SSC, HSC supplementary results in August

The results of SSC and HSC (science) and (general) stream supplementary exams will be declared on August 4 and August 6 respectively.

Officials of Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) said the results of SSC supplementary exams will be declared on August 4 while HSC results will out on August 6.

The board had taken supplementary exams of students who had failed up to two papers in SSC and HSC (science) and one paper in HSC (general) stream.

This year, the marksheets will be issued the same day that the result are declared on the board. Earlier, marksheets were issued three to four days later.

Free education to ten girls under Kalpana Chawla Ladli scheme

Mr B L Chawla, father of late astronaut Kalpana Chawla, would launch 'Kalpana Chawla Ladli' scheme for girls at Midtown Grand here on August 8. The function is being organised by the Kalpana Chawla group of Institutions, Hisar. Chairman of the group Mr Sunil Sharma told newsmen here today, 'Mr B L Chawla, father of late Kalpana Chawla, would interact with the boys and girls of all institutions of Hisar at Midtown Grand here on August 8. He would launch 'Kalpana Chawla Ladli' scheme for girls on that day.

Under the scheme of the Kalpana Chawla Group of Institutions at Hisar, free education will be provided to eight girls in the IT sector and two girls in B.Ed college.

The scheme will also give an opportunity to two girls every year to visit NASA and USA.

The astronaut's father B L Chawla would launch the scheme here on August 8 next and he would also interact with the boys and girls of the Institutions, chairman of the Group Sunil Sharma told reporters on Friday.

"Kalpana Chawla has been a role-model for the girls. The youths would know about her life from her father and imbibe those virtues which took her to such heights that the world praised her talent and courage," Sharma said.

Kapil Sibal raises Kendriya Vidyalaya admission quota for MPs

HRD minister Kapil Sibal has raised the Kendriya Vidyalaya admission quota for MPs from two to six. This was decided on Thursday at the KV board of governors' meet chaired by Sibal.

At present, MPs can recommend only two admissions to Kendriya Vidyalayas in his constituency. In July 2011, the law ministry junked the HRD proposal to raise the quota from two to five — three for KVs in their constitutency and two in Delhi.

The new proposal suggests MPs, including nominated members, can avail of the quota and recommend admissions which will be over and above the sanctioned class strength.

The HRD ministry has raised the Kendriya Vidyalaya admission quota for MPs to six. Sources in the ministry said under the new scheme the jurisdiction of Lok Sabha MPs will be limited to their constituency. Rajya Sabha MPs, however, can recommend admissions across the state. For nominated MPs, it's a win-win situation as they can recommend admissions to KVs across India. "Since there are 140 constituencies in the country which don't have KVs, these MPs can recommend admissions in neighbouring constituencies," an HRD official said.

There are 1,087 KVs catering to around 1.08 million students across India. There are 545 Lok Sabha MPs and 245 Rajya Sabha MPs who stand to benefit from this scheme and will get 4,740 seats among them.

Sibal's decision will please MPs who have been seeking an increase in admission quota since 2010. In 2011, the proposal was struck down by the law ministry citing non-compliance with a Delhi high court order of November 17, 1998.

Till 2010, MPs could nominate only two students every academic session, but after the Right to Education Act came into force in April 2010, the HRD ministry scrapped it. But it was restored in May following intense pressure from MPs.

People's View
Far from raising the discretionary quota for MPs from two to six, it should have been scrapped altogether. With the law now providing for a quota for those from economically weaker sections in schools, what is the need for any discretionary quotas with MPs? In any case, in what way are MPs better qualified to decide who should get admission into a Kendriya Vidyalaya? This a left-over of a system in which the government and our 'rulers' were regarded as the dispensers of largesse in a scarcity-ridden society. It is time we shed that mindset and recognize that our elected representatives are meant to serve the people, not act as feudal lords dispensing favours.

Over 40,000 scholarships provided to minority community

As many as 42,476 scholarships were awarded to students from minority communities during 2011-12 under the merit-cum-means scholarship scheme of the ministry of minority affairs, it was announced on Thursday.

According to the ministry, an amount of Rs.115.72 crores was spent on the purpose during the year.

"Of these 32,723 scholarships went to students belonging to the Muslim community; 5,764 were awarded to Christian students; 3,463 to Sikh students; 516 to Buddhist students and 10 to the students belonging to the Parsi community," the ministry said.

For 2012-13, the budgetary provision for this scheme has been increased to Rs 220 crore and the physical target has also been increased to 80,000 scholarships.

The scheme is meant for the students belonging to the minority communities studying in technical and professional courses.

The scheme also provides for earmarking 30 percent of the target for girls. During 2011-12, the percentage of girl students benefiting from scholarship scheme was 36.82.

This scheme was launched in 2007-08 and cumulatively 162,967 scholarships have been awarded till March 2012.

IGNOU opens admission for three visual arts courses

The Indira Gandhi National Open University ( IGNOU) has started the admission process for three courses in visual arts with an aim to develop creative and aesthetics sensibilities of the students, an official said on Thursday.

The three visual arts certificate programmes in painting, applied art and sculpture can be pursued by those who have passed their 10th standard board exam, said the varsity.

"The programmes aim at imparting basic knowledge and skill of drawing, developing applied and design skills and understanding and use of material and technique to create expressive sculptures in turn inculcating creativity, precision and use of tool and materials," it said.

"The programme also helps to develop self-observation, visualisation and self-motivation to create an art work."

The last date to submit forms for the courses is Jul y 30, 2012.

Soon, a course in rainwater harvesting

If the acute water crisis during summer months is any indication, the city may soon be in dire need of rainwater harvesting experts. Keeping this concern in mind, Jamia Hamdard University has decided to introduce a course in rainwater harvesting.

The board of studies at the university has said the PG diploma will begin from January 2013. Experts feel that as the demand for decentralized options like rainwater harvesting spikes, an automatic need arises for specialists who can cater to residents' requirements.

"The course recently got a nod from the academic council. Rainwater harvesting is a profession that is soon going to be in demand. Students need expertise in installing rainwater harvesting structures and maintaining them every monsoon. The course will be of a one-year duration and will include theory and practical sessions," said professor Javed Ahmed, head of the botany department at the varsity.

The idea of starting this unique course stemmed from the university's own experience of the water crisis. The campus functions without a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) connection and has been sustaining with the rainwater collected every monsoon.

In the one-year course, students will be taught how to construct various kinds of harvesting structures. They will also have access to laboratory facilities to test the rain and groundwater quality. The course fee adds up to Rs 25,000.

Meanwhile, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which already offers a rainwater harvesting course, has witnessed a spurt in the number of applicants this year. "Every year during the peak summer months people wake up to the water shortage and the demand shoots up. But this year we started getting enquiries much earlier and they were more in number. In fact, we had participants from Bangladesh and Nepal too," said Sushmita Sengupta, deputy programme manager, water unit, CSE.

At CSE, students fulfill multiple roles of architects, contractors and consultants, all pitching in to conserve water. Unlike Jamia Hamdard University, CSE organizes short courses of about a week's duration. The course content involves traditional rainwater harvesting structures, understanding basics of groundwater, hydrogeology, designing, construction process, maintenance and monitoring mechanisms.

At 50, IIM-A makes a financial turnaround

For the first time, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has a surplus of operating funds - Rs 6.83 crore. This is in spite of spending over a crore on its year-long golden jubilee celebrations and despite a 60% increase in pension liability.

IIM-A has seen a change in its resources in the 50th year of its existence. The institute's balance sheet shows that against an operating loss of Rs 50.49 lakh in 2009-10, and Rs 6.33 crore in 2008-09, IIM-A has generated greater income than expenditure, Rs 11 crore in 2010-11. Out of this, the institute transferred Rs 4.38 crore to its corpus, thus creating a surplus of Rs 6.83 crore.

"For the first time, the institute achieved an operating surplus in 2011, after fully funding the pension liability of the institute. This was achieved despite increase in the actuarial value of the pension liability by about 60% to Rs 860 million (due to sixth pay commission's recommendations) by the end of 2011," Samir Barua, director, IIM-A, said in the annual report of the institute.

The surplus is a major achievement for IIM-A, which decided not to solicit grants from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in 2003. According to Barua, the institute achieved this through prudent management of costs and generation of opportunities.

The institute collected Rs 61.59 crore as fees and other income from long duration programmes and Rs 51.22 crore from management development programmes and projects.

At present, IIM-A's corpus stands at around Rs 55 crore. IIM-A's corpus in 2008-09 was about Rs 44 crore, down from over Rs 51 crore in the previous two years. The corpus had gone down due to the Sixth Pay Commission.

The golden jubilee celebrations included four international conferences, alumni reunions with participation across batches, publication of a series of management books among other activities.

The institute has been tapping its alumni and also plans to enter corporate alliances to raise funds. IIM-A raised a sum of Rs 38 crore from former students by hosting numerous alumni meets on the occasion of its silver jubilee celebrations.

Manual admissions in Odisha colleges to continue

The Orissa high court on Thursday quashed a notification issued by the higher education department to go for compulsory e-admissions in junior and degree colleges in this May.

HC also directed state to continue with both e-admission and manual admissions in colleges as was the past practice.

"The state (government) should find ways and means to work both the systems together," the division bench of chief justice V Gopala Gowda and justice S K Mishra said.

The high court did not find fault with the idea of e-admission but was against the compulsory implementation of the system as the facilities of computer and internet accessibility have not made adequate penetration in state.

"E-admission will not cause any real hardship to the students residing in cities having proper computer and internet facilities, it will pose difficulties to those students who are living in interior parts of the state where computer and internet facilities are not available," said the judgment that was reserved earlier.

The state higher education department had earlier ordered that all the 600-odd degree and autonomous colleges of the state shall go for e-admission as is now being done in junior colleges of the state. The government had also taken the decision that apart from e-admission, the students shall also fill up their forms for the examinations through online.

This decision of the government had however been challenged in the HC when a member of 'Save Education Committee' Biswabasu Dash filed the PIL seeking judiciary intervention. The HC in an interim order had earlier directed the state to go for both e-admission and manual admission as was the practice earlier.

SRCC, Hindu reopen Eco seats in 4th list

DU aspirants who had given up on getting admission in Economics (honours) in top colleges were in for a pleasant surprise on Thursday. Shri Ram College of Commerce reopened admission for BA (H) economics in the fourth cutoff list announced by Delhi University on Thursday night.

Two other campus colleges — Hindu College and Miranda House — too reopened admissions in this sought-after course. While SRCC and Miranda House reduced the economics cutoff by 0.25 percentage points each, Hindu decreased it by 0.5 percentage point. Other colleges which are going to admit students in the fourth list in this course include Hans Raj, Ramjas, Sri Venkateswara, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce and College of Vocational Studies.

While admissions for Economics (H) are on in 10 colleges , including six campus colleges , BCom (H) is open in 12, including Hans Raj, IP College, Ramjas and Sri Venkateswara.

The icing on the cake of the fourth cutoff list is the BA programme which is open for admissions in general category across 24 colleges with dips in cutoffs of up to 5 percentage points.

SRCC principal P C Jain said the college has 62 seats in Economics (H). "By the end of the third list, admissions and withdrawal the college has been left with 65 students of which around a dozen are from science background. By past experience these students leave for professional courses like engineering and medicine, which is why we had to reopen in the fourth list."

Withdrawals have been one of the major reasons for BCom (H) remaining open in colleges like Hans Raj and reopening in Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College. The highest decrease of 2 percentage points has been recorded at Zakir Husain (evening) with its cutoff ranging from 83% to 88%. The highest cutoff now for BCom (honours) in the fourth list is at Hans Raj with 96% to 98%, a decrease of 0.25 percentage point.

Two courses which are open in a significant number of colleges are BCom and BA programme . BCom is open in 21 colleges , including Kamla Nehru, Dayal Singh, Sri Venkateswara, Ramjas and Maitreyi. In fact Maitreyi along with Zakir Husain (evening) recorded the highest dip in cutoff for this course with a decrease of 3.5%.

Nearly half the colleges offering BA programme continued admission in the fourth list, including colleges like Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Sri Venkateswara, Zakir Husain (evening), Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and SGTB Khalsa. The highest cutoff for BA programme has been recorded at SGTB Khalsa with 82% to 87% followed by Sri Venkateswara with 80% to 91%. Zakir Husain (evening) has the lowest as well as the largest range with a cutoff of 45% to 65%.

96% marks, but yet to get a college seat

Even as students complained of just a marginal dip in cut-offs on the second merit list, a 16-year-old was yet to get a college seat despite scoring an impressive 96.5% in his board exams.

"When the first list was announced, we got a message saying my son hasn't been allotted a seat in the first round and we should wait for the next round. Again, on Wednesday, we got the same message," the boy's father said. "I met education (department) officials, who said my son's form might be incomplete. However, when I checked with the guidance centre, they said the form was complete and had been accepted online," he added.

Interestingly, all the colleges where the boy had applied, including Ruia, Ruparel and Khalsa, had cut-offs lower than his percentage on the first list itself. Education department officials said they would look into this matter.

Meanwhile, close to 51,000 students were allotted seats in the second round of admission on Wednesday, of whom 32,758 got the betterment option. "In the fresh allotment, 8,425 students got the college of their first preference," said a senior education official from the office of the deputy director of education (schools).

Several top colleges in the city had very few seats to offer in the second round of admission. They were also not sure if they would have any seats left for the third round.

Manju Nichani, principal of K C College, said: "The possibility of a third list will obviously depend on students claiming their seats tomorrow. But I believe there is a bleak chance of a third list."

There are approximately 30 seats available for students applying for the commerce stream in the college. Moreover, there has been only a marginal dip in the cut-offs. The science and commerce cut-offs in the college fell by less than a per cent. At N M College, the cut-off dipped by less than 2%.

The principal said there might not be a third merit list in the college.

Unfettered growth of private tuitions cannot be ignored

Recent report released by the Asian Development Bank and the Comparative Education Research Centre of the University of Hong Kong turns the spotlight on an important aspect of education that is rarely addressed in public policy. The report " Shadow Education" delves into the domain of private tutoring in Asia and its implications for policy makers.

It aptly points out that shadow education is rampant across Asian cities including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and even more 'developed' Japan and South Korea and "can no longer be ignored". " Policy makers have long recognized the importance of education for economic and social development in Asia. However, they have focused mostly on mainstream institutions, i.e. kindergartens, schools, and universities and neglected the role of private supplementary tutoring," it states.

India 's coaching class culture might come with its pluses and pitfalls. Private tutoring is often seen as an essential backbone for illiterate families which can't guide their children, as an aid for slow learners and a boon for students who receive below par education in schools. On the flip side, private tutoring as the report point out, could however, also come to "dominate the lives of young people and their families reducing the time for sports and other activities," a trend that is growing more evident in India.

But the biggest concern as highlighted in the report is that such shadow education aggravates social inequalities. It creates a hierarchy of sorts even within the parallel education system. Leading economist Amartya Sen fears tutoring "makes teachers less responsible and diminishes their central role in education; it makes improvements in schooling arrangements more difficult since the more influential and better placed families have less at stake in the quality of what is done in the schools".

There are many important take home messages for policy makers. For starters there is need for more data and reporting from this sector. Sporadic surveys offer only a limited insight. A survey by Amartya Sen's trust, Pratichi trust showed that private tutoring among primary kids in West Bengal went up from 57% in 2001-02 to 64%, seven years later. Another research in four states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh in 2011 showed that more than half (58.8%) of tenth graders were receiving tuitions.

Estimates in other Asian countries stand higher with 90% of elementary students in the Republic of Korea receiving some form of shadow education and 85% of secondary students in China receiving such. "Shadow education should be brought much more actively into the policy-making arena, with stronger elements of research-based evidence," points out the report.

Regulation of the sector is another pertinent point raised as it remains a largely unsupervised area. It might perhaps be a good idea to ensure minimum qualifications or training for tuition teachers. A clampdown on random advertising is also wanting given the unsubstantiated claims being shamelessly propagated. There have been sporadic attempts at addressing regulation of private tutoring, but are poorly implemented. The RTE bans teachers in schools from giving private tuitions, but awaits implementation.

The report concludes on a rather pertinent note saying policy makers should ask why shadow education exists in the first place and look into measures to better mainstream education such that the dependence on private tutoring is reduced.