EducationWorld June 10

People

Enterprising samaritan

Dehradun-based Annamma M. Ebenezer is a good samaritan and womens champion who has assumed the responsibility to educate, up-skill and brighten the future of socio-economically disadvantaged women of the hill state of Uttarakhand (pop. 8.5 million). To this end in the millennium year (2000) she registered the NGO Womens Development Society (WDS), and two years […]

Teacher-to-Teacher

Paradigm shift in classroom interaction

Somewhat belatedly but fortunately, the past decade has witnessed a radical shift in the way teaching is managed in classrooms around the world. The focus of the classroom has now become the student rather than the teacher. According to traditionalists, this is not the most effective way to teach. But theres an emerging consensus that […]

International News

United States: B-schools in reinvention mode

They are changing the guard at some of the world’s leading business schools. On May 4 Harvard Business School (HBS) announced the appointment of a new dean, India-born Nitin Nohria. The Kellogg School at Northwestern University has also recently selected a new head, and the Judge School at the University of Cambridge, the Ross School at the University of Michigan and […]

International News

Britain: Mass teachers exodus

The prospect of post-election funding cuts in education by the new Conservative-Libdem coalition government which was sworn in mid-May, is contributing to a mass exodus of teachers to schools abroad. Increasing government interference in the classroom has also been blamed for a doubling in the numbers of British-trained teachers seeking jobs in international schools. New […]

International News

Yemen: Schools in ceasefire crossfire

Rebel occupation of a number of schools in the northern Yemeni governorate of Saada is preventing thousands of children from attending classes and is threatening to undermine a recently signed ceasefire between the government and Houthi-led rebels.Rebels have occupied dozens of schools in (Saadas) al-Safraa, Majaz, Kitaf, Baqim, Razih and Sihar districts, where teachers have […]

Mailbox

In your India’s most preferred pre-schools survey 2010 (EW May), we are ranked among the top ten early childhood education institutions in Chennai. We are pleasantly surprised at the close conver-gence of your views and ours on what constitutes a good kindergarten/primary school.

For the past half century and more, we have been working hard on each […]

International News

Egypt: New postgrad education school

Why would the Egyptian ministers of education and higher education, the speaker of its Parliament and various other notables show up for the opening of the new Graduate School of Education at the American University in Cairo (AUC)? The answer says something about Egyptian higher education and society. For a century AUC has been the […]

Education News

Delhi: Entrenched practice

A legal battle is being fought between the 9,000-strong teachers community and manage-ment of Delhi University (DU) in the high court. At issue is the managements proposal to introduce the semester system for undergraduate study from the start of the new academic year beginning July. Confronted with faculty obduracy on this issue, on May 6, […]

Special Report

RTE Act 2009: What top principals say

Now that the sounds of trumpets, hosannas and celebrations have muted, and academics and education experts have read the fine print of this historic and overdue legislation, they are discovering all kinds of contradictions, infirmities and obfuscations in the RTE Act. EW solicited the opinions of school principals on the impact and implications of the […]

Education News

Maharashtra: Stress transference

Mumbai is still reeling from the shocking exam-stress related suicides of class V and VIII students Jitesh Chavan (12) and Divya Solanki (14) on May 1. The former had scored well in his exam, but was unhappy with his performance. The latter had failed to clear the class VIII annual examination and was detained. Ironically, […]

Leisure & Travel

Discovering the Andaman & Nicobar islands

For adventure seekers as well as lovers of history, this archipelago of 572 emerald islands, islets and rocks — an indigeneous mirror image of the Maldives — has plenty to offerFor 21st century Indias multiplying tribe of water sports, snorkelling and scuba diving enthusiasts, the Republic of the Maldives with its 1,200 tiny coral islands […]

Education News

Karnataka: Bishop Cotton capers

Over 8,000 middle class households in the once-upon-a-time garden city of Bangalore are witnessing an unprecedented power struggle between the principals of Bishop Cotton Boys (BCB, estb.1865) and Bishop Cotton Girls (BCG, estb.1911) schools and the moderator (archbishop) of the heavyweight Church of South India (CSI) — which claims a following of 3.5 million in […]

Education News

They said it in May

“If children dont catch on to science at a young age, we will lose whatever scientific or technological advantage we have.”
Dr. C.N.R. Rao, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Commission to the prime minister (India Today, May 10)

“It is unlawful for Muslim women to work in government or private sector where men and women work […]

Expert Comment

Last mile governance incubus

When the government steered the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2009 through Parliament, those of us who had fought for it for two decades were pleased. The important thing, however, is how the Act has been notified. The language of the newly enacted RTE Act leaves a lot of grey areas. And well […]

Cover Story

Mexus menu

The newly-promoted Vapi (Gujarat) and Mumbai-based Mexus Education Pvt. Ltd, which recently entered the fast-growth K-12 education market after two years of deep research and development is relying on a slew of killer apps products and services the company has designed to establish itself as a heavyweight contender in school education. Conceptualised and designed by […]

Career Focus

Rising stock of scriptwriters

Rather belatedly awareness has dawned upon the “braindead badshahs of Bollywood” that one of the major infirmities of Indian cinema is hackneyed plots, plagiarised storylines and poor scripting

India boasts the world’s largest commercial feature films and movie industry. In 2009 in its major production centres in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and several other regional hubs, the Indian […]

Career Focus

Your Counselor Replies

After my Plus Two (science) which I complete in 2011, I want to enrol in an engineering college. Which entrance exams should I write apart from AIEEE and IIT-JEE?Ashok Raghavan, Chennai
Some of the engineering entrance exams you could write are: ENAT for admission into Manipal University (www.manipal.edu); BITSAT for BITS Pilani (www.bitsadmission.com); VITEEE for […]

People

Room to Read author

Room to Read — a globally-acclaimed San Francisco-based not-for-profit organisation operating in nine Asian and African countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, South Africa and Zambia), where it has established childrens libraries — recently crossed two milestones. On April 22 it celebrated its 10th anniversary, and is on the threshold of crossing […]

People

DFC 2010 driver

Buoyed by the success of the nationwide Design for Giving Contest 2009, which attracted entries from 60,000 students of 32,274 primary-secondary schools across the country, Kiran Bir Sethi, the promoter-principal of the Ahmedabad-based IGCSE (UK) board-affiliated Riverside School, is poised to take the contest international under a new title — Design for Change 2010.The objective […]