The Haj Committee of India has decided to provide free coaching to Muslim aspirants for Civil Services exam across states and union territories from next year.
The committee has taken the decision after 51 Muslim candidates cleared civil services examination earlier this year. Committee’s Mumbai-based headquarters is providing free coaching for the last seven years and two of the students studied there were selected for the prestigious service this year.
Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “Two students who took coaching at the Haj Committee of India-run classes, cracked the UPSC exams. Next year onwards the government will start free coaching in Haj Bhavans in states and union territories.”
The Haj Committee has sent a proposal of providing free coaching to civil services aspirants of muslim community in Haj Houses across all states and union territories to the Minority Affairs Ministry. The ministry has accepted the proposal.
“We requested the ministry (of minority affairs) to start free coaching service in Haj Bhavans in different states. We are happy that the minority affairs minister has approved the proposal. We want to start the (coaching) service from next year. We will implement this with the state Haj boards,” said Maqsood Ahmed Khan, Chief Executive Officer of Haj Committee of India.
For the last seven years, 40 students are provided free coaching at the Haj Committee of India’s headquarters in Mumbai every year, he added.
Mothers are the first influencers of their children. For a working mother, it is difficult to keep a balance between professional and personal life. Self-learning solutions are potent tools to empower them with all the requisites for managing their children’s learning, writes Beas Dev Ralhan, Co-founder & CEO, Next Education India Pvt Ltd for Elets News Network (ENN).
Beas Dev Ralhan, Co-founder & CEO, Next Education India Pvt Ltd
Working mothers often face the dilemma of balancing work and family life. Research shows that women often quit their jobs after embracing motherhood. Societal pressure and negative work environment are some of the reasons that propel women to make such choices. Women who choose otherwise are often torn between home and work, and consumed with guilt for not being able to contribute to the learning process of their children. Parents often fail to realise that 24*7 supervision is not needed to make their children successful. Instead, parents should aim at making them independent learners. They should find age-appropriate ways to help them apply the concepts taught in class in real-world situations. Introducing a self-learning solution to children could be an effective way to keep them engaged and help them take charge of their own learning. Thanks to the emergence of m-learning and e-learning, self-learning is becoming a trend.
Self-learning and its advantages
A rather self-explanatory term, self-learning refers to a learning process that does not require any direct supervision. It allows learners to devise their own rhythm and time of study. They can supplement their classroom education with self-learning courses to augment their learning effectively. Self-learning has numerous benefits, which if reaped carefully, can benefit every child.
Self-paced
Self-learning provides students with the time and scope to study at their own pace. It is different than the classroom learning, where all students are expected to follow a set pattern, which might be a hindrance to some learners. For instance, a student may have difficulty in following a section of audio-visual content in the classroom, and it might not be possible for a teacher to pause the video every time a learner is unable to grasp a concept. Self-learning allow students to build up their own momentum of studies and allow their working mothers to continue the office work.
Independent research skills
While self-learning, students are active participants in their own learning process and not mere passive recipients of information. This makes them independent and responsible learners, and also helps them acquire and apply their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. Self-learning prepares them for academic life, where the teachers’ role will be more of a facilitator than an instructor. It is imperative that mothers treat their children as individuals and help them to be independent for life ahead.
Anytime, anywhere learning
In the 21st century, teaching–learning is no longer confined to the classroom. Thanks to tablets and laptops, students can now learn even on their way to school or within the comfort of their own home. They could read up on any topic discussed in class that captures their interest. Self-learning empowers a student to quench his/her thirst for knowledge.
Holistic development
Self-learning also improves students’ self-confidence and increases their ability to take initiatives. They realise the importance of making sound, self-affirming decisions, which improves their decision-making skills. They also learn to solve problems on their own without depending on teachers and parents, which improves their decision-making skills.
Gamification of learning
Various self-learning platforms for students use Gamification for learning. Students can watch videos and participate in various discussions on these platforms. Contrary to the deferred gratification that end-term exams offer, gratification in a gaming platform is instant. Gamification incentivises learning process itself and also frees students from boredom. Different students have different learning needs and a teacher may not be able to design assessments as per the varying needs of each student. Gamification of learning can address this problem by introducing activities as per the potential of each student.
Technology empowers mothers
Parents want to be reassured all the time that their children are learning new things and are settled and happy in their lives. However, parents often get bemused over choosing the right approach to soothe their worries. Technology helps them in this regard too. Adoption of a Learning Management System (LMS) can be helpful as it helps in design, delivery, and monitoring of the learning process. It shares comprehensive student performance reports with parents and also recommends interventions if required.
Business concept image of a hand holding marker and write Plagiarism with cross sign isolated on white
As per the new norms by University Grants Commission, the faculty members and researchers will be punished if found indulged in plagiarism, said All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe.
Sahasrabudhe was addressing a gathering at “Academic & Research Integrity Conclave 2018” where he said, “As per new UGC (University Grants Commission) regulations, the faculty and researchers indulging in plagiarism will be punished which is a positive development in our higher education system as it will bring more credibility to the research in the country.”
The conclave was organised by Turinitin on May 3. Launched in 1997, Turinitin is a commercial, internet-based plagiarism-detection service.
Expressing his views on use of technology in academics, Sahasrabudhe said, “Technology tools can assist in promoting academic integrity, but they are not complete solutions. The best scenario is when technology assists bigger cultural commitment at an institution.”
“Technology might assist in discovering academic misconduct through plagiarism and authorship. But, when technology tools are weaved into holistic academic integrity solution, they have the power to help promote cultural change, “said Marc Daubach of Turnitin.
Along with renowned institutes like IISc, IITs and IIMs, more than 400 institutions across India subscribe to the services of Turnitin.
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, in its effort to bridge the learning gap in India, has announced an additional grant of USD 3 million over two years to Central Square Foundation and The Teacher App.
The grant will help the two organisations to scale their initiatives and fund content creation and teacher training, through tech-based learning solutions.
Out of the total, grant of USD 1 million is provided to The Teacher App with an objective to empower teachers through training and resources on concepts of math, science, language and others. The funds will also help to scale the platform to reach 5,00,000 teachers in two years.
“The success of our existing partners has given us the confidence to expand our efforts in India. We strongly believe that technology can play a powerful part in solving the learning gap in India, and we are expanding our investments in India to ensure that all teachers and students are able to benefit from it. These new funds will help contribute in building more locally relevant solutions and content for students and teachers,” said Nick Cain, Education Lead, Google.org.
Google.org committed USD 50 million grants globally to support non-profit organisation building tech-based learning solutions. India is among the first countries to receive the grants. With latest announcement, Google’s total grant for NGOs is USD 11.4 million.
Another USD 2 million grant by Google will also include technical assistance from the YouTube Learning team to Central Square Foundation for expansion of curriculum aligned educational video content.
The grant will support a minimum of 20 content creators to produce at least 200 hours of quality content in vernacular languages.
“With growing connectivity and affordable data, YouTube is emerging as a popular destination for learning in India. Globally, learning and educational content drives over a billion views a day and we believe there is a huge opportunity for creators in India to enhance education and learning through YouTube,” said Satya Raghavan, Head of YouTube Entertainment in India.
The Delhi Government has warned students and parents against 12 fake education boards operating in the national capital.
“There is no state board of government of Delhi. Further, the Directorate of Education (DoE), which regulates government, private, unaided and aided schools in Delhi, does not grant any recognition to any board,” a DoE order said.
“As far as Delhi is concerned, there are only three relevant boards — Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (ICSE) and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS),” it said.
Identifying the fake boards, DoE has prepare a list of fake boards which include Urdu Education Board, Gramin Mukth Vidhalyai Shiksha Sansthan, Delhi Board of Secondary Education, The Central Board of Higher Secondary Education, National Open School and Board of Secondary Open Education, Delhi, Higher Secondary Education Board of Delhi, State Council of Senior Secondary Open Education, Delhi Board of Senior Secondary Education, Board of Higher Secondary Education, Delhi, Council of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Delhi, and The Central Board of Higher Education, Delhi.
Bihar is soon going to facilitate the admissions to various degree courses through an online system.
In a notice issued by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Patna, all the principals recognised degree colleges in the State has been informed to conduct the admission to degree courses of students qualified in the Bihar Board’s Intermediate exam online from the upcoming academic session.
The one window online system will enable students to apply to different colleges in one place.
Till now in the admission process, students appeared in Bihar Board had to apply for every college separately causing a lot of inconvenience to students and involving more money.
The admission process was also not supposed as the transparent one which was unfair to meritorious students and those who came from an economically weaker background.
The online registration system for admission to degree colleges will be implemented by the State Government keeping the welfare of students in mind.
BSEB has activated the link for Online Facilitation System for Students (OFSS) on its official website, where currently the principals of each degree college have to upload data regarding subject information (degree), facility information, last year application fee, prospectus cost etc by May 10, 2018.
The National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) has rolled out comprehensive recommendations to all schools and parents regarding the cyber security, as part of efforts to encourage a secure, ethical and legal way for students to use Internet.
The detailed guidelines have been issued to schools defining the role of teachers as well as parents in promoting safe, legal, and ethical use of internet by students.
The guideline mentions that a person, who has the permission, can access the computer labs, the use of USBs has been prohibited. Along with this, the guideline also mentions that there should be a check on the unknown and the strange icons which are visible on the desktop.
The council has instructed the schools to commence courses as well as activities for students and teachers to train them on various features of cyber security. Teachers have also been requested to observe students for changes in their attitudes and behaviour.
The instructional manual stated: “Students should not log in as someone else to read their e-mails or mess with their online profiles, attempt to infect or in any way try to make someone else’s computer unusable and download any attachments from an unknown source as they may contain viruses.”
Our education system is today looked upon with big hope. Be it any family or the society at large, it expects the years spent on learning from school to higher learning should yield gratifying results – prosperity through graceful livelihood.
Dr Ravi Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, digitalLEARNING magazine and CEO Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd
The spirit to develop a generation of youngsters, equipped with skills to make a splash in the job market should guide our schools and colleges’ curriculums, as these students are desired to qualify industry needs.
But can it happen without changing the system at first? Our latest issue of digitalLearning is driven by this very idea. Hence, the cover story ‘India Needs Skill-oriented Education to Boost Employability’. It touches upon various reasons and requirements for introducing an education system which shows bright light at the end of tunnel.
A special characteristic of this issue is “Top Engineering College Ranking 2018”, meant to help aspiring students choose the right engineering institute. We have ranked institutes based on certain parameters through this perception-based ranking conducted on online voting and analysis of available data.
To bridge the gap between industry and academia, it is vital that both sides frequently share a common platform where they discuss their vision, challenges and solutions.
Our 7th Higher Education & HR Summit (21 April) in Pune, meant to bring ultimate change in education system related to higher learning, and the 7th School Leadership Summit (28 April) in Chandigarh, meant to identify, discuss and solve key challenges of school education landscape, are endeavours in this direction.
The two events are meant to congregate the top edu-leaders, policymakers, and industry leaders and evoke discussions on issues that matter for the ultimate change.
It is a privilege to organise the HE & HR summit in association with Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), MHRD, Government of India, as host partner & All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), MHRD, Government of India, as supporting partner.
The latest issue also carries the interview of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Director Manpreet Singh Manna, highlighting the importance of skill-oriented courses in the curriculum and the role of regulatory bodies in imparting skills to students.
We are also carrying a special feature — Govt’s Joint Efforts with Private Sector for Students’ Better Future — revealing how Haryana Government is helping students to enjoy learning through different projects in association with private organisations.
With such a bouquet of interesting special stories, informative interviews and articles, we hope our latest endeavour would evoke an invaluable feedback of our esteemed readers.
Sinhgad Institutes stepped into its Silver Jubilee year on 12 August 2017. 25 years is a milestone for an institution. It was 25 years ago that we dreamt of building a world class institution to help youth being successful in highly competitive world where change would be the only constant. As the first step, we set up a Poly-technique institute that led to a never ending journey to impart quality education right from pre-primary to Doctorate. With 12 campuses, 117 institutes and over 90,000 students pursuing their career in Engineering, Law, Management, Hotel Management, Architecture, Pharmacy, Science, Commerce, Health Sciences covering Medicine, Dental, Nursing and Physiotherapy, Sinhgad Institutes emerged as the most sought after education destination in the region.
Prof MN Navale Founder President Sinhgad Institutes
Sinhgad Institutes is well-known for emphasis on research and undertaking research work wherever possible. The institute has over 100 Research Journals, over 300 PhD Candidates, 100 PhD Guides, published iover 7,760 Research Papers published by Faculty and more than 2,000 students’ publications. Research carried out by students under the guidance of eminent faculty is published in Research Journals called ‘Explore & Construct’.
The professionally managed vibrant training and placement team is the key contributor in the campus placement of almost every student of Sinhgad institutes. Fully attuned to the challenges and uncertainties in job market, the training and placement team with their well-honed, time tested network in the corporate world makes sure that every student gets the right internship and best placement leading to a good career.
In this constantly changing world, there is one aspect on which we never change that is our uncompromising stand on quality of education and its applicability in life. Positive attitude, hard work, values and ethics are imbibed into our students in addition to academic learning. This is evident in the quality of students who come out of our Institutes and their successful trajectory in life.
Glimpse of Vision Ahead
We shall be launching a Sports Academy in 2018 -19 for which we ran trials last year. The first game that the academy will start is cricket with Pravin Ambre as the coach. Other sports include football, basketball, hockey, badminton, athletics and indoor games. Golf Course is also getting ready. We shall be also starting Health Care Centre at Lonavala, for the community service.
Message from Founder Secretary
“My Heartiest Congratulations to all on stepping into the 25th Year. 25 years is an important landmark in the life of a person or an Institution. It is a time to look back with nostalgia. It is also a time to look forward eagerly to an exciting future ahead. Human beings, no doubt, cannot be immortal. But Institutions are immortal. This is especially true for Sinhgad Institutes, being built on strong discipline and values, thereby enabling youth to outperform competition. At Sinhgad Institutes, the sky is the limit, in pursuit of excellence. Here we endeavor to promote a system of integrated education in a student friendly environment. We believe that our assets are our students and we enable them to soar high – morally, socially and spiritually. We believe that our students need to learn that the secret of success and contentment lies in discovering one’s own strengths as well as limitations. The students are groomed into a complete individual with qualities of leadership instilled into them.
We emphasize on sports, cultural activities and extracurricular activities. This enables the students to enhance their personality and progress laterally. We strongly believe in doing our very best, in investing in our nation’s greatest asset – children and youth. We build a bright future at Sinhgad Institutes.”
The committee has taken the decision after 51 Muslim candidates cleared civil services examination earlier this year. Committee’s Mumbai-based headquarters is providing free coaching for the last seven years and two of the students studied there were selected for the prestigious service this year.
