To monitor schools and ensure regular attendance of teachers around 3,000 Area Education Officers (AEOs) will be appointed during the 100-day action plan of the school education department, as announced by the school education minister, Paras Chandra.Jain during a review of departmental action plan.
The minister said that one AEO will be appointed for every 30 to 40 schools. Assistant directors will be appointed as Block Education Officers (BEO) to monitor schools and attendance of teachers, for which 450 posts have been created. One deputy director and two assistant director rank officers will also be posted at district level under the action plan to improve coordination in the districts.
3,000 Area Education Officers to be appointed in Madhya Pradesh
Nursery grievances guidelines issued by DoE
With nursery admission season just round the corner, the Directorate of Education has issued a batch of guidelines related to nursery admissions on grievance redress. The promised helpline has been set up and schools are required to display at the entrance contact information of the education officer whom parents can complain to.
The order directs all education officers (EOs) to get a flex board fixed at the main entrance of each unaided private recognized school falling in their jurisdiction. The board which has to be up by January 10 must bear the education officer’s name, zone number, his office address and telephone number and mobile number in both Hindi and English. The guidelines are meant to streamline the admission process and to facilitate speedy redressal of grievances of parents. In case the complaint to the EO goes unheard, the parents may contact the office of the education minister Manish Sisodia directly through the newly established helpline number, 011- 27352525. Parents are very happy with move as it is expected to bring in a lot of transparency and accountability in the system. On the other hand, some are skeptical that the move might lead to anarchy with parents complaining about inane things.
Government permits to increase MBBS seats by 10,000
Government has given a green signal to the proposal to increase the number of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) seats by 10,000 in government medical colleges across the country. The move aims to bring down the doctor-patient ratio in India.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the health ministry’s proposal related to the centrally sponsored scheme for upgradation of existing state government/central government medical colleges to increase the MBBS seats. It will lead to an increase of about 10,000 seats at a total cost of Rs 10,000 crore out of which the centre would bear Rs 7,500 crore and the share of state/union territories would be Rs 2,500 crore. The funding pattern will be 90:10 by central and state governments respectively for north-eastern states and special category states, and in the ratio of 70:30 for other states.
Placement Reporting System: Critical & Crucial Aspect for B-School Functioning
Dr. Debashis Sanyal, Dean – School of Business Management, NMIMS in a conversation with Veena Kurup shares his views over the need and importance of placement reporting standards in B-Schools.
Placement Reporting Standards has been the limelight discussion topic among the B-Schools in India. Share us your views over the need and importance of such standards in B-School institutions?
Placement reporting systems primarily help the students, who are aspiring for a quality education and bright career, while opting for admissions at the B-School institutions. Such effectively maintained systems also assist the students in gaining full knowledge about the institution’s services as far as placements are concerned. Following and maintaining a placement reporting systems is very critical and crucial aspect for the functioning of the B-School institutions.
However, there are other important aspects as well which needs to be considered while opting for admissions, like the curriculum standards and education pattern followed etc. Effective reporting systems are even required for highlighting these factors, which will ultimately aid the students in settling for an ideal choice.
What is your outlook upon the Indian Placement Reporting Standards (IPRS) which was introduced by IIM Ahmedabad? How do you review its acceptance and applicability among the B-Schools in India?
Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) does not follow the IPRS system that was initiated by IIM Ahmedabad. Considering the scenario prevalent among the B-School institutions across India, only few institutes are following IPRS. The system has not gained much acceptability among the B-School institutions, mainly because the market does not demand the requirement for IPRS. Every institution has its own system of Placement Reporting Standards.
Can you share with us NMIM’s reason for not implementing and following IIM Ahmedabad initiated IPRS?
We have our own system of reporting standard and are quite happy with its functioning. Moreover, the market as a whole does not demand its necessity. We didn’t feel the standard good enough for us to accept it; secondly we are repeatedly gaining positive results from our own standard system. Our student body and stakeholders have never till date raised a need before us to change or replace the existing system, neither have they ever doubted the integrity of our system. We maintain a honest transparent approach in the placement reporting systems and even the ranking agencies have analyzed our performance and accepted its effectiveness.
The standards followed in NMIM’s placement reporting system is similar to the ones being followed by most of the B-Schools in the country. We focus on representing and reporting the factual figures. But, we also consider the privacy concerns of our students and recruiters. For instance, if a student or a recruiter request on not disclosing their placement details, our system respects their privacy. NMIMS provides quality recruitment standards and placement offers to students.
IPRS provides little or no scope for alumni participation in its clauses. How favorable has been NMIMS Placement Reporting System in enabling effective alumni contribution?
Alumni are a crucial and important part of our system and our institution. Regular alumni holdings are conducted, wherein they assist our students through mock interviews and mould them to get ready for placements. Further, they also help us in developing our curriculum and courses. Effective and well-coordinated alumni participation has been a great contribution towards the success of NMIMS placement standards. We uphold our active alumni participation as one amongst our major USPs.
What role does the placement reporting standards play in gaining a robust inflow of recruiters towards the institution? How has been the recruiter response received by NMIMS?
The recruiters are generally not concerned about the placement reporting standards being adopted and followed by a particular institution. Instead, they are more focused towards the quality of the students’ offered – lateral thinking and radical skills of students, curriculum, educational patterns etc delivered by the institutions. Hence, these placement reporting systems do not have much importance in encouraging the recruiter inflow. We have come across instances where the recruiter refrains from publishing his/her company name or the salary being offered.
NMIMS is repeatedly gaining positive results and active recruiter participation from various sectors. We are successful in providing the standards that our students demand and have got about 100% placement results over the years.
Education can usher in next golden age in India: President Pranab Mukherjee
Education is what will determine how fast India joins the ranks of leading nations of the world, said President Pranab Mukherjee while addressing the valedictory session of the 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
Emphasizing on the growth of global standard of educational institutions in the country President said that only education can bring India its next golden age. He stressed upon putting a quality education system in place to attain a growth rate of nine percent per year, as has been envisaged during the 12th Five Year Plan period. He further added that educational institutes in the country should focus more on research and development and pursue greater international linkages by collaborating with foreign universities and to invite the best of faculties from across the world to teach in these institutions. Enrollment to higher education institutions in the country has increased from 1.39 crore in 2006-07 to 2.18 crore in 2011-12. India has today 659 degree-awarding institutions and 33,023 colleges. Despite the rise in the number of higher education institutes, India has very few institutes of global standards. President also said that innovation is the key area India should focus and both industry and higher education institutes should give special emphasis on research.
Training sessions for principals of CBSE schools
The board with the Centre for Assessment and Research will conduct a review of assessment practices and hold training sessions for principals with the aim to improve the school based examination model in CBSE schools.
The sessions will include discussions on global trends in examination assessments and innovative practices in schools across the world. The programme, ‘Reflecting on School-Based Assessment’ will give tips to the principals on leadership qualities and how to improve assessment models. Renowned senior research fellow of Oxford University Jim Tognolini will deliver the talk on global trends in assessments. Discussion on innovative assessment practices will also be held by Sadhana Parashar, CBSE director of academics, research, training and innovation.
Higher education mission holds its first meeting
The first meeting of the mission authority of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) was held in New Delhi on 8 January. Issues like funding pattern and quality of education in higher education institutions were discussed in the meeting which was headed by the Human Resource Development Minister, M M Pallam Raju. Planning Commission member Narendra Jadhav, Health Secretary K. Desiraju and higher education ministers of various states attended the meeting. Chairpersons of the University Grants Commission and the All India Committee for Technical Education were also present in the meeting.
The RUSA is a scheme of the central government which envisages strengthening of the higher education system. The mission authority approved the RUSA guidelines, including programmatic norms of the various components of the scheme, and the equalization formula based on which the funding support would be determined. The mission authority also gave its approval to consider the applications of the states of Goa, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand and West Bengal to participate in RUSA. The authority also discussed the logo for RUSA which will soon be finalised and adopted.
Malaysia invites IIT to open a centre
Malaysia, a country which has nearly two million people of Indian origin, has invited the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to set up a branch in the country. Addressing the 12th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi, Malaysian Federal minister for Natural Resources and Environment, Daru Seri G Palanivel invited IIT to set up a branch in the south-east Asian country. He further added that several students from Malaysia come to India to get degrees in dentistry, engineering and medicine and some of the Indian educational institutions have already set up centres there. The Minister also stated that Malaysia would like to work closely with India in areas of biodiversity. Setting up a premier institute like IIT in Malaysia could prove to be beneficial for both the countries as it can cater to the educational needs of the students of Malaysia and would also help the people of Indian origin to connect with the land of their ancestors.
Allopathy subjects not to be part of homeopathy courses: CCH
Allopathy subjects will not be allowed to be introduced in the syllabus of homeopathy colleges in India, said the Central Council of Homeopathy (CCH).
There has been a demand from homoeopathy doctors for the introduction of an integrated course on allopathy that will enable them to practice allopathy as well. There has also been demand for short-term allopathy courses to be allowed for those who have completed homeopathy degree course. But CCH has clearly stated that it will also not allow any attempt to introduce the subjects related to allopathy in the study of homoeopathy. The council had rejected the demand following a meeting in September 2013. CCH is a statutory apex body under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Speaking on the issue, CCH chief Ramjee Singh said, “How can we allow homoeopaths to practice allopathy as they are two completely different branches of medicine.”
Robotic education in government schools
The dream of studying robotics is soon to be fulfilled for students of government schools in Karnataka. The department of state education research and training (DSERT) and Japanese University Saitama, along with Bangalore based LS Creative Learnings Pvt Ltd (LSCL) have collaborated to provide free robotic education to two government higher primary schools in Hosakerehalli and Veerabhadra Nagar.
The unique project comes under the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education of Saitama University. Robotic labs have already been set up in the two schools where students will be trained to implement science and mathematics skills in creating robots. The project might soon be extended to cities like Hyderabad and Pune and the efforts are on to scale up the project to 100 government schools. LSCL and Saitama University will also jointly organize Robocup Junior, a robot competition for students in Bangalore in February. The winners will get an opportunity to participate at an international level robot competition in Brazil during April.
