Automation, amongst others.
Upon completion of the program, employees will receive sharable e-course certificates from leading global institutes such as National University of Singapore, Northwestern University, Yale University, Princeton and Indian School of Business (ISB) to name a few; allowing employees to leverage these skills, and advance their careers as well as contribute to YES BANK’s growth in their capacity as ‘Professional Entrepreneurs’.
YES BANK’s strategic up-skilling initiative with Coursera, reiterates the Bank’s commitment to invest in the future of YES BANKers by enhancing each individual’s capability, capacity & confidence.
Speaking about the partnership, Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES BANK, said “As one of the fastest growing Banks in India, we want to effectively scale the ‘Digital Quotient’ of all YES BANKers which not only allows us to remain relevant in changing times, but also keep us ‘Future Ready’. With Coursera, we aim to provide YES BANKers access to the best-in-class learning platform, equipping them with skills to succeed in tomorrow’s workplace and economy.”
Elaborating about the partnership, Raghav Gupta, Director – India and APAC, Coursera, said, “Technological developments have taken the Indian banking sector by storm, and have certainly made banking easier for consumers. However, they have changed the nature of jobs and therefore the skill sets required by the banking workforce.”
“With increased adoption of emerging technologies and automation in this sector, employees need to be equipped to do much more. We are delighted to partner with YES BANK in their endeavor to leverage technology,” he added.
The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) is planning to set up a research and incubation park on the campus, similar to one at IIT-Madras, after receiving autonomy and a grant of Rs 100-crore for infrastructure and innovation under the Rashtriya Ucchatar Shikshan Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme.
The incubation park is likely to help students and faculty members in developing innovative products and bring them into the market.
As per the university’s plan to make it a hub of innovation and startups, senior university officials including Vice-Chancellor Dr Nitin Karmalkar recently visited IIT-Madras Park. It is the first university-driven research park with a significant number of incubation in rural, social and industrial technologies.
Confirming the development, Karmalkar said, “Since its inception, the incubation cell at IIT-Madras has helped set up 140 startups and investors have raised millions of dollars. We also want to create a model like that where our students and faculty can start developing their ideas into products and work closely with industry.”
According to Karmalkar, a meeting was also convened with some of the most senior university officials, retired scientists, researchers and industry leaders including representatives of top executives from Praj Industries and Persistent Systems. Experts like former director of IIT-Kanpur Dr Sanjay Dhande and representatives from CoEP’s Bhau Institute of Innovation also attended the meeting.
The park will serve three main purposes. First, it will provide incubation facility and mentoring to faculty and students who have created a product and bring it into the market. Second, it will support the industry projects which require university resources for research and development projects through faculty-industry collaborations. Thirdly, it will help faculty or students who might have an idea but need industry support to develop the product or conduct R&D.
