Kerala -- the land of coconuts is witnessing acute shortage of tree climbers and farmhands threatening state's traditional farm base and paddy cultivation, forcing the government's attention to it. There is largescale influx of migrant workers from far-flung states like Bihar and West Bengal, causing much concern for the government. Agriculture department is contemplating the idea of a training school to create a pool of workers. "Creation of a pool of labourers is crucial to sustain farming in Kerala. This could be achieved by giving them structured training in farm work and allied activities", Director of Agriculture, K K Gangadharan, told reporters.
However, concept of setting up of training schools is in its preliminary stage and final decision on the form, content and structure of the course would be decided only after thorough discussions, Gangadharan said. As per the official statistics, the state has about 16 crore coconut trees, mostly spread over housing plots, many of them marginal-holdings. Most villages have one or two coconut palm climbers, making it difficult for farmers to harvest the trees at right time.Though some steps to introduce mechanisation were made in the past, they did not yield desired results. "Mechanisation is essential in both coconut farming and paddy cultivation. Imparting skills in using machines in farming could be part of the course," Gangadharan said.
The shortage of workers in Kerala is due to radical changes's socio-economic profile over the decades. Factors like land reforms, universal education and migration to Gulf countries have forced the social groups that traditionally supplied workers to distance from agriculture.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/24December2007_66710.html

In a bid to inculcate appropriate tourism traits and knowledge among the student trainees, enabling them to act/work as volunteers, the Ministry of Tourism today launched a training programme under the scheme titled 'Earn While you Learn'. The scheme has been envisaged under the direction of Minister of Tourism and Culture, Ambika Soni. Under the programme, students pursuing graduation/post graduation between 18-25 years of age can apply for a for a 21 days course after obtaining a 'No Objection Certificate' from the concerned college/university. The programmes is to be conducted by the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management form its branches in Gwalior, New Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Goa.
The first batch of 62 students have begun their training today at the Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management, New Delhi. The Additional Director General (Tourism), Sanjay Kothari interacted with students about the scheme. Applications for this programme were invited through open advertisement in national dailies and the students have been selected through a Written Test. They are presently pursuing their studies in the University of Delhi, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Jamia Milia Islamia, and Institute of Hotel Management.
A carefully chosen faculty from renowned universities, institutions and organisations will impart training to students spanning over 3-week on varied topics that would cover Indian society and culture, historical monuments, managerial and behavioural skills, etiquette, over view of tourism scenario, public speaking/presentation to name a few. The theoretical training would be supplemented with study tour to places of tourist interest.After the training programme is over, all successful candidates would undergo a counselling session, wherein representatives of tourism and travel trade industry would be given an opportunity to select these candidates for suitable jobs or assignments.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education/index.jsp?news_code=66719

India is providing scholarships to students from Sri Lanka to study in various universities in the country. The Indian High Commission in Colombo has offered 40 scholarships to Sri Lankan students to follow undergraduate courses in various universities in India during the forthcoming session.
Besides a monthly sustenance allowance, all scholarships cover full tuition fees for the entire duration of the course. It also covers accommodation allowance and an annual grant for books and stationery.Besides, all scholars are provided with health care facilities, first class train fare and an annual grant for educational tours to various parts of the country, a high commission statement here said, adding the last date for applying was January 10, 2008.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education/index.jsp?news_code=66746

The Panjab University will hold a 'degree mela' to give away degrees to students, some of whom passed out during the 1950s but forgot to collect these. The mela, to be held on December 28, coincides with the University's diamond jubilee celebrations. University officials said they have found that over 7,000 degrees of graduates and post-graduates in science, arts and commerce streams and even engineering had not collected their original degrees.
The degrees are of students who passed their final examinations up to 2006. The bulk of these old degrees were not collected after 1990. Some of the degrees date back to early 1950s, just a few years after the university moved base to east Punjab in India from Lahore City after creation of Pakistan in August 1947.
The university, founded in 1882 in Lahore, moved to India after partition in 1947. It initially operated from campuses in Solan (Shimla hills), Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar (in Punjab) and even Delhi before settling in its picturesque campus in Sector-14 of Chandigarh in 1956. On 2007, the university is celebrating its diamond jubilee (60 years) of existence in India.
"We want to facilitate these students to take their degrees. They have passed out from here and the university is extending this special gesture," vice-chancellor R.C. Sobti said. Old students who have not collected their degrees so far need to bring an identity proof and their detailed marks card (DMC) to get their degrees on Friday. All degrees available with the university will be given away at the fair.
Students whose degrees date to the period 2000-2002 will be charged a fee of Rs 500 by the university while those in the period of 1990-1999 will have to shell out Rs 1,000. No fee will be charged for degrees not collected after 2003. University toppers from any session, who failed to collect their degrees, will not be charged any levy for obtaining the degree at the fair.
"The degrees are of those students who either failed to collect them at various annual convocations or these came back to the university as undelivered at the address of the student. Most of these students are private candidates. This is a good opportunity for these students to get their degrees," the university's director of public relations Sanjiv Tewari said.
However, some university officials seemed amused that the students had moved on with life without even bothering to collect their degrees. "A degree is an important document - professionally and emotionally. I really cannot comprehend what these students must have submitted in the name of degree when getting employment anywhere," a deputy registrar pointed out.
In 2006, a highly successful student of the University, Chandra Mohan,75, who now heads Punjab Tractors, collected his mechanical engineering degree after a gap of 53 years. He had passed the Mechanical Engineering examination from Punjab Engineering College (PEC) in 1953.
Mohan was a topper of his batch and had not collected his engineering degree all these years. Incidentally, he is now chairman of the board of governors of PEC. His degree, the paper of which had turned yellow, was found by university officials by chance before the university's 55th convocation held February 2006. The degree was issued from the university's administrative office in Solan town in Shimla hills (now in Himachal Pradesh) and was dated December 1954.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education/index.jsp?news_code=66773

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the state government will formulate a rational policy for providing financial assistance to the Gurukul Educational Institutions in the state. Addressing a state level Sanskrit and Sanskriti Mahasammelan at the premises of Gurukul Mahavidyalaya here, he assured the Sanskrit teachers to accept their demands and to remove anomalies for promoting Sanskrit language in the state.
The chief minister called upon the teachers and scholars of Sanskrit to strive for preaching and promoting Sanskrit.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education/index.jsp?news_code=66804

The Punjab Government would upgrade the refresher courses for the teaching community and no seminars and refresher course would be organised during holidays or vacations from the next academic session. The duration of such seminars and refresher courses would also be shortened to 10 days from 20 days excluding the weekend holidays, an official spokesman said today.
Krishan Kumar, Director General School Education (DGSE) cum State Project Director (SPD) Punjab said that the State Government was fully committed to provide better educational facilities to the students by implementing fundamental improvements in the education department.
In a special meeting with the leaders of various teachers unions held here today he assured that their genuine grievances and demands would be implemented in a time-bound manner.He also conceded their demand for earned leave in lieu of seminars/refresher courses to the teachers attending such courses.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education/index.jsp?news_code=66818

Rajasthan is all set to become the the state with 100 per cent literacy rate, overtaking Kerela which according to the 2001 census has 90.92 per cent literates out of the total population. “All efforts would be made to make Rajasthan one of the leading state in the field of education in the country,” said the state's new Education Minister Kali Charan Saraf.
On his first day in the office, after being sworn in as the education minister, Saraf on Wednesday asked the officials of his department to adopt new strategies in the field of education and implement them sincerely to increase the literacy rate of the state.
He also directed them to ensure that all projects were implemented effectively to achieve hundred per cent literacy target in the state.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education/index.jsp?news_code=66916

The Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) has invited applications for the director's post at Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L). This follows a tussle between the Ministry and IIM fraternity earlier this year over the selection of director of IIM-Ahmedabad. According to a recent advertisement, the Ministry has sought applications from all "suitable" candidates and not in particular from the IIM fraternity. "Applications are invited from suitable candidates for appointment to the post of director in the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, in the pay scale of Rs 25,000 per month (fixed)," the advertisement said. "The total emoluments would be approximately Rs 50,000 per month. The appointment will be made on contract basis for a period of five years. Persons employed in government departments, autonomous organisations and public sector undertakings should submit their applications through proper channel," it added.
The Ministry says any applicant for IIM-L should be a person of "eminent academic credentials in the field of management. He should also be an able administrator, a good manager with leadership qualities, and should be a visionary". IIM-Lucknow director Devi Singh is retiring in the next four or five months.The Ministry initiative to invite applications for the post of IIM-Ahmedabad director earlier this year had evoked protest from the IIM fraternity. The then IIM-A director Bakul Dholakia had said that the Ministry should refrain from interfering in the internal matters of the IIMs. Dholakia had also said that the board of governors and the search committee of the institute should look out for a candidate from the IIM fraternity only. This had led to a tussle between the Ministry and the institute. Finally, Samir K Barua, a senior professor of IIM-A was appointed successor to Dholakia on November 8.
The Ministry has directed interested candidates to send their applications with full proof of their eligibility and send them to Kalpana Singh, deputy secretary, department of higher education. Reacting to the HRD ministry's latest advertisement asking for applications even from the candidates outside IIM fraternity, a senior official of IIM-L said: "We know the ministry is the highest authority but it should refrain from such activities. This practice is a hurdle in the autonomous functioning of IIMs," while requesting anonymity.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education/index.jsp?news_code=66868

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has kept his promise of extending help to a primary school in West Bengal and donated Rs 11.91 lakh for the construction of a new building that will now be named after Latin American freedom icon Simon Bolivar. A cheque was handed over to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday by Venezuelan Ambassador to India, Milena Santana Ramirez, for the construction of a new building of the Bagu Primary School at Rajarhat in North 24 Parganas district. During a visit to West Bengal in 2005, Chavez had promised the school authorities of financial help for the construction of the building and for improvement of the mid-day meal scheme for children, Ramirez told reporters.
The school, to be named after Venezuelan revolutionary Bolivar as wished by Chavez, had teachers like Nikunja Sen, who inspired freedom fighters Badal Gupta, Benoy Bose and Dinesh Gupta.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/05December2007_65057.html

A group of South African youth will train over the next three months in India in a programme for infrastructure development skill under the auspices of the trade representative body Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), as per a South African news agency on Wednesday. The selected people, numbering some 100, will be at the National Academy of Construction in Hyderabad, which, apart from classroom instructions, facilitates the development of construction resources, technologies and methodologies and help in laying down construction policies.
The CII Artisan Training programme was floated after South Africa and India agreed to cooperate on the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) and Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) projects, both spearheaded by South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
"Learners will be armed with technical skills in construction which in turn will open up job opportunities for them by the end of the programme and will prepare them to take over from the country's ageing development project leaders," Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
Chief executive of the government sponsored youth fund, Malose Kekana said there have been constraints in the economic growth of South Africa due to lack of infrastructure. He said South Africans would gain much through such partnerships.
"This gesture will bring with it more joint ventures (with India)in terms of road construction, bridges, railways and the building of low-cost housing for our growing population," said Kekana.
He said the engineering sector was struggling to attract, recruit and retain younger staff and that a larger number of engineers and artisans were either in their late 40s or older.
"On the other hand, the skills that these young people will bring back, will aid South Africa as we go towards the 2010 FIFA World Cup and beyond," said Kekana.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/05December2007_65055.html

India's working professionals who have missed out on their MBAs can now look forward to graduating in management from some reputed California-based institutions. The Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) has proposed a collaborative tie-up with Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Fisher Graduate School of Business for joint courses. "AMA has had a longstanding tradition of exploring next level opportunities, which has spurred its growth over the last five decades," said Janak Parikh, AMA's new president. The Monterey Institute is ranked among the top 20 schools of its kind in the US. It specialises in international policy studies, language and language teaching, and translation and interpretation.
The Fisher School, ranked among top 25 US business schools, focuses on globalisation and localisation. It is also recognised as one of the best educational environments in the world for preparing global business professionals. Parikh said that AMA has sought approval from All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to launch a two-year postgraduate diploma programme in international business.
It has sought approval from the Indira Gandhi Open University to introduce an educational leadership programme in Gujarat. An international students exchange programme under the India Mauritius Management exchange programme is also on the anvil.
The other major initiative of AMA is expansion of its facilities. This will see AMA extending its reach to satellite centres in Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat. A digitalised library and a state-of-the auditorium are also being added. The auditorium is being funded by a Rs 5-million donation from Sheth Jamnabhai Bhagubhai Religious Trust, the largest single donation AMA has received till date. The new facilitates, which will cost Rs 35 million, will be completed by mid 2008, Parikh said.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/05December2007_65008.html

An Indian American girl, Isha Himani Jain, has been declared national champion in one of the most coveted student science competitions in the US. The 16-year-old student of Freedom High School in Behtlehem, Pennsylvania, on Monday won in the individual category of the Siemens Competition in Mathematics, Science and Technology. She has been awarded a $100,000 scholarship for her college education for having identified a cellular mechanism underlying bone growth spurts in zebra fish, similar to the way children's bones grow. Isha, whose work has been published in the journal Developmental Dynamics, said she chose to study zebra fish because the species is a good animal model. She said her research should lead to understanding bone growth in other vertebrates along with bone disorders in humans.
Talking about her plans, she said she is applying to Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Yale. "I want to specialise in genetics, and want to eventually have my own lab," she said. Isha says her father Himanshu Jain, a chair professor at department of materials science and engineering at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, and her mother Sweety Jain, who practises family medicine, encouraged her.
Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff, students at a school in Long Island, New York, were declared winners in the competition's team category for creating a molecule that helps block the reproduction of drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria. They shared a $100,000 scholarship.
One of the more popular projects at the competition was by three home-schooled girls from Pennsylvania and New Jersey who have designed a system to determine whether E coli bacteria in hamburgers have been safely eliminated by measuring the shrinkage of each patty when fully cooked.
Girls sweeping the competition made the US media call it the breaking of another glass ceiling and removal of the thought that women can't do science. The entries were judged by a panel of scientists led by Joseph Taylor, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in physics and a professor emeritus at Princeton University.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/05December2007_65007.html

Haryana Government has introduced new scholarship schemes for the Schedule Caste students under Special Component Plan Scheme with a sum of Rs 7 crore earmarked for their implementation during the current financial year. Giving this information, Education Minister Mange Ram Gupta on Tuesday said three schemes of scholarship have been introduced for the students belonging to Scheduled Castes. Gupta said under the scheme, one thousand computers for training to Scheduled Castes students would be provided.
Besides, a computer lab in all government colleges would also be upgraded and a sum of Rs 3.50 crore earmarked during the current financial year.Computer training would be provided to 9000 Scheduled Caste students and the students who had successfully completed at least one such course in the final year of the graduation course would be awarded 1500 free computers, he said.
Gupta said the state government has also implemented a scheme under which bicycle would be provided to the girls belonging to Scheduled Castes in Government colleges.About 3000 girl students would get the benefit of the scheme and a sum of Rs 75 lakh had been earmarked for this purposes during the current financial year.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/05December2007_64993.html

The Director and the Registrar of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur have been booked under the SC/ST Act for allegedly harassing an ex-employee of the institute. Arun Singh, whose services were terminated in 1995 due absenteeism, has said in an FIR registered at Kalyanpur police station that he was being removed from the job as he belonged to Scheduled Castes. The police had registered the case following orders of Metropolitan Magistrate on November 22 on an application filed by Singh. The one week old FIR names IIT-K Director Sanjay Dhande, Registrar Sanjiv Kashalka and Legal Officer C P Singh. Dhande refused to comment on the matter as it was pending before the court.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/05December2007_64990.html

Educational qualification of parents will no longer be given weightage during admission of a child in nursery schools. The decision was taken at a meeting of School Advisory Board, headed by Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely on Tuesday. Lovely said the government is committed to chalk out child-friendly criteria for nursery admissions as educational qualifications of parents would become immaterial.
"This would provide level-playing field to all the parents including poor, economically weak and less educated parents," he said. The meeting was attended by education secretary, director education, noted educationists, principals of various reputed schools and other members of the Board.
It was unanimously decided that each school would chalk out its own guidelines for nursery admission this year keeping in view local requirements and will submit it to the education directorate for necessary approval, a government official added.The minister suggested that the guidelines should not give weightage to the educational qualification of the parents. For 2007 the guidelines are going to be the same for the poor and the affluent alike. The schools are to submit these guidelines by December 7, an official said.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/05December2007_64964.html

Medical students in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday 'temporarily' withdrawn their 15-day strike, called to protest against the Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss's proposal making one year rural service mandatory for MBBS degree, following an appeal from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. The strike, which was termed as 'politically motivated' by Ramadoss, was called off after the students met State Health Minister MRK Panneerselvam.
"We have called off the strike only temporarily as our future course will depend on the action taken by the Centre on the Sambasiva Rao committee (formed to take opinions of stakeholders)," T Janakiraman, convener of the Federation of Students of Medical Colleges in Tamil Nadu, an umbrella organisation which spearheaded the protest, said.He said students of all the 14 medical colleges in the state started attending their classes. "Since the Chief Minister himself has promised to take the issue up with the Centre, we have called off the indefinite strike," he said.
On Monday, Karunanidhi in a statement said students should not waste their time as the expert committee has not yet submitted its report. He said though the "confusion" could have been created by Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss' statements favouring the proposal despite constitution of a committee, the students should welcome his assurance that a final decision would be taken only after getting the panel's report.Barring Ramadoss's PMK party, the Medicos strike was backed by the ruling DMK and all major parties in the state including the AIADMK and the Left. However, their strike failed to make an impact at the all India level as medicos of other states had not joined in a big way.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/04December2007_64956.html

The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) Bill 2007. The bill is aimed at declaring the Institute as an "Institution of National Importance" and to provide for its incorporation and matters connected therewith. On November 29, the Rajya Sabha had passed this bill. "The RGIPT is envisaged to serve as the fountainhead for the nurturing of world class technical human resources capable of serving as the leaders and innovators of tomorrow in the field of Petroleum Technology," a Government release said.
The total estimated capital cost of the project is 435 crore rupees, which would be met partially through budgetary support of 285 crore rupees, and 150 crore rupees from Oil Industry Development Board. As on date, only 30 per cent of the sedimentary basins of the country has been explored and there is still a vast potential in terms of acreages that are to be explored. The Government is committed to increase the exploration coverage to an extent of 100 per cent by the year 2015, said the release.
According to a Price Waterhouse Coopers study for Petrofed, the gap between the availability and requirement of trained manpower in the country is projected to be about 36000 by the year 2019, and the existing institutes may not be adequate to meet the increasing requirement of technical manpower in the petroleum sector.
The proposed RGIPT is expected to meet this shortfall to a significant extent. The Institute will commence its academic operations by admitting students from the academic year 2008-09.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/04December2007_64861.html

The President of India, Pratibha Patil on Monday said there is a need to train teachers who provide education to children with disabilities. Calling for universalisation of education for specially abled children, "We have to provide the right kind of teaching-learning environment, material in accessible format and barrier-free schools (to specially abled)," Patil said while presenting national awards for the empowerment of persons with disabilities and realising postal stamp. The need of the hour is that persons with disabilities are given "vocational training so that they become employable," the President said.
"To encourage such employment in the private or public sector, the government has very rightly announced a new scheme whereby employers will not have to pay for Employees Provident Fund contribution and Employees State Insurance contribution for the first three years," she added. Patil further said that society and social attitudes "play an important role in determining the participation of disabled people in social and economic life, often even within their own families."
She also drew attention towards the need to provide "technical aids like hearing devices and limb prosthesis" to specially abled. "Often very simple equipment like wheelchairs and Braille writing equipment help facilitate mobility, communication and daily living. The purchase as well as fitting of aids and appliances should be facilitated, including by holding special camps particularly in remote and rural areas," Patil said.
The President said apart from making specially abled self-reliant, "it is important to cultivate a sense of compassion and attitude of social responsibility in society, towards disabled persons." "We have to lay special emphasis on the empowerment of women, children and the elderly with disabilities, to bring them into the mainstream of society and improve their quality of life," she said. Life of dignity and self-respect are rights of persons living with disabilities, "this is not a favour given to them," Patil said.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/04December2007_64859.html

Government plans to spend Rs 28,671.50 crore on education during the current financial year, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Daggubati Purandareswari told Rajya Sabha on Monday. Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, she said the XIth Plan would focus on giving vocational education to school dropouts and those who could not be brought under conventional education stream. "Vocational education will be taken up on mission mode," the Minister said adding the Xth Five Year Plan had focused on primary education.
As against allocation of Rs 28,671.50 crore in 2007-08, Rs 8258.08 crore were spent during April-September, she said while acknowledging that spending on education was no where near the targeted six per cent of GDP. Central Government's spending on education had increased from 0.52 per cent of GDP in 1995-96 to 0.89 per cent of GDP in 2005-06, she said.The Minister said states had seen drop in education spending - from 3.57 per cent of GDP in 2001-02 to 2.77 per cent of GDP in 2005-06. "States will also have to increase their share." Purandareswari said Government planned to upgrade 15,000 upper primary schools to secondary schools and increase intake capacity in existing 44,000 secondary schools. Accessibility has been a priority with the government," she said.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/03December2007_64820.html

In a major policy decision, the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on Monday decided to establish study centres in Muslim-dominated areas of the country. The decision was taken at a meeting of the university court, the highest governing body. These study centres would be full-fledged institutes managed by the parent institution, a varsity spokesman said. According to the AMU constitution there is no provision for granting affiliation to the university and so the institution will approach the human resources ministry for "working out technical legalities of these radical steps", the spokesman said.
The annual meeting of the AMU court, which was presided over by Chancellor Justice A M Ahmadi, former CJI, also resolved to expand the institution's educational programmes in line with recommendations of the Sachar Committee report.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/03December2007_64813.html

A group of young South African boys is visiting Jammu and Kashmir after 21 years on an invitation of the state tourism. "The South African cricketers came here as tourists but agreed to play cricket matches with the local boys on the invitation extended to them by the department," the Director Tourism, Farooq Ahmed Shah said. Tourism minister, Mohammad Dilawar Mir asked the visitors to become ambassadors of Kashmir tourism back home. "I hope you will come again and bring people of your country to Kashmir which is internationally known for its scenic beauty," he told the visitors.
The visiting tourists-cum-cricketers led by coach Willie Vandenberg visited famous hill resort of Gulmarg, besides playing two Twenty-20 matches Saturday. "The matches will attract sport-loving tourists to Kashmir," he said, adding sports have remained a thrust-area of the state tourism department in 2007 to attract more foreign tourists.
"We found India a lovely place, he said. We changed itinerary this time and visited Kashmir on the invitation of state tourism department. Kashmir is most enjoyable place and ideal for playing cricket," the coach added.The state tourism department had also organised several golf tournaments this year in which golfers from foreign countries too participated. Shah said the department, as a part of its campaign, is planning to promote rugby as well. Over four lakh people visited Jammu and Kashmir during the first ten months of this year including 20,000 foreigners.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/03December2007_64733.html

Eminent educationist and S S Joshi died at a hospital on Sunday, official sources said. Joshi, the former head of department of anthropological linguistics and department of lexicography, Punjabi University, met with an accident on November 28 and succumbed to his injuries and was cremated in the evening at Patiala Punjab Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur has expressed shock over the sudden demise of Joshi. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/03December2007_64732.html

Around 200 guests at the Loomba Foundation's second annual Diwali dinner in New York committed to educating at least one child for a year in India. The foundation, started by London-based textile tycoon Raj Loomba to empower widows and educate their children, honoured First Lady Laura Bush and Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel Corp, at the Thursday event for their leadership in education. The Loomba Trust and Foundation -- chartered in Britain and the United States respectively -- chaired by Cherie Booth, wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair, also asked the United Nations to declare an International Day on Widows to highlight their plight as they suffer from prejudices and at places ostracism.
Talking to reporters, Intel's Barrett said the microchip giant had spent $ 100 million worldwide, including India, on education. "Over 700,000 teachers have been trained in India alone to take technology to the classroom and into the curriculum," he added. For Intel, Barrett said, India was both a big market and back office resource.Raj Loomba told reporters that he was now taking his charity -- already active in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka --to South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. "In Africa, widows whose husbands fell to AIDS face stigma and have little chance of re-marriage."
Loomba said the widow ashrams in Indian towns such as Vrindavan, Hardwar and Varanasi were symptomatic of the society ignoring them. Born in a village in Kapurthala district of Punjab, Loomba was 11 when his father died. "My mother could bring up the seven children well because of the family wealth. A hundred million widows in the world are not that lucky," he said. Lord Navnit Dholakia, one of the trustees of Loomba Trust, added that the charity had grown tremendously in just 10 years.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/02December2007_64681.html

Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh on Saturday laid the foundation stone for the country's seventh and the north-eastern region's first Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Shillong. Speaking on the occasion at the Mayurbhanj complex in Nongthymmai, Singh said that the north-east was on the march and the institute would help people achieve a bright future. The Meghalaya Government has allotted a plot of 80 acres near the North Eastern Hill University here for the IIM's permanent campus.
The institute named as the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management (RG-IIM), after the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, will start functioning from next academic year from a temporary campus at the Mayurbhanj complex, till the setting up of the permanent campus.To begin with, it will have 60 students for Post Graduate diploma in Business Management in the first year. Subsequently, it will be expanded to 120 seats in the third year and 180 in the sixth year. It will also provide specialised courses to meet the specific needs of the region.
Meghalaya Chief minister D D Lapang said the Central Government's thrust on the development in the north-east and its 'Look East policy' has created lot of avenues in the private sector. The RG-IIM will be the seventh IIM in the country. The existing ones are at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.The institute plans to offer three courses -- post graduate diploma in business management, fellowship programme in management and management development programmes.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/02December2007_64660.html

The campaign to achieve education for all is on the right track, but India has a long way to go to meet the goal, the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisations) said on Friday. Releasing 'Education For All - Global Monitoring Report' in the Capital, UNESCO director general Koichiro Matsuura said that more and more number of youths were turning out to be well-educated, but the pace had to pick up. "India has got good infrastructure and that is continuing to build on. It has schools and universities that have produced well educated youth. But this has to continue and has to accelerate," he told reporters in New Delhi. "India has made great strides in imparting education to all and promoting literate population but it still has a long way to go to achieve Education For All goal by 2015," he said.
Taking note of a large number of children not going to school and instead working to earn a living, Matsuura said "child labour is incompatible with providing education for all. Children must go to school. The government and parents have the duty to send their children to school." The report noted that the number of children starting primary school had increased sharply since 2000. It said there are more girls in schools than ever before, and spending on education and aid had risen. "That is the good news," he said.But on the down side, the high cost of schooling and persisting high levels of adult illiteracy are undermining the chances of achieving education for all by 2015, the report said. Matsuura pointed out throughout South and South West region there are 300 million illiterate adults which is equal to 50 per cent of the adult population worldwide.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/01December2007_64619.html

High illiteracy rate will only be reduced if government accords priority to literacy and recognize it as a right, said participants at the end of the two-day global literacy meet here Friday. Organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Indian ministry of human resource & development (HRD), the literacy meet brought together education and finance ministers of 14 countries, including from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
According to the global monitoring report released by UNESCO, titled 'Education for all by 2015. Will we make it?' India, Nigeria and Pakistan account for world's 27 percent of out-of-school children. Less than 60 percent of the total adult population of South and West Asia can read and write.
Commenting at the dismal report card, especially of the South and South-West Asia, Koichiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO, said: "Illiteracy is receiving minimal political attention and it remains a global disgrace." He also said that literacy is undeniably a right and must be recognized as such.
Matsuura expressed concern over poor majority of adult literate saying, that the countries of South and South-West Asia have certainly made great strides towards building literate societies over the past two decades, still, around 40 percent of the total adult population cannot read or write and the great majority of these people are women. According to UNESCO's statistics, some 380 million adults throughout South and South-West Asia do not have basic literacy skills. The world total is 774 million, although the Global Monitoring Report suggests that the figure may be much higher.
In Central Asia, although overall literacy levels are high, there remains an important gender gap. The participants at the conference stressed that literacy must be recognized as a right, and fully integrated into education sector planning with sufficient funding. Pointing out that over two-thirds of illiterate adults are women, they underscored the need for literacy policies to address gender disparities. Programmes, they recommended, should be strongly linked to life-skills development, including entrepreneurial and income-generating activities. The conference also recommended that although governments must take primary responsibility for providing literacy learning opportunities, partnerships with civil society organizations, community-based associations and the private sector also be encouraged.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/01December2007_64601.html

Punjab government has reserved 10 per cent seats in all the industrial training institutes of the state for students of economically weaker sections of the society, said Minister for Technical Education and Industrial Training Chaudhary Swaran Ran on Saturday. The state government has also decided to adopt the Gujarat model where free technical education will be provided to poor students of class 8th and 10, the minister said.
"The government has also decided to enhance pension for widows, handicapped and elderly people who have attained the age of 60 from existing Rs 250 per month to Rs 400 per month," said Swaran, adding a bill regarding this will be introduced in the Vidhan Sabha winter session.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/archive_html/01December2007_64599.html

The Puducherry Administration would soon sign an MoU with the Wipro Foundation to promote e-learning in schools in the Union Territory. A total of 80 schools were being identified for the first phase of the programme, Education Minister M O H F Shahjahan told reporters on Wednesday. The concept christened 'smart school system' was to encourage computer-based teaching and learning so that proficiency of children could be promoted from tender age, he added.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday sanctioned Rs one crore out of Chief Minister Relief Fund to the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) for procuring state-of-the-art equipment in critical medicare areas. "SKIMS has become a referral centre for the state and I sincerely desire to see it evolve into a world class institute in the field of advanced and specialised medical care," Azad said addressing the 25th annual day of the institute, coinciding with the birthday of its founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.
Azad said he would like this institute to emerge as 'island of excellence' providing an intellectual milieu where the young scientists from multiple disciplines of medicine while rendering human services to the sick could realise their creative ability through need-based research and post graduate medical education."We should sit down and identify such gray areas which need our utmost attention, lay down a road map to achieve it and then initiate action in right earnest to address the problems one-by-one in a planned way," Azad said.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education

The Haryana government on Thursday more than doubled the financial assistance to candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes to prepare for various competitive and entrance examinations. Addressing a gathering on the 'Mahaparinirvan' of B R Ambedkar at Bilaspur in the district, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced that assistance for examinations would be increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000 and from Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000 respectively.
The chief minister said the Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance Development Corporation would provide financial assistance of Rs 87.65 crore to 17,000 beneficiaries during the current financial year.
Similarly, the Haryana Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections Kalyan Nigam would provide financial assistance of Rs 47.50 crore to 7,250 beneficiaries during the financial year, he said.He also announced that Bilaspur would be given the status of a sub-division and Urdu teachers will be appointed in those schools were the number of students desirous of learning the language would be more than 10.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education

An Indian professor teaching at the University of Delhi has been chosen for the 2007 Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture, along with Syrian scholar Aldine Lolah. The prize was presented by UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura and Sharjah Culture and Information Department Director General Abdullah Al Owais during a ceremony organized at UNESCO headquarters on December 6. Shah Abdus Salam, who directs research on Arabic literature and culture at Delhi University, is a well known figure in India and abroad for his works on Islamic culture and inter-faith dialogue, and has strengthened understanding among diverse cultures and societies, a citation said.
Aladine Lolah, who teaches history of Arabic science at Aleppo University of Syria, was awarded for his contribution in furthering the dialogue between civilizations and mutual understanding.
The $25,000 prize was proposed by Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohamed Al-Qassimi and approved by the Executive Board of Unesco in 1998 thanks to funds donated by the government of Sharjah.
Initially awarded every two years, the prize has been awarded annually since 2003 and aims to honour individuals, groups or institutions that have contributed in a significant way to the development, diffusion and promotion of Arab culture in the world, as well as to the preservation and revitalization of intangible Arab cultural heritage.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education

Public schools in the Capital can frame their own guidelines for admissions to nursery classes but the educational qualification and income of parents cannot be included, the Delhi government said on Friday. State Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said that the government would monitor the guidelines and that parents also cannot be interviewed. "Parents can be called only after the schools declare the admission list," he said. Schools should observe three parameters while forming guidelines, neighbourhood, alumni and siblings, to assess the child on a scale of 100 points.
But since schools have their own requirements, there would be "no cap on points assigned to any one parameter", he told reporters. From now on, nursery classes will be known as pre-school for which the admission age has been fixed at three years and for kindergarten, which will be known as pre-primary, the admission age is four years.
"Children admitted to pre-school class last year will be promoted to pre-primary this year without having to undergo re-admission, and every child completing three years as on March 31, 2008, would get admission in the pre-school class," the minister said.Schools that do not have pre-primary classes have been given three years to start the classes, he said and added that Minority schools can add community status as one of the parameters for admission.
However, most private schools are unhappy with the government not allowing them to interact with the child or parents during admission. The private aided and unaided schools have decided to request the Department of Education of the Delhi government to extend the time limit for submission of guidelines for pre-primary classes and also review the clause that prevents formal interaction with children and parents."We have decided to request the education department to extend the deadline of submitting guidelines for admission. We will also request the department to review the clause that prevents formal interaction with children and parents. We should be given autonomy to know about the financial and socio-cultural background of students," said S L Jain, secretary of National Progressive School Conference, a body of 300 schools.
The deadline for schools to submit the parameters they would use to admit children into nursery and pre-primary classes ended Friday. The directorate of education (DoE) will assess the norms within four weeks to help the schools begin their admission process. The Delhi High Court had said that schools are free to fix their own parameters for admitting students as long as they take into account certain government-specified norms and get their set of parameters cleared by DoE.
Source:- http://www.headlinesindia.com/education

India's working professionals who have missed out on their MBAs can now look forward to graduating in management from some reputed California-based institutions. The Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) has proposed a collaborative tie-up with Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Fisher Graduate School of Business for joint courses. "AMA has had a longstanding tradition of exploring next level opportunities, which has spurred its growth over the last five decades," said Janak Parikh, AMA's new president. The Monterey Institute is ranked among the top 20 schools of its kind in the US. It specialises in international policy studies, language and language teaching, and translation and interpretation.
The Fisher School, ranked among top 25 US business schools, focuses on globalisation and localisation. It is also recognised as one of the best educational environments in the world for preparing global business professionals. Parikh said that AMA has sought approval from All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) to launch a two-year postgraduate diploma programme in international business.
It has sought approval from the Indira Gandhi Open University to introduce an educational leadership programme in Gujarat. An international students exchange programme under the India Mauritius Management exchange programme is also on the anvil.
The other major initiative of AMA is expansion of its facilities. This will see AMA extending its reach to satellite centres in Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat. A digitalised library and a state-of-the auditorium are also being added. The auditorium is being funded by a Rs 5-million donation from Sheth Jamnabhai Bhagubhai Religious Trust, the largest single donation AMA has received till date. The new facilitates, which will cost Rs 35 million, will be completed by mid 2008, Parikh said. (IANS)
Source:- http://headlinesindia.com/education

India's first information technology (IT) finishing school, the Mysore-based Raman International Institute of Information Technology (RIIIT), is negotiating with the Chandigarh administration for setting up an institute there. "We are discussing with the Chandigarh government whereby we would be able to use the premises of the government educational institutions," S V Venkatesh, founder and CEO, RIIIT, said.
Finishing schools are supplementary training schools targeting graduates from different fields in an attempt to make up for deficiencies in the education system and offer certificate courses in executive excellence, soft skills and groom them to expected industry standards. The one complaint in the Indian IT industry is the non-availability of readymade talent that fits into a job. While companies do conduct training programmes, the need for an IT finishing school has been felt as it cuts short precious time for the employers.
The institute has held two rounds of discussions with the Chandigarh administration and one more round is in the offing, Venkatesh said. According to him, RIIIT is planning to set up IT finishing schools in five major cities soon and is looking out for joint venture partners in other cities.
"We are not in favour of franchisee model as ensuring quality will be difficult. On the other hand, having an equity stake would enable us to enforce quality in all our schools," he added.
RIIIT functions out of a 30,000 square feet campus in Mysore that can have 1,000 students. The institute now plans to put up a new building on five acres allotted by the Karnataka government. (IANS)
Source:- India Education News

Nearly 180 educational institutions in Kerala are in the waiting list to have National Cadet Corps (NCC) unit on their campus, indicating the popularity it has gained in the state. Kerala expects to get another 15,000 additional seats for NCC cadets of the total 200,000 seats cleared for the entire country by the central government as the quota for the next five years
"In the country, Kerala ranks eighth with a total strength of 75,000 NCC cadets from 462 schools and 211 colleges. Of this 32 per cent comprise of girl cadets," said NCC deputy director general Brigadier O A James.
"The biggest impediment in the increase of seats is the lack of trainers who have to be deputed from the defence forces. The state government is fully prepared to support the growth of NCC in Kerala. 75 per cent of the financial support comes from the centre and the rest from states," added James.
In Kerala there are 32 NCC battalions of the Army, five of the Navy and one unit of the Air squadron. (IANS)
Source:- India Education News

Science should help make human lives better, former president A P J Abdul Kalam said in Madhya Pradesh state capital on Sunday, adding that moral science should also be part of the school curriculum. Addressing the concluding function of the Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan, Kalam said that science should be used to meet the challenges of life. These, he said, include doubling the agriculture production, expansion of communication facilities, rural development, generating more job opportunities and reducing the gap between the urban and rural India. Earlier, Kalam tipped school students on how to achieve success in life and merit in education and also exhorted teachers to impart them education with human values. "Subjects like moral science be taught in schools at least once in a week to inculcate values of love and compassion among students," Kalam emphasized while interacting with students and teachers at the Science Expo organised on the occasion.
Before the start of the question forum, Kalam continued with his precious advices to the children for half an hour and urged them to follow the advice Mahatma Gandhi's mother had given him when he was nine. She had, according to Kalam, told Gandhiji, "God will bless you if you serve human beings for all your life." The education system, he said, should be such that it instils in the minds of students the capacities of inquiry, creativity, technology, entrepreneurship and moral leadership and asked students to make their first contribution towards development of the nation by excelling in studies.
Kalam also told them that knowledge is the amalgam of creativity, righteousness and courage. "When you are equipped with knowledge, you can solve any problem with confidence." Talking about creativity, the former president said it means the urge to learn which leads to creation of thought that ultimately leads to knowledge. "When joined together, all these things make you great." The former president also talked about his vision to make India a developed country by 2020. "In the India of my imagination, there would be no chasm between village and city, adequate drinking water would be available, agriculture would be developed, values of life would not be defied and the government would be transparent and free of corruption."
Stressing that the top priority in the country should be given to agriculture, education, spread of information and technology and women's education, he said, "This India would be the most ideal place on the earth to live." (IANS)
Source:- India Education News

As many as 33 private engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu have been ordered to be closed down for collecting high tuition fees from students, said the education minister K Ponmudi. It has written to the 'All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)' recommending it to de-affiliate 33 engineering colleges and to take action against them. "We have written to the AICTE to take action against these colleges for collecting fees more than the amount fixed by the government, Ponmudi said.
However, the government plans to set up 20 new engineering colleges. The government is also planning a Common University Act to "streamline the functioning of institutions," he added. The 20 new engineering colleges planned will be under the new Act. These colleges "will fulfil the long-felt need for an engineering college in each district of Tamil Nadu," Ponmudi said.(IANS)
Source:- India Education News

The Delhi High Court, has asked all unaided minority schools in the capital to implement the Ganguly committee's recommendations. A bench comprising Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna stayed the previous order, which gave unaided minority schools the liberty to not follow the recommendations of the Ganguly committee. Justice B D Ahmed, had on Feb 8 ruled that the unaided minority schools did not come under the purview of the Ganguly committee. The committee was appointed by the Delhi High Court and is headed by the 'Central Board of Secondary Education' (CBSE) chairman Ashok Ganguly.
In its reports submitted to the court, the committee had suggested various measures to change the method of admissions to nursery classes. Admission parameters proposed by the Ganguly committee included the neighbourhood policy, the sibling factor, educational qualification of parents, and alumni status. But after a hue and cry by schools and parents, the committee reduced points for siblings, educational qualification of parents and alumni status and increased points on neighbourhood policy.
The revised formula, which was submitted by the committee to the court in July, also gave preference to the poor sections of the society, which not many schools are following. The next date for the hearing is Dec 3.(IANS)
Source:- India Education News

In the latest example of British universities collaborating with Indian institutions, the University of Ulster and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, have begun working on developing intelligent robotic devices to help severely disabled people become independent. Experts from both institutions have teamed up to build the world's first robotic arm, which responds to brainwaves and can be mounted on the wheelchair. The three-year, 154,000 pounds ($300,000) project is jointly funded by India and Britain under the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).
Elsewhere, the Newcastle University Business School has announced an alliance with the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) to further strengthen its international ties and allow student and staff exchange, research and the development of new courses. While the quality of Indian research in some fields such as IT, mathematics and management is universally respected, Indian students are valued by British universities for their familiarity with the English language, higher academic performance and ability to pay high fees applicable for international students.
Explaining the University of Ulster-IIT research project, Girijesh Prasad, project leader and senior lecturer at Ulster's School of Computing and Intelligent Systems, said: "Thousands of people suffering from neuro-muscular disabilities such as motor neuron disease (MND) and spinal cord injury (SCI), may be completely paralysed.
The project is expected to speed improvements in the lives of people with movement disability due to old age, disease or injury. The main project objectives are to investigate a brain-computer interface (BCI) that allows a disabled person to control a smart wheelchair and robotic manipulator combination by thinking, a visual tracking system for operating the wheelchair as an automated guided vehicle (AGV) to provide mobility, and the development of a robotic arm for the natural execution of actions desired by the disabled user.
This project involves the recruitment of three new postgraduate research students to assist in the joint programme of research. It also includes intensive research exchanges between the two institutions by Ulster and IIT Kanpur researchers and senior research students.
Martin McGinnity, director of the Intelligent Systems Research Centre, said: "We are delighted to have been successful in gaining this award. There is intense competition for UKIERI research funds and our success is thus all the more pleasing.
Announcing the Newcastle University-IIFT collaboration, Newcastle chancellor Lord Chris Patten said: "We want to see more Indians in Newcastle and more of our researchers in India. As a world-class university with a highly regarded business school, we feel it is very important to attract world-class minds. (IANS)
Source:- India Education News