Rajasthan
Vedanta e-Shiksha MoU
The Rajasthan state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Vedanta Foundation and Hindustan Zinc under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) programme on July 16. Under the terms of the MoU, the foundation and the company will provide e-content to 482 government primaries which will benefit 50,000 children per year.
The programme titled Vedanta e-Shiksha @ School will deliver e-content to 482 government schools in Rajsam-andh, Bhilawar, Udaipur and Chittorgarh districts for the government’s computer aided learning and computer education programmes, a government official informed the press. As per the MoU, Vedanta Foundation will provide e-content for the learning of English, science, social studies and maths. It will also train two teachers from each school, and appoint a third party supervising agency to oversee, monitor and assess the implementation and effectiveness of this project. Moreover the foundation will provide teacher training for a minimum period of 36 months.
“The objective of this project is to give an opportunity to less privileged and rural children to become acquainted with computers which have become an integral part of education. Apart from improving attendance in schools, the initiative will also reduce primary dropout rates,” says Ravi Krishnan, chief executive of the foundation.
Uttar Pradesh
Teacher training applicants surge
Of 300 graduates who have been selected for primary school teacher training at the District Institute of Educational Training (DIET), 35 have B.Tech degrees, three B.Pharma, two are biotech graduates, while one has a degree to practice dentistry, Ishtiyak Ahmed, principal of DIET, informed media personnel in Kanpur on July 21.
According to Ahmed, over 40,000 graduates had applied this year for the 350 seats available at this teacher training institute. “Though the minimum qualification was mere graduation, several applicants with degrees such as B.Tech, B.Pharma and BDS also applied,” he said. “Usually applicants have qualifications such as B.Com and BA and most of them are women. But this time perhaps owing to recessionary conditions in the economy, male and female graduates with high qualifica-tions have applied for the course,” he said adding that overqualified applicants seem to prefer a safe job in a government primary school where starting salaries are Rs.18,000 per month.
Delhi
IGNOU launches new programme
To raise a cadre of trained psychologists to help people cope with disability and its effects, the Delhi-based Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) — billed as the world’s largest distance education varsity with 2.89 million students — has introduced a rehabilitation psychology study progra-mme. This programme will produce experts who understand the psycho-logical conditions of people suffering from disability and mental illness, and will help them and their families regain hope.
“This programme helps students understand the psychology of disabled people in a better way, and prescribe effective rehabilitation for them,” Dr. Hemlata, director of IGNOU’s National Centre for Disability Studies, informed newsmen in Delhi on July 21.
The new study programme has been designed in collaboration with Vision Institute of Advanced Studies, Delhi, and is approved by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI). Admission into the programme which will admit 20 students is open until July 31. This postgrad diploma programme is a two-semester course of 12 months duration.
Andhra Pradesh
Parkwood International principal arrested
The Andhra Pradesh government served a show-cause notice on July 24 to Parkwood International School, on why the NOC (no objection certificate) issued to it should not be cancelled. The notice was issued following reports that the school’s director had sexually abused a girl student.
Following the arrest of Parkwood International’s director Mohammed Salahuddin Ayub on July 22, the state government’s education department issued the notice to the school sited in Manneguda in the Ranga Reddy district. The state government has also written to the Delhi-based CBSE to investigate the incident and initiate necessary action including disaffiliation of the school.
Simultaneously the regional joint director of school education, Surender Reddy and the district educational officer Srihari conducted an inspection of the school premises and submitted a preliminary report to the government. Ayub, the school’s director-cum-principal who was arrested for allegedly raping a teenage student of the institute several times after threaten-ing her, is currently in judicial custody.
Orissa
JMM terrorist tag uproar
The Orissa state government has ordered an enquiry into a higher secondary textbook which allegedly described the state’s JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) party as an extremist organisation.
“I have already asked the Council of Higher Secondary Education to investigate the matter. We are surprised how JMM has figured in the list of extremist organisations,” the state government’s higher education minister D.P. Mishra told reporters on July 29 in Bhubaneshwar. The probe order was issued after angry JMM activists staged protests on July 28 and demanded an unconditional apology from chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
A textbook Prayogika Oriya Bhasa (Applied Oriya Language), published by the state government’s Bureau of Textbook Preparation and Production, included JMM in a list of extremist organisations which included ULFA and CPI (Maoist). It also charged that such organisations, functioning at the instance of political leaders, cause “problems for the country”.
“It is a matter of shame that the Orissa government could commit such a blun-der. JMM is a registered political party and is taking part in the democratic process for years,” said a JMM party leader, demanding severe punishment for the authors, printer and publisher.
