Education Notes

Delhi Indian Army pleads RTE Act exemption The Indian Army is opposed to implementing s. 12 (1) (c) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (aka RTE Act), which mandates 25 percent reservation for children of weaker and disadvantaged groups in the neighbourhood of its 150 schools countrywide. According to an army spokesperson, it will hamper the educational prospects of wards of its personnel. A letter to this effect has been sent to the Union defence ministry by Army Headquarters, New Delhi on October 7. Citing a Supreme Court judgement which classifies defence services personnel as an educationally disadvantaged group, an army spokesperson says lack of proper education facilities for their children is a major reason behind increasing stress levels among army personnel. In view of these considerations, a Parliamentary standing committee has recommended additional schools for wards of army personnel as due to their frequent postings, each child generally receives her school education in at least five-six institutions. The defence services finance their captive schools from their own welfare funds and don’t receive any separate budgetary allocation for the purpose. “The land on which defence services schools are sited are as per the Key Location Plan and/or Army Modernisation Works Plan,” adds the spokesperson. Bihar Tokyo University-Super 30 agreement Bihar’s nationally acclaimed Mathematical Group (aka Super 30), which trains students from economically backward classes for the joint entrance examination of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT-JEE), has inked an agreement with University of Tokyo under which the latter will sponsor the study of Super 30 students in Japan. Under the terms of an agreement signed in Patna on October 24 by Anand Kumar, the founder of Super 30, and Yoshino Hiroshi, director of Tokyo University, the latter will sponsor at least one Super 30 student per year. The agreement becomes effective from October 2013. Hiroshi says Tokyo University’s agreement with Super 30 is an outcome of the Japanese government’s Global 30 programme to increase the inflow of Indian students into Japan. “Currently of the 140,000 foreign students in the country, only 600 are from India. The government target is to increase the number of foreign students to 300,000 by 2020 of whom a substantial number will be from India, particularly science and technology students,” he adds. Haryana Legal literacy drive In collaboration with the state’s education department, the Haryana State Legal Services Authority (HALSA) is proceeding full throttle to establish Legal Literacy Clubs in all private schools, colleges and technical institutions statewide. Lessons in law will also be integrated into curriculums of schools and colleges from the next academic session. While addressing a seminar at the Judicial Courts Complex, Ambala on October 4, Justice A. K. Sikri, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court said that Legal Literacy Clubs have already been inaugurated in 1,544 schools and 171 colleges in Haryana. Tamil Nadu Dropouts reinduction pilot project Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga and Perambalur districts have been chosen for implementing a pilot scheme to provide…