B.Tech in Humanities gets overwhelming response: Delhi University

New Delhi: Delhi University said its much-talked about B Tech in Humanities course opened to "overwhelming" response from students, forcing it to extend the dates for submission of forms and admission.
 
The course, to be conducted by the university's Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC), will offer flexibility to students in chosing their subjects and will be taught under the 'meta college' concept.
 
The admission process started on July 25 and according to the University the response was "overwhelming" in the first week.
 
Given the loads of queries and interest shown by students, the University has decided to increase the ambit of the course to students currently enrolled in any programme of the University.
 
The last date for submission of forms is now August 17, the entrance test date has been rescheduled to August 26 from August 5.
 
Following a written test and an interview, students will be admitted to this four-year course which has 40 seats on offer.
 
The course is spread over eight semesters, and classes for the first and the last semester will be held at CIC.
 
In the intervening semesters, students can opt for courses in various colleges and can pursue a maximum of two semesters in one college. They will also be required to prepare innovation projects every semester. 

Final decision on cartoons in textbooks likely tomorrow

New Delhi: NCERT held "exhaustive" deliberations with the textbook development committee on political science on the issue of removal of certain cartoons and objectionable content from CBSE textbooks, a final decision on which is expected tomorrow.
 
The meeting comes amid indications that the controversial cartoons on B R Ambedkar and the one relating to  nti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu could be removed.
 
"There were exhaustive deliberations and a final decision is expected tomorrow after the last round of discussion," a source said, adding, views of the national monitoring committee was also taken into account.
 
A statement issued after a meeting of the committee on July 14, an apex group of experts which approves  textbooks, to discuss the Thorat panel recommendations had said changes if any would be done keeping in mind the public debate on some cartoons.
 
The apex national monitoring committee had expressed its dissatisfaction over the panel recommendations on deletion of certain number of cartoons on the grounds that there were many inadequacies in the report and the grounds given for removal of the cartoons were not very satisfactory.
 
The Thorat panel was set up following the row over the Ambedkar cartoon in the CBSE class XI political science textbook.
 
The panel has sought removal of about 21 cartoons and recommended some changes in words and phrases with negative implications. 

SSC exam fiasco: probe ordered

Kolkata: The West Bengal government ordered a probe into the delayed arrival of question papers of the School service Commission examination yesterday at several centres in five districts, due to which a large number of examinees could not appear for the test.
 
Two simultaneous inquiries- one by the district administration and another by the education department- would be made to identify the cause of the delay and fix responsibility, state Education minister Bratya Basu said.
 
He said that arrangements would be made to hold tests for those examinees who could not appear.
 
Basu told reporters that the delay in the arrival of question papers occurred in centres in Burdwan, Howrah, Hooghly, South 24-Parganas and Malda districts.
 
The minister said he had talked to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issue.
 
SSC Chairman Chittaranjan Mondal said there would be zone-wise re-examination, but the minister differed and said there would be no zone-wise re-examination.
 
Mondal alleged that there was a conspiracy to disrupt the recruitment process in schools.
 
The SSC conducted the examination to appoint teachers in secondary and higher-secondary schools. 

NIT to be set up in Sumari: Bahuguna

Dehra Dun: A National Institute of Technology (NIT) would soon be set up in Sumari area of Pauri district, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna has said. 
 
Bahuguna told a delegation of Sumari residents, led by MLA Ganesh Godiyal, that appropriate land is being identified for the purpose, an official release said here.
 
The residents have been on a dharna for the last 90 days over their demand of setting up an NIT in Sumari.
 
Principal Secretary, technical education, Rakesh Sharma also handed over to Godiyal a letter in this regard.
 
Bahuguna asked the MLA to ask the agitating residents to end their stir as there should be no doubts about setting up of an NIT at Sumari.
 
He said the Centre has already provided its approval in principle and Rs 100 crore have already been sanctioned for the purpose.
 
The Chief Minister said Commissioner of Garhwal and the Pauri District Magistrate have been asked to identify land for setting up the institute. He expressed hope that all formalities in this regard would be completed within a period of three months. 

Nalanda to start session from 2014

New Delhi: The proposed Nalanda University will embark on its fresh journey from 2014 and will offer courses in History and Ecological Studies in the beginning.

Chancellor Amartya Sen said that they are going to start with School of Historical Studies and School of Environment and Ecological Studies from 2014.

"Then we are going to start with School of Economics and Management and School of Information Technology," Sen said at a function here.

Stressing of increased Public Private Partnership for building the university, Sen lauded the efforts of the Centre as well as the Bihar Government for giving shape to the university, located in the town of Rajgir and  contains within it a memory of the ancient Nalnda University.

Sen said that they were trying to build the University within its resources.

During his conversation with Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta, organised by the University, he said that the University is getting support from very large number of Asian Countries and it is already in partnership with several universities across the world.

Nalanda University was established in November 2010. The University came into being by a special Act of the Indian Parliament a testimony to the important status that Nalanda University occupies in the Indian intellectual landscape.

Member, University's mentor group, Sugata Bose said the university has approved 26 faculty position, 13 each for school of historical studies and 13 for school of Environment and Ecological studies and the faculty will be appointed by July, 2013.

The classes will started by July, 2014, he said. 

Psychological abuse to kids as damaging as physical attack

London: Bullying and calling names can be as damaging to a young child's physical, mental and emotional health as a slap, punch or kick, a new study has found.

The study looked at the effects of verbal abuse and found it can be just as harmful to a child's development as a physical attack.

According to an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report on psychological maltreatment in journal 'Pediatrics', psychological abuse may be the most challenging and prevalent form of child abuse and neglect.

"Yelling at a child every day and giving the message that the child is a terrible person, and that the parent regrets bringing the child into this world, is an example of a potentially very harmful interaction," said Dr Harriet MacMillan, McMaster University's Michael G DeGroote School of Medicine and the Offord Centre for Child Studies.

"We are talking about extremes and the likelihood of harm, or risk of harm, resulting from the kinds of behaviour that make a child feel worthless, unloved or unwanted," MacMillan said.

Psychological abuse was described in the scientific literature more than 25 years ago, but it has been under-recognised and under-reported, MacMillan said, adding that its effects "can be as harmful as other types of maltreatment."

The report says that because psychological maltreatment interferes with a child's development path, the abuse has been linked with disorders of attachment, developmental and educational problems, socialisation problems and disruptive behaviour.

"The effects of psychological maltreatment during the first three years of life can be particularly profound."

 This form of mistreatment can occur in many types of families, but is more common in homes with multiple stresses, including family conflict, mental health issues, physical violence, depression or substance abuse. 

Varsity opposes plea of Alagiri trust college

Madurai: The state-run Anna University of Technology opposed in the Madras High Court bench the plea for temporary affiliation by an engineering college set up by a trust in which Union Minister M K Alagiri is a member.
   
Registrar of Anna University of Technology, Madurai, E B Perumal Pillai in a counter affidavit said the high court could neither arrogate itself the powers to grant affiliation nor issue a positive direction to a university to grant affiliation.
   
Opposing the plea of Dhaya College of Engineering, set up by the M K Alagiri Educational Trust here, the Registrar also said the university had no powers to grant temporary affiliation as sought by the college.
   
He also quoted a Division Bench's judgement relating to the Madras University and said no college could claim affiliation as a matter of right.
   
The college had sought temporary affiliation from the university for the year 2012-13, besides permission to participate in the ongoing counselling for engineering admissions.
   
The college, set up last year, was denied affiliation on the ground that there were some defects in the infrastructure. But the college officials had said they had rectified all the defects pointed out by the AUT team. 

Punjab makes great strides in Education department

Amritsar: Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia lauded the state education department for working hard to improve the state's countrywide ranking in elementary education.
 
In a statement here, Majithia said it was a matter of pride that the state was ranked third, a major leap forward by any state in improving elementary school education.
 
He said this was the result of efforts made by the education department officials and staff and the pro-people policies of the SAD-BJP government in the state.
 
Majithia claimed that in the recent report released by the union Human Resource Development Ministry, Punjab had earned accolades for improving the education scenario.
    
He said the state left behind larger states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala in successfully implementing school education programmes for all.
    
"It is a major leap forward. The state was at the 7th place last year and in just one year we have progressed to the 3rd position", he said.
     
The smaller states of Puducherry and Lakshdeep were the only states ahead of Punjab, because of their smaller size, but amongst the bigger states, Punjab was ahead of all, the minister asserted.
    
He said the report is prepared by keeping all aspects, including the infrastructure available in schools, teachers and staff, results and approach to the schools.
    
The new development followed the recent number one ranking of the state in general infrastructure development, changing economic progress patterns and future prospects of Punjabs economy, he said. 
 
Majithia gave credit to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for their efforts to take the state to the new heights of development and progress.
     
Their government would continue working hard to take the state forward in economic progress, achieve a better human index by launching new society oriented schemes for the poor and downtrodden, he said.
 
Majithia took pride in that Punjab, which was turning backward economically in the past due to political-social and religious disturbances, had today surged ahead of states such as Tamil Nadu and Kerala to make progress in education. 

Delhi Government to set up 94 schools

New Delhi: Delhi Government will set up 94 new schools across the city in the current academic session, Delhi Education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said.
 
He said the schools are being set up to meet rising demand for admissions in government-run schools. The government currently runs around 800 schools in the city.
 
Lovely was speaking after inaugurating a newly constructed school building of Rajkiya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Gandhi Nagar.
 
27 new class rooms and five modern science laboratories have been constructed in the schools at a cost of Rs two crore.
 
He said Government has upgraded school buildings of 186 schools in Trans-Yamuna area in the last two years.
   
Lovely said modern play grounds would be provided in each of the nine districts to promote sports amongst school children. 

Shetye, Srinivasan conferred national science awards

New Delhi: Senior scientists Satish Shetye and J Srinivasan were conferred national awards for their contribution to ocean and atomospheric sciences respectively.

The awards were given away by Minister of State for Earth Sciences Ashwani Kumar at a function to mark the ninth Foundation Day of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Shetye, the Director of the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography, was conferred with the national award in Ocean Science and Technology for his outstanding contributions to the field.

Srinivasan, the principal investigator for the Indo-French satellite Megha-Tropiques, was honoured with the national award in Atmospheric Science and Technology for his outstanding contributions to the field.

Certificate of Merit in Ocean Science & Technology were given to Manish Tiwari, V. Ranga Rao, Basanta Kumar Jena and Venkat Seshu Redden.  

Certificates of Merit in Atmospheric Science and Technology were given to Ashish Kumar Mitra, S D Pawar, Kripan Ghosh and Ashok Kumar Das.

Addressing the gathering, Kumar said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has assured that there would be no dearth of funds for the ministries of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.

Kumar said institutional endeavours lined up for implementation during the XII Plan include areas of earthquake research, monitoring of glaciers, role of Himalayan ecosystem, understanding monsoon's variability and improving skills in short-term, medium-range extended-range and seasonal scale prediction of rainfall. 

International workshop to be held at IIM-Kozhikode

Kozhikode: A five-day international workshop on Digital Libraries will be held at Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, (IIM-K) from August 20 to 24. 
   
The objective of the workshop was to conduct rigorous and advanced training programme coupled with state-of-art lectures delivered by doyens in the field on Digital Libraries, a release from IIM-K said.
   
The software selected for the workshop will be'Greenstone', a top of the line and internationally renowned software system for developing digital libraries, promoted by the New Zealand Digital Library project research group, it said.
    
The aim of the software is to empower users, particularly in universities, libraries, and other public service institutions, to build their own digital libraries. 
   
The Centre for Development of Digital Libraries (CDDL) at IIM Kozhikode has the distinction of coordinating the Greenstone Support for South Asia for the past six years, on behalf of UNESCO.
   
Around 25 participants admitted for the workshop include delegates from the Middle East, as well as from prestigious institutions all over India.
   
Participants will be instructed in how to design digital collections of different publications in a variety of file formats, including multimedia such as audio, video, and images, the release said. 

14 school vehicles found operating without permit in Erode

Erode (TN): In a crackdown on unauthorised vehicles used for transporting school children in the wake of the death of a six-year old girl in Chennai, Regional Transport Officials here slapped a fine of Rs 84,000 on 14 vehciles being operated without necessary permit.
    
The officials conducted inspections of school buses, vans and mini vans across the district yesterday and found 14 vehicles plying without proper permit for transporting school children, officials said.
   
The Transport department has ordered the crackdown after the shocking death of S Sruthi, a class II student of a private school in Chennai, who was crushed to death under the wheels of her school bus when she fell down through a hole on the floor of the bus near Tambaram.
    
Besides slapping a total fine of Rs 84,000, the officials ordered the operators of the vehicle to apply for necessary permit for transporting school children, they said. 

79 BDS Govt. quota seats yet to be filled

Chennai: 79 Govt. quota seats in private dental colleges in Tamil Nadu are vacant at the close of first phase counselling for BDS.

In Tamil Nadu, 18 dental colleges function providing 946 seats under Govt quota. First phase counselling for filling these seats ended on July 27.

At the close of first phase, 52 seats in SC category, 18 seats in SC-A and 9 seats in ST category with the total of 79 seats are without any takers.   

Selection committee secretary R G Sukumar, told " These seats will be filled up in the second phase counselling to be held in the third week of September. 

Seven seats that was vacant for the ST category in private medical college got filled yesterday", he said.     

Punjab issues strict guidelines against ragging

Chandigarh: Punjab government issued strict instructions to all the technical institutions to take written undertaking from the students and their parents to not to take part in any kind of ragging activity.
 
Punjab Technical Education and Industrial Training Minister Anil Joshi asked the government and private polytechnics and ITI's to get anti ragging affidavits from students as well as their parents at the time of admission.
 
Joshi asked the Technical Education Department to issue instructions to all the Technical Educational Institutions to follow the Supreme Court guidelines in this regard.
 
"Strict action would be taken against the institution found violating the norms," Joshi said.
 
All institutions have been ordered to set up a helpline for the ragging victims, and the aggrieved students could lodge their complaint before the college authority. 

Senior level Executive programme at NIIT Imperia

Chennai: NIIT Imperia - Centre for Advanced Learning, offers Executive Learning Programs in association with leading Business schools in India.

NIIT Imperia in collaboration with Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC), invites application for one year - Senior Management Program.

Designed to equip the senior level executives with tools and perspectives to make well considered strategic decisions, the programme would benefit managers, likely to take on the essentials of functional skills of management and aiming for leadership roles; and practicing Senior Managers wishing to stay updated with contemporary management thoughts, can opt for this program.

Key objective of the one year program is to develop on tools and techniques required for managing organizations and transform the senior level executives into strategic leaders within their organizations.

Working professionals/ self employed  Graduate (10+2+3) in any discipline with minimum 50% marks recognised by UGC/ AICTE/ DEC/AIU having minimum 10 years of work experience post completion of graduation as on August 01, 2012

For complete addresses and contact numbers, visit www.niitimperia.com

Education key to bright future: Sonia

Rae Bareli: Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that society and country would progress only when maximum people get education for which the UPA government continues to take concrete steps.

"The society and the country will progress only when maximum people get educated. Education is the key to a bright future," Sonia said in her address after laying the foundation stone for widening of the Lucknow-Rae Bareli road and other projects here.

She said that the UPA government has taken concrete steps in the field of education.

"Approval has been given for one model school in every block and 75 per cent of the cost is being given by the UPA government. In Uttar Pradesh money has been provided for 148 schools," she said.

The UPA chairperson said that Rae Bareli being the "karmbhoomi" of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, it was her wish that a girls' degree college should be build in her memory.

Sonia said that the Human Resource Development Ministry has taken an initiative to set up a degree college here.

"State government has also shown positive stand in giving land. As soon as land is provided necessary steps would be taken immediately and the college will be named after Indira Gandhi," she said.

The UPA president said that Lucknow-Rae Bareli road would be converted into four lanes at a cost of Rs 600 crore. Sonia said that work on widening Rae Bareli-Allahabad road would be started soon with a cost of Rs 300 crore.

"The UPA government has given approval for national highway projects at a cost of Rs 1,800 crore," she said. 

Indian student jailed for UK visa fraud

London: An Indian student, who submitted bogus university documents in a bid to illegally extend his stay in the UK, has been jailed for six months.
     
Sanket Thaker, 27, admitted to a charge that he attempted to obtain leave to remain in the country by deception when he appeared at the Warwick Crown Court.
     
Thaker had attended a UK Border Agency office in Solihull in the West Midlands on May 9 to try and extend his student visa.
 
The officer he spoke to was suspicious of two certificates, purporting to be from the University of Hertfordshire and the City of London College, which he produced to support his application.
     
Andy Byrne-Smith, from the UK Border Agency, said: "The poor print quality of the documents was a clear indication that they weren't the genuine article and enquiries with the university and the college confirmed the officer's suspicions."  
     
Enquiries revealed that while Thaker had been enrolled at the two educational establishments he had been expelled from the University of Hertfordshire in December 2007 and was suspended from the City of London College in March this year.
 
When he was arrested at his home address on June 28 he admitted he had produced the offending documents on his own computer.
 
Byrne-Smith said: "This was a blatant and deliberate attempt to breach the UK's immigration controls. Thaker's intention was to remain in the UK for as long as possible and take employment opportunities away from those legally entitled to work."
     
His conviction "means he will get a longer stay in the UK, but not in the manner he was hoping." 

Mumbai to rope in Pvt players to improve school functioning

Mumbai: In a bid to impart quality education in the civic-body run schools, BMC has decided to appoint private players from the field of education to manage the school functioning.
 
"We will be appointing private players having expertise in the field of education. To improve and maintain the standard of education, teachers from these schools will also be given special training by private experts," Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale said here.
 
He said the civic-body will retain its old teaching staff. "Only the management would be handed over to the private players who would take charge of the laboratories, library and computer labs to impart better training to the students," Shewale said.
 
He clarified they would only be appointing private organisations for improving the functioning of schools and would not completely hand  over the educational institutions to them.
 
"BMC will be having control over the schools, as it has now," Shewale said. 

Kerala considering revision of syllabus: Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government is considering revising syllabus in educational institutions after consultations with universities, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said.
 
Inaugurating the skill development project in schools initiated by the state government, he said the government wanted the educational system to be job-oriented.
 
Though the state had maximum manpower with educational qualifications, there was shortage of workers in several sectors. The skill development programme was designed to meet this requirement, he said.
 
Information and Technology sector had been included in the programme in the first phase and later it would be extended to hospitality, retail, tourism and healthcare, he said.
 
Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb, who presided, said with the scheme, students from higher secondary level would be able to get practical knowledge of jobs they desired. 

IIT Bombay gives nod to new format of common entrance

New Delhi: IIT Bombay gave its nod to the common entrance for admission to the undergraduate programme from 2013 under a format which will admit students having top 20 percentile of their respective boards.

The senate approved the IIT council's resolution regarding admission to the IITs based only on rank achieved in advance test subject to condition that selected candidates are in the top 20 percentile of successful list of their boards.

IIT council, at its crucial meeting here on June 27, had adopted a resolution in this regard as part of a compromise formula, bringing an end to a deadlock between the government and the IITs which had been opposing giving weightages to board results.

"IIT Bombay senate has accepted the resolution," said president of All India IIT Faculty Federation K Narasimhan.

However, he said that instead of allowing 1.50 lakh candidates to sit in the advance test, they have sought to restrict the figure to about 50,000 students.

As National Institute of Technology (NITs) have decided to adopt the original formula under the common test albeit with some minor tweaking, IIT Bombay senate felt there was no need to keep the figure at 1.50 lakh, he said.

IIT Kanpur is also expected to meet later this week to examine the IIT council resolution amid indications that it is in favour of adopting the council resolution.

The resolution is to be vetted by other IITs too before the Joint Admission Board gives its final seal of approval to the format.