Toyota expands its technical education programme in India

Toyota Kirloskar Motor in collaboration with Toyota Motor Corporation and its nationwide dealer network has launched its training model of the General Technician Toyota-Technical Education Program (T-TEP) at Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara Industrial Training Institute, [SDM] Venur. This is the third General T-TEP program in Karnataka, the previous ones being with Deshpande Pvt ITI in Haliyal and Government ITI in Peenya, Bangalore.

T-TEP, a special training module in which Toyota has tied up with ITis, was launched in 2006 in India. The program aims at providing training on the latest automotive technology and service techniques every year to ITI students across India along with providing hands-on, real-time experience within Toyota dealerships.

In its first year, the program was implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hubli. It was subsequently introduced in Bangalore, Mysore, Lalru, Pune, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Indore, Vizag, Ludhiana, Cuttack, Haldwani, Nalbari, Gurgaon, Satara and Paramakudi.

After a span of 10 years, TTEP is now associated with 42 training institutes under the program. The General Technician T-TEP training syllabus imparts training on basic automotive fundamentals, Toyota’s way of service and technologies in the company’s cars which can help the students to get jobs in the automotive general repair industry.

According to B Padmanabha, VP – customer service group, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, "The future of our nation lies with the youth. Providing the necessary advance skill and knowledge will ensure increased competency to meet industry and market expectations. When we first established this training module back in 2006, we were essentially compelled by the fact that there were inadequate trained and skilled manpower available in the industry. The purpose of TTEP is to contribute as a sustainable growth partner to automobile industry such that it can grow the technical capability of young India. Our 42nd association with an ITI institute has further reinstated our objective to carve out opportunities for talented students from the rural areas and make them more employable for the Indian automobile industry."

Also present at the occassion was Padma Vibhushan Veerendra Heggade, president, SDM Educational Society. Ujire said "The Make in India initiative will boost economic growth and pave the way for large scale employment opportunities, which will create demand for skilled manpower in the country. With the rise in industrial activity in the region, there will be a significant requirement of more technical and creative skills to sustain in the competitive environment. It is an honour to associate with Toyota Kirloskar Motor which will promote successful industry-institute interaction to bridge the industry- academia gap that persists in India. The unique training model by TTEP will contribute towards increasing the availability of skilled manpower for the Indian automobile service industry in the coming years."

http://www.autocarpro.in/news-national/toyota-expands-technical-education-programme-india-9946

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a programme to train two million Android developers

India could reward risk-taking a bit more and, perhaps, its education system could emphasize more creativity, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told a group of Indian editors, but once there is a big enough market — and that is what the internet is providing —there is no reason why Indian innovation won’t take-off.

On his first visit to India after taking over as Google CEO, Pichai was reluctant to set timelines for this transformation or give numbers on when the India operations could become more important than the US one, but he did say that Google already had 1,500 people in India as compared to around 10,000 in the Bay area — India, he said, will be a bigger market for Android phones than the US sometime in 2016 and it has already has more internet users. “And that’s when there’s still a billion more people to connect to the internet”.

As part of Pichai’s visit, Google announced a programme to train two million Android developers over the next three years by working closely with over 30 universities.

Earlier, Pichai said, when you developed products for India, you did that in the US and imported them … now, we develop them here and take them to the rest of the world where they do well. By way of an example, he spoke of taking YouTube offline, where a lot of the work was done in India. FE

‘Loon is a mobile BTS, essentially’

New Delhi: While Google’s Project Loon has faced uncertainty with the government saying it could interfere with transmission signals of mobile telcos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the firm partners with existing telcos, to help boost their ability to service. It will use airwaves the telco has and, becomes a mobile Base Transmitting Station which transmits signals to/from the phone.

http://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/sundar-pichai-calls-for-creativity-in-indias-education-system/

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To use technology and promote education in India: President Pranab Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday exhorted Google CEO Sundar Pichai, along with a range of business leaders, which included Kunal Bahl, CEO, Snapdeal; and Sunil Munjal, joint managing director, Hero Motor Corp; to use technology and promote education.

At an event at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday, which came at the fag end of Mr.Pichai’s visit to Delhi, Mr.Mukherjee said that in spite of possessing “brilliant minds” and top technical talent, Indian universities weren’t among the top 100 in global rankings.

Post a media event on Wednesday, where he mentioned plans to provide Wi-Fi with helium balloons and bring several railway stations under a reliable internet network, Mr. Pichai’s meeting with Mr.Mukherjee was centred around ways in which education could be made more accessible with technology.

“We can create a new India,” said Mr.Mukherjee, “by harnessing these resources (young minds) and not by mere speeches and some allocations (in the Union Budget).”

Others present at the event included senior technocrats from the telecommunications and information technology ministries, National Association of Software and Service Companies and CEOs of e-commerce companies including Practo, Paytm and InMobi. Some of them gave presentations on the initiatives taken to promote entrepreneurship, bring more women into leading positions in companies and make education more accessible to all.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-visit-help-promote-education-in-india-pranab-mukherjee/article8001067.ece

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We need to get comfortable with sex education

My first experience of sex education was scary – and over very quickly. I left the lesson worried that if I went anywhere near a penis I would end up either pregnant, with a sexually transmitted infection (STI), or dead.

When I divulge this to Goedele Liekens – the Belgian sexologist who presents Channel 4’s new show Sex in Class – her response is, unsurprisingly, one of horror.

“It’s terrible and understandable,” she says. “Your teachers would have had the same goal as me: they don’t want young people to rush into things they’re not ready for. But teaching abstinence doesn’t work because young people love risk. If you tell them not to do something because it’s dangerous, it just makes them curious.”

This straight talk is typical of Liekens, whose mission to improve sex education in the UK has already won her legions of fans. She is currently filming in the Hollins Technology college, in Accrington, Lancashire, where her frank style – which includes bringing vulva puppets into class and giving female students mirrors to examine their vaginas – has won praise from students and teachers.

“Britain is opening up,” she says. “If you see the tweets I get after the show, there are thousands of people saying that they need this in schools but don’t know how to get it. They need help to develop a better approach to sex education.”

But talking candidly about sex can be tough for people in Britain, says Liekens. “There are still too many who think if you shut up about sex it won’t happen,” she says. “We think by doing sex education you’re stimulating kids to start having sex at a younger age, but that’s nonsense. The more sex education you have from an earlier age, the later people start having sex.”

But her lessons are not only about tackling tricky topics, such as STIs and unwanted pregnancy. Liekens believes that we need to approach the subject in a holistic way, talking about the emotional dangers of unprotected sex as well as the physical.

“The emotional dangers and feeling forced into things, not always physically, but emotionally through peer pressure, is a big part of it, especially for young adults – it’s the part we’ve forgotten for far too long.”

For this reason, Liekens says, sex education needs to involve discussing pleasure and knowing your body. “It’s not for a joke that I sent the girls home with a mirror – you have to get to know your own body and feel confident touching it and exploring what you don’t like. This means you can say stop when you don’t enjoy something.”

Liekens suggests that this confidence is especially important in a world where most young people’s – especially boys’ – views about sex come from pornography.

“Porn gives lots of young people misconceptions about how to be a good lover,” she says. “We have to tell young adults that porn is made up. When children watch violent films we tell them when the blood is fake and the violence isn’t real but no one does that for porn. Adults know it’s not real but children don’t.”


Liekens says it’s “now or never” in terms of providing effective sex education – young people are picking up misinformation from the internet, so the adults around them have a duty to address it. Some of their misconceptions, however, can at least raise smiles. Liekens remembers one group who thought that there was a little ball inside you that looked like a cherry, and that the first time you had sex it popped and blood came out.

“They thought that’s where the expression ‘popping your cherry’ came from,” she says, “all of them”.

A lack of effective teaching materials can also be a problem, but Liekens says organisations such as Rutgers in Holland and Brook in the UK can help. The Dutch approach involves using props such as board games and vagina cushions, as well as sequences from feature films. This adds an essential element of fun, Liekens says. “Teachers have to make it a bit humorous, without causing too much giggling. Lighten it up. That’s why I bring a cushion and throw a ball around.”

But approaching sex education in a light-hearted way isn’t always easy. “Once a 16-year-old asked me if I gave blow jobs to my husband,” she recalls. “You have to be prepared for these questions. I asked him right back, what would you think of women who do it? Or of those who don’t? That puts the topic itself back at the centre of the discussion and flips the question back to them.

“Students will test and tease the teacher, especially with personal questions. The best answer is always to make that question a topic of discussion. So if you’re asked about how many sexual partners you’ve had, ask the group how many they think is OK. Is the answer the same for girls and boys?”

Does she have any other advice? “Make sure your voice doesn’t crack when you say the words penis or clitoris. Teenagers will feel your embarrassment. If you find it embarrassing, just say so. Tell them it’s awkward for you to talk about it too.”

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/oct/14/vagina-sex-education-sexologist-goedele-liekens

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JLL India MOU with Manpower group and EMPI Business School to offer certificate programmes in facilities management

Property consulting firm JLL India has tied up with Manpower group and EMPI Business School to offer certificate programmes in facilities management (FM) -- one of the fastest-growing real estate services verticals.

With Indian real estate advancing towards increasing corporatisation, there has been an increased demand for industry-ready facilities management professionals. However, this domain has so far relied heavily on ‘learn-on-the-job’ apprenticeships.

Sandeep Sethi, Managing Director - Integrated Facilities Management, JLL West Asia, said this project would be a key differentiator for the facilities management talent landscape. The new certification programme will address this gap and would initially be launched in Delhi and Bengaluru.

These co-created training and certification modules will be delivered by combining classroom learning with live apprenticeships in leading corporates. The three firms would jointly develop and deploy the education and placement programme.

JLL India will provide vital inputs to the curriculum, comprising of four months of classroom training and two months on-job internship. Manpower group will collaborate to ensure placements and job opportunities for the graduates, whose academic interventions will be conducted at the various EMPI campuses, a joint statement said.

“The aim of this collaborative career programme is to bridge the skills gap in India’s thriving FM sector, as well as provide candidates with the skill sets and opportunities to mould a successful career within the FM domain,” Manpower Group Director - Staffing Vishnu Dev said.

“We look forward to seeding this new area of Facilities Management in India, jointly with two global corporates such as JLL and Manpower Group”, EMPI Business School Vice President Pankaj Saran said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/jll-india-to-offer-certificate-course-in-facilities-management/story.html

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Learnings from Germany growth to indian skilled developments

The new-found trust between India and Germany is a step forward in laying a strong foundation for the progress and economic growth of both the nations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bangalore visit for strategic discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a testimony to our strengthening bilateral ties. It is not a surprise, therefore, that many MoUs were signed and business links established by numerous organisations of the two nations during the Merkel visit. And this is just the start of an era which can witness a snowballing effect of high growth and larger value-creation.

Germany is an important investor for India. The bilateral trade stands at 60 billion euros, with over 1,600 German companies operating in India. However, this is but a scratch at the surface; the investment, growth and value-creation opportunity is much larger. India is home to more than 1.25 billion people with approximately 50% under the age of 25 years, and a lot of them need to be skilled for the jobs that will be created as the economy grows.

German education system is regarded as one of the best in the world, best suited to produce workforce for a global work environment, with keen focus on academic excellence, learning and preparation for work life. Closer ties and collaboration in the education space between both the countries will ensure thinning of boundaries between the teaching-learning community and increase in the number of student/faculty and knowledge exchange programmes.

India has emerged as a strong knowledge economy over the years with a highly skill potential workforce. Adapting to skill requirement for the German industry, it is crucial for Indian academicians and institutions to work closely with German counterparts to develop a sustained supply of manpower suited to the industry.

Further, the Indian schooling and higher education system is one of the largest in the world and is growing at a healthy rate. In FY15, the government increased the budget allocated to education by 12.3% over FY14, with huge emphasis by the Modi government on skill development. The government has plans to provide easier access to education loans and interest subsidies to boost higher education in India. In addition, the Digital India initiative is a statement in itself by the government towards a transformed, digitally-empowered India. All these facts are indicators of the huge growth appetite and potential India has in the education and academic space.

Development of strategic relationships with countries like Germany would play a key role in shaping India of the 21st century. We need to focus on easing trade and market entry norms for companies from such countries. We also have to work in unison as far as exchange between academia and inter-country joint efforts in research, skill development and information/practice are concerned. Further, exchange between teaching/learning community at the university, institution and school level will play a major role in transforming and developing the education system in India.

http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/skill-india-learnings-from-germany/149695/

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Two Indian institutes have for the first time to the top 200 list of the world's best universities

Two Indian institutes have for the first time made it to the top 200 list of the world's best universities.

The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has taken the top spot among its Indian counterparts, bagging the 147th rank. The only other Indian institute to make it to the top 200 is Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, ranked 179th this year. It has made great progress from last year when it was ranked 235th in the world.

According to the QS World University Rankings 2015, there are 14 Indian institutions in the World University Rankings and half of them are among the global 400. The bad news is that the University of Delhi and the University of Mumbai have lost ground.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the world's top university, closely followed by Harvard. The University of Cambridge is tied to Stanford University for the third place. London is the only city in the world with four universities in the top 50, more than Boston and New York (3) Paris, Sydney, Hong Kong and Beijing (2), with the London School of Economics and Political Science making the top 40 for the first time.

In an exclusive interview to TOI, Ben Sowter, QS head of research, said, "India has two institutions in the top 200 this year, which has occurred as a result of QS evolving its methodology to be more even-handed across subject areas and it has revealed strength in research in engineering, technology and the natural sciences. If you want to compare India and China, the primary shortfalls are money and consistent policy leadership."

Thirty-four countries are represented in the top 200.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/In-a-first-two-Indian-institutes-make-it-to-worlds-top-200/articleshow/48964009.cms

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First national education policy meet a success: Smriti Irani

Union HRD minister Smriti Irani on Saturday termed the first zonal-level consultation meeting for a new education policy held in Agartala on Friday a success.

She said the draft policy will be published in December after a nationwide consultation of the draft policy. "This is for the first time in Independent India, that a collaborative effort has been made from the grassroots level to formulate a national education policy involving teachers, students, district magistrates and other sections of society," Irani said.

Representatives from the NE states came up with a few suggestions on universalization of education, expansion of the ambit of Right to Education Act and increase in budget allocation. Irani said that following the launch of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, the infrastructure of schools across the region has improved and there has been adequate recruitment of teachers. Hence, there is no need to increase the budget allocation at this stage.

She said the HRD ministry is emphasizing on the quality of education, teachers training, expansion of basic amenities and strong monitoring of the functioning of schools. It is planning to launch mobile apps that would allow parents and ministry officials to monitor the functioning of schools.

"I have received a very positive feedback and some suggestions from the states during the meeting," she said. The initiative is to reach out every possible stakeholder before adopting the national education policy, she added.

She advised the NIT authorities in Agartala to invite at least one foreign academician to the institute for delivering lectures and teaching the students at least for 15 days. She asked the authorities to furnish a list of foreign academicians to the ministry.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/agartala/First-national-education-policy-meet-a-success-Smriti/articleshow/49032876.cms

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IDP Education Fair-UK and Canada` from Tomorrow

It offers students opportunity to explore the various study options available in four countries, under one roof. “Short-listing universities and working through the application process can be  challenging for students, and pursuing higher education abroad entails a high investment.

IDP Education India, a leading student placement service provider and co-owner of IELTS, will organise the ‘IDP Education Fair-UK and Canada’ here on Monday.The fair, to be held at Holiday Inn Hotel, is meant for students aspiring to pursue higher education abroad.At the fair, institution representatives and faculties from the UK and Canada will come together to attract Indian students to their countries for higher education.

Admission is open in over 15 leading universities and institutions in the UK and Canada, for 2016, to courses such as Business Management and Finance, Hospitality, IT, Engineering and Computer Science, Pharmacy, Biological Sciences, Public and Health Administration, Law, Medicine and Nursing, Art and Design, Mass Communication and many more.IDP will organise education fairs in various cities across the country. It offers students opportunity to explore the various study options available in four countries, under one roof.

http://www.nyoooz.com/kochi/204027/idp-education-fairuk-and-canada-from-tomorrow

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The e-learning market in India is estimated to be around $3 billion and it is growing

India’s education system — be it primary, secondary or higher levels — is fraught with quality and quantity challenges: There is a shortage of quality teachers, an enabling environment for students and infrastructure, just to point out a few.

These hurdles are not going to go away soon even though there is a surge in the number of students at all levels and an increasing demand for quality education. There is also a corresponding demand from industry for skilled human resource.

But this thirst and demand for quality education and trained personnel will not be easy to quench because it takes time, funds and quality human resource to set up good institutions.

Then there is the rule book: Starting a school or a college in India needs magical levels of energy and perseverance.

In such a scenario, online education could be a boon for those who do not have access to quality education or are keen to reskill.

The e-learning market in India is estimated to be around $3 billion and it is growing. Take, for example, the massive open online course (MOOC) provider Coursera.

With one million users, India ties with China as its biggest source of online learners after its home base, the US. That the market expectations from this business model are robust can be gauged from the fact that the firm has raised $49.5 million, coinciding with the US-based firm’s plans to tap the Indian market to increase its user base.

The UTV Group is in talks with top institutions such as IIMs, IITs and even globally to start these courses. A few months ago, IIT-Bombay launched three MOOCs. The world of online learning is attractive not only because learning is no longer tethered to a classroom and timetables, but also because software programmes can “seamlessly integrate social media, making it possible to create online communities that are course specific”.

Along with the traditional textbooks, blogs, tweets, podcasts, webcasts, online chats, discussion boards, virtual study jams ensure that learning becomes multidimensional. Online courses can also help all those who are already in jobs to reskill and remain competitive without taking time off from their careers.

There is evidence that a majority of those registering for these courses have an undergraduate degree or higher and the courses are not being accessed by those who could benefit from education — women, the less educated and the poor.

India’s challenge, say experts, will be to make these facilities reach these social groups. India truly cannot afford to miss this bus.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/comment/india-s-education-system-needs-to-get-online-with-access-for-all/article1-1385860.aspx

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Google India Celebrating India's educators this Teachers' Day 2015

New Delhi: Around the world, teachers and students have found that they can support their teaching and learning with technology in the classroom. Whether it’s collaborating on stories or projects with Google Docs, or going one-to-one with students using Chromebooks.

Here in India, teachers have also been using technology to enrich student learning. From giving rural students access to new online tools, to developing online resources for other teachers to use, or finding new ways to help gifted students accelerate. This Teachers’ Day we wanted to celebrate some of these teachers from across India who are championing technology in the classroom and helping their students thrive.

Bringing web-based education to rural areas

Dipak Tatpuje is a senior lecturer at Satara Polytechnic with over 30 years teaching experience. He has pioneered technology in rural classrooms and trained over 150 rural teachers on how to use free online tools. He believes technology can be a great equalizer and says that empowering rural students through technology “allows them not to spread their wings and walk further in life.”

Balaji Jadhav is another rural teacher who supports teachers. A few years back Balaji taught himself HTML on YouTube, then developed a series of interactive, HTML-based online tests which are now used by over 500 teachers everyday. He launched a blog for fellow educators in Maharashtra, and is now an advisor for five state government departments and trains teachers in 36 school districts about how to use blogs for teaching.

Nurturing student’s abilities

As director of the Gifted Education and Research (GEAR) Foundation in Bangalore, Sarvesh Srinivasan champions technology adoption for personalized learning.  He ran a 10-month pilot program with Google Apps for Education for middle schools students to help teachers identify students’ strengths and tailor their teaching for them

Bringing digital tools to urban schools

Sangeeta Gulati is the Head of the mathematics department at the Sanskriti School in New Delhi, and has championed the use of technology in the classroom for over a decade. Recipient of the Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching in 2011, Sangeeta encourages her students to be creative with technology. She is currently focused on building her students collaborative learning skills, and says she finds herself “a stronger, more effective teacher who is connected with her students” using Google Apps for Education and Chromebooks.

A huge thanks to these teachers, and all the teachers across India that use technology to enrich their teaching and their students learning.

http://indiaeducationdiary.in/Shownews.asp?newsid=35773

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TCS donates $35 million to Carnegie Mellon University

Twice on either side of 1900, Jamsetji Tata traveled to the United States, looking for technologies that would put steel in India's industrial frame.

In America, Andrew Carnegie had "been there, done that" with regards to steel and was divesting some of his fortune into philanthropy, endowing $1 million for a technology school that would eventually become Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). But Tata had already beaten Carnegie on that front, pledging half his wealth (200,000 pounds) in 1893 for an educational endowment that would lead to the setting up of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

This week, the two hoary industrial-philanthropic contemporaries are again on the same page with the contribution from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) of a $35 million gift to Carnegie Mellon University, described as the largest corporate gift to CMU, and the biggest from outside the United States. The donation will fund a new facility, the Tata Consultancy Services Building, which will support education and cutting-edge research by CMU faculty and students, and will also endow Presidential Fellowships and Scholarships, increasing the availability of a CMU education to outstanding students, the two entities announced on Tuesday.

CMU's ties with India and Tata entities have spanned through the century from the time the two titans engaged on steel, leading to the setting up of Tata Steel and Jamshedpur. The University, which already has a billion dollar endowment, is currently headed by Subra Suresh, a former dean of Engineering at MIT, who then was appointed to lead the National Science Foundation, before he moved to Pittsburgh to take charge of CMU.

Year after year, CMU has been named the world's best institution for computer science studies, counting among its alumni half dozen Nobel Laureates, including John Nash, the recently-deceased mathematician who was subject of the Hollywood movie 'A Beautiful Mind'. It also produced eminent techheads such as Vinod Khosla and Andy Bechtolsheim, who co-founded Sun Microsystems. The university is so deeply associated with advances in computer science that the fictional Dr Vaseekaran in Rajnikant's Robot opus was affiliated to CMU.

Among its real-life Indian alum
Former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, who earned a degree in public policy at CMU's Heinz College, associated with secretary of state John Kerry's wife Teresa Heinz. The dean of Heinz College, Ramayya Krishnan, is also an IIT Madras alumnus like Subra Suresh.

Such ties appear to have led to a gift that may have some people questioning the need for at a time India itself seeks funds for education. Part of the strategy also appears to be aimed at countering the impression that Indian IT companies are merely body shops sucking up American jobs and feeding of the US economy.

"TCS is proud to invest in this landmark partnership with CMU to promote market-driven innovation and accelerate advancements in technology," TCS CEO Natarajan Chandrasekaran said while announcing the gift, explaining the rationale for the gift. "As global leaders, Carnegie Mellon and TCS have the intellectual power, creativity, institutional nimbleness, and global reach to capitalize on new opportunities and have a lasting impact on society and industry through cutting-edge digital research and a long-term commitment to education."

"With our shared commitment to education and research in areas that help address many challenges of our time, TCS' support of Carnegie Mellon is both natural and extraordinarily promising," agreed Carnegie Mellon president Subra Suresh. "Together, our two organizations have the capabilities to make breakthrough discoveries and the capacity to make societal impact on a global scale."

Indeed, TCS, which is present in several US states, has ramped up presence in the Pittsburgh region, leading Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf to join the welcome party. "I'm very pleased to welcome TCS to Pennsylvania," said Wolf. "This is an exciting time as we see more and more companies establish and expand their presence in the state. CMU has been especially adept in attracting cutting-edge businesses to and near its campus, which helps to drive economic growth."

Among the nation's major research universities, Carnegie Mellon ranks first in startups per research dollar, according to the Association of University Technology Managers. Since 2008, CMU faculty, students and alumni have created 215 new companies.

At 40,000 sq feet, the new Tata Consultancy Services Building funded by the gift will house state-of-the-art facilities, providing collaborative spaces for the CMU community. The building will also provide space for TCS staff to interact with CMU faculty, staff and students.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/TCS-donates-35-million-to-Carnegie-Mellon/articleshow/48673895.cms?

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India should allow entry of international education institutes

India should allow international educational institutes to operate in India, G V Prasad, co-chairman and CEO of DR Reddy's Lab, said here today.

Indian students go abroad for higher studies and settle down there, which was a wastage of country's human resources, Prasad said, after inaugurating a campus of Woxsen-School of Business at Kamkole in Medak district of Telangana.

The country needed investments in the educational sector, he added.


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/48686564.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

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Need For Sex Education Heightens, Is The New 'Sex Age' For Indian Kids?

A recent survey has revealed that the age at which the urban teens in India are becoming sexually active has gone down to 14 years, and the rate at which they are contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is on the rise.

"A new survey, based on interviews of 15,000-odd teens between 13 and 19 from 20 cities including the metros, revealed that around 8.9% gave a history suggestive of sexually transmitted infection at least once. The average age of first sexual contact for boys was 13.72 years and 14.09 years for girls."

What the experts say

The recent study was conducted by MediAngels.com, an urban e-healthcare organization funded by the Union Department of Science and Technology. According to Dr Debraj Shome of MediAngels.com, the numbers of reported STD/HIV cases have doubled than what was recorded for this age bracket in the 2011-12 annual survey conducted by Naco (National AIDS Control Organization).

More than 6.3% boys and 1.3% girls have admitted to have had intercourse at least once. Renowned sexologist, Dr M Watsa has confirmed that the STD cases have increased and the results of the current survey seem to agree with the results of several other studies.

Amita Dhanu, Family Planning Association of India (FPAI), says that while younger boys continue to experiment with sex, girls on the other hand are becoming more familiar with premarital sex which has led to reduced instances of girls complaining about being coerced into having sex by their boyfriends.

Areas of concern

Online pornography seems to have emerged as the main source of information for these children. Owing to the dearth of proper communication channels that offer sane sex advice, 57% teens turn to online media. This figure stands in stark contrast to 6.2% teens who turned to their teachers, 6% adolescents who talked to their mothers, and only 4.2% who had a candid heart-to-heart with their doctors regarding sexual advice.

Often seen as an "activity of excitement", these children disregard sexual health as a priority.

The way out

Experts believe that emphasis must be laid on the right communication channels - parents, teachers, and doctors. According to an expert, sex education has to be "age appropriate, value based and culture specific." Parents too need to become aware of anything new their children might be getting exposed to at school, especially things that they themselves weren't taught at that age.

Also, the need for the government to roll out sex education in schools can't be stressed upon enough. It's only with legitimate knowledge can adolescents be made aware of wrong experimentation, STDs, and underage pregnancies.

http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/need-for-sex-education-heightens-study-reveals-14-years-is-the-new-sex-age-for-indian-kids-244451.html

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India and Australia joint financial commitment of up to AUS$ one million and signed an MoU for education

Deepening cooperation in the field of education, India and Australia Monday agreed on a joint financial commitment of up to AUS$ one million and signed an MoU to strengthen existing partnerships.

The MoU would intensify existing partnerships in higher education and research, including technical and professional education, schools, vocational education and training. The agreement, which will also open up new and innovative areas of cooperation, was signed between HRD Minister Smriti Irani and the Australian Minister for Education and Training Christopher Pyne.

The MoU was approved by Union Cabinet last week.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/india-australia-ink-mou-to-deepen-education-ties/

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The Indian government is planning to open its education and legal services to foreigners

The government is planning to open its education and legal services to foreigners and liberalizing education, which is a move aimed at boosting the country's services sector. Explaining the country's approach to open education sector, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia suggested opening online courses to make it better accessible across communities and countries.

About opening legal services for foreign players, she said the Commerce Ministry's intention is to work with Bar Council of India (BCI) to move in a direction which is in tandem with the policies of both. The government is also in consultation with the Society for Indian Law Firms for this. The Department of Commerce built with stakeholders aims at allowing multi-professional firms to come in, and to allow them to increase size of the firms. "So, these could be early stage reforms. Once we do that, in the next stage we can have consultation with the BCI," said Rita in a statement to PTI.

Opening up of these two sectors is under discussion of the Committee of Secretaries. The UK and the US have been pushing India to open up the sector to foreign firms.

The Advocates Act, which is administered by the BCI, provides for foreign lawyers or law firms to visit India on a reciprocal basis for temporary periods to advise their clients on foreign law and diverse international legal issues.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/educational-legal-services-foreigners/1/460584.html

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3G enabled devices as a new educational content delivery system in Rural India

The 'Play n' learn' study harnessed Galli Galli Sim Sim games and study tools to explore the benefits and limitations of 3G enabled devices as a new educational content delivery system.

In the first phase of the intervention, smartphones were provided to children aged six to eight in Delhi with pre-loaded content in the form of packaged games. In the second phase , the same set of games in tablets were given to children (Grade 1, 2 and 3) in schools of South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and 400 children of 50 schools in two districts of Bihar. In addition, it also looked at a wider reach of distribution through Google Play. In the third phase of the intervention, a bank of additional games were developed for the android platform.

The community study was based in Delhi, using a control group and a pre-test/post-test design. The baseline sample included 42 children from a marginalised community in the capital which received the GGSS games/tools and 56 children from a similar community who did not.

The School study included 4 schools as part of the treatment group, and two schools which did not receive the GGSS study material. There were 221 students in the treatment baseline sample and 181 in that of the control group.


http://www.business-standard.com/article/specials/digital-technology-can-boost-education-in-rural-india-study-115082400579_1.html

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Want education loan? Log on to vidyalakshmi.co.in, says govt

New Delhi: The government on Thursday said it has a launched a website, www.vidyalakshmi.co.in, for students seeking educational loans and five banks including SBI, IDBI Bank and Bank of India have integrated their system with the portal.

"Vidya Lakshmi (www.vidyalakshmi.co.in) was launched on the occasion of Independence Day i.e. 15th August, 2015 for the benefit of students seeking educational loans," a Finance Ministry release said.

The portal has been developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited (NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Department of Financial Services in the Finance Ministry, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Indian Banks Association (IBA).

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech for 2015-16 had proposed to set up a fully IT based student financial aid authority to administer and monitor scholarships as well as educational loan schemes through Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram (PMVLK).

It is aimed to ensure that no student misses out on higher education for lack of funds, said the release, adding that the launch of the portal is the first step towards achieving this objective.

"Vidya Lakshmi Portal is the first of its kind portal providing single window for students to access information and make applications for educational loans provided by banks as also government scholarships," it added.

The portal will provide information about educational loan schemes of banks; common educational loan application form for students; facility to apply to multiple banks for educational loans; and facility for banks to download students' loan applications.

It also has facility for banks to upload loan processing status; facility for students to email grievances/queries relating to educational loans; dashboard facility for students to view status of their loan application and linkage to National Scholarship Portal for information and application for government scholarships.

Finance Ministry said so far 13 banks have registered 22 educational loan schemes on the Vidya Lakshmi Portal and five banks -- SBI, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank and Union Bank of India have integrated their system with the portal for providing loan processing status to students.

"This initiative aims to bring on board all banks providing educational loans. It is expected that students throughout the country will be benefited by this initiative of the government by making available a single window for access to various educational loan schemes of all banks," said the release further.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/want-education-loan-log-on-to-vidyalakshmi-co-in-says-govt_1650021.html

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Skill development essential for education

NEW DELHI: Urging the industry and other stakeholders to join the Delhi government in improving the infrastructure and quality of government schools, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said that skill development will go a long way in bringing about a positive change. Sisodia was addressing a session on 'Making Delhi the Knowledge Hub of India', organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The minister emphasized that there should be a sync between the requirements of the industry and the education system. He announced a new concept "Be a Teacher", which will be launched on the Teachers' Day by President Pranab Mukherjee. He will address a government school class on September 5.

"Innovative thinking is the key to success and the need of the hour. Education should move towards making students, leaders and innovators," said Sisodia. He highlighted that the quality of education needs to be improved and should be more research-oriented.

Other important members present on the occasion were Punya Srivastava, education secretary, Delhi government, Aditya Birla convener, CII Delhi panel on education, and Alka Kaul, chairperson, CII Delhi state council.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Sisodia-Skill-development-essential-for-education/articleshow/48548561.cms

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Strengthen educational ties between India and Australia

In a move set to further strengthen education ties with India, Australian government today appointed former cricketer Adam Gilchrist as nation's inaugural ambassador to the region on education.

The announcment was made by the Minister for Education and Training Christopher Pyne prior to attending the Annual Ministerial Dialogue and third Australia-India Education Council meeting in New Delhi on August 24.
"I am delighted to announce Adam Gilchrist as the first Australia-India Education Ambassador," Pyne said.

"Adam will play an important part in supporting the growth in the strong bilateral education relationship between Australia and India, to help ensure that Australia continues to be seen as a high quality provider of education.
"Consistent with the pillars of the Draft National Strategy for International Education, the Australian Government is committed to reaching out to the world," he said.

"I see Adam's appointment as helping to build on this, as he will help grow our already strong education partnership with India and raise Australia's profile and reputation.

"The Indian people recognise Adam as one of cricket's greats, and the values he espouses both on and off the field ? excellence and integrity ? are precisely those with which Australia aligns its reputation for high-quality education, training and research," Pyne added.

Gilchrist said he was excited about his new role and welcomed the challenge ahead of him.
"I am honoured to have been chosen to perform this important role in helping strengthen the education ties between our two countries," Gilchrist said.

"For the past seven years in my capacity as an ambassador at one of Australia's best research universities I have seen first-hand the vital role education plays in the development of modern India.

"Having spent so much of my cricketing career playing in India, I have gotten to understand the important bond Australia has with India. Being Australia's first education ambassador to India will give me the opportunity to put so much back into that relationship through the all-important focus of learning and training," he said.

Gilchrist will join Minister Pyne in New Delhi next week to help showcase the quality of Australia's education systems.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/adam-gilchrist-to-be-australias-edu-ambassador-to-india/1/459864.html

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Top sex and behavioural experts have favoured making sex education

NEW DELHI: Terming the government's crackdown on 857 pornographic websites an "act in haste", the country's top sex and behavioural experts have favoured making sex education mandatory for young Indian teenagers so that crimes like rape or child molestation can be efficiently curbed.

SC's observations prompt Centre to block 857 porn sites

DoT bans 5 websites that don't even show porn

According to them, a crackdown is not the solution as adults have a right to watch porn in the privacy of their homes and that right should not be taken away.


"Banning porn websites is not the solution at all. Educating the youth about what sex and related behaviours are must be on the agenda of the present government," Dr Prakash Kothari, one of India's leading sexologists based in Mumbai, told IANS.

The ministry of communications and information and technology, in its order of July 31 under section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act 2000, banned the 857 websites terming their content "immoral and indecent".

The ban will only result in a boom for the pirated porn industry, experts say.

"One doubts if this ban can be a fool-proof solution. It will probably increase the sale of pirated porn DVDs. A ban of this kind might actually increase sexual frustration and lead to other sexual and social problems," warned Dr Madhuri Singh, consulting psychiatrist at Nanavati Super Specialty Hospital in Mumbai.

The experts, however, feel that when it comes to child pornography, prompt action is required.

READ ALSO: People will soon learn to circumvent ISPs and government orders on porn ban, expert says

"Throughout the world, child porn is banned and generally stays off the internet. Problem is that some adult websites have links that lead to child pornography and those must be dealt sternly with," noted Dr Samir Parikh, director of mental health and behavioural sciences at Fortis Hospital in New Delhi.

Objectification of women and child abuse are growing in our society, says Dr Parikh, but there has to be a proper mechanism to ensure that young adults do not get easy access to porn.

"With the proliferation of technology, kids have easy access to porn and related materials and this issue has to be brought to the fore," he contended.

Owing to the growth in the smartphone sector, online porn viewing is going to see an explosion in the next five years, a recent study said.

According to Britain-based digital market research specialist firm Juniper Research, online porn watching will grow by nearly 42 percent in the next five years.

The porn video hits will grow to 193 billion a year by 2020 from around 136 billion this year, it said.

Growth is taking place in the video chat and webcam content area in the global porn industry that is worth $97 billion.

Sexual literacy may be the need of the hour, feel others.

"In the absence of proper sex education, ignorance prevails because porn is a double-edged sword," said Dr Sudhakar Krishnamurti, director of world-famous Andromeda Andrology Centre in Hyderabad.

"Responsibility lies with all the stakeholders - government, media houses, social scientists, doctors, teachers - to ensure that sex education becomes the key to tackle rising cases of sexual abuse," Dr Parikh stressed.

According to Dr Sameer Malhotra, director of the department of mental health and behavioural sciences at Max Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi, "age-appropriate and sensitively handled sex education can help in preventing risky behaviour and addressing myths" associated with sexual issues.

"Sex education will actually limit porn viewing among adults," said Dr Manish Jain, senior consultant (psychiatrist) at BLK Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi.

Parental guidance of age-appropriate surfing may also help.

"Adults websites can be blocked on any computer and in any browser to prevent adult-themed content from showing up in web searches and on specific websites. Modify your computers with parental guidance," Dr Jain advised.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Banning-porn-wont-work-sex-education-will-experts-say/articleshow/48345756.cms

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Addressing the fifth edition of Edu Summit, an annual conference on higher education

Emphasising that Indian industries and universities need to collaborate to initiate Research and Development Projects (R&D) projects, Professor Kaptan Singh Solanki, Governor, Punjab and Haryana, and UT Administrator, said the same was needed to make the ‘Make in India’ campaign a success.

Professor Solanki was addressing the fifth edition of Edu Summit, an annual conference on higher education, which was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with Indian School of Business (ISB) and Haryana government on ISB campus Wednesday.

“We need to find innovative ways to make manufacturing both cost-effective and resource-effective. The only solution is to foster active collaboration of industry with governments, universities, institutes and colleges in the fields of higher education and R&D,” said Professor Solanki.

Sharing India’s Gross Enrollment Ratio in higher education, the Governor said, “We are still at 19.4 per cent as compared to 84 per cent in the US, 59 per cent in UK, 55 per cent in Japan and 28 per cent in China. Though 67 per cent of our population is young, our skilled workforce is below 10 per cent as compared to 95 per cent in South Korea and 80 per cent in Japan. There is a need to bring about equivalence between degree and skills with a lot of technology and knowledge interventions.”

On the occasion, Vijai Vardhan, Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education, Haryana government, talked about creating Centres of Excellence to initiate research and reach out to students across the state.

The theme of the summit was ‘Moving towards Knowledge-based Economy— Basic imperatives and Agenda for Reforms’.

Various industry leaders and vice-chancellors of regional universities discussed as to how ‘Bell laboratories’ would lead to improved professional productivity.

“CII is particularly concerned about the present status of higher education in the country, and it has been focusing on policy advocacy with governments on key issues, forging PPP partnerships, strengthening and expanding industry-academia linkages, etc. Our target is 10 Nobel laureates from India in the next decade,” said Vijay Thadani, Chairman, CII National Committee on Higher Education.

Thadani added that one of CII’s key initiatives includes instituting the Prime Minister’s Fellowship Scheme for Doctoral Research in partnership with Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, under which up to 100 PhD fellows are given double scholarship of up to Rs 8 lakh per annum for four years to do research on industry problems. At present, there are around 70 PM Fellows working at IITs, NITs and IISERs, and over 50 companies are working with them.

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/ties-ups-between-industries-universities-can-boost-make-in-india-campaign-solanki/

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The world’s first Development Impact Bond has been issued to support education of girls in India

The world’s first-ever Development Impact Bond has been issued to support education of girls in India. This proof of concept financing could open a new channel of funding for the international development programs.

Modeled on social impact bonds or pay-for-success programs, the Educate Girls Development Impact Bond funded by the UBS Optimus Foundation will earn its return only if educational outcomes in terms of literacy and numeracy among girls are achieved.

Phyllis Costanza, CEO of UBS Optimus Foundation, explains, “Our aim is to establish a proof of concept’, showing potential donors and investors how development impact bonds can contribute to societal gains while also still offering financial returns.”

“What’s different about the Educate Girls Development Impact Bond is that is 100% focused on the outcomes achieved,” she adds. “It’s not just about getting marginalised girls into school; it’s about keeping them there – and ensuring they make real progress in literacy and numeracy.”

“Investors are increasingly looking for ways to do good with their money and the development community is placing a greater emphasis on results: the Development Impact Bond sits at the nexus of these two trends. If this experiment works, then future impact bonds could go on to create investable solutions for the underserved and those at the bottom of the pyramid,” Costanza concludes.


On Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 2:00 Eastern, Costanza will join me for a live discussion about this innovative new financing mechanism for international development. Tune in here then to watch the interview live. Post questions in the comments below or tweet questions before the interview to @devindthorpe.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2015/08/05/girls-education-in-india-to-provide-test-case-for-innovative-financing/

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Higher Education and Skill Education Guarantee Scheme will be named after APJ Abdul Kalam

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced that the government’s Higher Education and Skill Education Guarantee Scheme will be named after former President A P J Abdul Kalam, who passed away in Shillong on Monday.

The scheme, under which the government will stand guarantee for student loans of up to Rs 10 lakh, will be named ‘Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Higher Education and Skill Education Guarantee Scheme’.

Paying homage to Kalam, the CM said that he was known for his extraordinary teachings for the youth and for school children, and he encouraged them to make it their mission to take India ahead.

Addressing a gathering of teachers, educationists and government officers at the Delhi secretariat on July 2, Kalam had said that 25 per cent of school time, for students between class 9 to class 12, should be devoted to skill development.

“That means, every year we get a skilled bank of millions of children. In such a situation, the role played by educationists has to be unique so that it will help upgrade the skill of the candidate for making him or her a member of the knowledge society,” Kalam had said.

Meanwhile, the special session of the Delhi Assembly, called by the AAP government to discuss the issue of women’s safety, was adjourned till August 3 after legislators paid tribute to Kalam, who passed away on Monday.
In a mark of respect for the departed leader, the Delhi government also instructed its officials to remove all its advertisements from outdoor sites.

A senior government official said that the outdoor advertisements would be removed by Tuesday night and they would not be displayed till the completion of the seven-day mourning period.

After the assembly session was adjourned, Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel rushed to Kalam’s residence at 10, Rajaji Marg, to pay their respects to the late President.

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/skill-education-scheme-for-students-named-after-apj-abdul-kalam

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Telangana State Admission Fee Regulatory Committee TSAFRC Formed

Hyderabad: Telangana State government is to build its own Admission Fee Regulatory Committee, TSAFRC for maintaining proper fee structure in institutes, universities under TSCHE.

Newly formed Telangana State is now ready to build its own Admission Fee Regulatory Committee for maintaining a proper fee structure. Recently, State Council of Higher Education TSCHE has been formed and conducted many entrance exams like EAMCET, ICET, ECET, PGCET, etc. for providing admissions into various courses of graduation and post graduation.

After a sequence of exams conducted, finally Government has decided in creating TS AFRC. As per reports, private and unaided institutes will not charge more on students for their higher education. It is cleared that no fee changes will be there in near future. As a part of development in education system, the govt is planning for own AFRC.

The decision regarding TS AFRC was taken on July 22 only and declared that this committee consists of 11 members that will be headed by retired High Court judge. Justice P Swaroop Reddy will take control over regulating fee structure. Till today, only the Chairman is appointed, hence it will take some more to appoint all other members and start work.

T Papi Reddy, Chairman, Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) said that the already academic year has been started in many colleges, hence there will be no change in fee structure. It will take some time for changes to be made and start working.

http://indread.com/7716/telangana-admission-fee-regulatory-committee-ts-afrc

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Education software company Blackboard is looking to sell for $3 billion

Blackboard, a U.S. software company that provides learning tools for high school and university classrooms, is exploring a sale that it hopes could value it at as much as $3 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

Blackboard's majority owner, private equity firm Providence Equity Partners LLC, has hired Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America to run an auction for the company, the people said this week.

Blackboard has annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of around $200 million, some of the people added.

Two of the people said that Blackboard could fetch a valuation between 14 times to 17 times EBITDA, up to $3.4 billion, based on current multiples of subscription-based software companies.

The sources asked not to be identified because the sale process is confidential. Providence Equity, Blackboard, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America declined to comment.

Based in Washington D.C., Blackboard provides custom software to help students collaborate on assignments and communicate with teachers. It serves 19,000 clients in 100 countries including 1,900 international institutions, with 80 percent of the top academic institutions using its software, according to its website.

The majority of Blackboard's business is from higher education clients but it also generates revenue from K-12 schools and from government and corporate clients. The company has also branched into "student pathway" services that help students manage financial aid, video conferencing and other areas.

Providence took Blackboard private in 2011 for $1.64 billion and also assumed $130 million in net debt.

A pioneer in education management software founded in 1998, Blackboard has seen its growth slow in recent years as cheaper and faster software upstarts such as Instructure Inc have tried to encroach on its turf. Since its launch in 2011, Instructure has signed up 1,200 colleges and school districts, according to its website.

The sector has been very active for private equity firms. Last year, Hellman & Friedman LLC acquired K-12 education company Renaissance Learning for $1.1 billion, and Charterhouse Capital Partners acquired Skillsoft, which provides educational software to businesses, for more than $2 billion.

Apollo Global Management LLC has held talks with investment banks about taking McGraw-Hill Education public later this year in an IPO worth more than $5 billion, Reuters reported in April.

Providence has previously invested in education companies ITT Educational Services, Archipelago Learning and Education Management Corp.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/education-software-company-blackboard-is-looking-to-sell-for-3-billion-2015-7

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New education policy will be ready by 2015 : Smriti Irani

Smriti Irani has a precise goal: to spruce up the education sector in India. The Union Human Resource Development Minister is clear about what she wants – accountability from the teachers and to serve the interests of students across India whose future depends on the quality of education they receive. But in her endeavour, Irani – the feisty minister – has ruffled many feathers.

And so she believes, she has been selectively targeted by these vested interests who accused her of saffronising the education sector. Irani, however, is unperturbed: she is determined to pursue her mission.

“I have been selectively targeted. There has been a selective outrage against what I have been doing as it is convenient. It is also convenient sometimes not to challenge cosy clubs. After a very long time I am asking the academics to be accountable. They are just reacting against it. You are bound to be attacked when you challenge the status quo,” Irani said while addressing the Mail Today Education Conclave-2015 on Monday.


http://www.khabarindia.in/new-education-policy-will-be-ready-by-2015-end-smriti-irani/

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Singapore based educational institute is planning to set-up its campus in India

Indian education market, it looks like, is all set to spread its wings as foreign educational institutes are looking forward to setting up shop here. As reported by Economic Times, a Singapore-based educational institute is planning to set-up its campus in India.

The institute, in collaboration with India's Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies will set-up its campuses in Chennai. With a plan to invest Rs 46 crore in the project, the University will offer programs in business and management.

Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), in its statement has said that it'll start taking in admissions from October and will offer a variety of programs varying from diploma to masters in business and management. The institute is hoping to start more programs from next year.

As per the reports, construction of the 70,000 sq ft campus in Chennai will begin from July next year and cost of 10 million Singapore Dollar (Rs 46.69 crore) has been estimated.

Dr R Theyvendran, Secretary-General of MDIS has said, "Singapore's education has a stellar reputation not just in the region, but globally. There is demand from students from around the world to pursue programs with the Singapore brand, evident from the vast number of countries that students at MDIS in Singapore come from."

"Our existing two overseas campuses are doing well and is a further testament of the Singapore brand. This is the reason why we are taking bold steps and investing in this third overseas campus in India. We hope to fly the Singapore name high in these markets," he further added.

The Chennai University will be the third overseas campus for the Singapore-based private educational institution after Malaysia and Tashkent.

http://www.businessinsider.in/Singapores-educational-institute-to-come-to-India/articleshow/48199222.cms

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Resolved to constitute a Directorate of Legal Studies and Law Reforms

The Bar Council of India Vide their Resolution No.115/2012 have resolved to constitute a Directorate of Legal Studies and Law Reforms as well as Legal Education Committee. The aforesaid Directorate shall discuss and lay down the procedure for conducting, holding and administering the following functions :-

(i) To monitor the All India Bar Examination;

(ii) Continued Legal Education;

(iii) Educational programmes in various centers of Legal Education and court premises;

(iv) Moot Court competitions at National and international levels;

(v) Scholarships to students;

(vi) Discussions/ seminars on various issues; and

(vii) Reforms in Legal Field, and to discuss any other issues assigned to it by the Bar Council of India. The gist of the discussion and the resolutions of the Directorate are to be placed the Legal Education Committee of Bar Council of India or before Bar Council of India for necessary action and final decision.

The BCI has informed that the Directorate and Legal Education Committee is constituted, consisting of a sitting Judge of Hon'ble Apex court who happens to be the director-in-chief of the Directorate; 3 Hon'ble sitting Judges of different High Courts including that of a Delhi High court, are the members of the Directorate; Attorney General for India and Solicitor General of India, apart from them, Vice- Chancellors of 3 National Law Schools; reputed Senior Advocates of Supreme Court of India; some retired Judges and the Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs, are the members of the Directorate.

Other academicians of the country are also invited as a special invitee of the Director at the time of its meeting. The Directorate and Legal Education Committee discuss and deal with the continuing Legal Education, Teacher's Training, advanced specialized courses, education programme for students, seminars and workshops, legal research and all other issues, revision of curriculum for the law Courses etc.

The Bar Council of India itself is taking care of Legal Education, Continuing Legal Education for development of professional skills, it undertakes training programmes and workshops for young lawyers frequently.

This information was given by Union Minister of Ministry of Law & Justice, Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/government-press-release/directorate-of-legal-education-115072301363_1.html

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The future of education is indeed being shaped by digital technology

Digital Education, in the last few years, has facilitated the movement of the paradigm for education beyond hardcopy books and conventional chalkboard classrooms. Over the past decade, the education industry has gone through an array of functional changes in learning methodologies, teaching techniques and in the approach to education itself.

The efficacy of new tools and techniques used in education have been repeatedly proved in this time period. Researchers have found that performance of students using digital learning platforms outperforms those using conventional methods by 30 to 80 per cent. Apart from having an impact on performance of students, technology assists in reducing the cost of education. A study on cost effectiveness of digital platforms found a reduction in institutional cost by 10 to 35 per cent by using technological features.

The future of education is indeed being shaped by digital technology. Moving through the progression of technological developments, education is on the way to be truly universal. Digital learning has undoubtedly led to a revolution in the education industry and the era is dynamically moving to the next level. The emerging traits in technology will establish itself as the pivot of new age education.

MOOCs – Learning over the Internet

MOOC (Massively Open Online Courses) is among the premium offerings of technology to the era. It has rendered a new face to distance education ingrained with features such as open access to learning content, online interaction among teachers and students and most importantly, making education more inclusive.

The New York Times proclaimed 2012 to be the “Year of the MOOC”, as several top providers such as Coursera, Udacity and edX came to the mainstream. Open online Courses enabled distribution of innovative courses at a large scale. From inception itself, MOOCs have been using innovative pedagogies with distributed learning materials apart from conventional audio and video learning. The courses offered are more relevant to modern needs of the generation. For instance, course such as Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) was launched in 2011 by Stanford MOOC.

As of May 2014, more than 900 MOOCs have been launched by private colleges and universities in the US. More universities and education providers from both public and private sectors will launch their own open courses and set an established platform of education on the internet. Furthermore, an emerging trend is the partnership of education boards with MOOC providers.

In mid 2014, SAT, the Scholastic Aptitude Test which is widely used by college admission authority initiated collaboration with Khan Academy, an established MOOC provider. More institutions are likely to collaborate with MOOC providers to form an integrated system of online education. Hence, the shift of conventional education to the Internet will be more intense in coming times.

India, one of the forerunners in Information Technology, has launched a national initiative for online distance education. SWAYAM, the MOOC program initiated by Ministry of Human Resource Development is all set to roll out as the official portal for online education in India. SWAYAM stands for Self Webs of Active-learning for Young Aspiring Minds. The platform is a collaboration of top Indian educational institutions such as IIT, IIM and other central Universities. The Ministry of Finance announced a Rs. 100 Crore funding for online learning and virtual classrooms in 2014.

Digital Classrooms – Connecting Students

A new-age education trend is conventional classrooms transforming into digitally enabled ones. The advantages of digital classrooms are many in contrast to traditional classrooms. The teaching and learning methodologies aided by Information and Communication Technology support intensive, collaborative and interactive education.

Among other advantages, digitally enriched content and personalized learning are some of the major ones. These classrooms are enabled to deliver instruction through multiple forms of media suitable for different modes of learning. They facilitate gathering of immediate feedback and offer solutions to improve student performance. Digitally enhanced class rooms automate practice of basic skills and offer a collaborative way of learning by encouraging peer group learning.

In India, initiative such as Pratham, has been launched in partnership with Vodafone Foundation India. The basic objective of the initiative is to enhance teaching and learning in low income schools using technology as primary tool. The project aims to bring low cost digital learning solutions to 1000 schools in 12 states of India. It is projected that over 50,000 students will be benefited by the initiative.

Pratham is customized to fulfill the requirements of primary Indian education landscape. The program also encompasses conducting holistic training that enables teachers to integrate teaching with technology for optimal benefit of students. It will also provide ongoing technical and lesson planning support to teachers.

The integration of technology in the classroom, especially in developed countries has led to a blended teaching approach. For instance, new trends such as BYOD (Bring your own device) integrate smart devices such as tablets and phones featuring educational apps with the subject matter expertise of the teacher. Notable examples include initiatives by Google for Education such as Google Classroom and Google Computer Science First.

In fact E-Books could soon replace textbooks for an interactive and potentially personalized learning experience in schools. Assessment online platforms nowadays allow for creation of tests that focus on learning outcomes and quick feedback helping chart the progress a student is making. More importantly digital tools promote competency based learning which helps the student to be the focus in the education ecosystem and drive one’ own learning at one’ pace and according to one’s interests.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/what-lies-ahead-for-digital-education-1019893.html

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Bharat’s desire to realize its aspirations through access to better quality education

If there is one single thing that can completely rewrite the Indian social landscape, then it has to be education. It is, as Nelson Mandela famously remarked, “the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Unfortunately, over the last six decades, despite impressive progress in literacy levels and full enrolment at the primary school level, the quality deficit in education has only widened.

Official data released earlier this month is cause for both hope and despair. The latter because it only reaffirms that India has a long way to go before it comes close to achieving desirable outcomes in education. At the same time, it does hold out hope because it confirms that education is a key component of the aspiration matrix of Indians, and that citizens are no longer willing to wait and will go the extra pecuniary mile to realize

Data released by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) this month reveals that a fourth of India’s students were availing of private coaching in 2014. This proportion was a fifth six years ago.


In states such as Tripura and West Bengal, the proportion of students taking private coaching is nearly 80%—more than thrice the national average in 2014. A colleague in Mint wrote a larger piece around this trend and the table with that report ranks the states on spending.

To labour this point further, the NSSO data is revealing in that the share of private coaching in total education spending, for both rural and urban areas, has grown significantly. It rose from 10% in 2008 to 14.1% in 2014 for rural areas and 13% to 16.5% for urban areas over the same period. This desire for private coaching may be inspired either to make up the deficit in education standards or to gain an extra edge for students. Going by anecdotal evidence, it is more likely than not that this trend is motivated by the desire to bridge the deficit in education.

And, of course, we have the humbling findings of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which in 2011 ranked India all but last among 74 participating countries in learning—mathematics and reading skills—standards. While China topped it, Kyrgyzstan was last behind India.

It is this massive deficit in education capacities which drives what Professor Amartya Sen described as capability deprivation—which in turn defines inequality of opportunity. Sen believes capability poverty to be more significant than income poverty. The former refers to deprivation of opportunities, in this case, of good quality education.

An obvious corollary is that if you invest in education (something for which the Aam Aadmi Party should be given credit, doubling the annual spending commitment on education in its first state budget presentation for Delhi) you address capability deprivation. Other states will hopefully take the cue from AAP, as the onus of spending on social programmes in future, after the implementation of the recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission, is on them.

Since the NSSO survey reveals that this is a key means of fulfilling aspirations, especially in a population where 65% is younger than 35 years, it will be politically prudent too, something that AAP has seized upon. It is all fine to blame the Union government, but eventually, the state’s citizens will hold them accountable.

The good news for states is that new tools are available to ensure there is more bang for the buck. Recently, the Union government released part of the data on the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC). Most of the attention has been reserved for its failure to release the caste data, little on the rich socio-economic data.

SECC provides a deprivation profile of the rural populace using parameters such as education, skills, housing, employment, health, nutrition, drinking water, sanitation, social and gender mobilization. And since this data is publicly vetted by the village council, the state government can actually tailor its spending to address deprivation—like education.

At present, the approach is largely of one-size-fits-all. Since the onus of spending is now on states, they have the means to adopt suitable spending priorities and using the deprivation matrix of the SECC to target expenditure.

Clearly then, recent data signals Bharat’s desire to realize its aspirations through access to better quality education. Presumably, politicians will read the writing on the wall.

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/DG5xU8sxXOLVcIIZpvoogO/Education-and-aspirations-in-India.html

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99 per cent success registered in the Telangana State Education Common Entrance Test (TSEdCET)

HYDERABAD: A whopping 99 per cent success rate has been registered in the Telangana State Education Common Entrance Test (EdCET), the results of which were announced here Thursday. This year, 57,775 candidates appeared for the test, out of whom 57,220 qualified for admission into the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) courses.

Every year, EdCet records one of the highest success rates, owing to the exemption awarded to several categories of students. Candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) don’t have any eligibility mark for admission to all methodologies. Adding to that, all women candidates, irrespective of their score, will get directly qualified in physics and mathematics methodologies.

The highest number of candidates from these categories usually pushes the success rate to the top, explained Prof P Prasad, convener, TS EdCET-2015. Interestingly, most of the top rankers in all methodologies were women candidates. This year, 25 per cent of the total marks have been set as the qualifying score.

There are 25,000 seats available in 250 B.Ed colleges across the State. From this year onwards, B.Ed will be a two-year course instead of one. The National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE) made several changes to the teacher education courses including modifications in syllabus.

Prof T Papi Reddy, Chairman of Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE), said admission schedule for B.Ed courses would be announced soon. After discussing with State universities, the TSCHE will release the dates for counselling, he added.

Story in State
57,775 No. of candidates who took the test

57,220 Successful candidates

250 B.Ed colleges in State

25,000 Seats available

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How digital lockers to E-education, E-health in Digital India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched his most ambitious Digital India programme, which aims at transforming the country into a digitally-empowered knowledge economy. The programme aims at bringing as many as 2.5 villages under broadband connectivity. The highlights of the Digital India programme, worth Rs 1 lakh crore, are digital locker, E-education, E-health and National Scholarship Portal. Here's a guide to each initiative

Launched under the Digital India programme:

Digital Locker:

PM Narendra Modi launched his most ambitious Digital India programme, which aims at transforming the country into a digitally-empowered knowledge economy.

Digital locker is a dedicated personal storage space for e-documents as well as Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of e-documents issued by government departments. The system will have an e-sign facility, which can be used to sign stored documents. Each locker is linked to the resident's Aadhar number.

The move is aimed at minimising the use of physical documents and provide authenticity to e-documents, thereby, giving secure access to documents issued by government. It will also reduce administrative overhead of government departments and agencies and make it easy for the residents to receive services.

E-Education:

As the name suggests, the programme is aimed at providing high-tech education using state-of-the-art technology to all. This programme can also be used to provide education in far-flung areas where it may not be possible for teachers to be present in person. The education can be imparted through virtual means as part of the programme.

E-health:

The E-health initiative, which is a part of Mission Digital India of the government, aims at providing timely, effective and economical healthcare services to all citizens. E-health is particularly relevant for masses that have little access to healthcare services in India. The programme looks at helping people maintain health records in a cost-effective manner. This is expected to be linked to the Aadhar number of citizens.

With this initiative, getting an OPD appointment, lab reports and blood availability in any government hospital becomes easy. Online Registration System (ORS) is a framework to link various hospitals across the country for Aadhaar based online registration and appointment system, where counter based OPD registration and appointment system through Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) has been digitalised.

Portal facilitates online appointments with various departments of different Hospitals using eKYC data of Aadhaar number, if patient's mobile number is registered with UIDAI. And in case mobile number is not registered with UIDAI, it uses patient's name.
New Patient will get appointment as well as Unique Health Identification (UHID) number. If Aadhaar number is already linked with UHID number, then appointment number will be given and UHID will remain same.

While visiting a hospital for the first time, one can skip the hassles of registration and other formalities by merely identifying self through the Aadhaar Number, select hospital and department, select date of appointment and get the same through SMS.

National Scholarship Portal:

The National Scholarships Portal is a one-stop solution for end-to-end scholarship process. From submission of student application, verification, sanction to disbursal to end beneficiary for all the scholarships provided by the government, this is an important tool of the Digital India initiative.

This move simplifies the process for students by providing common application form and one-time registration. SMS and e-mail alert would be sent to students at every step of scholarship process.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/from-digital-lockers-to-e-education-how-digital-india-will-transform-the-country-1014303.html

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