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. 

NCERT asked to remove Ambedkar cartoon from textbooks: Sibal

New Delhi: Agreeing that Ambedkar's cartoon in an NCERT textbook was objectionable, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said orders have been issued to withdraw it and stop distribution of these books, and promised concrete action in the matter.
   
Responding to concerns expressed by members in Rajya Sabha, Sibal said the Government will also examine whether any criminal offence was made out against those who drew or included the cartoon of B R Ambedkar in the textbook.
   
Admitting that there were many other objectionable cartoons of political leaders in NCERT textbooks, he said his Ministry has decided to constitute a Committee of experts to look into cases of all such objectionable cartoons and remove them.
   
"When I got information in the beginning of April, I wrote a letter to NCERT that such a cartoon should not be there as it is objectionable...On April 26, 2012, I wrote to NCERT stating that it is considered advisable to withdraw the cartoon. After this, they set up a Committee to examine this," Sibal said.
   
"Then I called all textbooks and found there are many other such cartoons about other leaders which are objectionable. Then I decided to set up a Committee to look into all textbooks. I told NCERT to stop distribution of all books immediately," he said.
   
When asked by BSP member Mayawati as to what action the Government was taking against those responsible for inclusion of Ambedkar cartoon in textbooks and by when would action be taken, Sibal said, "Nothing objectionable about Babasaheb Ambedkar will be allowed and action will be taken so that this is not repeated."

Sibal, however, said, "it is up to the courts to decide what provisions of law have been violated," at which Mayawati asked him that the Government should move the courts and register FIRs.
   
Clarifying that the textbooks are made by an independent textbook authority - Textbook Development Committee, which comprise academics and not officials of NCERT.    

He said none of the existing members of the present Textbook Committee which approved this book will be part of the new Committee set up to examine objectionable cartoons. 

Standard of school eduction improving: Govt

New Delhi: The standard of school eduction in the country is improving as surveys carried out in elementary schools have found progress in the overall learning levels of children, the government said.

The "National Learners' Achievement Surveys" carried out by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) have revealed "improvements in the overall learning levels of children at the elementary level", Minister of State for Human Resource D Purandeswari said in written reply to a query in Rajya Sabha.

Describing these periodic surveys as an important source of information on the trend of learning levels of the children at the elementary level, the Minister said the findings showed that there is enhancement in the level of achievement in most states.

"In language, there has been an improvement in learning achievement in 24 states/UTs, whereas, in mathematics, 14 states shave improved learning levels, and in environmental studies, 24 states/UTs have shown an improvement in learning level.

"Further, the overall differences in achievement between boys and girls as well as urban and rural students has reduced," Purandeswari informed the House.

Regarding the quality of education at secondary level, the Minister said the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan that was launched in 2009 is aimed at "enhancing education imparted and reduce disparities related to gender, socio-economic status, geographical location and disability". 

HC restrains schools from enhancing fee

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high ourt issued directions that no school would enhance the school fee in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, without the consent of the education boards to which the schools are affiliated.
   
The bench has also issued directions to ensure that no books other than NCERT were prescribed in Punjab schools.    

The bench, comprising Justice S K Mittal and Justice T P S  Mann, has held that schools must take the education boards into confidence before any fee hike.
   
The bench also directed that schools would submit their profit and loss statement for the past five years to the Central Board of Secondary Education, ICSE or Punjab School Education Board whereever they were affiliated with.
   
The bench also issued directions that no CBSE-affiliated school would prescribe the books published by those other than NCERT.
   
The directions were issued on three PILs filed on similar issues. One of the petitions had been filed by 10 students from Malerkotla while two other petitioners are city-based NGOs Anti Corruption and Crime Investigation Cell and All India Crime Preventing Society.
   
The petitioners referred to the directions of the Supreme Court in Modern School vs Union of India, which stated that each school would maintain the account on the principles of non business organisation.

Citing the example of fee hike by a school Sita Grammar School in Malerkotla, the petitioner stated that in academic session 2009, the school was charging fee that included admission fee of Rs 3500, annual charges of Rs 4500 besides quarterly tuition fee, computer fee, science fee, conveyance fee and building fund.
   
The fee was subsequently hiked in the following years. In academic year starting in 2012, the fee had been hiked to annual charges eleven thousand rupees, development fee two thousand rupees besides other fee charged at quarterly basis.
   
The petitioner said that as per calculation, in 2010, total amount of 1.08 crores rupees had been collected by the school as annual charges while the same was 1.87 crore rupees for the session in 2011.
   
This is besides the students being forced to buy stationary and school dress from school shops.
   
The bench has issued directions to Punjab School Education Board, ICSE and CBSE to file affidavit about the schools in their jurisdiction and also have all the schools file profit and loss account for the past five  years.
   
The bench also asked the boards to file a response as to how it was being ensured that teachers were getting salaries as per norms and the Right to Education Act was being followed by these schools. 

HCL launches Education Tablet - the MyEduTab

Mumbai: HCL unveiled today– HCL MyEdu Tab at a press conference held in the capital city today. MyEduTab tablet caters to the needs of Learners across Schools and Higher Education Institutions and provides personalized and collaborative learning.

Speaking on the launch, Mr. Gautam Advani, EVP & Head, Mobility, HCL Infosystems said, The Tablet market in India is growing at a rapid pace and the device is fast enriching consumer’s lives by finding unique usages from a learning companion to a productivity enhancer. 

HCL Infosystems has brought the new & innovative MyEduTab to Indian educational institutions for both schools and colleges. MyEduTab will enable students, teachers & parents to connect, collaborate and share information as well as content over the Cloud. For instance, while the teacher can upload content onto the cloud, the student or the parent can access the same (for eg. homework) on his/her MyEduTab.

MyEduTab aims at personalized learning while helping the students to understand concepts at their own pace.  With the topic revision application and a self assessment engine on MyEduTab, students can self evaluate their skills and knowledge, while parents will now be able to monitor their child’s progress in an easy and convenient manner. The price for the MyEduTab– K12 Version is Rs. 11,499, which includes the price of the device, content and a memory card while educational applications and NCERT books will be free. 

NCERT starts dispatching textbooks to distributors

New Delhi: With the new academic session soon to begin, National Council of Education Research and Training said it has already started dispatching textbooks to its distributors to ensure that there is no scarcity of books in the market.
 
The council, which has been confronted with shortage of school books since the last two years, said it has "already started dispatching books to its wholesale distributors across the country in a phased manner".
 
All the textbooks, in three languages — English, Hindi and Urdu, are also available online and can be downloaded free of cost from www.ncert.nic.in for non-commercial use, NCERT said in a statement.
 
Around three-and-a-half crore textbooks are estimated to be required this year, it said.
 
"If the books are not available for some unavoidable reasons in certain places, then NCERT also allows bulk purchase to schools from its sales counters," the statement said.
 
The sales counters at the headquarters of NCERT in Delhi and its Regional Production-cum-Distribution Centres in Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Bangalore are open from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on all five working days of a week, it said.
 
NCERT books are not only followed by CBSE but also by several state boards.