Dr Ramdas M Pai conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award

Chennai: Padma Bhushan Dr Ramdas Pai, Chairman - Manipal Education and Medical Group has been awarded the Golden Peacock Lifetime Achievement Award for the Year 2011.

Dr. Ramdas M Pai received this award for his immense contributions in the fields of education and healthcare. Receiving the award, he attributed the success to the efforts of the entire Manipal family.

Conferred by the Institute of Directors, an apex organization of company directors in India, the award was handed over by Honourable Dr. M. Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Corporate Affairs in the presence of Hon. Justice MN Venkatachalaiah, former Chief Justice of India, Dr. Ola Ullsten, former Prime Minister of Sweden and the Rt. Hon'ble Baroness Sandip Verma, Lords Minister for British Government (UK) at the 22nd World Congress on Total Quality held in Bangalore.

Dr. Pai has been at the helm of the Manipal Education and Medical Group for over three decades and has played a key role in transforming the Group into a leading player in the Healthcare and Education sector. He is the Chancellor of Manipal University and the Pro Chancellor of the Sikkim Manipal University in Gangtok. He is also a member of the Executive Council of Assam University.

Kurukshetra 2012 underway

Chennai: Kurukshetra 2012 an international techno management fest, hosted by College of Engineering, Guindy is underway at its campus.  

Sankar Srinivasan, Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer of Cognizant Technology Services was the guest of honour who graced the imposing occasion of the inauguration of Kurukshetra, appreciated the efforts taken by the CEG students in organizing an event of such magnitude and emphasized on how technology is driving the world today.

Mr. Sivakumar, director of Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), who also inaugurated Kurukshetra 2012 said that CVRDE would launch a prototype ‘unmanned ground vehicle' with mine detection capabilities by next year.  He also pointed that India's defence scientists are contemplating the development of hybrid vehicles that can use electricity as a source of fuel, emulating the example set by leading car manufacturers in the world.

The CVRDE director also exhorted the students to join the Union governments mission to provide safe portable drinking water. The “buzz word” today after RTI is “right to water” (RTW). Such is the necessity for safe drinking water. 

After the inaugural function, Steven Goldfarb, research physicist of CERN gave a virtual tour of the Large Hadron Collider and the ATLAS experiment that is being carried out at the facility through a videoconference session.

Kurukshetra is all about range of challenging events features the best of various institutions battling to match the best brains in the world. Its enriching workshops adhere to the paradigm of "learning made fun". The breath-taking colossal exhibits offer an invigorating respite. Indeed the experience at Kurukshetra is one of those ecstatic eureka moments that you would savour and cherish forever. With more events and bigger prizes than ever before, Kurukshetra 2012 shall truly be a technical extravaganza.

Co-sponsored by Monster College, the four-day tech fest that concludes on Feb 4 features a variety of lectures, workshops and hands-on events. A summit on ‘Nuclear energy: Balancing benefits and risks' is also scheduled for this year.

For further details, log on to www.kurukshetra.org.in.

AFMC Medical application to be available online from Feb 6

Pune: Applications are invited towards the MBBS entrance examination for Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) that is to be held on May 6, 2012.

AFMC Pune has announced that the prospectus and application form will be available only on online from February 6, 2012.

Forthcoming academic year commences from August 1, 2012 which would have a total of 130 seats, including a maximum of 25 girls and ten seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribe candidates.

AFMC conducts a national level written entrance exam for students in subjects like Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Intelligence, logic, Reasoning and English Language and comprehension.

After completion of MBBS course from AFMC, students can work at least for 7 years in armed forces.

For more details log on to www.afmc.nic.in

Fresh medical graduates to serve in rural areas for 3 years

Kolkata: Giving a fillip to the sagging health services in West Bengal, CM Mamata Banerjee said that it will be mandatory for fresh medical graduates to serve for three years in rural areas while the performance of government doctors, nurses and medical staff would be evaluated for awards.

"It will be made compulsory for MBBS passouts to serve in villages for the first three years to build up their careers. My government will give you jobs," Banerjee said after a meeting with health officials at the Swasthya Bhavan.

The state government would bring back the young doctors after three years who would thereafter be given opportunity to do their MS and higher studies, she said.

Stating that there would be awards for good performance in state hospitals, clinics and primary health centres, she said that she had asked Health Secretary Sanjay Mitra to evaluate the performance of doctors, nurses and medical staff.

Banerjee asked government doctors who drew 30 per cent non-practicing allowance, to be more punctual and dutiful and serve patients over and above their duty hours.

She also urged doctors holding responsible positions in large hospitals to visit sub-divisional and local hospitals so that patients felt they were 'in the company of gods' and which would help their cure.

She reiterated that government hospitals should not refuse patients and said that the state government had recruited 2,500 nurses and would appoint more doctors to meet the situation.

Banerjee said that the Planning Commission had approved a Rs 8,000-crore scheme under which 26 hospitals would be set up in 11 backward districts.

"We have plans to open diagnostic centres in each primary health centre and if necessary, we will go for it on a PPP model," she said.

She said if required doctors from other states would be called in to meet the growing need in the state.

Criticising the previous Left Front government for raising a hue and cry over baby deaths and deficiencies in the health sector, the chief minister said "the Left Front and CPI(M) should be ashamed of their non-performance in last 34 years that led to collapse of the health infrastructure.

"You can't expect a magic turn in the situation in the health sector in eight months," she said.

She also charged a section of the media for 'systematically' projecting deficiencies in the health department and hospitals to malign her government.

"I ask them not to play with fire and project what is positive."

Calling for creating mass awareness against superstitious beliefs that led to wrong handling of pregnant women during delivery at home leading to medical
complications, Banerjee said that in the last eight months, child mortality in the state had considerably dropped and it now ranked ninth on that account in the country.

"It is a fact that 30 per cent of children are born at home still and it is the endeavour of my government to bring them to hospitals for delivery of healthy babies," she said.

The chief minister also slammed the opposition for crying hoarse about suicide by farmers and claimed that her government was instrumental in launching the Kisan Credit Card and crop insurance.

Exhibition on UK Education at Chennai on Feb 5

Chennai: British council has fixed to conduct an exhibition on UK education on Feb 5 at Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam, Chennai.

Seminars on topics ranging from student visas, MBA or MSc, Biotechnology, and Engineering would be dealt with in the entry free exhibition.

Its a good opportunity for the aspirants to meet UK academicians and international officers from over 58 institutions under one roof.  

The exhibition is open for public from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM.

For more details and to pre-register, visit www.educationuk-in.org

Counselling session for CBSE students

New Delhi: In an attempt to address exam-related anxieties of students and parents, the Central Board of Secondary Education announced the first phase of pre-exam counselling. Sessions will be held between February 1 and April 16. Students and parents can call toll free number 1800-180-3456 between 8 am and midnight for any exam-related query. Questions can also be sent to jsctet.cbse@gmail.com or mcsharma2007@rediffmail.com.

Lecture on Multiple Intelligences

Mumbai: Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University and the father of the theory of Multiple Intelligences delivered his third public lecture in India at the American School of Bombay. The talk focussed on ‘Five minds for the future’ and was attended by over 400 of the city’s top business and education leaders. The five-week, three-city tour hosted by iDiscoveri Education, initiated a serious dialogue between Indian public, media and policymakers on the future of education and schooling systems in the country. His previous talks at IIT Chennai and IIM Bangalore focused on the other critical areas of his work including multiple intelligences and creativity and good work.

Child Right Fellowship

Mumbai: Internationally acclaimed child rights organisation, Child Rights and You (CRY), is inviting applications to its National Child Rights Research Fellowship. The organisation that is popularly known for its extensive work in the field of child relief in the rural areas of India is now trying to reach out to researchers and academicians to accelerate the study into child rights in India. “The fellowship is an opportunity for both, CRY and the participants, young as well as experienced, understand and explore the interplay of culture, ethics and policies that determine childhood,” says Vijayalaxmi Arora, director, policy and advocacy at CRY.

While much of the research in this area is driven by government programming priorities international donors, those initiatives sometimes fall short for an academic or NGO framework. Explaining the idea behind the fellowship Arora adds, “We saw the need for creating opportunities to investigate the complex structures and networks within which childhoods are experienced and child rights are infringed, by children and the adults in their lives.”

Now in its sixth year, the fellowship is looking for fresh ideas, innovations and approaches towards child right advocacy. Past fellowships have seen issues ranging from the effects of conflict on children in refugee camps, to the realities and aspirations of mentally challenged children, to the effectiveness of activity-based-learning in elementary school education.

Suguna Kannan, a retired professor and ex-fellow, who conducted a study on assessments and evaluations of the prevalent practices in storytelling, talks fondly of her experiences being part of the 2010 fellowship. “Not only did it allow me to study and explore a subject of great interest to me, but I also got the opportunity to meet with a cross section of people from the country who are contributing towards various causes in child rights,” she says. Based on the finding of her study Kannan along with her colleagues is now conducting workshops with parents on the importance and art of storytelling for children.

Although, the fellowship is open to all Indian citizens, CRY is attempting to reach out to researchers from rural India and encourages applications from smaller towns and villages. The fellowship amount will vary according to each applicant’s research, but there is a maximum monetary cap of Rs. One lakh. Last date for entries is February 17.
To apply visit, www.cry.org

Virtual campus days at EMLYON Business School

Times News Network
EMLYON Business School launched virtual campus days from January 30 to February 3 to inform potential students about the full range of available international Master’s programmes. It will feature day-long chat sessions with admission officers and programme managers; potential students will be able to download programme brochures, watch programme videos, and obtain advice from current students and faculty on applications.

EMLYON’s full range of graduate programmes will be represented, including the new MSc in Sports and Outdoor Industry Management – a management programme focused specifically on the sports and outdoor industry in partnership with some of the world’s leading sporting brands.

Damien Roux, Director of Marketing Recruitment and Careers Services, says, "By offering virtual campus days we provide our future students an interactive and modern alternative to traditional fairs and information sessions. It will offer rich, one-on-one interaction that goes beyond mere chat functions in order to provide a comprehensive overview of EMLYON’s master’s programmes and their content in a completely virtual environment. This concept proves to be much more flexible for the future student, as it is convenient and accessible from anywhere in the world. Our virtual Campus Days will be a place of in-depth discussions with our prospective students that currently represent more than 100 nationalities."

The range of EMLYON’s International Masters Programmes is designed to meet the expectations and ambitions of each student, regardless of what their specific career objectives may be. The programmes are represented in three main categories to help future students make the right choice: General Management, Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Sector-specific Masters.

(http://virtualcampusday.em-lyon.com)

Faculty crunch dogs B-Schools

Chennai: Indian business school classrooms have been growing in size over the past decade, spurred by rising demand for management professionals. Top institutes are opening new campuses and new B-schools are popping up everywhere. Management education is more accessible than ever before. Quality, however, has taken a backseat.

Around 2,500 institutes in India now churn out one lakh MBA graduates every year. The problem, say industry leaders, B-school professors and alumni, is that there are far too few teachers, even at premier institutions.

While the number of students at IIM’s flagship Ahmedabad campus rose sharply from 165 to 280 (in 1999-2009), faculty strength improved only marginally from 83 to 90.

Indian School Of Business, Hyderabad, started with 120 students and two teachers in 2001. Today it has 570 students and 46 faculty members—a better ratio than 10 years ago, yet not good enough for a top management institute, say experts. Harvard Business School has a student-teacher ratio of 7:1.

Students suffer decreasing interaction with teachers. Amit Mahajan (name changed), a member of IIM A’s class of 2010, says there were 280 students in his batch. “At the end of the course, we barely managed to cover case discussions,” he says.

“Larger batches can result in less student networking of the type that once helped old classmates set up new companies,” says IIM Ranchi director M J Xavier, an IIM-Calcutta alumnus.

New JEE to blur class XII marks bias

New Delhi: The new single Joint Entrance Examination being proposed for admission to Indian Institutes Technology/ National Institutes of Technology/ Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research/ Indian Institutes of Information Technology and state government-run engineering colleges would not have a uniform weightage to class XII results.

Sources said while there would be a single-test, class XII weightage would have variations that would cater to needs of different engineering colleges and state governments. For instance, the source said, “Weightage given to class XII result would be different for admission to IIT and for other engineering colleges. Weightage would be even state-specific. There would be a band of weightage that institutes and state governments would be free to choose from.”

Variation has been devised to deal with concerns of the state governments, many of whom feel that due to different system of evaluation in each state, students from low-scoring states should not be discriminated. In Tamil Nadu, admission to state government-run engineering colleges is on the basis of class XII marks and not any entrance test. “For states like Tamil Nadu, weightage for class XII has to be different from what it would be in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh,” the source said. The T Ramasami committee working on a new single JEE has not made public findings of analysis of past data of school boards that was done by Indian Statistical Institute last year.

ISI’s report accessed by TOI shows that it was not even made part of any presentation. The report, while analysing data of CBSE, ICSE, Tamil Nadu board and West Bengal board, found that class XII scores from these boards are not comparable. It said, “Since the subject scores do not appear to be comparable, the question of combining them for comparability of aggregate scores across the boards does not arise.” A meeting of state education ministers has been called later this month. In case, state governments do not come on board, the ministry is planning to go ahead with a single entrance test for Central government-run engineering institutions from 2014.

BMC schools lack basic facilities

Mumbai: The Right to Education Act has surely brought relief to many children, but a recent survey of the state of municipal schools in Mumbai has shed light on glaring loopholes in the implementation of the Act. Be it provision of basic infrastructure or sanitation facilities for students in civic schools, the survey found out the problems faced by a majority of BMC schools in the city.

Child Rights and You (CRY) conducted a survey on 52 BMC-run schools in the city and focused primarily on the quality of education provided to students. Library and computer facilities were missing in most of the schools and 73% of the schools didn’t even have a library in place. “While drinking water is available in schools, there were no purifiers in 55% schools and 50% of these schools didn’t even have proper toilet facilities for the children,” said Priya Rabadi, a member of CRY. She said bus facilities were not provided in 95% of these schools and there were absolutely no provisions like ramps or lifts for the physically handicapped/ challenged students.

The study pointed out a significant delay in the distribution of the 27 items that each of the students studying in a civic school is entitled to. “While a majority of civic schools don’t even get all of these 27 items, we were surprised that these 52 schools were providing children with all the items. However, if a student receives a raincoat two months after the rainy season begins, it does not serve the purpose,” Rabadi said. She said a majority of these schools are only up to Class VII, forcing students to drop out or travel far from their homes for further education.

Centre readies plan to check ‘offending’ schools

Mumbai: School education in India has undergone a tremendous transformation. But the one aspect where change is felt the most has been in the fact that paying for school now occupies a thick slice in the family budget pie, something that earlier went blissfully unnoticed.
The soaring fees, the rise of private schools, the manner in which school admission processes are designed, the overt demand made for donations, the campus advertisements that lure parents, and the overarching truth that education has been reduced to a business for many, has forced the government to design an act to check and punish unfair practices in the trade called school education.
So a school will invite action for discriminating against children on the basis of religion, caste, creed or gender, or forcing children to speak in English and neglecting the mother tongue or resorting to corporal punishment, or pressurising kids with heavy curriculum load of a higher class.
The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), which met in the national capital last week, has finalised its decision to draft ‘The Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Elementary, Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools Bill’, which will keep a vigil on the manner in which schools function.
BLACK MARKS GALORE

• Demanding donations for a seat
• Overcharging for school prospectus and other admission-related material
• School teachers taking private tuition
• Not refunding fees
• Not sticking to the syllabi
• Engaging untrained teachers
‘Erring’ schools may be fined up to  50 lakh
The CABE has decided to prepare legislation to keep a check on schools. The legislation would provide for criminal prosecution and civil penalties and state education tribunals will be set up to monitor the adherence of the provisions of this act.
Schooling was mostly gratis, a service largely provided by the government; but today it won’t be wrong to say that the private sector has shown an increasing interest in this space. Close to 40% of Indian schools are private institutes; some aided, most unaided. The idea is not to police schools, said a CABE member. “The inherent rationale of the legislation would be to promote transparency through mandatory disclosure in the prospectus and the website, and provide adequate and accessible recourse for remedial action arising out of non-adherence of self-disclosed details and norms,” said the CABE note.
The proposal provides for imposition of monetary penalties of up to Rs 50 lakh for violation of provisions of various clauses that are declared. Offences are proposed to be tried by a court not below that of a metropolitan magistrate or a judicial magistrate first class. All offences, except those concerning the demand of capitation fee, are proposed to be made non-cognisable offences, read the CABE note.
Common Offences

• Non-disclosure of seats available
• Allowing the sale of gutka, tobacco and junk food inside or around the school campus
• Admission through non-transparent means
• Level of education services not matching with what is promised or disclosed in the brochure
• Placing misleading advertisements in the media
• Misleading advertisements that exaggerate the performance of students in examinations
• Underpaying staff
• Withholding the certificates or documents of students who wish to join another school

School bus strikes a safety risk

Mumbai: The long-drawn debate and discussions over the School Bus Safety Policy as well as periodic calls for strike by school bus owners have put both schools and the government in a spot. The latest, indefinite state-wide strike call has come from the School Bus Owners’ Association; buses may go off the roads from February 6. While schools are unhappy about such strike calls every few months, government officials are concerned over questions being raised on norms introduced under the safety policy.

“The government needs to ensure that once the policy is implemented, no problems will crop up from any of the involved departments. This policy is of prime importance to us and we will ensure everything to see to it that our children are safe,” said a transport official on the condition of anonymity. School principals and activists are showing their concern over the attitude of bus operators as well as government officials towards the policy. Several schools pointed out that because of repeated bus strikes, safety of children while travelling to and from school is falling on the shoulders of school managements and parents, and that this can’t go on for long. “Not only is the government not taking the policy seriously, but also putting extra pressure on schools. A school bus committee needs to be formed in every school and RTO and police officials as well as officials from the education department must be part of this committee. I have been personally calling officials for the purpose but nobody seems to be interested,” said the principal of a suburban school. Several also pointed to the recent controversy where the principal of a Nerul-based school was roughed up by members of a political party over bus safety issues. “Increasingly, schools are being targeted for lack of determination from the side of bus owners,” said Lalitha Hariharan, principal of Rizvi Springfield School, Bandra.

Even though bus safety rules have been implemented only recently by the state government, a clutch of Mumbai schools have had these norms in place for the past 10 years now. “Not one rule under the safety policy is the figment of somebody’s imagination; each and every word there either adheres to the already-implemented policy or Supreme Court orders. What are bus operators complaining about now?” asked Indrani Malkani, a civic activist. Education officials, though, remained unavailable for comment.

The transport department got in touch with members of the School Bus Owners’ Association (SBOA) recently and called for a meeting. “We hope this meeting also doesn’t just end up as a discussion with no solution at hand. Our demands are not very grave; we are only asking for minor changes in the regulations so that we don’t end up taking a financial burden,” said Anil Garg, president of SBOA.

Times View

Every side in this debate may have some logic in their argument. But we must remember that the most important issue here is a safe journey for our kids to and from school; there cannot be any compromise on that. School bus owners may have a point when they criticise the lack of response from the government and the lack of transparency in how it works. But the point they want to make should be made in some way other than inconveniencing thousands of school-goers and their parents.

POLICY VERSUS OPERATORS

The school bus safety policy makes it compulsory for every school bus to have:

• Two fire extinguishers (one in the front and one at the back of the bus) but bus owners have demanded that one fire extinguisher is enough
• The lowest footstep in the bus should be at a height not exceeding 220 mm from the ground but bus owners say that every time a bus crosses a speed breaker, this footstep could scrape against the road
• The driver should have at least five years of experience but bus owners say that this rule is getting difficult to adhere to because of manpower shortage
• Buses should not be more than 15 years old but bus owners claim that as long as buses are in a good condition, they should be allowed to ply
• School buses must provide bag racks under the seats for students and also be equipped with vertical stanchions but most bus owners claim this is unnecessary and will only end up adding to the maintenance cost

Basics that have still not been implemented:

• All school buses need to bring their lowest footstep to 220 mm above ground
• Most buses are still not equipped with first-aid boxes
• School buses ferrying girls should have a female attendant but parents complain that some school buses are flouting this rule
• School buses should have horizontal rods on the windows from the outside, but is yet to be implemented in several buses
• Speed governors should be fitted in every vehicle so that the speed does not exceed 40 km per hour, but most buses haven’t adhered to this as yet

Wadhwani Research Centre in Biosciences and Bioengineering inaugurated in IIT Bombay

Mumbai: IIT Bombay and Wadhwani Foundation inaugurated the Wadhwani Research Centre in Biosciences and Bioengineering (WRCBB) recently. Romesh Wadhwani, chairman, Wadhwani Foundation and founder, Symphony Technology Group, Kathy Wadhwani and Devang Khakhar, director, IIT Bombay inaugurated the Centre by unveiling the ceremonial plaque at IIT Bombay. Ajay Kela, president and CEO, Wadhwani Foundation and an alumnus of IIT-Bombay was also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Khakhar, said, “WRCBB was envisioned with the objective to set new standards for world-class research with high global impact. It intends to have top-class faculty conduct cutting-edge research using the latest in emerging technologies with the sole purpose of changing lives for the better all over the world.”
Stressing on the need for quality research in India, Wadhwani said, “India should not just be known as a country which can provide low cost labour and services. We need to produce work which should make an impact. Our work should be of such high standard that top universities abroad should come knocking on our doors. We have that potential and we need to channelise it in the right direction.”
The faculty of Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering will be affiliated to WRCBB and focus on research. The centre is part of the MoU signed in 2008. Wadhwani had announced a gift of $5 million to his alma mater at a conference held in New York in 2008. WRCBB has chosen to focus on understanding cell motility and cancer invasion as its research area. The goal is to build a better knowledge base in this field.