Page 349 - Education

'Mobile tech gets parents reading to children, improves home literacy environment'

A two-year digital reading pilot has revealed how parents' and caregivers' reading habits changed after receiving access to a free mobile library of children's books alongside community-based education about the benefits of reading to children from a young age.

Officers interact with Kerala school students under MEA initiative 'SAMEEP'

Trainee officers of the External Affairs Ministry held an interaction with students of a school in Kerala under its outreach initiative aimed at familiarising students with the key elements of India's foreign policy. "Taking foreign policy to young and curious minds! Officer Trainees of MEA Mallika Sudhir, Harish Kumar and Nahas Ali interacted with students of MES Central School in Tirur of Kerala under SAMEEP -- Student and MEA Engagement Programme," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said. The outreach initiative 'Sameep' had held its first engagement in January when Raghoo Puri, an Indian diplomat posted at the Indian Embassy in Berlin, interacted with students of a Jalandhar school. The objective of the 'Sameep' initiative is to familiarise school and college students about the role and functions of the Ministry of External Affairs, and to introduce them to the key elements of India's foreign policy and achievements in a simple manner.

Kovind to be chief guest at IIT, Kharagpur convocation

President Ram Nath Kovind will be the chief guest at the 64th convocation of IIT Kharagpur here on July 20, the institute said on Wednesday.

Self-obsessed teens more successful at school

Narcissistic adolescents may perform better at school, a new research has claimed.According to the researchers from Queen's University Belfast, the growing rate of narcissism in society could be linked with school achievement.Researcher Kostas Papageorgiou and colleagues had discovered that adolescents who score high on certain aspects of subclinical narcissism may be more mentally tough and can perform better at school.In the study, 340 adolescent students, taking part in the Multi-Cohort Investigation into Learning and Educational Success study (MILES), were recruited from three different Italian high schools in the Milan Province. They took part in two assessment waves.Papageorgiou explained, "Narcissism is considered as a socially malevolent trait and it is part of the Dark Triad of personality traits - narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism."Previous studies indicate that narcissism is a growing trend in our society but this does not necessarily mean that an individual who

Apple rolls out free Schoolwork app for teachers

Apple has launched its free Schoolwork app for teachers, making it easier for them to create assignments, collaborate one-on-one with students, and understand students' progress.

Gherao by students over admission tests undemocratic: JU VC

The vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University Suranjan Das tonight termed as "undemocratic" the gherao of him and other executive council members by a section of students, over rescheduling of admission tests for six humanities subjects. The gherao by members of the Arts Faculty Students' Union (AFSU), which started yesterday evening, has been continuing for over 24 hours now. AFSU leader Somashree Choudhury said the sit-in demonstration outside 'Aurovinda Bhawan' will not be withdrawn, unless the VC declares the date for admission tests. He said the varsity will also have to categorically assure that it will not deviate from the age-old practice of conducting admission tests for each humanities stream. Das told PTI that the agitating students were behaving in a "highly undemocratic" way. "We had informed the students that postponement of admission test dates was a temporary step, as we needed to weigh the legal validity and implications, if we went ahead with the ...

Jadavpur University students hold demonstration, prevent VC from leaving

Protesting against the authorities' decision to defer the admission test process for six undergraduate courses in humanities, Jadavpur University students staged a demonsration before the Vice Chancellor's office, preventing him as also other Executive Council members from leaving the premises on Tuesday evening.

Bihar Board Class 10 results out, Prerna Raj tops

The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) on Tuesday declared the results of Class X examination.Prerna Raj from Jamui has topped the exams with 457 marks, securing 91.4 percent.68.89 percent students have passed the exam, a climb of 18.77 percent from the previous year.More than 17 lakh students appeared in the exams, which held between February 21 and 28. Out of which 12, 11,617 students cleared the exam.With the BSEB Class 10 result declaration, the race for board exams results has finally come to an end in the state. The Bihar Board is among the last boards to announce Class 10th results this year.

All girls at Hisar govt school fail class 10 exam

All students at a government girls school here failed to clear the class 10 examination this year, with local residents blaming it on the lack of teachers for key subjects. Government Girls Secondary School in Hisar's Kabrel village had no teachers for Sanskrit, Hindi, Science and Mathematics during the last academic session, village sarpanch Dharam Singh said. The post of the headmaster is also lying vacant for the last four years, a teacher at the school said. The school recorded the dismal performance when the Haryana Board of School Education, Bhiwani declared the results last month. All the 24 girls in class 10 failed to clear the examination. Education department officials said this is the only school in the district with a zero percent success rate in class 10 this year. "The girl students complained a number of times about the shortage of staff," the village head said. He also claimed that he met the concerned officers to tell them about the staff shortage but his efforts ...

International toy exhibition in Tokyo attracts many

This year marks the fifty-seventh edition of annual International Tokyo Toy Show, where Japanese manufacturers, as well as foreign makers, are introducing about 35,000 new toys, including latest technology toys and educational toys."This toy makes various sounds by pushing the button. You can also compose your own melody by pressing these buttons. You can also scan the cubes and speak in Japanese or in English, this way the children can learn just by listening," said toy maker Kumi Inagaki.At every booth, a lot of children are gathering to see, touch, and enjoy toy demonstrations. The exhibition also includes many stage shows to experience the fun of toys.This year, the most watched toys are using "speech recognition" technology by AI (Artificial intelligence).With the release of smart speakers since last year, the wave of voice recognition and voice manipulation is pouring into the toy world."Chatting toys" that communicate with speakers are very popular at the exhibition."Toys are ..

Swaminarayan School in UK announces closure by July 2019

One of the UK's well-known privately-run Hindu faith schools here has announced its closure from July next year due to increasing regulatory requirements, declining pupil numbers and difficulties in recruitment and retention of teachers, a decision which has left parents surprised and disappointed. The Akshar Educational Trust, which runs the Brent-based Swaminarayan School, said in a statement that it plans to exit the education sector completely by July 2020. It blamed increasing regulatory requirements, difficulties in the recruitment and retention of teachers, ready availability of fee-free state-funded Hindu schools, and declining pupil numbers for the decision. "It is indeed very sad, particularly for our pupils, staff and parents. We explored several options before arriving at this difficult decision. We have given all parents one year's notice to find an alternative school as well as a commitment to our staff that their employment is secure for the academic year 2018-19," said

All students of Haryana govt girls' school fail Class 10 exam: Edu dept official

All students of a government girls' school in Haryana's Hisar district have failed to clear the Class 10 examination this year and the village head claimed there were no teachers for Sanskrit, Hindi, science and mathematics in the last session. Twenty-four girls of the school in Kabrel village appeared for the exam but failed to clear it, according to a state education department official. It was the only school to have fared so badly, he said. A teacher of the school said the post of headmaster had been lying vacant for the last four years. The Haryana Board of School Education, Bhiwani, had declared the result last month. The villagers of Kabrel have held the state government and the education department responsible for the poor result. "While on the one hand, the government is laying so much emphasis on the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' programme, on the other hand, authorities have done nothing to solve the problem of shortage of staff in the school," a villager said today. The ...

'Emergency' to figure in school textbooks: Javadekar

Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said that students shall study an "Emergency chapter" as it will be a part of their school textbooks soon.

NCC girl cadet develops breathlessness, dies in TN

A girl student of the Government Arts College here developed breathlessness and died after returning from an NCC camp, police said today. Eighteen-year-old Haripriya, along with a few other students, was part of the NCC camp held at a private engineering college at Saravanmpatti here, they said. She returned to her room late last evening and suddenly developed breathlessness and swooned, they added. She was taken by NCC officials to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared her brought dead, they said.

Gherao at Jadavpur University over admission tests

The members of a students' union at Jadavpur University have gheraoed the office of Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das in protest against the decision of the authorities to reschedule admission tests for six humanities subjects. Das along with other members of the university's executive council had to spend the night in the administrative building as the members of Arts Faculty Students Union refused to call off the protest that started around 8pm yesterday, a member of Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) said. At an executive council (EC) meeting yesterday, Das had said the admission tests for English, comparative literature, history, Bengali, political science and philosophy would be postponed as a section of faculty members raised reservations over the legal validity of such tests by . The EC has also extended the last date for submission of forms from June 26 to July 2. As soon as the news spread, the AFSU members gathered outside Aurobindo Bhavan, the main ..

All girls of class 10 of Hisar govt school fail

All students of the Government Girls Secondary School in Kabrel village of Hisar district have failed to clear the class 10 examination this year. The Haryana Board of School Education, Bhiwani declared the result last month in which all the 24 girls failed to clear the examination. According to officials of the Education department, this is the only school in the district which has fared so badly. The villagers of Kabrel have held the Haryana government and the Education department responsible for the poor result of the school. "While on the one hand, the government is laying so much emphasis on the 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' programme, on the other hand authorities have done nothing to solve the problem of shortage of staff in the school," a villager said today. The panchayat of the village met the district administration several times demanding adequate number of teachers in the school but the administration failed to fullfil the demands, he claimed. The school had no teachers for ..

Medical students to sign Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh bond in Haryana

Haryana government has notified a new policy for admission to medical and dental institutions in the state from the upcoming 2018-19 session, as per which candidates seeking admission to MBBS/BDS and the post-graduate courses will have to execute a bond, promising not to leave the courses after securing admission. After commencement of undergraduate course, if a student leaves it before completion of full period, he or she will have to pay the bond money of Rs five lakh, a spokesman of the Medical Education and Research Department said. A similar bond of Rs 7.5 lakh will be got executed from the candidates seeking admission to MD/MS courses. The institution reserves the right to recover such money from the defaulters as per due procedure. The same shall be applicable for the candidates taking admission under Management quota category also, the spokesman said. The bond would be executed at the time of admission, as per the policy which was notified last week. The state government ..

Why adolescents need food safety education

According to a study, a majority of teenagers have a low level of awareness about safe food handling.The University of Waterloo study measured 32 different food-handling behaviours among Ontario high school students in grades 10 to 12.It found that fewer than 50 percent of the recommended practices were followed by students, including basic hand hygiene and procedures to prevent cross-contamination."High school students represent the next generation of food handlers, but they are not well studied," said Ken Diplock, who led the research while at Waterloo. "They are just starting to prepare food on their own and for others, and they're also beginning to work in the food industry."It's important to get to students before they develop bad habits."The researchers observed the students in high school food and nutrition classes three times, once before the students took an Ontario standard food-handling training program, then two weeks and three months later.The program helped them improve .

ICSE-affiliated schools resume classes in South Bengal

The ICSE-affiliated schools in the city and South Bengal resumed classes today, after staying shut for a brief period after vacations, due to severe heat. A senior member of the Association of Head of ICSE Schools, told PTI, "Classes began normally today in both junior and senior sections of different schools in the city and elsewhere, and there was regular attendance by students and teaching-non-teaching staff." The ICSE-affiliated schools remained closed from June 20-21. "As discussed during a meeting on Friday, which was held on a different issue, the ICSE-affiliated schools resumed classes from today," General Secretary (Bengal) Association of Head of ICSE Schools, Nabarun Dey, said. State-run schools, however, continued to suspend classes, with West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee having already ruled out any possibility to withdraw a state notification issued on June 19, for suspension of classes from June 20-30. A spokesman of state-run Jadavpur ...

Gujarat HC upholds domicile clause for medical admissions

The Gujarat High Court today upheld the state government's 2017 medical admission rules, stipulating that a candidate needed to pass Class 10 and Class 12 from Gujarat schools to be eligible for the state quota. A division bench of Chief Justice Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi also upheld the state government's 2018 amendment to the Gujarat Professional PG Medical Educational Courses (Regulation of Admission) Rules, 2017, which require a candidate to be domicile of Gujarat to apply for the state quota. The high court, however, asked the government to consider giving admission to those candidates who were domiciles of Gujarat but had passed Class 10 from other states. Several candidates had approached the court last year as well as this year, challenging the 2017 rules and the 2018 amendment to the rules, whereby the "domicile" clause was added, after being rendered disqualified for admission for different courses in the medical colleges of Gujarat under the state quota for any .