Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand fare best in maths classes: Study More...
17-05-2013
Students of Class IX and X in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand seem to be making the most of their Mathematics lessons as a NCERT study found nine classes are allocated for the subject per week in these states in comparison to just four in Odisha.
It said there are eleven states where six periods per week for teaching of mathematics are allotted.
Periods allotted per week for teaching of Mathematics in Class VIII was maximum in Jammu and Kashmir where nine periods are allocated for the subject in comparison to a minimum of five in Kerala, Meghalaya and Nagaland, the study says.
The report suggested the need for use of a common structure of education for the first ten years of schooling as suggested in the National Curriculum Framework.
This will help in implementing the centrally sponsored scheme and other educational policies, it says. "In this regard, meetings with state policy planners and administrators should be organised."
Though most of the states have introduced English in Class I, the report suggested that introducing the subject should be ascertained based on research for optimal gains.
Efforts should also be made for introduction of Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) programme and grading system in evaluation by organising meetings with policy planners, orienting teachers and teacher educators, it said.
3.50 lakh class 8th students in Rajasthan get Rs 6,000 for tablet PC More...
15-05-2013
JAIPUR: Over three lakh meritorious students of class 8th in government schools in Rajasthan were today given cheques of Rs 6,000 each, for purchasing tablet PCs.
The state government's education department distributed the cheques in 35,819 government schools to 3.5 lakh students who have secured 2nd to 11th position in the merit list of 8th class.
The scheme was announced in the state budget this year. Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, addressing a state-level function here, said, "The scheme is aimed at enabling the future generation to learn more about technology during their schooling."
"The scheme fulfils the dream of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who wished the country to enter into the 21st century with full preparation, so that we can be one of the developed countries of the world," he said.
In the second phase of the scheme, laptops will be given to 1.11 lakh students, he said.
Students who have secured 1st position in the merit list of class 8th and 10,000 students in the merit of 10th and 12th Rajasthan Board examinations will be provided laptops, he said.
One thousand college students who secure first position in all faculties of government colleges will also be provided with laptops, he said.
State ministers Shanti Dhariwal, AA Khan, MP Mahesh Joshi, mayor Jyoti Khandelwal were among others present in the function.
The results of the Class 10 and 12 students under the Council of Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) will be announced on May 17.
The results are likely to be announced between 11am and 3pm on Friday, said CM Jose Aikara, chairman, CISCE.
Around 1.5 lakh students appeared for the ICSE exam and another 60,000 for the ISC exam this year. There are around 1930 and 800 ICSE and ISC schools in the country respectively. The Class 10 exam had started on February 27 and that of Class 12 on February 4.
Karnataka has the third largest number if ICSE schools after West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
Ahmedabad gets another English medium municipal school More...
15-05-2013
AHMEDABAD: With the aim of providing English medium education to economically weaker sections, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Monday inaugurated two classes at an AMC school.
Newly-elected mayor of the city Meenaxi Patel inaugurated Kindergarten 1 and Kindergarten 2 at an AMC-run school in Shahpur where education will be imparted in the English medium from coming academic session.
"Two classes of KG-1 and KG-2 will begin from June 6 in the Shahpur Municipal School Number 5 and till now 55 children have been enrolled for these two classes," AMC school board chairman Jagdish Bhavsar said.
"Classes will be run jointly by a local NGO and the AMC school board. The priority will be for slum children. Along with all government benefits including mid-day meal, free uniforms, school bags, scholarships and bonds for female students, the curriculum will be based on the existing system," Bhavsar said.
During annual budget presentation for the year 2013-14 in January this year, the AMC school board had announced the setting up Ahmedabad Public School from the next academic session with a budgetary allocation of Rs 50 lakh for the first phase.
"Though there are already five municipal schools in Ahmedabad where the medium is English, these were earlier Sindhi medium schools which were converted to English medium ones. But in the old city area, the Shahpur school will be the first one to have classes in English medium," he added.
While one is a lower primary school in Meghaninagar, four are upper primary schools in Kubernagar, Thakkarnagar, Rakhial and Sardarnagar.
Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board to declare HSC Science results today More...
13-05-2013
AHMEDABAD: The wait for over 1 lakh science students will end on Monday when HSC Science results of Gujarat Board are announced. The Class 12 board exams held this year in March were the first to be held after the implementation of the semester system. A total of 1,14,000 students appeared in the examination, including Group A and B.
The results will be declared on the Gujarat Board website by 10 am on Monday. The marksheets for the same will be available on May 18 at the GSHSEB distribution centre from 9am to 4 pm. The schools will have to collect them from the distribution centre.
Due to the introduction of the semester system, there will be no pass or fail system this year. A student has to score 132 in the total of all the four semesters in each subject to pass. The results this year will be in percentile format like the CAT score and not in the traditional percentage format.
Students can check their results on the following websites: www.gseb.org, www.glpl.net and www.indiaresults.com. Students can also receive their results on their mobile phones and also call the GSHSEB office on 079-26851422, in Gandhinagar on 079-30516061 and toll free on 1800-233-5500.
The results will pave the way for admissions to engineering and medical courses. For admission to engineering and pharmacy courses, however, the merit list will be prepared on the basis of 60% of Class 1 marks and 40% of the JEE score. The JEE results have already been announced. For medical and dental courses, either the NEET or the GUJCET score will be considered, along with the Class 12 marks.
CBSE students can apply in Kerala govt-run schools for Plus 1 More...
13-05-2013
KOCHI: CBSE's class X students, who pass school-based and Board exams this year, are eligible to apply for admission to senior secondary schools run by the state government through the single window system.
On Friday, the Kerala high court, responding to a petition by Muslim Service Society and others, directed the state government to accept applications of those students who have passed CBSE class X examination for the higher secondary class for academic year 2013-2014 on the basis of merit. The court's order is an interim relief pending final disposal of the writ petition.
The state government had, in an order on April 26, given first preference to students of state schools for such admissions thereby putting lakhs of CBSE students who passed class X at a serious disadvantage. Appearing on behalf of the petitioners, senior advocate T P M Ibrahim Khan said that as per the declared policy of the state government and CBSE, all CBSE students who passed either school or Board-based examination are eligible and entitled for getting admission to senior secondary class in state government-run schools.
CBSE wants teacher training programme every year More...
10-05-2013
LUDHIANA: After the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) modified its affiliation bylaw and included a course on teacher's training, it directed affiliated schools to conduct at least one teacher training programme every year. However, the programmes are to be conducted in collaboration with agencies recognized by the state government or the board.
According to the rules prescribed on the CBSE website, "Every school should organize at least a weeklong training programme for teachers every year, in association with a teachers training institute recognized by the state or Central government or by any agency identified by the board." Elaborating on the move, BCM School, Shastri Nagar principal said, "With the passage of time, the teaching pattern needs to be modified. This initiative will help teachers remain updated. There will be a lot to learn in one week."
Teachers who have not cleared the CCE exam will be apprised of the ideal patterns of teaching at the programme. English teacher Rohita Sehgal said, "Stagnation sets in from time to time. That's why we need to be updated. I am looking forward to it. It will surely be a great experience."
Conduct at least one teacher training programme each year: CBSE More...
08-05-2013
NAGPUR: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked its affiliated schools to conduct at least one teacher training programme each year. However these programmes can be conducted in association only with agencies that are recognized by the state government or by the board itself.
UC Bodh, deputy secretary (Affiliation), wrote, "The board has identified and empanelled several agencies for the in-service training programme for the teachers on various aspects of CCE and for the 'Effective School Management and Leadership' programme in order to meet the training requirements of its affiliated schools. These agencies would be conducting these programmes at a very nominal cost. List of these agencies alongwith the areas of training is available on the CBSE academic web site."
This directive has come after the CBSE modified its affiliation bye-law and included a clause on teacher training.
Rule 3.3 h (vi) prescribes that "every school should organize at least one week training programme for teachers every year in association with any teachers training institute recognized by the state or central government or by any agency identified by the board".
The CBSE has warned that this directive of its must be taken very seriously. Bodh writes that "the above provisions of affiliation bye-laws have to be adhered by each affiliated school scrupulously otherwise appropriate action will be initiated".
RANCHI: Anagh Prasad, who stood first in IIT-JEE mains examination from FIITJEE scoring 345 marks, emerged as the national topper in the Joint Entrance Examination 2013, the results of which were declared on Tuesday.
Anagh's father, Ambresh Prasad, a doctor in Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), proudly confirmed his son's scores and added that the 18-year-old was a hard working boy since childhood and never wasted his time anywhere.
Appeared in Class XII board exam from Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali, Anagh is awaiting his board result eagerly. He passed his Class X board exam form DAV Kapildeo School with excellent grades. Tallking about how he planned his studies, Anagh said time management was the biggest thing that was needed to be done for cracking any exam. "My whole focus was on managing time which is the main area needed in any competitive exam," he added.
Happy about her son's success in the exam, Deeksha Prasad said, "I am very proud of my son. He will definitely come out with flying colours in the advanced exam that will be held in June." She added that he was a topper right from his childhood and always focused on his target.
Manish Anand, chemistry teacher from FIITJEE, said of the 760 students who appeared for the IIT-JEE exam, 310 have qualified for the advance examination of IIT to be held on June 2.
Speaking about his success, his teacher said Anagh was one of the brightest students among all and was the source of inspiration for other aspiring students. "He has also received a scholarship of 90% in the tuition fee on the basis of his merit."
Centre coordinator of the institute Rajesh Kumar Karn said, "He has secured highest marks in the country in IIT-JEE mains 2013 for his hard work and dedication and we are confident that he will crack the advance exam also."
CBSE schools to offer skill development courses from class IX More...
07-05-2013
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education has decided to introduce skill development in schools from class IX onwards.
With its recent changes in curriculum, the Board has asked affiliated schools to start skill development vocational courses. This will prepare students to handle challenges of the job market with ease.
CBSE has shortlisted some institutes which offer special training programmes for skill development. In order to take this initiative to a maximum number of students, CBSE has asked schools to tie up with these institutes.
The list, drawn up by CBSE, includes 35 skill knowledge providers in 11 areas, including retail, information technology, security, automobile, banking and insurance, hospitality and tourism, mass media and media production, health and beauty, music production, design, and medical diagnostics.
CBSE chairman, Vineet Joshi said: "This course is essential for students to excel and emerge successful in real life situations of work. This course will give them basic information of a working environment as they graduate from school. Skilled manpower and right exposure will help students to attain the best positions in various organisations."
The objective of introducing such a subject is to create a positive impact for the inclusive growth of students.
Students studying in CBSE-affiliated schools will be given a choice to opt for these competency-based skill courses along with the general academic subjects in order to enhance their skills in their chosen field.
Skill development courses will not only ensure employment of students post school but will also help them in pursuing higher studies in their favourite field due to the academic teaching given to them during this span.
Govt likely to introduce health as subject at school level More...
07-05-2013
NEW DELHI: To help create awareness about non-communicable diseases and check their spread, the government plans to introduce health as a subject at school level for which consultations with the HRD ministry are underway.
This was informed by director general of health services Jagdish Prasad here on Monday.
He said the initiative has been suggested by the health department to make aware children about diabetics at school level.
Prasad said consultations are underway with the ministry of human resource development (HRD) as well as the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare for preparing framework of the course, "which will be a compulsory subject".
He said, "Finland is a country which was able to come out of diabetics because of the introduction of education about diabetics in the school level from class 4th to 10th...We have already given money to Western institute of family welfare to prepare the course."
Prasad said diabetics is a lifestyle disease caused by unbalanced diet. Green vegetables, fruits and performing yoga can decrease stress and quitting smoking and alcohol will help overcome diabetics.
He also said, "In the 12th five year plan, we will cover all 644 districts. We are concentrating on district hospitals to make people aware of non-communicable diseases. Earlier we had given them information on communicable diseases."
Compassionate citizen humane-education programme in schools More...
03-05-2013
NAGPUR: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is endorsing the use of "Compassionate Citizen", a humane-education programme prepared by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), in CBSE-affiliated schools for children ages 8-12 years as part of the schools' curricula.
Compassionate Citizen is designed to help students develop respect and compassion for animals. The programme offers tools and lesson plans to teach children to view animals as feeling, sensitive beings. Although ideal for children ages 8 to 12 years, the programme can also be used with other age groups and in languages, science, social studies, environmental and values education curricula. Compassionate Citizen is also perfect for use in eco clubs in schools.
The programme consists of a teacher's guide, reproducible activity sheets, a reading unit with adaptations from true animal stories and a 28-minute video with remarkable animal footage. It is divided into four different sections that can be turned into complete lessons to generate a classroom discussion about - The Amazing World of Animals, Animals and Their Feelings, Changing Times, Changing Minds, Making Humane Choices.
The programme is designed to be included in the monthly curriculum as an extracurricular activity day. The CBSE has given schools freedom to choose to use it as part of a one-day workshop. The worksheets can be downloaded from the www.cbseacademic.in which will contain further details.
CBSE schools to offer skill development courses from Class 9 More...
03-05-2013
CHENNAI: The Central Board of Secondary Education has asked affiliated schools to offer skill development courses to students from Class 9 onwards to make them job-ready as soon as they pass out of school.
The board has identified private education service providers that schools can tie up with to offer skill-based vocational courses for students from Class 9 to 12.
The list, drawn up by the CBSE, includes 35 skill knowledge providers in 11 areas, including retail, information technology, security, automobile, banking and insurance, hospitality and tourism, mass media and media production, health and beauty, music production, design, and medical diagnostics.
The board expects students signing up for these courses "to excel and emerge successful in real life situations of both work and life", in addition to creating skilled manpower for industry right from school.
Students studying in CBSE-affiliated schools will have the option to choosing these competency-based skill courses along with the general academic subjects in order to enhance their skills in their chosen field.
Besides ensuring that students finishing schools will have the skills necessary to gain employment soon after school, academics feel that even students inclined to pursue higher studies could attempt the courses to see if they would be interested in pursuing a career in the field.
NAGPUR: The Central Board of Secondary Education has asked schools to submit evidences of formative assessment (III and IV), Summative Assessment-II (Std IX and Std X) and Co-scholastic Assessment for Term II (October 2012 to March 2013).
The list specifies the following - SI. No, School No, School Name, Subject Name/Code, Class IX/X, Nodal Center. The schools that have been selected for sending evidences from different regions belong to the following categories: (i) Schools not selected for sending Term I evidences, (ii) Schools which were selected for Term I but did not send their evidences, (iii) Schools scoring less than 20 during Term I analysis of EAs.
In addition to the above categories, a list of schools which have all the students scoring an IGRP = 42 in co-scholastic areas has also been finalized through the data analysis. These schools will be contacted by the Academic Unit, CBSE, 17, Shiksha Sadan, Rouse Avenue to send their evidences of Formative Assessments.
The Schools of the above categories are requested to click at their respective region to obtain the schools list and other details of the subject, class and nodal center assigned to them. Schools are requested to refer to Circular No. Acad-17 dated 18/2/2013 and Circular No. Acad-18 dated 20/2/2013 for detailed information on how to select evidences of assessments and pack & label them for sending at the Nodal center/Regional office on or before 30th April, 2013.
Target IIT: Parents move students to state schools More...
30-04-2013
HYDERABAD: Ever heard of parents taking their kids out of a school because they think there is not enough homework? Cases like these are surfacing in city schools with increasing number of parents shifting their children from CBSE and ICSE schools to certain SSC schools where "special focus" is laid on academics and high ranks are guaranteed.
Despite the deafening buzz surrounding the importance of all-round development and hazards of high academic pressure across the world these days, city parents still seem to be under the 'rank spell', bitten by the IIT bug.
One such parent is V Satish, an MNC employee who recently shifted his daughter, a Class VI student, to a school with increased focus on studies. "In her old school, there was hardly any homework for her and she just seemed to while away her time after school. Moreover, there was no IIT coaching too," he said, justifying his move.
Officials in CBSE schools and other institutions in the city where emphasis is on extracurricular activities and less academic pressure, say that every year a handful of parents decide to shift their children to schools where special IIT JEE coaching is given.
"Although the percentage is not very high, we do see more than five cases annually wherein parents with children in Classes VI and VII opting for state syllabus schools with special coaching classes which function for more than eight hours a day," said M Varalakshmi, principal of Jubilee Hills Public School, adding that around three years ago, this number was much lesser.
As if the sudden change of school was not enough, some parents are taking it a step further by monitoring their kids' schedules at home too. Romila Prabhakar (name changed) doesn't have any television at her home and ensures her children, who too have recently been pulled out of a CBSE and an ICSE school, realise "how tough the world is."
"Cartoons and cable television will ruin them. They have to get adjusted to studying for over 10 hours a day. It is a tough world and they better prepare for competitive exams from now onwards," she said.
Predictably, counsellors and psychologists do not approve of these methods saying how it could adversely affect the child's mental health.
"Too much academic pressure could result in severe anxiety and in the long run, could lead to low-self esteem, depression and even suicidal tendencies as they will not be able to adapt to situations effectively, given the lack of communication skills and practical ability," said Dr Bhaskar Naidu of Roshni Counselling Centre.
He said that every week, he gets at least a couple of cases of children of Class VI -XII suffering from stress due to academic pressure. Counsellors say recent cases of students committing suicide after the Intermediate Class XI exams could also be linked to increasing peer pressure.
At least three students committed suicide in the districts last week and three others went missing after they failed to get marks demanded by their parents.
NAGPUR: As per the curriculum document 2015 for Secondary School (Volume I), a weightage of 20 marks has been added for assessing Speaking and Listening Skills (ASL) in Std IX and X in the following courses of English in the Summative Assessment - I and Summative Assessment - II.
Accordingly, the written paper will be of 70 marks. The assessment of Speaking and Listening carries 20 marks i.e. 70+20 = 90 marks in SA I and SA II respectively.
However, as per the Curriculum 2014 guidelines, only 10 marks had been added in a written paper of 80 marks in Std IX and X. The guidelines to conduct the Speaking and Listening Assessment (ASL) had been uploaded on the CBSE Academic Website www.cbseacademic.in vide circular no.: 63 dated 12, September, 2012. It is expected that all the schools affiliated to CBSE have conducted the Speaking and Listening Assessment as per the guidelines uploaded at school level in Std IX and added the marks in the SA I and SA II papers of English.
The modified syllabus under Section D of both English Language & Literature (Annexure-I) and Communicative Course (Annexure-II) for class X (2013-14) with Values Based Questions is attached with this notification.
The CBSE has asked schools that the assessment of Speaking and Listening (ASL) has to be conducted by every school in class X (2013-14) also. The weightage of 10 marks will be added in the written paper of 80 marks to make it 90 marks for each Summative Assessment respectively. As part of evidence of Assessment schools are expected to maintain the files of audio recording of the Speaking Assessment of students to be sent to the CBSE along with the Award list of Speaking and Listening for SA II Examination. The modified guidelines of the Speaking and Listening assessment are being uploaded on the CBSE Academic website very shortly.
All the head of schools may schedule the conduct of the school-based assessment for Std X for SA-II from November 15 till December 15 each year, to avoid any inconvenience. The monitoring of the school based assessment of speaking and listening skills will be done by the CBSE with the help of trained Monitors and Oral Examiners.
NAGPUR: As per the curriculum document 2015 for Secondary School (Volume I), a weightage of 20 marks has been added for assessing Speaking and Listening Skills (ASL) in Std IX and X in the following courses of English in the Summative Assessment - I and Summative Assessment - II.
Accordingly, the written paper will be of 70 marks. The assessment of Speaking and Listening carries 20 marks i.e. 70+20 = 90 marks in SA I and SA II respectively.
However, as per the Curriculum 2014 guidelines, only 10 marks had been added in a written paper of 80 marks in Std IX and X. The guidelines to conduct the Speaking and Listening Assessment (ASL) had been uploaded on the CBSE Academic Website www.cbseacademic.in vide circular no.: 63 dated 12, September, 2012. It is expected that all the schools affiliated to CBSE have conducted the Speaking and Listening Assessment as per the guidelines uploaded at school level in Std IX and added the marks in the SA I and SA II papers of English.
The modified syllabus under Section D of both English Language & Literature (Annexure-I) and Communicative Course (Annexure-II) for class X (2013-14) with Values Based Questions is attached with this notification.
The CBSE has asked schools that the assessment of Speaking and Listening (ASL) has to be conducted by every school in class X (2013-14) also. The weightage of 10 marks will be added in the written paper of 80 marks to make it 90 marks for each Summative Assessment respectively. As part of evidence of Assessment schools are expected to maintain the files of audio recording of the Speaking Assessment of students to be sent to the CBSE along with the Award list of Speaking and Listening for SA II Examination. The modified guidelines of the Speaking and Listening assessment are being uploaded on the CBSE Academic website very shortly.
All the head of schools may schedule the conduct of the school-based assessment for Std X for SA-II from November 15 till December 15 each year, to avoid any inconvenience. The monitoring of the school based assessment of speaking and listening skills will be done by the CBSE with the help of trained Monitors and Oral Examiners.
HYDERABAD: In what is reminiscent of a move straight out of the World War II chapter of history textbooks, Germany seems to be trying to win the battle over the French and the battleground is right here in mana city.
Confused? It's the tussle for the top spot when it comes to foreign languages being taught in schools here with German cultural institutes like Goethe-Zentrum trying to increase accessibility to German language possibly to overtake French as the popular choice.
Bringing this 'turf war' of sorts to the fore, the German Ambassador to India, Michael Steiner, visited Kendriya Vidyalaya, Picket, on Thursday, where he interacted with nearly 1,800 students, stressing on the importance of learning a foreign language like German and encouraging them to take it up.
The visit was a part of the 'German in 1000 schools' project under which the language is to be made available in all the K V schools in India as a third language option and the plan is to reach out to one million Indians by 2017.
"I definitely see it as a turf war as language now is a main instrument of trade and the European Union sees establishing a market here as a way out of its current crisis," said G Haragopal, professor of political science at University of Hyderabad.
"The British did the same thing with English and now other European countries have woken up to the trend of making their languages accessible here, which in turn results in more students applying to universities there and possibly working for their companies," he added.
While officials of the Goethe-Zentrum denied any attempts to overtake French in terms of popularity or availability, sources revealed that the project was a conscious effort to encourage more students to apply to German universities of higher education and also opt for careers there as the population there is declining with the average age on the higher side.
4-year undergraduate programme ready for launch: HRD ministry More...
27-04-2013
NEW DELHI: The HRD ministry on Friday told the Rajya Sabha that the Delhi University (DU) is fully prepared to launch the four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP). In a written reply minister of state for HRD, Shashi Tharoor said the FYUP has been approved by an overwhelming majority at the Academic Council (AC).
However, sources said the minister's reply does not mean HRD ministry cannot request the university to put the new programme on hold for a year. "We have received a detailed note from a group of teachers. It is being examined. Apart from various issues, the note also raises some legal questions. It is being examined. The ministry has not made up its mind yet," a source said.
Leaders of various political parties have also been approached by dissenting teachers and on Thursday many of them attended a public function on the Delhi University (DU) campus against the move to rush through the four-year course from this academic session.
Sitaram Yechury, CPM leader in Rajya Sabha, has also given a notice for calling attention motion on the serious situation arising out of the new proposal in DU that was established by an act of Parliament. He has said FYUP has been introduced against the nation-wide system of 10+2+3. Yechury also met HRD minister M M Pallam Raju on Friday. He told the minister that dissenting teachers are some of the most eminent in their field and would not protest without a valid argument.
Tharoor's reply reiterated what DU has been claiming about the FYUP. The minister said FYUP aims at imparting holistic knowledge, which cuts across the domains of traditional courses, as well as including skills and value addition. It requires students of all disciplines to undertake certain mandatory courses to meet the needs and challenges of the modern society and the nation.
CBSE to introduce theatre studies in Class XI More...
25-04-2013
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has introduced Theatre Studies as in elective subject in Class XI from the current academic session. The subject is being introduced "as a pilot course on first-come-first-serve basis".
"Theatre is one of the strongest mediums of expression...it is as old as mankind and has manifested itself in countless forms all over the world," says the letter from the board to school principals.
"Theatre can also play an important role in reinforcing and furthering the learning of other academic subjects which are taught in conventional ways," says the letter, adding, "It concretizes issues that would otherwise remain abstract and difficult for children to grasp. It puts life back into bookish learning." Students will pick up a variety of theatre-skills and "experiment in different ways of responding to and performing drama".
The subject will have a 70-mark theory paper with 30 marks for "case study-based project and viva voce". The course will introduce students to theatre as an art-form (what it is, why it is relevant and concepts of space, time, audience and performance), different dramatic forms and styles, theatre architecture, history of Indian theatre, Indian folk and street theatre, Asian theatre (Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian), western theatre (Greek, Roman, Elizabethan, Italian) and even the links between Indian theatre and films.
As part of the theatre theory, students will study the works of Vijay Tendulkar, Mohan Rakesh, Dharmveer Bharti, Badal Sarkar, Shankar Shesh, Girish Karnad, Chandrashekhar Kambar, Rabindranath Tagore and Bhartendu Harishchandra. They will also "review" Indian theatre organizations such as National School of Drama and Sangeet Natak Academy.+
CBSE prefers smaller cities for conducting JEE More...
25-04-2013
NAGPUR: Last year when CBSE announced that it will be conducting the big ticket Joint Entrance Exam ( JEE) in the offline mode outside of Nagpur, many students frowned upon the change - and not without reason. The centre chosen in place of Nagpur was neighbouring Amravati which was lacking in infrastructure.
About 20,000 candidates gave the exams in 51 centres in Amravati and while there are no official figures, many estimate that 99% of the students came from outside the city. Since these students are barely 17 to 18 years-old they were accompanied by an adult as well. The city's hotels were found lacking as all rooms were booked a week in advance. Candidates had a harrowing time in the city to manage accommodations and even to commute to their respective centres.
The CBSE's strategy seems to be pretty clear - promote online exam centres by dissuading offline exam's use. As the logistical problems mount for students taking the offline exam it is likely that in the coming years coaching class owners will try to shift students to the online mode. The online mode not only offers better control of the logistics to CBSE but increases the security level manifold. The evaluation process for all 10 lakh online candidates can be pretty much done in a day thus making early results possible. The cost of printing question paper and answer sheets, transporting it and its safekeeping add not only to the logistical headache but costs as well.
Sources in CBSE say that they anticipate a paradigm shift in number of people taking the online exam in the next five years. There are some within the board who feel that after a decade the offline version may cease completely.
And it does make sense to have an online setup because it ticks all the right boxes. From logistics, to security to costs everything seems to be in online's favour. Also students will benefit because they get to choose their exam date and timing as well.
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government has decided to deploy post-graduate teachers for holding secondary classes in order to impart quality education to the secondary students. For this purpose, around 20,000 posts of post-graduate teachers have been sanctioned on the pattern of the Kendriya Vidalayas.
State education minister, Geeta Bhukkal said on Saturday that a state level teachers training institute had been set up at Jhajjar. It would impart pre-service and in-service training and combine the role of DIET, degree, post-graduate college and college of education.
The institute would provide a four-year integrated degree course in arts, science and commerce education and award degrees of BA, B.Sc, B.Com and B.Ed. Initially, it would have an intake capacity of 100 students. This is a residential institute of the level of Institute of Advance Studies in Education which would turn out well trained and motivated teachers, she added.
She said that as a sequel to the extensive steps taken by the state government to impart quality higher education, the gross enrollment ratio (GER) in the state has reached 20.13 per cent as compared to the National GER of 19.40 per cent based on recent statistics.
Bhukkal said that higher education in Haryana had witnessed rapid expansion both in terms of the number of students as well as institutions. The government aims at providing quality access to higher education on equitable basis to all students. Efforts are being made to produce such students as can take on global challenges better than their counterparts in the neighbouring states.
She said that Haryana, under the leadership of the Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had taken several steps to correct regional imbalances, improve gender parity in education and raise learning achievements at all levels. Big educational reforms have been taken in the recent years for improving the scenario of education. The Right to Education Act is being effectively implemented and efforts are being made to see3 to it that no child remains deprived of education in the state.
She urged the teaching fraternity to give best possible results to make the state an education hub of international standards.
School toilets: UP spent 900% above budget under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan More...
22-04-2013
NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh government has spent a whopping 900 per cent above the budget allocated for building school toilets under SarvaSikshaAbhiyan with nearly 60 per cent of the total Rs 32.25 crore going just to one district.
Under the central government scheme, Rs 24,000 per unit were allocated for constructing 1,538 toilets during the five year period of 2007-08 to 2011-12 which comes to about Rs 3.69 crore while an RTI response reveals that state government spent Rs 32.25 crore for the work during the period.
Nearly 60 per cent of the total funds or Rs 19 crore released during the period went to Agra district while rest was distributed in the remaining 74 districts of the state, a RTI response from Basic Education Department has revealed.
Jyotiba Phule Nagar and Kashiram Nagar, both named on the Dalit ideologues, were among four districts which were not allocated any funds for building toilets in schools even though BSP, which christened them, was in power for almost entire 2007-12 period for which data has been provided.
The startling details received by Lucknow-based RTI activist Urvashi Sharma show that under SSA, Rs 32.25 crore of central funds were released by the state for building toilets in schools which comes to about Rs 2.09 lakh per school, nearly nine times or 900 per cent of the budget.
The response says of the total Rs 32.25 crore released, Rs 24.88 crore were utilised.
After Agra, Ghazipur, Meerut and Pratapgarh were the other leading districts which received Rs 1.61 crore, Rs 1.23 crore and 1.21 crore respectively. State capital Lucknow was given a paltry sum of Rs 33 lakh during that period.
Tamil Nadu: Class XII valuation over, results to be declared soon More...
20-04-2013
COIMBATORE: The valuation of mark sheets of the Class XII students has been completed and the results have been sent to the education department in Chennai. Chief Education Officer (CEO), A GnanaGowri said they had completed the valuation process of the papers of the district.
The valuation of around one and a half lakh papers were done in the district. Around 700 officials were in charge of the valuation process. According to officials, the entire process will be over within few days. Last year, the results had been released by May 22. Officials say there has not been any information regarding the final date of release of results. However, they say this can be done before the date it was released last year.
Meanwhile, the valuation process of Class X is still on in the city. The valuation camp, which began a week ago, is expected to be completed by April 29. Paper valuation is being held in 2 centres under Coimbatore education district. While one camp is at a school in R S Puram, the other is in Pollachi.
Around 980 teachers are involved in the valuation work in a centre. Apart from them, there are 98 chief examiners and 98 scrutinisers. The camp begins everyday at around 8am and ends by 4.30pm. A teacher has to valuate 30 papers a day. Officials say they have been able to manage to get adequate number of teachers for valuation duty. However, teachers complain that the remuneration for paper valuation should be increased.
Upgrade schools for ST/SCs, CM tells education official More...
20-04-2013
Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday reached Ratanpurawa village from Valmikinagar, about 25 km from Bagaha, where he inspected a residential high school for SCs, and directed principal secretary, education, Amarjeet Sinha, to increase the school's infrastructure so that students could get proper accommodation in hostel and study room.
He also ordered another upgraded government high school which runs under the campus of the Adivasi residential school, to shift to some other place under the same panchayat so that non-tribal students did not suffer. The CM reiterated the establishment of a stadium and an ITI at Semara, as the stadium work is being delayed due to lack of land.
He further ensured that entire Bagaha-II block will be under the scheme like Tharuhat Integrated Development Authority.
The CM also distributed homestead parchas among 24 Mahadalit families and distributed cheques worth Rs 30,000 each to 26 BPL families of Mahuyar village under Indira Awas Yojana for compensation. Their houses were gutted in a devastating fire.
Water resources minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, accompanying the CM, addressed a meeting at Ratanpurawa but avoided saying anything about the Gandak canal which was closed for the last three years in the name of renovation.
The chief minister visited Valmiki Ashram. He later offered prayers at Jatashankar Shrine (Lord Shiva temple) and Nardedevi. He ordered principal secretary, environment and forest, Dipak Kumar, during the visit to the shrine, that no fee will be collected from the people who visit the shrine with the intention of 'darshan'.
The CM's helicopter later took off for Gobarahiya from Ratanpurawa in the afternoon. At Gobarahiya, he addressed another meeting and highlighted
the schemes which have been launched for betterment of Done villages. Baidyanath Mahato, MP from Valmikinagar, Rajesh Singh, Prabhat Ranjan (MLAs) Dr N N Shahi, district president JD-U, West Champaran, Nand Kishore Chaudhary, member for state Scheduled Caste Commission and tribal leaders Gorakh Uraon and Rajesh Uraon were present there.
New English textbooks for standards VI to VIII More...
18-04-2013
AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat RajyaPathyapustakMandal has introduced new textbooks in standard VI, VII and VIII in the English medium classes. This move will affect 20 lakh children studying in these classes in different schools across Gujarat.
It needs mention that the board has introduced new textbooks in the same classes in the Gujarati medium. However, last year, the textbooks of English medium could not be readied in time. This was for the first time that textbooks of Gujarati medium classes were changed but the English medium students were asked to learn from the old textbooks.
Textbook board officials said that the students and parents should be aware that new textbooks are available in the market and they should not buy old textbooks.
The board also introduced semester system in classes 6 to 8 following which new textbooks were introduced. New Sanskrit and computer science textbooks have been introduced in English, Gujarati, Hindi as well as in Marathi medium.
NEW DELHI: Central Board of Secondary Education will now offer NCC training as an optional elective subject at Class XI-XII level.
Students can opt for National Cadet Corps as one of the four elective subjects and also as an additional elective subject at the senior secondary stage in combination with any of the subjects that are already available in the "scheme of studies" of CBSE.
As a pilot project, NCC has already been introduced into many schools as a subject. "In today's changing times, an amalgamation of self-defence and moral values has become crucial for students," Indu Khetrapal, principal, Salwan Public School, said.
The board's reason for introducing NCC is, according to its statement, to "expose the... youth" to ideas of service to the nation and "inculcate" qualities that are must-haves in defence services including "diligence, perseverance and above of resilience and humility".
PANAJI: In order to support the educational needs of children hailing from scheduled castes, so as to minimize the incidents of dropouts, especially from the elementary to secondary stage, the central government runs a special financial scheme. This week we look at the scheme's benefits and how one can apply for the same.
Eligibility criteria
Student should belong to scheduled caste
The candidate's parent/guardian's income should not exceed 2 lakh per annum
The candidate should not be receiving any other centrally-funded pre-matric scholarship
The candidate should be a regular, full-time student studying in a government school or in a school recognized by the government or a central/state board of secondary education
Value of scholarship
The rate of this scholarship varies for day scholars and hostel residents. Day scholars receive a monthly amount of 150, while hostel residents are entitled to a monthly scholarship amount of 350
Under the books and ad hoc grants section of this scholarship, day scholars receive 750 per annum, while hostel residents receive 1,000 for the same period
Documents required
One copy of the application for scholarship in the prescribed form
One passport-sized photograph with signature of the student
Caste certificate (in original), duly signed by an authorized revenue officer or taluka mamlatdar
An income declaration, via an affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper, from self-employed parents/guardians stating definite income from all sources
Employed parents/guardians are required to obtain the income certificate from their employer and for any additional income from other sources have to furnish a declaration by way of an affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper
A receipt in acknowledgement of the scholarship in the previous year on the form attached to the application only duly counter-signed by the head of the institution/school concerned, if the applicant was in receipt of a scholarship under this scheme in the preceding year
Process of application
The application, complete in all respects, is to be submitted to the head of the school being attended or last attended by the candidate
The school head then forwards the same to the directorate of social welfare for final approval
After scrutinizing the documents and establishing its validity, the directorate approves and releases the scholarship amount
Nagaland govt to give laptop to school/ college toppers More...
17-04-2013
The government of Nagaland will give laptop and Rs 10,000 each to all the students securing top ten positions in Class 12 in all streams conducted by Nagaland Board of School Education in 2012-13.
Such awards would also be given to all students who secured first top ten positions in college examinations, the Annual Administrative Report of the Higher Education Department for 2012-13 said.
Meanwhile the union government has sanctioned a proposal sent by the state The Higher Education Department for Rs 24.32 crore for giving post matric scholarships to 37,861 Scheduled Tribe (ST) students.
The department would implement the scheme once the process of scrutiny of scholarship application forms was completed, the report said.
Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board to declare result dates only week before More...
15-04-2013
The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) has not declared the dates of the SSC and HSC results this year, upsetting the vacation plans of many parents. In the past, the board had started giving out the schedule of the results over a month in advance, which would give parents and students an opportunity to plan their vacations without worrying that it might interfere with their holidays.
Last year, the board had declared the HSC (science) result on May 20, HSC (general) result on May 27 and SSC result on June 2. These dates were declared immediately after the exams got over, which gave students time to plan their holidays.
However, while 90% SSC and 80% HSC paper assessment is over this year, the board has not announced the schedule.
Board chairman R R Varsani said declaring the result dates earliy puts unnecessary pressure for things to be readied and declared which may compromise on stringent scanning of the result making process.
Also, board officials have been able to spot mass copying, on several occasions, by exhaustively going through the result trends.
"While not declaring the result dates early may inconvenience some parents, but we have decided not to announce the dates and create pressure to deliver the result on a specific date", said Varsani.
Officials said there is a possibility that the result dates are likely to be announced only a week before the result will be declared.
Most people choose between an academic and a professional course, with money as their yardstick.
The Indian mindset leans towards professional courses because they lead to jobs immediately after completion of the course. Hence, most parents want their children to start earning as soon as they graduate.
If one opts for science in class XII, his/her parents usually push the child to pursue engineering or medicine.
Rarely does one see parents encouraging children to choose courses like maths (H) or physics (H). Love for a subject should be the sole criterion for choosing a course.
However, students should not let monetary returns act as the deciding factor. I always wanted to take up research and I intend to do a PhD later. Hence, I will also be taking up research modules in my UG course at Stanford University, later this year. For me, money was not a consideration, though it is not as if I won't earn money in the future.
India needs to move away from the current system of examination, says C Rangarajan More...
12-04-2013
CHENNAI: India needs a radical revolution in higher education, believes C Rangarajan, chairman, economic advisory council to the prime minister. "We need to move away from the system of examinations. I was amazed to see a question paper ten years ago. It was the same as the one I took some forty years ago," he said on Friday.
Rangarajan was speaking at the national conference titled 'Quality of higher education and economic development ( HEED)'.
"Answer any five questions from the following ten questions: I still see this kind of questions. We need to spend more time in setting the question paper. It is extremely important to completely revamp the examination system," he said.
There has been a phenomenal expansion in the number students enrolled in colleges. In 1951, there were 0.2 million students studying in 20 universities and 500 colleges. As of March 2012, there are 20 million students studying in 627 universities and 35,000 colleges. "Sadly, we have lost out on quality. While our best students do well even abroad, it is the average student who is the cause of concern," said Rangarajan.
Exams should test the critical ability of the student not their not their memory. "At the end of three years, students go through 7-8 exams. Exams should be a continuous process," said Rangarajan. + Between the ages of 18 and 23, India has a gross enrolment rate of 18%. While the world average is 26%, it is 40% in developed countries.
CBSE mulls value education route to check social evils More...
12-04-2013
LUCKNOW: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has tried to assess the reasons behind the spurt in evils like corruption and sexual crimes in the Indian society. The CBSE authorities along with some education experts have deduced that decline in value education is the root cause of such evils that are growing in the country.
To mull over the ways to inculcate value education among the children, CBSE set up a committee about a month ago to chalk out a syllabus in this regard. The five-member committee is headed by CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi and coordinated by Board's course director Sadhna Parashar, said Pawan Sinha, who teaches political science at Delhi University. Sinha, a spiritual thinker and popularly known as Astro Uncle for his TV show which he presents for children daily, is also a member of the committee.
The main objective of the committee is to devise a course on value education, Sinha said, and added that the effort is not to include value education merely as a course. "Value education can be inculcated in students not through any teacher who while teaching many subjects goes on to teach this one also," said Sinha, who was in Lucknow as part of his mission to create awareness about values and ethics. He added: "If we really want to inculcate value education in a child, we need to have teachers who lead a life based on value education."
"We can't expect a teacher who fights with his wife at home, doesn't have control over anger, is aggressive and lies for his benefit to inculcate value education in children," said Astro Uncle. The fact is that there is no dearth of such people who still lead a principled life, Sinha said.
Sinha said the committee's report would be ready soon. In fact, CBSE plans to impart value education to children of class XII from the 2013-14 session.
About the genesis of the thought to inculcate value education, Sinha said CBSE chairman and the course director were already in favour of such education, which could connect the new generation from the prized-culture of the country. They final encouragement to form the committee came after they attended an international seminar on behaviour issues organised by the Paavan Chintan Dhara Charitable Trust in New Delhi last year.
"We need our children to be proud of our culture and ethos and that is only possible if they are able to inculcate value education," Sinha said, and added that increase in cases of corruption, sexual harassment and other heinous crimes proves that value education in the country is on the verge of extinction.
KOCHI: Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has asked all KV schools to appoint career counsellors, who would conduct class surveys to know the career choices of students.
As per a decision taken KVS Board of Governors, one education counsellor will be appointed for secondary and senior secondary classes in each KV, who will be available during school hours in the campus. As per the circular issued by KVS, the counsellors nature of work involves dealing with low achieving, under achieving and high achieving students besides, dealing with topics such as facing examinations without fear, stress management for students, developing study habits, study skills and techniques in students, help them with time management and communication skills.
"Conducting class surveys to know the career choice of students and providing career guidance to students based on the results of an aptitude test and interest inventory is another major work that has been assigned to the counsellor. They would also have to help students to prepare monographs on their career choice", said a KV school principal.
The counsellors would also organize career conference cum exhibitions, "meet the professional" programmes and set up "career guidance corners" in schools. "Group guidance activities shall be carried out at least once a week. Individual counselling too may be taken up by the teachers as far as possible," the circular added.
Schools can't transfer 'weak' Class X student More...
10-04-2013
PANAJI: Private and aided schools can forget about taking a shortcut to success at the Class Xresults by forcing academically weak students to seek admissions post Class IX in government schools. The directorate of education has issued a circular prohibiting schools from issuing transfer certificates after Class IX.
Schools have been asked to close Class X admissions from now on with the exception of students coming in from other states due to job transfer of their parents and other unavoidable circumstances. The education department has followed similar directives in force in regions like Delhi and UP.
"During an inspection, it was noticed that in a class of 16 students in a government school, four had been transferred from neighbouring privately managed government aided schools. On inquiry, similar examples were found across the state. In some cases, students were promoted to Class X on the condition that they will seek transfer to government institutes," a state education official said.
Last year's Class X results saw an exceptionally poor performance by government schools.
"Most of the times, the transfer is from government aided schools to government schools. Such transfer in Class X changes the atmosphere for the students, making it more difficult for them to cope up with studies. It has been decided by the government that schools will not take admissions in Class X and students admitted in Class IX will continue in the same school till Class X," the education department circular to schools reads.
Officials believe that the circular will force teachers in aided schools to work harder towards attaining better results, rather than taking the damaging shortcut.
"In states like UP and Delhi, where schools are disallowed from transferring students after Class IX, there have been cases where the institutes seek to transfer the students in Class VIII itself. This will ensure that the student has at least a year to adjust to the new environment before entering the crucial Class X," the official said.
Margao's Shishu Vikas High School headmaster Vithoba Dessai said that transfer of weak students does take place after Class IX, but it is only one of the reasons for the poor performance of government schools at the Class X public exam.
"For all these years, government school authorities have blamed aided schools for transferring weak students from Class IX to government institutes. Now, the government has sought remedy on this. Government schools shall have no opportunity to blame others for their weak results. We welcome the remedial measure by the education department," he said.
The Indian schooling system is undergoing a paradigm shift, where on one hand we see breaking down of barriers to education mobility, availability of the internet for collaborative learning and on the other we see the system still bogged down by challenges of quality , inadequate access and inequity. In such a scenario, what role can technology play to add value to the Indian classroom?
Apart from issues in digital learning , inclusive learning and role of infrastructure were some of the other topics that were discussed at the second chapter of Schoolonomics. The event, organised by the Times of India in collaboration with Mount Litera Zee School, on April 4 in the Capital, focused on the theme, 'Emerging Opportunities in Schooling Arena.' It deliberated on creating synergies in transforming K12 education in India and identifying approaches, among others. Shashi Tharoor, minister of state, ministry of human resource development , was the chief guest.
"A digital infrastructure enables the teacher as well as students to interact beyond the conventional way, which is standardised, inclusive and allows students to study effectively while getting a different kind of an exposure," said Dushyant Singh, associate director, Transaction Services Strategy, Price WaterHouse Coopers Pvt Ltd.
And yet, we know that technology, when used at different levels, results in different outcomes. As Payal Mahajan , education consultant (India) and vice-president- Art of Learning, pointed out, "From my experience,I have found that technology is not effective in the teaching and learning process. Technology used in classrooms is restricted to smart boards or laptops. In the K-12 formal setting, typically, a school decides on a service-provider based on the presentation that the provider gives. These serviceproviders have a mandate only on the delivery of the product. They do not really pay attention to the content and so there is a gap, so technology used in classrooms is not very effective."
This view was reiterated by Vishnu Karthik, associate director-Projects , The Heritage School, who said that despite investing heavily in technology there is a gap because the educational content is not consistent. "There is a challenge in mapping the content to the curriculum provider. If the teachers themselves are not comfortable , how can they impart the same to students?" he asked.
However, acknowledging the challenges , but emphasising that technology has benefits, Bindu Rana, director , research and development, Educomp Solutions Ltd, said that there is an evolution among students in terms of basic literacy when there is a link between the content provided by the service providers and the curriculum. Rana recalled how once they went to a village where there were first-generation learners and it was a low-budget school. They trained the school principal on how to use technology effectively. Through that training, the position of the principal changed in the community as the principal went to parents of students and educated them about technology . That is how the school got admissions . Noted personalities at the event included Shyama Chona, recipient of Padam Bhushan; Sandhya Chintala, executive director-Sector Skill Council, NASSCOM and Andrew Jackson, Counsellor-Knowledge economy, British High Commission, UK education ministry, among others.
Mumbai girl Ashwini Nene has topped the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) -- a pre-requisite for admissions to most US graduate schools and for some other countries - by scoring full marks of 340/340, an official said here Wednesday.
Nene, 20, is a student of Sardar Patel Institute of Technology, Andheri.
The GRE results were announced by Educational Testing Services, a US-based organisation that conducts the examinations worldwide.
Coached by KIC Education in Andheri, Nene is one of the few students globally to have scored a full marks in a revised and tougher GRE format this year.
"Ashwini Nene has many great attributes which went into producing the special score. She stands out for her humility, is very coachable and ensured that she made every classroom session count by absorbing all concepts and applying them effectively during practice," said KIC Education's founder and chief mentor G Kohli.
Nene said that the strategies taught by KIC Education were brilliantand she used them while giving the actual test, besides specific instructions for different question types, 20-30 tests in hard and soft formats, which help her get 340/340.
"It is hard to predict what (questions) one will get and though I expected to get close to 340, I did not anticipate an absolute score. Now, I shall focus on my academic and build a strong profile to qualify for the best universities in the US," Nene said.
Nene's parents are technology professionals in the northwest Mumbai Vile Parle suburb.
HP Assembly adopts resolution on school board exams More...
02-04-2013
The Himachal Pradesh Assembly today unanimously adopted a resolutionrequesting the Centre to allow the state to conduct board examinations of elementary classes till an effective evaluation system is evolved.
Cutting across party lines, members supported the official resolution moved by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh who also holds the education portfolio.
Moving the resolution, the chief minister said the implementation of a continuous evaluation system had led to decline in educational standards.
"Reports of surveys conducted by various agencies have indicated the learning level of class V students has declined as they have not been taking studies seriously.
"Even the teachers are casual and are not taking much interest in the absence of an examination system," Singh said.
In this regard, "the House strongly recommends and requests the Union government to make an amendment in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009," the chief minister said.
A new clause "the state government shall provide for conduct of examinations for class V and VIII till a continuous evaluation system is implemented and to ensure that there is no board examinations till completion of elementary education" should be inserted in the Act, he said.
Supporting the resolution, leader of the Opposition P K Dhumal said this system of evaluation had totally failed in America.
"Unfortunately, we had adopted the new system. We have opposed scrapping of examinations up to the elementary level and have taken up the matter with the Union government," he said.
Several surveys conducted by different agencies had revealed the level of learning of students has gone down after the advent of the new system.
The Class 12 CBSE exams ended on Saturday with economics as the last one. The teachers found the paper "easy and balanced", with few departures from the previous years' pattern.
"Students found it a good paper. Most questions were direct and on expected lines," says Sudha Sadangi, economics teacher at Bloom Public School, Vasant Kunj. She said typically, in the macroeconomics part, there is at least one six-mark question that is a "theory one". "This year, they were all numericals but kids weren't thrown by the change," she added.
There were also a few "true-false" questions in the microeconomics paper that Sadangi feels some students may have found "tricky". "These weren't direct questions but application-based."
The value-based question may have tripped students who have not studied the "production possibility curve" too well. Her student Aman Choudhry, however, found it a "very easy paper," quite in line with what was expected.
Amit Bhalla, economics teacher at Presidium Senior Secondary School, Ashok Vihar, also found it a "very balanced and good paper".
"Set I had one question that was slightly more tricky than its counterpart in Set III, though both were from the same chapter," he says. Question number 31 in both sets is from the chapter on "Determination of Income and Employment."
Bhalla says that while examinees who got Set I were asked to calculate marginal propensity to save and average propensity to save, the ones with Set III had to calculate only marginal propensity to consume, which, apparently, is a more straightforward task. "But the rest was very balanced and there should be more students with 100s this year," says Bhalla.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will conduct a five-day behavioural programme on leadership and school management. Aaditi Isaac reports.
In order to implement the RTE-prescribed changes in schools and to learn from the best practices of other schools, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will conduct a flagship five-day behavioural programme on leadership and school management.
The programme, meant for principals , vice-principals , headmistresses (and headmasters) of its 13,500 schools, will be held across multiple locations in the residential and nonresidential format starting in the first week of May. It will continue till March 31, 2014 in India.
"The focus of the leadership programme is to provide cutting-edge and current knowledge on leadership that helps principals, vice-principals , headmistresses, etc, to lead themselves , lead others and lead an organisation. It will help principals to enhance their knowledge in multiple technical areas that are necessary to efficiently lead their schools," says Santhosh Babu, CEO Coach and founding managing director of Learning and Development firm Organisation Development Alternatives.
The leadership module will cover three areas of leadership i.e. leading self, leading teams and leading the system. The technical part will cover areas like RTE, use of technology for both administration and learning, efficient financial management, school accreditation and new age assessments focused not just on the final examination score of a student but through comprehensive and continuous evaluation throughout the year.
"The programme will be interactive in nature with experiential-based adult learning principles, which are relevant in their day-to-day practical work. A learning network of principals will be created across India where learning can happen within the community through on-going communication," he says.
As each school is unique in terms of the communities it serves, geography and management, these best practices could be localised and customised to have a better impact on a particular school.
Need to promote study of science, says A P J Abdul Kalam More...
30-03-2013
HYDERABAD: The current teaching methods need to be revamped with more practicals and experiments to inculcate "scientific temper" among students, said experts at a national conference organised in the city to discuss the declining interest in science education.
Inaugurating the two-day event that began on Friday at Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Tarnaka, former president, A P J Abdul Kalam said, "senior scientists should talk and interact with students on a regular basis and mobile science labs should be arranged to visit institutes in districts and villages and perform minor experiments and demonstrations for students." Emphasizing on the need to promote the study of science among the youth, Kalam said that parents should encourage their children to pursue their field of choice, whether arts or science. The renowned scientist also appealed to national scientific organizations to be more open to taking in PhD and M Sc scholars and assist them with their research.
Other experts present at the event, while stressing the need for better curriculums, pointed out how the existing system owing to its poorly designed syllabus has failed to drive students towards research in the field of science who have instead branched out into other lucrative professions.
"Only 30% of engineering graduates end up with actual engineering jobs as majority take up IT sector posts," said Ch Mohan Rao, director, CCMB and president of Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences (APAS) while highlighting the growing number of vacancies in scientific organizations across the country. "With the right qualifications, a scientist's starting salary could be around Rs 45,000 per month and go up to around Rs 1 lakh within five years," he, interestingly, added.
Offering solutions to improve the quality of science education experts suggested the turning B Sc programmes into four-year long courses with the final year focusing on imparting practical knowledge and specific skills. "Following this, students must be allowed to directly do their Ph D instead of spending another two years on M Sc. This will encourage the students to opt for science at higher levels and increase their employability too," Rao said.
Other experts present at the conference from various organizations like National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI, National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), among others, too stressed on spreading awareness among students and their parents about the wide scope of science. Emphasis was also laid on the need to invest in science and research. Reportedly, the current investment is only 0.9% of our GDP while Japan invests around 3% of their GDP on science and technology, they said.
Nearly 450 people including teachers and students from school and colleges were present at the venue to participate in interactive sessions on various topics related to science education. Participants suggested developing a national science cadre under which meritorious students at the 10+2 level would be sponsored for higher education and assured jobs in their respective fields.
"Student-scientist interactions should be encouraged. Good colleges across the country could be turned into universities with a limit of 10,000 students to facilitate better focus on each student," suggested P M Bhargava, former director, CCMB.
Need to promote study of science, says A P J Abdul Kalam More...
30-03-2013
HYDERABAD: The current teaching methods need to be revamped with more practicals and experiments to inculcate "scientific temper" among students, said experts at a national conference organised in the city to discuss the declining interest in science education.
Inaugurating the two-day event that began on Friday at Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Tarnaka, former president, A P J Abdul Kalam said, "senior scientists should talk and interact with students on a regular basis and mobile science labs should be arranged to visit institutes in districts and villages and perform minor experiments and demonstrations for students." Emphasizing on the need to promote the study of science among the youth, Kalam said that parents should encourage their children to pursue their field of choice, whether arts or science. The renowned scientist also appealed to national scientific organizations to be more open to taking in PhD and M Sc scholars and assist them with their research.
Other experts present at the event, while stressing the need for better curriculums, pointed out how the existing system owing to its poorly designed syllabus has failed to drive students towards research in the field of science who have instead branched out into other lucrative professions.
"Only 30% of engineering graduates end up with actual engineering jobs as majority take up IT sector posts," said Ch Mohan Rao, director, CCMB and president of Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences (APAS) while highlighting the growing number of vacancies in scientific organizations across the country. "With the right qualifications, a scientist's starting salary could be around Rs 45,000 per month and go up to around Rs 1 lakh within five years," he, interestingly, added.
Offering solutions to improve the quality of science education experts suggested the turning B Sc programmes into four-year long courses with the final year focusing on imparting practical knowledge and specific skills. "Following this, students must be allowed to directly do their Ph D instead of spending another two years on M Sc. This will encourage the students to opt for science at higher levels and increase their employability too," Rao said.
Other experts present at the conference from various organizations like National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI, National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), among others, too stressed on spreading awareness among students and their parents about the wide scope of science. Emphasis was also laid on the need to invest in science and research. Reportedly, the current investment is only 0.9% of our GDP while Japan invests around 3% of their GDP on science and technology, they said.
Nearly 450 people including teachers and students from school and colleges were present at the venue to participate in interactive sessions on various topics related to science education. Participants suggested developing a national science cadre under which meritorious students at the 10+2 level would be sponsored for higher education and assured jobs in their respective fields.
"Student-scientist interactions should be encouraged. Good colleges across the country could be turned into universities with a limit of 10,000 students to facilitate better focus on each student," suggested P M Bhargava, former director, CCMB.
Need to promote study of science, says A P J Abdul Kalam More...
30-03-2013
HYDERABAD: The current teaching methods need to be revamped with more practicals and experiments to inculcate "scientific temper" among students, said experts at a national conference organised in the city to discuss the declining interest in science education.
Inaugurating the two-day event that began on Friday at Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Tarnaka, former president, A P J Abdul Kalam said, "senior scientists should talk and interact with students on a regular basis and mobile science labs should be arranged to visit institutes in districts and villages and perform minor experiments and demonstrations for students." Emphasizing on the need to promote the study of science among the youth, Kalam said that parents should encourage their children to pursue their field of choice, whether arts or science. The renowned scientist also appealed to national scientific organizations to be more open to taking in PhD and M Sc scholars and assist them with their research.
Other experts present at the event, while stressing the need for better curriculums, pointed out how the existing system owing to its poorly designed syllabus has failed to drive students towards research in the field of science who have instead branched out into other lucrative professions.
"Only 30% of engineering graduates end up with actual engineering jobs as majority take up IT sector posts," said Ch Mohan Rao, director, CCMB and president of Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences (APAS) while highlighting the growing number of vacancies in scientific organizations across the country. "With the right qualifications, a scientist's starting salary could be around Rs 45,000 per month and go up to around Rs 1 lakh within five years," he, interestingly, added.
Offering solutions to improve the quality of science education experts suggested the turning B Sc programmes into four-year long courses with the final year focusing on imparting practical knowledge and specific skills. "Following this, students must be allowed to directly do their Ph D instead of spending another two years on M Sc. This will encourage the students to opt for science at higher levels and increase their employability too," Rao said.
Other experts present at the conference from various organizations like National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI, National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), among others, too stressed on spreading awareness among students and their parents about the wide scope of science. Emphasis was also laid on the need to invest in science and research. Reportedly, the current investment is only 0.9% of our GDP while Japan invests around 3% of their GDP on science and technology, they said.
Nearly 450 people including teachers and students from school and colleges were present at the venue to participate in interactive sessions on various topics related to science education. Participants suggested developing a national science cadre under which meritorious students at the 10+2 level would be sponsored for higher education and assured jobs in their respective fields.
"Student-scientist interactions should be encouraged. Good colleges across the country could be turned into universities with a limit of 10,000 students to facilitate better focus on each student," suggested P M Bhargava, former director, CCMB.
Incomplete question in Class 10 Tamil Nadu board exam confuses students More...
29-03-2013
CHENNAI: Lakhs of students who took the Class 10 state board exams under the Samacheer Kalvi syllabus were left confused and upset over a compulsory five mark question in the Tamil 2 exam on Thursday.
Question number 38 asked students to fill the particulars in an enclosed bank challan, but failed to give a challan. School teachers said that when such a question is asked, usually the bank challan is given, so students were confused about what to do.
Some schools said that they received a call from the district educational officer to inform the students that they should at least attempt the question to get full marks. Some others had no such luck. A city school said that when they spoke to department officials and the Directorate of Government Examinations (DGE), the officials pleaded ignorance.
In such cases, when representations are made to the DGE, full marks are awarded for that question if students just attempt it. But, there was no way of verifying whether this was the case. "So, we used the school public addressal system to tell students to draw a challan as best as they could, and fill the particulars", said B Purushothaman, Senior Principal and correspondent of Everwin Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Kolathur.
"Time management becomes an issue in language papers. So, we asked the students to at least fill an incomplete form. This could have caused confusion," said Purushothaman.
As many as 10.68 lakh students are writing the Class 10 board exams this year. A majority have opted for Tamil as the second language.
Norms for hiring teachers relaxed in 13 states More...
29-03-2013
The central government on Thursday gave its green signal to 13 states that had sought permission to relax the minimum qualification criteria for appointment of teachers under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan.
The states are Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
According to a statement from the Human Resource Development Ministry, the relaxation was sought due to non-availability of teachers possessing the minimum qualifications as laid down by the National Council for Teacher Education under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
The government has also sanctioned over Rs.6,300 crore to strengthen teacher education in the 12th Plan, the ministry said.
"The main components of the revised scheme are the setting up of new District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) and Institutes of Advance Study in Education (IASEs), as well as strengthening of existing DIETs, CTEs and IASEs," an official from the HRD ministry said.
"The scheme also envisages establishment of Block Institutes of Teacher Education (BITEs) in 196 identified Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and minority districts as elementary pre-service teacher education institutes," the official said.
In addition, National Council For Teacher Education (NCTE) has given permission to states for training of the over five lakh in-service untrained teachers through distance mode.
"The central government has requested the states and the union territories to expedite recruitment of teachers as well as carry out redeployment of existing teachers to ensure all schools have pupil-teacher ratios as laid down under the Right to Education Act," the official said.
According to ministry figures, under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, 19.82 lakh teachers have been sanctioned to states and union territories against which 12.86 lakh teachers have been recruited till December 2012.
CBSE school principals asked to undergo leadership training More...
25-03-2013
KOLKATA: The Central Board of Secondary Education has asked principals of over 13,500 schools in the country, which follow CBSEcurriculum, to train in developing effective leadership and school management qualities.
In one of the biggest initiatives taken by the CBSE, the principals, vice-principals, head masters and head mistresses will compulsorily spend at least 7 days a year to learn a range of skills and undergo behavioural training.
The flagship 5-day behavioural programme on Leadership and School Management would be offered in both residential and non-residential format.
According to a CBSE official spokesperson, "In keeping with the changing times, we believe school principals too need to expand their leadership capability to manage the entire education process.
"The leadership and school management programme will empower them to play a bigger role in leading their teams, managing conflict and to improve the overall education process," the spokesperson said.
Santhosh Babu, founding managing director of Organisation Development Alternatives (ODA) said, "We are delighted to partner this breakthrough initiative of CBSE."
He said that the 5-day two-part programme had the potential to make an impact on the vision and values of teachers and to manage the education process in schools that prepare future generations of rising India.
A growing number of Indian parents , tired of the priorities of traditional academics, clearly do not want to subject their children to the standard curriculum and traditional grading-system , not to mention social aimlessness, acute competition andstress — an intrinsic part of the regular school system.
For them, 'self-directed ,' 'interest-driven' and 'organic learning' are not mere words, but an entire lifestyle. They live and learn together, pursuing questions and interests as they arise.
"It is not only urban, educated or wellto-do families that choose home schooling ," Pune-based Urmila Samson, founder of Indian Association of home schoolers, says, adding that the association's recent conference of 'home schooling parents' saw the participation of 180 families from all walks of life.
One of the questions that emerge from discussions on home schooling is whether it is fair on the child when it finally comes to catching up with mainstream education . Samson, who switched to 'unschooling' her children, should know.
After being unschooled for 20 years, her daughter Sahya is currently pursuing Eurythmy in the UK. "Sahya got admission on the basis of an essay and a telephone interview," Samson informs.
Many colleges and universities are becoming increasingly open to accepting students from diverse backgrounds, including home schooled students. In fact, James Montoya, former dean of admission at Stanford University, says that home schooled children have dedication and energy that the university finds attractive and comparable to conventional high-school activities. He adds that highly selective universities seek students who demonstrate excellence in a rigorous course of study and have a strong record of extracurricular activities, and that is as true for home schooled students as it is for students who have studied in schools. While critics in India dismiss the concept of schooling at home as a Western concept, colleges and universities such as Lady Shri Ram and Jamia Millia Islamia, are open to home schooled children on equal footing as long as they have the 'necessary certifications,' inform Kanika Khandelwal and Simi Malhotra , spokespeople of LSR and Jamia respectively.
Sahal Kaushik, home schooled for 10 years, enrolled into a regular school for class X CBSE. He then sought coaching for IITJEE, and at the age of 14, joined IIT Kanpur for MSc in physics. "Other home schooled children have the option of pursuing NIOS or register as external students for IGCSE to be able to pursue mainstream education at the university level," informs Sahal's mother, Ruchi Kaushik.
Howard Gardner, who created the theory of Multiple Intelligences, emphasises that being home schooled is not a big factor in gaining admission to elite schools. "However, only certain families have the skills, the time, and the means to home school."
However, as Steven DeKrey, president, Asian Institute of Management, points out, while home schooling can be a replacement for inadequate public or private schooling and can enhance academic learning for the child, social development remains a major question.
Parents disagree that this could be a cause for concern. Ruchi Kaushik, for instance , says that her son, though engaged in his field, is a quiet child, while her daughter who is home schooled too, is very social. "It's the personality type and got nothing to do with home schooling. Let's not forget that the unified social groups tend to come hard on the non-conformists ," she adds.
In fact, several parents point out that children who go to school interact with only their peers and a few teachers. On the contrary, home schooled children get an opportunity to interact more — vegetable vendors to bank personals. Their interest in different subjects, Supriya Menon says, allows more opportunities for interaction . Menon's daughter Malvika is pursuing programming and windsurfing, while her other daughter Radha is pursuing photography.
However, most experts agree to say that in a world that evaluates you in terms of your laurels, adopting home schooling is a decision that needs considerable awareness.
Panel formed for second shift in pvt schools More...
22-03-2013
NEW DELHI: Delhi education minister Kiran Walia on Thursday said a committee has been formed by her department to expedite the process of starting "second shift" in private schools. The schools had been asking for a second shift, saying it would put their infrastructure to optimum use and benefit students.
The issue was raised in the assembly by Vishwas Nagar MLA Naseeb Singh. For the last ten years, DDA has not allotted land for construction of private schools, thereby building pressure on existing ones, Singh said, adding the government should issue advisory to schools to compulsorily admit siblings. Responding to this, Walia said the government is bound by the HC guidelines on nursery admissions and can't do much.
Senior leader Jagdish Mukhi said the government has been sitting over his proposal to include members of opposition and independent experts in the budget-planning for 5 years. Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma demanded a provision for a grant of Rs10,000 - Rs 25,000 to women to learn beautician courses.
Need to push higher education: President Pranab More...
22-03-2013
SONIPAT: Making a fervent appeal to improve the higher education scenario in India, PresidentPranab Mukherjee on Thursday urged the private sector to play a bigger role in the education system. Mukherjee was in Sonipat to inaugurate a conference on "The Future of Indian Universities: Comparative Perspectives on Higher Education Reforms for a Knowledge Society" at OP Jindal Global University near here. Universities and research centres should become fertile grounds for innovation, he said.
Referring to the poor rate of enrollment in India in higher education, Mukherjee said, "Enrolment in higher education is a mere 7% in India, while it is 21% in Germany and 34% in USA. We need to take steps to promote higher education."
The President also stressed the need to make education affordable to marginalized sections of society. "Scholarships, education loans and self-help schemes should be liberalized for deserving students," he added. Power of technology should be harnessed to promote education, he said.
Highlighting the urgent need to raise the quality of teaching, faculty and research in the universities of the country, he expressed concern that none of the Indian universities were among the top 200 universities in the world.
Emphasizing the need to identify one department in every university to transform it into a centre of excellence, he called for concrete steps to create a "culture of excellence" in higher education. Mukherjee expressed deep concern about the large number of vacancies in Central universities.
He asked the ministry of human resource development, University Grants Commission and the universities to work together to achieve qualitative improvement in the educational system so as to make it as good as the best in the world. "A common approach should be adopted with focus on quality, affordability and accessibility. The private sector should come forward to play a larger role in improving and promoting higher education," he observed.
Punjab introduces scholarship in name of Nobel laureate Hargobind Khorana More...
21-03-2013
CHANDIGARH: Punjab finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa on Wednesday added a Nobel touch to his budget by introducing a scholarship in the name of Punjab's Nobel laureate Hargobind Khorana for brilliant students.
The scheme will provide financial assistance tobrilliant children studying in government schools. Those who get 80% or more marks in matriculation examination will be given an annual assistance of Rs 30,000 for their two-year senior secondary education. The FM has provided Rs 8 crore for the scheme.
Khorana was a biochemist who shared the 1968 Nobel prize for medicine with Marshall W Nirenberg and Robert W Holley for research that helped to show how the nucleotides in nucleic acids, which carry the genetic code of the cell, control the cell's synthesis of proteins. Khorana was born in Raipur village, now in Pakistan, in undivided Punjab in 1922.
India needs to redefine education strategy: President Pranab Mukherjee More...
20-03-2013
NEW DELHI: The time has come to "redefine" the way education is imparted in India as it is "simply unacceptable" that no Indian university finds a place amongst top global institutions, President Pranab Mukherjee said today.
Addressing the 90th Convocation of Delhi University, Mukherjee also stressed on the need for enhancing enrollments and improvising modules that can enable better learning and bringing higher education closer to remote corners of the country to remove imbalances.
"The education sector is today confronted by problems relating to both quantity and quality...If we are to redefine the way education is imparted by our educational institutions, the time is now," Mukherjee said.
According to an international ranking of universities, he said, no Indian varsity finds a place amongst the global top 200.
"This you would agree, is simply unacceptable. We must develop our universities into global leaders, and for that, the best practices in other countries should be carefully studied and adopted with necessary changes to suit our conditions," he said.
There is now at least one Central University in every state but the question that one should ask is whether we are satisfied with the progress that we are making in the educational sector.
"An honest answer would reveal that we have miles and miles to go before we can say that we have arrived," he said.
Noting that the education sector is confronted by problems relating to both quantity and quality, he said it is "disheartening" that many places in the country do not have a higher educational institution that are within the practical reach of aspiring students.
On the brain-drain issue, Mukherjee was of the view that our systems were not "conducive to retaining talents", and hence, lose many of them to organisations within and outside the country.
In the convocation, 400 students were awarded doctoral, 6,500 post graduate and 65,000 graduate degrees.
Education should not be a business product: Abdul Kalam More...
19-03-2013
Opposing the commercialization of education, former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalamtoday said it should not be made into a business, but imparted by good teachers.
"Education cannot be a business product or system. Education at the primary level has to be delivered in an integrated way by great teachersthrough good syllabus and promoting affinity between parents, students and teachers," Kalam said.
"It is not a great building or a great facility or great advertisements which gives quality, but lovable education and great teachers do," Kalam told at an interactive session with students and teachers of National High School at its centenary celebration.
Kalam gave the example of how his own school days were happy in the thatched Rameswaram Panchayat Primary School despite poor infrastructure and scanty amenities.
He said his teachers, who had a mission to spread education, were loved by students and there was no dropout.
Having graced the post of the President of India besides working as an administrator and scientist, the 'Missile Man' said he loved teaching the most.
"I have been a teacher, a scientist and an administrator. Now I have come to teaching again. If you ask me what I love the most, I would say it is teaching," said the 81-year-old who travels regularly all over India to meet students.
He began his speech on 'I am born with wings' by asking students what they would be carrying with them after passing out from school.
When the students replied that it was knowledge, Kalam redefined it. "Knowledge is creativity plus righteousness in the heart plus courage."
Presenting his vision of India in the next few years, he said, "We want a nation where crimes against women and children are absent and none in society feels alienated".
He also stressed on the need to have a nation where education with value system was not denied to any meritorious candidate because of societal or economic discrimination.
"A nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line. A nation where there is an equitable distribution and adequate access to energy and quality water," Kalam said, adding, he wanted that governance should be responsive, transparent and corruption-free.
CBSE Class XII board accountancy exam foxes students More...
16-03-2013
NEW DELHI: The CBSE Class XII board accountancy paper on Friday proved challenging, particularly tricky was the HOTS (higher order thinking skills) section. Having sailed through relatively easy papers earlier, on Friday even above-average students emerged from the examination hall looking grim and worried.
Set three's question number 22 was of BCom standard and way too stiff for Class XII students, some teachers said. Another major exam on Friday, Biology, was a cakewalk.
"Part A of the accountancy question paper was tricky. When we started writing the answers, it seemed we'd complete well on time. Finally, we just about scraped through. The difficulty level was certainly high," Ananya Bhakti of Bloom Public School, Vasant Kunj, said.
Questions worth around 20 marks were tricky, indirect and testing. These made the going difficult, the teachers said. Examinees struggled with the section on fundamentals of partnership. "Even my best students were not very happy after the exams. Some changes were made in the syllabus mid-course and students were probably expecting a less difficult paper, like in business studies," accountancy teacher atAhlcon International, Mayur Vihar, Neelam Gupta, said.
Many students complained they got no time for revision and were stretched to the limit completing the paper. "The calculations were very lengthy. Though questions were from the NCERT syllabus, the HOTS questions posed a challenge even for good students," a teacher said. But CBSE experts who analyse the papers on a day-to-day basis called the paper balanced.
Biology got a universal "easy" rating and students walked out of exam centres confident of good scores.
Goa CM approves sports merit marks for students More...
16-03-2013
PANAJI: Chief minister Manohar Parrikar has allayed fears of the student community by confirming that sports merit marks will be added to the aggregate score.
For the last two years, thousands of students felt cheated after the state government decided to maintain status quo. It meant sports merit marks remained decorative in essence as the marks were to be added to only those subjects in which the students have failed, either theory or practicals, or both, thus enabling them to pass and qualify for the next higher class.
In case of students who pass and qualify for the next higher class, the allotted sports merit marks were shown separately in the marksheet.
All that has changed now as the chief minister-who is also the education minister-has approved the recommendation of the Sports Policy Review Committee and decided to add the sports merit marks to the aggregate score.
"An order to this effect has already been issued and sent to all schools. The chairman of the Goa Board has also agreed," Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs (DSYA) director VM Prabhudesai said.
"The sports marks will be shown separately as sports marks and will be part of the total, provided the total does not exceed the maximum allotted marks of the subject," states the order, a copy of which is with TOI.
Parrikar has also approved four new disciplines to be added to the sports merit mark list-squash, fencing, gymnastics and rope skipping-made possible by the association's president who happens to be the sports minister Ramesh Tawadkar himself. The three disciplines will join 40 other sports disciplines that will help students garner merit marks by mere participation.
"A major change in policy is that the maximum concession that will be given is 10%. For example, if the minimum passing marks is 35, the student will have to compulsorily score 25," said Prabhudesai, who as the executive director of Sports Authority of Goa, had drafted the Goa Sports Policy 2009.
In the first year of implementation of the sports policy, 113 students in Class X and 109 in Class XII Goa Board exams respectively benefited. The next year, the beneficiaries were overwhelming as 458 Class X and 344 Class XII students benefited.
Meanwhile, there is no word yet on implementing the remainder of the policy, at least in part.
Nobody can tell for sure when-if at all-the state government will make physical education and sports an optional academic subject, like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra and Orissa. There is also no word on sports reservation of 3% seats at all educational institutions in the state, excluding professional colleges, or maintaining a healthy ratio of physical education teachers and students in schools.
KOCHI: To avoid textbook controversies, theCentral Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has amended its affiliation bylaws, making school authorities responsible for the content of books prescribed by them. Schools have been advised to follow NCERT textbooks but if they choose to prescribe textbooks by private publishers then the principal will have to verify the content in such textbooks.
This has come after CBSE faced flak, last year, when it was found that a textbook prescribed by a CBSE school allegedly insinuated that non-vegetarians lie, cheat and commit crimes.
The board has incorporated an additional rule in its affiliation bylaws. As per the additional rule 15.1 (d), "The school will follow the syllabus on the basis of curriculum prescribed by NCERT for the middle classes as far as practicable or exercise extreme care while selecting books of private publishers. The content must be scrutinized to preclude any objectionable content that hurts the feelings of any class, community, gender, religious group in society. If found prescribing books having such content, the school will have to take responsibility of such content".
Schools have been asked to put a list of books prescribed by it on its website with the written declaration duly signed by the school manager and the principal "to the effect that they have gone through the content of the books prescribed by the school and own the responsibility".
The circular was issued recently to schools by CBSE after the affiliation committee and governing body of the board approved amendments and additions in the affiliation bylaws of the board.
Also as per amendments, CBSE schools will not have counsellors anymore. The board has made it essential for secondary and senior schools affiliated to it to appoint a person on a full-time basis for performing the duties of 'health wellness' teacher.
"The nomenclature of counsellor is proposed to be changed as 'health wellness' teacher to "make it more students/ parents friendly, as such the board purpose that wherever the word counsellor appears to be changed into health wellness teacher".
Schools having enrolment of less than 300 students in classes from IX to XII, can appoint a 'health wellness' teacher on a part-time basis. A step that would help reduce teachers' burden, CBSE has
now made it essential for schools to appoint a person exclusively to coordinate Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE ) related work of the school. CBSE has also made it mandatory for all schools to appoint physical education teacher for CBSE affiliation.
LUDHIANA: In an effort to reach its students in a more casual way and to let them understand study projects and various subject oriented topics, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) logged on to YouTube to start its own channel -CBSEChannel - on the video sharing portal. While CBSE became the first board in the country to have taken such an initiative by launching the channel earlier this month, the students are mostly uninformed about the helpful move.
The schools have not made any efforts to inform the students about the YouTube channel, which renders the initiative useless. CBSE affiliated schools can post videos produced by them on various topics like educational projects, social issues, personal grooming, general knowledge and other issues concerned with students. Children can look up the channel for interesting information on subjects, general awareness and other issues common during adolescence.
Class XI student at a CBSE school in the city Gurkeerat Singh said he has not heard about the channel yet. "I am sure it would benefit us in terms of academics and personal grooming, but the board should inform students, so that they can avail the facility," he added.
The board's move is expected to help students in their studies as well as their personal life. The channel will include videos that motivate students to concentrate on their studies and help them resolve their doubts over important concepts. Videos of meaningful skits on drug abuse, female foeticide and other social issues held at CBSE schools will be uploaded on the channel for students.
"Is there really such a YouTube channel started by CBSE?" asked Class XII student Paras Kapoor, who quite likes the idea of online learning and finds theoretical work boring.
Another Class XII student
Harmanpreet Singh happened to know about the CBSEchannel on the video sharing portal. "Yes, I am aware of this channel and have even browsed it to look for a chemistry project. The other stuff, including motivational videos that guide students, is very helpful for us," he added.
"If the board is providing a facility for students, it must inform us as well, or else the initiative wouldn't serve purpose. It is an innovative and interesting way of teaching and counselling students on various social and emotional issues," said Class XI student Parteek.
Record number of students appearing in UP Board exam More...
12-03-2013
ALLAHABAD: UP Board officials have geared up to conduct the High School and Intermediate exams beginning from Tuesday. High School examination will start from March 12 through April 3 while the Intermediate examination will continue till April 18. The first paper for High School candidates is of Hindi and Physics for Intermediate examinees.
Record number of candidates will appear for the High School and Intermediate exams, about 5 lakh more than the number of candidates appeared last year. About 37,99,174 candidates are appearing for the High School examination while 26,95,749 candidates are appearing for the Intermediate examination. Altogether, there are about 64,94,923 candidates who will be appearing for the UP Board exam this year.
Interestingly, about 118 jail inmates will appear for High School examination and 150 for Intermediate exam.
UP Board has set up about 19,341 exam centres across the State. For High School, there are about 10,009 centres and about 9,332 for Intermediate.
To avoid use of unfair means and to maintain transparency, answer sheets for Intermediate examination will be coded. In 10 sensitive districts of Uttar Pradesh, there will be coded answer sheets for High School exam too.
The first meeting of the examination will be conducted from 7:30 am to 10:45 am while the second meeting will be from 2pm to 5:15pm. Regular candidates will get 15 minutes extra time to read the question paper while handicapped and visually impaired candidates will get 20 extra minutes.
To keep tab on the activities of the candidates and to conduct the exam in a fair manner, 18 State-level flying squads have been formed comprising senior officials of Education department. The flying squad will conduct surprise check at the centers. UP Board officials have sent the examination papers and admit cards to all the districts of Uttar Pradesh.
In the High School examination, 70 marks will be for written examination while the project will be of 30 marks. In the entire Allahabad district, examination will be conducted at about 431 centres.
Talking to TOI, additional secretary of UP Board Vinod Krishna said, "All preparations had been made to conduct the High School and Intermediate examination in the state. Question papers and answer sheets have been sent to the districts. About 10 state-level flying squads have been formed to conduct surprise check at examination centres. DIOS have been instructed to conduct the examination in a fair manner. Security arrangements have been made at sensitive examination centres.
NCC to become elective subject in schools, colleges More...
12-03-2013
NEW DELHI: The National Cadet Corps (NCC) would be offered as an elective subject in schools and colleges carrying credit points, HRD ministerMM Pallam Raju said on Tuesday.
"Some of the autonomous colleges have already decided to start the programme right away and I wish all institutes under UGC and AICTE and CBSE-affiliated schools will start it too," Raju told reporters here.
About 30 autonomous colleges will start the programme from this academic session.
"While the National Defence Academy sets aside some seats for NCCstudents with C certificate, I am sure there are some professional colleges which would also make concessions for candidates who have the certificate," he said.
A workshop to introduce NCC as an elective subject with credit points, was addressed by the minister on the occasion, where the course developed was discussed.
Raju said the aim of offering NCC as an elective subject is not only to instil a spirit of patriotism among the students but also build up character and moral values which are relevant in the society today.
"It should not perceived as a military subject...I think, all these helps grooming the youths in a positive manner," he said.
Retired teachers may assess HSC exam papers More...
11-03-2013
PUNE: The Maharashtra state board of secondary and higher secondary education plans to invite retired teachers for the assessment of HSC (Std XII) examination answersheets. The board took this decision even as talks, the third in a series, between the Maharashtra State Federation of Junior College Teachers, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawarfailed to achieve a breakthrough in Mumbai on Thursday night.
The boycott on assessment of HSC examanswersheets will continue, the federation has said. As a result, over 7 lakh answersheets still remain sealed with the custodian. The HSC exams began on February 21.
Earlier, the board sent letters to all its nine divisions to prepare a list of retired teachers in their jurisdiction. The divisional officers have been asked to include the retired teachers' addresses, contact numbers, past experience and number of years since retirement.
Pune: The state-wide boycott by teachers to assess HSC answersheets, has prompted the Maharashtra state board of secondary and higher secondary education to think about the possibility of enlisting the help of retired teachers for the job.
Board chairman Sarjerao Jadhav said the decision to rope in retired teachers was an attempt to have an alternative mechanism in place in case the boycott continued for a longer period. "We are preparing for the worst. We may or may not invite these teachers to do the assessment, but there has to be an alternative system in place," Jadhav told TOI on Friday,Jadhav admitted that the retired teachers may not be the best persons to evaluate papers as they may not necessarily know the syllabus nor would they have the experience of evaluation that the teachers currently on strike have.
Earlier on Thursday, the teachers' federation sought an appointment with the chief minister to resolve the matter. The meeting, which was also attended by the officials in the state finance department and the secretary of school education, J S Saharia, went on for over an hour, but in vain.
Federation secretary Anil Deshmukh said, "The CM told us that our demands will be met and arrangements will be made to pay off the arrears within one month. However, we said that similar promises had been given during the February 5 meeting. A month has passed since that meeting and there has been no concrete action. What is the guarantee that our demands will be met in the next one month?"
The federation officials submitted a list of their demands once again to the government officials. Deshmukh said, "The chief minister promised, orally, all those things that were promised during the past two meetings (February 5 and 27). Like the earlier meetings, he agreed to our demands but gave no concrete approval. We have, therefore, decided to continue with our boycott."
The federation is hoping that in the coming two to three days, they will be called for another meeting to resolve the matter.
Saharia, however, said that the discussions "seemed positive". "It is for the federation to now decide as it is a question of the future of the HSC students," he said.
More than 60,000 junior college teachers have extended their support to the federation's decision. The teachers have raised several demands, including pay scales in keeping with the fifth pay commission recommendations, with arrears from 1996 and not from 2000.
The federation has also demanded that the Diploma in Higher Education (DHE) be treated on a par with a B.Ed degree for the appointment of vice-principals and supervisors. Among other major demands, the federation wants that "shikshan sevaks" be granted 180 days' maternity leave.
Schools inflated grades in internal test: CBSE More...
11-03-2013
NAGPUR: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) verification drive to check quality of internal assessments for Std IX and X in its affiliated schools has revealed some shocking figures. Almost 9% of the 5,000 randomly selected schools were found to have inflated grades of its students "to a great extent" in the summative assessment conducted just before Diwali vacations last year. The board also found various anomalies in the way schools were conducting theory and practical tests under its ambitious Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) scheme.
Under the CCE, students of Std IX and X are evaluated in two theory exams called summative assessment (SA) and four practical-type exams called formative assessments (FA) each year. One of CCE's founding principles is to evaluate students wholly based on number of factors rather than the straitjacket marking scheme being that existed earlier.
The internal analysis done by CBSE reveals that a shocking 50% of the assessed schools had inflated their grades in SA-I, out of which 8.90% were identified for having indulged excessively in that practice.
Neeru Kapai, founder principal of Modern School, feels the 'inflation of grades' may not be a result of malice but of interpretation. "CCE's success lies in the spirit of its implementation. There are guidelines given by board to conduct each SA or FA, and how to evaluated it as well. So teacher A may ask students to write a single essay as part of the FA, teacher B may ask for four, this affects the results," she said.
Kapai's view of certain schools not implementing CCE in the right spirit is echoed in the board's analysis as well. CBSE in its internal report says that only 25% schools had one or two tasks for students as part of FA, while 5.4% schools gave 10 tasks. The difficulty level of these FAs was found to be average in 72.57% schools, while 14.28% really put up a tough FA.
Project work for the students is another area the board feels is lacking in quality. CBSE's report says "the project work, though decorative, lacked in-depth analysis". Only 8.50% of schools did group projects and the board has asked that teachers to "plan multidisciplinary, values based and group projects for their students to inculcate skills of extensive study and enquiry".
The report says that 30% of these schools conducted 'insufficient' lab activities and practicals for its students. The board's overall ratings for the 5,000 selected schools reveals that 18.28% needed improvement in their existing practices. Almost half were rated as 'average' while 31.57% were rated as 'good'.
Educationists discuss role of teachers in 21st century More...
09-03-2013
NAWANSHAHR: Prominent educationists from different universities and colleges belonging to Punjab and Chandigarh converged at the UGC sponsored seminar on the topic of 'Changing Role of Teachers in 21st Century', organised here atDayanand Amarnath College of Education for Women.
They exhorted the teachers to evolve mechanismconsisting of perfect blend of technology and tradition of ""Gurukul system"" prevalent in ancient times in the country to enable the students to face the challenges of the present era of rapid strides in information technology as well as to inculcate moral values and national character among the youth.
While Dr Puneet Bedi, Principal MCM DAV College Chandigarh was the chief guest, Prem Bhardwaj, general secretary, Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Punjab presided over the seminar dedicated to the birth anniversary of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati, founder of Arya Samaj. In his inaugural address, Bhardwaj explained the contribution of the Maharishi towards education especially women education in the country.
Dr Kuldip Puri from Punjab University, Chandigarh, in his keynote address said that it was not appropriate to dub the present era of rapid strides in information technology as "Knowledge Explosion" as the revolutionary changes in the information technology had just made the access to information more rapid and it had not been contributing towards expansion or generation of knowledge.
"The present era of rapid strides in information technology has effected many complexities in our social system and behaviour, hence the curriculum, teaching learning process should match with the ground realities of the present society", said Dr. Puri while issuing a caution to the teachers that by adopting new technology they should not forget the ground realities and fundamental truths of our society.
"The teachers should ensure that the use of Information technology in education should not only turn into a fashion statement. Rather, the teachers should learn to differentiate between the distinctive as well detrimental use of information technology tools"", said Dr. Puri while advising the teachers to avoid academic stagnation, resistance to change for the better and intellectual isolation.
Quoting reports of Dr. Yash Paul Committee in 1993, NCERT in 2005 and Wipro in 2012, Dr Puri lamented that nothing concrete was being done to bring in qualitative improvement in the education system to make more interactive, reflective and practical despite the shortcomings in our education system pointed by the eminent scholars. ""Our education system is confined to text book based education for enabling the students to crack various exams by cramming the information rather than encouraging conceptual understanding among students," he said.
Reciting preamble to Constitution made compulsory in schools More...
09-03-2013
Maharashtra government has made it compulsory to recite the preamble to theConstitution on a daily basis in schools in the state.
A government resolution here said this would apply to schools of every board and medium.
The preamble will have to be read by the students in the morning assembly when the school starts. It should be also printed on the wall or on a permanent board at the entrance.
"Schools should also hold quizzes, essay competitions, drawing competitions, slogan/posters-making and chorus singing competitions on the (theme of) Constitution," the GR said.
"The intention is to make the students aware of their responsibilities and duties," a senior official from the Education Department said.
CBSE goes cyber: Now watch school programmes on YouTube More...
07-03-2013
NAGPUR: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is pushing forward its initiative of using technology to promote academics and values. The central board has become the first among peers in country to have an official channel on YouTube, being called CBSEChannel. On this channel, affiliated schools can post videos produced by them thus giving them a wider audience and boost to branding.
Rama Sharma, spokesperson for CBSE, said, "The central board wants to make itself more accessible and make school activities more visible, hence this step. There are guidelines on what kind of videos can be uploaded and a special team is supervising the process."
CBSE has asked schools to submit their videos as attachments in e-mail or by post on a CD before March 31. But since the board has received a good response already, 168 videos are now available on the channel.
Schools can submit videos up to 10 minutes in length which are of activities undertaken by them. These activities, however, can only be based on preapproved themes. Schools have to send a short description of the video not exceeding 45 words, that will be posted online for viewers.
CBSE has asked schools to ensure that the video is well edited so that it appeals to viewers and also displays a sense of professionalism. The video also needs to be titled aptly so that its content is understood by a prospective viewer before clicking on the link. The board will retain control over the video submitted and has asserted its power to use it as it wishes.
The board is aware of the issue of plagiarism and has hence cautioned schools about it. The board's letter to school says that the video "should not contain any third party copyrighted material, or material that is subject to other third party proprietary rights. Also the content of the video should not be objectionable in any manner, and should not hurt the emotions and sentiments of any community, region, religion, gender, caste or creed". Videos are scrutinized by a special team at CBSE to ensure it meets these parameters.
However, not even a single video from Nagpur schools has been submitted yet. Reena Dargan, principal of Ira International, said, "I think almost all of us haven't got the time to notice it; plus there are no activities happening in school now. Board exams are on and all the extra-curricular activities stopped in December itself. But I have no doubt that once schools resume for next session, there will be a lot of participation from here."
NEW DELHI: Errors in marking Board paperswill now cost examiners more. In an attempt to check shoddy evaluation work, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to double the penalty for marking an answer book on the basis of a wrong question paper or marking scheme to Rs 100. In case the question numbers and answers are not tallied, or marked as "repeated" without basis, the fine will be Rs 20 per question. At centres outside India, the penalties will be Rs 200 per answer book and Rs 40 per question.
Ever since photocopies of evaluated answer books were made available to candidates in 2012, questions have been raised on the reliability of the evaluation process in CBSE Boards. According to CBSE sources, following the move last year, the Board received many representations citing discrepancies in evaluation.
The minutes of the examination committee's meeting show that examples of errors were cited for imposing higher penalties against erring examiners. The common errors are, not evaluating an answer book with the correct question paper and marking scheme, and instances of question numbers being marked as "repeated" when the question has been attempted only once.
The members present in the meeting deliberated on the issues and, in order to discourage errors at the "spot evaluation centres", resolved that penalties be doubled with effect from the 2013 Boards.
The issue, according to CBSE officials, has became a cause of concern as science students now get weightage for their Class XII Boards marks in the JEE (main) merit list. Moreover, only the top 1.5 lakh candidates in the JEE (main) merit list, who also figure in the top 20 percentile in their respective Board exam results, will be eligible for the JEE (advanced), which is the entrance test for IITs. Any small error could affect the prospects of a candidate.
"The increase in the penalty is aimed at an overall improvement of the evaluation process and making it more reliable. This is a continuous process," said an official.
Annual Exams Begains for various Schools & Board More...
04-03-2013
Exams for various Schools in India for different Boards like CBSE, ICSE, ISC and State Board of differnet states of India has already begiun ....
Starting paper are seems to be good and students form X & XII classes are Happy
Keep goging .....
Good Luck
Team Schoolsinida
'Rs 1cr 'paltry' budget for EWS quota upsets schools More...
01-03-2013
CHANDIGARH: The budget allocating just Rs 1 crore as reimbursement to private schools for teaching 25% students from economically-weaker section under RTE has left the private schools apprehensive of admitting EWS students into nursery classes for the coming session. Also, UT education department is still to decide when to reimburse the pending amount to schools.
This year, the situation of RTE Act seems to have worsened in the city following confusion after Delhi high court passed the judgment stating that children below the age of six do not come under RTE.
On one hand, UT education department has been repeatedly asking schools to send details of vacant RTE seats and on the other, schools have been asking for clarity over what RTE seats are and which schools have to implement it and when would they get the reimbursement amount.
The education department had asked nearly 70 private schools to send details of vacant EWS seats by February 15, however, only around 30 replied. "There are zero seats until the education department tells us when they will be paying the reimbursement amount. It's the RTE seats under which education is free and the state government pays for it and in this case, the schools are free to charge a nominal fee from the students," said H S Mamik, president of independent schools association.
"There are nearly 450 children for which the department has to pay for almost three years. Even if they pay Rs 1,000 per child, the total will exceed Rs 1 crore". The department officials had asked private schools to wait till April 15 before converting the seats. The matter of reimbursement has been a major cause of tussle between private schools and UT education department.
Punjab government bans local holidays in schools More...
28-02-2013
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government today imposed a total ban on local holidays in government schools to properly implement the Right to Education Act, 2009 under which functioning of minimum 220 days was mandatory.
Instructions had been issued to strictly impose the ban with immediate effect, education minister Sikander Singh Maluka said here.
The state government, which had allowed discretion to schools for two local holidays, had now withdrawn that order, he said.
The state government had decided to adopt a flexible policy for winter vacations in schools which were observed from December 25 to 31.
Now these vacations would be announced according to weather conditions every year, the minister said.
Over 3 lakh schools started under RTE: Economic Survey More...
28-02-2013
NEW DELHI: A total of 3,34,340 new primary and upper primary schools have been opened under the Right to Education (RTE) till September 2012, since the enforcement of the RTE April 1, 2010, the Economic Survey, released Wednesday, said.
Over 2,80,000 new school buildings have been constructed, and over 12,46,000 teachers have been appointed under the scheme in that time, the survey said.
Talking about the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the report said about 105 million children had benefitted from the programme during 2011-12.
Goa board Class XII results to be declared by May 15 More...
27-02-2013
PANAJI: Even before exams of the Goa board of secondary and higher secondary education can begin, the board has decided that Class XII results will be declared any day between May 10 and 15.
The board wants to keep pace with developments nationally where the national eligibility cum entrance test (NEET) is being held for the first time for centralized admissions to medicine and dentistry courses. The state wants to declare its results in time for the drawing up of the merit list for admissions.
"Goa has a system where students can apply for reevaluation of Class X and XII marks, which is a system not available in many other states. We will have to declare our results at an earlier date so that students have time to apply for reevaluation and the new scores can reflect in the marks we will be sending to Delhi. If the process is delayed as reevaluated scores are not updated to the list sent to Delhi for allocation of seats centrally then students might miss out," Goa board chairperson Jose Remedios Rebello said.
States have been warned that their students may have to forfeit seats if the Class XII scores are not sent on time, Rebello said. "Admissions to the National Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Technology will be based on one test-- the JEE-main. For NIT admissions, results of state boards will be processed centrally in a method called standardization, these scores will then form 40% of the marks in the NIT selection process," Rebello explained.
Rebello informed that in case of IITs, top 20% students from each board and those that form part of the top 1.20 lakh students from across the country will be chosen to answer the second round of exams for IIT entrance.
43% parents say no enough good colleges for science More...
27-02-2013
BANGALORE: Around 43% of the parents who were surveyed expressed insufficiency of good colleges for Science courses in India. The proportion was particularly high among parents from Hyderabad (59%) and among those that want their children to pursue a career in research(54%).
This and more in the study conducted by BrainCafe & IMRB among parents of school children of Classes I-VIII. Around 286 parents from six cities - Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bhopal and Moradabad participated in the survey on science education in India.
Almost half of the parents in Bangalore were content with the school's focus on activity based learning in science. "Higher interest levels are observed for Environmental Studies and Physics subjects. Astronomy is an area where children show interest but schools do not place as much emphasis as desired," the study pointed out.
Around 46% of the parents felt opportunities for higher education in Science is better abroad in comparison to India. This was true for parents who wanted their children to pursue courses in pure science (50%) and medicine (62%).
Engineering, followed by medicine are the two most sought after career streams. Research is considered to be an emerging area, however one-fourth of the parents do not consider it to be a lucrative option. Lack of information and proper career counseling, they say, are the most predominantly faced difficulties in choosing a profession.
Childrens adalat for effective RTE implementation on March 3 More...
25-02-2013
MANGALORE: As school admission season is fast approaching, organizations working in the field of education, are gearing up to hold a Children'sAdalat to ensure the effective implementation of Right to Education (RTE) Act.
The Dakshina Kannada District Federation of Education Resource Centres and many other like minded organizations have decided to hold the adalat, where parents can find solutions to their problems related to obtaining admissions to primary schools under RTE quota. The adalat will be held in the city on March 3.
President of the federation Umesh Nirmal told TOI that there are several confusions regarding the implementation of RTE Act. "The adalat will focus on violations on part of private schools with regard to ensuring seats for poor children. Parents and others, who have specific cases of violations of RTE rules, can submit it before the adalat with documents. Issues will be discussed in the adalat and suitable action will be taken to ensure justice," he said.
Chairman of Karnataka Commission for Protection of Child Rights, state coordinators of Campaign Against Child Labour - Karnataka and RTE Vigilance and Monitoring Committee will be taking part in the adalat, he added.
GUWAHATI: The CBSE regional office, Guwahati, has asked the affiliated schools to organize various programmes and encourage children to participate in activities related to the maintenance of Indian heritage.
The objective of the move is to develop the personality of students through music and dance, along with other co-curricular activities. "We are laying stress on the creativity of the children by looking into their cultural growth, studying at different affiliated schools. The CBSE has laid special emphasis on maintenance of Indian heritage," the regional head of CBSE, K K Choudhury, said. The board has also urged the affiliated schools for educating the children about the creations of experts in different fields of Indian origin.
"The board feels that active participation in performing arts and fine arts help the students to develop greater aesthetic sensibilities and self-fulfillment. In our technology-centric society it is crucial to strengthen the cultural roots by creating awareness, popularizing and preserving national heritage. The easiest way is to encourage the youngsters to develop an interest and taste in classical music, dance, folk forms, theatre, workshops, yoga and meditation," the regional head added.
He further said, the board has collaborated with the society for the promotion of Indian classical music and culture among youths (SPICMACAY) for organizing musical concerts, dance events and other similar cultural programmes in schools. The recently introduced scheme of continuous and comprehensive evaluation demands equal attention to co-scholastic activities such as music, dance, fine-arts and life-skills in addition to achievement of students in scholastic domain.
"We do organize different programmes to increase the creativity of the students and for promoting Indian cultural heritage through classical music and dance," the Principal of Little flower school sister lissy.
Assam board to give 8 marks for goof-up in Sanskrit paper More...
23-02-2013
GUWAHATI: The Secondary Education Board ofAssam (Seba) is in the news for setting eight marks question in Sanskrit from outside the syllabus in the HSLC Modern Indian Language (MIL) exam. The experts who were entrusted with the responsibility of setting the question paper took the job casually, said the board, adding action will be initiated against them. The board has decided to grant eight marks to the students opting for Sanskrit in the MIL section.
The move was initiated after the board held an academic council meeting with the SEBA officials and Sanskrit teachers.
SEBA chairman Shantikam Hazarika said, "The board had earlier called up three experts of Sanskrit to examine the Sanskrit section of MIL, acting on the report of alleged goofing up of the same question paper carrying 10 marks for questions from outside the syllabus. This was reported on the first day of the MIL exam on February 18. In the preliminary meeting with our officials, the teachers confirmed that in Group C of Sanskrit carrying 25 marks, eight marks questions were set from outside the syllabus. The report has been forwarded to the academic council."
In the academic council meeting held on Thursday, the question paper was again reviewed and it was decided that the students opting for Sanksrit will be granted eight marks. "The fault lies with the experts who have set the question paper without knowing what is there in the syllabus. They took their job casually owing to which the students had to suffer. The board cannot take any action individually so the matter has been forwarded to the higher authorities for further action, he added.
After the exams, there will be a review meeting of the committee where different matters, right from setting of papers, changing of question patterns and what to do for next year's exam will be discussed. "We cannot change anything immediately because the syllabus is already set for another two years," said the chairman.
Confusion as ICSE wants all its schools to begin in March-June More...
23-02-2013
CHENNAI: The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations has asked all affiliated schools to ensure that the academic year should begin between mid-March and June. While most schools follow this, the rule could result in confusion for students in a few institutions that have other opening days.
While some, like Sishya School in Adyar, start the academic year in January and end it in December, many schools in hill stations start the academic year in August. CISCE officials said this was because the council had initially allowed schools to choose the academic calendar according to their convenience.
Parents said the change would be welcome, even if it meant some initial confusion. One parent said she didn't consider putting her children in Sishya only because of the academic calendar. "I thought that if I had to relocate to another city when my child is still in school I would have to face lot of problems getting admission in the middle of the academic year. Uniformity in such cases is good."
Parents are relieved their children will have the same duration of holidays as those in other schools. "It becomes impossible to entertain them during the holidays because all the other children are in school. But, the travel expenses are cheap, because it is an off-season," said Shanthi (name changed), mother of a primary school student in Sishya.
The Blue Mountain School in the Nilgiris starts the year in August and ends in May to beat the monsoon. Director Amukta Mohapatra says the change will be difficult. "It gets windy and cold in June and July, so it is not fair to expose the children to the weather, particularly because the school does not have central heating. With different places having different climatic conditions, the school year can't be the same across the country," she said. The school closes from December to February to beat the winter chill.
But, the council seems unlikely to change its decision. "It has been asking schools to make the change for some time. How schools do it is their headache," said the regional co-ordinator ofICSE schools in Tamil Nadu.
KOCHI: CBSE schools which scored less than 20 % in the verification of evidence of assessments (EAs) of Class IX and X students for first term academic session 2012-2013,maybe asked by the Board to send the verification of EAs of Class IX and X students for second academic term also.
The Board would be asking schools which were not selected for the purpose of verification of EAs for term I. Again the Board may ask the low scoring schools of Term I (schools scoring less than 20), CBSE has said.
CBSE has had in the first term asked nearly 5,000 schools were asked to send theirassessment evidences by CBSE. Barring a few schools, particularly in the Guwahati region, a majority of schools submitted their evidences. These submissions were analyzed, and CBSE categorized 31.57% schools in the country as good, 49.69% schools were rated average and 18.28% schools needed improvement in their existing practices.
The Board has in the last few years initiated random collection and verification of the EAsconducted at school level under Formative and Summative assessments. These EAsand the marks awarded are verified by the subject experts/moderators appointed and empanelled by the Board at the regional level. The objective is to assess the 'practices of school based assessment'.
Nervous students keep ringing CBSE helpline number More...
22-02-2013
LUDHIANA: The board exams have turned students of classes X and XII nervous and sleepless, going by the problems received by counsellors taking calls on CBSE helpline number.
"I am not able to sleep because of nervousness over the exams and my confidence is breaking up ahead of the examinations," are some of the frequent complaints received.
The toll-free CBSE helpline number for stress management and relieving tension among students started by the board is 1800-11-8004. While the general queries are answered by the operators, students are connected to the principals or counsellors in case of exam related anxiety or stress. CBSE pre-examination counselling will start on Friday and continue till April 17. Students have access to psychological counselling to overcome stress before and during examinations.
An operator receiving calls on the toll-free number said besides the queries related to question paper and examination format, many students complaint of low confidence level and nervousness.
"There are many principals, counsellors from CBSE affiliated schools and psychologists helping students resolve their issues as they prepare for the board examinations," the operator said.
Principal of Guru Nanak International Public School, Model Town, Gurmant Kaur Gill said they have put the helpline number on the school notice board, so that students can utilize the service to resolve their doubts and problems.
Jasmine Kaur, a Class X student residing in BRS Nagar said she had called the helpline number after struggling with lack of sleep due to exam stress. "The number is a boon for us. An expert told me to take fruits, do deep breathing exercises and rest for 10 minutes after studying for an hour. I have been more positive due to the advice and have been sleeping on time by 11pm," she added.
KOCHI: CBSE schools which scored less than 20 % in the verification of evidence of assessments (EAs) of Class IX and X students for first term academic session 2012-2013,maybe asked by the Board to send the verification of EAs of Class IX and X students for second academic term also.
The Board would be asking schools which were not selected for the purpose of verification of EAs for term I. Again the Board may ask the low scoring schools of Term I (schools scoring less than 20), CBSE has said.
CBSE has had in the first term asked nearly 5,000 schools were asked to send theirassessment evidences by CBSE. Barring a few schools, particularly in the Guwahati region, a majority of schools submitted their evidences. These submissions were analyzed, and CBSE categorized 31.57% schools in the country as good, 49.69% schools were rated average and 18.28% schools needed improvement in their existing practices.
The Board has in the last few years initiated random collection and verification of the EAsconducted at school level under Formative and Summative assessments. These EAsand the marks awarded are verified by the subject experts/moderators appointed and empanelled by the Board at the regional level. The objective is to assess the 'practices of school based assessment'.
CHANDIGARH: Education department ofChandigarh administration started a helpline to provide expert advise and counselling to students, on Wednesday. The department has constituted a team of 19 persons comprising officers, principals, headmaster, lecturer and subject experts in vocational education to deal with examinationsstress and anxiety felt by the students.
Starting from Wednesday, the helpline will remain open till March 31. Students can contact officials between 2pm to 7.30pm for the said period. "The information regarding the helpline and list of experts has been sent to all the heads of institutions and directions have been issued to inform students accordingly," said the spokesperson from the UT education department.
MUMBAI: The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) on Monday announced the new timetable for ISC students. The decision comes in the wake of the All India Trade Union strike on February 20 and 21, when three ISC papers were scheduled to take place.
"In view of the requests received from heads of schools for rescheduling the ISC 2013
Environmental Science, Environmental Education and Art Paper 3 Examinations, due to the nationwide bandh, changes have been made," said Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of CISCE. The Art Paper 3 which was scheduled to take place on February 21 will now be conducted on February 25 whereas the Environmental Science (Paper 1) and Environmental Education (Paper 1) exams which were scheduled to take place on February 20 have been rescheduled to April 1, 2013.
"The ISC exams were supposed to get over by March 25. Now, some of the students will have to wait till April 1 to finish with their exams," said the principal of an ISC school in Thane. "Students who have already planned their holidays or classes for higher education courses will face problems. But it is better than facing problems on the day of the exam, so we have no choice," said the principal.
Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan to conduct exams in classes IV and VII to measure preparedness for higher classes More...
19-02-2013
NEW DELHI: Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan(KVS) has decided to conduct exams at the start of classes IV and VII (the penultimate years of primary and upper-primary) to see where their students stand. Teachers will work with them accordingly to prepare them for subsequent classes. This decision was taken after the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER 2012) revealed that the number of class V students who could not read a class II-level text or solve a simple arithmetic problem has increased from 46.3% in 2010 to 53.2% in 2012. All the 1,090 Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) are being asked to conduct the exams and help the students who are lagging behind their peers.
All the KVs have been instructed to conduct exams for students of classes IV and VII in the beginning of the session. The idea is to see if they have any deficiencies in their learning upto the classes III and VI levels respectively so that in the subsequent two years of primary andupper-primary education their weakness are attended to.
"These exams are to be conducted in a non-formal manner and the class teachers and subject will be entrusted with the responsibility. The students will actually not realize that exams are being conducted to know for example whether a class IV student has achieved what he/she should have in three years of primary education. The results will not be made known to the class and will not impact in promotion to the subsequent class. These results will be used only to help the teachers indentify the deficiencies, so that before a primary school student gets promoted to upper-primary class the teachers can focus and work on their weaknesses," said Dinesh Kumar, additional commissioner (academics), KVS.
According to the latest ASER report released earlier this month, across the country, the number of class V students who could not read a class II-level text or solve a simple arithmetic problem has increased. In 2010, 46.3% of children in this category failed to make the cut and this shot up to 51.8% in 2011 and 53.2% in 2012. In 2010, 29.1% children in class V could not solve a two-digit subtraction problem without seeking help. This number increased to 39% in 2011 and 46.5% in 2012.
"There have been many reports revealing figures which revealed lower levels of learning. The aim of this exercise is to bring in qualitative improvement before the students reach the secondary level as it will be tough to bridge the gap then," said Kumar.
KANNUR: In a novel move to address the examination blues of the Class X and XII students that often lead them to take extreme steps, the district administration, the health department and the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) have joined together to start a free helpline, 'Vazhikatti' (guide), to provide counseling to the students over telephone.
"This kind of a helpline in the government sector for students is being launched for the first time in the state though some voluntary organizations offer similar service," said district medical officer Dr R Ramesh after it was inaugurated on Saturday in Kannur district hospital.
"It has become quite common for the students to have stress-related problems during the examination season and quite often that lead to complications, and we are sure this kind of a helpline will prove highly helpful," said the DMO, adding that the parents of such students will also be provided counseling because quite often the stress is not limited to the students alone.
This 24 hour helpline, 18004256244, is being operated from the district hospital and specially trained professionals from the NRHM have been assigned the duty.
If it is found that the level of stress is high, the students will be taken to hospitals for further counseling and the health department has made a tie up with Kozhikode Medical College hospitalfor this purpose.
Since the same problem prevails even after the publication of the results, the helpline will be operations for a few weeks after the announcement of the results, too.
The service is not limited to Kannur district alone and students and their parents from all part of the state can avail the service, said the officials.
Govt schools in Kerala could soon log in with WiFi More...
18-02-2013
KOCHI: The first phase of a project aimed at providing free WiFi connectivity to all government and government-aided schools in the state will begin in Malappuram and Pathanamthitta districts in the academic year 2013-14. Private schools following state syllabus and CBSE schoolstoo can avail the facility by making a nominal one-time payment.
"We require one-time investment of Rs 60cr. At the school level, computers are available in almost all secondary and higher secondary schools. Teachers can download the subject material and use an interactive projector to conduct classes," said IT@School Project executive director, Abdul Nasar Kaipancherry.
This comes at a crucial time, when the education department will start distribution of tablet PCs to class VIII students from 140 schools, with one school from each assembly constituency getting a tablet PC. By 2014, tablets will completely replace textbooks in class VIII in all schools that follow the state syllabus, and the content will be upgraded till class X.
The connectivity speed of the WiFi connection will be 150 MBPS though students will be able to access only state and CBSE syllabus study material from class I to XII apart from children's games and puzzles. They can also download classics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata which don't violate copyright laws. The content will be stored in the main server at each district headquarter of IT@School.
"We will have filters to prevent access to inappropriate web content. We are waiting for budget approval to launch the project," said director of public instruction (DPI) A Shahjahan.
KANPUR: Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad had announced the schedule for high school and intermediate examinations. The high school examination will start from March 12 and continue till April 3. The intermediate examination will start from March 12 and end on April 18.The high school examination will begin with Hindi paper. The first examination of class XII would be Military science. The examination schedule has been made available on the UP Board website. The students can check and download the schedule by logging on to the website.The UP Board will complete the exams of compulsory subjects of high school in five days. Intermediate examinations will be held in two shifts. The examinations class X will be conducted in one shift only except three exams.All the exams will be three hour long. The exams will be held from 7.30 am to 10.45 am in first shift and from 2 pm to 5.15 pm.
KANPUR: The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education ( ICSE) board examinations for class XII began on Thursday. On the first day, students of class XII appeared in Hindi paper. It is an optional subject and around 450 students appeared in the examination.
Principal of Huddard School and city co-ordinator for ICSE KV Vincent said that limited number of students appeared in the examinations as it is an optional subject. Art examination will be held on February 16, which is also an optional subject.
Around 3,500 students are appearing in ICSE Class XII board examinations.
The ICSE class X board examinations will commence from February 26.
In the afternoon, many students were seen busy in last-minute preparations. At some schools, the students had reached nearly one hour before the examination. The exam started at 2 pm and ended in three hours.The paper was of 100 marks and the students were given three hours for answering the question paper and 15 minutes for reading.
"The students were completely at ease. As expected, all the students attempted the paper well and we are sure they will come out with flying colours," said the principal of a school.
Meanwhile, students of 40 schools affiliated to ICSE board are appearing in examinations this year. On the first day, the teachers of different had been exchanged and sent as invigilators to the exam centres. The students have been spared of going to other examination centres and they have to appear in their own school.
CBSE's orientation program on transport systems More...
15-02-2013
KOCHI: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has written to schools informing them that they are organising an orientation programme on Transport Systems and Logistic Management for teachers.
In a letter to school principals, CBSE has said that transportation and logistics have been assuming importance with rise of private industry and trade and has accelerated since India adopted new economic policies in 1991. "They are essential for the expansion of opportunities and play an important role in defining competitive advantage", the letter states.
Understanding the growing need for skilled professionals in this field, Vocational Education Cell, CBSE has launched a new course Transport Systems and Logistic Management. This course intends to introduce students to the world of transport management.
The curriculum aims to skill students in understanding and utilizing measurable criteria to evaluate how well the multimodal transportation system operates.Transport Systems and Logistic Management is offered as two paper package which can be taken along with any combination of subjects.
Skill development training for students in MP government schools More...
15-02-2013
BHOPAL: More than 20,000 college students will be imparted training under the state government's Skill Development Scheme during academic session 2012-13. The scheme is under implementation in 110 government colleges in the state. The state higher education department has sanctioned Rs 3 crore for the scheme.
According to the higher education department, a nodal officer will be appointed in each college linked with skill development. The nodal officer will conduct the skill development programmes in coordination with the Technical Education and Skill Development Department.
Caution money worth Rs 500 will be charged from students of general and OBC students while Rs 250 will be charged from scheduled caste, scheduled tribe students for admission in training programmes. The caution money will be refunded to the successful candidates who pass the training programme. Caution money will not be refunded to the unsuccessful candidates. The successful candidates will be imparted counselling for placement for the next two years.
MP Board of Secondary Education asks schools to furnish IFSC code More...
13-02-2013
MP Board of Secondary Education(MPBSE) has advised the schools affiliated to it to submit bank IFSC code so that the fees for conducting practical examinations could be transferred directly to the accounts.
In an official release, here on Tuesday the board said that the amount for practical exams and that spent by the exam centres have been transferred to the coordinating centres in the districts. The coordinating centres would transfer the amount to the account of schools 'principals through the e-payment mode.
Hence all the affiliated schools should furnish the details of their bank account and the IFSC code of the branch to the coordinating centre. The last date for submission of details is February 15.
Previously, the schools were asked to furnish the details by December last year.
MANGALORE: It's that time of the year when stress levels are heightened in families with school-going kids. Stress during exams is common. But the key is to see that it does not spiral out of control. Students preparing for SSLCand PU exams have started consulting psychiatrists and counsellors unable to cope with the stress. Sleeplessness, headaches, anxiety and poor memory are some of the symptoms associated with exam stress students as final examinations near. To beat the stress, many students in this education hub in the state, have started approaching psychiatrists here. The practice of students consulting psychiatrists on the eve of examinations has increased over the years in this region.
Increasing pressure to score good marks in exams, parental and peer pressure to excel has increased stress levels among students, says Anil Kakunje, associate professor in psychiatry, Yenepoya Medical College. Anil, also the secretary of Mangalore Psychiatrists Society, says five years ago on an average around two students would approach him between January and March, the exam time. "But for the past few years, I have been counselling at least six students every day, during January-March," he adds. Most students today, he explains, are unable to concentrate on studies due to mobiles, computers and their obsession with social networking sites,
There are nearly around 30 psychiatrists in the city. PUC and SSLCstudents are so much involved in preparing for exams and many a times they are not seen out on play grounds, like undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Children today don't have time for extracurricular activities which decreases stress levels tremendously, said Dr Safeek AT, professor in psychiatrics of Father Muller Medical College.
On Monday, Dr KS Madhava Rao, a psychiatrist, got a call informing him of a II PU science student attempting suicide unable to cope with exam pressure. Madhava, also the president of Karnataka State Psychiatrists Association, said that the student had consumed tablets in a bid to end her life.
He says most PU students who approach him are from science stream. "Parents fail to gauge the aptitude of their children. The pressure to perform well weighs heavily on them. During counselling many science students who are depressed tell me that they will not take the exams. The next year, they will shift to arts or commerce," he adds.
During exam period, Rao has at least three students who consult him every week. The rest of the year, he sees just about two students a month.
Psychiatrists have another piece of advice for troubled students. Consult them at the earliest. Don't leave it for the nth hour. "Many students approach us just a few days prior to the exams," says Dr Satheesh Rao, Department of Psychiatry, KS Hegde Medical Academy. "We provide medication to them as they come very late. It's not easy to cure their disorders within a short period of time. If students come earlier, instead of medication, we can do psychotherapy and counselling," he explains.
Shrinivasa Bhat, another psychiatrist, says his clients approach him to enhance their memory and concentration. "Most students, who consult me are academically good. They want to improve their memory. But most students suffer from insomnia and headaches during exam," he adds.
TIPS to beat STRESS
Sleep well. A good sleep of six to seven hours will consolidate memory and will enhance it automatically
Proper diet and workout on a daily basis can work wonders. A balanced diet is essential
Get rid of anxiety and frustration
Meditation is a sure-shot way to improve concentration levels and thus memory
Get outdoors. Students must have at least 15 minutes of outdoor activity even during exams. It helps relax
If stress really gets to you, talk to your parents or teachers.
It was a novel exercise where the teachers competed with each other to build the life of the students.
Organized by DISHA, a school teachers' forum, about 40 teachers of the five English-medium institutions run by Kerala Public Schools (KPS) trust competed for earning recognition to their respective brand of innovative practices aimed at building a disciplined, ethical and bright student.
Eight teams, each consisting of about five teachers, were made to prepare a report on innovative practices introduced in their schools to improve the campusatmosphere and growth of the student.
All the teams worked comprehensively for weeks on issues ranging from steps to ensure assertive discipline in youth to improving communication skill to problems of poor academic results. The Zacatia team of qualified professionals from KPS Burmamines School that worked on disciplining the students through innovative and friendly measures earned the coveted award.
"As a result of our (project) work, the school is now a fight-free zone resulting in smooth running of the affairs on the campus," said the proud team members that included Binod Chandra, Neha Yadav, Bibha Kumari, Sushma Sinha and Ganita Singh.
The runners-up trophy went to the Steady team from KPS NML School that presented the work on steps to ensure assertive discipline in youth. "This project has improved the discipline scenario within the campus," but also got recognized both at zonal and national level by Quality Circle Forum of India,"
said participants Priyanka Barua. tnnKeya Das, Neepa Biswas, Ashish Prasad and Sreekumar were other members of the team.
The third on the award list is Ripple 1 from KPS Gamharia School that prepared project on innovative ways to improve communication skill of the students.
"Various games like special ludo, spinning yarn and customized dictionary that were introduced as part of innovative measures were instrumental in improving communication skill of the students," said a delighted Indu Sahu. Sunita Srivastava and Santosh Kumar were her teammates.
The KPS trust chairman, A P R Nair, who feted the winning teams at a function on Friday applauded the participants for their out-of-box schemes to improve the overall academic atmosphere on the campus.
"Definitely, in the future editions of the innovative practices competition we will come across many new novel and sustainable ideas to improve the overall schooling atmosphere in the campus," said Nair.
Maharashtra has most number of IB and IGCSE schools in India More...
11-02-2013
In the last decade, millions of middle-class families across the country have faced the dilemma of whether to educate their child in a school affiliated to an Indian board or a foreign one. With close to half-a-dozen options, taking a call was never easy. However, today there appear to be two clearly popular choices-the International Baccalaureate (IB) headquartered at Geneva and the Indian General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) run from Cambridge, UK.
The two international boards came to Indian shores years ago, but in the last five years the number of schools tying up with them has shot up significantly. While there were a mere eight institutes offering the IB programme at the turn of the century, the number of schools offering IGCSE was so insignificant that the board does not even have records of its presence in India in 2000. Contrast this with the present: 197 schools in India offer a Cambridge education while 99 others impart the Geneva-imported IB programme.
Maharashtra, with 109 IB and IGCSE schools, leads the tally, with Karnataka coming a distant second, followed by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
"International education in India first picked up with the tide of NRIs who returned to the country," says Vandana Lulla, principal of Podar International School which offers both the international boards.
"Slowly, other parents realized the importance of developing an international-mindedness and raising their children to be global citizens. They started placing premium on the quality of curriculum."
It's this quality that the representatives of the global boards harp on. William Bickerdike, IGCSE's regional manager for South Asia, says that a Cambridge education goes "beyond just teaching facts". "We support schools to develop students who are confident, responsible, reflective, innovative and engaged," he says. "The entire approach fosters an active learner who has a love of learning, is self-directing and engaged at all levels with his/her education. The increasing number of Indian schools taking our IGCSE shows that schools are aware of the value of this approach and the importance of an international education in today's global economy."
Sarojini Rao, principal of Indus International, Bangalore, an IB school, says the IB programme promotes holistic development in a child. "Action, adventure and community service are as important as science and maths," she says. "In an IB course, 16- and 17-year-olds write on God, religion, duty. Our school philosophy-creating leaders of tomorrow-is in sync with that of the IB. To be a leader, you must be compassionate and open, you must learn to love, know the meaning of real peace, be able to think critically, solve problems and take decisions."
In terms of money, an IB education is dearer than IGCSE. The 45-year-old IB board charges for exam papers; professor development and training fees are higher and so is the basic affiliation charge. Schools pass on all those expenses and fees shoot up. However, by all accounts, writing a fat cheque towards a school fee is evidently no longer a mind block for Indian parents-the growth of international schooling not only points to their changing educational preferences but also their willingness to spend much more money on early education.
Madhya Pradesh: XII board exams give anxious moments to students More...
08-02-2013
Vikrant Singh, a student of physics chemistry and maths stream, is a worried teenager these days. As his class XII board exams approaches near, he is getting more anxious.
A student of KV No. 2, Vikram said, "I am working hard for exams for few months, but I am not satisfied with my preparations."
Pankaj Tiwari, a student of class XII from Army Public School also experiences same anxious moments. "I am nervous."
"Practical exams are going on and teachers are doing their best to help us. But as date of theory exams draws, near I am losing my confidence," a student with science stream said.
Reason: Both teenagers have never ever appeared in a board exam before this. "We would have better prepared, if I had given class X board, they said.
Most of students appearing in the class XII board exams conducted by CBSE this year had skipped the class X board exam by opting for school exams instead. The scale of nervousness is indicating high stress and anxiety in students of Bhopal and their parents.
About 6,000 students from 63 CBSE schools in Bhopal will appear for XII board exam this year from the state capital.
Rani Singh, Vikram's mother says, "I am afraid about his result though he is preparing well for exams. I think coaching and tutorials help more than school teachers."
Under the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) system, which allows a student to be promoted even with the lowest grade of 'D', this lot seems to have taken studies lightly.
The CBSE has been backing the CCE saying it is more inclusive but teachers and students are keeping their fingers crossed. Teachers and many parents say the system is less rigorous and are not happy with the outcome.
A teacher of a local convent, on the condition of anonymity, said, "spare the rod and spoil the child. Academics seem to have become second priority till class X."
R S Patel, father of a class XII student Deepanshu, says "Though I am satisfied with the endeavour of my son in studies, I am not happy with the CCE. Class X should have been a board exam".
"The seriousness with which the preparation of board exams was done is entirely missing in students".
Shiv Kumar of PCM stream from Green Valley School says, "This is the first time when I have to do preparation for whole syllabus. It's quite tough and I am so stressed. God knows how I'll perform in the exam".
Sapna, a commerce stream student of KV Bairagarh, says, "Less than a month is left for the exams and I have done only 50% preparations of exam."
Teachers are helping much by giving advice and tips for scoring better marks. They have taught about the pattern of board questions and are encouraging us to solve more and more previous year question papers, says Pranav Singh of Kendriya Vidyalaya.
P S Kalra, principal, International Public School, says "the students need to be more rigorous for the improved academic performance. There is always a first time, hence students should stop complaining and work hard."
BANGALORE: The government has promised to ensure adequate power supply in the coming days so that students don't suffer during examination time.
Deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa told the legislative council that the government reviewed the power situation on Thursday and will take all measures , including power-purchase from private generators, so that students won't suffer.
The government assessed that in February, the state requires 188 million units (MU) of power, while it's 189 MU in March, 185 MU in April and 180 MU in May. At present, the state faces shortage of 12-16 MU daily.
Eshwarappa said power generation at UPCL will help ease the crisis and government will purchase an additional 350 MW till June. He said power will be supplied round-the-clock in urban localities , while rural areas will get three-phase power for six hours and single-phase for 12 hours.
Get your formulae right to master the game of numbers More...
07-02-2013
NEW DELHI: For Adhunik Kumar, mathematicsis more than a subject. Having practically given up both cricket and parties to focus on academics,maths is what this Class XII student from Delhi Public School, R K Puram, turns to for relaxation. And this recreational activity also routinely fetches him full marks in his exams.
That and setting impossible targets for himself. "We had just three days for maths before the pre-board exam. I decided to give myself two days to complete the entire syllabus," says Adhunik, conceding a moment later that "it is not humanly possible". He finished in two-and-a-half. "I set targets that are not easy to achieve. Most people didn't even finish the syllabus." The syllabus is rather vast and is divided into two books.
Adhunik gives the subject about two hours every day, and that too when he is done with the others — he has opted for science with computers. It helps, of course, that he loves the subject and it has always been his "strong point" — in Class V, he topped the Aryabhatta exam in Delhi.
Routine practice, which he would recommend for everyone, ensures that he doesn't forget the formulae or anything else. He also recommends adhering to the NCERT textbook. That is what he has done and it seems to be working for him. "You should focus on the NCERT book and the sample papers for maths. Every book solves questions in a different way. It will just get confusing," he says.
Coaching classes he took for the engineering entrance exams have helped him with other subjects like physics and chemistry, especially numerical problems. Adhunik hopes to be a civil engineer though, for a while, he had considered a career in architecture too.
The fact that got serious on entering Class XI also helped. He cut down on the time spent on television, videogames and parties drastically. "I have counted. I have been to five parties in the whole year," he says. But studying became a part of his routine and now he finds he is good at physics, loves chemistry and finds computers "super easy". "But I love maths most."
GURU GYAN
DR AHSAN ALI | MATHEMATICS | BLOOM PUBLIC SCHOOL, VASANT KUNJ
TIPS FOR CLASS XII MATHEMATICS
To score well, it is important to complete NCERT textbook. Almost the entire paper is based on it. Students attending institutes and coaching centres are given different textbooks, worksheets and handouts. This may confuse the student
Once NCERT textbook is mastered — all solved and unsolved problems — students can consult other books to sharpen concepts. Generally, 20 marks are accorded to "High Order Thinking Skill" questions or HOTS. Studying from other books can help tackle these
Learning formulae is not as difficult as applying them at the right place, eg, in integration-by-parts, students have to be able to identify the first function and the second. Application comes easily only with practice
For a word problem, first read the question and make sure you comprehend it. Get an idea of what is being asked. First write down the information given, then work out what is to be found. Convert problem into a mathematical relationship
While preparing, make a separate booklet for all the formulae you have to remember, the main concepts and typical problems. You don't need this while studying chapter-wise but in last few days before board exam, when you're tested on the entire syllabus, it's a great help
Solve plenty of model testpapers
During exam, use first 15 minutes to read questions and tick the ones you know well
For questions with internal choices, select the question judiciously. Sometimes within internal choices, one problem will take longer to solve than the other. Even if you know both, choose the shorter one to save time
For one-mark questions, don't bother to show method of solving. Steps don't carry marks in these, only answers do
Solve the paper sectionwise. Let all questions in a particular section be together
Major concerns in field of education need to be addressed: PM More...
06-02-2013
Lamenting that standard of teachers in not up to the mark and learning outcomes are below expectations, Prime MinisterManmohan Singh said on Wednesday "major concerns" in the field of education need to be addressed.
Singh also noted that "drop-out rates in schools remain high after the elementary level. Some major concerns relating to equity also remain to be addressed."
The Prime Minister's comments come a day after he regretted that none of the Indian universities figures among the top 200 in the world and that the focus henceforth would be on giving "over-riding emphasis on quality".
Addressing the inaugural function of the Golden Jubilee celebration ofKendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, he said his government has always recognised that India can emerge as a modern, prosperous and progressive country only when the citizens have access to good quality education.
"We know that our country is a young country and we can reap the demographic dividend only if we have an educated and skilled workforce that would help our economy to expand and become more productive," the Prime Minister said.
Singh felt that Kendriya Vidyalayas can help in a major way in setting standards and benchmarks for schools that are situated in the area around them, adding that "this is one of the roles envisaged for them in the 12th plan.
"They should act as role models for neighbourhood schools, mentoring them and sharing best practices with them," the Prime Minister said, urging KVS system to find ways and means of effectively fulfilling these expectations.
He also said that ever since UPA government came to power, it has laid special emphasis on education increasing investment in the sector on an unprecedented scale.
SSC internal assessment in Maharashtra to be reduced to 20 marks More...
05-02-2013
PUNE: The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has proposed to reduce the internal assessment marks of secondary school certificate (SSC, std X) examination to 20 from the next academic year.
The change will be applicable for science and mathematics subjects, board chairman Sarjerao Jadhav told TOI on Monday.
"As per the revised syllabus, the internal assessment for std IX is of 20 marks. It will have to be continued for std X as well. The proposal is not yet cleared by the government but the chances are that it will get the nod," Jadhav said.
At present, mathematics has 150 marks, including 30 marks for internal assessment. It will be reduced to 100 marks - 40 marks each for the algebra and geometry written examinations and 20 marks for internal assessment. Students would have two-and-a-half hours for the 80-mark written exam, Jadhav said.
For science subjects, currently, theory is a 60-marks paper and internal assessment is for 40 marks. But from 2013-14, the internal assessment will be reduced to 20 marks while theory paper will be of 80 marks.
The state government has decided to revise the marks weightage to bring parity with the CBSE examination pattern. This will help the government to resolve issues like the 'best five' calculations, which had caused controversy, he added.
Parents in a fix over pre-school admission More...
04-02-2013
NEW DELHI: Pre-school admission to 2013-14 academic session is still on hold for the Delhi High Court has again deferred its verdict on whether to scrap the present admission criteria of points system or to continue with it. The verdict that was expected to be announced last week is expected this week. However, the HC maintains it will be enforceable from this session itself.
The decision has been held at the time when admission process has already begun, with February 15, the last date of displaying the list of candidates for the session to start April onwards, which is causing concern among parents.
The court intervened after a PIL was filed by NGO Social Jurist challenging the notifications issued by the ministry of human resources development (MHRD) and directorate of education (DOE) giving total autonomy to all unaided recognised private schools to lay down their own admission criteria based on categorisation of children.
POINTS SYSTEM
The court has observed that the points system is not in line with the Right to Education (RTE) Act guidelines, which clearly state that neighbourhood would be the only criteria for admission while not allowing screening of either children or parents. All schools have a number of categories.
School children create 17-km long painting in Gujarat More...
04-02-2013
VADODARA: Over 35,700 school children here today created a world record by making a 17,855-metres long painting on the theme of 'Vivekanand and his vision of Bharat'.
The programme was organised as part of the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
The children started painting on cloth at Gujarat Housing Board Ground at 8 am and completed it by 10.30am.
Around 10,000 litres of colour and 35,000 brushes were used for making the painting, coordinator of Swami Vivekananda Sardha Shati Samaroha Samiti, Bhaskar Bhatt said.
Gujarat's education minister Bhupendrabhai Chudasama, energy minister Saurabhbhai Patel and city mayor Jyotiben Pandya were among those present on the occasion.
A world record was also created by about 1,600 school children here depicting the image of 'Mashal' (Torch) who attired like Vivekananda and stood motionless for 10 minutes.
The event, held on January 12, was recorded by a team from theGuinness Book of World Records.
Education minister Bhupendra Sinh Chudasma congratulated the school children of Vadodara for making two world records.
CBSE helpline number fails to ring in relief More...
02-02-2013
LUDHIANA: In theory, the pre-exam counselling started by the Central Board of Secondary Education, which started today, is meant to ease exam stress among students. However, on Day One of the counselling, which is to conclude on April 17, many students did not get through on the number 1800118004. This is the number students from across the country are supposed to call to seek psychological help from principals and counsellors.
In the daytime, many students did not get through while by evening, the number was busy. Nitin Bhandari, a Class XII student from Civil Lines said, "I utilized counselling services in Class X and was waiting for the service this year as well because it really helped me deal with Maths phobia last time."
According to Shalini Awasthi, a homemaker from SBS Nagar, "My daughter, who is in Class 12, does not take coaching classes. But with all her friends attending coaching classes, she is panicking. I tried to make her understand that studying her coursebook thoroughly will help but she is buying all the books available in the market. I thought counselling would help, but the number has been unreachable since morning."
Around 66 principals and trained counsellors from CBSE-affiliated government and private schools, besides a few psychologists, will participate in tele-counselling sessions. They will address exam-related psychological problems of students. A total of 56 counsellors are from India while 10 will be located in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Nepal, Kuwait, Oman and Tokyo.
While that sounds pretty impressive, it does not count if students are unable to talk to the counsellors.
Anchit Singh, a Class X student of Bhagat Singh Nagar said, "This is my first experience with the Boards and I am very confused with the multitude of books available in the market. I wanted to know which books I should read other than NCERT texts. Besides, I also suffer from exam phobia. So I decided to seek help but the number is either busy or does not exist.
The lengthy wait to be connected to counselors is an unaffordable luxury for students at this time. Nitya Garg, a student of class XII said, "With exams only a month away, I have been sick with worry and have been having sleepless nights. I was waiting for counselling services to start, but since morning I have not been able to connect to the counsellors." Angad Sehgal, a Class XII student from Civil Lines is more patient but does agree with Nitya. "Counselling services will be available till April 17, so queries can wait till tomorrow. But I hope telephones lines become available as soon as possible as I am already having a tough time dealing with the board exams. Seeing me so stressed out, my mother suggested that I talk to counsellors to calm down," he said.
SSA teachers petition for sanction of posts More...
02-02-2013
CHANDIGARH: A delegation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Teachers Welfare Association, (SSATWA) UT, Chandigarh met finance-cum-education secretary V K Singh and gave him a 20 feet long and four feet wide petition signed by more than 300 SSA teachers.
Through the petition, the delegation members asked the education secretary to send the proposal for sanction of posts of SSA teachers to the Project Approval Board of the ministry of human resource development.
Now, CBSE Std X exam papers just a click away More...
30-01-2013
NAGPUR: In an effort to increase transparency and provide a secure question paper delivery environment, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will implement an online exam management system from the current academic year. The Integrated Test Management System (ITMS) will help schools generate unique question papers online instantly for Std X's Summative Assessment (SA-II).
However, this system will apply only to the school-based SA-II, thus ending the practice of CBSE sending CDs with sample question papers to schools. TOI had first reported about this online exam management project in November 2011.
CBSE gives Std X students the option to appear for either a board-based or school-based SA-II. While board-based SA-II will continue to be managed in the conventional way, for its school-based SA-II the CBSE is trying to give institutes a certain degree of independence.
A circular from the central board dated January 25 says ITMS is an innovative solution which "allows the CBSE affiliated schools to access question papers and download them in a transparent, secure and user-friendly manner". Since ITMS works on a web interface, schools will have to register themselves online from Feb 1-15. Then, from March 11, onwards they can start generating question papers online at the click of a button.
ITMS will provide each school with two sets of unique question papers for every major subject. With these question paper sets ready, schools will have three options. First, they can choose any one of the sets and administer the SA-II. Second, they can mix and match questions from those two sets and create a new paper. The final option is for schools to prepare their own question paper adhering to the weightage pattern given by CBSE. In case schools create their own question paper, a copy has to be emailed to CBSE within a week of the exam, for quality control and verification. Schools have been given the independence to design their own date sheet for school-based SA-II and hence the online delivery of question paper becomes vital. Now, schools can generate question papers just a day before or maybe on the day of the exam. The board-based SA-II starts from March 1 and many schools had planned to conduct school-based SA-II simultaneously, but with ITMS that won't be possible. ITMS question paper delivery will start only from March 11, thus forcing schools to plan their date sheet all over again.
The essence of school-based SA-II is that papers are evaluated in-house. Now, ITMS will provide the marking scheme as well as the basis on which teachers can evaluate the answer papers. The marking scheme will be available online from March 29 onwards for Std X.
While the ITMS project has been in the works for well over a year, its implementation may undergo changes in the future. The board says "question papers for Std IX and X are being sent online to schools with the purpose of maintaining uniformity and standardization. Depending upon the feedback and suggestions from the stakeholders, the Board may review this policy, if need be".
Teacher education prog: State depts to discuss panel recommendations More...
30-01-2013
NEW DELHI: The government has convened a meeting of state education departments here on Tuesday to deliberate upon a panel's recommendations on improving teacher education programmes which include pre-entry testing of candidates for admission to training institutes.
The Supreme Court-appointed Justice J S Verma Commission on improving teacher education system had submitted its report last August, with the suggestion of also exploring possibility of engaging teacher educators as visiting faculty in schools.
It had suggested development of a framework on school audit and teacher performance and increased investment in establishing teacher education institutions.
Underlining the sad state of affairs of preparing teachers in the country, the commission said, "The government should increase its investment for establishing teacher education institutions and increase the institutional capacity of teacher preparation, especially in the deficit states."
Besides, it stressed for pre-entry testing of candidates for admission to teacher education programmes.
The commission proposed strengthening regulatory powers and functions of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
Justice Verma has also recommended that teacher educators could be considered as visiting faculty in school.
The rationale was that teacher educators are usually divorced from the realities and conditions prevalent in the school environment as also the expectations of the school system from the teachers.
The Supreme Court was of the view that the recommendations of the Commission deserve to be accepted and has requested the Centre and NCTE to file an affidavit in the implementation plan.
CBSE launches assessment training programme More...
28-01-2013
KOCHI: Central Board of Secondary Education's Centre for Assessment, Evaluation & Research (CAER) has launched an assessment trainingprogramme.
CBSE had established CAER through public private partnership with Pearson Foundation.
The purpose of the Centre is to develop global capabilities and resources for schools, teachers and key functionaries of school management.
It is envisaged through this endeavour that a symbiosis of the expertise and experience of the board and the partner organization, Pearson Foundation, will help in bringing about an overall improvement in the quality of learning, assessment, research and professional development.
It is important for all the stakeholders in the CBSE affiliated schools to know that the Centre which has taken strides to formulate the first of a series of professional development programmes for teachers and principals will roll out its Assessment Training Programme (ATP) in February 2013.
The ATP comprises four modules — constructing quality multiple choice items to assess the scholastic skills of the curriculum, constructing quality constructed-response items to assess the scholastic skills of the curriculum, formative assessment and the use of performance standards for assessing scholastic and co-scholastic skills and classroom-based research.
"Participation in all four modules and the fulfilment of the required follow up activity will allow those attending to submit evidence for a qualification. Whether or not delegates opt for the qualification, successful participation will create a pool of assessment experts in the country as well as build assessment capacity of teachers in India. All CBSE schools may consider participating whole heartedly in the aforesaid programme", CBSE circular to schools state.
Child panel writes to dist admin over schoolbag weight More...
25-01-2013
Heavy school bags are likely to go off from the back of school children if the state child rights panel has its way. State commission for protection of child rights (SCPCR) has written to the district administration to ensure that onlyNCERT text books are followed by all private schools. This would lessen the burden of school bags considerably.
Presently, private schools recommend books by private publishers along with NCERT text books.
On Wednesday, at the hearing of the special bench of the SCPCR, the chairperson Usha Chaturvedi told TOI that the commission had sought book lists from all private CBSE and ICSE schools through the district education officer (DEO) on October 17 last year.
However, since the book lists haven't reached the commission yet, hence a reminder was sent to the DEO. Block education officer (BEO), Phanda Narendra Sharma, who was present at the hearing said that 18 schools have sent their book lists to the DEO's office. "The rest are expected to submit by January 31," he said. "In case the book lists are not submitted by the school by the said date, then it would be assumed they are following the NCERT books only," said the chairperson.
Dr P K Pathak, chief coordinator Sahodaya Group of CBSE Schools, Bhopal who was also present at the meeting said, "According to the CBSE rules, even books of private publishers are allowed from classes I to VIII since they are based on the NCERT syllabus. However, it is mandatory for all the schools to follow only NCERT books from classes IX to XII."
The applicant in the case, Jagpravesh Gupta, had petitioned that there is monopoly of private publishers and they work in tandem with the CBSE schools eventually leading to heavy school bags for children. Notably, ASSOCHAM had released a report on "Heavy school bags causing severe back pain among school kids."
All those who associate school days with joyous abandon would be shocked at the plight of students these days. With cutoffs bursting through the roof, students are struggling to keep pace with nearly insane expectations. They do get good scores, but at the cost of their mental and physical well-being.
Now that exams are around the corner, students are reporting stressrelated problems like eye trouble, headaches, sleep disorders and anxiety. Gruelling study schedules right before the exams render students prone to headaches, eye disorders and other conditions related to exam stress. Skewed dietary schedules also precipitate stomach and intestinal disorders.
According to ophthalmologists, the volume of reading students put in during exam days often gives them eye pain and headaches. "A disorder called Asthenopia is common among students in exam days. In this condition, exertion of the eye muscles due to stress weakens them, causing pain in the eyes and headache. There's a 15 to 20% increase in the number of students in the age group of 10 to 15 years who come to us with Asthenopia as compared to routine days", said Dr Harpreet C Singh, consultant at SPS Apollo Hospital.
He also suggested precautions to prevent the condition. "We suggest students maintain a distance of around 45 cms between the eyes and books, But it varies between 40 cms to 45 cms depending on the height of the person. We also suggest students study in a well lit room, which should have just the right amount of light, neither less nor more. After studying at a stretch for 45 minutes, they must take a break for two to three minutes", he said.
Gastroenterologists also warn students against neglecting their food time table during exam days, saying this could lead to reflux disease and abdominal pain.
Dr Anish Chopra, assistant professor in gastroenterology at Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), said, "Students don't follow a standard time of eating in the exam days, besides, they are also stressed out. Therefore, they suffer from gastric problems like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and abdominal pain. The number of adolescent patients I get spikes in the exam days. We advice parents to lower stress levels and warn them against complacence in children's diet. We also advice patients to de-stress and make sure their stomach is never empty."
Indian Statistical Institute develops self-help English learning system More...
23-01-2013
KOLKATA: It's been 30 long years since the Left government had abolished English in state-run primary schools. As a result, students, even today, are feeling the pinch though the decision was reversed nearly 20 years later. With an entire generation not receiving training in English in their formative years, present day primary-school students are facing the lack of suitable textbooks, trained teachers and other resources.
To lessen the burden of the lost opportunity, theIndian Statistical Institute (ISI) has now come up with a Self-help English Language Learning (SHELL) system that promises to help first-time learners pick up the language.
The interesting fact is that these children's acumen in Bengali will help them pick up English under this system.
"There is no academic support of any kind for fruitful execution of English Language Teaching (ELT) courses in the state. Keeping this in mind, we have proposed a strategy to develop ELT textbooks in a way that students can learn English in their own ways, through direct utilization and assistance of their mother tongue. Since there is nobody to help them, they will help themselves in learning English," a source in ISI revealed.
ISI started experimenting with textbooks and learning material for the Bengali learners who are being exposed to English for the first time in their lives at the primary level. While developing the system, researchers have assumed that the target learners have acquired some kind of linguistic efficiency in their mother tongue before being sent to primary schools to learn English.
"We have assumed that these learners have received no academic help or tutorial support from their parents in learning English. In most cases, those admitted to state-run primary schools belong to families where the parents are not too proficient in English. In some cases, the children are first-generation learners. The best that the students can expect is a kind of passive help or guidance from their teachers during school hours. In some cases, even the teachers are not too confident as they belong to the period when English was not taught in the primary stage," the source added.
Enrolment to private schools: UP 5th on the list More...
19-01-2013
Confirming the rising trend ofenrolment to private schools in India, the Annual Status of Educational Report (ASER) 2012 reveals that UP is no exception. In fact, it is among the top five states with the highest enrolment to private schools. On top of the list are Manipur(67.3%) and Kerala (59.6%). Haryana and Goa jointly occupy the third place with 49.2% followed by UP with 48.5% enrolments.
While the all India national average of private school enrolment for the 6-14 age group has risen from 18.7% in 2006 to 28.3% in 2012, UP has shown 2.4% increase in the past one year. The ASER 2012 report shows that 48.5% students in UP are studying in private schools while 42.7% are in government schools. In 2009, 35.8% children of 6-14 age group were found studying in private schools in UP. The figures also show that the enrolment gap between private and government school in states like Bihar (88.3% in government, 6.4% in private) andJharkhand (78.5% in government, 15.5% in private) is widening, but in UP (42.7% in government, 48.5% in private), it is coming closer every year.
Looking at class-wise data, children studying in class IV have shown maximum increase in private enrolment. While approximately 30% class IV students went to private schools in 2008, the figure stands at nearly 50% in 2012. Likewise, 50% class II students prefer private schools in 2012 in comparison to 38% in 2008. In classes VI and VIII, however, the enrolment has been rising by nearly 2% every year since 2008.
In states like Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal, however, enrolment to private schools is less than 10%. Among all states, Tripura has the least private school enrolment of 3%.
It is believed that in the last three years, the rate of growth of private school enrolment has been nearly 10% per year in India. If the trend continues, by 2018, India may have 50% children attending private schools even in rural areas.
Pre-vocational courses get boost with school tie-ups More...
18-01-2013
PANAJI: The Goa board of secondary and higher secondary education has allowed schools offering pre-vocational courses that do not have sufficient infrastructure to support the courses, to tie up with other schools that have the necessary infrastructure in place.
Under the pre-vocational scheme which was introduced a couple of years ago, students can opt for pre-vocational courses like food production and agriculture, instead of mathematics, science or social sciences. The idea is to reduce dropouts by allowing students to opt out of subjects they find tough.
"Some schools do not have adequate infrastructure or facilities for practical work/teaching faculty for the implementation of the pre-vocational scheme. The objective of introducing pre-vocational subjects is for students to choose an option for subjects like mathematics, science or social science which they cannot cope with. The purpose is also to introduce students to a career in the vocational stream in food production, electrical and agriculture," the circular states.
The scheme has been introduced to help students with specific learning disabilities to cope with academics and receive vocational training. "Schools with inadequate infrastructure/facilities for implementation of the scheme are instructed to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding. The MoU should be entered with any other schools that already have the required facilities and is recognized by the board. The change of subjects will be allowed to students either from the second term of Class IX or by July 31 of that particular academic year when the candidate appears forSSCE March/April examination," the circular reads.
‘46% of Std V students can’t solve simple calculations’ More...
18-01-2013
NEW DELHI: School enrolment in private schools is increasing but a major crisis in India's education system seems to be in the making as fewer children at the Class V level can do basic learning tasks like reading Class II texts and doing simple mathematical sums.
The trend of more children in rural India enrolling in private schools equipped with better infrastructure like toilets, drinking water facilities and mid-day meals than their government-run counterparts is strengthening but there is a serious possibility that kids are being shuffled from class to class.
The prominent findings of the eighth Annual Status of Education Report (ASER 2012) by NGO Pratham show that enrolment in the age group of 6-14 years is at an impressive 96.5% in rural India and private school intakes are rising 10% a year.
If the trend is not reversed or slowed, ASER estimates private school enrolment in rural India could reach 50% by 2018. The findings seem to confirm a growing lag between even modest private schools and government-run institutions often hamstrung by neglect and low teacher proficiency.
Across the country, the number of Class V students who could not read a Class II level text or solve a simple arithmetic problem has increased. In 2010, 46.3% of kids in this category failed to make the cut and this shot up to 51.8% in 2011 and 53.2% in 2012.
US President Barack Obama had warned that America's dipping proficiency in mathematics was putting it at a disadvantage with India and China, but Indian policy planners need to worry too. In 2010, 29.1% children in Class V could not solve a two-digit subtraction problem without seeking help. This proportion increased to 39% in 2011 and 46.5% in 2012.
Barring Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, nearly every state showed a decline in mathlearning while reading levels went down in Haryana, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala. Ironically, 2012 was the 'year of mathematics'.
Commenting on the low learning levels, Pratham's Madhav Chavan said, "Measures the government is taking are not working and since 2012, things are moving in the opposite direction."
While there was little difference in learning level outcomes between students studying in government schools with regard to private schools, children who received private tutoring did better. Discontented with government provided education, parents are turning towards private schooling with a vengeance.
The number of 6-14 year-olds enrolled in private schools has jumped from 18.7% in 2006 to 28.3% in 2012 and is estimated to reach 50% in the next 10 years. Incidentally, this comes at a time when there are barely two months left for the country to implement the Right To Education(RTE) law in its entirety, with the law providing for enrollment of economically disadvantaged kids in privately-run schools.
Accepting that private schooling was making inroads, human resource development minister M M Pallam Raju said, "I will not grudge this trend. It is important that our kids get educated. If it is in private schools, so be it. We will try and match up to those conditions.'' He added that the focus of the 12th plan was on raising standards of quality in teaching and faculty.
In 2012, more than 40% of children (age 6-14 years) in J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP and Meghalaya were enrolled in private schools. This percentage was 60% in states like Kerala and Manipur.
The survey was conducted in 567 districts, over 16,000 villages with nearly 3.3 lakh households covering 6 lakh children in the age group of 3-16 years.
ASER 2012) by NGO Pratham shows that the number of Class V students who could not read a Class II level text or solve a simple arithmetic problem has increased. In 2010, 46.3% of kids in this category failed to make the cut and this shot up to 51.8% in 2011 and 53.2% in 2012.
US President Barack Obama had warned that America's dipping proficiency in mathematics was putting it at a disadvantage with India and China, but Indian policy planners need to worry too. In 2010, 29.1% children in Class V could not solve a two-digit subtraction problem without seeking help. This proportion increased to 39% in 2011 and 46.5% in 2012.
Barring Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, nearly every state showed a decline in math learning while reading levels went down in Haryana, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala. Ironically, 2012 was the 'year of mathematics'.
Commenting on the low learning levels, Pratham's Madhav Chavan said, "Measures the government is taking are not working and since 2012, things are moving in the opposite direction."
While there was little difference in learning level outcomes between students studying in government schools with regard to private schools, children who received private tutoring did better. Discontented with government provided education, parents are turning towards private schooling with a vengeance.
The number of 6-14 year-olds enrolled in private schools has jumped from 18.7% in 2006 to 28.3% in 2012 and is estimated to reach 50% in the next 10 years. Incidentally, this comes at a time when there are barely two months left for the country to implement the Right To Education (RTE) law in its entirety, with the law providing for enrollment of economically disadvantaged kids in privately-run schools.
Accepting that private schooling was making inroads, human resource development minister M M Pallam Raju said, "I will not grudge this trend. It is important that our kids get educated. If it is in private schools, so be it. We will try and match up to those conditions.'' He added that the focus of the 12th plan was on raising standards of quality in teaching and faculty.
In 2012, more than 40% of children (age 6-14 years) in J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP and Meghalaya were enrolled in private schools. This percentage was 60% in states like Kerala and Manipur.
The survey was conducted in 567 districts, over 16,000 villages with nearly 3.3 lakh households covering 6 lakh children in the age group of 3-16 years.
‘Counselling sessions as important as extra classes’ More...
17-01-2013
With board exams nearing, both schools and classes X and XII students are going an extra mile to complete their syllabus and revise the lessons. Apart from special classes, schools are holding counselling sessions to help students de-stress.
Rashpal Bansal, a counsellor who holds workshops for students especially during board exams, says, "With exams one and a half month away, students are feeling pressurized. During workshops, I try to tell them to relax. It is important to study, but at the same time they should participate in extra-curricular activities too. Otherwise, they will feel stressed out. Schools should hold counseling sessions, as these are as important as extra classes."
Meenu Jain, student supervisor at Ryan International School, Jamalpur, says, "Besides studying, it is important that students de-stress themselves. We are holding counselling sessions for students so that exam tension does not unnerve them."
Santhosh Mehra, principal of Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Kitchlu Nagar, says, "We are taking extra classes for classes X and XII students. An hour in the morning and 45 minutes in the afternoon are dedicated to revision. Also, de-stressing sessions are organized to ease students' tension."
Students are burning mid-night oil to come up trumps. Amandeeep Singh, a Class XII student and resident of BRS Nagar, says, "I have attended two counselling sessions at school. These are quite useful. Continuous studying had left me sleep deprived. The counsellor told me to sleep for at least eight hours a day."
As exam season dawns, counsellors reach campuses More...
17-01-2013
BANGALORE: After going hi-tech with tele-counselling, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked schools this year to ensure a stress-free exam season. The latest circular by the board talks about a full-time counsellor on campuses who aid children during the crucial season.
The circular, addressed to heads of all affiliated schools, also asked them to fill up online questionnaires which will help the board formalize counselling services further. "The affiliation bylaws of the board advise schools to appoint a full-time counsellor. In order to broadbase and streamline counselling services, the board has designed a questionnaire to map the guidance and counselling service available in affiliated schools, with the purpose of gauging the need and scope of support services. Schools are expected to fill in the questionnaire to enable the board to formalize services," says the circular by Vineet Joshi, chairman, CBSE.
Some schools in Bangalore already have counsellors in place. The board has asked schools to finetune the counselling process.
While the circular by the board prompts schools without counsellors to get one, many city schools say this system has been in place on their campuses for some time. "Currently, we have one counsellor for two schools. But after the circular by the board, we'll have one counsellor per school even for our ICSE schools. When it comes to the questionnaire, we've already sent the completed forms back to the board," said G Thangadurai, director, Presidency Group of Schools.
Redefined primary school sections may bring minority schools under RTE's 25% free seat ambit More...
15-01-2013
As unaided minority educational institutes question Right To Education Act's (RTE) jurisdiction over them regarding 25% free seat quota, the government's saviour may turn out to be an unrelated policy which will be implemented in the next session. Almost all minority schools get financial grants only from std V (middle school) onwards leaving their primary section to function as a stand-alone private entity. Hence, these schools question as to how an unaided minority section can be forced to reserve 25% of their primary section seats for children belonging to government-specified category.
As per an earlier decision, the state government is redefining primary section of a school to comprise std I-V and this policy is almost sure to be implemented from the 2013-14 academic session. An education official said, on condition of anonymity, that since std V receives financial grants the entire school will come under RTE purview.
"The RTE says, any institution which receives even partial grants will fall under its ambit. So our financial aid for their std V will qualify as partial, meaning that the primary section will have to open up admissions for the free 25% quota," he said.
Among the English medium minority schools in Nagpur, there are only two which receive financial grant from primary section onwards - Saraswati Vidyalaya and Guru Nanak High School.
The admission process under RTE has already started but lack of clarity prevails regarding minority schools. Officials from Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) have distributed notices to schools which mention that minority unaided schools have to ensure 25% quota for free admissions, however as of now that is not the case. JS Saharia, school education secretary, said, "The 25% rule does not apply to minority schools currently, but we will have more legal clarity on that matter within a month."
The implementation of RTE has to be completed in state by March 31 and free seats quota is just one of the clauses. RTE lays down strict rules regarding staff qualifications and infrastructure which is applicable to minority schools.
In Nagpur, the RTE quota admission process started from January 11 and is expected to be completed by February 25.
CBSE's helpline not serving purpose for city students More...
15-01-2013
LUDHIANA: As soon as the Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) announced its helpline number for students appearing for the board exams this year, many from the city tried calling on it. While some got answers to their queries, others are still waiting for a call back.
Claiming that the centralized helpline system was being set up for the first time for convenience of students, CBSE officials maintained that the service will offer one-on-one counselling to them between 8am and midnight until the examinations were over.
A student can either email at cbsecc@gmail.com along with his name, contact number and query or call the toll free number 1800118 002 (toll free) or fax on 011-2250925758-59 and 011-22509256 on working days between 9.30am and 7pm. By speed post, the students can send their query to joint secretary (administration and vigilance), CBSE, Shiksha Kendra II, Community Centre, Preet Vihar, New Delhi-110301.
However, a number of students lamented that accessing the free helpline number was too difficult and instead they were calling up their teachers for resolving their queries about the board exams.
Online admissions at the School of Open Learning (SOL), Delhi University (DU), are on till March 31. HC Pokhriyal, executive director, SOL says that students who are appearing for their first, second or third year papers in undergraduate courses and will be taking their exam from April to June this year, can avail of the system.
"Students can register themselves online and save time, money, transportation costs and register at their convenience. In all, three lakh students will benefit from this move," he adds.
In order to register, says Madhvi, in-charge, computer, SOL, students need to log on through the SOL roll number and fill in details such as name, valid email id and mobile number. One can then select the papers s/he wishes to opt for. The roll number remains the same till the student graduates.
The gateway for payments and fee transactions is the State Bank of India (SBI). Students can pay the examination fee through debit or credit cards.
She adds that around 300 students have registered themselves online.
"We are also planning to tie up with power jyoti, which is a programme of SBI. This is best suited for students who want to avail of the online facility but don't have credit/debit cards. Through this, students can fill in their details, get themselves registered on the SOL website and get the challan printed from the SOL website at the same time. Students need to take the challan to any branch of SBI in any part of India and deposit the fee in SBI. Payment details will be automatically updated at SOL by the data sent by SBI within the next working day. Students can take a printout of the receipt and exam form and post it to SOL," says Madhvi.
Schools assigns too many projects as homework, CBSE finds More...
14-01-2013
KOCHI: CBSE found that schools were assigning too many projects in each subject to individual students which compelled students to do these projects at home.
This was noticed by the board while conducting an online survey through its website on school based assessment under Comprehensive Evaluation(CCE).
Now CBSE has asked schools to follow a cross-curricular approach in case of projects.
"Artificial subject boundaries impede contextualized learning and deprive students of exploring the interconnectedness of different forms of knowledge. Moreover the transfer of knowledge from one subject to other can most effectively be demonstrated and strengthened through multidisciplinary projects", CBSE said to schools.
"Team of teachers may formulate in-school inter-subject projects. Schools are advised to assign a maximum of 2 comprehensive group projectscovering each of the five major subjects i.e. English / Hindi, Maths, Science, Social Sciences", CBSE added.
BANGALORE: Confused about the right school for your child? Here's the opportunity to make your decision easy: Education Times is conducting an expo of the best residential international schools at The Lalit Ashok from 10.30am to 6.30pm on Saturday.
Parents can get all the information, check out facilities, teaching methods and interact with school officials to make an informed choice. Entry is free. For details, call 9886216316 / 974259469.
One in ten students visits school medical room every month More...
11-01-2013
Schools are more than just temples of learning. They are also an overactive arena for both physical and mental injuries. A unique attempt to map how injurious schools and their grounds can be showed that every month, almost one in 10 students of a suburban co-educational school made a trip to the medical room.
They were seeking attention for visible wounds (cuts, bruises, sprains) and not-so-obvious issues such as headaches or nausea, found a five-month survey of the 7,000-plus students of the school. "One in 10 is a big number," said Dr Vijay Shetty, an orthopedic surgeon with L H Hiranandani Hospital, Powai, who conducted the survey. "It shows there is an aspect of childhood we are not looking at. We need to understand the problem of injuries at school and take steps to improve the situation."
The survey identified a most innocuous object that could be quite a pain, literally: the all-important identity card. The school recorded 13 minor injuries caused by the cards that needed medical attention among children younger than 10 years. "The survey shows we need to put more thought into our I-cards . May be, schools need to use a rubber cover or innovate with I-cards for younger children," said the doctor.
The data, being analyzed by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, shows almost 56% of the children who go to the medical room need first aid. "The remaining 44% come with complaints ofabdominal pain or headache," said Shetty, adding that many of these kids, especially those who return with the same complaints, could be victims of stress.
Injuries cannot be avoided at school or any other place, said orthopedic surgeon Sanjay Agarwala from Hinduja Hospital, but society can try to minimize them at schools. The US has an elaborate programme to do so. The US National SAFE KIDS Campaign has found that 25% of the 14 million unintentional injuries to children under 14 occur at school. "Annually, one in 14 students suffers a medically attended or temporarily disabling injury at school... studies indicate school-age children are nine times more likely to sustain an unintentional injury than be the victim of an intentional injury while at school," said US government data.
Dr Agarwala believes schools could make a beginning at the planning stage by taking away sharp edges in classrooms . "Children, as a function of their age and immaturity, will get injured, but furniture with rounded edges would help. Schools could also cut down on injuries in sports if they invested in protective gear,'' he said.
A senior doctor pointed out that Mumbai's schools with tiny playgrounds and narrow corridors are a hotbed for injuries. "Children will run wildly as is their nature. Yet, in Mumbai , school administration usually focuses on having more buildings, often at the cost of grounds," he said.
Physical injuries are not the only aspect that needs attention. The survey shows that 44% of the 3,285 visits to the medical room pertained to non-so-obvious complaints like abdominal cramps and headaches. "Other most common medical problems for which students sought medical attention were headache and abdominal pain. These are often signs of stress," said Dr Shetty.
Psychiatrist Harish Shetty concurred. "Medical rooms are neutral rooms in schools. There is no fear or anxiety of meeting a teacher there. They want to miss a period because they haven't studied or they are worried about their parents' reaction to their marks in class tests.''
Focus to provide high quality higher education in the country More...
06-01-2013
KOCHI: The focus of the 12th plan would be to provide quality higher education for children,Union HRD minister Pallam Raju said today.
Speaking at a function here, the minister said "in the 12th plan the whole focus will be on quality of education for kids. We need to make quality education", he said.
Colleges and universities will be encoruaged to get accredited. 'We are encouraging colleges and universities to get accredited. We even had brought a bill which will make accrediation compulsory. Unfortunately, because of certain other issues in Parliament, it was not passed', he said.
There was 30 per cent shortage of faculty in higher education and there was need to consolidate these aspects, he said.
"There are standards we will benchmark in terms of quality of faculty, mobilty of faculty was another aspect which the government was contemplating ie the faculty going abroad and those from abroad coming here". This would bring in the element of multiple experience.
Pointing that there were several challenges and opportunties for India, he listed the young population of 55 crore kids below the age of 24 as the opportunity India had. These children can make significant diffference not only for the country but all over the world. They can also contribute to the growth of the economy, he said.
Technology was plying a very enabling role in education, he said, adding, what was importat was how you use the technology for personal and professional growth, he said.
Raju inaugurated the 'Vidyajyothi Edcuational Encoruagement Programme' at the St Teresa's college here under which 250 free tablet PCs were distributed to students from 6 assembly segments in Ernakulam district who had scored 'A plus' in all the subject in the last SSLC examination.
The Right to Education Act makes it compulsory for every child to go to schools. All states and centre are working towards this by 2013. Those in poorer strata we are making it inclusive. Schemes like Mid day meals have been implemented which has led to gross enrolement ratio, especially of girls, going up.
Different educational boards agree to have similar question papers More...
06-01-2013
NEW DELHI: Come 2014, class 12 students of maths and science from one particular education board will not be able to complain about having to face tougher question papers and marking systems than their counterparts studying under other boards.
The majority of educational boards conducting class 12 exams across the country have agreed in principle to have a common design of question paper to make the school-leaving exams as uniform as possible in terms of difficulty.
This is being done to give students a level playing field. Efforts began in 2010, when 20 educational boards, including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) adopted the core curriculum in maths and science.
IIT board asks CBSE to work on common design of question paper
In 2011, all 29 boards conducting senior secondary exams had adopted a core curriculum. Taking forward the uniformity, the Apex Board of IIT has asked CBSE to work on a common design of question paper for Class XII exams for mathematics and science subjects.
Coordinating on behalf of the boards, Council of Boards of School Education in India (COBSE), a common platform for all educational boards in the country, has instituted a sub-committee comprising of state board members from Assam, Maharashtra, Bihar, Kerala and Rajasthan to work on the common design of question paper.
"We are going to have the first batch that will appear in Class XII exams from various boards based on the core curriculum. With a common design of question papers the difficulty level as well as marking system will be equivalent and therefore there will be complete uniformity in the system," said chairman of COBSE as well as CBSE, Vineet Joshi.
The move is also likely to offer a level playing field to science students from different boards while appearing for centralized entrance examinations like the Joint Engineering Entrance (JEE) as well as the single medical entrance test. From this year the JEE (main) merit list to be conducted by CBSE will give 40% weightage to board results.
"Initially, once the design is ready, a pilot run will be introduced by five state boards for class XI. Based on the experience, and in case there is any need for improvement, finally it will be introduced in class XII from 2014. The idea is to have uniformity in the level of difficulty as the curriculum is already uniform so that students get a level playing field," said Puran Chand, joint secretary, COBSE. Once the recommendations of the sub-committee are ready, the matter will be placed at the COBSE for approval.
Be unique to succeed, Kalam tells students More...
05-01-2013
KOLKATA: Former President APJ Abdul KalamFriday urged students to be unique, instead of emulating others, to succeed.
Inaugurating the Children Science Congress on the sidelines of the centenary session of theIndian Science Congress here, Kalam said: "I have met 15 million youths in India and abroad in a decade's time. I learnt that every youth wants to be unique, that is, you. But the world around you is doing its best to make you just everybody else."
He said that parents, teachers and society always cite examples of others and want students to emulate them.
"Why do you have to become like someone when you are unique?" he said.
"Look up, what do you see? Lights, the electric bulbs. Immediately, our thoughts go to the inventor Thomas Alva Edison (for inventing electricity)," he said.
"When you hear the sound of an aeroplane, you think of the Wright Brothers, who proved that man could fly. Who does the telephone remind you of? Alexander Graham Bell," he said.
Kalam said there is a paradigm shift in science and technology and a new trend is emerging where the aspect ecology is being introduced.
Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand fare best in maths classes: Study 
