NPTEL, Autodesk sign MoU to bring engineering software to students

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September 22, 2014

National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) has signed a MoU with design software maker Autodesk for developing a course thorough which they will provide access to high-end design software free of cost for students.

According to the MoU, the companies will jointly structure a course for civil and mechanical engineering students, which will give technical support and industry-relevant educational programmes and certification.

Speaking on the collaboration, Professor Mangala Sunder Krishnan, NPTEL Coordinator, IIT Chennai, said; “Partnership with Autodesk enables NPTEL to offer access to professional 3D design tools, industry-relevant curricula, multimedia and Web technology to create more skilled graduates in all areas of science, engineering, humanities, arts, social sciences, law, agriculture and management via ICT tools”

This collaboration builds on the free access that all secondary and post-secondary academic institutions in India have to professional 3D design software from Autodesk via the Autodesk Academic Resource Center including Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Revit, AutodeskAutoCAD, Autodesk 3ds Max, and Autodesk Maya.

National Institute of Technology Karnataka in Surathkal, SASTRA University in Thanjavur and PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore will also be working closely with this initiative.

Autodesk and NPTEL have a shared commitment to train and equip an industry-ready workforce, and our Computer Aided Design tools and expertise combined with NPTEL’s Computer Aided Instruction platform will see us delivering the highest quality of engineering education to all schools and institutions nationwide,” said Tom Joseph, Senior Director of Education, Autodesk.

Modi stresses on girl child education to foster women empowerment

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September 22, 2014

Stressing on girl child education, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was the key to women empowerment.

In a television interview, Modi condemned the anti-rape statements given by several political leaders and said,”More damage is done by statements made by the politicians. The dignity of a woman is our collective responsibility. The main issue is the education of the girl child. By doing so, the possibility of empowerment of women will increase.”

In a speech on Independence Day Modi had said,”Parents ask their daughters hundreds of questions, but have any parents ever dared to ask their son as to where he is going, why he is going out, who his friends are. After all, a rapist is also somebody`s son. He also has parents. As parents, have we ever asked our son as to what he is doing and where he is going. If every parent decides to impose as many restrictions on the sons as have been imposed on our daughters, try to do this with your sons, try to ask such questions of them”.

HRD Minister stresses on education that promotes culture

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September 22, 2014

HRD Minister Smriti Irani, while participating in a joint meeting of Sadharan Sabha and working committee of Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan of Vidya Bharti, said efforts were being made to impart education that promotes Indian culture.

“Efforts are on to impart education that promotes Indian culture and paves the way for development,” Irani said.

Smriti Irani said, “For centuries Indian education system has been instrumental in guiding the world. We lagged behind due to the changes forced into our education system when India was not free.

“Now, this would not be allowed to continue as country is committed to develop under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” she added.

SBI to offer credit cards with education loans

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September 22, 2014

India’s largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI), is offering credit cards to students who avail of education loans with them. The move is to gauge the students’ cradit history and keep bad loans down.

SBI hopes that the credit card useage will give it a glimpse into the user’s spending habits, thus giving it a clue about the borrower’s spending habits. This, in turn, will help it identify potential bad loans.

SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said, “We were having a lot of non-performing assets (NPAs) in education loans. So, now we have created a credit card along with the education loans.”

The credit card has a credit limit of Rs 5,000, guaranteed by the parent.

“Now what happens is the child starts using the credit card. He learns to use the credit card and repay the loan. And also, through the credit card we remain connected with him,” said Bhattacharya.

She pointed out that earlier once the bank gave the education loan it was no longer in the scene and the student forgot all about the bank. “But if there is a credit card, there is a monthly bill, so we remain connected with that person,” said the SBI chief.

And even when the student-borrower completes his education and takes up a job, the bank hopes that he/she will continue to use the card. “So, we can continue to track him. And in the meanwhile, he is building up a credit history which will enable use to give credit once he goes into a job,” said Bhattacharya.

As at June-end 2014, SBI had an education loan portfolio of Rs 14,945 crore, up 7.21 per cent year-on-year.

RBI Governor against subsidising education loans under priority lending

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September 22, 2014

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan asked for a re-thinking on easy credit for education loans, saying banks were subsidising them under the priority sector lending (PSL) segment.

Addressing bankers at an industry summit, he said, “We actually subsidise, in the priority sector, student loans to study abroad. Are students studying abroad the most needy in the country or is it the most important?”

“This is something people have got used to. I am not saying it is bad, but it is something you should ask questions about. We have to keep asking ourselves, why should some sectors get more easy credit than others,” he said.

Under priority sector lending norms, banks are mandated to lend up to 40 per cent of their overall credit to marginalised sectors like agriculture, housing, small businesses and education.

Banks lend to such identified sectors as per their base rates and the shortfalls of the targets have to go to the low-yielding Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

Most banks, especially in the private sector and overseas banks generally fail to meet these targets. Even some state-run banks fail to meet this target due to lower number of branches.

Under the present norm, a loan of under Rs 20 lakh taken by an individual for studying abroad qualifies as priority sector lending.

Nagaland celebrates Hindi Diwas

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September 22, 2014

The Nagaland Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti (NRPS), Kohima organised the annual Hindi Diwas celebrations. The event was organized at Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, with Parliamentary Secretary for School Education Yitachu as the Chief Guest.

At the event, the Parliamentary Secretary noted that Hindi education had seen a significant growth in recent years, and expressed expressed his happiness at the progress. “We cannot avoid the Official Language in the state along with the Nation”, he added. He also stated that, the state government is putting all efforts for employing Hindi Teachers both in public and private Schools in the state by providing one Hindi teacher each in Government schools and one each in middle level and secondary level private schools in the state for which more than 3200 Hindi Teachers are required.

Speaking on the occasion as the Guest of Honor, Zaveyi Nyekha, Director, School Education, also stressed on the need for the local populace in learning to speak “Basic Hindi” as the medium of communication in most trade centres in the country and even abroad is Hindi. The Director also cited the significance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Hindi at the UNO while encouraging the need to support and uphold Hindi as an important language that should be taught in public as well as private institutions.

Meanwhile, a half yearly journal “Purvottar Bharati Darpan”, a book on Naga Folktales in Hindi and a Hindi Song book published by the Nagaland Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti, Kohima were also released on the occasion by the Chief Guest.

HRD Ministry wants common norms for central universities

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September 18, 2014

The Human Resource Development Ministry has circulated the draft bill to create common norms for central universities to all the central universities asking them for suggestions within three weeks.

According to minutes of the retreat of vice-chancellors chaired by HRD Minister Smriti Irani in Chandigarh, the “Single Act for Central Universities has been circulated to all central universities for inviting their suggestions.”

The draft bill is based on recommendations of the AM Pathan committee and has been criticised for compromising the autonomy of these universities.

There are currently 40 central universities under the Ministry, of which 16 were created in 2009 under one Act, while the rest are governed by separate Acts of Parliament. In spite of such huge number, there was no concensus on a central norms for the universities. The Ministry, however is keen to evolve a concensus, but the questions of autonomy need to be addressed too.

Officials said the idea behind a single legislation is to bring in “greater uniformity” in terms of structure and governance, even while retaining the universities’ academic autonomy. To “expedite the process” of appointments and ensure that the selection process is not upheld due to the unavailability of one nominee, the Ministry has decided to propose five names as Visitor’s nominees for selection committees, as against the one it proposes now.

The Ministry has also directed the V-Cs to form a committee to prepare a proposal to convert posts of professor and associate professor to assistant professor. The committee will have to prepare a report and submit it to UGC in a month’s time.

Universities have also been asked to send all MoUs signed by them in the last 20-25 years to the Ministry within one month.

DU in turmoil

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September 18, 2014

Delhi University, premier institution of higher learning is in turmoil these days with teachers demanding the sacking of Vice Chancellor Dinesh singh even as students called for the removal of three teachers for being ‘insensitive’ and having ‘dismal teaching skills’.

Holding a dharna at Jantar Mantar in the national Capital, Delhi University Teachers Association(DUTA) alleged a vindictive behaviour by DU Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh. “The dharna was held to demand the removal of Professor Dinesh Singh from the office of Vice-Chancellor, institution of Visitorial inquiry into alleged misgovernance and irregularities, reversal of alleged vindictive measures by him against teachers in matters of pension and promotions and starting of regular permanent recruitment for the 4,700 vacant teaching posts with correct reservation roster,” Harish Khanna, DUTA secretary, said.

A DUTA delegation met Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani and submitted a memorandum of issues faced by the teachers. Nandita Narain, DUTA president later said about the meeting,“The HRD minister responded positively and promised to give serious consideration to all the issues raised in the memorandum. In particular, she emphasized the determination of the ministry to expedite the process of making permanent appointment of teachers and non-teaching staff.”

Separately, a group of 200 MA English students have submitted a written complaint to the head of their department about ‘the dismal teaching skills’ of three newly appointed teachers for English and asked for them to be replaced. According to the students, the teachers make statements like homosexuality and gambling were brought to India the Muslims, while others proclaim beforehand that their teaching could be wrong.

Government publisher removes chapter on anti-dam activist

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September 18, 2014

Government-funded National Book Trust (NBT) has dropped a chapter on Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar from a children’s book after an NGO objected saying she was a political person after she joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and therefore should not be included.

Ahmedabad-based National Council for Civil Liberties founder VK Saxena had filed a written compalint to the Ministry of Human Resources (MHRD), which in turn referred it to NBT, who dropped the chapter.

Written by Thangamani, the children’s book, Children Who Made It Big, traces the childhood of 12 famous personalities, including sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, chess player Vishwanathan Anand and author Ruskin Bond and is part of the school curriculum in many states.

Reacting to the news, Medha Patkar said VK Saxena was a supporter of the Sardar Sarovar dam and opposed the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the movement that opposed the construction of the dam.

NBT director MA Sikandar defended the action, saying,“The NGO has been writing to us about it. After we received the letter from the ministry, we re-examined the issue and under changed circumstance we decided to drop the chapter”.

Private schools ask for refunds under RTE

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September 18, 2014

Representatives of matriculation schools and members from the Tamil Nadu Nursery, Primary and Matriculation Schools Association are protesting against the Right to Education (RTE) norms, saying that the state authorities are crushing the private schools.

The representatives say that they have yet to receive the reimbursements for fee waiver that they prvided for 25 percent of students admitted under the RTE Act for the last three years. KR Nandakumar, secretary of Tamil Nadu nursery, primary, matriculation and higher secondary schools association said that all private matriculation schools in the state had implemented the RTE Act norms three years ago while admitting students in LKG and from Class 1 to 6.

“When the state government wants us to provide free education to 25 per cent students as part of RTE Act why doesn’t it keep its word and reimburse us the fees. If this situation continues our financial liability will increase multifold forcing us to close down our institutions,” he said.

The lack of fee refund is affecting the schools financially. Schools have been vocal in their opposition to he fee structure fixed by Justice P Singaravelu committee, saying it is not sufficient. They contend that the owner of the school should have full control over the fees and should not be answerable to the government.

He also pointed out that there was arbitrariness in providing recognition to schools, with the Local Planning Authority(LPA) recognising schools that did not have a good infrastructure, while refusing it to schools that had a good infrastructure. “Sometimes the schools which do not have good infrastructure get recognition while others with better facilities don’t. Moreover, the facilities in many of these schools are anyway far better than those in government schools,” he said.

Schools said they are ready to admit students through RTE if the rules are followed properly and they are refunded in a timely fashion.

Some school representatives also have an issue with the building bye-laws, saying that schools located in crowded places face a scarcity of land, and cannot provide the 25 fet setbacks or give large grounds.

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