Soon, new school for blind in Nashik

NASHIK: The Om Sai Welfare Association for the Blind will soon be starting a charitable English-medium school for the blind. Five students have already registered for the school and the requirement as per the rules is ten. 

The Om Sai Welfare Association for the Blind had recently applied for starting a free English-medium school for blind students. As per the norms, ten students are required to be registered at the school to get  approval from the state government. Free education, accommodation, food and all other facilities will be provided for the needy blind students in the school, which would be the first of its kind in the state and fifth in the nation. 

"The school will provide education from class I to X, and at present blind children in the age group of 4-8 years will be able to take admission in the school. We have selected a place near the Jail Road water tank for the school. Five students have registered and many people have been inquiring about it. Once we have  ten students, we will send the list to the government and tsocial welfare department," said Vikas Shejwal, chairman of the association. He said that students all over the state could register with them. 

Shejwal added that they would be selecting qualified teachers for the school who are equipped with DEd and BEd degrees from the list available with them. "They should be willing to work for less pay and should have  a social approach," said Shejwal. 

The management is confident of getting more students by the month-end and has appealed to the citizens to help the needy blind students avail of this facility. "Students can visit the Sai Baba Heart Institute and Research Centre for more details," said the office-bearers of the association. 

CATE results out, over 6,000 names figure on merit list

NEW DELHI: Cutoffs for BA (honours) English are likely to soar in the first list thanks to the better scores of candidates sitting for Combined Aptitude Test for English (CATE). Delhi University declared the results for CATE on Friday with over 6,000 students making it to the merit list. The consolidated CATE score of top nine students is more than 90% this time as compared to only one last year.

According to DU officials, number of aspirants with more than 90% in Class XII has also increased by almost double this year. Twenty-one colleges participating in CATE will now declare individual cutoffs based on the consolidated score achieved by successful candidates. This means candidates can claim admission in any of these colleges if their consolidated score is either same or more than the cutoff declared by the college. The consolidated score which is arrived at by adding 70% of marks in CATE and 30% of Class XII marks.

"The cutoffs in the first list are expected to be slightly higher as we also have to be cautious. But candidates should not lose hope and watch out for second list as it will be more realistic," said Sanam Khanna, associate professor, Kamala Nehru College. She mentioned that though the overall result was not much different from last year, the number of students scoring above 90% in Class XII was around 300 this time. It was around 180 in 2011.
CATE results declared on Friday showed that eight of the nine candidates scoring a consolidated score of above 90% were girls.

CATE also proved to be a saviour for students who have not scored very high marks. For instance, five candidates rank 244 in CATE this year at a consolidated score of 76.95%. However, their Class XII scores are varied. Three of them scored 95.5% in class XII, one got 81.5% and the last one scored 74.5% in the board exams.

IIT entrance test row: Kapil Sibal refuses to budge from 2013 date

NEW DELHI: With IIT-Delhi Senate scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss its response to the common entrance test human resource development minister Kapil Sibal reiterated that the exam for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) would be implemented from next year. 

In an interview, Sibal referred to the IIT system and said, "The excellence of the system is the quality of the system. I also give great credit to the faculty. It's the quality of the students...because best students come to the IITs and the best students will still come. So there is not dilution of the quality. But there are certain ills in the present system that needs to be addressed. The IITs should have come out with solutions in these 40 years. They can't claim whatever they are doing, there is nothing better than that." 

Sibal's insistence, however, seems to be contrary to the assurance offered by the Prime MinisterManmohan Singh at a meeting with IIT faculty recently that differences will be sorted out through a dialogue and the autonomy of the tech schools will not be eroded. 

IIT-Kanpur had recently decided to conduct its own entrance test, terming as "academically and methodically unsound" the May 28 decision of the IIT Council to hold the common entrance test. This makes the meeting of the IIT-Delhi Senate significant. If IIT-Delhi chooses to back Kanpur faculty members, the ministry will have to seriously reconsider at least some aspects of the current formula. 

Sources said that among some of the suggestions that had been discussed included holding the IIT main and advanced test on separate days and the way in which class XII board marks will be factored in. 

A section of the IIT faculty and the alumni have been opposing the move tooth and nail, demanding that the new system should not be implemented before 2014. They contend implementing the new system from next academic session will put a lot of pressure on students, who are already in midst of preparing for next year's IIT-JEE. 

The government is likely to ask the joint admission board of the IITs soon to prepare the modalities for  conducting the advanced test under the proposed common entrance test. Sources also said that the Senates of IIT-Bombay, IIT-Madras and IIT-Kharagpur held internal meetings about the proposed exam and possible alternatives in the two-tier test. 

When asked if he was reconsidering his decision to hold the test from 2013 onwards, Sibal said, "This is not my decision (on holding the single entrance test). This is a decision of the IIT council which is a statutory authority under the IIT Act. The IITs have by and large accepted this decision.'' 

Sibal said the only opposition was coming from IIT-Kanpur Senate but noted that he was ready to reach out to all to resolve the differences. "I will reach out to all of them. I will talk to them. For the first time in the history of this country, I had personal interaction with faculty of all the IIT," he said. 

As per the new format for admission to IITs and institutes such as NITs and IIITs, students will sit for a main test and an advance test. Performance of the plus-two board results will also be taken into consideration. So far, IIT-Guwahati and IIT-Madras have expressed their full support to the new test. 

Stating that the single test was proposed to address certain "ills in the implementation of the present system, Sibal said he would welcome the IIT council to come over with a better solution. 

Observing that that declining standard of school system has led to a plethora of coaching institutes, Sibal said of the 476 students admitted to IIT-Bombay, 300 have come from coaching institutes. He also felt that the common entrance test will do away with capitation fee. 

Students tense after Indian Certificate of Secondary Education results

MUMBAI: The ICSE results which saw more students with 90% and above scores has given worry lines to class X students from other boards as they try to secure seats in one of the top 10 city colleges. "I know I have worked really hard for my papers and also did well in all my papers. But I'm still worried if my score will be good enough to match the kind of marks ICSE students have scored," said Rohit Paranjpe, an SSC student. 

He also added that most of his friends are worried about not making through the course or college of their choice. 

ICSE students, however, have other things to worry about. Some were disappointed because they missed the privilege of being the all-India topper by just one mark. "I am very happy with my score and I know it is enough to get me through the best college anywhere. I missed the 'all-India topper' tag by just one mark, but there's nothing I can change now," said Tanvee Deokule, a student of Pawar Public School, Bhandup. 

Parents were equally worried about the competition students will face during junior college admissions. "My daughter scored 98% (best-5) but I realised the topper had scored 98.80%. There's going to be cut-throat competition during admissions this year," said Arun Mehta, father of 16-year-old Ayushi Mehta, the topper at Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School. 

Most schools had reason to celebrate this year not just with 100% results but also with the increasing number of 90% scorers in their batch. "Our results have been fantastic and the number of 90% and above  scorers has also increased," said Alice Vaz, principal of Ryan International School, Kharghar, adding that 24  students in her batch scored above 90%. At St Mary's ICSE School, 49 out of 105 scored above 90% and the topper, Arunabh Mishra, scored 97.2%. 

"We are worried that we'll see more dejected students this year during admissions, especially high scorers. Hopefully, the admission process will be less stressful than the previous years," said the principal of a South Mumbai college. 

CBSE website to give updates 

CBSE has launched an academic website www.cbseacademic.in to provide information on its academic activities and policy initiatives."The website will be an information resource on the board's ongoing programmes, with special focus on training, innovation and leadership programmes for principals," said CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi. 

Surprise: Central Board of Secondary Education results out

MUMBAI: In a surprise move, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday evening declared the Class X results for the Chennai region-which includes Maharashtra-on its website without any prior announcement. Schools as well as students, who were shocked at the sudden announcement, claimed that the board had never before declared results on an unannounced date. 

"For years the CBSE board has been trying to minimise the hype around the Class X board exams, and by  declaring the results like this it is attempting to send out a message to students that the exam is not the be all and end all of their academic life," said Avnita Bir, principal of Ramniranjan Podar School, Santacruz. Bir added that this was also the first time the board had announced results so discreetly, sending each school its results via email rather than announcing them on its website. Students, however, will have to log on the website for their grades; the schools have their numerical scores. 

The success rate of the Chennai region stands at 99.49 per cent, up from last year's 98.92 per cent. 

Online registration begins, wait is the word on Day 1

BHOPAL: The online registration for next academic session in government and private colleges began on Monday. The process would continue till June 10. On Day 1, there was no rush for admissions as both theCBSE and the MP Board of Secondary Education have yet to declare the class XII results.

"I do not know their logic of launching the on-line admission before the Class XII result. Once I have my result, I will think of admission," said Swati Singh Parihar, a school student. The department has asked the students to visit the government college for verifying the document. "The result is not in my hand. How to verify my documents," she added.

Welcoming the on-line admission students said the process should have started after the result. "It is a good idea. They are charging only Rs 50 per college, which is half the fee a student paid earlier. But the online admission process should have started after boards declare their Class XII results," said Prakhar Yadav, a student.

Students can download application form from the official website of the department. The department has also uploaded a format, which will guide students to fill the application form.

The verification of the documents will be done from May 21 to June 11. Students, who fail to get online admission in courses or colleges of their choice can take admission against the available vacant seats. The  higher education department has made it clear that the allotment of the vacant seats on reapplying may be accepted or rejected.

Panjab University has rows of students giving identical answers

CHANDIGARH: The examination branch of Panjab University has found a few instances in which students sitting in an entire row have copied from one another and have identical answers. Close to three-four such instances of entire rows of under-graduate students taking the final year exam this year having identical answer sheets have been detected by the evaluators during checking which have now been forwarded to the unfair means case (UMC) committee of PU. 

"The cases are being looked into by the UMC committee and the members will decide what to do next. The committee will check to what extent has there been imitation in these answer sheets," said A K Bhandari, PU controller of examination (CoE). 

Evaluators, on condition of anonymity stated that eight to nine students in a row of final year arts students have been found to have same answers, copied word by word in the final year exam held this year. 

"Such instances where the entire row of students have similar answer sheets are rare, " said an evaluator from a local government college on condition of anonymity. 

"There was an instance in which an entire row of students of second year commerce had the same answer, sub-heads, points and graphics for a particular answer," adds another evaluator.

Jagpal Singh, a PU senator and member of UMC committee said that the evaluation has just begun for the last semester exams of under-grad classes and such cases are unusual and rare. 

Chandigarh: ICSE board to declare results tomorrow

CHANDIGARH: Putting an end to anxious moments of Chandigarh students waiting for Class X and XII ICSE results, the official website of the ICSE on Wednesday posted that results for ICSE-2012 and ISC-2012 will be declared on Saturday May 19 at 3pm. 

The result can be checked on the internet on www.cisce.indiaresults.com, www.cisce.ndtv.com, www.cisce.examresults.net, www.cisce.myschool.in.com, www.cisce.topperlearning.com, www.cisce.timesofindia.com, www.cisce.navbharattimes.com. 

There are five ICSE schools in the city -- St Kabir School in Sector 26, Strawberry Field World School in Sector 26, St Xavier's School in Sector 44, St Stephen School in Sector 45 and Tender Heart School in Sector 33. St Xavier's School in Mohali and Panchkula, Saupins in Panchkula and Yadvindra Public School in Mohali are other ICSE schools of the Tricity. 

The procedure for checking the result has been kept user friendly. All that students need to do is to log on the website and enter their roll numbers. All principals have also been provided with personalized passwords to view school results.The results will also be available through SMS. For this students need to send SMS to numbers 51818, 56263, 58888, 5676750, 56388 and 54242. 

The news has created a buzz and has increased the anxiety of students. Ayesha Kapoor, who appeared in Class X exams, said, "I have been eagerly awaiting result. However, I was relaxed but as I got to know about the exact date I'm scared." 

"I have my fingers crossed. I was very confused during exams and I really hope it doesn't reflect in my marks," said Riya Sharma, who appeared in Class XII non medical stream exams recently. 

Colleges in Madhya Pradesh directed to start online admission from May 20

BHOPAL: The state higher education department has on Wednesday directed the government and private colleges in the state to introduce under-graduate level online registration for admissions.

The online registration for the next academic session will be organised from May 20 to June 10. Students will have four days from June 18 to 21 to take admission in colleges.

According to the higher education department guidelines, students can download application form from the official website of the department. The department has also uploaded a format which will guide the students to fill the application form.

The verification of the documents will be done from May 21 to June 11, a department spokesman said. Students can verify their documents from any government college. After the verification of documents, students have to deposit the fee at the allotted college which they have to do from June 18 to 21. Admission of students who fail to deposit the fee will be cancelled, the spokesman said.

Students who fail to get the online admission in their desired courses or colleges can take admission against the available vacant seats. The higher education department has made it clear that the allotment on the vacant seats on reapplying may be accepted or rejected.

Students can also appear for the college level counseling after they fail to take on-line admission in their choice of colleges.

Coimbatore: Criteria for class IX promotions set in

COIMBATORE: Easy walkovers from IX to X standard, at least in government-run or aided schools are over. A meeting of school heads, convened by the District Education Officer (DEO) on Friday decided to allow schools in Coimbatore to withhold those having attendance below 50%, and marks below 30% from being promoted to Class X. 

Officials who spoke at the meeting clarified that the Right to Education Act mandates 'all promotion' only till Class VIII. 

The headmaster of a corporation school, who attended the meeting, said he was relieved by the fact that officials have allowed schools to fail prolonged absentee students, and those with poor scores. 

He said they were told that they could fail those scoring less than 25% in the quarterly, mid-year and annual examinations. "This may need the permission of officials in the education department, but we hope to streamline some students who cannot be taught," he said. 

R Balamurali, the DEO (District Education Officer) of Coimbatore education district, said schools can consider failing class IX students with severe shortages in attendance and marks. 

Teachers said that last year, all class IX students were to be promoted. "This caused problems in the schools, especially those within city limits," a headmasterstated. He said the promotion of irregular students affected the morale of others. 

"Junior students feel they can pass without studying or attending classes," he said. He also pointed out that as their students come mostly from lower middle class families as first generation learners, their families cannot guide them. 

However, teachers of schools outside city limits, said they do not have students who fit the fail criteria. Theresa A, headmistress of St Joseph's Girls Higher Secondary School at Somanur said that as they reach out to the homes of absent students, cases of prolonged absences and low marks were few. As a school in a village, it was easy to communicate with parents, she indicated. 

R Visalakshi, president of the Association of the Federation of Private Schools, said the criteria for promoting students has been made very liberal, and will affect the knowledge level of students. 

Tamil Nadu gets 2 new veterinary colleges, 34 more seats

CHENNAI: The launch of two new colleges in Thanjavur and Tirunelveli has added 34 seats to the Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry programme of the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. The number of seats has gone up from 226 to 260 for the 2012-13 academic year. 

Announcing the beginning of the admission process to undergraduate courses for the next academic year, vice-chancellor Dr R Prabakaran said the popularity of veterinary courses has been growing rapidly. 

"The veterinary and fisheries sectors are the only two industries growing at the same pace as the software industry, at 8-10%. There is a high demand for the courses as people have realised that all who complete them can get into government jobs. There is a lot of scope in the private sector too," he said. Against the annual requirement of 3,700 veterinary graduates in the country, only 1,800 students pass out, he said. 

Application forms for the Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Bachelor of Fisheries Science and Animal Husbandry, BTech in Food Processing Technology and BTech in Poultry Production Technology can be bought from veterinary institutes from May 14. For further details visit www.tanuvas.ac.in. tnn 

Ahmedabad: Admissions for medical courses to begin from May 24

AHMEDABAD: The admission committee for professional courses has announced that it will begin the admission process on the medical, dental and paramedical seats from May 24.

A committee member said that the admission forms will be available from May 24 to June 7.

"The duly-filled forms along with marksheet and other documents should be returned to the admission center at B J Medical College between May 29 and June 14," said an official adding that only those candidates, who have appeared for the Gujcet exam will be eligible to apply.

This year around 23,000 B-group students have cleared HSC exams. The official said there are 7,900 medical and paramedical seats in the state for medicine, dental, BSc nursing, physiotherapy, ayurvedic homeopathic and other courses. Last year, over 700 of these remained vacant.

Next Vibrant Gujarat summit to focus on education

AHMEDABAD: If multinational corporations and large private sector companies were the focus of the last four Vibrant Gujarat summits, the 2013 edition will see a large number of universities from within and outside the country participating for the first time. Nearly 3,000 to 5,000 square meters of space has been earmarked in the summit this year for university stalls.

This is for the first time that the Gujarat government has invited educational institutes to Vibrant Gujarat event mainly to help them forge partnerships with local educational institutions in the state. "This is necessary as skill development has become an absolute necessity in the wake of a large number of industries setting up their base in the state. 

Gujarat has one of the most complex matrix of industries in the country. The students from the state should now acquire new skills to work in these emerging sectors," says a senior officer of the industrial extension bureau (iNDEXTb) of Gujarat. The officials also added that special seminars on career opportunities, facilities for on the spot university partnership will be the main highlight of the event. In the next two months, officials from the bureau will travel to Europe, UK, US, China, Singapore, some African countries and even Middle East to invite various agencies to the 2013 edition.

"The tour plans are being finalized. Our teams will approach government agencies in these countries to help us reach out to potential investors in various sectors," says this iNDEXTb official.

Now, online facility for college admissions

PUNE: The Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) on Tuesday announced the launch of an online application facility for admissions to first year degree courses at about nine universities spread across the state.

Students can use this facility through a dedicated portal --- www.ugpgadmission.com. After registering on the website, a student can fill up the admission form through online, take a print and submit it to the college concerned.

This facility will be an optional choice for students apart from the regular process wherein a student can approach a college, get the form and submit it.

Vivek Sawant, managing director of MKCL, said that nine universities have partnered for the online process. These include, Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada university (Aurangabad), Mumbai university (Mumbai), North Maharashtra university (Jalgaon), Rashtrsant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur university (Nagpur), Sant Gadgebaba Amravati university (Amravati), Solapur university (Solapur), SNDT women's university (Mumbai), Shivaji university (Kolhapur) and Gondwana university (Gadchiroli).

Sawant said, "Information about the various courses run by about 3,000 colleges affiliated to these universities has been uploaded on the site. A student can easily secure information of any particular course run by affiliated colleges for the academic year 2012-13. The system will eliminate multiple visits to every college to secure information of courses and admission forms. Besides, it will assist the students in making appropriate choice of subjects and thereby help in restricting errors in the application forms."

The students will receive an SMS after completion of the process of uploading of forms. Accessibility to the site is also available at the MKCL's MS-CIT centres.

Sawant further said that the website has provided multiple choice options wherein a student can apply at more than one college. About 3 lakh students are expected to avail of this facility. Students will be able to access the information on the site from May 21 onwards, a few days ahead of declaration of standard XII results.

91,000 seats come up for poor kids under RTE Act in Karnataka

BANGALORE: This is what the revolutionary RTE Act has given underprivileged children in the state: around 91,000 seats up for grabs in unaided private schools in the state.

The 91,000 seats is the 25% quota that private schools (except minorities) are supposed to reserve for the disadvantaged group. Of these, around 20,000 are available in Bangalore. Even if all the seats in any school are not filled up, the government will take a call on what to do with it, and the managements will have no say.

Karnataka is stepping closer to the revolutionary idea of having the underprivileged in classrooms along with the rest of society. On Wednesday, the department of public instruction issued the application form for the RTE quota.

Application forms will be available on its website. For people with no access to the website and schools not providing it, the form is available with the block education officer. Parents can collect it and submit it by May 25, to a neighbourhood school of their choice. Schools have been told to prepare the list of students by June 5. In case a school refuses to accept the application form, the parent can report to the local body, in this case, the BEO.

What should the child do?

When the application forms are submitted, sufficient proof needs to be attached to claim the quota. For identification of an orphan, the certificate will have to be issued by the women and child developmentdepartment. Similarly, migrant and street children will have to be certified by the departments of education, women and child development, or labour. HIV-positive children should have a certificate from a taluk-level doctor of the health department. SCs, STs and other backward classes will have to follow the procedure from the social welfare department.

In order to get a certificate for migrants, parents have to furnish a ration card, voter ID, driving licence and LPG bond to the officer concerned. For orphans, the caretakers will have to submit the forms. Parents have to submit a certificate from the revenue department, regarding income, if they want to apply under EWS quota.

For age proof, a parent can either submit the birth certificate, a certificate from anganwadis or even a self-declaration. The parent will also have to specify in which medium he wants his child to study.

Patna University set to become Wi-Fi campus

PATNA: Patna University (PU) is all set to become a Wi-Fi campus in the next academic session commencing in July. All its constituent colleges and postgraduate (PG) departments are being provided with Internet connectivity so that they may get closely linked with each other and also with outside institutions.

PU computer centre in-charge K P Singh said that as part of the National Knowledge Network Mission, the much-acclaimed project of the Union ministry of human resource development department, all colleges under the PU would be connected online with the university. A comprehensive survey of the proposed networking in all the postgraduate departments located at Patna College, Patna Science College and Darbhanga House complex has already been completed and report submitted to the state higher education department. The survey report has reportedly been sent to the state information technology department for verification.

Singh said as soon as the verification work is completed, the work of laying optical fibre cables in and around the PU campus would be started by the BSNL, the government-authorized agency for laying the cable and providing Internet connectivity. The entire work is likely to be completed in a couple of months, he said.

Once the process of networking is completed, PU would also think of introducing virtual classes. A student of B N College or Magadh Mahila College can attend the lecture delivered by a teacher of Patna Science College through networking.

The postgraduate departments of PU would be provided 400 nodes (Internet connections). The cost incurred on networking would be borne by the central government (75%) and the state government (25%). The state government has also been approached for providing sufficient number of computers to the university for ensuring optimum utilization of networking.

Meanwhile, the work for computerized evaluation of answer-books of degree examinations and preparation of examination results is also in progress. PU has already signed an MoU with a Bangalore-based firm for the purpose. The company would install large scanners and sufficient number of computers to facilitate scanning and evaluation of answer-books, said Singh.

Mumbai: Summer schools offer students additional life skills

MUMBAI: Summer, for the long holidays and the scorching heat it brings along, is often compared to a vacuum: hours evaporating as adult-teens laze around with little to do. Besides hobbies, there is little to keep them occupied, unlike the suite of summer schools in the West on several subjects, some providing advanced knowledge and others a primer on hot topics that the world is brooding over. 

Finally, the penny's dropped here. This year, the lights at HR College didn't go off during the holidays. All through April, King's College, London, hosted intensive courses at the HR College campus on topics like international marketing, quantitative methods and statistics and international political economy. Close by, St Xavier's College ran a week-long school called 'Land and Natural resources: Justice Issues'. At NM College, courses on insurance and international financial reporting standards were houseful. 

Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a lecturer at the department of European and international studies at King's College, put together a fat pack of courseware for his summer school students at HR College. In 10 days, he sought to explain the interplay of politics and economics at the global level, starting with international relations and globalization to trade policies and financial regulations to FDI with a focus on Asia. "Most students had done their reading, they were tracking news and global development very closely," said Pardo. 

In another class, Michael Bedward, an enterprise management lecturer and a business consultant, taught different models of business to budding entrepreneurs in a course called 'The Entrepreneur: Skills and Smart Thinking'. "Students are not sceptical about entrepreneurship and they have some fascinating business ideas," said Bedward, who became very popular for handing over a lemon to shy participants who never spoke in class. 

Unlike the older generations who had little to do between college years, summer school holidays for young adults are proving to be grounds for arming oneself with additional life skills or honing talents at intensive camps. Tanmaya Kale of Jai Hind, who paid Rs 30,000 to attend summer school at HR College, said, "Here, I got an insight into so many topics that are globally so crucial. I wasn't spoon-fed; communication wasn't one-way and the course was on real issues." 

For summer school participants at St Xavier's College, the experience was like opening the window and taking in some reality - at times ugly, at times surprisingly assuring. Agnelo Menezes from the department of economics said teaching through the year is mostly restricted to the text books. "Summer school allowed us to synchronize reality with theory." For Rs 500, students could listen to top bankers, sociologists, advocates and activists who spoke on various topics for close to ten days. "There was an overflow of students wanting to attend these lectures," said Menezes. The lecture series, which was not open to outsiders, included a documentary and field trips. 

AIIMS, Bhubaneswar academic session to begin this September

BHUBANESWAR: Despite the slow pace of construction work, the first academic session of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar is all set to begin from September this year while its hospital would be ready next year, union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said today. 

"Work is moving at a slow pace, but we have decided to start the medical college of AIIMS here this year. Classes for the MBBS course will begin in September, 2012," Azad told reporters here. 

Similarly, the hospital would be completed next year so that the students who join the MBBS course at the new AIIMS centre would be able to utilise the facility, Azad said after visiting the site and reviewing constructon work for AIIMS. 

The director for the upcoming prestigious institute has already been selected and selection of faculties had also been completed, he said. 

"Now all work and preparations (are) for starting the classes this year and the hospital by 2013 with full pace. People are working day and night to complete the work as per our plan," Azad said. 

AIIMS is coming up on 100 acres of land at Sijua on the outskirts of the city. The state government had approved Rs 18 lakh for putting up an 11 KV line at the AIIMS project site while an additional Rs 9 lakh was been approved for beautification of the campus. 

Punjab government to provide free text books to SC/ST students

CHANDIGARH: In an effort to impart quality education to the marginalised, the Punjab government today said it would spend Rs 30 crore to provide free text books to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students in the state. 

"We are committed to quality education. The state government will provide free text books to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students studying from class one to class eight in the state," Punjab Education Minister Sikander Singh Maluka said here. 

He said that required infrastructure would also be provided to all the schools. 

"The Punjab government is celebrating this year as education year so that the state, which is currently at number three in terms of education in the country, could be number one," Maluka added. 

CBSE to offer course on fitness this session

NEW DELHI: Central Board of Secondary Education ( CBSE) is going to introduce a vocational course on 'Fitness and Gym Operation' from the 2012-13 session. The course is designed to hone skills required for a career in sports. A pilot run of the course will be carried out in 50 select schools from Class XI onwards this year. 

The course will have five units in theory carrying 60 marks, while the practical component will have three units carrying 40 marks. In the Class XI course, students will get to learn about various aspects of health, fitness, physiology of exercise and training, structure of a health-related fitness programme, and diet and nutrition. Students who opt for the subject will have to undergo 15 days of in-house internship in the institution/gym designated by the Board. Training for Class XI students will be held during the summer break before the new session begins. Either the school or the students will have to bear the cost of the internship. 

The practical component in Class XI includes training in a gym, procurement, placement and handling of gym equipment, body composition analysis, CPR and cryotherapy, fitness testing, and different exercises such as weight training and cardio training.