Education Notes

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…