Delhi is all set to host Techshare India 2014

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February 6, 2014

BarrierBreak in association with National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), Royal National Institute of Blind People (UK) is organizing the 4th edition of Techshare India 2014 – the country’s only Pan-Disability Conference and Exhibition. Techshare India 2014 will be held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 13th and 14th February, 2014. Microsoft is the main sponsor for the event.

In India, 70 million Persons With Disabilities (PWD) are constantly struggling for respectable employment. They are young, and they want to make a living just like anybody else. However, the rest of the world seems to be far more sensitive to the PWD population. A 2012 OECD report put Britain’s spend at 2.4 per cent of national GDP on benefit for PWD, with the US at 1% of GDP and Japan at 0.4% of GDP. Norway and Iceland, both, lead at 2.8 %. Compare this with India, where Union budgets since 2008 show India spends 0.0009% of its GDP on disability. That makes Norway and Iceland spend more than 3000 times that of India, in % of GDP terms.

Hence, the need for platforms that discuss what needs to be done at the Government, social and developmental levels, to take this dialogue ahead, is very important. One such dialogue is Techshare India – an event to promote accessible technology for Persons With Disabilities. The keynote at Techshare 2014 will be delivered by Stefan Sjostrom, Vice President, Public Sector Asia, Microsoft Corporation, where he will stress on how the lives of persons with disabilities can be transformed through the power of technology.

Other partners include NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India), Paypal, CBM (an international organization, committed to improving the quality of life of people with disabilities in the poorest communities of the world) ADOBE, NASSCOM Foundation, and G3ict.

Microsoft-led consortium to enable futuristic classrooms

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 6, 2014

Microsoft India announced the availability of special bundled tablets for private schools (K6-12) in partnership with Acer, MBD Group and Tata Teleservices. The bundle is available to all private schools (K6-12) in India. The specially created bundle comprises a Windows 8.1 tablet, an Acer Iconia W4-820, which comes with an impressive HD IPS Display with enhanced brightness for reading in sunlight and runs on the latest Quad Core Intel® Atom™ Processor. The tablet comes with Office Home and Student as well as Office 365. Microsoft has also included the Office 365 Education A2 and Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification for students.
A complete consumption and creation device, the bundle includes digital learning curriculum for students of K-12 state boards, CBSE and ICSE from MBD Group. The multimedia content from MBD is currently available in English and will soon be available in various regional languages as well. On an optional basis, Tata Teleservices is providing Photon Plus, a wireless device that provides high speed internet services on the move.
Arun Rajamani, Head, Public Sector and Education, Microsoft India, said, “This feature-rich tablet provides a secure, convenient and hassle-free experience for schools who want to integrate technology to make learning more enjoyable and interactive for students.”
As part of the offering, students can avail the Microsoft Office Specialist certification program and teachers in turn can gain access to eighty hours of self-learning content on leveraging technology while teaching. As part of the Microsoft Office 365 Education A2 plan, the tablet will also include important tools such as Office Web Apps – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote; Web Conferencing; SharePoint Intranet site; spam and malware protection; and 25 GB of personal cloud storage via OneDrive, per device.

Pledge against child abuse in CBSE schools soon

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 6, 2014

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has directed all its affiliated schools across the country to introduce ‘Pledge for An Abuse-Free World for Children’. The initiative was first taken by the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, as an integral part of special and class assemblies.
This is an effort by CBSE to make students aware of their duties, rights and responsibilities and make them responsible for their safety.

The pledge has been circulated all over the schools and it reads “I will not tolerate any type of abusive activities that occur anywhere against me as well as against other children who are my sisters and brothers. I will always be in the forefront to report any such instances to the parents, authorities and the police”. A CBSE notification has asked schools to convene a special assembly to read out the pledge and then include it in class assemblies throughout the year to reinforce the message.

Pranab Mukherjee to host VC’s conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 6, 2014

A two-day conference of the vice chancellors of Central Universities will be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Feb 6 and 7. The conference will be hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee. The agenda for this year’s VC’s conference include the action taken on recommendations made in last year’s conference, steps to improve the quality of education in Central Universities by creating inter-linkages with industries, interacting with ranking agencies, and use of technology for access, equity, and quality in higher education.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with minister of Human Resource Development, M M Pallam Raju, ministers of state for HRD, chairman of the National Innovation Council, Sam Pitroda, chairman of UGC and others will be part of the conference. President Mukherjee is a visitor to all these universities and it is the second VC’s conference convened by him as the president of the country.

CBSE to hold World Book Fair in Delhi

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 5, 2014

In a bid to promote reading habit among children, the Central Board of Secondary Education will host the World Book Fair 2014 in Delhi. The fair is slated to begin on 15 and will end on 23 of this month.

The board released a statement saying that the objective behind such an initiative is for teachers, school librarians and parents to motivate children to enjoy reading and enable them to read a wide range of good quality literature, develop holistically, inculcate life skills and be better prepared to face the professional world.

In the statement the board also states that reading for pleasure is more important to a child’s development than other forms of reading in classrooms. Studies show that youngsters who read daily perform better in all areas of the school curriculum than others.

HRD ministry finalises new learning indicators for school children

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 5, 2014

Gone are the days when multiple surveys, based on self-created bench marks, were used to map the learning achievements of school children. HRD ministry has recently finalised the new class-wise learning indicators that students from Class 1 to Class 8 are expected to achieve.

For the first time in India, the National Council of Educational Research & Training has finalized learning achievement indicators.

Achievement indicators have been finalised in eight subjects: English, Hindi, Urdu, Mathematics, EVS, Science, Social Sciences and Art Education.

Indicators in case of English, Urdu and Hindi have been finetuned further to include the milestone a child should achieve in writing, reading, listening and speaking.

Higher education department Bhopal: CM’s helpline to ensure swift action

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February 5, 2014

In an attempt to take swift action, the higher education department has taken initiative to ensure action on calls related to the department received on CM’s helpline within prescribed deadline. The prescribed time-limit has been set for a period of seven days at every level.

First, principal of concerning college will ensure action within seven days on the call received at CM’s helpline. If not, then the principal of the lead college will ensure action at the second level within seven days.

In case of failure to dispose of complaint within prescribed deadline, then regional additional director will be responsible for final disposal of the case.

Responsibility for coordination at directorate of higher education level has been entrusted to additional director Urmila Shukla. Her phone number is 0755-2559980. Head of the department will also review the action every week.

TCS to roll out model curriculum

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 5, 2014

Bringing forth quality students who are employable in today’s increasingly competitive global economy is what driving software giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to introduce a model of curriculum to impart a change in the syllabus of higher education.

After receiving the award for the ‘most distinguished alumnus’ of NIT-Trichy, the MD and CEO of TCS N. Chandrasekaran said that the company had been working out the specifics of the model over the last 18 months under his guidance to impart a change in curriculum in an effort to revamp the higher education syllabus to enable educational institutions roll out quality students in line with expectations of the industry.

On the sidelines of the event at NIT-Tiruchirappalli, he said TCS would soon embark into non-English speaking markets in Asia such as China and Japan for further growth.

The company has already tapped into most English speaking countries in Europe and the US, and non-English speaking locations like France, Germany and Latin America.

TCS currently has 2.9 lakh employees, 75,000 of whom are in Tamil Nadu.

Technical education summit to be held in Punjab

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 5, 2014

In an effort to enhance the availability of skilled manpower in the state, the Punjab government will organize the ‘Technical Education & Skill Development Summit 2014’ on February 8.

The summit will be organised by the Department of Technical Education and Industrial Training. It will be held at the indoor sports complex, Mohali.

Punjab Industry & Commerce minister Madan Mohan Mittal said that the summit would serve as the perfect platform for exhibiting the potential and achievements of technical education, and showcasing the quality initiatives taken by the department to promote technical education in the state.

Mittal said he intended making Punjab a global hub of higher education such that it attracts investment and students from other states and countries.

Punjab Technical University Vice-Chancellor Rajneesh Arora said the state has all the wherewithal required to emerge as a winner on the global higher education map and such summits should help this cause.

Uncertainty lingers about CBSE class 10 board exams

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 5, 2014

It has been three years that Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has made Board exam optional, but cloud of doubt still exist among the parents, teachers and students about choosing school based exams over the boards.

Though the exam reform was a major topic of debate nationwide and elaborate measures were also taken to get the feedback on its implementation in the country, still many CBSE school authorities have doubt its success. CBSE Chennai regional official, T S Rao is of the view that new schools are still doubtful about the reform whereas the older schools are clear about why and how it should be done.

An analysis done on the class 12 board exam results of 2012-2013 batch, showed that students who skipped the class 10 board exam did well both in terms of marks and scores. Many established schools still hesitate to opt for the school based exam. Statistics show that in the year 2012-13, 77 percent of class 10 students in Tamil Nadu opted for the board exam, whereas in Chennai the rate was 72 percent.

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