Mobile ban: Daulat Ram College principal announces remedial action

Around one month ago, students of Daulat Ram College of Delhi University protested against the ban on the use mobile phones and laptops in the hostel. Following protests, Indu Bahadur, acting principal of the college, announced immediate remedial action. Bahadur says, "The rule book of the hostel prohibited students from using cell phones and laptops for security issues. But we understand that technology is vital and students can't be denied its use. Therefore, we have lifted the ban." During the protest, students had also raised their voices against their rooms being searched for electronic devices by the hostel authorities in their absence. Students were, so far, not even allowed to lock their rooms. However Bahadur informs, "We have put latches on the doors of each and every room and students can now lock their rooms." The lifting of the ban, facilitated by Delhi University Students Union (DUSU), has been welcomed by students of the college. Tanu, a third-year BSc student of the college says, "We are happy. We can now use our laptops and mobile phones, which was earlier considered a serious offence. We can also lock our rooms now."

Six Indian Americans named 2012 Rhodes scholars

American Rhodes Scholar Class of 2012 out of a pool of 830 candidates who had been nominated by their colleges and universities. Ishan Nath, Aysha Bagchi, Nabeel Gillani, Anand Habib, Mohit Agrawal and Tenzin Seldon are among 32 students chosen for the prestigious scholarship for two or three years study at Oxford University at about $50,000 per year. Ishan Nath, a senior at Stanford double-majoring in economics and earth systems with a concentration in energy science, will earn an MSc in economics for development at Oxford. Aysha Bagchi, also from Stanford, graduated in June with a double major in philosophy and history before shifting to Jerusalem, Israel, where she currently studies at its Hebrew University. She will earn an M Phil in political theory at Oxford. The son of an Indian mother and Bangladeshi father, Nabeel Gillani is a senior at Brown University majoring in applied mathematics and computer science. At Oxford he plans to do his MSc in computer science and MSc in education. Another Stanford graduate, Anand R. Habib, is the son of Geetha Habib, a native of Madurai, and Mohamed Habib, both biochemists in Austin. Habib plans to earn masters' degrees in public policy and medical anthropology at Oxford. Mohit Agrawal received his BA in mathematics at Princeton last year and is currently doing a master's degree in economic policy evaluation at the National University. Tenzin Seldon, a native of Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, immigrated to the US after her mother, a Tibetan refugee, won a visa lottery. Majoring in comparative studies in race and ethnicity, she will earn an MSc in refugee and forced migration studies and an MSc in modern Chinese studies. Previous Rhodes Scholars include Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Indian filmmaker Girish Karnad, surgeon and author Atul Gawande and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Sidhartha Mukherjee ("The Emperor of All Maladies: A History of Cancer." IANS

Indian varsities no magnets for foreign students

MUMBAI: Every year, close to 1.5 lakh Indian students sign out of the domestic education sector to pursue a foreign degree. The counter-flow, however, is nothing to write home about, with the intake of students from abroad to India plateauing in recent years. A head count of foreign students taken by the HRD ministry for 2008-09 showed that the enrollment of international students in Indian varsities was up by a modest 500 to touch 21,778. This barely conspicuous increase took place at a time when the foreign student population in universities across the world was growing at the frenetic pace of 65 per cent since 2000. Modest or otherwise, where are the international candidates coming to India heading? A study by Beena Shah and Usha Rai Negi from the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) shows they are mostly going southwards: five of the top ten most popular universities hosting foreign students are in the southern states, deemed universities included. AIU's data shows that most foreign students signed up for distance education courses at Delhi's Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). When it came to full-time programmes, however, they preferred going to smaller towns, where the cost of living was within their means, like Pune. The University of Pune and Symbiosis University together make this city in Maharashtra home to the largest contingent of international students. "We have built special hostels for foreign students and established a centre catering to them, with a liaison officer for international students," says ex-Pune university vice-chancellor R V Shevgaonkar. The Pune varsities also participated in several international education fairs throughout the year, selling the 'Oxford of the East' concept to many a West Asian. Pune University slips However, Pune University, which used to top the charts at one time, slipped to the number two spot in 2007-08. IGNOU stole a march over it after it jettisoned its earlier patchy approach, where students had to approach several counters to get information, and instead designed special information booklets for foreign students with handy data. An international students division came up two years ago. With close to 1,500 international students, the rather young Mysore University has also scored in the game, attracting students from Asia and Africa. R Indira, director of the varsity's International Centre, says, "We also have a lot of Chinese students coming down as part of twinning programmes. Currently there are about 100 Chinese students pursuing both undergraduate and post-graduate studies." Iran sent the highest number of foreign students to this university (388 students now), besides Afghanistan and Tanzania. At the Mysore University campus, most international students pursue commerce, followed by a Bachelor's in business management and computer science. "Life for a student is relatively inexpensive because Mysore is a small city. Although we charge a higher fee for international students, it cannot by any stretch of the imagination be termed even expensive, forget exorbitant," says Indira. Apart from Pune's Symbiosis, Manipal, another deemed university, has been maintaining a steady flow of international students. K Ramnarayan, VC of Manipal University, says that nearly half its international students are from Malaysia. "We have had a long-standing relationship with Malaysia, and the health sciences programme that we offer is recognised by the Malaysian government," he says. "This provides us an edge in drawing students from that country. A good number of students come from the US and Canada because of the twinning programmes we have been offering." Around the world, internationalisation has caught on like never before. Experts say that the classroom called India will turn global after foreign campuses arrive on its shores.

EdServ extends its mobile learning service

Chennai, Oct 24: To help students learn on the move, city based Education Support Services Company EdServ has announced the expansion of its mobile learning services.EdServ will now offer IITJEE and AIEEE test preparation content on TATA DOCOMO’s Educational platform-Tutor on Mobile (TOM) service, a company release here said today. TOM is available to all Tata DOCOMO’s subscribers pan India. The entire AIEEE and IIT JEE package has been priced attractively with each video costing the AIEEE/IIT JEE aspirant between Rs five and Rs ten, the release said. Through this tie up, EdServ’s educational content which was previously available online on its flagship product www.lampsglow.com will now be available in the form of videos, text, images, live interactions and pod casts on the mobile smart phone through this Tutor on Mobile offering. Commenting on the new offering, Mr S Giridharan, Chairman and CEO, EdServ said, ''with increasing adoption of Mobile Smart Phones in the country, we believe moving our educational content on the mobile will help students learn on the move, making it truly anytime anywhere learning.'' ''With an attractive pricing package, we are confident that the IIT JEE and AIEEE aspirants will find the Tutor on Mobile service a valuable tool in their preparation for the examination,'' he added. Students could subscribe to TOM by sending a SMS with keyword 'TOM' to 5333300 - Toll free. The first month subscription charges have been waived off as an introductory offer from the date of subscription and after consumption of free monthly usage, the service will be charged at Rs 30 per month.

IIT students to soon share their research work on website

AHMEDABAD: Students of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are now working towards improving the quality of research at their institutions. A consortium of students of various IITs across the country will now collect the details of their research and make it available through a common website for all the institutes, which the students plan to launch by the end of November. A two-day long summit of IIT students called " Inter-IIT Gymkhana Summit 2011" which began at IIT-Gandhinagar (IIT-GN) on Saturday discussed issues which are common to all of them. The summit was attended by student representatives from 10 IITs including IIT Gandhinagar, Guwahati, Rajasthan, Mandi, Ropar, Indore, Madras and Hyderabad. IIT Kanpur and Bombay joined the sessions online. Along with several other points the students also discussed how they could share research works of students of B Tech, M Tech and PhD students. "As students are unaware of past researches, they often repeat the same research. If all the past researches are available online, this repetition can be avoided." "Students can take forward researches undertaken by other students and carry it forward towards advanced stages. A rich database of a wide range of research could also become a very useful learning resource," said an IIT alumnus Kalyan Surapanani, who initiated the "Inter-IIT Gymkhana Summit" four years back.

Chaitanya smuggled alcohol into college

Meet young and energetic Chaitanya KM who is brimming with confidence. It may not be an exaggeration to say that Chaitanya is one of the young directors in Sandalwood who has a bright future provided he takes direction as a profession. Recently, the film Aa Dinagalu (meaning Those days) based on a series written by Agni Sridhar, a reformed don, brought Chaitanya appreciation from critics and has also completed 100 days of screening. Chaitanya began his career as a theatre artiste and later graduated to direction. “My father asked me whether I was interested in amateur theatre. Those days, Nataranga, one of the established groups, was conducting auditions for Girish Karnad’s play Thaledanda. I was reluctant but decided to try my luck.” It turns out it was not his interest but a beautiful girl who made him join theatre. “Actually, she was accompanying her sister,” recalls Chaitanya. Though Chaitanya was given a small part in the play, he gained a lot of experience and had the opportunity to follow the girl with pretty face. “I was given a small part in the play. That was fine, as far as I got to see the girl again. Nataranga was a talented group and I learnt a lot. Soon I was seriously involved in theatre. But I knew that acting was not my calling. I wanted to direct. I wanted to use actors, movement, space and lights to make my audiences laugh, cry and cringe as I pleased,” narrates Chaitanya. After realising that acting was not his cup of tea, Chaitanya joined Christ College to pursue higher studies. There he met KY Narayanaswamy, a professor, who was popular among students. “My lecturer called me a donkey and asked me to do something big to prove myself,” says Chaitanya. He selected 49 actors and put up mammoth sets to organise Prasanna’s play Dangeya Munchina Dingalu at the college auditorium. “I was nervous and wondered if we could really pull it off. But KYN wasn’t. On the day of audition, nearly 50 students turned up. Many of them were from other states. They wrote Kannada dialogues in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and learnt them,” recalls Chaitanya. That year Christ College swept the state intercollegiate theatre festival, picking up several awards. “The next year once again we dominated the theatre festival. It became a habit. Till then Christ College was only known for its rock bands but now is also known for its theatre,” he adds. After completing the degree course Chaitanya wrote the entrance exams for admission to Hyderabad Central University’s department of communications. “Students from across the country compete for a limited number of seats. So it gives a sense of achievement to those who finally make it. It was my first taste of hostel life. Sprawled across nearly 2,300 acres, HCU with its woods, hills and ponds, is alluring to students who love adventure. Night outs and camping was almost a weekly affair,” says Chaitanya. Chaitanya’s thrist for liquor and inclination to cater to the needs of his friends made him even smuggle liquor bottles from Bangalore to Hyderabad when prohibition was in force. “Our teachers were understated but brilliant. We were exposed to a world of theory and ideas. There were heated debates and discussion. And what is intellectual stimulation without a fair dose of alcohol? But the Andhra government had banned alcohol throughout the state. Whenever a student went out of the state, we would plead with him to smuggle some booze. Thrice I stole entire bottles of liquor for my thirsty comrades at the university. I used to keep a decoy bottle of glucose water. Once cops rummaged through my luggage and found it, but missed the real bottle. That night I felt blessed when I looked at my drunken hostel mates,” Chaitanya recalls. And what about the girl? “I married her 10 years ago,” he smiles.

Court to centre: ban junk food from school, college canteens

The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the central government to ensure the complete ban of carbonated beverages and junk food from school and college canteens.

“We do not need lip service, but we want the government to take effective steps to ensure that the sale and supply of junk food is completely banned near the educational institutions,” a division bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Siddharth Mridul said, expressing displeasure over the government affidavit admitting the health hazards of junk food.

“We are not satisfied with the affidavit you have filed,” the bench said. It was hearing a plea for a ban on the sale of junk food and carbonated drinks near educational institutions.

In its affidavit filed July 18, the central government had invited proposals from experienced agencies, organisations and institutions for framing guidelines for providing safe food in educational institutions.

Earlier, in an affidavit before a division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, the health ministry said it had written to all states and union territories to consider issuing instructions for withdrawing carbonated beverages and junk food from school and college canteens.

Justice Sikri said: “You have written to various states governments about the harmful effects caused by consuming junk food. But this does not solve the problem as it wont prevent selling of junk food near institutional areas.”

The court also sought an action taken report from the government by Nov 2. It also asked the central government about the steps taken to create awareness among the young generation about the “harmful effects of increased consumption of junk food”.

“The centre in actively engaged in dealing with the health risks that the consumption of junk food may pose to the general health of the population and more particularly the children of the country,” said the central government’s affidavit filed in July.

The court is hearing a petition filed by an NGO seeking a ban on the sale of junk food and carbonated drinks within a 1,500 feet radius of schools.

Petitioners Rahul Verma and Rakesh Prabhakar of NGO Uday Foundation told the court: “It is…time we change the way kids eat in schools. Such a ban will set new standards for healthy food. On one hand, children are taught in classroom about good nutrition…, on the other, we continue to make junk food available to them.”

IGNOU launches value education programme for teachers

New Delhi, Sep 27: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has launched a "value education" course for teachers, NGOs and professionals which will help them integrate values in the process of teaching and learning, a varsity statement said today.

The certificate programme in Value Education (CPVE) has been designed to inculcate the importance of value education in the teaching- learning process among teachers, graduates, NGO's and professionals, said the statement.

"The target group for the course is teachers (mostly elementary) for integrating values in their transactional process of teaching and learning," said the programme coordinator, Silima Nanda.

According to the University, CPVE will be offered from January 2012 in the distance learning mode.

Starting with two courses and 4,000 students in 1985, IGNOU has evolved into one of the world's largest varsities by offering about 450 programmes and has currently over three million students on its rolls. (IANS)

New federal standards could ease schools' burden under No Child Left Behind

Palm Beach County schools could get some relief from the looming 2014 deadline to meet the student achievement requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and more flexibility to meet those standards.


But President Obama said at a news conference this morning that this freedom for the district and other schools nationwide will only come in exchange for states reforming and improving their education systems.


"This does not mean that states will be able to lower their standards or escape accountability," Obama said.


The president's proposed reforms would relieve school districts from the requirements of the decade-old No Child Left Behind Act, which requires nearly all students to be academically "proficient" by 2014. Schools that fall short are subject to being shut down, turned over to outside groups or forced to replace their staffs.


In Palm Beach County, only 10 percent of schools are meeting the adequate yearly progress test scores required to be complying with No Child Left Behind, said Nicole Smith, the district's No Child Left Behind grants compliance coordinator.


However Palm Beach County's struggles are the norm nationwide. Under current law, most experts say that nearly every school that receives federal aid would, sooner or later, be deemed a failure, except where individual states dramatically lower academic standards. Congressional action to revise the law - and halt looming penalties for tens of thousands of schools - has stalled as other issues have consumed lawmakers.


Relief would come from a waiver dispensed by the U.S. Department of Education.


"Starting today, we'll give states more flexibility to meet high standards," Obama said.


The waivers are not free, Obama said. In order to get them, states have to not only raise standards but must transform their education systems so all students are meeting standards to either be college ready or career ready when they graduate. States must also use student data in teacher evaluations. The Florida legislature earlier this year already created a merit-pay system basing teacher pay on student data such as standardized test scores.


One provision states and districts must meet to get the waivers requires designation of each state's lowest-performing 15 percent of schools for the aggressive measures now in place. Smith said she could not really comment on the impact of the No Child Left Behind waivers on Palm Beach County schools yet because she does not know what consequences the schools in that bottom 15 percent will face.


Currently No Child Left Behind allows students in poor performing schools to opt out and be transferred to better-performing schools elsewhere in the county. Smith said she did not know if the reformed No Child Left Behind with the waivers would allow those transfers for the bottom schools.


No Child Left Behind has been controversial since it was passed in 2002, with parents in Palm Beach County frequently blasting it for its use of standardized test scores as the main measure of student achievement. At a public meeting organized by U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton in April, dozens of parents from Palm Beach and Broward counties packed Don Estridge High Tech Middle School. The parents spent hours yelling at a U.S. Department of Education top official about how No Child Left Behind was turning out students who were "sheep" because their whole education was rote teaching to a standardized test.


Obama said the original goals of No Child Left Behind, such as higher standards and accountability, were good but the implementation had "serious flaws" that hurt children by forcing teachers to teach to a test and causing many states to lower their standards to avoid failing.


In Florida, Department of Education spokeswoman Deborah Higgins said the state would seek the No Child Left Behind waivers.


Tom Butler, Director of Communications for the state Department of Education released a statement saying "The benefits of a waiver would be very evident for Florida, especially in giving us the ability to better align state and federal accountability requirements so parents and the public can more easily understand how our schools are doing. Our application will lay all of these details out once it is finalized."


The Los Angeles Times contributed to this story.

Kerala children walk to support rural students

Kochi: Five hundred students here in Kerala Sunday participated in a walkathon to raise awareness about the challenges faced by rural school children. The walkathon was organised by Chinmaya Vidhyalaya to coincide with the unique 12-hour 'Support My School Telethon' event launched by Coca-Cola India and NDTV news channel. 'We hope this walkathon will help spread awareness among people about the serious concerns faced by these schools and help build community capacity for better quality of education,' said Chinmaya Vidhyalaya principal Maya Mohan. 'We hope this will inspire more people to step forward and support the cause of developing water, sanitation and other infrastructural facilities for thousands of school children,' said Coca-Cola India vice president for pblic affairs and communication Deepak Jolly.
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DU agrees to admit law aspirants

The Dean, Law Centre was given the notification in this connection which said that the students of other state universities who had cleared the entrance and missed their admission deadlines due to delay in their results should be given admission.

A group of students met the vice-chancellor on Monday, who had assured them of appropriate action in the matter. The vice-chancellor has now accepted the students' demands regarding their admission in LL.B.
Over the past few days, these students supported by some leaders in the universityhad been pursuing the matter with the university officials.

Deepika Deshwal, student activist who had been highlighting the issue over the past few days said that initially, several officials even refused to meet them, but with regular protests and media exposure, the matter came to the fore. They had to finally agree to listen to the students. Now they are glad that the future of almost 150 students is now safe with the university agreed to admit them.

Arti Mathur, one of the affected students from Agra University said that they had to write many applications, submit memorandums, approach the student council and even try meeting the vice-chancellor, the dean of Department of law and the registrar. And now their efforts have borne results, she said.
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