Page 440 - Education

Regulatory authority soon for higher educational institutions: Pb minister

Punjab government will soon set up a regulatory authority for higher educational institutions, the state's Parliamentary Affairs minister Brahm Mohindra informed the Punjab Assembly here today. He was responding to a supplementary question by AAP MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan during the Question Hour on the second day of the budget session. "A regulatory authority will soon be set up for higher education. If there is any particular case (of overcharging), I will get it inquired also," Mohindra said. The AAP legislator had claimed that students of nursing colleges were being overcharged and demanded action by the state government in this regard. "The fee for the nursing course has been fixed at Rs 40,000. But almost all the nursing colleges in the state are charging Rs 70,000 from students and colleges also increase fee every year. Representations in this regard have been given to the concerned authorities," he said. Mohindra, while replying to a question by Congress MLA Darshan Singh ...

JU only state varsity in East to have got full autonomy: VC

The vice chancellor of Jadvapur University, Professor Suranjan Das, today said the premier institute is the "only state university in Eastern India to have been granted full autonomy" by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The UGC yesterday approved full autonomy to 62 higher educational institutions, including JNU, BHU, AMU, JU and University of Hyderabad, for maintaining high standards of excellence. "In the entire East, JU tops among category-1 state universities - those that have been granted full autonomy - and this is a proof of the institute's academic excellence," Das told PTI here. This recognition by UGC is good news for JU, which believes in taking along all sections of society and stakeholders while striving for academic excellence, he said. "The university cannot do well without the active support of students, faculty, researchers, members of non-teaching staff, administrator," he explained. To a question about the freedom that comes with the autonomy, .

One more held in SSC exam paper leak

One more person has been arrested in connection with the SSC exam paper leak, taking the total number of arrests to four, a senior police official said today. The accused, Rohit Singh, was arrested last night from Badlapur in Thane district. "Rohit Singh used to teach science in various coaching centres and is a close associate of prime accused Firoz Khan. Khan, also a teacher, runs a coaching centre in Ambarnath in Thane district and Singh used to teach at Khan's coaching centre," an official attached to Amboli police said. "Singh used to work as a facilitator between the prime accused and the students. Khan would forward the papers to Singh on his mobile and the latter used to bring together students at a coaching centre and provide them question papers along with the answers. Thereafter, the students used to appear for the exam," he explained. According to the official, the gang has allegedly leaked papers of five subjects-- maths, science (I&II), history and ...

Schoolgirl's suicide: Case against principal, 2 teachers

The Noida Police has registered a case against the principal and two teachers of an east Delhi school after a Class 9 girl committed suicide over alleged sexual harassment. The girl's family filed a complaint alleging she was "sexually harassed" by the two teachers, one of whom is a woman, the police said. The girl failed her exams and her family claimed that the teachers deliberately awarded poor marks, they said. She was found hanging at her home by her family members yesterday. They rushed her to the Kailash Hospital where she was declared dead. No suicide note was found. SP (City) Noida Arun Kumar said the matter was being probed. The officer said an autopsy was carried out by a panel of doctors today and it was video recorded. During a preliminary inquiry, it emerged that one of the teachers, accused of sexually harassing the girl, is a woman. The police today visited the school and spoke to the two teachers, who have been booked for abetting the suicide and under relevant ...

UGC grants autonomy to 2 Haryana's varsities

Two Haryana varsities are among the 62 universities in India granted autonomy by the UGC for maintaining high standards of excellence. The Kurukshetra University and the Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology in Haryana were awarded this status by the University Grants Commission (UGC), state Education minister Ram Bilas Sharma said today. The status granted by the commission gives the varsities different degrees of freedom in academic and administrative decision-making. The Kurukshetra University ranked eightwith a NAAC score of 3.52 was granted Grade-I autonomy and the Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology ranked 21with a score of 3.28 was given Grade-II autonomy, the minister said. He said of the two private universities awarded this status, the O P Jindal Global University is in Haryana. It was ranked one with a NAAC score of 3.26 and granted Grade-II autonomy, Sharma said. The minister said, "These universities have brought laurels to the state and we

Autonomous status for Jindal Global University

O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) Haryana has been granted autonomous status by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under graded autonomy Regulations 2018, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Hyderabad, Osmania varsities welcome UGC announcement

The University of Hyderabad and Osmania University today welcomed the UGC announcement granting them greater autonomy in academic, administrative, and financial matters. The two universities said they were gearing up to put in place a series of initiatives to take full advantage of the status. Authorities at the two varsities said they are in discussions with the departments, centres and faculty on how best the autonomy can be implemented across the varsities. The University Grants Commission (UGC) yesterday approved full autonomy for 62 higher educational institutions, including University of Hyderabad (UoH), a central university and Osmania University (OU), a state university, which have maintained high standards of excellence. The decision was taken at a UGC meeting where five central universities, 21 state universities, 26 private universities besides 10 other colleges were granted autonomy under the Autonomous Colleges Regulation. Reacting to the honour, UoH ...

Munnabhai redux: UP STF nabs two medical students, claims to have busted copying racket

The Special Task Force (STF) ofthe Uttar Pradesh Police claimed to have busted a gang involved in facilitating copying during examinations in the Meerut-based Chaudhary Charan Singh University with the arrest of two medical students. Acting on a tip off, the STF arrested two medical students of Muzaffarnagar Medical College yesterday along with answer sheets, the STF said. Those arrested were second year students, the STF officials said. The arrested duo is learnt to have told the police they met the father of their classmate on March 15, who promised them he will give them a blank answer sheet on which they can get answers written by experts and submit it in two days, STF officials claimed. These answer-sheets were to be exchanged with the ones used during the actual examinations for a sum, STF officials said. The arrested duo had come to submit their written answer books, the STF officials added.

Saudis revamp school curriculum to combat Muslim Brotherhood

Saudi Arabia is seeking to purge its school curriculum of any influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and dismiss employees who sympathise with the banned group, the education minister said. The government will "fight extremist ideologies by reviewing school curricula and books to ensure they are free of the banned Muslim Brotherhood's agenda", Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Issa said in a statement yesterday. It also seeks to "ban books attributed to the Muslim Brotherhood from all schools and universities and remove all those who sympathise with the group", he added. The statement comes after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS television in an interview Sunday that elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, designated as a "terror group" by the kingdom, had infiltrated Saudi schools. The prince, who has vowed to return the country to "moderate Islam", has cut back the political role of hardline clerics in a historic reordering of the Saudi state. Many members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood -- who

OMA Emirates introduces benefit beyond cashless campus

In an attempt to boost digital payments and keeping in synch with technology advancements across sectors, leaders in payments and financial technology, OMA Emirates Group introduces its Benefit Beyond Cashless Campus solution for schools, colleges, universities and education institutions.With Benefit Beyond Cashless Campus, the education sector can take a step towards modernizing and streamlining payments and financial transactions for students and staff by introducing a secure digital payment method with a prepaid card. The solution is versatile, ideal for high and low value transactions and can have multiple payment touch-points. It also attempts to help students track and optimize their financial spending.Benefit Beyond Cashless Campus facilitates digital payments across the entire campus with a prepaid card customized by the institute as per their requirement. It creates an integrated ecosystem which includes backend development and systems, program management, issuance of prepaid

Sisodia orders probe into suicide of Class 9 girl

Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday ordered a departmental inquiry into the suicide by a Class 9 student of a Delhi school in Noida.

Education dept to probe student suicide case: Sisodia

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today announced a probe by the education department into the alleged suicide by a student of an east Delhi school, after her parents claimed that she was "sexually harassed" by two teachers. Sisodia informed the House about the education department probe after Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta raised the issue, saying that parents of the student had alleged molestation by two teachers in their police complaint. Gupta sought to know whether the government will take any action against school. "I have directed the education department to probe to matter," Sisodia told the House, adding it was a serious issue. Sisodia assured the House that if the school is found guilty, action will be taken in the matter Sisodia said that it appeared that there was also academic burden on the student. She had a 'compartment' in Social Science and Science subjects, he said. "I have been told that ever since the result was declared on March 16, she had not been coming

Central team to visit Assam-Mizoram border next week

A three-member high-level team of the union home ministry will visit the troubled areas along the Assam-Mizoram border early next week to review the situation there and suggest measures to avoid further tension, an official source said. The Hailkandi-Kolasib area on the inter-state border witnessed violence on February 27 when Mizoram students body Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) tried to construct a rest house on NH 154. The Assam police had resorted to lathicharge to control the protesting students and among others a woman journalist was also injured. MZP has said the land at Zophai in Kolasib of Mizoram was given to the students union by the widow of the first Mizoram chief minister Ch Chhunga "The team will visit the areas in Hailakandi district of Assam and adjoining Kolasib in Mizoram during early next week, most likely on March 27. It will prepare a report and submit it to the union home secretary,", the official source told PTI here. The team will comprise the joint ...

Prez to address SMVDU convocation

President Ram Nath Kovind will address the convocation of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University here on April 18, the SMVDU spokesman said. "Rashtrapati Bhavan has communicated to Raj Bhavan that Ram Nath Kovind, President of India, has accepted the Governor's request to be the Chief Guest and address the next convocation of the university on 18th April, 2018", he said. The Governor N N Vohra had called on the President about a month earlier and requested him to address the next convocation of the university. This is the sixth convocation of the SMVD university. It was established in 1999 by Shri Mata Vahsino Devi Shrine Board, founded on the academic and residential pattern of IITs, and was inaugurated in 2004 by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, then President of India, who also took the first class in this institution, he added. The earlier convocations of the university have been addressed by Manmohan Singh, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Infosys Chairman Narayan Murthy, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, and ..

Kerala govt poser to unrecognised schools over RTE norms

The Kerala government today sought to know why action should not be taken against unrecognised schools which do not adhere to the norms under the Right to Education Act. Education Minister C Raveendranath told the State Assembly that the government would decide on the issue after going through the reply of the schools. A total of 1,585 schools were issued show cause notice and they have replied and submitted complaints. "The State government has an open mind on the issue and it will take a final decision after considering all aspects," he said. He was reacting to a notice seeking an adjournment motion moved by the Congress-led UDF Opposition on the fallout if all the unrecognised schools were closed. The government had issued certificates of recognition to 395 schools after RTE Act came into force, he said. TheMinister said the government wanted to streamline the unrecognised schools, which do no follow the criteria with regard to wages for teachers, infrastructure in ...

SAT remarks against IRDAI member 'breach' of judicial restraint: Lawyer

The remarks of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) questioning the integrity and professional competence of P. J. Joseph, member (Non-Life) of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) certainly goes against the principle of judicial restraint and natural justice, an advocate said.

Abducted Nigerian schoolgirls 'brought back' by Boko Haram: parents

Boko Haram Islamists who kidnapped more than 100 schoolgirls in Dapchi, northeast Nigeria, just over a month ago have returned the students to the town, two parents said today. "The girls have been brought back. They were brought in nine vehicles and dropped outside the school at about 8:00 am," said Bashir Manzo, who heads a group set up to support parents whose children were abducted.

UP: Police bust cheating racket

Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force on Wednesday arrested four college students for running a cheating racket.The racket was allegedly being run by final year MBBS students of Chaudhary Charan Singh University (formerly Meerut University) since 2014.Just four days ago, a cheating racket was busted in Rajasthan's Ajmer district.

Student suicide: Constable suspended over wrong FIR

A constable was suspended on Wednesday for registering a case under wrong sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a case pertaining to the suicide of a 15-year-old school student here, an official said.

Teenage girl commits suicide, family blames school

A 15-year-old student allegedly committed suicide here in Delhi's Mayur Vihar area on Tuesday, .The teenage girl had reportedly failed in her Class 9 examinations, and according to her father, she had also accused her teachers of sexually harassing her a while ago.The student of Ahlcon Public School in Mayur Vihar Phase-I reportedly hanged herself on Tuesday evening when she was alone at her home.The father of the victim has blamed school for her daughter's suicide."She told me her SST teachers touched her inappropriately. I said since I am also a teacher I can say they cannot do it, might be a mistake but she said, 'I am scared of them, no matter how well I write they will fail me. Ultimately they failed her in SST. School killed her," he said.The father of the victim also alleged that earlier one of the teachers of Alchon school fractured his son's hand after which he had put the child in another school.Noida Superintendent of Police (SP) Arun K Singh said a case has been registered