Page 178 - Education

A training programme to improve teaching skills of school teachers

Guarav Singh found his calling when he took up teaching and set up a foundation to improve the skills of school teachers

Modi to inaugurate projects in J&K

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jammu, Srinagar and Leh on Sunday to inaugurate and lay foundation stones for various development projects there.

'Surprise date' with Rahul for students as Cong chief gives personal touch to party outreach

Seven young students from different parts of the country had a "surprise" dinner interaction with Congress president Rahul Gandhi where over Chinese food they shared their ideas about improving the lives of people and were promised that some may be included in the party manifesto. From bringing out Congress manifesto in Braille, setting up gender-neutral toilets to steps for removing inequalities in education system and caste discrimination in society, the conversation touched diverse issues as the youngsters opened up to a "warm and affable" Gandhi. With the crucial Lok Sabha polls drawing near, Gandhi has started the outreach Apni Baat Rahul ke saath and this group of seven youngsters from Delhi, Assam, Assam, Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh were the first to interact with him. Gandhi will have several such sessions with students. Critics might point out that the Congress has often mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for engaging with students, including his recent interaction

ICT Academy announces winners of the cloud literacy month 2018 competition

ICT Academy recently (31 Jan. 2019) announced and recognized the winners of the Cloud Literacy Month 2018 at the ICT Academy Bridge 2019 - Chennai Edition event held at the Le Royal Meridien, Chennai. Designed to introduce students to the basics of cloud technology, ICT Academy in association with Amazon Internet Services Private Limited (AISPL), an Amazon Indian affiliate, ran the AWS Educate Program as part of a Cloud Literacy Month 2018 in November 2018.From across 7 states in India, 149 educational institutes participated in the Cloud Literacy Month program. Over 17,000 students registered for AWS Educate program and more than 15,000 students initiated AWS Educate learning pathways. The program was conducted in Engineering and Arts & Science institutes across India for students pursuing their first and second year of graduation.The AWS Educate program is Amazon's global initiative to provide students and educators with the resources needed to greatly accelerate Cloud-related ..

Delhi to keep its focus on health, education in Budget

The Delhi government will focus on health and education sectors, Finance Minister Manish Sisodia said here on Saturday.

India issues demarche to US embassy over detention of Indian students

India on Saturday said it has issued a demarche to the US Embassy in New Delhi over the detention of several Indian students in the United States for alleged immigration fraud and expressed its concern over their well-being and sought immediate consular access.The US Embassy in New Delhi confirmed that it had received the demarche from the Ministry of External Affairs.According to reports, the US authorities have put electronic trackers on the Indian students.In its demarche, India said: "Our concern over the dignity and well-being of the detained students and the need for immediate consular access for Indian officials to the detainees was reiterated."The MEA statement also said that 30 Indian students have been contacted by Indian consular officers and efforts to contact the remaining Indian students are continuing.India underlined that students, who may have been duped into enrolling in the fake 'University' should be treated differently from the recruiters who have duped them. "We .

Difficult Dialogues looks at value education, girls drop-out ratio, RTE

Can value education be formally taught in classrooms? Why are the best minds of India not choosing academia? While enrolment of girls at primary level of education is improving, is there still a big drop-out rate in the secondary level due to social pressure? Why does the ambitious Right To Education not have a financial roadmap? These were some of the questions raised on the first day of the two-day Difficult Dialogues 2019 annual session here on Friday. Speaking on the session titled 'Building World Class Universities' were World Bank's Higher Education Specialist for India Francisco Marmolejo, JNU professor Niraja Gopal Jayal, education entrepreneur Maheshwari Peri, Ahmedabad University Vice Chancellor Pankaj Chandra, among others. "The best minds are not getting into academia which is affecting the quality of education in our higher education institutes. Political interference and state control also stifle innovation and flexibility. The need of the hour is to get back to ...

India urges US to release detained Indian students

India has urged the US to release at the earliest Indian students detained in connection with their enrolment in a fraudulent university and not to deport them against their will.

India closely monitoring situation, launches helpline for detained Indian students in US

The Indian government is closely monitoring the situation and Indian consulates in the United States are in touch with the authorities following the detention of scores of Indian students, many from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, for flouting immigration rules. The Indian Embassy in Washington has also launched a 24X7 helpline for the affected students who were arrested on Wednesday in raids across the States. The students had allegedly enrolled in a fraudulent university in order to take advantage of the US government's pay-to-stay scheme.The helpline numbers are 1-202-322-1190 and +1-202-340-2590 and email:cons3.washington@mea.gov.in.The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that it had accorded the highest priority to the situation.The Indian government also issued a demarche to the US embassy in New Delhi to voice concern over the dignity and well-being of the detained students and to demand immediate consular access to them."A demarche was made to the Embassy of the ...

India issues 'demarche' to American Embassy on detention of Indian students in US

India Saturday issued a demarche to the American Embassy here, expressing its concern over the detention of Indian students in the US, and sought immediate consular access to them. The External Affairs Ministry said India continues to closely monitor and take proactive measures to address the situation arising out of the detention of several Indian students in connection with their enrolment in a "fraudulent university in the US". One-hundred-thirty foreign students arrested by US authorities for enroling at a fake university allegedly to remain in that country are largely Indians. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made the arrests on Wednesday. "Our concern over the dignity and well-being of the detained students and the need for immediate consular access for Indian officials to the detainees was reiterated," it said. The ministry underlined to the US Embassy that students, who may have been duped into enrolling in the university' should be treated differently from those

Preparations made to discourage cheating during UP board exams: Mathura admin

All preparations have been made, including measures to tackle the notorious cheating mafia active in Mathura, ahead of the Uttar Pradesh board exams that will begin on February 7, the district administration assured Saturday. District Magistrate Sarvagya Ram Mishra told reporters that the invigilator and centre superintendent would be held responsible and booked if any case of cheating is reported from their centre. According to Mishra, 95 centres are 'sensitive' and seven are 'hypersensitive' out of a total of 128 examination centres in the district. The examination process from opening of the question paper to packing of answer sheets would be done under CCTV camera surveillance installed at examination centres. Mishra said any person abetting cheating would be booked under the stringent NSA and Gangsters Act. He said cyber cafes and other such centres would remain shut during examination hours. The district has been divided into different zones and a static magistrate would ...

Indian embassy opens hotline for students detained by US authorities

The Indian embassy in the US has opened a 24/7 hotline to assist 129 Indian students arrested by the American authorities in the "pay-and-stay" university visa scam, officials have said. As many as 129 Indians are among the 130 foreign students arrested for enroling at a fake university allegedly to remain in the US. The university in Detroit's Farmington Hills was part of an undercover operation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designed to expose immigration fraud, according to federal prosecutors who announced charges in the case. The two numbers 202-322-1190 and 202-340-2590 would be manned by senior embassy officials round the clock, officials said on Friday. The arrested students, their friends and family members can contact the embassy at cons3.washington@mea.gov.in. The Indian embassy has appointed a nodal officer to handle and coordinate all issues related to helping Indian students affected by the busting of the "pay-and-stay" racket run by a group of Indians ...

129 Indians among 130 students arrested in US immigration fraud, attorneys cry foul

As many as 129 Indians were among the 130 foreign students arrested for enroling at a fake university allegedly to remain in the US, officials said on Friday, even as immigration attorneys claimed that the youths were not aware of the varsity's illegitimate operation and criticised authorities for using "troubling" methods to trap them. The university in Detroit's Farmington Hills was part of an undercover operation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designed to expose immigration fraud, according to federal prosecutors who announced charges in the case. In what the authorities called a "pay-to-stay" scheme, foreign students knowingly enrolled in the fake school to falsely maintain their student visa status and remain in the US, according to prosecutors. "The ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has administratively arrested 130 foreign nationals enrolled at the University of Farmington for civil immigration violations. Of the 130, 129 were Indian nationals," Khaalid H .

Pay-to-stay sting: KTR meets US Consul General, seeks help

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President K. T. Rama Rao on Friday met US Consul General Katherine Hadda and discussed the issue of Telugu students stuck in that country.

Health schemes get Rs 61,398 crore, budget for Ayushman Bharat up by Rs 4,000 crore

In the 2019-20 Union Budget on Friday, the government announced allocation of Rs 61,398 crore for the health sector, an increase of more than Rs 8,000 crore from Rs 52,800 last year, with major focus on PM's ambitious health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat.

Need to explore links between politicians and private schools: Marlena

The government should have the political will to promote public education, AAP leader Atishi Marlena said Friday and noted that there should be a mechanism in place to probe the link between politicians and private schools. She was speaking at the Difficult Dialogues annual session here on how public school education was losing out to private players. "The government in power needs to have the political will to really care about public schools and that is something governments after governments have not done...Someone should also research the links between politicians and private schools," she said. She asked why would the people in power improve public education if they have incentives in private education. Difficult Dialogues 2019 is holding a series of sessions on education and its myriad facets. The session on 'Primary Education' Friday looked at enrolment and dropout rates, quality of education imparted and the reasons why private education is preferred by even those belonging ..

Negative marking in exams acts as bolt in brain development of students: HC

The Madras High Court Friday said the system of negative marking in competitive exams such as JEE, conducted by the CBSE, requires reconsideration as it acts only as "a bolt in the brain development" of students and prevents them from making intelligent guesses. Justice R Mahadevan made the observation while disposing of a petition by S Nelson Prabhakar, who had appeared for JEE (Main) exam, a national level common entrance test, under SC category in 2013 and had fallen short of the cut-off score by three marks due to negative marking. The petitioner had moved the court seeking a direction to the CBSE, New Delhi, which conducted the exam, to reevaluate his physics and mathematics answer sheets and publish the marks to enable him to take up the JEE (Advance) exam. Though interim relief was granted by the court to allow the petitioner to appear for the exam, the CBSE declined to allow him following which he had joined an engineering course in a private college and completed it. Noting ..

HC gets tough on 'unqualified' professors of law varsity

: The Madras High Court Friday directed all the teaching staff of the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University to furnish affidavits explaining their terms of appointment, including their qualification, to weed out unqualified professors and lecturers appointed by favouritism. The teaching staff has been asked to file sworn affidavits by February 20 Justice S M Subramaniam, in an interim order, said the court would scrutinise each affidavit independently and check whether the appointments were according to the norms of the University Grants Commission. If not, they would face the consequences, the judge said. The order was passed based on a plea by professor of the university D Sankar seeking the court to remove unqualified persons from the service of the university enabling the students to get proper and good legal education. There was a general allegation that students are not respecting teachers, the petitioner said. If the teachers were unqualified and not able to take .

Rs 93,847.64 crore allocated for education sector in interim Budget

The Centre Friday earmarked Rs 93,847.64 crore for the education sector for 2019-20, an increase of over 10 per cent from the last budgetary allocation. Last year, then finance minister Arun Jaitley had allocated Rs 85,010 crore for the education sector. While Rs 37,461.01 crore has been allocated for higher education, Rs 56,386.63 crore has been earmarked for school education. The government has made available more than Rs 17,000 crore using the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) funding mechanism, the HRD ministry said. It is anticipated that another Rs 14,000 crore will be made available in the coming year through this window. The overall fund availability for the higher education sector for 2019-20 would therefore be Rs 69,193.68 crore. Hence, the fund availability for 2019-20 is almost double as compared to the previous year, the ministry added. The government has provided an additional equity of Rs 2,100 crore to HEFA to enable it to mobilise the required funds for ...

Students should work for eradicating social evils: VP

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Friday expressed concern over discrimination on the basis ofcaste, religion, region and gender in certain parts of the country and urged the student community to work towards eradication of such social evils. "This caste has no meaning. It has no social relevance," the Vice President said, addressing students and teachers of Sacred Heart College, Thevara, here. Addressing the function, organised as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the college, Naidu said, discrimination on the basis of caste, religion and region was not acceptable at all. "So all of us should work in the eradication of these social evils--still prevalent in certain sections, certain areas," he said. "We are all Indians, who should feel proud that we are Indians-- irrespective of caste, creed, religion and region. India is one--one nation," Naidu said. Naidu said it was imperative that equity be safeguarded and promoted in higher education besides ensuring ...