Sibal proposes to launch 'Connect to India' initiative in US

Washington: Union Human Resources and Development Minister Kapil Sibal proposed to launch a "Connect to India" initiative to attract more American students to study in India.
 
US already has a similar "Passport to India" programme for facilitating US students to go to India for studies.
 
"While the world is coming together through technology, we must learn to appreciate, manage and preserve our diversity through education and learning by experience. No country on this planet is more diverse than India.
 
I am sure that global students would understand and learn about management of diversity in India far better than elsewhere in the world," Sibal said.
 
"Towards this end, I propose, to launch a "Connect to India" initiative that will make available opportunities for students that will make available opportunities for students in the US to spend some time in our quality institutions for learning about our life, society, culture, economy polity and business," Sibal said.
 
The minister made these remarks at the opening session of the India-US Higher Education Dialogue which he co-chaired along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
 
As "Passport to India" programme of the US, Clinton announced that seven companies have agreed to support internship to service linked projects for 225 American students over the next three years.
 
"American students would soon be doing cutting edge research with Microsoft in Bangalore, developing new energy solutions at Honeywell in AP (Andhra Pradesh), and working on several projects with local NGOs," Clinton said.
 
The Secretary of State lauded Indian government for sending junior faculty for post-doctoral research. 

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. 

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.

Sibal opposes cartoons on political class in textbooks

New Delhi: Under attack over the cartoon row, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal acknowledged that cartoons on the political class should not find a place in textbooks as they influence the impressionable minds of students.

Holding that the issue is not about the content of the cartoons but about their inclusion in textbooks, he said the impression should not go to the world that the political class is corrupt and bereft of any principles.

"We believe textbooks are not the place where these issues should be influencing impressionable minds. That's our position," the Minister told reporters outside Parliament.

Noting that freedom of expression is contextual, Sibal, who has come under sharp attack from the opposition as well as from within his party over the cartoon of B R Ambedkar in an NCERT political science textbook, said a cartoon acceptable in newspapers may not be fit for a textbook as the recent controversy has highlighted.

"The same cartoon in a newspaper may well be acceptable but the same cartoon or a series of such cartoons attacking the political class or a community in a textbook which has a tendency to influence impressionable minds may well not be acceptable", he said.

Sibal said he disagreed with the views of NCERT advisors Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar that the cartoon on Ambedkar should not be interpreted in a manner in which the MPs had interpreted it and therefore decided to remove them.

Yadav and Palshikar, who as advisors of the textbook had approved the cartoon, had stepped down after the row. The Minister said the removal of the content will not affect the students in anyway as they will get the books on time.

"Students will get their books. All these will be done within one month. Printing will be done once again after remove the cartoon and than distributed," he said.

Super 30 founder meets Sibal to discuss IIT reforms

New Delhi: Noted maths wizard Anand Kumar, who has won many accolades by getting over 300 students from marginalised classes an entry into the IITs, met Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to discuss reforms in the entrance to the coveted institutions in order to make the process more inclusive.
 
The 'Super 30' founder, who met Sibal at his residence, welcomed the minister's efforts for reducing the dependency of these examinations on coaching institutes.
 
Pitching for a level-playing field for one and all, Kumar called for efforts "to reduce the urban-rural divide" so that bright students from rural areas can come forward.
 
Kumar, however, opted to differ from the view that introduction of aptitude test and weightage to plus two board results will do away with the dependency on coaching institutes.
 
"Considering the reality of schools, especially in rural areas, the students will now be under more pressure trying to deal with the challenges on three fronts- preparing for plus two, the subject test for IIT-JEE and the new aptitude test and the coachings will make more money," he said.
 
He pointed out that the institutes were in fact trying to "cash in" on the new trend and asserted that there could be no alternative to good schooling.
 
Batting for a single multiple choice question (MCQ) test based on plus two syllabus for a fair chance to students from all backgrounds, Kumar said if AIIMS can admit students through single test, IIT-JEE can also do it also.
 
"For adhering to plus two syllabus fully, the subject experts from both IIT-JEE and CBSE can jointly prepare the questions," he said, noting that this will help in setting a more "balanced" paper, keeping in mind level of studies in CBSE and state board schools as well as requirements of IITs.
 
He said this will not only minimise dependency on private coachings but also reduce stress on students, ultimately making them more serious right from the school level.
 
Anand strongly objected to the inclusion of Subjective Special Test in addition to the MCQ based test, claiming unfairness and subjectivity in manual evaluation.
 
The two also held discussions on issues like three chances for rural students in JEE and continuation of all transparency norms adopted in the process in last two years.
 
Anand, through his unique 'Super 30', provides free residential coaching to 30 meritorious students from the underprivileged sections of the society and till now, 236 students have made it to the IITs.
 
The programme has drawn attention across the globe with the prestigious 'Time' magazine describing Kumar's school as the 'Best in Asia' while Discovery channel showing an hour-long documentary over it. 

Sibal's intervention sought on reservation in University

Chandigarh: Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab CM asked Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to immediately issue directions to the UGC and the deemed Thapar University at Patiala to maintain territorial quota of 50 per cent in Punjab.

The Chief Minister, in a letter to Sibal, sought his intervention to redress "this genuine grievance" of the state to ensure that no step-motherly treatment was meted out to Punjab students by the Thapar University or UGC.
    
Badal told Sibal that the Deemed Thapar University in Patiala had recently taken a decision in their meeting of Board of Governors (BOGs) on February 24, 2012, citing UGC guidelines, to de-reserve 50 per cent of the seats for the undergraduate courses which were being filled earlier out of  the quota meant for students belonging to Punjab.
    
He mentioned that the Thapar Institute, which had come up as an Institute of Excellence, was solely on account of contributions made by the state and thereafter giving them grant-in-aid and the other financial assistance under various government schemes.
    
The Deemed Thapar University is not in the present shape of its own but definitely due to the active financial and in support of the state government.
    
Badal said that with this decision of the BOGs, the interests of the students of Punjab have been "sacrificed  /compromised" which in no way was acceptable to the state.
   
The Chief Minister also pointed out that the other deemed universities like NIT, Jalandhar, and Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal, are having 50 per cent seats reserved as state quota under the umbrella of UGC only.
  
In the city of Chandigarh, the Punjab Engineering College, also a deemed university, was also having 50 per cent territorial quota for students of Chandigarh city alone, said Badal adding the decision of the BOGs is without any intimation, consent or approval of Punjab. 

Sibal regrets lack of movement on education bills

Kolkata: Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal regretted the delay in giving clearance to some education bills in Parliament including the Educational Malpractices Bill and Foreign Education Providers Bill, which are pending before Parliament.

"We have introduced about 14 legislations in Parliament. They are all pending .... for two years. Nobody wishes to debate them, nobody wishes to put them on the agenda," Sibal said.

"We (UPA) don't have majority in the Rajya Sabha. So if somebody says we will not allow the bills to come on the agenda, what can we do"? he said.

The minister noted that by 2020, 100 million additional heads would be part of the workforce from India only. By 2030, one third of the world's workforce would be provided by India.

Sibal felt there was a need for structural and administrative reforms and a collaborative approach for development of the education sector.

Supporting the opening up of the sector to private and foreign education providers, Sibal said the number of students of higher education could go up to 47 million from 17 million by 2020. 

Accreditation for higher learning institutions a must: Sibal

New Delhi: Government proposes to enact a crucial bill this year to make it mandatory for every higher educational institution to be accredited in the country, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said.

"I hope in this session of Parliament we will carry through (the bill)," he said at a global summit of accreditation here.

The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill has provisions under which assessment of such accreditation has to be made before the institution starts the process of admission to the programmes.

The existing educational institutions have also to get their accreditation within three years, official sources said.

The bill also seeks establishment of National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Education, which shall register and monitor accreditation agencies.

Maintaining that the passage of the bill is critical to ensure quality, Sibal expressed the country's eagerness to join the Washington Accord with full signatory status so as to help Indian engineering students and professionals have global recognition.

"...We desire to be part of the family of that quality of the Washington Accord," he said.

At present, India is a provisional member of the Washington Accord, which is an international agreement among bodies responsible for accrediting engineering degree programmes.  

The accord recognises equivalence of quality of programmes and recommends that graduates of programmes accredited by any of the signatory bodies may be recognised by the other member bodies as  having met academic requirements for entry to engineering, thus, facilitating international mobility.

Hu Hanrahan, who is the chair of the Washington Accord, who was present at the meeting, did not provide a timeline for India becoming a permanent member but said the process was underway.

While experts from abroad are helping India in this exercise, Hu said, "The HRD Minister assured that he is serious" about joining the Accord as a permanent member.

However, he said India is yet to invite the Washington Accord for the auditing of its accreditation system which is critical in the process of becoming a permanent member.

As of now, 14 bodies with permanent status in the Accord include Engineers Australia, Engineers Canada, Engineering Council, UK, Japan Accreditation Board of Engineering Education.