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.

177 Indians to participate in Fullbright programme

Hyderabad: As many as 177 Indians would participate in Fulbright programme of the US-India Educational  Foundation (USIEF) this year, which is aimed at promoting mutual understanding between people of the two countries, the foundation said here.

The scholars, hailing from various cities across India, will pursue Fulbright projects in the US during the 2012-13 academic year in a variety of disciplines, including agriculture, economics, education, energy, environment, international relations, management and leadership development, media and communications, public administration, public health and science and technology, it said.

The USIEF is hosting a pre-departure orientation for the Fulbright scholars in Hyderabad from May 13-15. “Fulbright programme is one of the most prestigious educational and cultural exchange programmes around the world. Since its inception in 1950, USIEF has administered over 8,900 Fulbright fellowships to Indians and Americans. Thanks to the generous support of the Indian and the US governments, this year 177 Indians will participate in the Fulbright program.

“We are happy to be hosting this year's pre-departure orientation for Fulbright scholars in Hyderabad,” USIEF Executive Director Adam J Grotsky told reporters.

Hyderabad scientist selected for C N R Rao National Prize

Hyderabad: A senior scientist of the city-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has been selected for the prestigious C N R Rao National Prize for Chemical Sciences for 2012-13.
 
The scientist, Srivari Chandrashekar, is Head of the Division of Natural Products at IICT.
 
Chandrashekar has been selected for his contributions in the field of total synthesis of natural products especially of marine origin, and also in developing ecologically-viable green technologies useful for industrial applications in the pharmaceutical sector, a release said here.
 
The award will be given to Chandrashekar at the annual meeting of the Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) to be held in February 2013 at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, it said.
 
The award has been instituted by the CRSI with support of former students and colleagues of Prof C N R Rao, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Scientific Advisory Committee.

Andhra Inter First Year Results 2012 on April 20

Hyderabad: The wait is finally over for students across Andhra Pradesh who have been anxiously looking forward to their Inter First Year Results 2012. The Board of Intermediate Education of Andhra Pradesh (BIEAP) has today announced the results of the Intermediate First Year Examination 2012.

The results are available, on the following websites:

www.ExamResults.net

www.AndhraEducation.net

http://Results.AndhraEducation.net

www.HyderabadEducation.net

Students can also access their results on SMS, through the following:

GENERAL - SMS - APGEN1<space>REGISTRATION NUMBER to 56263
VOCATIONAL - SMS - APVOC1<space>REGISTRATION NUMBER to 56263

Additionally, students can register themselves on www.ExamResults.net to receive their results on E-Mail!

Students can also avail the Interactive Voice Response System(IVRS) to obtain their results. Use the following numbers to get your results:

Airtel Users Dial 523456 @ Rs.6/pulse
Idea Users Dial 5234580 @ Rs.6.99/pulse
Docomo Users Dial 52345020 @ Rs.5/pulse

The Andhra Second Year Results 2012 are expected to be announced on April 24, 2012.

Many Andhra teachers balk at spot valuation

HYDERABAD: The SSC spot valuation seems to be facing a serious problem with several teachers expressing their unwillingness to take up the job citing lack of proper facilities. A day after the directorate of government examinations announced the schedule for spot valuation, as many as 150 teachers sent their leave letters to the DEOs concerned seeking exemption from the duties. The spot valuation is scheduled to start on April 13.

Over 12 lakh students took the SSC examinations, which concluded on Tuesday. A total of 21,139 assistant examiners (primary evaluators), 3,525 chief examiners and 7,050 special scrutinisers are required to evaluate and scrutinise the answer scripts. "Even if 5% teachers are absent, it is going to affect the evaluation," officials said.

Private school officials said every year about 20% of teachers give a miss to spot valuation citing various reasons. "There were several errors in evaluation of answer scripts last time. We had brought them to the notice of the officials of the department of school education. Since the future of several students is at stake, the department should not allow teachers to stay away from evaluation duties," said M A Kareemuddin, principal of a city-based school.

Officials of directorate of school education had issued a statement on Monday allowing teachers with critical medical condition to opt out of evaluation duties. However, officials clearly stated that if they found the reasons for taking leave were not genuine, they would reject them.

Interestingly, it is not just teachers from private schools who sought exemption from evaluation duties. "Some teachers are averse to attending to duties due to lack of proper facilities at spot valuation centres. More than a dozen centres lacked basic facilities like fans, drinking water last year," said N Narayana, president, United Teachers' Front, which represents government school teachers in the state.

However, officials of directorate of government examinations deny the allegations and said that each spot valuation centres will have facilities like canteen, water and fans this year. The directorate clarified that it had a reserve list of teachers who were eligible for evaluation duties to replace those who failed to turn up. "We have made it clear that only those with serious medical problems will be allowed to stay away from the spot valuation. No one will be exempted from evaluation without proper medical proof," said Manmada Reddy, director of government examinations.

He added that stringent departmental action would be taken against teachers taking leave without a valid reason.

12 Andhra students hospitalized after corporal punishment

Hyderabad: In another shocking incident of corporal punishment, a woman teacher in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district severely punished 12 girl students who had to be hospitalized.

The incident took place Tuesday at Gudur town in Nellore district, about 400 km from here. According to police, the teacher at a government-run school lost her cool when the class 7 students did not recite an English poem. She asked them to do 150 sit-ups. 

As many as 12 students collapsed after doing some sit-ups and had to be rushed to a local hospital. The students were in a state of shock and complained of severe body pain.
Police have booked a case against the teacher identified as Pratima of C.S. Rayudu School.

According to students, she is not a regular teacher but was working as a computer operator in the school. As the English teacher was on leave, she was taking the classes.
The district collector visited the school. Leaders of various political parties also called on the students and demanded action against the teacher. (IANS)

Central planning to set up aviation university

Hyderabad: To bridge the shortage of skilled personnel in the aviation sector in the country, the Civil Aviation Ministry is planning to set up a full-fledged aviation university.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Mr Ajit Singh conveyed in his inaugural address at the 3rd International India Aviation 2012 here. The project will enhance the supply of trained pilots and other skilled personnel in aviation sector.

Saying that the government was keen to set up world class training and education infrastructure in the country, he pointed out that the CAE Global Flying Training Institute at Gondia in Maharashtra and CAE Simulator Training Facilities at Bangalore are excellent examples of such endeavors.

The Civil Aviation sector in the country will see the emergence of several new institutions and robust regulatory framework to address growing challenges of safety and capacity in infrastructure, efficiency, viability of the sector and providing skilled human resources, including education and R and D effort, Mr Singh added.

NIRD felicitated by AARDO for contribution in rural developmnt

Hyderabad: The National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), a training, research and consultancy organisation under the Union Ministry of Rural Development, has received an award from the Afro-Asian Rural Development Organisation (AARDO) in recognition of its contribution in the field of rural development.

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh presented the award to M V Rao, Director General of NIRD on March 5 during the Golden Jubilee celebrations of AARDO in New Delhi.

Earlier, NIRD also received the Bloomberg UTV B-School Leadership Award 2012 on February 18, 2012 in recognition of the services rendered by the Institute, NIRD said in a release.

Youth must follow their passion to achieve success: Sibal

Hyderabad: Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal appealed to youth to follow their passion and be prepared to take on the challenges arising out of the changing global scenario.

"The changes witnessed globally are opportunity to those who are willing to face challenges...You (youth) should anticipate the change and take advantage of the same," Sibal said while addressing the fourth convocation of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) here.

"Students should figure out what their passion is and pursue the same with compassion for achieving success," the minister said referring to Azim Premji of Wipro and former president APJ Abdul Kalam.

Sibal stressed the need for making education more "vibrant" and "sensitive" rather than confining it to books.

The MANUU also conferred honorary doctorates (Honoris Causa) to former chief justice of Supreme Court Justice A H Ahmadi, chairman of the Indian Council for Social Science and Research, Sukhdev Thorat, former MANUU VC Mohammad Shamim Jairajpuri and noted film maker and lyricist Gulzar on the occasion.

AP students face hardship over delay in post-matric grants

Hyderabad: An inordinate delay on part of the Andhra Pradesh government in releasing scholarships has forced thousands of post-matric students staying at Departmental Hostels to go without two square meals a day.

The state has not released Rs 2,000 crore towards the post-matric scholarships for intermediate, degree and post- graduate students living in student-managed hostels (now re-christened Departmental Hostels) under the social welfare department, sources said.

On an average, there are four Departmental Hostels in each of the 23 districts in the state with student strength ranging from 70-100 in each of them.

Besides incurring expenses on their food bill, the students are also required to cough money from their scholarship for paying salaries to cooks, watchmen and other staff of the hostels as the government pays only the building rent.

Though the government released about Rs 1,800 crore in the third quarter of this financial year, it was sufficient only to clear dues pertaining to the previous financial year, highly-placed government sources said.

With the current financial year coming to close and eight months already been passed in the ongoing academic year, the government is yet to release the scholarships, they said.

Along with 70 other students, Pragna (name changed on request) a second year degree student staying in a Departmental Hostel at Sangareddy, about 60 km from Hyderabad is making do with a single meal a day for the last couple of months.

"How can we buy rice, provisions and vegetables without money? We are pooling in what little money we are able to get from our parents and ensuring that we have at least one meal a day," she said, adding that not all students were lucky to draw money from their homes as they came from impoverished families.

There are three student-managed hostels in Medak, the home district of Deputy Chief Minister C Damodar Rajanarasimha and two of his ministerial colleagues, with a total strength of about 250.

Students in Krishna district are slightly better off as compared to their counterparts in Medak.

On learning about the hardship faced by the students due to non-payment of scholarships, Krishna district Collector S A M Rizvi directed the Social Welfare Department officials to take rice "as loan" from regular hostels (managed by the government) and supply it to student-managed hostels.

The Collector also arranged for supply of provisions and other essentials on credit from Vijayakrishna Super Bazaar, run by the Co-operative Department.

As and when the state government releases the scholarship arrears, the credit will be cleared, officials said. Meanwhile, officials in the Social Welfare Department here admitted that there has been a "problem" in releasing the scholarship amount.

"We have made all transactions online this year to ensure transparency. Online applications were received till December while the 'verification' process was completed only at the end of January. Hence the delay in payment," a top social welfare department official said, adding that the funds might be released in the next few days to clear all dues.

NMDC begins survey at school premises for treasure trove

Hyderabad: The experts of PSU major National Mineral Development Corporation(NMDC) today began a preliminary survey in the premises of a school here where some people recently reported about possible existence of a tunnel leading to a 'treasure trove'.

The area is being mapped and preliminary work may go on for two or three days, an official of NMDC said.

The State Archaeology Department sought the help of NMDC after excavations conducted by it failed to yield any result.

The excavations were conducted in the premises of the school located close to the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat and in the foothills of famous Birla temple in central part of Hyderabad.

The digging was taken up after some persons reported that they had seen something which could be a storage facility or tunnel, possibly leading to a 'treasure trove'.

State Archaeology Department Director P Chenna Reddy said that the department sought the help of NMDC to find out if there is anything that has archaeological value.

Meanwhile, the school authorities objected to the excavation being carried out in the school premises which disturbed the academic activity.

NKN plans to connect over 1500 institutes in next one year

Hyderabad: The National Knowledge Network (NKN) of the Centre is planning to connect over 1,500 institutions across the country in the next one year, a senior official said here on Wednesday.


The NKN has already covered 670 institutions including universities, NITs, IITs, IIMs, CSIR labs and agriculture labs, R S Mani, Senior Technical Director with National Informatics Centre (NIC) told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar cum workshop on NKN.

NKN project aims at bringing together all stakeholders from science, technology, higher education, healthcare, agriculture and governance to a common platform. NIC is the implementing agency for the project.

The total project cost is Rs 5,990 crore which is to be utilised in 10 years and so far about Rs 1,500 crore has been spent, he said.

"Once the institutions are connected, if there is any collaborative work with IITs or NITs or universities, they will get a boost and at the end of the day, we will get products which can be used by everyone and probably the digital divide can be removed," Mani said.

In addition to network infrastructure, the NIC would try to provide common infrastructure which everyone can use. Principal Scientific Advisor to Government R Chidambaram, who addressed the gathering via video conference, said the applications of the NKN include delivery of distance education, collaborative research including with international partners, sharing of computing resources among others.

"The NKN is becoming an important part of the huge science infrastructure of India," he said.

Kalam released a book on population boom and food mismatch

Hyderabad: With global population expected to cross 9 billion by 2050 from current 7 billion, a daunting question plaguing experts iswhether there will be enough food to feed so many people?

In his book 'Feeding the Forgotten Poor', agriculturist and Director General of the city-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Dr William D Dar tries to explore the topic threadbare.
The hardback was released by former President APJ Kalam in New Delhi on the sidelines of the second Global Agri-Business Incubation Conference: NIABI 2012.

The event was organised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in partnership with ICRISAT.
In a foreword to the book, the former president wrote, "The Book reveals perspectives to grow and provide food to the people wherever they live on Earth, backed by Dr Dar's own experience in multiple countries. Particularly, I am impressed with the Chapter 'Innovate, Grow and Prosper' where he deals with strategic science and dynamic development," an ICRISAT release said yesterday.

The ICRISAT director general, who hails from Philippines, is a research manager besides being an agronomist and has been associated with ICRISAT to realise its dream of smarter, healthier, sustainable and resilient agriculture towards attainment of food security, particularly in the arid tropics of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.