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. 

Kerala CM voices concern over denial of education loans by banks

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy expressed concern over denial of educational loans by banks and said the guidelines prescribed by the All India Bank Association for sanctioning loans were not acceptable to the state.
    
The state government would take up the matter with banks, he said to a calling attention of Thomas Unniyadan (KC-M) seeking steps to end the reported discrimination by banks in sanctioning educational loans.
    
With a view to arriving at a consensus on different aspects to be presented before the banks, a meeting of MLAs, who were interested in the matter, would be held on June 25 here, he said.
    
Government was of the view that banks should take a liberal attitude for sanctioning educational loans, he said.
    
Earlier, banks had only one condition the institutions for which admission was sought should be a government recognised one, for sanctioning loans. However, in due course they added more restrictions, he said.
   
The Cooperative banks, which were denied permission to sanction educational loans, have now got consent, Chandy said. 
   
State Rural Development Minister K C Joseph said district level monitoring cells would be constituted to address the grievances of students applying for educational loans. 
    
Unniyadan brought to the notice of the House the difficulties and red-tape faced by students and parents to get educational loans from banks, even though Centre had announced the scheme, and wanted the state government to intervene in the matter. 

Animation, Visual Effects Seminar on May 29

Thiruvananthapuram: Toonz Academy, the training division of Technopark-based Toonz Animation India will conduct a workshop - 'Animation and Visual Effects Seminar' here on May 29.

The seminar will focus on the career opportunities in the Animation and Visual Effects sector, Toonz Animation CEO P Jayakumar said.

The horizon that defines animation is now being broadened to include the entertainment as well as non-entertainment sectors, and increasingly to telecommunications, he said.

'Animation is considered to be the most attractive genre for new and emerging platforms like media convergence, mobile media, online games etc. Animation is also increasingly being used for education called 'edutainment', and also in interactive CDs. Fields like Art, architecture, education, engineering, forensics, simulation and gaming industry, space exploration, military etc will all soon find using animation techniques increasingly in their day-to-day activities.' Jayakumar said.

The seminars will be conducted by experts from Toonz. Toonz Academy is the training division of the award winning animation studio, Toonz Animation India Pvt Ltd.

The Academy has also signed MOU's with leading Chinese Universities to set up animation training centres in China and plans to expand its operation to West Africa, Middle East and South East Asia.

Sports Science Centre to be set up at LNCPE

Thiruvananthapuram: A sports science centre, designed to impart scientific training to sportspersons and trainers, with modern facilities and gadgets, would be set up in Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre at the Lakshmibai National College for Physical Education (LNCPE) near here.

The proposed science centre would be third of its kind in the country. Presently, only National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala, and SAI Bangalore centre have such a facility, LNCPE said in a release.
    
Equipment costing more than Rs 1.5 crore would be installed within two weeks at the LNCPE located at Kariavattom.
    
The centre is meant to provide professional training to sportspersons to regularly perform well at the international level.
    
A state-of-the-art sports medicine facility would be the highlight of the centre, the release said. 

Kerala Higher Secondary Examination results announced

Thiruvananthapuram: Girls excelled in the Kerala Higher Secondary Examinations for which the results were announced today.

The total pass percentage stood at 82.25. Of the 2,93,112 students who appeared for the examination in 1,897 centres, 2,58,179 candidates qualified for higher studies, State Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

Out of the 3,334 students who got 'A' grade in all subjects, 2,234 were girls.

Pass percentage was more in Kozhikode district (90.96 per cent) and lowest in Pathanamthitta district (81.2 per cent).

Among the 61 candidates who appeared for various arts examination at the Kalamadlam Arts School, 51 students qualified for higher studies and pass percentage in the Arts School was 83.6 per cent.

The examination result of the Kerala State Vocational Higher Secondary was also released today for which the pass percentage was 84.73 per cent.

Kerala to start virtual classrooms in ITIs

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Industrial Department has decided to introduce virtual classrooms in 34 industrial training institutes in the state.

It envisages imparting changing technology in industrial sector to industrial trainees with the help of E-learning. In the first phase, virtual classrooms would be set up in 34 ITIs, state labour minister Shibu Baby John said here.

The programme will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Kozhikode on May 17 which will also coincide with the first anniversary of the United Democratic Front government.

Along with virtual classrooms, job and placement portals would become operational, he said.

Now a 7-inch tablet for Rs.5,399

Thiruvananthapuram. Giving competition to the government's Aakash tablet, Telmoco Development Labs Pvt. has come out with a Tablet PC - Attitude Daksha - a 7-inch tablet variant for Rs.5,399 inclusive of all taxes. Attitude Daksha, touted as the most powerful 7-inch tablet computer for students and professionals, was launched here Tuesday.

Technopark Technology Business Incubator (T-TBIC) incubated Telmoco plans to compete in the low-cost tablet PC market where the government-launched Aakash tablet is prominent.

Daksha features Capacitive 5 point touch screen with 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor with 512 MB DDR3 RAM. It has a HDMI port, Micro SD slot, 3.5 mm audio out, Micro USB port and having OTG connector for 3G Dongle and RJ 45lAN cable.

Daksha is capable of 1080p full HD video streaming and has dedicated 400 MHzGPU for advanced flash Apps, Interactive Apps and full HD videos. Daksha is powered by 3,800 mAh li-Pol battery which gives a back up of over 6 hours with WiFi on.

"Even though the Indian media tablets market witnessed high decibel launches by the world's leading vendors, the Tablet PC market in India is a niche market that is quickly picking up the pace in terms of adoption," said C.R. Nijesh, chairman and executive director, Telmoco at the launch.

Telmoco Development labs Pvt ltd is a company initiated in electronics research and mobile technologies.

Attitude Daksha is initially set off to launch at schools, professional institutions, and corporate houses and will be available in the market from May 15. It can be ordered online from Telmoco website.(IANS)      

Centre starts programme for lifestyle diseases

Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre has launched a new health programme to create awareness of early detection of diseases like cancer, dibectics, heart ailments and stroke, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.
    
"As a pilot project, 100 districts in the country have been identified to implement the schemes," he told.
    
Of this number five districts are in Kerala- Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Kozhikode and Thrissur - for which Rs 30 crore has been released, Bandyopadhyay said.     

He said the government's aim was to extend the project to the entire country by adding more districts ever year.
    
Under the programme, test kits, medicines and other treatment facilities would be made available at district levels at special Health Cells, he said.
    
Another programme to deal with health problems of the aged has also been initiated, he said, adding six regional centres would be set up under the National Health Programme for the elderly.
    
Bandyopadhyay, who was here to review Centrally sponsored health schemes in the state, said the Centre has sanctioned Rs 125 crore for modernising Kozhikode Medical College.
 
The Centre is also considering Kerala government's request to modernise the other three medical colleges, he said.