NCPCR seeks redressal mechanism for RTE law

New Delhi: The absence of a clear grievanceredressal structure for the Right To Education (RTE) law was questioned on Thursday by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

The NCPCR is the apex body that ensures the implementation of the RTE Act in the country. 

It has been a year since the law had been brought to action in India. However, the NCPCR has cited the lethargy on the part of most state governments that have failed to notify key rules for the successful implementation of the RTE.

National RTE Coordinator at the NCPCR Kiran Bhatty said that there was definite tardiness in the implementation of the act. "We have written to the state governments repeatedly and would still keep on writing to them," she said. 

Guidelines for a redressal mechanism for the RTE have also been proposed by the NCPCR to theHuman Resource Development (HRD) ministry. These guidelines are currently being examined by the law ministry. 

According to the RTE Act, the NCPCR, chaired by Magsaysay Award winner Shantha Sinha, is the watchdog body for the implementation of the right to education all over the country. The NCPCR had been given the role with the aim to ensure and the implementation of and independently monitor the law instead of the HRD ministry.

Section 36 of the RTE Act says that the state governments are required to appoint designated local authorities who are empowered to sanction prosecution of school or government officials for conducting screening tests, corporal punishments or running unrecognized schools.

Vinod Raina, a member of the National Advisory Council on the RTE Act has informed that only 13 of the 36 states and union territories have notified about the rules accompanying the Act or notified the authorities.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/NCPCR_seeks_redressal_mechanism_for_RTE_law_13787/

HRD ministry to launch massive higher education survey

New Delhi: The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has decided to launch a huge survey on the state of higher education in India, owing to the inadequacy of information that is available about the subject.

The ministry has assigned the task of conducting the survey to the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). The survey will be completed in one year's time. 

An official from the ministry said that the higher education sector in India has been marred with a lack of reliable data which has hindered the implementation of policy initiatives that are required. 

"The information on Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) does not get updated properly keeping in mind the increasing intervention of the private sector in higher education," he said.

The decision to carry out the huge task of conducting the survey was taken by a task force that was headed by a senior official from the HRD ministry. The collection of the data will begin in a short period and the NUEPA will be seeking assistance for the survey from educational institutions throughout the country.

The main aim of the survey will be to collect and provide reliable information regarding higher education in the country. The survey would be covering all public and private institutions of higher education.

The institutions to be surveyed would include universities, deemed universities, institutions of national importance and other institutes of university level, general and professional/technical such as medical, engineering, dental, veterinary, computer, management, agriculture, pharmacy, law, teacher training, etc.

Other institutions that would also be included in the survey are colleges and institutes that offer post secondary education like polytechnics and industrial training institutes.

The HRD ministry official said that the survey of the institutions would give the government a clearer perspective about the higher education sector in India. 

The exercise will be based loosely upon the model of survey of elementary education that is conducted by the NUEPA every year.

The official further added that once the ministry had a basic data of the higher education in the country, it had planned to update the information on an annual basis the way that it is done for elementary education.

The information that will be collected in the survey would include data on the basic profile of institutions like management, affiliation status, courses offered, income and expenditure, enrollment, faculty, etc.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/HRD_ministry_to_launch_massive_higher_education_survey_13746/

Budget hike won't help education sector - Sibal

The 24 percent hike in the outlay for education announced in the union budget will not help the sector because what is needed is a change in mindset, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday.

"A 24 percent budget hike will not help the education sector. It is not just money allocation that we need, the country needs a change in mindsets involved in teaching, the quality of education and the education provider," Sibal said at the inauguration of the three-day Emerging Directions inGlobal Education (EDGE) conference in the capital.

"To change the dimensions of higher education in the country, we need a whole new crop of teachers who are responsible and willing to teach from their hearts," the minister added.

The annual EDGE conference brings together the heads of higher education institutions from all over the country, including vice chancellors, directors and educationists, to interact on policy making in the higher education sector. 

"While focusing on higher education, we also need to think of the diluting quality because of mushrooming institutes. The ministry has often done checks in such private institutions where the entire faculty is hired for a very short period to lure students," Sibal said, referring to the money minting business in the education business.

According to statistics by Ernst and Young, nearly 40 million students are expected to opt for higher education by the year 2020, compared to the current 17 million.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Budget_hike_won't_help_education_sector_-_Sibal_13671/

Government to connect 6,000 colleges with fibre optics

Kochi, Feb 27 : Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said the government would connect 6,000 colleges under 800 universities in the country with fibre optics to build an international highway of information.

Inaugurating the Latin Catholic Samudaya Sangamam here, he said the project was expected to be introduced throughout the country in the next three to four years.

Stating that the object of the project was to provide information to each and every one in the country, the Minister said once the connectivity was through the information to each and every one would be made available free of cost.

The Minister also said the ministry would encourage the students living in coastal areas to choose their own course of study and the government would provide certificates on Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) system.

By doing this it would be able to give a right hand to lift these category of students from their backwardness, he added.

Mr Sibal also said the government would introduce new devices to know the quantity of fish concentrated in an area for the fishermen, which ultimately would help them to have big catch.

Earlier at a function in Kalamassery while pointing out that there will be a global opportunity as India would be providing the workforce of the world by 2050, he said the country would be the hub of knowledge.

Source:http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-157226.html

Life-insurance-cum-endowment scheme for school teacherss under examination in Planning Commission

New Delhi: The Planning Commission has acknowledged that school teachers are important stakeholders in our country's development and intimated that the proposal to introduce a life-insurance-cum-endowment scheme for school teachers is under examination in the Planning Commission. Proposal for health insurance for the school teachers has not been sent by HRD Ministry to the Planning Commission.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Smt. D. Purandeswari, in a written reply to a question, in the Lok Sabha today.

source:http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in/Showlatest.asp?newsid=7958

IIMs trash HRD suggestions on teaching hours, smaller boards

 Faculty bodies at IIM-Calcutta and IIM-Bangalore have passed unanimous resolutions to set aside the reports which suggest reducing the size of IIM boards and societies and asking eachfaculty to teach for 160 hours a year.

Other IIMs are likely to follow suit seeking broader consultation on the proposed reforms.

They have trashed the HRD ministry-appointed committee reports on the new governance structure and teaching load, saying that they are based on incorrect data.

They believe that these recommendations are the outcome of several wrong assumptions andincorrect data and would not allow IIMs to become global leaders. These changes, if implemented, will have a negative impact on the morale of the faculty, IIM-B faculty said in a memorandum submitted to board of governors chairman Mukesh Ambani last week.

They have now called for a fresh panel involvingalumni and eminent academics to create a governance structure for long-term development of IIMs.

A five-member committee headed by IIM-Ranchi chairman R C Bhargava had recommended reducing the size of the IIM boards and societies by almost half, and allowing corporate bodies, individuals and alumni to become members of the IIM society by paying Rs 20 crore, Rs 5 crore and Rs 3 crore respectively.

The IIM-B faculty rejected the idea, saying that it will lead to a major structural change in the ownership of IIMs and would be completely against public interest. They believe that contribution for the society should be more in the nature of developing institutions rather than owning the institutions.

The dons at the elite Bschools have also taken exception to the HRD ministry's decision to fix a minimum teaching load for faculty which will be the same for all IIMs.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Karnataka/IIMs_trash_HRD_suggestions_on_teaching_hours,_smaller_boards_13536/

Sibal moots institutional framework between NCERT and SCERTs

New Delhi: Union Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Kapil Sibal has mooted the framework for an institution that will be set up constituting of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs).

This framework could include the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) as invitees, and would be a mechanism for coordination, continuous flow of information and dialogue.

Speaking at a meeting of the Central and State Regulatory Institutions for School Education, the minister said that the focus of the framework institution would be on improving the quality of education throughout the country.

He also underlined that the effort of the educational administrators and curriculum developers should be to maximize standards rather than settling for minimum standards. He was speaking at a meeting of Central and State Regulatory Institutions for School Education, here today.

The minister stated that as per the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) teacher qualification norms under the Right to Education Act, Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) will be an essential qualification.

He said that while the NCTE is developing the standards and benchmarks for this Teacher Eligibility Test, state governments would be responsible for administering these tests and it is the responsibility of the state governments to ensure that these tests conform to high standards.

He further added that the institutional mechanism between NCERT and SCERTs should work towards developing question banks which could be used by states for their Teacher Eligibility Test.

The minister also talked about the development of the National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF). He said that "the government has begun a process of series of consultations with different industry groups to facilitate development of vocational curriculum as demanded by the needs/job requirements of these industry groups."

He called upon the state governments to identify skills specific to their states and develop curriculum for these skills.

The NCERT in its presentation, among other things, stated that the government is proposing to set up a 24x7 channel for teaching through information and communications technology (ICT).

The NCERT would be the nodal agency for this channel and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) would be the collaborating agencies.

The target audience for this channel would be school students in the 5-18 years age group, open education students and neo adult literates.

source: http://www.indiaedunews.net/Today/Sibal_moots_institutional_framework_between_NCERT_and_SCERTs_13384/