Page 464 - Education

What's wrong with minister's argument against Darwin's theory,

What is "wrong" with Union minister Satyapal Singh's criticism of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, students of the city-based Indian Institute of Science Education and Research were asked in a recent exam. The institute, an autonomous body set up by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, said the question was not meant for "opening debate" on the minister's statement, but to test "logical thinking of students". "The minister of state for Human Resource Development [MHRD] in India recently claimed that the Darwinian theory of evolution is wrong because 'Nobody, including our ancestors, in writing or orally, has said they saw an ape turning into a man'. What is wrong with this argument?" read the question. It appeared in mid-semester exam of under-graduate students pursuing a course in evolution on February 22. "The students are supposed to think and provide logical reasoning, and the question, which was posed during the exam, was quite straightforward and ..

Globalised compassion best gift India can give to world: Kailash Satyarthi

Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Saturday said morality and humanity have become casualties of the modern times and believed that in this midst of growing materialism and apathy, India is one country that can project and promote what he called "the globalization of compassion"."Education is one instrument which can provide solutions to many challenges of the world," said Satyarthi, and appealed to youth to take this mission of compassion and humanity out into the world of today and tomorrow.He was addressing students of the fourth Convocation program of Amity University, Gurugram, Haryana.Dominic Barton, Global Managing Partner, McKinsey, echoing similar sentiments as Satyarthi, said, "Education is the ultimate force that is driving change in the world and India is at the center of it all.""There is a huge economic power shift that is moving towards Asia. India is at the centre of where people want to be," he added.He expressed hope youth will use this opportunity to experiment and

Day 4 of TISS students protest against aid withdrawal

The protest against withdrawal of financial aid given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) scholars at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) continued for the fourth day on Saturday with the agitating students refusing to back down.

Not easy to bring government departments together: Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday said it is extremely difficult to bring together different departments in the government.

Bihar CM announces ex-gratia for families of deceased students

Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar on Saturday announced ex-gratia for the families of deceased students killed after a car rammed into a school building in Muzaffarpur.He announced four lakhs each as ex-gratia to the families of the deceased.Kumar said that the injured would be provided with adequate treatment and promised an early investigation.The injured students are currently admitted to the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur.

School bus-SUV crash in Haryana, 1 dead

An elderly woman was killed and eight other persons, including students, were injured when a private school bus and an SUV collided head-on in Haryana's Gurugram on Saturday, police said.

NCRET syllabus to be reduced by half: Javadekar

In a bid to provide relief to school students, the NCERT syllabus will be reduced by half from the 2019 academic session, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has said. He said the school syllabus was more than that of BA and B.Com courses, and it needed to be reduced by half so that students get time for other activities for their all-round development. "At the stage of development of cognitive skills, students need to be given full freedom. I have asked NCERT to reduce the syllabus by half and it will be effective from the 2019 academic session," he told Rajya Sabha TV in an interview. Elaborating on the reforms in school education under consideration, the minister said examinations and detentions would be introduced. He said a Bill in this regard will be considered in Parliament in the next part of the Budget Session. "Without examination, there is no competition and no target. There must be an element of competition for better outcomes," he said. If a student fails in March, he would ...

Haryana govt to issue notification to add Gayatri Mantra in school prayers by Feb 27

The Haryana government will issue a notification by February 27, directing all schools in the state to add Gayatri Mantra in their morning prayers, Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma informed on Saturday."Among the prayers of God, Gayatri Mantra is the supreme mantra. We are adding the Gayatri Mantra to the schools' morning assembly, just like we added Geeta in the curriculum," Sharma told ANI, and added, "We will issue a notification on this by Tuesday (February 27)."Sharma also informed that the decision was taken after a discussion with the senior officials of the Education Department on Monday.Sharma also maintained that including Gita shlokas in the schools' syllabus soon after the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana yielded positive results.Welcoming the decision, Chief Minister Manohar Lak Khattar said it is aimed at increasing the level of education, ethics, and culture in the education system.

Nine UP school students killed

At least nine students were killed and 24 injured when a vehicle barged into a school in Muzzarfarpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.The incident took place at a government school in Ahiyapur.The injured have been admitted to the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzzafarpur.

Speeding Bolero runs over school children in Bihar, 9 killed, 20 injured

At least nine children were killed and about 20 injured when a speeding Bolero lost control and ploughed through them outside a government school building on the outskirts of the city today, police said. The heart-rending incident occurred under Minapur police station area, about 10 km from the district headquarters, when the school got over and the children were returning home. "The incident took place at Ahiyapur-Jhapaha in Minapur police station area of the district where a Bolero ran over the children who were returning to their homes after the school was over," Vivek Kumar, Superintendent of Police, Muzaffarpur, told PTI. He said "all the injured, said to be around 20 in number, have been rushed to to the Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital for treatment. The condition of some of them was stated to be critical". Meanwhile, RJD MLA from Minapur, Munna Yadav, who rushed to the spot after the mishap, alleged that the driver of the vehicle was "definitely inebriated. There has

Teacher in Sambhal arrested for sexually molesting student in school

A case of sexual molestation of an 11- year old by a primary school teacher in Sambhal has emerged.The incident took place in Thana Rajpura area of Sambhal district.It is alleged that the student of class 4 was called by the accused teacher Kailash Chandra, in the pretext of feeding sweets in his office. He then began touching her inappropriately. The little girl started yelling because of which the teacher had to let go of her.The girl went home and narrated the entire incident to her parents. The family filed a complaint against the accused teacher, who was later arrested by the police.

Young children use physics to learn about tools: Study

Children learning to use tools are genuinely learning about physical causation, not just driven by what action previously led to a treat, a new study has claimed.

What's wrong in Singh's argument on Darwin theory: Students quizzed in exam

The IISER, in an examination, asked what was wrong with Union minister Satyapal Singh's argument criticising Charles Darwin's theory, with the dean of the institute saying that the question was "aimed at testing logical thinking of the students". Sanjeev Galande, Dean of Research and Development at the IISER said the question was why the quoted argument cannot be correct and it was about the logic and not about the statement. "We at IISER, emphasis on the pedagogical way of teaching and question papers are not summary-based. The students are supposed to think and provide logical reasoning and the question, which was posed during the exam was quite straightforward and was aimed at testing logical thinking of the students," he said. "This is not that we are opening a debate (over the statement made by the minister) but it is theoretical exercise and to make the students do logical arguments and how they can answer in a different way," Galande said. Singh, the Minister of State for the

College students underestimate their roommates' distress: study

College students are sensitive to their roommates' distress but tend to underestimate the level of distress being experienced by others, a study has found. The research suggests that roommates' perception of each other's distress could be useful for monitoring the mental health of college students, but there are ways that students could be trained to be more accurate. "College students can detect certain levels of distress in their roommates and spot changes over the course of a semester, but they nonetheless underestimate the absolute level of distress," said Patrick Shrout from New York University in the US. "More universal training on how to identify and respond to the distress of peers might have the benefit of encouraging conversations among roommates about what actions each might take if he or she notices another experiencing extreme distress," the researchers said. For the study, published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the researchers studied 187 ...

CM Khattar welcomes decision to add Gayatri Mantra in school's morning prayers

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said the decision to add Gayatri Mantra in the morning prayers conducted in schools was taken to increase the level of education, ethics, and culture in the education system."The education department considered a lot of things before bringing this decision. How can we increase the level of education, how can we bring ethics and culture into our educational system are some things that were included in the discussion," said Khattar here.On February 24, Haryana's Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said they were going to add Gayatri Mantra in the morning prayers conducted in the schools.Sharma said that including Gita shlokas in the school syllabus soon after formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana yielded positive results."Now, we are going to add Gayatri Mantra in the prayer meetings of schools so that the children can understand its meaning," he had said.

Students: More gun control needed after school shooting

Florida officials have outlined their plans to make schools safer after a shooting that left 17 people dead last week, but some say they don't go far enough. Talia Rumsky is one of them. Rumsky was among those who traveled to Tallahassee on Wednesday to lobby lawmakers about gun control. She said Gov. Rick Scott's plan to make it illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase a gun is a start, but shouldn't be the end of gun control efforts. "This is a great first step, and we appreciate it," the sophomore said. "But it's not enough, and we're going to make sure they know it's not enough and is not solving our problems." Scott announced plans Friday to put more armed guards in schools and to make it harder for young adults and some with mental illness to buy guns, responding to days of intense lobbying from survivors of the shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland nine days ago. Scott unveiled his school safety proposals as teachers returned for the first time to the .

Dropped out of middle school at 14: JLaw

Oscar-winning star Jennifer Lawrence has opened up about dropping out of middle school to pursue her acting career.In a sneak peek for her chat with Bill Whitaker, the 27-year-old admitted she left school at the age of 14."I dropped out of middle school. I don't technically have a GED or a diploma. I am self-educated," she told the '60 Minutes' host.Lawrence explained, "I struggled through school. I never felt very smart. And when I'm reading the script and I feel like I know exactly what it would look like if somebody felt that way, that was a whole part of my brain that I didn't even know existed, something I could be confident in, and I didn't want to let it go."When asked if she regretted the decision, the 'Red Sparrow' star responded, "No. I really don't. I wanted to forge my own path. I found what I wanted to do, and I didn't want anything getting in the way of it. Even friends, for many years, were not as important to me as my career. I mean, from the age of 14.

US teachers say #ArmMeWith resources, not guns

Teachers across the United States have come up with an innovative campaign to reject President Donald Trump's controversial proposal of arming teachers with concealed guns and weapons.The hashtag #ArmMeWith has been trending for the last few days, in the wake of last week's shooting at a Florida high school, which claimed 17 lives."I AM A TEACHER. NOT A POLICE OFFICER, NOT A SOLIDER, NOT A BODY GUARD. I would risk my life to save my students but I would never keep a concealed gun in my classroom, nor use it EVER. #ArmMeWith TISSUE & PAPER TOWELS. that's all, Please & Thank you," a teacher wrote on Twitter."Bringing more guns into our schools does nothing to protect our students and educators from gun violence. Our students need more books, art and music programs, nurses and school counselors; they do not need more guns in their classrooms. #ArmMeWith," a second teacher posted on the micro-blogging site.A third one wrote, "It's about weapons of war. No civilian needs access. ..

Education Alliance is trying to fix India's failing govt school system

Of the existing 900,000 government schools in the country, over 350,000 have 50 students or less even - when the infrastructure can house 500

Two injured in Louisiana University shooting

At least two persons were injured on Friday in a shooting at Southeastern Louisiana University in the US, within 10 days of a massacre at a Florida high school that sparked a national uproar over US gun violence."The University Police confirmed the incident occurred on North Campus involving several individuals. Gunshots fired, two individuals, suffered non-life threatening injuries," the University said on Twitter.According to the police, there was no threat to the campus community at present.The incident at the university came amid a national debate over gun control sparked by the killing of 17 persons at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on February 14.US President Donald Trump is under pressure to tighten the country's gun laws which allowed the Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle last year when he had turned 18, enter his former school and shoot dead 14 students and three adults.An investigation is underway into the matter, the police ..