Delhi's slum children to get Australian degrees

Delhi's slum children will now be able to study in Australia under an exchange programme between the University of Melbourne and voluntary organisation Asha, officials said here Tuesday.

'This is going to be the first-of-its-kind Asha model as we focus on urban poor, mainly slum children, to give them access to higher education from a country other than India,' Asha founder Kiran Martin said.

A new India-Australia partnership to support the needs of Delhi's urban poor will operate in three areas - research, education and community engagement.

'This is going to be a unique programme in terms of catering to the needs of the urban poor, who can't even afford the basic education. We also aim at finding solutions to the needs of urban poor as we begin interacting with the students,' said Amitabh Mattoo, director of the University of Melbourne's Australia India Institute.

The collaborative programme will fund 40 projects during 2011 across areas such as resource and environment, contemporary India, regional relationships, health, education, economics and business.

'A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne, and Asha community health and development society has also been signed,' added Martin.

The programme will be launched by Human Resource and Development Minister Kapil Sibal here Wednesday.

Source:http://www.sify.com/news/delhi-s-slum-children-to-get-australian-degrees-news-education-ldbt4peddgb.html?scategory=education

Armed conflicts rob 28 million kids of education

New Delhi, March 2 (IANS) Calling it a 'hidden crisis', a UN report has found that armed conflicts are robbing 28 million children of their right to education while subjecting them to sexual violence.

The report, The Hidden Crisis: Armed Conflict and Education, prepared by Unesco warns that the world is not on track to achieve by 2015 the goal of providing education to all that 160 countries signed in 2000.

'In conflict-affected poor countries, 28 million children of primary school age - 42 percent of the world's total - are out of school,' said the report released Tuesday.

It warns that children in conflict-affected poor countries are twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday as children in other poor countries.

'Only 79 percent of young people are literate in conflict-affected poor countries, compared with 93 percent in other poor countries,' it said.

Over 43 million people are reported to have been displaced mostly by armed conflicts though the actual number is probably far higher.

Refugees and internally displaced people face major barriers to education, according to the report.

The report calls for a determined international response to tackle the crisis. 

 

Source:http://www.sify.com/news/armed-conflicts-rob-28-million-kids-of-education-news-education-ldcu4hchicd.html?scategory=education 

Meghalaya ranks poorly in elementary education - report

Meghalaya ranks way below the national average in imparting elementary education in the country, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2010.

The national average of children in the 3-4 years age group in 'anganwadi' schools is 75.7 percent, whereas Meghalaya's average is way below at 46.7 percent, revealed the report, released on Thursday by Leader of Opposition Conrad K. Sangma. 

According to the report, the national average of children in the age group of 6-14 out of school is 3.5 percent and Meghalaya's average is more that double at 7.2 percent.

Moreover, children between ages 3 and 6 years not attending any kind of pre-school is very high in Meghalaya and the percentage of such children in the state is increasing year after year since 1997.

Amongst the seven districts of the state, Jaintia Hills fares the worst in impartingelementary education, the report stated.

The report comes as no surprise since pre-school teachers, mostly in rural areas, are still getting a salary of Rs.1,800 despite many appeals to the government. This salary has remained unchanged for the past ten years, so many of these teachers juggle between several jobs to make ends meet.

"Many of the elementary school teachers have outsourced their jobs to others. In return they get 50 percent of the salary and carry on other work," the report said.

"In such a scenario, how can the state expect to do well in imparting elementary education," Sangma said.

He also claimed that the central government's flagship programme - the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme - has also lured children away from the schools in the villages.

"Many school children are not attending their classes and are taking up jobs under the MGNREGS. The state government must ensure that such instances do not take place," Sangma said.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Meghalaya/Meghalaya_ranks_poorly_in_elementary_education_-_report_13541/

Obama’s Budget Proposes a Significant Increase for Schools

President Obama proposed a 2012 Department of Education budget on Monday that would, if approved, significantly increase federal spending for public schools, and maintain the maximum Pell grant — the cornerstone financial-aid program — at $5,550 per college student.

Whether it will be possible to keep that Pell maximum remains uncertain, however, given that House Republicans have proposed cutting the maximum by about $845, or 15 percent, in their proposal to extend the current budget.

The administration’s education proposal asks for $77.4 billion. That includes $48.8 billion for the portion of the education budget that does not include Pell grants, or an increase of about 4 percent above the 2010 budget. Congress has not yet enacted the 2011 budget.

Among education programs that the administration was protecting was Race to the Top, the competitive grant program that the administration has made its centerpiece initiative. Last year the administration used the Race to the Top to channel $4 billion in economic stimulus money to New York and other states that had proposed bold school improvement plans.

The 2012 budget proposal includes $900 million for Race to the Top, which the administration says would be awarded this time not to states but to school districts. That would make it possible, for instance, to channel money to Houston or other districts in Texas that wanted to compete in the Race to the Top initiative but could not because their state declined to participate.

Some House Republicans are skeptical of the program, however, and — like other line items in the education budget — it could face trims or elimination as Congress works on its own budget and the administration’s.

The Republicans also propose to cut $1.1 billion from the Head Start program, which, according to estimates by theNational Head Start Association, would eliminate services for more than 200,000 children and the jobs of more than 50,000 Head Start employees.

Reacting to the administration’s budget, Representative John Kline, the Minnesota Republican who is chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, indicated a reluctance to invest more in education.

“Over the last 45 years we have increased our investment in education, but the return on that investment has failed to improve student achievement,” Mr. Kline said. “Throwing more money at our nation’s broken education system ignores reality and does a disservice to students and taxpayers.”

The administration’s education proposal also includes $600 million for School Turnaround Grants, another favorite of the president and of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. This would be a $54 million increase above 2010 levels. The turnaround effort, which the administration hopes will finance makeovers of thousands of the country’s worst schools, was also financed with billions in economic stimulus money.

The vast program known as Title I, which channels money to school districts to help them educate disadvantaged children, would receive $14.8 billion, an increase of $300 million over 2010.

Last year, the president said that, to remain competitive, the nation must increase the number of college graduates. But forced to make deep cuts in many areas of government, the president now proposes to eliminate some provisions of the Pell program, which has doubled in size over five years, and serves nine million low-income students. The administration’s budget would end Pell grants for summer students and end interest subsidies on graduate students’ loans.

“We’re making some tough choices to protect the Pell grant,” Justin Hamilton, a department spokesman, said Monday in an e-mail statement. “We’re cutting where we can so that we can invest where we must.”

Congress passed the legislation providing an extra $36 billion over 10 years for the Pell program, and increasing the maximum grant to $5,550 only last year. But with the new Congress’s emphasis on cost-cutting, Pell grants became a prime focal point for cost-cutting. Beyond the 15 percent cut in this fall’s Pell grants, the House Republicans’ proposal would, over 10 years, cut $56 billion from the program.

Mr. Kline said the Democrats had expanded Pells beyond what taxpayers can afford and put the program on the path to bankruptcy.

But education groups warned that cutting the Pell program would put college out of reach for many low-income students.

“With millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet, cutting Pell grants would pull the rug right out from under students and families who are counting on these crucial grants to help pay for college this fall,” said Lauren Asher of the Project on Student Debt.

source:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/us/15education.html?_r=1&ref=education

National Cyber Olympiad (NCO) Exam: 2011

National Cyber Olympiad (NCO) Exam: 2011

About NCO Exam :

The first of its kind in the country, the National Cyber Olympiad is now a global search competition that aims at identifying and nurturing cyber talent amongst the youngsters. It is as much about inspiring the younger generation to enhance their knowledge and comprehension of issues related to computers and IT as about testing their aptitude in these streams.

It is an international level competition focusing on Mental Ability, Logical & Analytical Reasoning in computers and IT in general.

Benefits from NCO:

Promotes awareness about computers and computer education. 

Develops confidence among students to take an early lead in a computer-oriented world. 

Supplements the learning of subjects of state boards and national boards including CBSE, ICSE and NIOS. 

Enables students to understand the latest technologies in a fast changing world of computers. 

Makes the school/institution aware of the concept of SMART school of Ministry of Human Resource Development, where the emphasis is not only on imparting IT education but also on development and use of computer skills which are indispensable in the present millennium. 

A comprehensive CQ (Computer Quotient) report highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the participant. 

A comprehensive SCQ (School Computer Quotient) report highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the participant school vis-à-vis national / international performance to enable the schools to improve the quality and level of IT education at their end.

NCO Exam Date : September, 2011

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Courtesy: sofworld.org