Page 309 - Education
English important, but not at cost of mother tongue: British Council
The British Council, which is working closely with the Delhi government to improve the English skills of students in government schools here, believes the language is important in the present scenario but not at the cost of one's mother tongue.
Indian-Origin professor named Harvard University's new Vice Provost for advances in learning
An Indian-Origin professor at Harvard Business School has been named Harvard University's new Vice Provost for advances in learning, a role that focusses on teaching and learning innovation. Bharat Anand, who is the Henry R Byers Professor of Business Administration, will take over in October from Peter Bol as new vice provost for advances in learning (VPAL). A report in The Harvard Gazette said the Harvard Business School professor is also the Senior Associate Dean and faculty chair of HBX, the school's digital learning initiative that he helped create. Anand said he is looking forward to the challenge and opportunities of his University-wide role. "Harvard has been a hotbed of innovations in pedagogy and learning during the last few years," he said in the Gazette report. "It's a good time to take stock of what we've learned from these various projects and how this might inform our future efforts, while also recognizing that we are still probably in the early stages of imagining and .
Gujarat: Private school apologises for punishing girls over applying 'mehendi'
A private school in Bharuch, Gujarat, apologised on Wednesday after angry parents confronted it for barring some of the girl students from entering classrooms for wearing 'mehendi' (henna).The incident took place at Queen of Angel's Convent School, which is run by a Christian trust."This type of incident will not be repeated. We celebrate all festivals. We don't discriminate students on the basis of their religion. This rule has been followed in our school from the beginning. We haven't suspended anyone," said Sister Shila, School administration.Her statement came after the school issued diktat barring the girl students wearing henna on their hands from attending classes. This diktat had received flak from the parents and local Hindu outfit.
Indian-origin academic wins maths 'Nobel' Fields Medal
Indian-origin academic Akshay Venkatesh has been awarded the Fields Medal, which is often called the Nobel Prize of mathematics.
Indian-Australian professor awarded the Fields Medal
An Indian-born, Australian-raised mathematics genius Akshay Venkatesh is among the four recipients of this year's Fields Medal. He received it for his "profound contributions to an exceptionally broad range of subjects in mathematics".
Delhi schools to get 9,000 guest teachers
Delhi government schools facing a shortage of teachers will get about 9,000 guest teachers by mid-August, Education Minister Manish Sisodia said on Wednesday.
Education to be free in government schools in Delhi: Sisodia
Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said education in all government schools would be free up to class 12.
Compulsory 'guru pada puja': Child rights panel seeks
A controversial 'compulsory guru pada puja', held at a government aided girls school in Thrissur district recently, has triggered a controversy with political parties coming out against it and a child rights panel seeking a report from authorities. The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights today sought a report from the Director of Public Instructions (DPI), District Director of Education (DDE) and the principal of the school on the matter besides registering a case. The report should be submitted within 15 days, the Commission said in a release here. The 'guru pada puja', organised at CNN Girls Higher Secondary School in Cherppu in Thrissur as part of the 'gurupoornima celebrations on July 27, ran into controversy after Muslim Youth League came out against it. They demanded an explanation from the government on whether the programme was conducted with official permission. Congress legislator V T Balram also hit out at the ritual after the photos of ...
Blindness no bar for 5 UGC-NET qualifiers
Five visually impaired students of the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) have cracked the National Eligibility Test (NET), an exam to determine eligibility for assistant professors and junior research fellowships, a varsity official said today. One of them to clear the test is budding singer Muskan Thakur, who was declared as a "youth icon" of the election commission for the last year's state assembly election. This is for the first time that five visually impaired students of the university have cleared the UGC-NET 2018, the results of which were declared yesterday, said professor Ajai Srivastava, the HPU nodal officer for disability affairs. Apart from Muskan (music), the others who qualified are Anuj Kumar (economics); Vinod Sharma and Jasbir Singh Lubana (political science); and Ajai Kumar (history); along with another differently abled student, Priyanka Thakur (law), he said. The professor said over 50 differently-abled, including 12 visually impaired students, were studying in ..
Private tutor arrested for raping at least five minor students
A private tutor was arrested today for allegedly raping at least five minor students in over two years in Odisha's Deogarh district, police said. The man was arrested from Taleisar village in Kundheigola area after the mother of a girl lodged a complaint yesterday against the 44-year-old man accusing him of the crime, the police said. The man, who gave private tuitions for students at his residence, used to take the girls to a different room on the pretext of giving special classes and sexually abused them there, a police officer said. The tortured girls are aged between 8 and 15 years, he said. Though the tutor had been committing the crime for over two years and some girls had spoken to their parents about it none of them lodged any complaint and chose to pull out their wards from the tuitions. When the man abused another girl yesterday, her parents confronted him. The parents of other girls who had been abused too came came forward and complained to the police, he ..
Sisodia, Jain review infra development works at govt schools
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and PWD Minister Satyendar Jain today reviewed the progress of ongoing infrastructure work in Delhi government schools. The ministers directed officials to start construction works at 32 sites in schools from mid-October, an official said. "The deputy chief minister and the PWD minister jointly reviewed the progress of work related to building of 12,000 additional classrooms in Delhi government schools," the government said in a statement. It stated that the work is likely to be completed in next 9-10 months. At three school sites where work was already underway, the PWD will complete it and hand it over to the directorate of education next month, the statement said. Sisodia also asked senior officers to give top priority to the grievance of teachers. "He (Sisodia) said that teachers need to be supported and any task which takes their time away from teaching-learning activities should be reduced by simplifying the process and using appropriate ...
Cabinet approves 13 KVs and one Navodaya Vidyalaya
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved establishment of 13 Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) and one Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), which will cater to 13,000 and 560 students, respectively.
Cabinet approves 13 new KVs; 5 in UP
The Union government today cleared a proposal to set up 13 new Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country, five of which are in Uttar Pradesh. The proposal was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, benefitting 13,000 more eligible students, an official statement said. "The five towns in UP where the KVs would be set up are Banda, Mirjapur, Bhadohi, CISF Surajpur and Baoli. "The remaining KVs would come up in Washim and Parbham in Maharashtra, Nawada and Devkund in Bihar, Palamau in Jharkhand, Chakpikarong in Manipur, Siddipet in Telangana, Kudamalakunte in Karnataka," the statement said. The proposal for opening the new KVs was examined by a committee under a "challenge method" -- where those scoring the maximum weightage points were recommended for approval. At present, the KVs are imparting quality education to more than 12 lakh students, it said. The CCEA also approved a proposal to set up an additional Jawahar Navodaya ...
NSUI activists baton charged in Jaipur
The police today resorted to baton charging and used water cannons to foil an attempt by activists of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), students' wing of the Congress, to gherao Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's residence over rising unemployment and various other issues. The march began from the NSUI headquarters and the protesters were stopped at a barricade erected by the police at the Jai Singh Highway. NSUI national president Firoz Khan and state president Abhimanyu Singh were among the 54 protesters who were detained, SHO of Bani Park police station Sanjay Kumar Arya said. They were later released, the police said.
Chhattisgarh: Teacher arrested for raping minor, molesting 9 others
A government school teacher in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district has been arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl.The victim was a class 7th student.The teacher has also been accused of allegedly molesting nine other girl students.An FIR has been registered against the accused teacher under the POCSO Act, following a complaint by the victim's family.Police Sation In-Charge Pradeep Shori said that an investigation has been initiated in this regard.Reportedly, the accused teacher was earlier warned by a parent-teacher committee to put a check on his conduct and he had promised that he would not do anything questionable.
MP govt orders probe after reports of students checking varsity exam papers
The Madhya Pradesh government has ordered a probe after media reports alleged that answer sheets of a BA exam conducted by the Barkatullah University (BU) here were checked by students of a college in Sagar district, an official said today. According to the media reports, the answer sheets of BA Hindi literature fourth semester exam conducted by the university were allegedly being checked by first year students of a college on behalf of their professor. Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Minister Jaibhan Singh Pavaiyya ordered the Lokpal of the BU yesterday to probe the matter, the official said. "The directive to get the matter investigated by the Lokpal was issued by the minister yesterday while chairing a high-level meeting of officials," a public relations official of the state government said. The minister sought a report on the matter within two weeks, the official said. "The minister said the issue is linked to the future of the students and whosoever is responsible for it will be
LS takes up debate on bill to create national sports univ
A bill to establish a National Sports University in Manipur to promote sports education was taken up for discussion in the Lok Sabha today, with the opposition raising concerns over its autonomy. The Bill seeks to replace the National Sports University Ordinance 2018 promulgated by the President on May 31. Moving the National Sports University Bill 2018 for consideration and passage, Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said it seeks to establish the university in Manipur at a cost of Rs 524 crore to promote sports coaching and research. Questioning the intent of the government, N K Premchandran (RSP) asked what was the need for bringing an ordinance for this. He said a university has to be autonomous in character but the provisions of the bill defy this. As per the provisions of the bill, he said, the central government has full authority and control over the institution which, therefore, will not be autonomous. Anurag Singh Thakur (BJP) said this was an ...
School apologises for punishing girls over mehendi
A private school here was forced to tender an apology today after angry parents confronted it for punishing some of the girl students for wearing 'mehendi' (henna), and the local BJP MLA intervened in the dispute. The incident took place at Queen of Angel's Convent School at Vadadala on the outskirts of Bharuch city. According to BJP MLA Dushyant Patel, the school principal made around 25 girls stand outside for four hours as a punishment for wearing henna designs on their hands yesterday. Girls traditionally wear henna during the week-long fast for 'Gauri Vrat' which ended two days ago, he claimed. Enraged by the punishment, many parents today arrived at the school and questioned the management. Patel, who rushed to the spot after learning about the row, met the school management. Members of the management later came out and apologised before the media and parents, assuring that such an incident will not recur in future.
Young people clueless about fertility declines: Study
Most young people underestimate the impact of female and male age on fertility, according to a study conducted in Australia. The research, published in the journal Human Fertility, found that less than half of participants could correctly identify the age when a woman's fertility declines and even fewer knew when male fertility declines. The study - based on a large-scale survey of Australian university students - also found that having children was equally important to male and female students. Many wanted to complete their families before a significant decline in fertility occurred, said researchers led by Eugenie Prior of the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority in Australia. However, they also expected to achieve many other life goals before becoming parents, they said. Researchers surveyed 1,215 students, via an anonymous online questionnaire, about their intentions and expectations for parenthood, and knowledge of fertility. As many as 38 per cent of men and 45 ...
Accenture's 'innovation challenge' may open your door to job
Global professional services company Accenture is inviting college students to participate in this year's "innovation challenge" and win prize worth up to Rs 150,000, besides getting into a fast-track recruitment process to be set up for all eligible finalists.
