With the aim of enhancing the quality of education system in India, a couple of IT professionals in Bhubaneswar have come together to launch a new software based website which will be an online educational cum social networking service.
This innovative move will not only enrich the campus life but also help the principal, administrators, faculties and students in enhancing the quality of education. The software will tie the whole college in a logical thread. Before developing the software, a survey was conducted by the team members in various technical colleges to see the response to the idea. The software or the website will provide various services to the students and provide login id and password to each individual. It will also provide a dashboard with separate login-in access to all students along with teachers, various modules of the software will take care of all the processes like student-teacher interaction, senior-junior interaction, doubt clearance, regular e-attendance and others. The software has the module to manage the hall of fame, notice board and the library. Other features of the website include advance search bar, genuine id for students, user friendly interface, performance graph for students in terms of subjects, latest news update on the dashboard, question and answer section. The website also provides facilities like in-built chat and message, unlimited photo upload and information about college events, news and holidays.
Educational website launched by IT professionals
SC gives a big relief for PGDM institutions after EPSI’s Writ Petition
The Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI) filed an interim application in the Supreme Court with a plea to direct AICTE to take necessary steps to initiate the process of granting extension of approval for the year 2014-15 in compliance of the order dated 28.08.2013 passed by the Supreme Court of India.
After a hearing, the Counsel of AICTE informed the court that AICTE continues to be the regulatory body of PGDM Institutions. The counsel of EPSI said that in view of the UGC draft regulations, there is much confusion and the statement made on behalf of AICTE be recorded. Accordingly, the Court passed an order stating, “this is an application seeking directions concerning the continuance of AICTE as the regulatory body for the PGDM institutions. Advocate for AICTE has stated that AICTE continues to be the regulatory body for the PGDM institutions. In view of this submission that AICTE will be regulating the PGDM institutions for the year 2014-15, no further orders are required on this application”.
This comes as a big relief for PGDM institutions who were all concerned about the impending crisis looming large before the admission process to begin in the institutes.
OJEE warns students against fake website
The Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) authorities have asked the students to be cautious of the fake websites which claim to provide official information about the forthcoming entrance examination scheduled on May 11.
The government caution comes after it was discovered that another website claiming to give information about the entrance examination resurfaced. OJEE authorities have reported the matter to police. Students have been asked to access only the official website of OJEE for seeking any information.
Despite funding, drop in education standards in India: Survey
The annual survey done by the Indian education research group Pratham reveals that the standards of education in rural India have declined every year since 2009 despite huge government investments in the field.
The Right to Education Act passed in 2009 guarantees state schooling for children from six to 14 years of age but the study said that the enrollment levels reached 96 percent in this age category in 2013, a marginal difference from 2012. The survey showed that in 2009, 52.8 percent of children in standard five across government and private schools were able to read a text from standard two, this fell to 47 percent in 2013. The enrollment of children in private schools increased slightly in 2013 to 29 percent. This number was just 18.7 percent in 2006. The report pointed out that the guarantee of education is meaningless without satisfactory learning. There are serious implications for India’s equity and growth if basic learning outcomes do not improve soon. The survey was conducted in 16,000 villages across the country and covered about 600,000 students in government and private schools in rural areas.
Indian Institute of Packaging organises INDPACK 2014
Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), a premier institute and an autonomous body working under the administrative control of Ministry of Commerce and Industry is organising 16th edition of National Packaging Exhibition and Conference, INDPACK 2014 on 16-18, 2014.
The main objective of INDPACK 2014 is to provide Indian packaging industry a unique platform where the industry would showcase state of the art packaging technology and machinery, products and services along with international companies providing effective packaging solutions in terms of costs, productivity suitability and quality. The three days exhibition, INDPACK 2014, will witness participation of about 90 exhibitors from all over India.
As compared to the global context, in India, the value addition to food production is only 7%, the same is 23% in China. To realize India’s potential in this industry, the government has set an investment target of US$25.07 billion by 2015 to double India’s share in global food trade from 1.6 percent to 3 percent, increasing processing of perishable food from 6 percent to 20 percent and value additions from 20 percent to 35 percent. Inaugurating the conference K Chandramouli, IAS, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, said that while India has abundant food supply, the processed food industry is still in its nascent stages, only 2 percent of fruits and vegetables and 15 percent of milk is processed. The opportunity for collaboration and improvement through conferences such as these is huge.
Nursery admission put on hold
Delhi government told the High Court on January 15 that the nursery admission will begin only after an order is passed on the petition of certain unaided private schools challenging the new admission guidelines.
The Delhi High Court heard a plea of the city’s private schools challenging the government’s notification on the criteria for nursery admissions in the capital. A division bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw reserved the order after hearing both the parties. The nursery admission process is now on hold after the government told the bench that it would wait for the court’s decision on the issue before commencing the admission process.
Convocation of Gujarat Technological University to be webcast live
Gujarat Technological University (GTU) will webcast its third convocation live which will be held at university’s Chandkheda Campus on January 16. The Governor of Gujarat and the chancellor of GTU Dr Kamla will present the degrees to all the eligible students of GTU.
A total of 62,687 students will be awarded degrees at the ceremony. GTU will also confer an honorary doctorate to Dr Vijay Bhatkar, the architect of India’s national initiative in supercomputing. The Chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), S S Mantha is also expected to be present at the convocation. A total of 143 students will be awarded gold medals in nine courses. More than 5,000 students are expected to receive their degrees personally and others can watch the convocation ceremony by accessing the link given on the website of the university.
Mumbai University introduces new courses
University of Mumbai is all set to introduce three new courses starting from January and February this year. The courses anchored at the extra-mural centre of the university are gardening course in Marathi, garden craft course in English and ornamental aquarium fish keeping and breeding course.
Gardening course in Marathi is an intensive course for gardening and farmhouse makers. The garden craft course which is taught in English is a 15 sessions course meant for small gardens and ornamental gardening. The ornamental aquarium fish keeping and breeding course commencing from February will cover training in setting up an aquarium, maintenance, aquatic flora, types of freshwater ornamental fish, marine aquarium setting and maintenance, preparing fish foods, breeding techniques of fresh water ornamental fish. All the courses will be taught by expert professionals. The admission procedure for all the courses is quiet simple as extra-mural does not keep age and qualifications bars.
Government plans to formulate ‘national standards’ for schools’ performance
The government is planning to formulate ‘national standards’ for schools’ performance with the aim to keep the students and parents informed about various activities of the schools. The initiative will help in highlighting the schools which are performing well and which are not. This will help the parents take a well informed decision. The move becomes significant in light of reports which suggest that learning outcome is still far from satisfactory in both primary and upper primary classes.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and UNICEF had organized a convention to evaluate the progress of RTE after three years and the performance of the states especially after the three year deadline to implement the infrastructure requirement that came to an end on March 31, 2013. Speaking at the convention, senior HRD Ministry official Brinda Swarup said that though a lot has been achieved in meeting the RTE parameters, much more grounds need to be covered. As against the target of 19.82 lakh teachers, 14.80 lakh have been recruited as of September 30, 2013.
Nursery admissions to begin from January 17
The nursery admissions in Delhi which were about to begin from January 15 will now start from January 17, as told by the Delhi government to the High court on January 13. The date has been deferred by two days on account of the hearing on January 13 on a challenge to the new nursery guidelines which remained inconclusive.
The government said that it would wait for the outcome of the next hearing on the petition filed by a group of private schools to put a stay on the notification laying out new criteria for nursery admissions in the capital. In the petition, the schools had urged the court to grant interim stay on the notification but the court declined to stay the process and said that the matter will be taken up in the next hearing by a proper bench which will decide the later course.
