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/

Innovating for social development

IDEAS FOR CHANGE:Paul Basil, CEO of Villgro Innovative Foundation, interacting with students at the Young Innovator programme at IIT-Madras.

The success of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh heralded the social entrepreneurship movement. That revolutionary micro-credit system kept poverty out of villages to some extent to catch the imagination of the world. The concept is gaining popularity and momentum in India as the younger generation is keen on the idea and inclusive model. 

Social entrepreneurship has captured the attention of many inspired and service-minded youth and with the space for innovation growing by the day, youth are supported and encouraged to bring out their best and rejuvenate rural areas. 

Success depends on the cost-effective models and innovative ideas combined with greater reach. Education Plus caught up with young innovators taking the first steps in social entrepreneurship. Passing out of the nation's prestigious educational institutes, these youngsters are trying to reach out to the commoners. 

Hemant Sahal, a biotechnology engineer, has used his technical expertise to come up with a simple strip to indicate the level of water pollution in villages, thousands of which have no access to safe drinking water. Initially, he demonstrated a simple water purification treatment process to be used in villages. And he was selected for the Ashoka Youth Venture. He decided to become a social entrepreneur and bring about a transformation in his own way. Improving on his innovation, he has come up with a water pollution indication strip. The strip when put inside water will indicate the level of pollution (heavy metals only).

Shreya Mishra and Neeraj Jain of IIT-Bombay teamed up with Saurav Poddar of IIT-Kanpur to come up with an innovative education model that has potential to address teacher shortage in primary schools. This core team selected 10 elite schools in Bhopal. Children from Class VII to IX of these city schools would visit 10 anganwadis and interact with and mentor the underprivileged children there. “This pilot project of ours was immensely successful. The department of women and child development provided support and encouragement to our initiative,” says Shreya Mishra. The children from the elite schools worked closely with the anganwadis they visited and came up with academic teaching solutions and teaching tools. A medical bank was also set up in the aanganwadis.

A. Suryanarayanan and Balakrishnan Ramnath of Hindustan College of Engineering, Coimbatore, worked together to innovate a portable water purifier. The objective is to provide employment opportunity to uneducated rural youth and enable them to become entrepreneurs. “Granular-activated Carbon is used by trekkers to treat water that is available to them. We have used this basic principle to design our product,” says Suryanarayana. The product purifies water in a three-step process. Water passes through GAC, and then filtered in micro fibre and finally undergoes a UV treatment process. The equipment can be fixed to any type of tap and water can be filled in bottles. “The market for our product is good. We are yet to make a prototype as we are awaiting funds. Portable water purifier is easily marketable too,” says Suryanarayana. The model can be assembled and marketed by unemployed youth and also they can bottle the water and sell it in cities.

Social entrepreneurship has proved to be an inspiring and telling experience for these young engineers. “Today as a young social entrepreneur, my perspective about social development has changed. Achieving behavioural change and empowering the rural people with a sense of responsibility will surely contribute to nation-building,” says Sahal.

The young social entrepreneurs were at the IIT-Madras to attend a capacity-building workshop organised by Villgro Innovations Foundations. “We concentrate in areas such as agriculture, water, energy and dairy. Our aim is to incubate innovations that could be translated to market-based models thus impacting thousands of lives,” says Siddharth Venkatraman of Villgro.

Identifying students with the right frame of mind and commitment to serve the nation, incubation, providing necessary skills, and other resources to take the innovations to market place are key to the success of social entrepreneurship movement in the country. Paul Basil, chief executive office of Villgro, says that when it comes to social entrepreneurship, the product development has to be affordable.

Sustained social change could be a reality when individuals respond and effectively contribute to bring about a social change. Young innovators are capable of ushering in this change. “If social entrepreneurs come together, they can grow into a national movement and address the most pressing issues of the nation,” says Shreya.

source:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/03/21/stories/2011032150010100.htm

IGNOU announces 2 new courses in gender, women's studies

Celebrating the centenary of the International Women's Day, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has announced new programmes in gender and women's studies.

The university had organized a day-long function at the IGNOU campus on March 8 to celebrate International Women's Day.

The new programmes include development of a project to be converted into Certificate/Diploma in Gender and Nutritional Security, Certificate/Diploma in Gender & Labor and Certificate/Diploma in Gender in Cinema.

Other new programmes in design and development stage include Certificate/Diploma programmes in Gender & Law, Gender & Science and GenderAgriculture & Sustainable Development.

"When we look at the relation between education and women empowerment, we find that several kinds of social evils, like female feticide, dowry, etc., are still prevalent in the society. There is an urgent need to critically look at the sort of education provided to women today," said Vice Chancellor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, while inaugurating the celebrations at the Convention Centre.

The occasion was hosted by the School of Gender and Development Studies (SOGDS), in association with the IGNOU Committee Against Sexual Harassment (ICASH), School of Humanities (SOH), School of Translation Studies and Training (SOTST) and School of Performing and Visual Arts (SOPVA).

The celebrations included a painting exhibition, a musical prelude, a street play (by the students of SOPVA) and a seminar on 'Feminist Writings In Indian Literature' eulogizing the importance of women in the society.

"Marking a date in the calendar as International Women's Day started in the year 1911. Today, the entire IGNOU community celebrates 100 years of great aspirations, which have remained undiminished," said SOGDS Director Prof Savita Singh.

While delivering a lecture on 'Women's Writing in Kannada', Prof U.R. Ananthamurthy, Chair Professor, Tagore Chair for Indian Literature, IGNOU, distinctly differentiated between the way women are treated in classical and folk literature.

"You have to see how certain things are preserved. Many other Indian languages were influenced by Sanskrit when it was in decline. Later writers used to develop only 'alankars', which were meaningless most of the times. What was decadent in Sanskrit became alive in Indian languages," he said.

SOTST Director Prof K. Satchidanandan elucidated his thoughts on 'Women's Writing in Malayalam' by remembering renowned English author Virginia Woolf's famous work 'A Room of One's Own'.

Quoting the author, Prof Satchidanandan said, "Had Shakespeare been a woman, he wouldn't have become Shakespeare. It is because he wouldn't have traveled London, as traveling was very difficult for women during those times; he wouldn't have got acquainted with people and thus would have never acted."

Prof Satchidanandan drew attention to four major movements in women's fiction in Kerala by four women authors namely K. Saraswati Amma, Lalithambika Antherjanam, Kamala Das and Sarah Joseph.

"There is a vibrant women's literature in Kerala, which talks about everything significant to the lives of women today," he added.

SOH Director Prof Rita Rani Paliwal highlighted feminism in Hindi literature by remembering Mirabai as the first woman litterateur of India.

Further, there were similar discussions by Prof Satyakam and Dr Malti Mathur from SOH, which were followed by paper presentations by the Research and Training Assistants (RTAs) of the University.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Delhi/IGNOU_announces_2_new_courses_in_gender,_women's_studies_13667/

Global standards required in agriculture education - Pawar

New Delhi: Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Sharad Pawar has called for evolving global standards to enhance quality and relevance of agricultural education and research in the country. 

Addressing a two-day conference of vice chancellors of agriculture universities and directors of ICAR institutes here today, Pawar said, "Requisite models of public-private partnerships must be evolved for educational activities as well as for development, application and flow of technologies from lab to the market place and for strengthening of National Agricultural Research and Education System infrastructure through active interface with the industry." 

He stated that, "In order to effectively address the emerging needs of agricultural sector, we require highly competent human resources. In this context, Global schools, demand-driven curricula, student centered and problem solving approach in curriculum delivery, effective co-ordination of multi-commodity and multi-disciplinary research in entire production to consumption chain of agricultural commodities and capacity building through training at the national and international level, are some issues which need priority attention."

"I am glad to share with you that the Council is contemplating a National Agricultural Education Project for which a committee is already working to suggest reforms andrenewal of higher agricultural education in the country," he further added.

Referring to the revised course curricula now implemented in agricultural universities, Pawar said that new curricula focuses on development of knowledge, skills and attitude. "To make it demand driven, new courses have been added including the Experiential Learning with the objective of entrepreneurship development in students," he stated. 

He called upon the vice chancellors to expeditiously take steps for adoption of the Model Act developed by the ICAR for agricultural universities. 

Expressing happiness over increase in number of woman students in higher agricultural education in the recent years, he said that 60 new girls hostels in 38 agricultural universities have been completed that can accommodate 3,000 more girl students. 

The Minister said, "Degradation of natural resources and unpredictable shifts in climatic patterns have been impacting the farming practices. Competitions posed by globalization and opening up of economies, ethical issues of trade related intellectual property rights, genetically modified foods and organisms and enforcement of strict quality regimes need immediate attention while developing technically qualified manpower. More than ever before, knowledge coupled with skills has become imminent for enhancing agricultural production, marketing and trade."

He further added, Pawar said, "The infrastructure including the laboratories, farm and other facilities in some of the institutions are quite old and need renovation and upgradation. He said that though the ICAR supports agricultural universities to the possible extent to develop globally competitive infrastructure for technology generation and dissemination and human capacity building, the States should also rise to the occasion by extending adequate support."

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Harish Rawat also addressed the conference. He said that agriculture in India, through research and technology development, has enabled the country, to increase the production of foodgrains by 4 times, horticultural crops by 6 times, fish by 9 times, milk 6 times and eggs 27 times since 1950-51. 

Rawat said, "The Department of Agricultural Research and Education extends, academic, professional, and limited financial support, to the state agricultural universities. Keeping in view the minimum essential requirements, which can bring about tangible changes at ground level, several new initiatives were put forth that needed greater financial support from the Government of India."

"The present era of partnership calls for enhanced collaboration between the agricultural universities and ICAR institutes, and other related agencies," he concluded.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Global_standards_required_in_agriculture_education_-_Pawar_13583/

Workshop on food and water security

The Society of Agricultural and Irrigation Engineers (SAIE) of the College of Engineering, Guindy, conducted a three-day national-level technical symposium, Greenics 2011, from February 14 to 16. It was conducted under the patronage of UNESCO.

The event saw participants from Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Kumulur; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, and Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tiruchi. It was inaugurated by M.P. Vasimalai, executive director, DHAN foundation (an NGO working on poverty eradication in villages). He commended the Society on the various farmer orientation programmes it has conducted in the past two years.

The highlight of Greenics 2011 was the workshop on Food and Water Security, the foundation for which was laid by Dr. Bhanu Neupane, Programme Specialist for Water Resources and Hydrology UNESCO - South Asia. The entire workshop was organised and conducted by the undergraduate students of the Society.

The workshop consisted of seminars on a variety of topics ranging from climate change and virtual water to rural water management, all essential in achieving food and water security.

The seminar was followed by discussions on the topic by experts from varied fields including economy, ecology, soil biology and agriculture. The final recommendations of the workshop will be published in UNESCO's international journal.

The final day of Greenics saw a host of events which included Agribusiness, Prof-challenge, Innovate and G-modeling which tested the students' creativity and engineering bent of mind. Also, the science expo was an instant success with exhibits on automatics seeders, climate change and irrigation systems.

The three-day event was a wonderful learning experience for the over 1000 student participants.

R. Hari Raghavendar

Executive member,

Society of Agricultural Irrigation Engineers,

CEG, Anna University

source:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/02/21/stories/2011022150160200.htm

Datesheet For CBSE Class XII

DAY,DATE AND TIME	SUBJECT NAME AND SUB-CODE
Tuesday,01st March, 2011 10:30 AM	PHYSICS 042 PERSIAN 123 OFFCE PROC.& PRAC. 604 LENDING OPERATIONS 620 ELECTRIC MACHINES 623 RADIO ENG.&AUD.SYS 635 M PROD TPT &M COOP 640 POST HARV TECH&PRD 644 OPTICS 658 CLINICAL BIO-CHEM. 661 COMM. HEALTH NURII 664 RADIOGRAPHY-I GENL 667 ESTB & MGMT OF FSU 677 DESG & PAT MAKING 685 DYEING & PRINTING 688 ACCOMODAT.SERVICES 691 TRAVEL TRADE MGMT 694 CONFECTIONERY 698 DTP CAD & MULTIMED 701 CLSFN.&CATALOGUING 703 POULTRY PDTS& TECH 717 H EDN & PUB HELATH 728 C HEALTH NURSING 731
Thursday,03rd March, 2011 10:30 AM	BUSINESS STUDIES 054
Friday,04th March, 2011 10:30 AM	FASHION STUDIES 053
Saturday,05th March, 2011 10:30 AM	HISTORY 027 FINANCIAL ACCNTG 611 CASH MGMT & H-KEEP 619 ELECT APPLIANCES 624 AUTOSHOP REP& PRAC 628 AC & REFRGTN-III 632 ELN.DEV.& CIRCUITS 634 ACTG FOR BUSINESS 722 MIDWIFERY 732
Monday,07th March, 2011 10:30 AM	CHEMISTRY 043 OFF. COMMUNICATION 606 SHORTHAND HINDI 610 CONS BEHV & PROTCN 615 MGMT OF BANK OFFCE 621 APPLIED PHYSICS 625 FABRICATN.TECH-III 631 TV & VIDEO SYSTEMS 636 ELECTRICAL ENGG. 637 MILK & MILK PRODS. 639 VEGETABLE CULTURE 642 B THERAPY &H DR-II 654 BIOLOGY-OPTHALMIC 657 LAB. MEDICINE 660 FUND OF NURSING II 663 RADIATION PHYSICS 666 ADVANCE FOOD PREP 675 CLOTHING CONST 686 BASIC DESIGN 687 FOOD PREPARATION 690 INDIA-TOURIST DEST 693 FOOD SCI.& HYGIENE 696 I T SYSTEMS 699 LIB. ADMN & MGMT. 702 PRIN &PRA-LIFE INS 705 POULTRY NUTR & PHY 716 INT TO FINANCL MKT 723 B CONCEPT-H &MED T 729
Tuesday,08th March, 2011 10:30 AM	PUNJABI 104
`Wednesday,09th March, 2011 10:30 AM	BIOTECHNOLOGY 045 ACCOUNTANCY 055 CR WRTNG TR STUDY 069 HERITAGE CRAFTS 070 STORE ACCOUNTING 618 ENGINEERING SCI. 622 DAIRY PLANT INSTRU 641 FOOD& BEV SERVICES 692
Friday,11th March, 2011 10:30 AM	ENGLISH ELECTIVE 001 FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH 101 ENGLISH CORE 301
Monday,14th March, 2011 10:30 AM	BIOLOGY 044 GRAPHIC DESIGNS 071 SINDHI 108 GUJARATI 110 ASSAMESE 114 PORTUGUESE 119 RUSSIAN 121 SPANISH 196 KASHMIRI 197 SHORTHAND ENGLISH 608 TYPOGRAPHY &CA HIN 609 ELE.COST A/C & AUD 612 SALESMANSHIP 614 MECH. ENGINEERING 626 AUTO ENGINEERING 627 AC & REFRGTN-IV 633 YOGA ANATOMY &PHYS 656 MEAL PLNG & SERVIC 676 TOUR MGMT & MP PLN 695 BUSINESS DATA PROC 700 REFERENCE SERVICE 704 B P O SKILLS 724
Wednesday,16th March, 2011 10:30 AM	ECONOMICS 030
Friday,18th March, 2011 10:30 AM	HINDI ELECTIVE 002 MANIPURI 111 TIBETAN 117 HINDI CORE 302
Tuesday,22nd March, 2011 10:30 AM	MATHEMATICS 041 SECT PRAC & ACCNTG 605 CIVIL ENGINEERING 629 FABRICATN.TECH-II 630 FLORICULTURE 643 COSMETIC CHEMISTRY 655 OPHTHALMIC TECH. 659 MICROBIOLOGY 662 MAT.&CHILD H.NURII 665 RADIOGRAPHY-II SPL 668 TEXTILE SCIENCE 684 BAKERY SCIENCE 697 COMPUTER& LIFE I A 706 TPT. SYSTEMS &MGMT 712 POULTRY DISE & CNT 718 FIRST AID &MEDCL C 730 HEALTH CENTRE MGMT 733
Friday,25th March, 2011 10:30 AM	POLITICAL SCIENCE 028
Saturday,26th March, 2011 10:30 AM	PAINTING 049 GRAPHICS 050 SCULPTURE 051 APP-COMMERCIAL ART 052
Monday,28th March, 2011 10:30 AM	PHYSICAL EDUCATION 048 MARATHI 109 KANNADA 115 MIZO 198
Wednesday,30th March, 2011 10:30 AM	INFORMATICS PRAC. 065 COMPUTER SCIENCE 083
Thursday,31st March, 2011 10:30 AM	PHILOSOPHY 040 DANCE-KATHAK 056 DANCE-KUCHIPUDI 058 DANCE-ODISSI 059 DANCE-MANIPURI 060 DANCE-KATHAKALI 061 DANCE-MOHINIYATTAM 062 MULTIMEDIA & WEB T 067 TYPOGRAPHY &CA ENG 607
Friday,01st April, 2011 10:30 AM	MUSIC CAR.VOCAL 031 MUSIC CAR.INS.MEL. 032 MUSIC CAR.INS.PER. 033 MUSIC HIND.VOCAL 034 MUSIC HIND.INS.MEL 035 MUSIC HIND.INS.PER 036 ENGG. GRAPHICS 046 TELUGU 107 MALAYALAM 112 ORIYA 113 GERMAN 120 NEPALI 124 LIMBOO 125 LEPCHA 126 BHUTIA 195
Saturday,02nd April, 2011 10:30 AM	ENTREPRENEURSHIP 066
Tuesday,05th April, 2011 10:30 AM	GEOGRAPHY 029 MARKETING 613
Thursday,07th April, 2011 10:30 AM	PSYCHOLOGY 037 ARABIC 116
Saturday,09th April, 2011 10:30 AM	HOME SCIENCE 064
Monday,11th April, 2011 10:30 AM	URDU ELECTIVE 003 SANSKRIT ELECTIVE 022 BENGALI 105 TAMIL 106 FRENCH 118 URDU CORE 303 SANSKRIT CORE 322
Wednesday,13th April, 2011 10:30 AM	SOCIOLOGY 039 DANCE-BHARATNATYAM 057 AGRICULTURE 068

source:cbse.guess