Kerala becomes 1st state in country to achieve 100% primary education

Vice-President Hamid Ansari will officially declare the 100% primary education status achieved by Kerala here on Wednesday .“Kerala has become the first state in the country to achieve total primary education. This has been achieved through the primary education equivalency drive of the state literacy mission -Athulyam. The equivalency programmes have proved a huge success and the ultimate objective is to achieve total PlusTwo education in the state,“ education minister P K Abdu Rabb said here on Monday .
The declaration will be made at a function at Kerala University Senate Hall. The second phase of Athum was carried out across lyam was carried out across the state as part of the Mission 676 of the government, launched to mark its third anniversary . The programme offers a chance for those who failed to get primary educa tion due to various reasons to achieve the education qualification equivalent to fourth standard.
Those aged 15 to 50 were beneficiaries of the programme and were identified through family registries prepared by anganwadis under the social justice department and also through ward-level surveys carried out by instructors in continuing education programmes.
Around 2.6 lakh candi dates appeared for the 4th standard equivalency examination in June 2015 and 2.2 lakh candidates qualified.The equivalency examination was held in 6,613 centres across the state and those who scored 3075 in English and 2050 in other subjects were declared winners.

Source: Times of India, 12-01-2016

Now, A Portal for Geography

In a bid to make the tedious subject of Geography into an interactive one, the National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) has asked all affiliated schools to ensure the initiation of its web portal, a statement said.

Named ‘School Bhuvan’, the web portal will provide map-based learning to bring awareness among the students about natural resources, environment and their role in sustainable development. It is an initiative of Bhuvan – NRSC/ISRO based on the syllabus of NCERT, said a statement issued by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

“Geography is comparatively easy, but only those students who find working on maps interesting wish to take up this subject at the higher level. This web portal will surely attract a lot of students, and their knowledge will also increase,” says a geography teacher at a government model senior secondary school .

Kavita Das, Principal, St John’s School, said, “With this web portal, geography will become interesting. It will act as an educative video game for students since they will get to know the results while working on it. It will be a hands-on experience without teachers having to dictate anything. The best part is that the web portal takes you to the main link of the MHRD, which has a lot of things for students to learn about from across the country.”

Source: Digital Learning

Jan 14 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Rural schools high on enrolment, but low on learning levels: Report

Akshaya Mukul

New Delhi





Pratham's 10th Annual Status of Education Report -the country's biggest private audit of elementary education in rural India -released Tuesday has a similar story as in previous years: rising enrolment, poor learning levels in reading, mathematics and English and growth in number of private schools.ASER also says improvement in school facilities -pupil teacher ratios, playgrounds, kitchen sheds, drinking water facilities, toilets -continues. HRD ministry is going to strongly dispute ASER's claims on falling learning outcomes since government's own report gives a different picture.
With Pratham gaining worldwide presence -from Pakistan to Africa -the ceremony , again like in the past, was a glittering event attended by industrialists, entrepreneurs and even chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian. Report for 2014 done after survey of 16,497 villages, 5.7 lakh children in over 3.4 lakh households across 577 districts says that for the sixth year in a row enrolment levels are 96% or higher for the age group of 6 to 14.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com

1,300 Tamil Nadu schools functioning without electricity 

A total of 1,311 schools in Tamil Nadu do not have access to electricity while 385 schools have been found to be functioning with dysfunctional power systems, official data has revealed. According to the Annual School Report prepared by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), 1,311 schools in Tamil Nadu do not have access to electricity and 385 schools have dysfunctional power systems. The list included schools situated in the city limits of Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai. Tirunelveli tops the list of districts with schools without electricity.

The Annual School Report Card for 2013-14 is based on a survey conducted by the District Information System for Education (DISE) in coordination with the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). According to the survey, as many as 1,311 schools in the state do not have power connection, while 385 schools have dysfunctional electrical facilities, which meant that despite power connection, fans and lights were not in working condition because of poor maintenance.

The report noted that with average temperature touching 40 degrees Celsius this summer in Tamil Nadu, oppressive heat might have made students’ life in schools really difficult, affecting their concentration. Though some schools were equipped with fans, lights and computers, impaired power supply rendered them worthless, the report added.

Of the 1,311 schools, 85 per cent (1,110) were situated in rural areas. The conditions were particularly worse in Tirunelveli district, where of the 219 schools without electricity, 218 were in rural areas. Next on the list were Thoothukudi and Vellore districts with 112 and 111 schools respectively. What was more worrying was that some schools in relatively developed cities, including Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchy, also lacked electricity connection.

- See more at: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/10/1300-tamil-nadu-schools-functioning-without-electricity/#sthash.oQYvzOBB.dpuf