The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation India will be 50 years in achieving universal education goals

New Delhi: India will be 50 years late in achieving its universal education goals, according to a latest report released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation or UNESCO.

With 11.1 million out-of-school students in the lower secondary level, India’s target of achieving sustainable development goal of providing quality education to every child by 2030 is far behind schedule, as per the Global Education Monitoring report 2016.

Going by the current status, India is likely to achieve universal upper secondary education by 2085, half a century late, says report.

The upper secondary education comprises of the age group of 14-17 years which is, students in standard 9 to standard 12.

However, as of 2013-14, there has been an overall increase in the gross enrolment ratio at almost every level of education, which signifies that student enrolment to the corresponding eligible age group in a given year has increased, the study shows.

Enrolment Of Girls In Schools Has Increased

Gender disparity in schools has largely been addressed as the enrolment of girls in higher education increased from 39 per cent in 2007 to 46 per cent in 2014.

An increase in single-sex toilets in schools has led to an increase in the enrolment of adolescent girls and female teachers, the UNESCO study shows.

However, there is still a large disparity in achieving basic skills such as reading and math, where there has been a decline in learning outcomes, highlights the report.

Absenteeism Among Teachers Remains A Problem

Almost 24 per cent teachers were absent during random visits to rural schools, according to a September 2015 study by the University of California.

Steps By Government To Tackle Absenteeism

The government has not established any bonus to incentivise teachers and principals, the Minister of Human Resource Development informed the Lok Sabha in April 2016.

E-pathshala, launched in 2015 and aimed at promoting e-learning through e-resources like textbooks, audio and video material, was among the steps taken to tackle the shortage of good teachers, the minister said.

Stunting In Children Needs To Be Addressed

As many as 39 per cent or 61.8 million Indian children who are five or younger are stunted, IndiaSpend reported in July. This is 15 per cent higher than the global average.

Another sustainable development goal that India is likely to miss is the goal of having only 100 million children stunted in 2025.

The current trends suggest that there will be 127 million children stunted in 2025.  Lack of local and global funding are the reasons for the same, an IndiaSpend study points out.


http://everylifecounts.ndtv.com/india-miss-target-universal-upper-secondary-education-report-4977

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British Council India launched the third year of Education UK Alumni Awards in 2017

British Council India launched the third year of Education UK Alumni Awards that will honour the outstanding achievements of business professionals, entrepreneurs and community leaders across the globe.

UK university alumni from the 14 participating countries can apply from September 7, 2016. The nominations closes on October 16 and applications on October 31, 2016. The winners will be announced in March 2017.

The awards are open for the UK alumni from India, Egypt, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey and the USA who are currently residing in one of the 14 countries participating in the awards and have graduated in the last 15 years.

Award winners and finalists are leaders in their fields who have used their experience of studying at a UK university to make a positive contribution to their communities, professions and countries. The Alumni Awards celebrate and showcase the impact and value of a UK higher education and raises the profile and reputation of UK alumni, their former universities, and the whole of UK education.



http://indianexpress.com/article/education/british-council-launches-education-uk-alumni-awards-2017/

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The Delhi Government organised the first ever 'SMC Sabha' for School Management Committees parents and education department

The Delhi Government organised the first ever 'SMC Sabha' for School Management Committees (SMCs) of Government schools located in the Burari Assembly constituency. Strengthening and empowering Delhi's SMCs has been a top priority of the government for more than a year. The SMC Sabha was one more step towards making the government accountable to parents of children studying in government schools.

SMC members from 15 schools of Burari had assembled in the Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV) - Civil Lines, to share their grievances with government officials. The concept of the SMC Sabha was to provide a platform to parent SMC members to voice their issues with the schools to the concerned officials, in order to ensure effective and speedy resolution.Deputy chief minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia graced the event with his presence and encouraged parents to speak up about the problems they were facing. "The government is very keen on involving parents and the community in school administration. SMCs are playing a very constructive role in improving the condition of government schools today. This is an extraordinary event, since it is the first time that government and parents are meeting together, discussing and resolving problems as one team," said SisodiaThe minister sought tighter deadlines for completion of work and pulled up officials who were found to be lax. He will personally follow-up all the commitments made by officials to ensure works get completed on time. When a parent complained of poor grain quality in mid day meals, Sisodia immediately inquired with the contractor, and gave him a one-week deadline to improve food quality. He also ordered that the contractor would be penalised and replaced if he failed to meet the deadlines.

MINISTER ACTS TOUGH ON LAX OFFICIALS

On another occasion, when a group of parents from the Mukundpur School in Burari complained of a delay in construction of classrooms, the minister asked both PWD and Education Department officials about it. When he found that the necessary files were stuck between the two departments, he asked both of them to convene a meeting on Monday and finish the paperwork by the end of the day.Apart from the Sisodia, the advisor to Dy CM Atishi Marlena, Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha, advisor to Director (education), Shailendra Sharma, district magistrate (North East District), Deputy Directors (education), and officials of PWD, Delhi Jal Board, MCD and Delhi Police were also present to answer queries and resolve department-related problems faced by parent SMC members.

MASSIVE TURNOUT AT SMC SABHA

"SMCs have changed the way Delhi government schools function for the better and this effort of the government was to make it directly answerable to parents of children who study in our schools. The turnout at the Sabha is very heartening and SMC members will return home today with even more confidence to perform their responsibilities in their schools," said Atishi Marlena.

This initiative of the government is first of the many such 'SMC Sabhas' to be organised in every Assembly Constituency of Delhi. The Delhi government has always made education its prime area of focus, and has launched several interventions to transform government schools.


http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-government-smc-sabha-parents-government-school-manish-sisodia/1/761903.html

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The opening of a new higher secondary school

QUEPEM: The opening of a new higher secondary school, allegedly in violation of education rules, in Ambaulim within an 8km radius already dotted with five such institutions has sparked off a controversy in the area.

Though the directorate of education has granted provisional licence to Shree Chandreshwar Bhootnath Shikxan Saunstha to commence only Class XI arts stream from academic year 2016-17, five institutions nearbyMaria Bambina Higher Secondary School, Cuncolim; Pope John Higher Secondary School, Quepem; Cuncolim United H S School, Cuncolim; Vivekanand Higher Secondary School, Balli; and Damodar Higher Secondary School, Guddi, Parodahave filed written objections to the department. Rule 4 (5) (c) of Goa Education Rules, 1986, does not permit the opening of a new higher secondary school within 8km of an existing institution.

In this case, one of the existing institutes, Pope John Higher Secondary School is located less than three kilometres from the new school. Even Maria Banbina Higher Secondary School in Cuncolim had stated in its letter to the education department that their enrolment would be adversely affected as they still have seats available in arts and commerce streams.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Existing-Quepem-schools-object-to-new-HSS-in-area/articleshow/54282379.cms

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The online educational supplies market in India

You can order food online, buy furniture, book bus, train or movie tickets and now, order stationery online. E-commerce portals dedicated to stationery shopping are increasingly gaining popularity among the tech-savvy students.

While popular shopping websites have been selling the regular products for years, niche online shops are fast becoming one-stop destination for daily educational needs. So now you can order fancy dress costumes, stylish lunch boxes, competitive examination books to sports gear  — everything online.

The online educational supplies market in India is still in its nascent stages but there are certain stores which have begun to make their mark, especially in Tier II and Tier III cities. Here are some of these:Co-founders Geentanjali Khanna and Gaurav Barman felt that abroad, only 10-20 per cent of a student’s energy is spent in procuring stationery supplies whereas in India, it was the other way round. “On an average, people had no knowledge about the various kinds of educational supplies which are available in the market. About 50 to 60 per cent of a student’s time was spent trying to procure products from the market which were not easily available,” Geetanjali says, which is what prompted the need for the e-commerce portal.

Started in 2013, the website services about 5,000 pin codes in the country. “We cater to Tier I and Tier II cities and strive to provide supplies needed right from play school to the post-graduation level,” she says, adding that the website has tie-ups with education institutions, such as the Aakash Institute, for educational supplies.Crafterscorner.in:

Shalini Mittal started the project seven years ago, when she was looking for such supplies herself as a hobbyist. She realised that art and craft supplies were next to impossible to find in the country. “I found that many people were conservative in sharing details of the products or providing vendor names” she says, which is what prompted the need for the website.

“At that time, Google did not even accept our keywords. Infact, Justdial had to create a fresh keyword especially for us as they claimed that they did not receive any queries for products of our kind. I was charged Rs 22,000 for registration by Justdial whereas the regular price is Rs 5,000,” she says.

The most popular products on craftscorner.in are the big shot machine, a sort of printing device which can cut and emboss on any material, plaid sheets, sospeso tapes and stamps.

The website caters to art and crafts supplies all over India, providing details and sometimes videos of how to use them. One can even call the website office on information on how to use some of the materials. Shalini claims that they sell “nothing Chinese” on the website. “All products are obtained from brands and companies and are linked together with others materials they are used with,” she says.

Having grown leaps and bounds, crafterscorner.in is now the seller to all vendors Shalini was originally buying products from, she proudly claims.Ithinkstore.in:

Based out of Mohali, Punjab, ithinkstore.in began in 2012 by Vikramjit Singh and Gurpreet Singh. The two friends met in a gym in the quaint hill town and decided to capture the online market place with domestic products.

The biggest selling products on the website are white chalks from Mungyo and various products from Reynolds, while about 40 per cent of their clients are repeat buyers.

“The website is a sister concern of chessbazaar.in — an online portal for unique chess pieces. There is not much demand for domestic items in the country. We wanted to start a portal for stationery products not easily available in Tier II and Tier III cities,” Vikramjit says, adding that it took around two to three months for ithinkstore.in to get its first order. “It was difficult at first but we have picked up. There is a lot of potential for this market in the near future,” he says.

The company provides free shipping on all products pan India, having tied up with courier companies such as Blue Dart, DTDC and Fed Ex. Asked how the duo maintains a profit margin on the sales, Vikramjit says, “We are not here for profits. Our main concern is building a customer base.”

Ezeegio.com:

Based out of Delhi’s bustling wholesale market Chawri Bazaar, Ezeegio.com started as an extension of Gaurav Arora’s stationery business. “Since the profit margin for these products is very less due to shipping charges, we focus more on B2B than B2C market although we follow both models” he says.

The most popular items on the website are Parker pens and curriculum based textbooks. “We get most of our orders from South Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala which I feel is probably due to the apparent limitedness of such stores in the region,” he says.

Penandpencil.in:

Mehul Shah started out as a software developer with Reliance before making his way to HP computers and ultimately establishing penandpencil.in with his childhood friend Abbas Slatewala. With its humble beginnings in a stationery shop in Mumbai’s Crawford market, the website has come a long way.

“We wanted to build a niche portal focusing purely on stationery supplies. We started the portal in 2012 and currently deliver to about 7,500 pin codes across the country, in Tier II and Tier III cities as well,” he says, adding that through corporate tie-ups and direct customer service, they are getting a good response from the public.

The most sold items on the website remain oil pastels colour packs as “perhaps these products or not easily available in tier two and three cities,” Mehul says. The website gets most of its orders from Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. “We have tie-ups with Fed Ex and other courier services which deliver for us,” he informs.

The lack of knowledge about niche educational supplies and craft products, shortage of availability and ease of access to the internet is what is fueling e-commerce portals dedicated exclusively towards stationery shopping. Kids, parents, students, artists and educational institutions alike are now flocking towards online stationery shops for stocking their desks, online shopping providing a hassle-free and time-saving alternative.


http://indianexpress.com/article/education/these-education-portals-are-answer-to-your-daily-stationary-needs/

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Nila Mohanan IAS has been transferred to the education and civil aviation secretary

PANAJI: North Goa collector Nila Mohanan IAS, has been transferred to the secretariat where she will function as the education and civil aviation secretary. Former passport officer Agnelo A J Fernandes, who is currently the commissioner of labour and employment, will replace Mohanan, as per an order issued by under-secretary (personnel II) Shashank Thakur, on Friday.

Sources said deputy chief minister Francis D'Souza, who holds the revenue portfolio, had demanded that chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar transfer Mohanan from the North Goa collectorate after she refused to succumb to political pressure.

D'Souza, when contacted, denied that he had sought Mohanan's transfer. He said he had just returned from Rome and learnt about the development through the media.

Earlier this year, the deputy chief minister had kicked up a fuss over being allotted five secretaries for each of his portfolios and over the transfer of officers from his department without his consent. He had threatened not to continue as a minister and said he would sit as an MLA and do party work instead, if he wasn't consulted on matters. D'Souza had also said that he was not consulted on the transfer of officers, specially revenue personnel, from his department.

Parsekar had later met him personally to pacify him and voided the transfers in keeping with D'Souza's demands.

Mapusa deputy collector Pundalik Khorjuvekar had also been transferred on D'Souza's request.

In other transfers ordered on Friday, director of administration of the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) T S Sawant, will replace Fernandes as labour and employment commissioner. Additional collector, sub-district, Bardez, Sanjiv Gadkar, will be the new director of administration at the GMC and will hold additional charge as NRI director until further orders.

Director of sports and youth affairs V M Prabhudesai, will hold charge as Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) executive director, in addition to his current duties.

Additional collector-II, North, Surendra F Naik, will hold charge of the post of additional collector, sub-district, Bardez in addition to his present duties.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Nila-Mohanan-now-civil-aviation-education-secy/articleshow/54257930.cms

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India needs to redesign its education system

The new global “revolution”--Artificial Intelligence, robots, knowledge centric economies, Uber-isation--threatens to make “industrial” policy models obsolete. Like earlier industrial “revolutions”, this will have winners and losers amongst people, communities and countries.

The government’s strategy of multi-pronged initiatives--skills, start-up, digitalisation and Make in India--is the right one to make India one of the winners. The strategy’s success relies on having a “right designed” education system--dynamic, future-anticipating, performance-driven and available to all citizens. No surprise that education is one of 9 pillars listed by FM Arun Jaitley in his budget speech.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar’s challenge is providing this--by reshaping curriculum and institutions to reflect the needs of the new world. Three “themes” need attention--technology readiness, access and performance.

Technology ready: Recent technological advances have broken the “ratchet” productivity improvements and disrupted established processes across world economy. The target for our education is now to make each student capable of “using” technology to identify and create utility. Different from “programming”, it needs deeper understanding of technology’s potential and a “comfort” in using it in ways that ignore established continuums and processes. By making access to knowledge virtually independent of classrooms, the internet provides a “free” platform to provide this. Hence, each child must have and be able to use the internet.

The first requirement is getting computers in each child’s hands. We need a national drive – developing cheaper laptops, “recycling” old ones, a laptop and PC donation movement and “use” Cloud and improved connectivity to build inexpensive machines that work off of “remote” common platforms.

We also need to change our curricula. Every stream must include technology as an integral part. This will incorporate the “use” of technology within each area of work and make students less at risk of becoming redundant through technological advances. Simultaneously, we have to “broaden” our youth’s knowledge spectrum. The last half century saw more rigid streaming – to encourage specialisation. Today, IT has made basic information easily available and increased interconnectivity between various subjects, work streams. Courses, especially undergrad need to build in both availability of information – so less rote focussed performance measurement, and interdisciplinary dependence through multi-subject courses and well designed project work.

TCS effect on under-privileged students: 70 years after independence, “access” to education for the underprivileged – women, poor and SC/STs has improved. Now access needs to be supplemented by a “pull” factor that provides a road map to success – choosing the right education, upgrading performance and creating leaders. TCS’s success inspired the success of other IT companies. Let’s create similar beacons of achievement from the weaker sections of society. Identify top 1000 students from underprivileged sections of society and give them the opportunity to attend the world’s best universities with the proviso of having to then work in India for 5 years. Such aspirational rewards with continuous performance monitoring will incentivise better performance. More important is the motivation successes provide. Imagine the impact when a rural dalit woman goes to Harvard and makes it to the top of a global business. Thousands of other girls will try to follow. Access gets reinforced by performance motivation and direction.

Making performance and excellence a priority: 2016 budget allocated 72394 crores to education, with a substantial portion for higher education. Given our limited resources, we cannot afford to let institutions churn out graduates with too little emphasis on excellence. This needs change in teachers, students and the “culture”. To start, we have to treat teachers with more respect. Simultaneously, especially in institutions of higher learning, we must hold teachers to robust performance standards – publishing record, “new” research, number and quality of lectures, student performance on standardised testing are some metrics.

While we have to stress access in school, student performance especially at the postgraduate stage needs tighter monitoring. Too often, MPhil and PHD students are there for a hostel, preparing for civil services or pursuing politics. To “push” performance we can limit years of hostel use, establish ongoing annual appraisals for study grants and an automatic “exit” with need to re-apply if particular stages of a degree are not completed within a prescribed period

Lastly “culture”. Given taxpayer money spent on universities, one shudders hearing “culture of politics” trotted out as an excuse for disrupting education through competitive dharnas. What we need is a “culture of learning” – research, growing knowledge, path-breaking academic work. Ofcourse, political awareness and activity are necessary ingredients of education but they cannot dominate the education process. Political apprenticeships cannot be subsidised by the taxpayer, even as hundreds of willing “real” students can’t get admission.

“Right” education access, curriculum and performance are critical to India benefitting from the demographic dividend, developing and remaining competitive. Our scarce resources must be prioritised for the underprivileged, must aim to make our youth future-ready and cannot be wasted through lack of focus on performance.


http://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/computers-to-curriculum-india-needs-to-redesign-its-education-system/story-d937PYfTvnaAxkDB8ed3kM.html

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The Savitribai Phule quality development initiative on secondary ducation

KOLHAPUR: The Savitribai Phule quality development initiative on secondary ducation has seen an improvement in the class IX results this year. It has also reported a decline in the dropout ratio of girl students from schools.

Jyotsna Shinde, education officer of secondary education said, "The initiative was introduced to curb the rising dropout rate of girl students and check the performance growth of students in class IX last year. Students had undergone a preliminary test to know about their academic status."

"After the tests results were out the students were given the ample guidance on respective topics. The teachers were also given special training to make the initiative successful. If we compare the preliminary test result with the final test result it was found out that the academic level of the students was increased by 50%," she added.She said that if the academic years 2014-15 and 2015-16 are compared, the annual results of class IX has increased by 3.24% in 2015-16. "The dropout rate of the girl students has seen a drop of 5.77%. In the academic year 2014-15 the dropout rate was comparatively high as 7.91%. This is our biggest achievement ," she said.


For the students with excellent academic record, the department had conducted a Kolhapur Talent Search (KTS) exam. The exam was divided in the rural and the urban sections.


"The question paper pattern was created by experts and for the answer sheets, Optical Mark Reader (OMR) was used. Due to KTS, as many as 1,119 students cleared the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMS) exam from Kolhapur," she added.


The NMMS in the Kolhapur district has a quota of only 434 scholarships. But due to the excellent results, 1,119 students got the scholarship.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolhapur/Education-dept-initiative-improves-result-claims-secondary-education-office/articleshow/54160562.cms

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Pune IDP Education India a student placement service provider organized an Australian education fair

PUNE: IDP Education India, a student placement service provider organized an Australian education fair in Pune at Le-Meridien for students aspiring to pursue higher education in Australia. The fair was held on Wednesday, from 1 pm to 5pm. The fair spread across 14 cities aims to bring together prominent universities and educational institutes from Australia under one roof. 39 Australian institutions participated in the fair. It was a free platform for all students to gauge their prospects, apply directly to the institution of their choice and get a first-hand information on courses, scholarships etc.


In addition to meeting the institutions, the qualified students were also told about application fee waivers and scholarships. The scholarships ranged from a fee bursary to a 50% scholarship of tuition fee for select students. Piyush Kumar, Country Director, India, IDP Education said, "IDP seeks to provide a platform to aspiring students to come and have a face-to-face interaction with the university representatives and get answers to all their queries related to studying in Australia. Australian education has always attracted Indian students for its quality and the availability of post study work opportunities make it even more attractive. Also 20 out of 39 Australian universities feature in world's Top 400 Times Higher Education Rankings."


The universities that took part in this far included The University of Melbourne, The University of New South Wales, The University of Sydney, Murdoch University, The Australian National University, University of Technology, Sydney and many more. Other cities which will host the fair are Kolkata, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Gurgaon, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Kochi and Coimbatore.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/IDP-Education-organizes-Australian-Education-Fair-in-Pune/articleshow/53947540.cms

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Education department issues warning schools schedule exams during Ganeshotsav

MUMBAI: For yet another year, political parties have swung into action to ensure that schools and junior colleges in the city don't conduct exams during the 10 days of Ganeshotsav.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS) on Wednesday wrote to the education department complaining that some schools in the city have scheduled exams during the festival.


Following the complaint, the education department issued a letter, warning schools to follow the government resolution issued in September 2015 that asks schools not to conduct exams during the festival. "We have received complaints that some schools are holding exams. Please ensure that the schools in your jurisdiction follow the government resolution," said B B Chavan, deputy director of education, Mumbai, in a letter to education inspectors in the region.


"One of the schools has declared exams on September 8, which is also one of the immersion days. This is against the rules. Students might have celebrations at home. Also, there is a lot of traffic on the days of immersion," said Chetan Pednekar of MNVS.


Principal of one of the schools, which was named in the complaint, said that they had not received any complaint from parents. "We had declared exams for Class XII and XI in June. None of the parents, students or teachers have complained about it. It is impossible for schools to function like this. We have anyway given three days off," she said.


For over three years, the MNVS has demanded a five-day break for Ganeshotsav. However, the education department has maintained that schools can decide their own holidays.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Schools-schedule-exams-during-Ganpati-education-department-issues-warning/articleshow/53952786.cms

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