New selection norms may change colour and code of IIT campuses

IIT campuses may have more girls from the coming academic year, as the IIT council has decided to select the candidates only from the top 20 percentile in the boards. According to the new selection norms, the candidates will not just have to clear the JEE mains and the advanced exams, they should also be from the top slice of each board.

Since girls constitute a majority of the board toppers, IIT faculty members expect more of them to enter the portals of the premier technical institution. They also believe the new students would mingle better as the new mix would come also from outside the regimented coaching schools which till now have been sending a majority of students who are made to study and do little else.

"We see that a lot of the toppers in the board exams are girls. Right now the composition of girls on our campus is 14%. With this move, we expect the percentage to go up at least to 25%," said R Nagarajan, professor of chemical engineering, IIT Madras. In board exams throughout the country, girls generally have been outperforming the boys. In Tamil Nadu this year, the topper of 12th exams was a girl. The pass percentage of girls in the state stood at around 89%, higher than the 82% pass percentage for boys.

The JEE exam has been usually associated with solving the problem in varied and quicker ways, using ideas gained from multiple topics. The Class 12 board exams, in contrast, have a much more structured approach to answering questions. The inclusion of board marks as a criterion therefore may enable students with different skill sets to clear the exam than the ones currently seen on IIT campuses.

"This will ensure that the students are more sincere and that we will get students with better quality. We expect an attitudinal change among students, because they would have been going to school and taking the Class 12 exams seriously," said professor Sarit Kumar Das of mechanical department, IIT Madras. Though the decision is not yet out, most faculty members agree on the idea of including subjective questions in the exam. This is what they feel will be an effective filtering strategy which will make all the current changes meaningful. "This will mean that more students will be able to analyse a problem, rather than just eliminate the wrong answers, which is what they have been doing when students go to coaching centres to crack the IIT-JEE," professor Das added.

The new emphasis on Class 12 marks is also supposed to make students and classes take notice of other subjects. Of the two other subjects taken into consideration, English is compulsory and the students are free to choose subjects like physical education or computer science to ease the burden, as it is not difficult to score high marks in these subjects. With emphasis on the total score, experts expect students to also undergo coaching for English.

DU cutoff 2: Hope still floats

The second cutoff list released by Delhi University on Thursday night brought hope for admission seekers. Though seats for BCom (honours) are already taken in 36 colleges, 15 other colleges will still admit aspirants in the course starting Friday. Lady Shri Ram, Kirori Mal, Hindu and Sri Venkateswara have decreased their cutoffs for BCom (honours) by up to 0.5%.

Though not specialized, BA Programme too has been a popular course with students. The good news is that only six colleges have closed admissions in the course so far. Some colleges like Delhi College of Arts and Commerce and Shyam Lal (evening) have dropped their cutoffs by as much as 10%, making a large number of candidates eligible for admissions in the list.

Commerce students hoping to pursue BCom (H) may just have to opt for BCom now, considering that the dip in BCom (honours) cutoff is not too significant. BCom admissions have been closed only in three colleges, while colleges like Kirori Mal, Sri Venkateswara, Ramjas, Gargi, Kamla Nehru and SGTB Khalsa are going to continue admission with a marginal dip of 0.25% to 0.5%.

It's probably after a long time that Shri Ram College of Commerce has come up with a second cutoff list for general category candidates. Admissions in BA (H) economics are still open in SRCC with a drop of 0.25%. There are 12 other colleges like Sri Venkateswara, Ramjas, Miranda House, Lady Shri Ram, Hindu and Hans Raj where the course is open for admissions.

Though admissions are open in the sciences, the cutoff continues to be on the higher side with a marginal drop in most college. The maximum decrease in BSc (H) physics is 3% at Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences. In more popular colleges such as Hans Raj and Hindu, the decrease is less than 1%. Admissions are closed in 16 colleges for BSc (H) mathematics, but are open in as many.

For BSc (H) chemistry, admission is open in 13 colleges. But cutoff marks haven't gone down significantly. Maximum decrease in cutoff is 3% at Moti Lal Nehru. BSc life science is closed only in Gargi and Miranda House. Gargi College has closed admissions in all science courses.

English aspirants still have many options at hand. There is a dip of up to 8% in the CATE cutoff, while candidates can expect the general cutoffs to go down by 1-3%.The course is open at Hindu, JDM, KMC, Miranda House, Ramjas, Daulat Ram and SGTB Khalsa.

BA (H) history is closed in eight colleges. However, some colleges like Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Kalindi and Ramjas are offering admission in the course at cutoffs lower by up to 6%.

10 points about new IIT exam pattern that will solve all your doubts

The Indian Institutes of Technology ( IIT) Council on Wednesday struck a compromise with the human resource development ministry on the new pattern of entrance examinations.

Here are its salient features:

1. There will be two exams, the joint entrance examination (JEE) "main" followed by the JEE "advanced".
2. These combine the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) and the IIT-JEE, with the "main" exam being equivalent to AIEEE, and "advanced" being equivalent to the IIT-JEE.
3. There will be a "suitable" time gap between the two exams, though it was not clarified how much.
4. Only top 150,000 candidates (including all categories) from the JEE "main" will be qualified to appear in the JEE "advanced" examination.
5. Admission to IITs will be based on the rank in the "advanced" exam.
6. However, only students who come in among the top 20 percent scorers in their respective board will be considered eligible for the IITs.
7. The "advanced" exam will be held by the IITs, just like the IIT- JEE. It will be conducted by a Joint Admission Board (JAB) and Joint Implementation Committee of the IITs, the same which so far conducted the JEE.
8. The JEE "main" will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education ( CBSE), and it will coordinate with the IITs. It will be implemented from 2013.
9. Admission to the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) will be based on the "main" exam score. A final decision on methodology of admission is pending. A meeting of representatives from the NITs is scheduled for July 4.
10. Admission to several deemed universities will also be on the basis of scores in the "main" exam, which earlier took students on basis of AIEEE scores. A minimum percentage criteria will be fixed for these too.

IIT Bombay starts training 10,000 teachers

The training programme for 10,000 teachers was inaugurated on Monday by human resource development minister Kapil Sibal at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay.

Under the 'Talk to a Teacher' project of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology ( NME-ICT) of his ministry, training for 10,000 engineering college teachers from across the country is conducted by leveraging broadband network and ICT tools.

The programme is being conducted through 168 remote centres across India. The lectures are delivered from IIT Bombay by professors of the institute and IIT Madras.

Through the software A-VIEW, audio-video connectivity is provided between all the centres and IIT Bombay. The course consists of lectures, live interactions and lab sessions.

"This method of synchronous education has been developed at IIT Bombay, under the leadership of D.B. Phatak. This method of education allows participation of a large number of women teachers, who normally are unable to join contact programmes at distant locations, owing to family commitments," an IIT official said.

Kapil Sibal interacted with the remote centres from Kanyakumari, Rajkot, Srinagar and Nagpur.

A representative of IIT Bombay presented an Aakash Tablet to the minister.

Unlike other tablet devices, Aakash could also be used to create computer programmes in Python, C, C++ and Scilab, he said.

IGNOU launches three courses on Mahatma Gandhi and Peace Studies

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has launched three new modular programmes on Mahatma Gandhi and Peace Studies.

Admissions to the courses -- MA in Gandhi and Peace Studies (MAGPS), PG Diploma in Gandhi and Peace Studies (PGDGPS) and PG Certificate in Gandhi and Peace Studies (PGCGPS) -- will commence from next month, a IGNOU release said.

According to the University, the MAGPS programme, which can be completed between two and five years, provides in-depth knowledge in Gandhian thoughts, peace studies and conflict resolution. A graduate in any discipline is eligible to join the programme for July 2012 session.

The PGDGPS programme, which can be completed between one to three years, imparts knowledge particularly on the ideas of Gandhi on social, economic, political, sustainable and environmental issues.

"It develops peace methods from the inter-disciplinary perspectives to train the participants in peace making and conflict resolution in real life situations. The diploma holders can then join media, NGOs or opt for teaching and research," the release said.

The PGCGPS programme is of minimum six months and maximum two years duration which shall comprehend Gandhi's vision of peace and non-violent activism. "It shall widen the horizon of student to understand the Gandhi's concept of world order for global peace and security," the University said.

The last date to apply for all these programmes is July 30 without late fee, and August 14 with late fee of Rs 200.

'Over 80 technical, management colleges closed shop this year'

Over 80 colleges in the area of technical and management studies have closed shop this year so far, with majority of them being management colleges, a top AICTE official said on Monday.

"81 colleges have closed down this year and out of which 50 colleges are of management and 8 are engineering colleges and rest in other streams," All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) chairman SS Mantha told reporters here.

"Maximum number of colleges which closed down their operations are in Andhra Pradesh," Mantha said, adding that 41 technical colleges across the country wound up their operations last year.

When asked about the reason behind the closure of such a large number of management colleges, Mantha said that at present, only those management schools or colleges were being preferred that had tie-ups with the industry to provide practical training to students to improve their skills.

Currently, there are over 11,000 technical colleges including 3,700 polytechnic, 3,900 engineering and 3,800 management schools, operating in the country and bulk of these colleges are located in the southern part of the country.

Asked about number of new colleges coming up this year, Mantha said AICTE has received requests for opening up of 315 colleges so far, out of which 174 are polytechnic ones.

According to an estimate, about 25 lakh passouts from all ITIs and polytechnic colleges in the country while the industry requirement is of about 1.3 crore.

"AICTE has even launched a National Vocational Education Qualification Framework (NVEQF) to attract more students and provide them skill in different industry verticals to make them employable," Mantha said.

A significant part of this framework would be that students would be given multi-level entry and exit options to enable them to seek employment after Class XII, he added.

Good average results makes DU's first cutoff list a cut-throat competition

Colleges of Delhi University played safe as they announced an inflated cutoff list late night on Monday. The first of the five cutoff lists to be announced by Delhi University for admission to its various undergraduate courses across colleges witnessed a new high in sought-after courses like BCom (honours), BA (honours) in economics, English and history and BSc (honours) in physics and chemistry.

With hardly a few percentage left for a perfect 100% cutoff, many popular colleges like Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Shri Ram College and Sri Venkateswara exercised restrain, while others went all out hiking the cutoffs upto 11% in courses like BA (honours) in history. And for science students who decided to join a regular degree course instead of any professional course might have to rethink as Monday's cutoffs have witnessed increase up to 10%.

Though SRCC stayed away from a 100% cutoff for its BCom (honours) course, it registered 96.5% for commerce aspirants and 98.5% for others. LSR's BCom cutoff remained unchanged at 97% this year. Even Sri Venkateswara College has maintained its 97% to 98% as the cutoff range for BCom (h) -- higher than SRCC -- while registering comparatively marginal increase in the rest of the courses. Despite just one admission in the first list last year, Kirori Mal College continued to be extra cautious by posting 96.75% as the cutoff for BCom (honours). DU sources said the cutoffs in BCom (honours) and BCom programme is expected to drop by as much a 5% in the second list in outside the campus colleges.

Some of the courses witnessing the big jump this year are BA (honours), BA (honours) English, BSc (honours) mathematics and BSc (honours) physics (h), among others.

In sciences the cutoffs for BSc (honours) in physics and chemistry at SGTB Khalsa College remained the same as last - 92% and 90% respectively. However, the college has hiked the cutoff for BA programme by 8%, English (h) and history (h) by 7% each.

Ramjas has increased the cutoff for BA (honours) history by 11%, which means for a humanities candidate admission in the first list opens at 91% or more. Even in BSc (honours) chemistry Ramjas has hiked it by 10.5%. Gargi College and Maitreyi College too are not far behind Ramjas, increasing their BA (honours) history cutoff by a whopping 10%.

College authorities say that though they have come up with a an 'unrealistic' cutoffs and will drop in the subsequent list by upto 5%, they resorted to high cutoffs to avoid admissions beyond their capacity.

First cutoff admissions begins on Tuesday, June 26 and will continue till June 28, 2012. The second cutoff will be declared on June 28, 2012 and students will be able to access it at midnight at DU's official website.

UK welcomes ‘genuine’ students

UK has traditionally been one of the most sought-after destinations for Indian students keen to pursue higher education. However, the recent changes in the UK government's visa rules have caused concern among students.

According to Kaustav Mazumdar, chief executive and founder-member of the ILS Network, the changes in the visa and work rules should not be a deterrent for students wanting to study in the UK.

The changes, in fact, are designed to ensure that those coming as students do so primarily to study and not to work, are suitably qualified to do so, and protected from the activities of some fraudulent colleges. UK continues to welcome all Indian students who wish to study at UK education institutions and meet the new criteria. The new visa rules are in place to support them.

NEW REFORMS

The reforms have been introduced gradually in 2011 and 2012. The last set of changes were introduced on April 6 this year. This included a change to the arrangements under which many international students may remain in the UK and work after their studies.

Though the Tier 1 post-study work visa has been discontinued, there is a provision under Tier 2 of the pointsbased system whereby students who graduate from a UK university will be able to take up graduate level jobs in the UK with registered companies paying a minimum of £20,000 a year, and work for three years, with the possibility to extend this for a further three years. These jobs do not form part of the annual limit on Tier 2 visas, nor are they subject to the usual resident labour market test.

Admitting that most Indian students are keen to work in the UK after they graduate so that they can finance their studies, Mazumdar says in the past through the post-study work visa route many students stayed on in the country trying to find the right job, while working on smaller assignments which did not require a qualification. But with the new changes, every deserving, hard-working student may get a job that fits their qualification. The country, he adds, is still open to talented Indians.

QUALITY EDUCATION

With the new rules in place, the UK government wants the best of international students to come to the country to study at high quality education institutions. The new changes announced by the government are to protect the interests of genuine students and target the areas where there has been abuse by education providers, students and their agents.

Mazumdar advises that all students should be concerned about is quality education, which most UK institutions of higher education offer. Also, he feels students should not confuse the reason why they are going to the UK — it is for the education not for employment. They should go to UK primarily for the quality education, which is a richer investment for life. Also, with globalisation it is not necessary that students who are keen to have international work experience have to stay in UK and work, they can also try for opportunities in other countries such as Singapore, Dubai, or even other parts of Europe. If a student has a good academic record, and the required skill-sets, the world is open to them, not simply one country.

The first step when you decide to go overseas for higher studies is to decide on your course of study, then research the best options available. If the best options are in the UK, decide on which institution. This is known as the three Cs of studying abroad — course, college, country.

For an undergraduate degree, students have to apply through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Postgraduate applications do not have a centralised admission process and are university specific mostly through online applications. Via the online system UCAS, a student is allowed to apply for a maximum of five different universities or courses. The student can upload one statement of purpose and one letter of recommendation in the UCAS form.

UK is also known for its strong research environment. Research is led by the Russell Group, a collaboration of 20 UK universities that together receive two-thirds of research grant and contract funding in the United Kingdom.

More students opting for specialised courses now

Micro-specialisation, cutthroat competition and multiple course options offer the new generation of graduates a range of career choices beyond traditional options. Following their class XII boards, an increasing number of students are opting for specialised courses that focus on developing specific skill-sets for emerging careers in various sectors.

Retail India is considered as one of the top 10 rising retail markets in the world. As a fast growing industry, there is a demand for nearly 3.25 million trained professionals in this field, both in India and abroad. Aspirants in this sector can consider pursuing Bachelor of Business Administration (retail marketing) as an option.

The BBA programme charts the basics of retail as a business along with an indepth study of retail marketing. Successful BBA graduates can pursue jobs in supply chains, supermarkets etc. Retail managers are required in manufacturing companies as well and are also hired by companies such as insurance and banking to sell their commodities directly to customers.

Entertainment The 2011 FICCI- KPMG report states that the media and entertainment industry is expected to grow steadily over the next five years and that the industry is looking at tapping newer target segments, geographies and mediums, while tapping the potential of the existing ones. Entertainment today has gone beyond the traditional modes of entertainment — radio, television, theatre — to incorporate newer forms of technologies.

Freshers entering the industry have many job opportunities in technical as well as non-technical areas. Technical jobs for freshers include video, audio and light engineering, among others, and non-technical jobs include stage crew to manage stage co-ordination during an event, make-up and costumes, department sales and marketing, human resource, finance, engineering and housekeeping.

Designing The field of designing opens doors to various specialisations such as animation, interior designing, product designing, web designing, graphic designing, etc. Each specialisation can be a promising career option for talented and creative individuals. For instance, according to recent reports, the Indian animation industry is poised to grow by about 23%, while the Indian gaming industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32% by 2014. Both industries are likely to provide ample job options.

A strong sense of aesthetics, innovation, drawing and fine arts are some of the key skills that an aspirant in this field must possess. Various institutes across the country offer courses in designing.

Pharmacy The Indian pharmaceutical industry, with over 750,000 chemist shops, handles revenue of Rs 90,000 crore and is one of the fastest growing industries in India with a CAGR of over 13% in the last five years. The various areas that students can explore after graduation can broadly be categorised as medical pharmacists, retail pharmacists, industrial pharmacists and research pharmacist. To become a pharmacist, you have to clear class XII boards with a background in science. After completing a diploma in pharmacy, you have to undergo mandatory practical training for 500 hours in a government dispensary/hospital to get registered under the pharmacy council. For a BA in Pharmacy, you have to undergo two months of industrial training in production/quality control, though not mandatory.

Judgment day

The way legal studies used to be perceived traditionally has changed in the last few years with the emergence of new areas of study within the discipline. The demand for legal services in areas like healthcare, intellectual property, venture capital, energy and environmental law has brought about a sea-change in the way aspiring students look at law as a career.

The admission season is on and students aspiring to study law in both the undergraduate integrated programme or at the postgraduate level, will be rushing to universities offering these courses.

The Faculty of Law, Delhi University, offers law at the postgraduate level, which is a three-year programme. According to J L Kaul, professor-in-charge , Campus Law Centre (CLC), DU, law as a discipline as well as a career is no more the old-school kind. Today, the field is growing with various specialisations and with global exposure . Also, law as a profession has matured in the country with increased corporatisation . India, over the years, has opened to foreign investment, which has made space for legal professionals in that area. All these factors contribute to the rise in competition for admission to law schools.

"We have in total 2,500 seats for the three law centres at the faculty, to which about 8,000-9 ,0000 students apply every year through an entrance test conducted by the university," says Kaul.

Further, he says, the discipline is taught under the semester mode. A number of new papers, including environmental law, human rights, gender justice and international trade law have been included in the curriculum recently, as they are emerging fields in this sector.

"The popular fields of specialisation among students, nowadays, include cyber law, corporate law, environmental law, international trade law and human rights law. There is a high demand for corporate lawyers across the globe as legal outsourcing has also increased tremendously," he says.

Students can have good career prospects in the field as they can work in corporate companies, law firms, government agencies , practice judiciary etc.

"For the last couple of years, placement on campus has been progressing, with a good number of students recruited by corporate houses, MNCs, law firms, government agencies like ONGC, international publishers and even NGOs," adds Kaul.

While DU offers a three-year law programme , Jamia Millia Islamia, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) and National Law University, Delhi (NLUD), offer a five-year , BA LLB (H) integrated programme , which is a popular trend among students for the last few years.

According to Rose Varghese, dean, faculty of law, Jamia Millia Islamia, law as a profession has grown due to globalisation and the corporate world. Today, no organisation or industry can exist without a legal division.

"We have a total of 80 seats in the fiveyear BA LLB programme offered by the faculty , to which we receive around 3,000-5 ,000 applications every year. Since in the five-year programme, students are fresh out of school, they are receptive and curious, which is an advantage as they want to know more and can be moulded into the discipline well," she adds.

According to Suman Gupta, dean, school of law and legal studies, GGSIPU, more students are joining the integrated law course as it offers specialisations in the discipline. Legal education has many connotations, and a good job offer is one of the factors that drive students .

"Fields like cyber law, cyber crime, environment and industry law are popular among students. However, many go for civil services or judicial practice as well. Last year, we introduced two new papers in the curriculum - cyber law and crime; and intellectual and industry property law. While the first semester is common, from second semester onwards students can choose from the various specialisation papers," says Gupta.

According to Ranbir Singh, vice-chancellor , NLUD, "We have students from about 19 states studying here. Out of the total 80 seats, 20 are meant for Delhi students and 10 seats are reserved for foreign students. The rest of the seats are meant for students from other states."

He says, "Popular courses among students include intellectual property rights, environmental law, securities, capital market law, corporate law, human rights, and labour and development law."

The healing touch

If you are in search of knowledge and enlightenment then you'll firstly seek material tools that aid ones evolution. And as people walk the spiritual path it becomes more than just buying a few products — it actually turns into an entire lifestyle. Metaphysical, Occult, Wiccan, Pagan, or New Age stores — call it by any name — these stores are now manifesting across the human realm. "This concept is gaining popularity all over the world today. The term 'metaphysical' refers to spiritual. Earlier these stores were called occult, but the shadows on occult are now removed and it is no longer required that we use this term. Therefore , the term metaphysical or spiritual is preferred for stores selling spiritual products or services," says Swati Prakash, witch and president of Tarot India Network. 

"An ideal metaphysical store will house crystals and gemstones, divination cards like the tarot decks, runes, i-ching , angel oracles, incense and incense burners, essential oils (gem scents, herbal blends, psychic oils, pure oils), epsom salt, Moroccan lamps, coloured candles, herbs such as sage, cedar (smudge sticks), metaphysical books, and relaxation music, among many other things," says Vinay Nasta, managing director, The Laughing Buddhaa in Mumbai. 

EMERGING AREAS 

As more Indians travel abroad they are learning various spiritual practices. And Wicca among the many is gaining in popularity. "Wicca is the only religion in the world that has a policy of 'harm none' as per the Wiccan Rede or code of ethics. Wiccans do not use prayers, spells or thoughts that are harmful to anyone. In no other spiritual system or religion will you find this," says Prakash. In India we often see only the sale of fengshui items, crystals for reiki or incense. We are increasingly seeing the demand for angel cards, and other similar items. "As we are opening to embracing the worshipping of feminine energy we begin to read literature about witches who are actually evolved souls and protectors, unlike portrayed in popular media as being evil. As individuals equip themselves with more knowledge there is a growing market that wants spell kits, wands, athames, brooms, ritual supplies and books on Wicca," says Vrushali Nadkerni , angel therapist and metaphysical goods supplier based in Dubai. 

INVESTMENT 

The start of any store requires capital: capital for land, interiors, initial stock, operational costs, cost of human resources including your own, cost of technology and systems , and cost of brand building and promotions. "In metaphysical stores you need to invest a little more because people are still unaware and, therefore, a lot of promotions may be required for its success," says Prakash. 

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES 

According to Delhi-based Neelam Verma of Cosmic Rhythms, spirituality is an abstract concept and, therefore, running a store like this is a matter of 'serendipity.' "My aim is to heal people and the store that I happen to run now is just an incidental outcome." Excellent spiritual healing skills and qualifications are a must, says Prakash. "Such a store needs someone who is a leader and is renowned in the field." She also lists charisma and brand building skills because such a store requires spreading awareness and correct information to the public. And finally excellent management skills and qualification are a must because such a store requires impeccable policies and practices of running, according to Prakash. 

FUTURE PROSPECTS 

As lot more people turn towards spirituality they prefer to surround themselves with positive things deliberately selected and bought. "People are now interested in knowing the symbolic meaning of things. Even if they choose an object to decorate their home they prefer to go as per fengshui and place it in the right area because they know that everything has an energy effect. As people begin to learn the real meaning of everyday things and gain awareness that everything is ultimately 'energy' as proven by science — the phenomena of metaphysical or spiritual store is a force to reckon with," says Prakash who runs the metaphysical store Magick in Mumbai.

Rare species in CBSE schools

In a renewed effort, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has recently requested all its affiliated schools to surrender any preserved museum specimen of plants and animals that are rare and threatened (as per the Wildlife Protection Act 1972) to the ministry of environment and forest department.

According to Vineet Joshi, chairman, CBSE, activists had noticed the presence of wild animals and birds that were kept in captivity in some schools during their visits to schools recently. Following which, a committee of experts met at the CBSE office and unanimously agreed to follow the Wildlife Protection Act and sensitise students towards care and protection of biodiversity.

"The CBSE had issued a circular on November 9, 2010, wherein the board had asked all its affiliated schools to surrender any rare and endangered species to the ministry of environment and forest department. But, since some endangered species have still been noticed by activists during visits to the schools, we have written to the principals to ensure that no endangered species of plants and wild animals, including birds and insects, are kept in captivity and used for classroom/laboratory study," says Joshi.

Since the board does not have a list of schools, which have been keeping these rare species in their laboratories, all CBSE affiliated schools, whether government or private, have been warned with a notice.

"It is possible that the school authorities are not always aware whether the specimens fall under endangered or rare category. Hence, it is essential that both students and teachers are educated and sensitised," he adds.

Joshi believes that in the age of information and computer technology, students can do without practical dissections. Instead, virtual specimens can be used for studying plant and animal diversity.

New MPhil course to begin from the academic session of 2012-13

Ambedkar University, Delhi (AUD) along with Pradan, an NGO working towards development in the rural sector, has launched a new MPhil programme in development practice to begin from the academic session of 2012-13. The two-year (four semester) programme has a total intake of 25 students. The course is intended for those who are interested in community service and grassroots development.

According to Dr Anup Dhar, faculty, school of human studies and in-charge of the development practice programme, the university already has development studies as a full-fledged course, which basically involves research; but there was a need to have a professional course as well, which will go beyond research and actually focus on practice. The programme is a blend of classroom and field study.

"We are setting up a development centre at the university, which will become a training hub for students. As part of the course curriculum, students will study development, psychological processes and group learning from both management and psychological perspectives," says Dhar.

Further, elaborating on the module of the course, he says, while the first semester is exclusively on theory, students will have a 10-week village stay and study, twice, during the second and third semesters. This is when they will study and work along with the village people on their problems. The fourth semester is the action-research phase, exclusively in the villages, as students will be initiating change projects, thereby, creating self-help groups and other such strategies.

"The project in the last semester is meant for students to usher in a small change in the village and people's life there. They will be required to initiate a feasible action-research project and document the entire process to bring about some degree of change. This project will serve as their dissertation for the programme," informs Dhar.

To facilitate students during their stay in the villages and project work, a fellowship of Rs 15,000 will be given to them throughout the programme. Eligible students require a Masters with 55% aggregate marks in the social sciences, humanities and natural sciences or professional degrees like law, engineering, agriculture and medicine.

Languages of Delhi University

The race for Delhi University undergraduate admissions has started with a huge number of applications. Though most students want to join popular courses like BCom, BSc, economics, English and psychology, there are other options that students can explore as well. At a time when the world is getting smaller and diversity is becoming an important component of the 21st century, employment opportunities in this area are increasing too. In fact, with an increasing demand for various languages in a global world, there are many takers for honours courses in languages.

The university, apart from English and Hindi, offers full-time UG programmes in a number of languages, which include German, French, Spanish, Italian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit and Punjabi.

The department of Germanic and Romance studies, DU, offers a Bachelor's programme in European languages, while individual colleges offer BA(H) in Sanskrit, Punjabi, Persian and Arabic.

According to Kusum Agarwal, head, department of Germanic and Romance studies, several students apply to BA (H) courses in German, French, Italian and Spanish, every year. Over the years, there has been an increase in the number of takers for German and French, with growing applicants for Spanish and Italian as well. The department also offers part-time courses in Portuguese and Romanian.

"These languages have a reputation and in today's global world, there is a demand for these in the market. With international trade, the hotel industry, tourism, and new media, a Bachelor's degree in any of the languages is a relevant academic and future career option," she says.

Students opting for the programme get to study contemporary global culture, the interface of literature, art and the new media. Also, they are exposed to the cultural encounter between India and Europe, postcolonial writing in Europe and the erstwhile colonial world, translation (in particular literary translation), etc. Besides, students have to study a set of concurrent papers like English, history, etc. Further, she explains, "The usefulness of understanding a language in terms of reading, writing and speaking, varies for each student. For example, a management student who also opts for a course in a language has an edge over other management students. This is because when he or she applies to study in a country and is familiar with the language, it is easier to adapt and avail of the different scholarships."

Students have many contemporary career options in the areas of translation, writing, teaching, etc, adds Agarwal.

Admission to the BA (H) programme in all the four European languages is through an entrance test. The test involves a student's ability to understand logic, grapple with ideas, essay writing, general knowledge and general awareness of world affairs. Of late, there has been growing enthusiasm among students to study Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. However, students enrolling in BA (H) Sanskrit from this session onwards will be introduced to a revised curriculum with a number of new papers added to the course.

Students opting for Sanskrit will now have mathematics, aesthetics, philosophy of language and nomenclature as the new papers in their syllabus under the semester mode.

"Against general conception, Sanskrit is a job-oriented language. It continues to be widely used as a successful language in computers. There is a demand for professionals knowing the language in the West. This is due to the popularity of yoga and ancient Indian medicine, prescribed in scriptures like Charaka Samhita, which are now finding relevance in the foreign world. Over the past few years, many MNCs have offered good profiles and packages to Sanskrit graduates during campus placements," says Pankaj Mishra, faculty, department of Sanskrit, St Stephen's College. However, BA (H) courses in Persian and Arabic are offered only in Zakir Husain College.

According to M Aslam Parvaiz, principal, Zakir Husain College, both the languages have a good number of takers. However, the response in Arabic is much more than in Persian, since there are about 53 Arab-speaking countries in the world, while Persian is only limited to Iran. "We receive about 300-400 applications in all for the languages every year. The course content includes study of literature, grammar, contemporary issues, poetry, drama, etc. Many students want to study Arabic so that they can have direct access to original scriptures, which were written in Arabic," says Parvaiz. A number of avenues have opened up as a result of increasing trade with the Gulf countries. Students can opt for higher studies or work as interpreters, teachers in Gulf countries, as news readers, with the All India radio, etc.

New areas of Learning

Everything that doesn't happen by accident, happens by design, says Sudhakar Nadkarni, quoting the celebrated designer, Frank Dudas. "Design, as a profession, is young in our country, and there is a shortage of designers nationally," says Nadkarni, who pioneered design education in India by setting up the Industrial Design Centre at IIT-Bombay in 1969 and the Department of Design at IIT-Guwahati in 1997.

In the 1990s and the early 2000, design, especially industrial design, was an unknown area and few industries were ready to invest in this area. The current scenario is different. "Industry is recognising design and it is being reflected in the several partnerships between industry and academia. Also, the government has several national design policies in place. India Design Council, under the ministry of commerce and industries, is promoting the importance of design," says Ravi Mokashi Punekar, faculty member, department of design, IIT-Guwahati.

New Areas

Application areas of design are endless, says Nadkarni, who is at present dean of business design at Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, Mumbai.

Today, there is a congruence of technology and design. The product and user interface is coming together. As Narendra Ghate, head, Innovation Labs at Tata Elxsi, explains, some of the new areas that students can look at are 'India Price Points' where a technology produced in the foreign market has to be suited for India.

User Interface (UI) design is an area where designers are sought-after. "You will find different genres of designers — graphic designers, industrial designers and even architects being absorbed by the industry, because there is a shortage of UI specialised designers," says Vijay Kumar, CEO & Principal Designer at Ergoform — industrial design and product development studio based in Bangalore. He also includes craft as an area where there is scope for good design. Decision-makers in the industry are recognising that design is an important component for success in business endeavours. "Design, both in private as well as public sectors, is becoming a centrally focused activity," says Achutha Rao, co-ordinator, industry relations, Design Clinic Scheme, NID.

Automotive attracts designers and with more automotive studios setting up shop in India, it is another growing area. But, according to Vinay Rao, director, Bang Design, automobile designing is not an emerging trend. He, however, says that there is a growing industry in automobile design 'support.' Stylists in other parts of the world are dependent on colleagues with technical skills to translate a design to computer-aided design. This form of outsourcing is already a large employer of designers and those with related skills, in India.

Software Skills

Skills in digital design are also in demand. Design studios require digital sculptors who can convert pencil sketches into computerised formats. They must also have knowledge of 2D and 3D visuals and software like Alias, Adobe, Corel, Unigraph, Pro E, Catia, Rhino, explains Prakash Unakal, industrial designer from IDC, IIT, Mumbai. The future lies not in technology revolution but rather in innovation. A designer, experts in the field believe, is also a problem-solver and not merely a product decorator. The designer brings his talent and experience to bear upon every aspect of a problem.

Rush for sale, submission of forms in DU

With just three days left for the closing of the application process of undergraduate admissions of Delhi University, rush for sale and submission of forms is back.

But many students from far off places were unaware about the return of the pre-admission registration process which discontinued last year, resulting in large number of students from outside flocking the campus for the admission forms at the last minute.

According to the office of the dean of students' welfare, in the past two days large number of students queued up for forms. "I realized that unlike last year we need to fill up pre-admission registration forms last week and rushed to Delhi. I was assuming that we can come to Delhi around the time the first cutoff is declared and directly go the colleges for admission as per cutoff," said Pankaj Hazarika, an aspirant from Guwahati.

The rush for submission is gradually peaking with a total of offline forms submission touching 70,000 on Thursday. Total number of students who submitted their forms online is 26,000 by Thursday.

Assam government, Microsoft join hands for technology in schools

Assam government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft Corporation India (Pvt) Limited to expedite Information and Communications Technology (ICT) adoption in the state's schools.

The year-long alliance will support Assam's School Education System to use ICT towards improving the quality of learning in schools by recreating more interactive classroom experiences, official sources said here today.

The agreement was signed by 'Assam Sarba Siksha Abhijan' Mission Director L S Changsan from the state's side and Ranbir Singh, Country Head, Government Engagements, from Microsoft's side, in presence of state Education and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma last night.

The agreement will focus on the professional development of 5,760 school teachers and equip them with skills required for integrating IT in classroom teaching, they said.

To trigger better learning outcomes for students in the long run, training sessions of teachers will be held at six state-run DIETS (District Institute for Education and Training) as per Partners in Learning (PiL), they said.

PiL, introduced in 2008, is a global Microsoft programme that helps in providing teachers with tools aimed at enhancing their IT skills and the integration of ICT into teaching and learning in a meaningful way.

Assam HSLC results to be declared today

The office of the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (Seba), is abuzz with activities as all the officials are busy with last-minute preparations for the much awaited results of the High School Leaving Certificate examination ( HSLC) and Assam High Madrassa (AHM) examination, which would be declared today.

This year, the matric examination went through a lot of controversies, one being distribution of wrong set of question papers of general science due to which the exam had to be rescheduled. Besides, some answersheets were devoured by cows at an evaluation centre in Goalpara, owing to which the result is being declared even late than last year.

At the Seba office, almost all officials started dispatching the results to different centres since Tuesday and by Thursday, all result sheets would be despatched in all the 51 zones. To ensure that the work is done on time, all the officials are working even on the holidays, Seba officials said.

Basanta Das, secretary of Seba, added, "Work is in its final phase now and we are working till 9 pm every day and even on holidays. Since there were some goof-ups this time, we have to be extra cautious."

He added, "Last year, the results were declared on May 27. But this time, it had to be delayed. So, now we are ensuring that no further errors take place and in every zone, the results are declared before 12pm on Friday."

Another official, who was busy with the listing, said, "Result time is always rush time and we are working even on Sundays. So taking leave is out of question. All departments have been assigned different work.'

He added, "We don't mind the hard work as the board conducts only one exam in a year. Before the exam, it was the students who worked hard. After the exams, we have to give our best to ensure that all students get their fruits of hard labour."

Maharashtra SSC 90% plus club shrinks, gives ICSE, CBSE admission edge

Maharashtra's SSC pass rate rose by 4% to 75%, and Mumbai's went up by a marginal 0.7% to reach 80.7%, but hidden behind these small successes is a slowdown. The number of students getting 90% and higher dropped by 41.5% in the state from 42,731 last year to 24,994 in 2012.

In Mumbai, the drop is by 48.6%, from 14,523 students last year to 7,459. Fewer students got 80% and higher too. Among those who cracked the exam, the largest chunk—45%—have scores of 35-59%. With most ICSE and CBSE students holding better scorecards, the upcoming admission season looks rocky for SSC students. Sports marks, best-5 gloss fades this year

For at least three years now, since 2009, it seemed like the academic world was riding a wave. With each passing year, the results were a bigger splash. The population of high scorers climbed as students milked every scheme visible on the horizon—whether it was the best-5 policy or the generous giveaway of up to 4% to sports stars. It seemed like the levees had crashed as a flood of 90-percenters came. This year, the count has dropped.

Like last year, 21,171 students applied for the additional marks in sports this year but it seems like the magic has faded off the additional marks granted and the best-5 policy. School education minister Rajendra Darda said the board would look into the factors behind the drop in high scorers. But most teachers reasoned that it was because of the changed format of science and maths papers, which included questions under a fresh section that required 'high order thinking skills'.

Sanskriti Merchant, from Fort Convent High School, scored 98% after calculating the best five scores. Merchant said, "This year, the science paper was totally different from the ones that we practised for, those of the previous years. Some of the questions were application based, where we had to really think. Also, problems were not from the textbook, like they usually are. Many must have found it tougher."

Sarjerao Jadhav, state board chairman, said the overall success rate had gone up in the state because the timetable for the exams was given well in advance and the exam was spread over a month, thus giving students enough time to study without stress.

Schools that managed to get a 100% result have increased. Over 2,500 schools in Maharashtra got 100% pass results, while 97 schools had the dubious distinction of not seeing a single student clear the board.

Meanwhile, the Konkan division, a new one culled out of the Mumbai and Kolhapur divisions, did best with a 90.8% pass percentage. Mumbai's pass percentage secured it fourth place among divisions, a drop from last year's second rank. On a more predictable count, girls outperformed boys.

Few Maharashtra board students score above 90%, tough admission battle looms

SSC students in the city may find it tough to fend off the challenge from other boards during junior college admissions as barely 2.5% of state board students managed to score 90% or above.

State board data shows that a mere 7,459 students in Mumbai and 24,994 students in Maharashtra (about 2% of those who passed) went past the 90% barrier. The number has almost halved from last year, when 14,523 students in Mumbai (5.1%) and 42,731 in Maharashtra (3.7%) scored 90% and above. Even in 2010, at least 13,456 students in Mumbai (4.8%) and a total of 40,928 in the state achieved the feat,

Most college principals were concerned about the fate of state board students during junior college admissions considering the fact that at least 30-40% students in most ICSE and CBSE schools have scored 90% and above.

Indu Shahani, principal of HR College said, "This is a matter of concern but over the past two years, we have noticed that the high cut-offs usually average out by the second merit list. Hopefully it will continue this year too, so that students don't suffer." She said that as results of other education boards get better with every passing year, top city colleges might be taken over by students from other boards. "This year, most students who graduated from degree colleges too have been from other boards," she added.

The fall in the number of top scorers will mostly have a bearing on the composition of top colleges.

"This will definitely impact the number of state board students in getting through to a college and course of their choice, especially in bifocal subjects. However, other boards have their own formula for calculating scores so hopefully, when they apply to junior colleges online, their scores might match the scores of state board students," said Shobhana Vasudevan, principal of RA Podar College, Matunga. She added that state board students might need a lot of counseling after the results. "For most students, their Class X scores are very important and if they fail to achieve what they desire, they are bound to get depressed," she added.

Rohan Bhatt, principal of Childrens' Academy said, "The numbers of top scorers in our school has definitely gone down. Many students have told us that they scored lower than expected in science, though other subjects were up to the mark." Gauri Dighe, science teacher at V N Sule School said clubbing science-I and II was extremely stressful for most students. People's Welfare School principal Hema Kannan reasoned the drop in number of high scorers to the fact that the upgraded math and science syllabus was a challenge for several kids.

With scores falling in science and maths, the overall results didn't present a pretty picture for many.

This year, the board introduced a new element in the curricula- High Order Thinking Skills - a section in which students had to apply knowledge from various chapters before they could answer the questions.

Shobhna Bhide, a teacher at Anandiketan, Nashik, and a member of the state's board of studies for science, said, "Till last year, the format of the question paper was such that every student who studied the text could answer all questions. But this time, the HOTS section required a lot of thinking. In the final count, performance in that section separated the really bright students from average kids." S Chakraborty, a teacher from an Andheri-based school, said, "Many science teachers have found that students performed miserably in science. Some questions carrying more marks were based on application. Those questions were easy, but our state board students were new to this pattern. Many must have found it difficult to attempt these questions. Also studying the whole portion for both section I and II in a day was difficult."

However, the success rate in most subjects has gone up. Last year, overall pass percentage plunged by 7% in the state, one of its reasons being the dip in success rate of subjects. This year, more students passed in all subjects. In English (first language), 97.7% of the total students passed, up from last year's 95.9% in the state. The success rate in languages like Hindi (90.4%) and Marathi (92%) also went up by a couple of percentages. The overall rise in the state's success rate is also attributed to the rise in students' performances in different subjects.

Maharashtra government may consider allowing 'self-financed' schools

Maharashtra government is mulling over a legislation on allowing private players to set up schools on their own sans any government aid, provided they conform with the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

"We have accepted the policy to give permission to schools provided they are within the ambit of the Right to Education Act," Minister of state for education Fauzia Khan told PTI after emerging from a meeting chaired by education minister Rajendra Darda.

The meeting was attended by NCP leader and presiding officer in the Legislative Assembly Nawab Malik, Congress MLC Mohan Joshi among others.

"If somebody wants to establish a school to impart quality education using their own resources and funds why should government prevent them from it," she said, adding provided such schools do not ask the government for any kind of financial assistance.

However, MLC Ramnath Mote from the Teachers constituency registered his protest to the move.

"The state government wants to incur less expenditure and do not want to give any assistance to non-aided schools," he said alleging that the proposed legislation to this effect would allow anyone with money to start schools anywhere he wants.

Economies across the globe are relying on Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship has never been so big. In fact, economies across the globe are relying on entrepreneurs who can innovate, create , lead and expand firms into successful and ethical operations . Also, to be successful in global markets, one needs a good understanding of financial models today.

With this in mind, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, is introducing the Summer Business Immersion programme, which aims to develop the next generation of business leaders.

The programme is open to undergraduate students from across the world, currently enrolled in a university. While 30-40 students from across the world and the US are going to be part of this programme, it aims to provide knowledge pertinent to the development of the next generation of successful and responsible business leaders , be it entrepreneurs, investment bankers, security analysts, consultants or general business executives.

Students will participate in an entrepreneurship and business planning class, as well as a financial modelling class taught by Kenan-Flagler instructors. In addition, explains Jayashankar M Swaminathan, director, UNC Centre for International Business Education and Research, Kenan-Flagler Business School, "they will learn from academics and business leaders in a series of lectures and company visits as part of the business insights ."

As to the strengths of the modules, Swaminathan says the class will include meetings with real and serial entrepreneurs, along with team work, to develop a business plan for students' own ventures, and practice of presentation skills to make a business pitch. He further adds, "The financial modelling class develops skills in designing and constructing financial models for analysing a variety of decisions — problems facing today's financial managers and professionals. The finance class takes place in Kenan-Flagler's state-of-the art Capital Markets Lab."

The lab provides a real-world setting for students to use information and complex analytical tools to manage assets and add value for future clients. Finally, the programme consists of field trips to industries. What is it that the school is looking for in students? "We are looking for motivated and dynamic students with an interest in entrepreneurship and a drive to become future leaders. Students need to be able to work in teams and enjoy hands-on , experiential learning," says Swaminathan.

Upon successful completion of the programme, students will receive UNC credit (six US credit hours) and a UNC transcript. Cost of the programme will come to $5,900 (approx) and housing costs will amount to $855 (approx).

Eligibility criteria

• Students need to be currently enrolled as undergraduates in good standing at their home university
• Have a minimum equivalency of a grade point average of 3.0 (on a 4 point scale; equivalent to a B average). For international grade conversion, go to www.wes.org/gradeconversionguide
• Have completed basic courses in corporate finance and financial accounting
• Be proficient in computer spreadsheet (Excel) use
• Be fluent in spoken and written English (proven by your TOEFL or IELTS score)

WHEN TO APPLY?
The 2013 application and instructions will be posted on www.ciber.unc.edu/summerbusines simmersion

OBC students sprint ahead in UP Board class X examination

OBC students came up trumps in the UP Board class X exams with two of the three toppers coming from the socially backward category. Securing 96.5% marks, both Pooja Yadav and Anna Yadav come from lower income groups. While Pooja's father is a police constable, Anna's family does small time farming in Baraiyya, Suratganj, 30 kilometres from Barabanki. They believe that the backward students can be at par with general category, if they are provided quality education at grass-roots level.

Voicing strong views against reservation, Anna said, "In the caste-based reservation, talent takes a backseat. I feel there should be equal opportunities for everyone. For empowering backward classes, the government should provide basic facilities in rural areas." Anna hails from a village, where he has no access to electricity. On the contrary, Pooja feels that reservation is the only way to strengthen the backward students. "Reservation should definitely be there, when it comes to pursue higher education. It helps in bridging a gap between the affluent and needy."

Another topper Rishu Verma, who secured 95.6%, also belongs to backward class. Talking to TOI, she said, "Reservation widens the gap between general and backward class. Providing reservation to backward class gives them a leverage to work less, and the general category students had to put in extra effort,"

In Lucknow, three out of top four students belong to backward class. Sachin Maurya, an OBC who scored 92.8% said, "Reservation for all who are from backward class is unjust. It should be given to those who are deprived of basic facilities, so that they can match up with other classes." Sachin's father is a small-time farmer in Ballia, while his mother is a primary teacher. Two years back, he came to Lucknow in search of good education.

Securing 92.3%, Harshit Maurya, said, "To bridge the gap between the general category students and those belonging to other backward classes, reservation is the only way. It at least ensures that people from backward class have a secured place, be it in education or in a job."

Another OBC topper, Shraddha Singh Yadav was of the view that reservation spoils the very meaning of competition. "There is no space for reservation when it comes to showcase talent. I strongly believe that all students should be treated equally without any discrimination between caste, colour, religion," she said.

83.75% clear UP Board High School exams

The year 2012 has brought a bagful of joy for UP Board examinees as the High School results this year registered an astonishing overall pass percentage of 83.75, which is 12.93% more than the overall pass percentage of 70.82 recorded last year.

Once again the fairer sex has stolen a march over their male counterparts as the overall pass percentage of girls is an impressive 88.95 against 79.61 of boys, a sizeable difference of 9.34%.

Barabanki continued to be the cynosure of all eyes as three students of the district jointly shared the top position in the state with an aggregate of 96.50%. What's heartening is the fact that two of the three are girls -- Pooja Yadav of Maharani Laxmi Bai Inter College, Barabanki and Aakanksha Singh of Saraswati Vidya Mandir Inter College, Barabanki.

The third topper, Anna Yadav is a student of BRGP Higher Secondary School, Baraiyya Suratganj, Barabanki.

This year, a total of 35,59,196 students appeared in High School examinations conducted by the UP Board, out of which 19,79,928 were boys and 15,79,268 girls. Among these, 28,39,303 appeared as regular candidates while 1,41,610 appeared privately, said director, Secondary Education, Basudeo Yadav, while announcing the results here on Friday.

Yadav said that district wise, Varanasi recorded the highest overall pass percentage of 92.13 while Lalitpur was the lowest on the table with 70.81%.

Yadav said that after a gap of four years, the overall pass percentage of students has doubled in the backdrop of the fact that it was 40.07 in 2008 while it has climbed to 83.75 in 2012. This is a very healthy trend, he added. This year the Board conducted the High School examinations from March 16 to April 2 at 9,869 examination centres across the state. The evaluation of answer books was undertaken between April 26 to May 10 at 155 centres.

This year a total of 475 jail inmates from different jails across the state appeared in High School examinations, out of which 387 were declared successful. The overall pass percentage of jail inmates recorded a healthy 81.5. Besides, the overall pass percentage of boys this year increased by 13.58 while that of girls went up by 12.03.

Also, as a part of Continued and Comprehensive Evaluation Policy, the High School examinees were allotted 70 marks in the theory papers while the remaining 30 marks were awarded in practical and internal assessment. Under the National Education Policy, a nine point grading system was adopted in theoretical subjects while five-point grading system was adopted in practical subjects.

To check the malpractice of changing answer books in some districts by lumpen elements, the UP Board had distributed numbered answer sheets in 10 districts, including Allahabad, Kaushambi, Hathras, Aligarh, Etah, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia, Ghazipur and Deoria.

Subject wise, Anthropology and Punjabi recorded 100 percent results as 116 students who appeared in former and 352 in latter were declared successful. On the other hand, Assamese recorded the lowest pass percentage of 14.29 as only one of the seven students who appeared in the examination managed to muster passing marks.

PSEB declares senior secondary examination results

The Punjab School Education Board on Thursday declared the results of the Senior Secondary (10+2) Examination. Students can check their results by entering respective roll numbers on its official website http://www.pseb.ac.in/

UP board declares class X results

The Board of High School and Intermediate Education, Allahabad on Friday declared the High School (Class 10) examination results at 12:30 pm.

Students can get their results by entering their respective roll numbers on its official website http://upresults.nic.in/

Uniform admission fee for tech colleges in Odisha

There will be uniform admission fee for both private and government engineering colleges in the state this year. This was decided at a meeting chaired by director, technical education and training, Chandra Sekhar Kumar.

After the meeting, Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) secretary Priyabrata Sahoo said admission fee would be Rs 16,000 for all colleges. Last year, the fee was Rs 16,000 for government engineering colleges and Rs 30,000 for private colleges.

It was decided in the meeting that counselling for OJEE would be held after publication of All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) results, Sahoo said. Since many students may select colleges on the basis of their AIEEE ranks, the OJEE committee would wait the publication of AIEEE results, he added.

It was also decided that counselling will be done at 20 centres and students would be allowed to fill as many choices of college and stream combination as they want while registering online. Students would be required to come to the counseling centre only once.

AIEEE exam: No ‘right’ answers on website has students in a fix

Even as the Central Board of Secondary Education has uploaded the OMR answersheet of each student, who had appeared in AIEEE offline exam, on its website, the absence of right answers on it has left many candidates baffled. As, 'right' answers uploaded by various coaching centres across the country on their websites vary.

"In IIT-JEE too, the answer keys were uploaded that helped resolve some goofs. With various coaching centres uploading different 'right' answers, it has caused much confusion among candidates," said Sangeeta Khanna, who runs a coaching institute in Sector 24.

Divankar Sharma, who gave the offline exam, said, "I am still not clear about the right answers."

Rashmi Sehgal, who too wrote the offline exam, said, "The board should have given the answers, so that we know about our performance." The answersheets have been uploaded to enable students to challenge the board in case any of the answers differ from the one they marked during the offline test.

Online examination candidates do not have the option.

The scanned images of answersheets can be checked on its website www.cbse.nic.in and www.aieee.nic.in. If a candidate wants to challenge the uploaded answersheets, he can submit an application at any of the CBSE regional offices or at AIEEE unit at Patparganj, Delhi-92, on or before June 6 till 12 noon, along with the prescribed fees of Rs 500 per recorded response challenged.

Students go for printed Delhi University forms over virtual option

On the first day of Delhi University's undergraduate admission for 2012-13, students seemed to have preferred the printed centralized forms over the online option introduced this year.

A large number of students gathered at the 22 venues across the city, braving the heat on Monday, and bought 30,250 forms, with Arts Faculty at North Campus selling as many as 4,100 forms. DU witnessed 18,000 online registrations as well.

Long queues were seen at centres like Arts Faculty and Miranda House in North Campus, ARSD and deputy dean, students' welfare office, in South Campus; Gargi College and several post offices from 8 in the morning, two hours before the sale started. Gargi College, Ashok Vihar and New Delhi GPO ran out of forms and had to fetch more copies later. Delhi GPO fell short of the prospectus and asked aspirants to wait for it, leading to a huge crowd gathering inside.

While the colleges and other DU venues sold 15,500 forms, the 12 post offices sold 14,750 forms. "There is a greater rush than before," said Dinesh C Varshney, deputy dean, students' welfare, South Campus.

At Gargi College, aspirants started queuing outside from early morning and all forms were sold within an hour. "We had got around 1,000 forms in the first lot, but that got over within an hour of the counters opening at 10am. We got a second lot by 12.30pm and the distribution continued till 1.30pm and we could distribute around 500 more forms," said vice-principal Shashi Tyagi.

Over 700 forms were sold in the first two hours at ARDS while over 1,000 forms were sold at South Campus. Another 420-odd forms for the SC/ST category were also sold at the campus. A large number of outstation aspirants were seen queuing at North Campus.

Aspirants at South Campus was happy with the counselling facility available there. "Most of the students are enquiring about the best college and the best course available. A number of queries for English and commerce have been seen today," said Brij Lal, supervising officer, admissions, ARSD College.

Industry performance

The CII ASCON Survey for the period April-June 2012 (estimated) reveals sharp deceleration in the growth of industrial sectors as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, on the expectations of low investment spending , rupee depreciation, elevated inflation, high trade and fiscal deficits, and uncertain global economic recovery. "The ASCON Survey provides industry outlook for the period April-June 2012 compared to April-June 2011. The survey reveals that many industry sectors have shown a sharp deceleration in growth for April-June quarter of 2012 as compared to April-June (2011).
Most of the respondents of the ASCON survey revealed that the deceleration was mainly due to monetary tightening measures of RBI to control inflation and the effect of global economic slowdown which had a dampening effect on the demand. The situation calls for concerted effort from the Government and the RBI to ensure that we have a cohesive economic recovery plan," said Chandrajit Banerjee, director general , CII. The survey reveals that out of the 114 sectors surveyed comprising more than 35000 companies , for the period April-June 2012, 7.2% of the sectors are expected to register growth of more than 20% as compared to 20.7% in the corresponding period of 2011.

Tamil Nadu SSLC results by noon today

The directorate of government examinations will release the Class 10 board exam results at 1.30pm on Monday. Around 11.5 lakh students had registered for the exam this year.

This is the first year that students of four boards — Matriculation, Anglo-Indian, Oriental and state board —wrote the exam based on the common school syllabus. This was also the first time that students in the state board schools attempted science practical exams.

The results, which are usually out by the end of May, are delayed this year because the exams were postponed from March end to the first week of April. The state decided to delay the exams as students got their textbooks only two months after schools reopened, thanks to the court battle over common syllabus.

The state has decided to incorporate security features such as the photograph of the candidate and a unique quick response code, to prevent forgery, in the certificate.

Cut-offs to go up

With the number of students scoring high in class XII CBSE this year, in almost all the streams, it is likely that the cut-offs will go up. It became a topic of national debate last year, when the cut-off for BCom went up to 100% at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC).

However, PC Jain, principal, SRCC, assures that the cut-offs will not be as high this year. "The cut-offs for BCom (Honours ) have been increasing in the last few years. This year we will make sure the cut-off does not reach as high as 100%. Also, for economics, we will ensure the percentage is realistic. Yet, cut-offs are likely to remain high as the overall class XII scores are rather good this year too."

Since a good number of students have scored well in subjects like psychology, economics, business studies, physics, and even in humanities, colleges across the university believe the first cut-off list released will be high though the percentages will come down with the second list.

According to JM Khurana, dean, students' welfare, with students performing well in CBSE again this year, the cutoffs are bound to be higher, but nothing can be said before the registration begins . Also, since many students these days go for professional courses, aspirants must not panic and wait for the cut-offs to be released. At Hans Raj College, the cut-offs are likely to be highest in computer science, economics, electronics, physics and the biological sciences. "The cut-offs are not going to drop in any case in the popular colleges. Subjects like computer science, electronics and the sciences will see a high percentage. We will have to be cautious while preparing the first cut-off list," says VK Kawatra, principal, Hans Raj College.

Colleges including Hindu and Lady Shri Ram (LSR) maintain that the first cut-off list will be high as they will be playing safe. However, Pratibha Jolly, principal, Miranda House, believes it is too early to say how the cut-off lists will turn out. "Only once we have the pre-admission forms data available with us, the picture about the cut-offs will be clear," she says.

Registration

June 4, Monday

The forms will be available at 12 head post offices and eight colleges - Miranda House in north campus, Atma Ram Sanatam Dharam College near Dhaula Kuan, PGDAV College and Gargi College in south Delhi, Bhagini Nivedita College near Najafgarh, Rajdhani College at Raja Garden, Swami Shradhanand College in Alipur and Shyam Lal College in east Delhi.

Online

Students wanting to apply online will have to log on to the university website - www.du.ac.in. After that they will be given a unique password, using which the centralised online form can be accessed. The online form will be a copy of the over-the-counter OMR form

Teachers’ association to approach governor over fraud in Bharathiyar University polls

The war of words between the Association of University Teachers (AUT) and vice-chancellor of Bharathiyar University C Swaminathan rose to fever pitch on Wednesday, with the AUT choosing to write to the governor claiming that the recent election to the senate search committee was fixed.

The AUT has alleged fraud in the search for the new VC to Bharathiyar University. It said that the election to the senate search committee was flawed. The allegation has serious implications as it affects the entire process undertaken to elect a new vice-chancellor for the university.

"The VC ensured that his own man was elected as the search panel member of the senate," said C Pitchandy, general secretary, AUT. However, when contacted, Swaminathan said all due democratic process was followed in the elections to the search panel of both the senate and the syndicate.

In a press release, the AUT said it will write to the governor, who is the chancellor of the university, to reorganise the election process. The allegations and counter-allegations are being made against the backdrop of the election of S Saravanakumar, owner of Cumbum College of Arts and Science, as the senate search committee member.

The election was hotly contested by the AUT, whose candidate N Chenthamarai took only 65 votes while the candidate allegedly put up by the VC won 114 votes.

The AUT argues that the senate elections were fixed to favour the VC after the syndicate elections were decided unanimously. The higher education secretary had nominated the syndicate candidate to the search panel for choosing the VC and he had been elected unopposed.

According to the AUT, Saravanakumar is too inexperienced to be the senate search committee member, but the VC sees it as a pure battle of ballots. "In a democracy, the losing party should not grumble. I don't understand what the hue and cry is about. I know both candidates - Chenthamarai and Saravanakumar - very well. How can they say only Saravanakumar will propose my name when he hasn't even done so?" asked the VC.

The AUT also accused the VC of destroying the moral fibre of the senate and mobilising voters to win a numbers game.

All India Council of Technical Education issues directives to curb ragging

Adopting stringent measures to curb ragging in engineering and technical institutes, the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has issued fresh directives including mandatory submission of affidavit by the students. The new guidelines will be applicable from the upcoming session.

According to the new directives issued by the apex body for technical institutes in the country, students and their parents will have to submit an affidavit mentioning that the students would not be involved in any form of ragging.

"It is a good step taken by AICTE. It will help in curbing the menace in a bigger way. The affidavit will keep students away from ragging incidents," spokesperson of Madhya Pradesh Association of Technical and Professional Institutes, B S Yadav said.

Students living in hostels will have to submit two affidavits. "Hostellers will have to submit the affidavit mentioning that they would abide by the rules on anti-ragging. They also have to submit an affidavit stating the same about the hostel. Students will have to mention categorically that they would not be involved in ragging in the hostel," Yadav said.

The technical institutions and engineering colleges have been also asked to display specifically the anti-ragging measures at the entry and exit gates of the institutes. "Institutes will have to clearly mention the names and numbers of members of the anti-ragging committee. This will help students approach the authorities concerned," Yadav said.

In the new guidelines, it has also been mentioned that students found guilty of instigating his fellow students would also be treated guilty. The AICTE launched the anti-ragging drive in 2009. The latest guidelines have been inculcated in the previous guidelines. The new guidelines states that in case engineering colleges and institutions fail to abide by the rule, they might have to face cancellation of their affiliation.

Tagore's texts made into pictorial editions

Three children's texts written by Rabindranath Tagore have been produced in pictorial editions in Hindi, English and Bengali by the traditional "pata chitra" painters of West Bengal.

The project "Tagore Tells and the Patua Paints" sponsored by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) will unveil May 31 at the Triveni Kala Sangam.

Tagore, who pioneered children's education in India created one of the most innovative alphabet and language primers, "Sahaj Paath" (Easy Lesson).

The project is a tribute to Tagore's creativity and contribution to children's literature, SAHMAT said in a release.

The poems "The Parrot's Tale (Tota-Kahini)", a tale in prose, "Birpurush (The Hero)" and "Diner Alo Nibhe Elo (Daylight is Fading)" have been composed in picture verses by 11 young "pata chitra" painters or "patua".

The "patua", a community of nomadic painters, were from Medinipore, a traditional stronghold of "pata chitra" painters in West Bengal.

The poems comment on the contemporary school education system in India and teach children the importance of being courageous and honest.

The scrolls were designed at a workshop in Kolkata between May 11 to 18. Two of the 11 "pata chitra" painters - who pictorially narrate stories in scrolls - were familiar with the works of Tagore while the rest were ignorant about his literature.

The painters created 32 art works based on three of his poems at the workshop.