Chennai burns over 'high' school fees

Chennai: Parents and Some city schools continue to be dissension over 'high' school fees. Today, a group of parents protested in front of a city school and alleging that the school authority was not being clear about the fee structure.

Parents are unhappy by the functioning of school authority and their grievance is that the school was not giving them the receipt for the actual amount paid, and did not inform parents about the fee structure suggested by the 'fee determination committee' organised by government.

By defanding school authority, Principal said, we have put all the details on the notice board and we have requested for a revision in the fee structure directed by the fee committee. When we get a new suggestion from committee we will refund the extra fees.

Private schools in city have no emotions, engage in money making

New Delhi: Some Unaided schools in the city ignoring the laws made under 'Delhi School Education Rules'. The case came in light when a class 12 failed girl student of an unaided private school at Sector 15, Rohini, Delhi not eligible for submitting her school fees.

Her father who was working as a Molder in a factory has died six months ago. Her mother is also suffering from Liver ailment. After the death of her father, they have no other source of income except Rental Income of Rs.3000/-. She wants to continue her studies to complete class 12 but she didn't have enough money to pay her school fees.

The school is not ready to admit her again without fees or also not ready for any fee concession too. No other school including government school provides admission to a student straight in Class XII.

Mr. Suresh kaushik whose two wards are studying in Darbari Lal D.A.V School, ND Block, Pitampura, Delhi have a complain that school demands for huge late fee fine more than prescribe in law, he could not deposit fee for quarter April-June 2012 in the month of April 2012 for some unavoidable reasons.

Today when he went to the school to deposit the fee, the school illegally asked him to deposit fee along with Rs.200/- per student on account of late fee fine. Mr. kaushik objected this illegel demand and remind the school about Rule 166 of Delhi School Education Rules, 1973 prescribes fine for late payment of fees at the rate of five paise for every day after the 10th, but the school didn't want to listen him any more and still insisted upon the payment of fine of Rs.200/- each student.

India’s ‘First True Accessible ATM’ for blind students

Ahmedabad: How does a person with disabilities operate an ATM? Is he entitled to an ATM card?

These questions were put to rest by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) through its circulars in 2008 and 2009 which stated that all banking services including ATM cards need to be offered to customers with disabilities without any discrimination.

RBI stated that banks are advised to take necessary steps to provide ATMs with ramps so that wheel chair users / persons with disabilities can easily access them and should make at least one third of new ATMs installed as talking ATMs.

Union Bank of India (UBI), one of the pioneer public sector banks, launched today India’s ‘first true Accessible ATM’ – a technology presented by NCR Corporation at The Blind People Association, Jagdish Patel Road, Surdas Marg, Vastra Pur, Ahmedabad.

An Accessible ATM is disabled-friendly and is designed in a way which allows the complete transaction process to be independently carried by the person with disabilities.

This requires provision of wheelchair ramp and audio prompts which not only read aloud screen messages but also provides a complete directional guidance for a customer to be oriented to the machine and use it.

The talking ATM will be a boon for disabled particularly blind students who are coming from various area for education and training courses. UBI together with NCR deployed one NCR “Voice Guidance Solution” along with NCR Cash Dispenser Self Serv 22e.

The talking ATM along with an ASA-approved keypad with Braille stickers, audio sounds, voice-guidance and provision of wheelchair ramps caters to the needs of the visually impaired and would be accessible to persons with disability.

The ATM has headphones attached to it so that such customers can hear the instructions and fill in the required data. The labels on the ATMs are written in Braille. There is also an option to blank out the screen as a safety mechanism to ensure that no bystander misuses the pin.

Sharing his views on the occasion, Mr. Nagesh Nayak, Professional Services Practice Manager, NCR said: “We congratulate the Union Bank of India for its latest milestone and taking a big step to ensure ATM access to the disabled.

NCR is committed to the cause and our Talking ATM technology reinforces the same. As more talking ATMs are deployed; access to self-service technology is ensured which is making the lives of persons with disabilities more convenient. As a concerned corporate, NCR has been developing specialized machines for India.”

Issuing ‘Special Cards’ for the customers with disabilities can become a challenge for the bank since it is difficult to maintain track of whether correct cards are issued. NCR’s “Voice Guidance Solution” is the best fit for this requirement as then the bank does not need to issue ‘Special Cards’.

Chance to provide a much better education to young India: US

Washington: Ahead of the next week's India-US education dialogue, the United States Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said there is chance to provide a much better education for thousands of young people in India.

"I think the challenges India faces dwarf make ours look relatively simple. But I think there's a chance to provide a much better education for hundreds and hundreds and thousands of young people in India," Duncan told reporters at a White House news conference.

"Whatever we can do to help as they build the next system of community colleges, as they scale up what's  working, as American institutions start to set up campuses in India, we want to be a great partner," he said.

"I just absolutely believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. And the more young people across India are getting a world-class education, that's a great thing for your country and for ours as well," Duncan said in response to a question.

The Education Secretary praised his Indian counterpart, Kapil Sibal, the Human Resources and Development Minister.

"We have a great working relationship with my counterpart in India. He is a man, I think, of tremendous vision and courage," Duncan said.  

Next week, Sibal and the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would host the next round of India-US Education Dialogue.

The Education Summit will focus on two key areas: advanced research and innovation and workforce development, specifically, community colleges, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said at an event on June 4.

"With respect to higher education collaboration, I am delighted that we will announce during the Dialogue the first eight partnership projects to be funded jointly by the United States and India through the Obama-Singh 21st Century Knowledge Initiative.

These three-year, approximately quarter-million dollar grants will be used for joint projects between American and Indian universities in the areas of food security, energy, climate change and public health, among others," Blake said at the event organised by the US-India World Affairs Institute.

Govt trying to clear backlog of Rs 66 cr for scholarship

Dehra Dun: Uttarakhand government is pursuing with the Centre to clear the backlog of Rs 66 crore to be paid to students from backward classes as scholarship, the state Assembly was informed.
    
Replying to a question on behalf of the Social Welfare Minister, Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi said post-tenth standard scholarship scheme for backward class students is fully funded by the Centre and the state government is
pursuing the matter.
    
He said the backlog accumulated as the state governments disbursed scholarship among the students as per their own criteria in the previous years which was much more than the notional allocation by the Centre.
    
The minister said the scholarship ranging from Rs 160 to Rs 750 per month is disbursed among students belonging to backward classes for pursuing education above 10th standard.

Finishing school for hospitality industry launched

Kolkata:  A "first of its kind" finishing school which will provide soft skills training to youngsters aspiring for a career in the hospitality industry was launched here.

Academy of Hospitality Skills will provide two courses in hospitality sector catering to graduates of any discipline as well tenth standard pass outs.

"As of now there is a shortage of skilled and qualified manpower in the industry. We will mentor students to fill the gap between the needs of the academy and the industry," the institute's chairman Rajiv Gujral told reporters here.

The institute will provide a finishing course for graduates, a three-month course consisting of classroom training as well as internship to give them practical exposure.

With five centres in the city to begin with from this year, he said they hope to establish 50 centres in West Bengal by the end of the year.  

"Gradually we will move to other parts of the country like Mumbai and Gurgaon," Gujral said.

Describing Kolkata and Chandigarh as the new hotspots of the travel and tourism industry, he said the manpower requirement in Kolkata will be around 8,000 this year.  

"There is a gap between supply and demand for manpower here," he said.

According to the 2011 Indian Hotel Industry Manpower Survey, the Indian hospitality industry will need skilled manpower of close to 3 lakh people by 2021

Girls outperform boys in UP Class XII results

Allahabad: In keeping with the trend, girls of Uttar Pradesh Board have outshone boys in Class XII results announced, in which the overall pass percentage stood at 89.40 per cent.
             
The overall pass percentage improved by 9.26 per cent from last year, with girls registering a handsome success rate of 95.52 per cent against 84.73 per cent of boys.
             
CBSE Class XII results announced on May 28 also saw girls' pass percentage at 86.21 as compared to 75.80 per cent of boys.
             
Announcing the results, the state's Director for Secondary Education Vasudev Yadav said that about 26.84 lakh candidates had appeared for the exams out of which about 26.07 lakh were declared successful.
            
Those passing the Intermediate examinations, have also a reason to cheer as the newly-elected Samajwadi Party government has promised to distribute free laptops among them.
            
Although the pass percentage of the girls was 10.79 per cent higher than that of the boys, the male students' pass percentage rose by an impressive 14.2 per cent while that of the females saw a modest increase of 4.76 per cent, Yadav said.
           
However, the proportion of those securing a first division fell by 5.12 per cent even as the percentage of those getting second and third division grew respectively by 4.93 per cent and 1.43 per cent, he added.
           
Students from Bhadohi put up the best performance (96.12 per cent) followed closely by Jaunpur (95.68) and Sitapur (95.68). 
           
The most dismal performance came from Mathura where only 67.05 candidates secured pass marks.
           
Also, in subjects like English, Hindi, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, more than 90 per cent of the candidates secured pass marks though in Mathematics the success rate was slightly lower at 87.71 per cent. 

Best minds needed in teaching profession: Sibal

New Delhi: Rueing that the teaching community is not as educated as it should be, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal highlighted the need to get the best minds in the teaching profession to educate children.

Sibal said it was "ironic that we are talking about teacher education instead of discussing the education of children".

Addressing the 59th meeting of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), he said, "It is ironic that you always talk about education of children. Here we are talking about teacher education. In other words, we have accepted the fact that our teaching communities are not as educated as they should be".

He also accepted the fact that both the central and state governments have failed to get access to high quality people in teaching profession to build the future of India.

"We have let that profession down by giving that profession a sectarian interest that is unfortunate. I think that as a nation we need to change our mindsets. We need to rethink our strategy.

"If we want to educate our children, we must get the best minds in teaching profession," Sibal said, emphsasing on the need to improve the quality of teaching to "improve the quality of learning".

He asked CABE members to throughly discuss the issues and invited their suggestions to improve the quality of teachers. 

Passport to India programme to send more US students to India

Washington: The United States has come out with a "Passport to India" programme to encourage more and more American students to go to India for studies.

A public-private initiative, the programme is part of the US efforts to increase people to people relationship and build on next generation of leadership who are well versed in each other's culture.

"The goal of Passport to India is to significantly increase the number of Americans who visit India for a study and learning experience abroad. The most recent data showed that while nearly 104,000 Indians study here in the United States, fewer than 4,000 Americans study in India," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake said.

However, that number is far too low, Blake conceded in his remarks at an event organised by US-India World Affairs Institute in association with the Asia Society and East West Centre.

"Indian students in American communities and American students in Indian communities create the friendships and linkages we are working to build. Secretary (of State, Hillary) Clinton and I see expanding opportunities for American students in India as a major investment in three key areas," he said.

"It's an investment in US-India relations, it's an investment in the American and global economies and it is an investment in our young people so they have the skills and experience they need to succeed in their professional lives.
 
"For our rising generation to be globally competitive, they must know and understand India," Blake said.  

"The Passport to India initiative is a public-private partnership. To date, we have pledges from both US and Indian private entities to support 225 internship opportunities for American students over the next 3 years in India-based
organisations and we are working hard to generate more," he said.

Blake said that Interns will work side by side with their Indian peers to work on software development in IT companies, on innovation and management practices in manufacturing firms and on the needs of the marginalised and  nderserved with local NGOs.

"It all comes down to one thing: By building the next generation of leaders who are well versed in each other's culture, language and business, we will be better prepared to work together and resolve common challenges for the benefit of
not only our two countries, but for the international community as well," he said.

"All of you have already done so much to support the collaborations between Americans and Indians from which ideas come to life. You know the United States and you know India and you know the limitless potential that exists when we get together.

"Last month in New Delhi, Secretary Clinton re-emphasised that the United States and India are "two great  democracies with common values and increasingly convergent interests," Blake said in his remarks. 

Few states oppose common entrance test for engineering institutions

New Delhi: The Centre's proposal for a common entrance test for all engineering institutions, along with the tests for IITs and other central institutes like NITs and IIITs, met stiff resistance from some states at a meeting of education ministers.

In the light of their opposition, states have been given the flexibility to opt out of the proposed common entrance test by conducting examinations for engineering institutions coming under their authority.

Another proposal to allow flexibility to IITs to adopt a methodology of admission of students different from NITs and IIITs also met with opposition from almost all the states.
    
While Congress-ruled Kerala and Samajwadi Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh opposed the Government's move on the common entrance test, some states including BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat said that they would implement the Centre's proposal.
    
Gujarat has also written to the Centre supporting the common test. Congress-ruled states of Haryana, Assam and Maharashtra also supported the Centre, sources said.
    
However, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal claimed that "the overwhelming opinion" was in support of the common test.
    
Kerala Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb said his state agreed for a common test for central government institutions like IIT, NIT and IIIT. "But a common test for engineering institutions under the jurisdiction of the state Government is not acceptable," he said. "That question does not arise," he told reporters.
    
Considering the strong opposition from Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, Sibal said flexibility is given to the states which are under no compulsion to join the common entrance test for institutes under their jurisdiction.
    
It was explained that States would have the freedom to join in the common examination system and have the autonomy to determine their own relative weightages to normalized Class XII Board marks, performance in JEE-MAIN and JEE-ADVANCED.
    
Almost all states also opposed the Centre's proposal to allow flexibility to prestigious IITs according to which they can adopt a methodology for selection and admission of students which is different from the same in NITs and IIITs.
    
Led by Bihar, Education Ministers almost unanimously said they cannot agree with a provision in the Centre's proposal that the selection criteria for candidates for the IITs would be different even as all the aspirants or IITS, IIITs and NIT will have to appear in a common test under a new format.     

However, the overwhelming opinion was in support of the common test, Sibal said in his concluding remarks.     

He also said flexibility is given to the states which are under no compulsion to join the common entrance test for institutes under their jurisdiction.
    
"The states were requested to convey their decision on the year of joining the common admission process and the relative weightages to class XII Board marks, performance in JEE-MAIN and JEE- ADVANCED by June 30 to enable preparations to be made accordingly," he said.
   
It was also clarified at the meeting that where a state intends to join the common test for admission to engineering institutions in the state, the exam papers would be also available in the regional language of the state in addition to English and Hindi.
    
West Bengal did not send their representatives to the meeting, sources said.
    
In the meeting, Sibal announced the decision to start 200 Community Colleges on a pilot basis across the country in 2012-13. The number of community colleges will be scaled up gradually, he added.
    
He made the announcement after Madhya Pradesh Education Minister Archana Chitnis presented the Report of the Group of Ministers on the "Concept and Framework of the Community College Scheme" in the Conference.
    
The Report was unanimously accepted by the states and Union Territories.
    
While welcoming the setting up of Community Colleges, the Education Ministers agreed the concept of Community Colleges is a paradigm shift leading to skill development and energisation of the community and the youth will be educated not only for taking employment but, more importantly, for becoming self-employed.
    
The meeting also discussed the draft Bill for establishment of IIITs and implementation of the scheme for IIITs on public-private partnership mode.
    
The states unanimously supported the Bill and demanded it be moved at the earliest for Parliamentary approval.
    
The HRD Minister said the government intends to introduce the Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament.
    
On demands from the states on the scheme for establishment of IIITs, including that the private partner need not necessarily be from the industry, the meeting agreed to allow central and state public sector undertakings (PSUs) to be accepted as industry partners for establishment of IIITs.
    
The meeting also agreed to give states the flexibility to bring in one or more industry partners instead of limiting the number of partners to three. 

Karnataka State Higher Education Council recommends multi-campus courses

BANGALORE: The University Grants Commission ( UGC) has said this before. And, Karnataka is now reiterating it. The Karnataka State Higher Education Council has recommended to start multi-campus courses, inter-college and inter-university credit transfer system by 2020.

In its vision document for the year 2020, the state's think-thank in higher education has proposed to introduce in a phased manner after piloting in at least five institutions. With this, students will be free to move from one university to another as the varsities will follow the same credit system.

"This system will have another advantage. As of now, universities in Karnataka work in isolated patches. For instance, Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) is meant only for technological courses and no other disciplines.

With this system, we will also look at facilitating universities to start other courses so that there is universality," said S C Sharma, vice-chairman.

The Vision 2020 document also highlights the problems faced by the state varsities today. One of them is the growing localisation of the state university system.

"Increasingly the state universities are becoming sites of academic inbreeding. Most teachers and students  come from the same or contiguous regions as the location of the university. Only rarely does it reflect a truly state-wide, let alone a national, outlook in the choice of the faculty and students," it said. Credit transfer might prove to be a solution for this problem as well.

CS exam cancelled after paper leak in Faridabad

MUMBAI: Tuesday's foundation course exam for company secretariat (CS) was cancelled after the paper leaked a day before at a centre in Faridabad. Close to 40,000 students have registered for this exam across India.

'Elements of Business Law and Management' was last of the four papers that students had to take for the exam that started on June 2. In a notice to students, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India that conducts this licentiate programme said the exam had been cancelled "due to administrative reasons beyond our control".

This professional programme draws the largest number of commerce students after chartered accountancy; each year, close to 1.33 lakh candidates sign up for the course at various levels.

Nesar Ahmad, president of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, said the superintendent at a school in the Faridabad-NCR region, inadvertently opened Tuesday's question paper packet on Monday and distributed the paper to about 250 students in that exam centre.

"A few minutes later, students in that exam centre alerted the supervisors about the wrong question paper that had been handed out to them. Following that, the school's head informed us about the error that had occurred at the distribution stage," said Ahmad. While the school was asked to take back the question papers and give out the correct question paper, the institute decided to cancel Tuesday's exam as it felt that some students could have a privilege over several others. "This was a human error and we were forced to cancel the exam."

The exam is being held at 117 exam centres and it was difficult for the institute to deliver new question papers within a few hours. Delhi has the largest pool of exam-takers at 4,524 students, followed by Kolkata where the exam was being taken by 2,504 students; Mumbai has 1,976 students who had signed up for the foundation course. "We will announce the new date for the exam in a day or two," Ahmad said.

Nagpur University’s PhD entrance from June 27-30

NAGPUR: The Nagpur University has announced dates of PhD entrance exam (PET) and has invited applications from eligible candidates. The exam would be conducted online from June 27 to 30 and results would be declared on July 2. The last date of receiving application is June 18 till 3pm. 

According to officials from NU's PhD section, the aspirants had to apply online and then submit a printout to the Application Receipt Centre (ARC) at NU library at the Campus on Amravati Road. They also have to submit a demand draft of Rs 800 (Rs 600 for reserved category candidates) along with a passport size photograph. The exam would be conducted online at various centres with the help of Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Ltd (MKCL). The 100 marks exam would be conducted in both English and Marathi. The questions would be objective type and duration will be 90 minutes. 

The PET would be largely based on aptitude, general knowledge and logical reasoning. The list of successful candidates would be uploaded on the NU website on July 2. The successful candidates then have to complete registration formalities at their department of liking and submit the synopsis that would be placed before Research Recognition Committee (RRC). 

Officials informed that PET only tested the aptitude of the candidates for research while their knowledge of respective field would be tested in the interview. NU has so far conducted two PETs in July and December last year. Success percentage at 66% in second exam was more than double of 32% in first one, primarily due to introduction of Marathi medium.

Online counselling for MBBS: SC seeks MCI take

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought Medical Council of India's response within two days  to a proposal from Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) for maiden online counseling for allotment of over 2,000 MBBS and BDS seats in medical colleges from this academic session. 

A bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar sought medical education regulator MCI's response by Thursday, when it would examine the DGHS proposal for doing away with existing mode of counseling that require candidates to appear in person. 

Delhi used to be the main centre from where allotment of 15% all-India quota of MBBS and BDS seats in various medical colleges used to take place, with candidates participating in counseling through video  conferencing from other centres like Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. In 2011, DGHS conducted counseling for 4,150 candidates for 2,194 seats in MBBS and BDS courses. 

Till now, the candidates used to take long journeys up to six times from their home towns to the metros within a short period of time to attend counseling sessions. "The expenditure for candidates during online counseling will be almost nil and much less for the government. The online counseling process will be faceless yet fully transparent and fair," the DGHS promised. 

The proposal for online counseling was recommended by an expert committee headed by Director General of Health Services, which was tasked by ministry of health and family welfare to find out ways and means to address the problem of seats remaining vacant even after two rounds of counseling every year. 

In its application before the apex court, the DGHS said: "The committee has recommended that by changing the method of allotment from existing counseling by personal appearance to online counseling and by increasing the number of candidates eligible to take part in counseling both in undergraduate and post-graduate courses may significantly reduce the number of seats that remain unfilled at the end of All India quota counseling." 

The salient features of the proposal for online counseling are: 

* All candidates who qualify All India Undergraduate Entrance Examination or five times number of seats available under the all-India quota, whichever is less, will be allowed to take part in online counseling. 

* Qualified candidates will give option of course and college online. There will be a total of three rounds of online allotment instead of existing two. 

* After the first round, candidates will be given provisional allotment letter online and will be required to report to the allotted medical/dental college within 10 days. The respective colleges would check the documents of eligibility of candidates. 

* Candidates, who fail to take admission in 10 days, would forfeit their claim for admission and would not be considered for allotment of seats during subsequent rounds of counseling. 

* Candidates who join the course after the first round may give their option for upgrade of h/his choice of course or college to be considered during subsequent rounds of counseling subject to availability of seats. 

* Arrangement for online counseling process will be made by the National Informatics Centre, which conducts the online counseling for allotment of seats under All India Engineering Entrance Examination. 
dhananjay.mahapatra@timesgroup.com

Commerce college starts issuing BCom forms

GUWAHATI: With the results of Class XII exam conducted by Assam Higher Secondary Education Council declared on Monday, the Gauhati Commerce College has started issuing admission forms for BCom courses on Tuesday.

With the college's seven in Top Ten positions in commerce stream of Class XII board examination, the bar is expected to be raised higher this time, while following the admission process for 600 seats.

The premier commerce educational institution here is also gearing up for admission to Bachelor of Business Admission (BBA) programme. College authorities say the forms for BBA course will be issued from Wednesday.

Till now, it is expected that the college will resort to its usual conventional system of allocating seats to potential candidates. The college usually separates the students, who have applied for the much-coveted seats on the basis of educational boards like AHSEC, CBSE and other boards. The eligibility criteria for applying is generally fixed at 50 per cent and candidates, who have secured less than 45 per cent, can't apply.

"We are planning to resort to the conventional system. We get around 85 to 90 per cent students from AHSEC and priority is given to students from this board. From other boards, we get around 5 to 10 per cent students. So, the cut-off is separate for different boards. Last year, the cut off marks for candidates from AHSEC in the general category was 385 (non -quota) while for those from CBSE and other boards was 453. This year, the pattern will be more or less the same with some slight changes," said GG Banik, a professor of Accountancy and convener of examination branch, Gauhati Commerce College.

The admission process for the Bachelor of Business Administration programme is all set to commence in the coming weeks for the 60 seats in the degree course. The programme was introduced in 2007 and it is the first college under Gauhati University to implement the course. Though the demand for BBA is less than BCom, the implementation of the course was aimed at those students who prefer to study outside the state. After submission of forms for the programme, candidates have to sit for a written test and viva.

"There are no majors in BBA but the course was introduced because we see many students from Assam go outside to pursue the same course. This is a professional course, an entry level for MBA. Because of this, there is interest amongst students," said HK Das, the coordinator of BBA, Gauhati University.

DU registration begins

The first day of registration for admission to undergraduate courses in Delhi University was marked by long queues, despite the online option.

The help desk, set up in North campus, received around 300 queries from applicants and parents. The university community radio is also holding a one-hour session for newcomers 90.4 FM, 11am-noon.

With candidates lining up an hour before the designated time, 10am, a crowd gathered at the help desk to enquire about a number of issues including the last date for submission of application forms, criteria for sports and extra-curricular activities (ECA), and course information.

According to student counsellors manning the help desk, confusion among students was regarding the ECA and sports quota application procedure. A large number of outstation candidates were confused between pre-admission and admission forms. Also, a large section of people were not aware of the online registration option, implemented this year onwards.

“Though the university website (www.du.ac.in) has all the details of the admission procedure, most applicants had queries regarding the ECA and sports quota application procedure and criteria for the two categories. Besides, a lot of outstation candidates, including those from small towns, were confused between registration and admission forms,” says Shruti Gupta, student counsellor.

Apart from this, candidates buying application forms were not sure about the courses offered by various colleges and eligibility criteria. Also, a good number of students who wanted to pursue BTech were confused about the BTech programme in mathematics and information technology offered by the DU Cluster Innovation Centre.

“Many applicants, after purchasing the form, approached the help desk to enquire about the courses they can apply to and the eligibility for each, including the difference between honours and pass programmes. Around 50 candidates enquired about the BTech innovation course, which will take off from this academic session,” informs a counsellor.

• Those wanting to pursue the BTech innovation programme will have to enrol in any of the undergraduate courses to be eligible to apply to the course. Entry to the programme will be through an entrance test conducted by the university, the date for which will be notified soon on the university website

• Candidates wanting to apply through ECA/sports quota will have to fill in the common registration form first. Individual colleges will announce the dates for trials and admission under the two categories, for which candidates can refer to the respective college websites

DU cut-offs for admissions may go up

With the number of students scoring high in class XII CBSE this year, in almost all the streams, it is likely that the cut-offs will go up. It became a topic of national debate last year, when the cut-off for BCom went up to 100% at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC).

However, PC Jain, principal, SRCC, assures that the cut-offs will not be as high this year. “The cut-offs for BCom (Honours) have been increasing in the last few years. This year we will make sure the cut-off does not reach as high as 100%. Also, for economics, we will ensure the percentage is realistic. Yet, cut-offs are likely to remain  high as the overall class XII scores are rather good this year too.”

Since a good number of students have scored well in subjects like psychology, economics, business studies, physics, and even in humanities, colleges across the university believe the first cut-off list released will be high though the percentages will come down with the second list.

According to JM Khurana, dean, students’ welfare, with students performing well in CBSE again this year, the cut-offs are bound to be higher, but nothing can be said before the registration begins. Also, since many students these days go for professional courses, aspirants must not panic and wait for the cut-offs to be released.

At Hans Raj College, the cut-offs are likely to be highest in computer science, economics, electronics, physics and the biological sciences.
“The cut-offs are not going to drop in any case in the popular colleges. Subjects like computer science, electronics and the sciences will see a high percentage. We will have to be cautious while preparing the first cut-off list,” says VK Kawatra, principal, Hans Raj College.

Colleges including Hindu and Lady Shri Ram (LSR) maintain that the first cut-off list will be high as they will be playing safe. However, Pratibha Jolly, principal, Miranda House, believes it is too early to say how the cut-off lists will turn out. “Only once we have the pre-admission forms data available with us, the picture about the cut-offs will be clear,” she says.   

Registration
June 4, Monday
    The forms will be available at 12 head post offices and eight colleges - Miranda House in north campus, Atma Ram Sanatam Dharam College near Dhaula Kuan, PGDAV College and Gargi College in south Delhi, Bhagini Nivedita College near Najafgarh, Rajdhani College at Raja Garden, Swami Shradhanand College in Alipur and Shyam Lal College in east Delhi.

Online

•     Students wanting to apply online will have to log on to the university website - www.du.ac.in.
• After that they will be given a unique password, using which the centralised online form can be accessed. The online form will be a copy of the over-the-counter OMR form

Puducherry witnesses 2.77 Percentage increase in overall pass in Class X exam

Puducherry: Puducherry and Karaikal regions registered a 2.77 per cent overall increase in Class X public examination, the results for which were announced.
   
Both regions are adopting the Tamilnadu pattern of education and system of public examinations.
   
Chief Minister N Rangasamy told reporters here 16,500 of a total of 18,000 candidates of government and privately managed schools in the regions were successful have come out successful. The pass percentage is 91.67, 2.77 per cent more than that registered in the 2010-11 academic year.
  
D Kayalvizhi of Don Bosco Higher Secondary school, Lawspet got the first rank with 496 out of 500 marks. R Goutham of Petit Seminaire HSS and A P Dhannusri of St Joseph of Cluny Girls HSS are second and third rankers with 493 and 492 marks. All these three top rankers are from private schools.    

Rangasamy said that government schools have established a pass percentage of 86.59 this year, 4.25 percent more than the previous year`s result.
  
To a question on establishing a Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board in Puducherry,he said the government would study the feasibility of having the board in Puducherry and take an appropriate decision.
  
He said students joining professional courses under the government quota in private colleges need not pay fees to the institutions as government would remit it to managements.

Only Konkani/Marathi medium schools eligible for grants: Government

Panaji: Goa government said that only Konkani and Marathi medium primary schools would be given grants and English medium schools would not enjoy the same patronage.
    
The announcement comes in the wake of a controversy over the medium of instruction in primary schools with many people advocating that the government

should encourage English medium schools while some political leaders arguing in favour of local languages.

However, the 100-odd schools which had changed their medium from Konkani or Marathi to English during the last academic year would continue to receive grants, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said.

The decision not to withhold the grants was taken considering the fate of about 25,000 students studying there, he said.
    
Stating that the government plans to encourage schools imparting primary education in local languages, he announced one-time grant of Rs 12 lakh for new primary schools in Konkani and Marathi.
    
Besides, these schools would be given an annual grant of Rs one lakh for next five years.     

The government has also announced additional sops like maintenance grant, salary grant for non-teaching staff and an appointment of additional teacher for imparting English language skills in these schools.
    
Parrikar said that around 250 additional teachers in government-run schools and 200 in private schools would be employed on a regular basis.  

Expressing concern over the condition of government-run schools, he said, "there are 500 schools with less then 30 students in all the four classes together."

The government has also decided to form a committee of educationists who will study the future of primary education in Goa and submit its report in a year.

Music Academy granted status of Research Centre

Chennai: Music Academy, an internationally acclaimed organisation in the field of carnatic music, has been granted the status of a Research Centre by the Tumkur University in Karnataka.

Announcing this, the Academy said in a press release that researchers could now enrol themselves with it for Ph.D and avail the guidance of stalwarts in the field.
    
In the last few years, the Academy has started an Advanced School of Carnatic Music with a three year diploma course for producing top class musicians.
    
Keeping these in view, the Academy has been granted the Research Centre status by the Tumkur University,  Academy President N Murali said in a press release.
    
"The Academy is all set to raise the bar in the standards of research in the field of Carnatic Music", he said.
    
The 84-year old institution engaged in preserving, promoting and propagating Carnatic Music has also been a premier academic institution with a library comprising more than 5,000 specialised books, digital listening archives holding about 5,000 hours of music at present. It aims to digitize around 20,000 hours of music, it said. 

Polytechnics can provide skilled workforce: Sibal

Mumbai: The Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal stressed the need to improve quality of education in polytechnics for generating a skilled workforce.

Speaking at the second national convention of State Boards of Technical Education on `Polytechnic Education and Achievements and Challenges Ahead' here, Sibal said polytechnics should form tie-ups with the industry to upgrade the syllabus.
    
"We can get skilled workforce from polytechnic institutes as they are the future of our country," the Minister said.
    
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were doing well with regard to polytechnic education, he said.
    
"In Bihar, there are 12 government polytechnics and seven unaided institutions. Whereas in Uttar Pradesh, there are 17 government and 186 unaided polytechnics. Compared to the population of these two states, the number is much low," he said.
    
The students who had had their schooling in mediums other than English should be given study material in their own language, he said.

Over 500 Engineering colleges in AP lurking to be closed

Hyderabad: With numerous Engineering colleges’ creeping up across the state of Andhra Pradesh in last few years has brought down the obsession among students to join these professional colleges as they lack proper basic facilities resulting in meager enrolments forcing several colleges to close down.

A decade back, Engineering colleges and technical institutes were found only in Hyderabad and few other cities around the capital city.  As a result, the craze among the students to join these profession colleges escalated radically. Lot of students poured into these places to carry out Under Graduation in Engineering, Medicine, Pharmacy and Computer Science at these colleges. 

But, few years later the situation changed completely with several Engineering colleges and Technical institutions coming up across the entire state that resulted in drop in enthusiasm among students to join these courses and institutions. Many students are disinclined to join most of these colleges with a drastic drop in admissions forcing the colleges to close down.

Presently, there are over 700 engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh providing over 3 lakh seats. In the last academic year, 2011-2012, there were over 1 lakh seats going vacant without any takers. Several colleges had only less than 100 students joining. As several private players constructing colleges without proper infrastructure, without proper faculties and due to lack proper laboratories and other facilities were reasons behind for students not opting for these colleges.

Another reason for the drastic downfall of admission is the due to the frequent protests on the call for a separate state Telengana. Due to this political row, many students moved on to colleges in the neighboring states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka rather than opting to study in their home state that was ripped apart due to the political turmoil.

Nearly 143 institutions from 14 states have applied to the AICTE to close down their institutions, among which 56 institutions are from Andhra Pradesh. Among these 56 institutions, 44 colleges did not even have 10 students enrolled in the last academic year.  

Apart from that, 96 colleges had 50% fewer admission than the permissible number. Furthermore, 116 colleges did not get even 100 students admitted in the last academic year, told a higher official from Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education.

Due to various reasons like poor infrastructure, lack of faculties in colleges only 5 to 8 per cent of the passing out Engineering students are employable, reveals a study by Nasscom.

It was found that among the 700 Engineering and Technical institutes found in the sate of Andhra Pradesh, 500 did not have proper infrastructure, lacked proper faculties and other laboratories though the buildings are big and aloft. All these colleges are lurking to be shut down immediately.

Haryana brings in tough anti-ragging ordinance

New Delhi: Heads of educational institutions in Haryana can now face up to six months in prison if they fail to prevent ragging on their campuses.
 
Raggers whose guilt is proved in an inquiry could be rusticated for three or even more years from school, college or university and would face a sure two-semester ban that could go up to a full academic year and even cancellation of admission.
 
Bringing in an anti-ragging ordinance for the first time, the Haryana Government has made heads of institutions principals of schools and colleges and V-Cs of universities directly responsible for keeping campus atmosphere healthy.
 
The ordinance prescribes hefty fines against institutions that contravene its provisions Rs two lakh in case of schools and colleges and Rs five lakh in case of universities.   

"The V-C, principal of school or colleges will be overall responsible to stop ragging and will take necessary preventive measures to prohibit ragging in educational institutions and ensure that no person practices ragging in any form within or outside the premises of the institution," states the Haryana Prohibition of Ragging in Educational Institutions Ordinance 2012.
 
It adds, "In case of any contravention, the Head shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months and fine which may extend to Rs 25000. The Government may impose a fine on an educational institution for not complying. This may extend to Rs two lakh in case of a college/school and Rs five lakh in case of a university."
 
The high point of the ordinance is that it prohibits ragging not just in the classroom but in any situation which allows an interface between freshers and seniors.

"The law will be enforced in all schools, colleges, universities or their constituent units and will also include canteens, hostels or transport provided by the institutions whether within or outside the premises," states the Ordinance approved by Haryana Cabinet this week.

It requires institution heads to take written undertakings from students stating that they will not indulge in ragging. "In case a student is less than 18 years, his parent or guardian must give the undertaking," it states.

The law would work through a five-member anti ragging committee which heads of institutions will be required to constitute. There can be more such committees depending on the vastness of the college.
 
"Each committee will comprise three senior faculty members and two representatives of parents including a woman," the ordinance states.
 
It would be the responsibility of committee members to take action on any written complaint of ragging received from any source and submit an inquiry report to the Head of the institution within 72 hours of the incident.
 
If the offence is made out under the provisions of Indian Penal Code, 1860, the committee member will directly intimate the principal or V-C and get an FIR registered.
 
The law comes in the wake of recent anti-ragging campaigns across India following which the Supreme Court directed states to evolve regulations to check the menace.
 
The issue led to a national outrage after Aman Kachru, a student at a government medical college in Tanda, Himachal Pradesh, died after he was ragged by his seniors in 2009.   

After the incident, Himachal Pradesh adopted antiragging regulations and the UGC also issued regulations to check the practice in the institutions it regulates. 

Three Thanjavur girls share State third rank

C. Abinaya, Kalaimagal Higher Secondary School has scored District First and State Third in the SSLC Examination in Thanjavur District on Friday. Photo: M. Srinath

R. Indhu, P.R. Public Higher Secondary School has scored District second in the SSLC Examination in Thanjavur on Friday. Photo: M. Srinath 

 Three girls of Thanjavur district shared the State third rank in the tenth SSLC examination results announced on Friday.

S. Gayathri of Government Girls Higher Secondary school, Pattukottai, A. Pavithra Devi, of Auxilium Girls Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur and C. Abinaya of Kalaimagal Higher Secondary School, Vallam, scored 494 out of 500 and came third in the State and first in Thanjavur district.

Out of them Abinaya said she wanted to become a doctor. Daughter of Vijaya Suguna, a house wife and Chinnasamy, a tailor, Abinaya owed her success to the coaching in school. Vijaya Suguna said that she expected her daughter to get the rank as she is “hardworking and intelligent”.

The girls stole the show in Thanjavur in the tenth exams as eight of them shared the second rank in the district in the district scoring 492 marks. They are K. Kaavya of Government Girls Higher Secondary school, Peravurani, V. Aarthy of St.Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, Thanjavur, N. Jayarakshana of Sacred Heart Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur, N. Monija of Sacred Heart Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur, D. Sowmini of Sacred Heart Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur, N. Rogini of Auxilium Girls Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur, S. Angelinteena of P.R. Public Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur and R. Indhu of PR Public Higher Secondary School, Thanjavur.

With respect to third rank in the district, six girls shared it scoring 491 marks. They are R. Vaishaly of St. Isabel Girls Higher Secondary school, Pattukottai, T. Sowmiya of Town Higher Secondary school, Kumbakonam, R. Gayathri of St. Joseph's Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur, C. Raghavi of St. Joseph's Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur, M.R. Meenakshi of Sacred Heart Girls Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur and R. Resma of Auxilium Girls Higher Secondary school, Thanjavur. 

 

82 Percentage students pass new syllabus

In the class XII Board exams too, it was girls who outshone boys. This year, nearly 11 lakh students took the same examination and were evaluated on the same parameters.

The first batch of students who took the class X examination as per the Samacheer Kalvi (uniform syllabus) secured a pass percentage of 86.2, according to the Directorate of Government Examination that declared the results here on Monday. This is a 0.9 percentage point increase from last year’s 85.3 per cent.

As has been the trend for several years now, girls secured a pass percentage of 88.9, outdoing boys who recorded a pass percentage of 83.4.

The results of this year’s class X examination assumed additional significance as a total of 10,50,922 students studying in State board, matriculation, Anglo Indian and OSLC schools — who took separate examinations until last year — wrote the same examination for the first time.

While the new syllabus evoked mixed responses from teachers and parents of students studying in different streams, the results indicated that the syllabus has gone well with students, assuming the pattern of evaluation did not change drastically since last year.

Centums in Science

Science seems to have been a popular subject among students, if the nearly 10,000 centums (9,237 in total) are any indication. As many as 1,141 students secured centum in mathematics and interestingly, 5,305 students obtained centum in Social Science.

Erode, Tuticorin and Virudhunagar bagged the top three positions among all districts in the State, with an overall pass percentage of 94.58, 93.68 and 93.53 respectively. Chennai was not too behind, with 92.56 of  the city’s students passing the examination, and earning the district the fourth spot.

A total of 18 students shared the top three ranks in the State among those who studied Tamil as their first language. In the category of students who studied Tamil or any other language as first language, as many as 29 candidates have secured the first three spots.

The first rank was shared by P. Srinath of Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Public School, Thanjavur, Anjala Beegum A.H. of D.A.V. Matriculation School, Mogappair East, Chennai, Ramya Shreeshaa Cotah, St. Michael’s Academy, Chennai, and Mitisha Surana, Agarwal Vidyalaya Matriculation School, Vepery, Chennai. All of them scored a total of 497 marks upon 500. 

Instant exam for standard X from June 25

Chennai: Even as the entire state is eagerly awaiting for the tenth common exam results that is to be released on June 4, 1:30 PM, the Directorate of School Examination has released the date for the instant supplementary exams.

According to the directorate, the instant supplementary exam would begin on June 25 and end on July 2. 

Those school students failing to clear the common exam can take up instant supplementary exam by filling up the application that would be available at the school office from June 5 to June 7 paying appropriate exam fees.

Private students can obtain the application form the office of the Chief Education Officer of their respective District and submit the filled application form with appropriate exam fees at the office of the Regional Deputy Director, Department of School Education. 

SSLC students (both old and new syllabus) need to pay Rs 125 for all subjects, Matriculation students need to pay Rs 135 for one subject and Rs 100 for additional subjects, Anglo Indian Board students need to pay Rs 85 and Rs 50 for additional subjects.