Sibal rejects call for RTE monitoring body

New Delhi: Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday rejected the proposal by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights(NCPCR) for a grievance redressal mechanism for the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

The NCPCR, which monitors the implementation of the RTE Act, has been calling for such a mechanism to tackle the large variety of complaints coming in from all over the country.

"The range of complaints related to right to education is varied and the same agency cannot address all of them and at different levels," Shantha Sinha, NCPCR chairperson, said at an event on Thursday.

A set of grievance redressal rules that looks into registering the complaint, investigating it and also looks at the appeal process is required," she said.

Supporting this, Kiran Bhatty of the RTE division of the NCPCR, said: "One of the main challenges we face is the lack of a well-defined grievance redressal system. Hence, along with a committee on corporal punishment, such a system is our main policy recommendation".

Sibal, however, said that he does not agree with the proposal.

"Such a redressal system is not required. The states can take care of the complaints coming from their areas," he said while releasing a report on the RTE Act on its first anniversary on Friday.

source:http://www.indiaedunews.net/Today/Sibal_rejects_call_for_RTE_monitoring_body_13788/

Over a lakh children in Delhi still out of school

New Delhi: More than one lakh children in the national capital are still out of school, a report by the human resource development ministry said as the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act completed a year on Friday since its implementation.

The RTE report card which analyzed the primary education scenario in the country was released especially for the occasion.

According to the report, 1,24,022 children in the age group of six to 14 were out of school in Delhi, as per a survey in 2009. Across the country, the out-of-school children figure stands at 81,50,619.

"It's unfortunate that 81,50,619 children in the age group of six to 14 are still out of school. We have to bring all those children to school," Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said while releasing the report.

On a positive note however, Delhi has scored quite well in other parameters.

For instance, as compared to national figure of pupil-teacher ratio of 32, in Delhi the ratio is 28. Then, at the national level the percentage of teachers without professional qualification is 21, but in Delhi it stands at one.

Water drinking facility is present in 100 percent schools in Delhi. 79 percent schoolshere have girls toilets, 71 percent schools have ramps for disadvantaged students, 75 percent schools have playground and 98 percent have boundary walls.

Delhi is one of the 11 states which have constituted a state commission to monitor implementation of the RTE Act. Notification of the state rules however is still "in process", the report said.

A total of 16,84,425 students have been enrolled in the primary level in Delhi and 9,82,164 in the upper primary level. Delhi has 3,034 government and aided schoolsand has 57,777 teachers in these schools.

source:http://www.indiaedunews.net/Today/Over_a_lakh_children_in_Delhi_still_out_of_school_13790/

Government against privatizing education, says Sibal

Bangalore: The government will not allow education to be privatized as institutions have to serve a societal purpose, but it was not against "private participation" in the education sector, union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday.

"I think privatization is a very dirty word. We do not believe in privatizing education. Educational institutions have to serve a societal purpose," Sibal told reporters here.

Clarifying that the government was not against private participation in the education sector, Sibal said private participation was different from privatization, which serves private goal.

"I do not mean there should be no private participation in education. It is different from privatization. Private participation must serve public goal," Sibal said on the margins of the 36th annualconvocation of the state-run Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) here.

In this context, Sibal referred to the government's efforts to set right the education system to make sure stakeholders served a societal purpose.

"The ownership of educational institutions should vest in stakeholders, which includes government, private sector, faculty, youth, civil society, leaders who have achieved excellence in their fields and the student community. That is how we view education," Sibal said.

To facilitate a greater participation of the private sector in higher education, especially in professional courses, the minister said the government was changing the regulations of the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). 

"We have made the whole system far more transparent and accountable. We want the institutions to go through a self-disclosure process instead of an inspector raj," Sibal asserted.

Referring to the latest national census, which has shown the population at 1.21 billion, an increase of 181 million people in the last decade, Sibal said the government was looking forward to management institutions such as IIM-B and IIM-A (Ahmedabad) to provide solutions to achieve full literacy in this decade.

"I firmly believe we are at the cusp in the next 10 years to achieve full literacy in the country. There will be lot of pressure on educational institutions, more so as transformation of society is taking place. We will need management solutions to very complex problems," Sibal said in the presence of IIM-B chairman Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd.

According to the latest census, literacy in the country has gone up to 74 percent from 64.8 percent during the past decade, with female literacy to 65 percent from 53 percent and male literacy to 82 percent from 75 percent.

Noting that education was becoming multi-disciplinary and therefore management institutions could not function as standalone, Sibal said they have to interact with the government and diverse sectors such as health, education, agriculture and small and medium enterprise (SME).

"You need management solutions at every level. I don't think society has recognized the importance of management and in creating those solutions. We cannot move forward unless you manage things in a holistic and progressive way," Sibal pointed out.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Government_against_privatizing_education,_says_Sibal_13785/

Sibal inaugurates E-certificate for UGC-NET qualifying candidates

New Delhi: Union Minister for Human ResourceDevelopment Kapil Sibal on Thursday inaugurated the 'e-certificate' for the University Grants Commission - National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) qualified candidates.

The minister also released a compendium of UGC schemes. The UGC has initiated steps for online registration of the NET examination so that all the necessary information with regard to the candidates is captured, including their photographs, at the time of registration itself.

The information thus captured is proposed to be used for the award of these e-certificates once the results are announced.

These e-certificates will cut down the time lag for issuing the certificate from 6-8 months to 6 days. Similarly, whenever an institution writes to UGC for verification of authenticity of the NET Certificatepresented by the candidates, the authenticity of thecertificate will now be done within a span of 24 hours as against the earlier 4 months.

The process of issuing the UGC-NET qualificationcertificate to successful candidates normally takes around 6-8 months, a cause of concern both to UGC and to the students.

Also, institutions wrote to UGC for verifying the authenticity of the NET Certificates being presented by the candidates at the time of admission to Ph.D. or at the time ofappointment in a College/University for the teaching assignment. This verification currently takes around 4 months another matter of great concern for all stakeholders.

In the compendium, 63 schemes of the UGC have been synoptically profiled, covering the objectives of each scheme, the criteria for becoming eligible to receive financial assistance from the UGC, the operational tenure of the scheme and the process of selection followed in approving the proposals, and finally the quantum of financial assistance that can be provided to execute the scheme.

The University Grants Commission conducts the national level test, viz-a-viz the National Eligibility Test (NET) twice in a year; in June and December to determine the eligibility for the recruitment of teachers as Assistant Professors in Institutions of Higher Learning and for the award of Junior Research Fellowships (JRFs).

The Test is conducted in 77 subjects at 74 Centres spread across the country. While the examination for the award of JRF is being conducted since 1984, the examination for determining the eligibility for Assistant Professorship is being conducted since 1989.

The number of Fellowships under the NET scheme has been increased from 2,000 to 6,400 per annum since 2010. In June, 2010, 10,433 candidates successfully qualified the NET for Assistant Professorship, including JRF.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Sibal_inaugurates_E-certificate_for_UGC-NET_qualifying_candidates_13636/

India rejects US offer for English teachers for Madrassas

The Indian Government has turned down an American offer to provide experts for teaching English in the Indian Madrassas.

The Human Resources Development department has flatly refused the US proposal of sending Americans to teach English to the Madtrassa schools in various parts of the country.

The US proposal, which came through the ministry of External Affairs, has been rejected on the ground that the Indian government does not want to interfere in the functioning of Madrassas. “Our policy is of non-interference. The Indian government does not play any proactive role and simply monitors educational schemes for Muslims through its minority cell,” Times of India reported quoting the HRD sources as saying.

In India many Madrassas, where Urdu is taught, have already started teaching English.

India has about 7,000 registered Madrassas with some 3.5 lakh students on their rolls.

Another reason, though unstated, is the fear of evoking a political outcry.

“US is seen as an aggressor by Muslims. Any attempt to bring American teachers in madrassas would have been seen as interference,” a source was quoted as saying.

Source: http://news.worldsnap.com/education/india-rejects-us-offer-for-english-teachers-for-madrassas-99985.html

Kerala's ICT textbook to teach audio, video technology

Thiruvananthapuram: The text book on information and communication technology (ICT) for Kerala's class-nice school students will help them learn audio recording and video editing, an official said on Monday.

The text book, developed by IT@School Project, will be available from the next academic year beginning in a few months' time.

Apart from Malayalam, the textbook will also be made available in English, Tamil and Kannada languages, said K. Anvar Sadath, executive director of IT@School Project.

The union ministry of human resource development and several other states have shown interest in the ICT-enabled education system enabled inKerala.

The IT@School Project is the technology arm of the state education department. It aims to empower students by providing ICT-enabled education from the grass root level.

Sadath said the new ICT text book includes topics on several free software packages such as Audacity, WinFF, which teach students to re-record a poem as needed, re-edit portions if necessary and even give a new background music to selected portions.

"The textbook also teaches how to use handicams available at schools and also ways to create an educational documentary using the videos," said Sadath.

Last year class-eight students were provided with an ICT text book.

"The new textbook for class-nine is designed completely in tune with the national curriculum framework. With a text book planned for class-10 also next year, the shift to ICT enabled education in the state's high schools will be complete," added Sadath.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Kerala/Kerala's_ICT_textbook_to_teach_audio,_video_technology_13560/