Highlighting the potential of the National Programme on National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), the Secretary said that the entire country can be made into a big classroom which will help improve quality of instructions in engineering colleges particularly belonging to the remote areas. He said that the Ministry may approach AICTE to make on-line education mandatory and integral part of education system. Asking to promote virtual lab, Thakur said it should be possible to share classes from IITs to other engineering colleges by making the system more user friendly.

Dr. S.S. Mantha, chairman, AICTE focused on promoting quality initiatives in the country. He said that rapid expansion in institutions has led to the decline in quality. The need of the hour therefore is to nurture quality in the institutions.

The one day workshop was organized by the HRD Ministry with AICTE. More than 150 engineering colleges from the National Capital Region of Delhi participated in the programme.

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Under this agreement, the students of the institute will be provided with video and interactive content for quality education. There will be around 20 to 40 hours of content for each course. List of courses include programming, designing, web development, accounting etc.

Students of Sun Computers will also be eligible for a course certificate from CPE, Wright State University in Ohio, USA. Medh Academy has partnered with CPE, Wright State University for these courses. These certification can be provided after completing the classroom training courses and an online exam conducted on Medh Academy website.

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As per the Regulations, only such Foreign Educational Institutions shall be allowed to collaborate and have twinning arrangement with Indian Educational Institutions which are accredited wth highest grade in their homeland. The collaboration shall be allowed with only those Indian institutions which are accredited by nationally recognized accrediting agencies with a grade not less than B or its equivalent in respect of institutional accreditation or a threshold level of accreditation in respect of program accreditation, as the case may be.

Any Indian Educational Institution or Foreign Educational Institution already having a collaborative arrangement shall comply with these regulations within a period of six months from the date of their coming into force.

Any collaborative arrangement, by whatever name, between a Foreign Educational Institution and an Indian Educational Institution, in violation of the regulations shall be declared as “unauthorized collaboration” and action shall be taken against such institutions as per the provisions under the Regulations.

A franchise arrangement, by whatever name, between a Foreign Educational Institution and an Indian Educational Institution shall not be allowed under these regulations.

With the notification of these regulations, no Foreign Educational Institution or Indian Educational Institution shall establish or operate its educational activity in India through collaboration leading to award of degree(s) and postgraduate diploma(s) without express permission or approval of the commission.

Any dispute arising in regard to collaborative arrangement between Indian Educational Institution(s) and Foreign Educational Institution(s) shall be governed by the Indian law.

The UGC has so far not approved any proposal for collaboration with any foreign educational institution under these regulations.

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A flagship Scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, the scholarships are given to students belonging to SC for the study of all recognised post-matriculation or post-secondary courses pursued in recognised institutions except for courses like Maintenance Engineer’s Courses and Private Pilot License Courses; and courses of training at the Military College, and courses at Pre-examination Training Centres of all India and State levels. Students who pursue their studies through correspondence courses are also eligible for the scholarships. Employed students whose income combined with the income of their parents/guardians do not exceed the maximum prescribed income ceiling are also made entitled to post-matric scholarships to the extent of reimbursement of all compulsorily payable non-refundable fees.

The financial aid under the Scheme to the SC students includes maintenance allowance, reimbursement of non-refundable compulsory fee charged by the educational institutions, book bank facility, among other allowances. Since April 1, 2013, scholarships will be paid to the students whose parents/guardians’ income from all sources does not exceed Rs. 2,50,000 per annum. Additional allowance for disabled students for the complete duration of the course is also a part of the Scheme. Apart from Reader Allowance for blind students which varies on the level of the course, there is a provision of transport allowance, escort allowance and allowance for extra coaching to mentally retarded and mentally ill students too. The disabled students belonging to Scheduled Castes covered under the Scheme can also get such additional benefits from other Schemes, which are not covered under the Scheme. The Scholarship Scheme also includes annual book allowance. For this book banks have been set up in various educational institutions, where books are supplied to SC students in installments, depending on the course, semester structure etc.

The eligible students are given scholarships subject to the application of Means Test prescribed in the Scheme. Those students who belong to a particular state but are studying in other state will be awarded the scholarships by the state to which they belong after submitting their applications to the competent authorities in that state. The duration of the scholarship depends on factors like good conduct and regularity in attendance till the completion of the course subject. The scholarship is renewed on the basis of the fact that the scholar secures promotion to the next higher class irrespective of the fact whether such examinations are conducted by a University or the Institution. However, if a SC scholar pursuing certain courses (mentioned in the Scheme) fails in the examination for the first time, the award may be renewed. This is clear that the purpose of the scheme is to be as comprehensive in its coverage as is reasonably possible. The limitation imposed by historical injustices need a scheme that is easy to avail and covers all the points of restrictions and deprivation that may befall a SC seeker of education.

In order to smoothen the way for timely payment of the scholarship amount to the students, states like Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have fully computerised the implementation of the Scheme and have started online processing of the scholarships. Kerala has started the system of e-grantz for the timely disbursement of the scholarship amount. Furthermore, various state governments and UT administrators have also agreed to make payment of scholarship to the beneficiaries through their (beneficiary students) accounts in post offices or banks. As mentioned earlier, the Scheme receives 100 per cent central assistance from the central government for total expenditure under the Scheme, over and above their respective Committed Liability. The level of Committed Liability for a year is equivalent to the level of actual expenditure incurred by the administrators under the Scheme during the terminal year of the last Five Year Plan period and is required to be borne by them for which they are supposed to make necessitated provision in their budget.

The number of beneficiaries under the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs has been increasing over the years. During the 11th Plan, the number of students financially assisted under the Scheme went up from 31.58 lakh to 46 lakh. The total expenditure under the Scheme including the Committed Liability of the states increased from Rs. 2,158.70 crore in 2007-2008 to Rs. 3,994.96 crore in 2011-12. The national average of female beneficiaries under the Scheme for the year 2011-12 was 38.31 per cent. In this manner, active government intervention through a Scheme focused on education for students of Scheduled Castes paved the way for mainstreaming them into the society.

Adapted from Amit Guin’s article, who is a freelance writer. Source PIB

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The topics for both debate and creative writing were announced just an hour prior to the commencement of the event.

Category A consisting of Grade XI and XII students spoke on ‘Nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is a threat to the environment.’ Category B comprising Grade IX and X pupils expressed their views on ‘Reality shows do more harm than good.’ Category C – Grade VII and VIII battled it out on whether ‘Mobiles should be allowed in education institutions.’ This young lot took up the gauntlet and were the soul of the event.

The Creative Writing competition saw the young brains expressing their creativity on the following topics – ‘Indian democracy is famous for criminalisation of politics’, ‘You have decided to give several hours each month to improve your community. What is the one thing you will do and why?’, ‘Trees, clean water, animals – choose one resource and explain why it needs to be saved.’

There was an esteemed panel of judges present – Dr. Gaurav Raj Bhagat – Assistant Professor at Barkatullah University, Mrs. Sabina Jamshed – HOD Humanities at Eastern Public School and Mr. Mahendra Joshi – Human Resource Training Manager at SIRT.

The debaters spoke with great confidence and put forth brilliant arguments defending their stands. Sagar Public School emerged victorious in Category A; Delhi Public School bagged the Best Team trophy in Category B.

Category C saw the host school Billabong High walk away with the Best Team trophy. Aahna Rajan of Billabong High was adjudged the Best Speaker for the motion and Yashweer Kharb was declared Best Speaker against the motion.

Seven schools took part in this unconventional competition, where students learn the importance and necessity on thinking on their feet.

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Swipe Junior allows a parent to activate fool-proof Parental Lock System through which the parent can restrict or block internet usage. Parents can choose which apps to make available for their kids via the Application Manager. Besides, the unique “Timer” feature in Swipe Junior allows parents to set the amount of time each day that their child can use the gadget.

And there are features that allow the parent to block games, while keeping learning apps active. This way, while the parents are away, they will be able to provide their kids a safe, engaging and educational experience. Another unique feature is the “Usage Track Report” that gives charts and information about the usage pattern on a minute-to-minute basis.

The Swipe Junior specs

Swipe Junior Tablet PC

§ Parental Lock System, Timer, separate parent login, limited time access and usage report.
§ 7”HD display,
§ Android 4.1 – Jelly Bean OS
§ 5 point HD Capacitive Multi-Touch screen
§ 1 GHz, 4GB in-built memory, expandable to 32GB, 512 MB RAM
§ 1024*600 pixels(16:9)
§ 4 directions gravity sensing
§ 2 MP rear camera and 0.3MP front camera
§ 3000 mAh battery
§ Mini 5pin USB port
§ 3.5 mm jack

Considering the fact that kids drop things, the Swipe Junior comes with an encasing of protective shock-proof coating, which will resist the occasional tumble. The encasing is also made out of food-grade quality material, so it’s completely safe even for toddlers. Swipe Junior is ergonomically designed and bright colored table pc which is surely an eye catcher even for the elders.

Swipe Junior Tablet with HD display comes pre-loaded with kids-oriented apps which is aimed at driving the educational possibilities via technology for kids. Pre-loaded content on the device includes educational, games, entertainment and e-book apps.

Priced at Rs 5990/-, Swipe Junior comes with preloaded educational apps. Powered with 1 GHz Processor and 4 GB inbuilt memory along with 512 MB RAM that operates on Android 4.1 OS, the 7”HD display makes watching cartoons, animated movies, educational films and playing brain development games a real delight. These can be stored on the machine with the help of its 32 GB expandable memory. Swipe Junior also has a 2MP camera and long lasting 3000 mAH battery which helps the kids to capture their imagination.

Swipe Telecom has earmarked substantial budgets to market Swipe Junior across India. The 300+ million middle class Indians aspire to give their children the best education. Swipe Telecom has plans to reach out to schools with innovative programs wherein offline and online will converge and give the kids an opportunity to grow faster, better and smarter.

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CD follows the launch of the ‘Bol India English Bol’ Program that offers 24/ 7 telephonic tutoring to complement the company’s core online tutoring program.

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The decision will not effect the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducted exam for 15 per cent Under Graduate level seats.

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was held online by NBE in 2012. The NEET-PG was an eligibility examination prescribed as a single window entrance examination to all MD/MS/Post Diploma courses in India, replacing other examinations like All India Post Graduate Entrance Examination and various state level postgraduate entrance or institution level entrance examination. On July 18, Supreme Court struck down the Medical Council of India (MCI) notification for holding common entrance tests for MBBS, BDS and post-graduate medical courses.

Health ministry has now sought review of the Supreme Court judgment on NEET for medical courses. The ministry argues that NBE already has prepared an online system, it will be able to replicate it better and if the review goes in their favour.

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With success of satellite based education delivery, country’s premier space institution ISRO concieved Education Satellite (EduSAT) in October 2002. The 1,950 kilogram EDUSAT was launched by GSLV.

Edusat India

EDUSAT has provided connectivity to schools, colleges and higher levels of education and also to support non-formal education including developmental communication. ISRO provides the space segment for EDUSAT System and has demonstrated the efficacy of the satellite system for interactive distance education. Content generation is the responsibility of the user agencies.

The two types of terminals – Satellite Interactive Terminals (SITs) and Receive Only Terminals (ROTs) have been deployed under EDUSAT programme. The ROTs are used for providing primary and secondary education and the SITs are used for providing higher and professional education. The live classes conducted the expert teachers are transmitted from the studios to these schools and colleges. Using SITs the students can have live interaction with the expert teacher. Most of these terminals are deployed in rural areas.

University Grants Commission (UGC), through its body Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) is using EDUSAT facility for curriculum based education. UGC-CEC uses EDUSAT network for live transmission of their classroom programme.

All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has sponsored telecasting of programmes through AICTE-EDUSAT network mostly for curriculum based teaching as also for conducting training programmes and seminars. The Council is also engaged in the development of digital course wares.

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) uses the satellite for curriculum based education, teachers’ training, professional educational courses and for conducting teleconferencing sessions for software content generation.

NCERT conducts inter-active orientation/training programmes of teachers and teachers’ educators.

Department of Science & Technology (DST) is uses EDUSAT network for group discussion, lectures, demonstrations, video-shows, training and capacity building programmes.

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It will be chaired by the Minister of Human Resource Development (ex-officio) with Chairman and Directors of the four NITTTRs and other academicians as members.

The Council will act as an advisory body to the Central Government on matters relating to Central policies, administration, development of plans and rules, curriculum and institutional resources for the NITTTRs. The Council shall meet at least two times a year.

The four NITTTRs were established as resource institutes in the year 1964 to train technical teachers, develop curriculum and institutional resources, assist Central and State Governments and technical institutes towards improving related process and products.

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