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UP students to get lessons in banking, cashless transactions

By
Akash
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The Uttar Pradesh School Education Board has amended its curriculum which will enable senior students, enrolled in schools affiliated with the Board, to get lessons in banking to equip them with skills and knowledge to use in real life.

From class 9 onwards, students of such schools will be taken on visits to banks. It is hoped to provide them first-hand knowledge on how these financial institutions work, how to write and deposit cheques, deposit and withdraw cash and apply for a loan, the Hindusatan Times reported.

The amended curriculum has been sent to all district inspectors of schools on May 5. It will be introduced for lakhs of students in over 25,000 schools affiliated to the Uttar Pradesh Board of Secondary Education from the 2017-18 session, beginning from July.

Keeping in view the government’s emphasis on cashless transactions across the country, knowledge of procuring and using debit and credit cards, safety precautions in their use, online transactions with banks as well as the process of applying for Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards have also been included in the curriculum at different levels.

The students will also be informed about latest developments in the fields of banking, finance and taxation. The curriculum will also include information on the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The aim is to give students tips on building their own budget to control their money and create financial plan for their goals by the time they pass class 12.

IIT Bombay researcher wins INSA Young Scientist Award 2017

By
Akash
-

Vikram Vishal, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at IIT Bombay, has won the prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA) medal in the Young Scientist category for 2017.

The award carries a bronze medal and a cash prize of Rs 25,000, an official release from the IIT Bombay stated.

Considered to be the highest recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in young scientists, it is awarded annually by INSA for research conducted by scientists in India and carries a bronze medal and a cash prize of Rs. 25,000.

Till 2015, a total of 737 young scientists have been recognised by INSA.

While conveying the selection of the award to Vishal, INSA President Prof. Ajay K Sood said: “He has shown great potential to be a leader in research. I sincerely hope he will continue to strive hard to reach his potential and to prove leadership in the coming years”.

Vishal is currently working on a research which attempts to reduce carbondioxide emissions and their environmental impact by capturing the natural gases.

His research looks at “geologic sequestration” or capturing the carbon dioxide that is released when coal is burnt (or created as a by-product in other industries) and injecting it back into the rock deep underground so that it is not released into the atmosphere.

Explaining his research work, Vishal said: “Natural gases have remained trapped in deep underground rock structures for several million years. This provides an analogy to inject and store the greenhouse gases in rocks and prevent their release into the atmosphere. Realising India’s vast geological diversity, she offers ample opportunities for the storage of carbon dioxide.”

“Injection of carbon dioxide will not only help develop a long sustainable earth, but also lead to enhanced recovery of methane to partly meet our growing energy demands.”

AICTE to revamp curriculum for better employability of students

By
Akash
-

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is planning to completely revamp the syllabus of technical courses to improve the employability of students after graduation.

Dr MP Poonia, Vice Chairman, AICTE, after a meeting with the delegation of All India Federation of Self Financing Colleges Association (AIFSFTI), said, the changes will bring uniformity in the curriculum of technical institutions throughout the nation.

The new curriculum is likely to come into effect from July 1, he said, adding that the new syllabus for engineering courses will be highly technical and job oriented.

Mentioning that the new syllabus will be industry oriented and would make it compulsory for the students to spend two months in any industry every year. Poonia said, “The AICTE is tying up with CII and Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to give industrial exposure to the students.”

The AICTE is also planning to emphasise more on teachers’ training following which specialised programmes have been designed to serve the purpose. The AICTE has roped in Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) for a three-month training programme for teachers after M Tech.

HRD introduces major changes in school education

By
Akash
-

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar has said to improve the school education system in the country, major changes have been brought, including allowing detainment in the same class and reverting to examinations for assessing academic progress of students, besides updating NCERT textbooks.

The minister was speaking at the inauguration of North-Eastern Region workshop on “Innovations and Best Practises in School Education”. The workshop was organised by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Javadekar said, a student would be given two chances to pass, with one being in the first examination in March and the second one in June.

“If he/she fails there, he/she will be detained in the same class,” he said.

According to him, the second major change is making the class 10 board exam mandatory for all students.

Explaining the decision on detainment, the minister said “We have taken a very important decision and we will take a call on it this month.”

“We had a meeting of education ministers from all the states, wherein those from 25 states lamented that they were finding it difficult to improve the quality of education without examinations. On their demand, we unanimously decided that the right to decide on detention will be left to the states and it will be done anytime soon,” Javadekar said.

Javadekar also invited suggestions from all education stakeholders to make changes in NCERT Books as the books have not been revised since the last ten years.

Stating that benchmark and learning capacity outcomes have been introduced for every class and monitored every year, the BJP leader said handbooks have been introduced for teachers to monitor every child and thus reach the benchmark.

IITs to develop a revenue model: MHRD

By
Akash
-

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has directed Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to come up with a revenue model for their operations.

Recently, directors of various IITs approached the ministry, saying the 122 per cent fee hike was of  ‘no good’ revenue-wise as lot of concessions were announced simultaneously. The same was also discussed during the meeting of the IIT Council took place in Mumbai last week.

However, the ministry suggested the institutes to figure out a revenue model before any further discussion on fee hikes and concessions.

“Institutes had complained that they were not making any revenue despite multiple grants from the Ministry. It is important to have a revenue model to increase the component of self-sustenance in the functioning of IITs,” a senior official said.

“Right now what we are deciding is based on perceptions. The Minister proposed during the meeting that there is need for real data to show how things need to change. There is no revenue model, the IITs take money but have no idea how much money they will have next year, the policies keep changing,” he added.

The premier IITs are also asked to submit data of the fees charged, revenue collected, expenditure, fee concessions and loans.

“They have also been asked to submit their analysis of the data and draft of a revenue model which has suggestions on various factors including what kind of loan system needs to be built, who will pay the interest, what will be the interest component, for what time the loan should be interest-free and what should be the recovery options,” the official added.

There was also a proposal for replacing the fee waiver with reimbursement by either the HRD Ministry or the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

It has also been recommended by IITs that students from the economically backward sections should be given interest- free loans instead of full or partial waiver.

Panel set up for minority education in Maharashtra

By
Akash
-

The Maharashtra Government has set up a committee in a step to study various issues pertaining to minority education.

The 10-member panel will study the existing and proposed schemes to better the minority education scenario.

Minority schools are presently exempted from implementing certain clauses of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, like the compulsory 25% reservation of seats in primary classes for economically and socially disadvantaged children, The Times of India reported on Sunday.

The committee will study all these clauses and come up with a new policy for minority education and it will be headed by Education Commissioner Vipin Sharma. It will have to submit its report within two months, said a government resolution on Saturday.

One of the main issues regarding minority education in the State is the refusal by schools to reserve 25% seats in their entry-level classes for children from poor background as demanded by the RTE Act. Many schools had approached the court regarding the same and the latter had ruled in schools’ favour in those cases.

Another controversy is the fact that many of the schools with minority status had less than 50% minority students.

While state officials had claimed that with less than 50% students of the minority community, the school cannot claim minority status, this was again quashed in a legal battle.

“Various court orders have said clauses within the RTE Act are not applicable for minority institutions. Hence, there is a need to formulate an administrative and educational policy for minority schools, teachers and students,” says the government resolution.

“At present there is no such policy. To clear the ambiguity regarding all this, a law and policy is required.”

In a first, IIT-Kanpur sets up Economic Sciences department

By
Akash
-

The IIT-Kanpur is the first among the IITs to start Economic Sciences department which has come into effect recently.

It would be a help for those clearing JEE Advanced 2017 and those willing to pursue Bachelor of Science (BS – Economic Sciences) program would get admission in it.

According to Director IIT-Kanpur, Prof Indranil Manna, after adding Earth Sciences Department in the last academic session, this year II-Kanpur is establishing New department of Economic Sciences, The Time of India reported on Sunday.

He said that the Economics program was already in existence in IIT-Kanpur but there was no separate department for the same. Deputy director, IIT-K, Prof Manindra Agarwal said that IIT-K is first amongst IITs to start Department of Economic Sciences.

Interacting with reporters at the institute campus on Saturday evening, Prof Manna said: “Economics was taught as a subject in IIT-Kanpur at the undergraduate level as a requirement in Humanities and Social Sciences department.”

He added from 2005, a unique five-year integrated MSc programme was launched here where the students who came into this programme were selected through JEE Advanced. “In 2011, this programme was reshaped as a four year BS and five year BS-MS dual degree programme in Economics.”

Asked about the need of constituting the dedicated department for the Economics course, Prof Manna said this undergraduate programme in Economics had become very popular with more and more higher ranking JEE students opting for it. Also the economics students continue to have excellent placements.

He said: “Together this prompted us to go for a complete department on the existing programme (course). But this did not happen overnight as it involved one and a half years of thinking and consultations.”

“National Advisory Board which was constituted by us having experts from IIM-Indore, TIFR, a professor of Standford university and others strongly recommended us to start the department after which the same was considered by the senate of IITKanpur before its approval.”

After the formal approval of the Board of Governors, the department has become formally operational from May 6, 2017, Director mentioned further.

Deputy Director, IIT-Kanpur, Prof Manindra Agarwal told reporters that IIT-Kanpur is first among the IITs to start Department of Economic Sciences. He said that more faculty members for this department would be recruited soon. He also mentioned that at present there is no separate building for the new department and it will continue to function in the premises of the Department of Humanities.

Head of department of Economic Sciences department, Prof Joydeep Dutta, said the department would consist 13 faculty members and would continue to run four-year BS and five year BS-MS dual degree programme in Economics along with PhD programme.

Byju’ growth, now a case study at Harvard Business School

By
Akash
-

Byju’s, India’s leading education technology start-up, will now be taught as a case study by Harvard Business School.

The Bengaluru-based company’s case study will be titled as “BYJU’s The Learning App”, is co-authored by John J-H Kim and Rachna Tahilyani. Kim is a senior lecturer at Harvard and teaches a course on entrepreneurship and technology innovations in education. Rachna Tahilyani is a research associate at Harvard Business School’s India research centre.

The case study was published in March this year by Harvard. The paper explores Byju’s growth in India and the challenges to its expansion into the US and other English speaking markets, revealed a abstract available on Harvard’s website.

ByJu’s is managed by Think and Learn Pvt Ltd. It offers visual and written learning modules through its mobile application. The app now has around 300,000 annual paid subscribers across different K-12 schools of the country.

Research in higher education must for sustainable growth: Javadekar

By
Akash
-

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has underlined the need to encourage research in higher education in India for ensuring sustainable growth.

Speaking while delivering poet Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ memorial lecture in the national capital, the minister favoured the need for promoting research and innovation also to combat brain drain and insisted on improving quality of education from primary to higher education.

 “The progress India and China have attained over the last 30 years is due to reverse engineering and become cost competitive basically on the back of low wages. “But that prosperity is not sustainable. The only answer is sustainable prosperity lies in innovation,” the Indian Express quoted Javadekar as saying on Thursday.

Also present on the occasion was NCP general secretary DP Tripathi.

To ensure that the best Indian minds are able to innovate in the country itself, the minister said the government has decided to set up “best of the research laboratories” in the central universities.

He said the “IITs will also jointly interview and pursue Indian students studying abroad to come back as faculties. The students will have research and consultancy freedom”.

“So, we will avail good teachers, students and labs. We will give them Rs 75,000 per month Prime Minister scholarship.”

While stressing on enhancing quality of education imparted through schools too, the minister referred to camps being held this month at Raipur, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Guwahati and Pune.

“Imparting quality education to students is the gist of the learning outcome process. We have to keep striving for it,” Javadekar said, adding the government plans to allow States, by amending right to education act, to decide on detaining students after assessing their performance in class V and VIII.

According to the present no-detention policy, students are promoted every year till class VIII.

If a student takes annual exam in March and fails, Javadekar said, he/she will be given another chance in June to clear the same as per the proposed amendment. States though will have the right to give another opportunity to these students to pass, he added.

MHRD to boost teacher training at school level

By
Akash
-

With an aim to improve teacher’s quality at school level, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has launched various initiatives for the same.

“In the context of teachers, a number of steps are being taken by the department. National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) is working very hard in bringing out a regime wherein the teachers are appropriately trained before joining the service,” said Anil Swarup, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, MHRD.

“We are trying to bring an accreditation system for the BEd colleges. Only the colleges that are accredited by the NCTE will only be allowed to run BEd courses,” Swarup added.

He said, to have good teachers at school is one of the major challenges. According to him, teachers are the fulcrum and the government is trying to provide pre-service training and also improving the training process.

“For hiring good quality teachers at schools, the selection process will be revamped. Good teachers will ensure good quality education at government schools that will result into more student enrolments at these schools,” he added.

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