Reliance Life Insurance to set up 100 school libraries

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November 18, 2014

Private life insurer Reliance Life Insurance tied up with global NGO ‘Room to Read’ to set up libraries across schools in India.

The partnership between Reliance Life Insurance and Room to Read aims to set up over 100 libraries in government primary schools and reach out to over 10,000 children across the country through this initiative, the company said in a statement.

“Through this partnership we will promote literacy and gender equality in the country by providing libraries in schools,” Reliance Life Insurance CEO Anup Rau said.

“Libraries provide children an environment of knowledge and inculcate habits of learning and curiosity amongst young minds,” he added.

Reliance Life Insurance and Room to Read will create and maintain libraries in municipal corporation schools across Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in the first year of their programme. The partnership, which is part of Reliance Life Insurance’s Corporate Social Responsibility endeavour, will support more schools with such libraries in the following years.

Through this initiative, Reliance Life Insurance aims to compliment, support and strengthen the efforts of the government to improve the quality of education in India. Reliance Life Insurance and Room to Read will create and maintain libraries in Municipal Corporation Schools across Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in the first year of their programme.

Established in 2003, Room to Read India currently has presence in nine states and has set up more than 6,421 school libraries across India.

India, US Explore Opportunities in Education Collaboration

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November 18, 2014

India and United States are all set to collaborate in the fields of development of community colleges, massive open online courses (MOOCs), student and faculty exchange and skill development at the India-U.S. Higher Education Dialogue held in New Delhi on Monday.

This dialogue was co-chaired by Satya N Mohanty, Secretary, Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Richard Stengel, US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. This was the third such dialogue after the first one held in Washington in June 2012 and the second in New Delhi in June 2013.

The two sides have reiterated the importance of the Higher Education dialogue to promote enhanced opportunities for student and scholar mobility and faculty collaboration between the United States and India, including our ongoing collaboration on community colleges, improvement of workforce training, expansion of research and teaching exchanges, collaboration on education technology and innovation, and industry-academia linkages in higher education.

A Meeting of Joint Task Force on Community Colleges was also held prior to the India-U.S. Higher Education Dialogue and both the sides affirmed the importance of ongoing community college collaborations to meet Prime Minister Modi’s National skills development goals. The Task Force on Community Colleges discussed a plan for implementation of the recently concluded Memorandum of Understanding signed between the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

The U.S. Department of State also announced the launching of the new Passport to India website (http://www.passporttoindia.com) in cooperation with the Ohio State University. The Passport to India initiative encourages young American leaders to seek out study and internship opportunities in India. The new website will serve as a portal to help students identify these opportunities.

It was also agreed that the US side would extend technical cooperation for the development of one of the new IITs in India. Both sides also agreed to further enhance the cooperation for faculty development and discussed to cooperate on India’s Global Initiative of Academics Network (GIAN) to facilitate participation of U.S. faculty to take up short-term teaching and research programmes in Indian Institutions.

KVs to Teach German as Hobby Class Subject: MHRD

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November 18, 2014

Allaying concerns of thousands of students who will be forced to take up Sanskrit instead of German as the third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has now said that German will be taught as an “additional subject of hobby class.”

The governing board of Kendriya Vidyalaya had in its meeting on October 27 directed that teaching of German language as an option instead of Sanskrit is discontinued. The decision could affect over 70,000 students from classes 6 to 8 who will be asked to switch from German to Sanskrit. The ministry defended it decision saying it had to be taken as it violated the national education policy.

“German can be taught to such students of class VI to VIII as an additional subject of hobby class, if they so desire, but not as a third language as it violates the three language formula,” a ministry release said.

Kendriya Vidyalaya had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which made German a ‘third language’ as a subject in schools. This was done without taking the HRD ministry on board so the ministry directed the KVs to not renew the MoU. “The MoU was in violation of India’s the national education policy and the national education framework and thus we did not sign the MoU again,” HRD minister Smriti Irani told the media on Friday.

The minister also said the decision would not impact students saying the ministry will provide the facility to teach foreign language in schools.

Nandan Nilekani Set to Enter Elementary Education

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November 18, 2014

Ending months of speculation over what former UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani would do after his loss in the Lok Sabha elections, it has now been learnt that the Infosys co-founder is betting big on education at the elementary level.

Nilekani is learnt to have started work on his pet project — a platform focused on elementary education that would act as a great equaliser offsetting social inequities. Though the project is in stealth mode, Nilekani is learnt to have hired a small team working on the ‘gamification’ of elementary education and developing relevant technology tools to attain scale.

The move also ends speculation over being drafted by the Karnataka government to help rebuild Brand Bengaluru. While the Siddaramaiah government has talked often about utilizing Nilekani’s expertise to recharge Bengaluru, no concrete proposal was made to him. Instead of getting embroiled in factionalized party politics, Nilekani seems to have decided to opt out of it altogether and focus his energies on the underserved education sector.

Revamping Academic System Need of the Hour: President

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November 18, 2014

Education has figured among top priorities of the agenda for President Pranab Mukherjee in his speeches ever since he took office at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In his latest observation regretting the lack of quality in many Indian educational institutes, the President noted that it was leading to a flow of students abroad and that there was an urgent need to revamp the education system, retain bright minds and attract talent from abroad.

“… It is also a fact that an all-out effort to revamp our academic system is the need of the hour. Some of the immediate steps would be to ramp up physical infrastructure including classrooms, fill up vacant faculty positions, attract talent from abroad, review and change curriculum,” he said.

Mukherjee was addressing the convocation function of Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. He said though there are over 723 universities and 37,000 colleges, lack of quality is denying students world-class education and bright students are leaving the shores to pursue studies abroad.

Leading institutions have to approach the ratings process in a more systematic and proactive manner as there is not a single Indian institution among the top 200 universities in the world even as they are better than what the “rankings project”, he said.

He also strongly pitched for making the institutions “hotbeds” of research activity, saying “we as a society will fail to realise the potential that we otherwise are destined to achieve. We have to make teaching and research an attractive career opportunity”.

He said that while the successful Mars Orbiter Mission is a testimony to the country’s growing scientific prowess, there is a general neglect on research. The focus on research activity is lacking in our universities.

Universities also need to actively participants in programmes and undertake outreach activities the success of recent government initiatives aimed at financial inclusion, creation of model villages, clean India and digital infrastructure, he underlined.

Singapore’s KEF to invest above Rs. 1500 cr in India

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November 17, 2014

KEF Holdings, a specialist in innovative offsite construction technology, headquartered in Singapore, plans to invest more than Rs 1,500 crore in India in social sectors, including education, over the next five years. The company is planning to invest in education sector that could transform public school education in Kerala. This initiative would be supported by Faizal and Shabana Foundation.

KEF group’s chairman Faizal E Kottikollon, stated, “In line with the government’s ‘Make in India’ vision, KEF Holdings is committed to supporting change by focusing on three basic needs – infrastructure, education and healthcare. KEF will change infrastructure development in the country by bringing in best practice, technologies and processes from across the world and integrating them to offer assured quality and a significant reduction in time and money.”

On the education front, Kottikollon wants to focus on public schools as he believes “that is where society can get the greatest bang for the buck.” Earlier, to help improve school education for the economically weaker sections of society, his foundation promptly took up redeveloping the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School for Girls at Nadakkavu, Calicut.

After obtaining all requisite clearances from the authorities, he rebuilt the school by constructing modern structures and facilities replete with laboratories, gymnasiums and an astro-turf playground. The construction process was completed without losing a single day’s schooling for girls. Teaching faculty was also given importance, as Kottikollon included IIM Calicut to bring in special courses for teachers. The school soon got listed as one of the top five schools in Kerala and with this Kottikollon hopes to make it one of the top 5 schools in the country.

The Faizal and Shabana Foundation also decided to transform 100 public schools in that state and for this, Kottikollon hopes to get the state to commit its funds, while his trust will put up Rs 500 crore on its own. “Each of these schools will have at least 2,500 students, thus giving us the ability to transform the lives of some 2,50,000 students.” He believes that a similar competitive spirit will spread to other states as well when they watch the transformation of Kerala’s public education.

KEF Holdings would also channel investments through its two business verticals, KEF Infra and KEF Health. KEF Infra will cater to India’s education, healthcare, commercial and residential sectors through offering design, engineering, manufacturing, assembly and project management. KEF Health will aim to reduce the cost of healthcare through industrialising infrastructure, creating evidence-based care-paths and promoting disruptive healthcare technology.

Expansion plans to meet varied needs

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November 17, 2014

Delhi-based St. Stephen’s College is in plans to revamp its infrastructure and curriculum to meet the increasing and varied needs of students. Valson Thampu, Principal of the college, stated, “The college has one of the largest campuses in DU with nearly 20 acre of land and a total enrolment of 1,200. Our current land utilisation is less than 30 per cent; but given the potential of the land, we can expand and put it to better use.”

The process of obtaining approvals from different stakeholders and authorities started three years ago. The proposal, submitted to North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), is awaiting approval. The revamp plan may include a centre of excellence that will enable students to take up multi-disciplinary study by opting for different subject combinations contributing to high-end research. Thampu adds that there are also plans to have a three-floor science block with upgraded facilities. The approval for this master plan would require more hostels and staff quarters.

DU to bring special technology for blind students in libraries

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November 17, 2014

In a first-of-its-kind initiative for visually challenged students, Delhi University is working on Inclusive Print Access Project, a special technology that can scan books and transcribe to speech in libraries. The technology is a combination of software which has been imported from abroad. It includes a high-speed camera called ‘LEXAIR’ and a flat-bed scanner.

Anil Aneja, Officer on Special Duty at Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC), stated: “There are certain universities which have taken initiatives to meet the demands of the blind students but making special rooms for them or providing them scribes won’t really help. We wanted to keep them in the same atmosphere as the other students.”

The student will hold the book in a manner that would allow the camera and the scanner to capture the images and transcribe the text into speech. This technology will enable scanning the book, reading, converting it in PDF and book mark various sections and take notes in the margins. However, the technology cannot read images and handwritten texts.

“We have got software from Germany which can transcribe Hindi books. While the accuracy level for English text is 99 per cent, for Hindi books it is around 90 per cent but it will serve the purpose to a large extent,” added Aneja.
The project also includes software called ‘braille space’ in which the students can record their assignments and convert them into written text. Another feature is the NVDA software which will help the students in reading newspapers and browsing Internet.

The installation of this technology is estimated to cost around Rs 50,000 per college and is being implemented in 65 libraries of DU’s colleges, institutes and departments. The technology is expected to be operational in all DU libraries by end of this month.

New Education Policy 2015 to include common people

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November 17, 2014

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani has announced that the government is in the process of framing a new education policy that will come out by 2015 and will witness the inclusion of common people in the decision-making process. This is aimed at removing the existing loopholes and providing easy access to better education to all sections of the society.

“Till now, the country’s education policy has been determined by some handful of experts only. But things would change soon. Next year, when the new education policy will be prepared, discussions will not be confined to the experts alone but the opinion of those living in villages will also be solicited,” she stated.

The minister also referred to the Udaan project, which would aim to provide free online resources to girl students of Class XI and Class XII for admission tests of premier engineering colleges. The project would focus at addressing the low enrolment ratio of girl students in prestigious technical institutions and to enable girl students to receive special incentives and support so that they can join these institutions.

US sees 28 per cent rise in Indian students’ enrollment

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November 17, 2014

The United States of America is leading all the way as the first choice for Indian students to study abroad, a government report states. According to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of Homeland Security, the number of Indian students in US has increased by 28 per cent to 1,34,292 students. This makes India the second largest foreign student body in US after China.

Engineering, computer science, information technology and support services, and students in other STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields made up 79 per cent of the Indian students pursuing these subjects in America. Business, biology and medicine followed as the next popular field with the social sciences, humanities and liberal arts, and visual and performing arts being the least popular.

The gender balance of Indian students is similarly skewered with 89,561 male students against 44,731 female students.

According to Naveen Chopra, Chairman, The Chopras (an educational consulting group), one of the major reasons for this increase in student enrollment in US is the economy as it is growing now. This, he believes, has further resulted in a fall of the unemployment rate from 10 per cent to 6 per cent.

This increase reflects a greater trend for both Indian undergraduate and graduate students studying in the US. The total number of Indian graduate students enrolled there has jumped 26 per cent to 54,245 students, according to a new report by the American Council of Graduate Schools. This was the second consecutive year of double digit growth, building upon a 14 per cent increase last year, and a sharp reversal in trend from years past when Indian graduate school enrollment was actually decreasing.

The number of Indian students in Australia and New Zealand are also increasing. Australia, which registered a huge dip in Indian student enrollment in 2009 due to a series of racially motivated attacks on Indian students, has gained back momentum with total Indian student visa applications more than doubling from 2012 to 2013.

However, Indian enrollment in the United Kingdom has been plummeting, dropping 44 per cent from 2010-11 to 2012-13. As per the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Indian students’ enrolment has gone down from 18,535 to 10,235 students during the same period.

UK’s universities and sciences minister Nick Clark was recently in India on a 3-day visit to strengthen educational ties between the UK and India and to address “misconceptions” that Indian students might have about the difficulty of obtaining visas to the UK. During his visit he had announced a new five-year initiative to send 25,000 students from the UK to India.

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