Pearson, the world’s leading learning company recently announced the winners of Pearson Teaching Awards (PTA) 3^rd Edition in New Delhi. PTA is an initiative to honor extraordinary teachers who are setting new benchmarks of education delivery standards in the country. After a rigorous process of screening and assessment, the grand jury selected 19 educators as the winners for 21 categories across School and Higher Education.

 Several well-known public figures attended the event to support the noble initiative. Pearson Teaching Awards received encouragement from several renowned teaching professionals and academicians who joined the celebration.

 The prestigious grand jury panel comprised of prominent personalities from several fields of education. Sudha Pillai, Former Member Secretary, Planning Commission, Government of India, headed the panel as the Chairperson. Other prominent jurors were Usha Albuquerque, Founder Director, Careers Smart Pvt. Ltd., Prof. A. K. Bakhshi, Executive Director, Tertiary Education Commission, Mauritius, Prof. Dr. Kamal Kant Dwivedi, President, Global Academy of Doctorates, Lata Vaidyanathan, Director, TERI Prakriti School, among others.

 Announcing the winners of Pearson Teaching Awards 3^rd edition, Deepak Mehrotra, Managing Director, Pearson India said, “At Pearson India, it is an honor for us to felicitate the leading educators of the country, who are devoted to nurturing the next generation. Pearson Teaching Awards conferred upon these outstanding educators is a small token of gratitude, who are working tirelessly to shape our country’s future.”

 “In its third edition this year, we are delighted to get an overwhelming response to the awards with a robust participation from teachers across the country. Teachers form the backbone of our education system and it’s time to recognize and celebrate this noble profession with even greater vigor, respect and admiration” Mehrotra added.

 Pearson has partnered with the India Didactics Association (IDA) for this edition of awards. As the process partner, IDA managed the entire evaluation process including the pre jury and grand jury stages for the awards selection.

 With each year, PTA has grown in size and stature. The 3^rd edition has received 6602 nominations from all over the country, with the highest number of entries coming in from Punjab (787), Karnataka (772), Tamil Nadu (700), Maharashtra (647) and Uttar Pradesh (549). 284 nominations were received from Delhi. The 2^nd edition of PTA received 5500 plus nominations from all over India.

 As a precursor to the Pearson Teaching Awards, Pearson India conducted the nationwide ‘Annual Voice of Teacher Survey’ to gauge teachers’ perspective on the current state of Indian learning environment. As per the survey, teachers felt that that half of the students (50%) entering a class lack the skills required for that level. This was further substantiated as majority of the teachers (92%) believed that India’s assessment system, primarily, focuses on exam results. In fact, teachers mentioned skill and personality development (94%) as the most important benchmark for measuring learner success, followed by preparedness for higher education and job (83%) and lastly, the test and exam results (57%).

 For achieving the desired learning outcomes, the survey revealed that the teachers are least satisfied with the support they receive from parents (54%) and policy makers (55%). 5145 teachers from schools and higher education institutes across 247 cities and towns in India participated in the survey.

Pearson India launched Pearson Teaching Awards in 2012, as a nationwide initiative for celebrating teaching excellence and recognizing extraordinary performers of the teaching profession.

A hike in the fee for the CBSE students has left their parents worried. Several schools have approached the fee-determining committee to reconsider the fee hike.

Once the overall expense such as the facilities for smart classroom, air conditioning and the salaries extended to the teachers drawn by the school is scrutinized, the committee will reconsider the hike in fee. In an interim order last month, the Supreme Court directed the members of Association of Management of Private Schools, CBSE to make a presentation of all the expenditures.

Principals of several schools said that the amount for fee previously decided did not include some of the essential provisions. According to the principal of a school, “Many schools were asked to increase their pupil-teacher ratio from 15:1 to 20:1 to suit the requirements of the committee”, and further added that such expenses as air-conditioned classrooms were not considered.

On the other side, parents feel that the revised fee structure will de-burden the additional expenditures. Some of the schools also charge an additional amount for sports and other co-curricular activities. “We may increase the fees of some schools, but the committee will first inspect the facilities and the cost incurred by each school,” an official said.

Students of the School of Open Learning (SOL) recently protested outside the Delhi Secretariat, pressing for regular classes and more colleges in the national capital. The agitating students swore their allegiance to Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS).

Pursuing correspondence courses from Delhi University’s SOL, the agitating students reached the secretariat at around 11:40 AM to begin their protest on February 17. KYS convener Dinesh Kumar said, “In the last 30 years, only two colleges have been built despite the fact that the number of students has been increasing every year, which has led to soaring college cut-offs. Most students have not been able to get admission in colleges due to this”.

“We have come here to demand that at least the classes should be started in these colleges so that students pursuing correspondence courses can attend regular classes”, Kumar added noting that there are 28 colleges of the Delhi Government affiliated to DU. “We also demand that the libraries of government’s colleges be open for these students so that they can study properly”, he emphasised.

When police interfered after a few hours, the protest was called off. Thereafter, the protestors submitted their memo to the newly appointed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The board examinations for the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) began on February 16. The students preparing for Class X will be having their practical board exams from March 3 to March 10 and for Class XII students, the schedule for the same is from March 11 to March 18.

There were more than seven lakh students appearing for examination in Jharkhand. Around 3,08,766 students appeared for Class XII boards in 438 centers. Besides, 4,54,833 students sat for class X examination in 900 centres.

About 41,420 students appeared for Class X board exams; and for Class XII board, a total of 39,698 students sat in Ranchi alone. The timings for matriculation exam are from 10 am to 1 pm, while the intermediate students are supposed to write their examination from 2 pm to 5 pm. Prior to the beginning of the exam, a short period of 15 minutes has been allotted to the students for reading the question paper.

Dr Anand Bhushan, JAC Chairperson, said, “The results for Class X will be declared on May 10, while May 30 will be the date for announcing the Class XII results. We will declare the results before all the other boards because we started the exams first. Moreover, he has given the assurance that the evaluation of the answer sheets will be as per the CBSE pattern. To ensure transparency in the process and keep an eye on the centres, the Board has installed CCTV cameras as well.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to establish a team of experts to assess the students’ performance in schools. The step will help improve the quality of education, the CBSE believes.

Becoming a part of School Quality Assessment and Accreditation (SQAA), the CBSE thinks that the standard of education in the schools affiliated to the Board will improve.

“While quality assessment plays a vital role in school education everywhere in the world, the CBSE will be forming its core team of human agents to gauge the same,” the CBSE stated.

The SQAA manual quotes the CBSE specifying that the team of peer assessors will involve the experienced members for them to carry out an external evaluation.

CBSE director Sadhana Parashar said, “the CBSE aims at forming a team of principals, whether working or retired, and educators with a hand-on experience and rich insight in the process of school education. This will be the most effective way to improve the quality of education in India.”

An online screening test with multiple choice questions on SQAA manual and a case study will be held to select the peer assessors. Taking such a step will make the process more transparent. With an online test, it will be easier to appoint peer assessors who are well versed with SQAA. It will assure maximum results and increase the quality education.