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. 

HRD ministry team to submit report on violence at Allahabad University

Allahabad: A two-member team constituted by the Union HRD Ministry to look into the violence that had rocked the University of Allahabad last week said it has obtained "versions from both sides" and would submit its report in a few days.
      
"We have spoken to the Vice-Chancellor, the Proctor as well as other University officials. We have also talked to student leaders as well as boys and girls who have received injuries in the clash with police on Friday night. We will be submitting our report to the Ministry in a few days", Director of IIT-Kanpur S G Dhande and former UGC Chairman Sukhdeo Thorat told reporters.
     
The violence had broken out over eviction of students from hostels by the authorities at the end of the academic session.
      
"Both the authorities and the students have a number of grievances relating to the general functioning of the University as well as the circumstances that led to last week's clash. Our report will aim at suggesting ways to prevent such occurrences in future", they said while declining to divulge further details.
      
The University campus had been rocked by protests for more than a week against the direction for eviction of hostels immediately on conclusion of the academic year 2011-2012.
  
Students have been demanding that they be given a few months' time to vacate as competitive examinations were around the corner and finding a fresh accommodation could affect their preparations.
     
However, the varsity administration stood its ground asserting that the proposed move was essential to rid the hostels of unauthorized occupants whose presence had an adverse effect on serious students. 
     
An FIR has been lodged against unnamed persons in connection with the violence even as some student union leaders have been holding fasts to press the demand for scrapping of the police case. 

PIL seeks AIIMS-like institute in Allahabad

Allahabad: A Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Allahabad High Court seeking setting up of an AIIMS-like institute in the city.
      
The PIL, filed by advocate B P Singh, sought a direction to the Uttar Pradesh government and the Centre for setting up the proposed institute here.
      
The PIL said the city was best-suited for such a project and this would help in reducing the rush of patients from the impoverished regions of Uttar Pradesh to the AIIMS in Delhi. 
      
The petition alleged though the Centre had sanctioned more than Rs 800 crore for the proposed project, there had been no headway due to lack of coordination between the Centre the state government.
      
The PIL is likely to come up for hearing on May 2. 

HC sets aside appointments of more than 100 principals in UP

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court struck down over 100 appointments to posts of principals in PG and degree colleges across Uttar Pradesh which had been challenged as being "improper and arbitrary", and directed the state to "frame appropriate guidelines" for filling up the posts which fall vacant.
 
A Division Bench comprising justices Ashok Bhushan and Sunita Agrawal passed the order on a bunch of writ petitions filed by Karuna Nidhan Upadhyay and others who had challenged a total of 156 appointments vide selection lists dated May 15, 2007, June 30, 2008 and July 02, 2008.
 
The petitioners had claimed that the members of Higher Education Services Commission "at the relevant time were not qualified to be appointed as members or to hold selection of principals".
 
Besides, the petitioners had alleged, that the selection was based on "an interview having 300 marks without giving any credit to academic qualifications and experience" and that no criteria was fixed for conducting the interview either.
 
"Conduct of selection only on the basis of viva-voce test without any criteria for conduct of viva-voce test leads to an improper and arbitrary selection.
 
The viva-voce test does not afford the proper criteria for assessment of suitability of the candidates and it is highly subjective, which is capable of abuse because it leaves scope for favouritism and nepotism", the petitioners had alleged.
 
Moreover, the petitioners alleged, "the entire selection process by the Commission was tainted with nepotism and favouritism which is fortified from the fact that several candidates who did not fulfil the minimum eligibility had been called to appear in the interview for the posts of principals of post graduate colleges and degree colleges and were actually selected... they were not having the  qualifications and the experience but still were called to appear, which clearly proves that the Commission proceeded to select the
candidates due to extraneous considerations".
 
The court, while allowing the petitions, directed the Commission to "frame appropriate guidelines for conduct of interview" and take "early steps for filling the vacant posts of principals of post-graduate/degree  colleges in accordance with law". 

Setback as Allahabad University fails to get NAAC grading

Allahabad: The authorities of Allahabad University have set the ball rolling for the intake of fresh students for various courses being run by different institutions but it would be yet another year when the university would start the admission process without any grading by National assessment and accreditation council (NAAC).

NAAC is an autonomous entity under the University Gants Commission which rates universities on various parameters like infrastructure, teacher taught ratio (TTR), amenities for students etc and gives a specific rating to the institution concerned.

 The ranking given as grade is for a period of five years. In terms of Allahabad University, it was B++ grade in December 2003 and it expired in December 2008. The university should have got itself inspected before expiry of the time limit given by NAAC, but the authorities failed to do so within stipulated time.

  The NAAC team, which visited AU in 2003, had also inspected other constituent colleges and given suitable grades. Colleges like Arya Kanya, Hamidia Girls and Rajashri Tandon Degree College got B+ grade.

 Ewing Christian College  (ECC) and SS khanna Degree College  were given B++ while Jagat Taran managed a B+.

The university authorities constituted a four-member committee, chaired by the dean, arts, Prof NR Farooqui, which was entrust the responsibility of preparing a report to be sent to NAAC with a formal request to inspect and give grading.

 The other members of the committee were Avinash Chandra  Pandey, head, department of atmospheric and ocean sciences, JN Bhargava and HC Mukerjee.

Most of the departments finished the work and submitted the reports. As many as 10 departments failed to submit the report. As a result, the university administration, which was determined to send the report to  NAAC by February 10, 2011, failed to keep its own schedule.

These departments have still not provided details of achievements, researches and future plans that the university has to submit to NAAC while applying for reaccreditation.

 "Getting the NAAC grading does help the institution get better stuff as the present day youth are quite aware and when they surf the net in finding the best institution for themselves, NAAC grading is one thing that gives the institution an edge over others," said a faculty member.