Dec 17 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Central universities too told to observe `Good Governance Day'

Akshaya Mukul & Manash Pratim Gohain

New Delhi: TNN TNN





Not just schools, HRD ministry had also asked all central universities to observe “Good Governance Day“ on Christmas day by holding seminars and oratory competitions. However, in the wake of a similar move for schools attracting allround criticism, the ministry sent another letter on Monday saying that these activities must conclude before the Christmas holidays.The earlier letter, dated December 12 and signed by a HRD joint secretary , didn't have any mention of Madan Mohan Malaviya's birth anniversary like the letter to schools. It asked universities and colleges to organize a seminar on “Use of technology and innovations in promoting good governance“ and hold a competition on oratory (Bhaashan Shailee) on December 25. It announced three prizes in each category with cash prizes of Rs 15,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000.
To underscore that there was nothing voluntary about this, the letter stated that “a compliance report on observance of “good governance day” and on holding of oratory competition in your university,” was to be sent to the ministry by December 29.
But with HRD minister Smriti Irani coming under attack for asking schools to conduct various activities on the Christmas, the ministry did a U-turn and asked universities to do the seminar and oratory competition “in such a manner that Christmas holidays are not disturbed.
Therefore celebrations relating to birth anniversary of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee may be completed prior to Christmas break by all the central universities and college under their purview.”
Speaker seeks report on circular row
As opposition parties on Tuesday accused the government of A “misleading“ them on the reported move to keep schools open on Christmas, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan sought a “factual note“ on the row. The government, on its part, clarified it had no intention to keep schools open on that day. Saugata Roy (TMC) and K C Venugopal (Congress) raised the issue in LS during the Zero Hour, with the Congress member flaunting “circulars“ which, he said, stated CBSE schools would also hold activities to observe `Good Governance Day' on December 25 to mark the birthday of ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Government's denial in the House was not factual, alleged Venugopal. “I am... pointing out a mistake in the statement of the HRD Minister . She has to correct her statement because she has misled the House,“ added Roy.

Global degrees for Asian students, a click away

A new web service launched recently is aiming to make international higher education more accessible and affordable for Asian students looking to earn their university degrees in the West. StudyInternational.com combines an extensive international education search tool, in-depth education content, and practical help and advice to assist students in their search for education opportunities.

With many Asian nations still lagging well behind their Western counterparts in the quality of higher education that they provide, many students are looking to universities in the UK, US and Australia to gain quality undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

While the more affluent Asian nations – Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore – can hold their own in the global university rankings, their less well-off neighbors struggle to keep up. Universities in countries such as Thailand, India, Cambodia and Vietnam simply do not feature in respected league tables such as THE’S Top 100, and look to have little hope of doing so in the near future.

In light of this, more students are looking abroad for top quality degrees. In 2012 UNESCO estimated that the international student population was approximately 3.5 million in 2010. Conservative estimates put this number at around 5 million today, with most international students coming from Asian countries and most studying in the US, UK, Australia and Canada.

James Craven, managing director at Study International, says that this could potentially be the tip of the iceberg in an age of international student migration. “The potential for growth is huge,” he said. “An international education is seen as something for the privileged in many developing countries, but it doesn’t need to be that way. With good planning and the right information on scholarships and grants prospective students can discover a world of options.

“That is not to say there aren’t hurdles. Access to information and access to education are two different things.  The Internet is helping students to find information about the best opportunities, but in emerging markets like Asia there are still major obstacles such as complicated visa processes and messy immigration policies. At Study International we have an expert team of advisers to help with the application process and assist students in navigating these difficult waters.”

The launch of the StudyInternational.com website earlier wasn’t the beginning of the UK-based company’s journey; it has been quietly helping international students finding the right higher education paths for the last three years. It has already assisted dozens of students from all over the world to secure places in universities such as Bristol University, Cardiff University and University of Technology, Sydney.

- See more at: http://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2014/12/asian-students-global-degrees/#sthash.EPhRZcuO.dpuf

British Council will teach teachers

The British Council in India has recently initiated a line of activities which is a part of their work in education. The council launched books and held seminars on the professional development of English in schools and addressed the standards of quality in education. The council has decided to focus on offering something different to the teachers.

The council has also decided to initiate a programme named, ‘The Agents of Change: Teacher Accreditation Conference’ which would address the role of research in school education. Apart from this, there would be a round-table conference on ‘Creating Schools for Future citizens’ which would be followed by an award ceremony.

The award ceremony would see almost 850 people from about 300 schools from across the nation. Those schools who would win will be accredited with the International School Award (ISA), an accreditation scheme that recognizes and celebrates conduct of international standards in particular schools in fields of academic studies and overall extra-curricular activities. The award helps to provide a framework for other schools to make up their own action plans to implement their schools into international standards and encourages schools to collaborate with the overseas schools that would help students to get opulent learning experiences through exchange of ideas and creative pedagogical practices.

The British Council has worked with many private and public schools across India to promote quality education through various projects, events, courses, workshops through various digital platforms and resources. The aim of the council is to bring the best out of UK expertise and innovation in Indian schools and its education system. It is also responsible for taking the mutual beneficial relationship between the school systems in India and UK for the future possibilities.

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Career Alert

COMPETITION • Society of Entrepreneurship Educators (SEE) Academic Conference and Case Chase Competition 12 March 29 – 30, 2012  • ISB-Ivey Global Case Competition 2012  More » ADMISSION NOTIFICATION • PhD in Commerce at Jammu University  • PhD in Political Science at Calcutta University  • PG Medical at MGIMS, Wardha  • M.Tech in Aerospace Engg. at JAIN UNIVERSITY  • IIHMR Delhi invites applications for Post Graduate Diploma in Health Management (PGDHM)  • Scindia School Admission Alert  More »

EXAM/TEST ALERT • SBVU PG Ent. Test 2015  • Bridge Program at NIFT: Apply by Oct 10  • IUCAA-NCRA Admission Test (INAT-2014)  • Combined Med Services Exam 2014  • DNB PDCET July 2014: Exam on June 18  • PGDRDM at NIRD: Entrance Test on June 1  More » EDU JOBS • Recruitment for Teaching and non-teaching staff in Airforce School Ambala  • Recruitment of Asst Professors in Arunachal PPC 2014  More »

IIT-GANDHINAGAR M.A. IN SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Master of Arts in Society and Culture program at IIT Gandhinagar offers an inter-disciplinary approach towards understanding and critically analyzing society and culture. The faculty group at IITGN represents a wide range of disciplines such as Cognitive Science, Literary Studies, Translation Theory and Practice, Political Science, Sociology, Population Studies, Public Health, Anthropology and more. The M.A. program reflects the strength and eclectic nature of faculty expertise across the social sciences and humanities, making the program one of its kind in the country. Some of the thematic areas are Identity and Difference, Development and Exclusion, Local and Transnational Mobilities, India and its Literatures, Population and Health. We invite you to explore the M.A. program through this website.

Important Dates:

Last date for submitting applications: January 12, 2015 Web announcement of short-listed candidates:January 27, 2015
Admission Test and Interviews: March 14-15, 2015
Announcement of accepted candidates: March 25, 2015
Fee payment deadline: April 15, 2015
If you have any questions about the program, please email us at: masc@iitgn.ac.in

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Sample Question Paper
Sample offer letter with information on (revised) fees

Financial Support: Eligible candidates admitted to the M.A. program will receive a monthly scholarship of Rs. 5,000/-. The stipend support will be renewed per semester subject to a student’s continued satisfactory progress in the program.

Travel Scholarships: The Institute encourages M.A. students to present their research work at national and international conferences, and provides travel scholarships of up to Rs. 60,000/- to such students.

Dec 16 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

`Exempt kids from agricultural labour'

Kaumudi Gurjar TWEET @ThePuneMirror





Child rights activists demand that Centre amends Child Labour Act to ban children from working in the field

Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) submitted a charter of demands to Pune MP Anil Shirole to be raised in Parliament when the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Bill, 2014, comes up for discussion during the ongoing session. And, one of CACL's principal demands -perhaps the most important one -is that children should be exempted from working in the agricultural sector at all costs.While submitting the demands, state CACL convener Manish Shroff highlighted the fact that contrary to BJP promising review, amendment and strengthening the child and adolescent labour bill, proposed by UPA II in 2012, in its Lok Sabha election manifesto, the same draft was being presented in Parliament without any change.
By allowing children between 15 and 18 years to do agricultural work is a gross violation of the National Policy for Children 2013, claimed Shroff.
The said provision of Child Labour (Prevention and Regulation) Act, 1986, was endorsed in 2009. As a result, children under 14 were treated as child labourers.
“India has ratified Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that aims for uniformity in all legislations related to children. If child marriage Act considers children below 18 years as children, why should there be a different standard for child labour?” wondered Audrey Ferreira, member of ARC (Action against Rights of Children) an umbrella organisation of around 30 NGOs working for child rights.
“Children involved in agricultural labour are engaged in equally hazardous activities involving long hours and unhealthy postures. Children below 18 should be in school.
Considering the number of children involved in this sector, government is finding it difficult to cover agriculture. But, we certainly need a law that leaves no room for exploitation of a child under 18 on any pretext,” demanded Ingrid Mendonca, deputy regional coordinator of Terre des Hommes.
Yet, for some strange reason, the Union labour ministry continues to exempt children engaged in agriculture from the definition of child labour, sighed Shroff.
“Despite being a signatory to the CRC, India continues to maintain double standard when it comes to fixing the age for child labour. This, after CRC’s repeated recommendation to the Government of India to withdraw its declaration on Article 32 of CRC,” said Shroff.
“According to Article 32, states have been asked to recognise the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is hazardous or interferes with child’s education or causes harm to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development,” he explained.
“Though the recent bill mentions that children below 18 should be considered child labourers, children involved in agricultural and other domestic activities are exempted from the definition of child labour,” pointed out Shroff.

Dec 16 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Anti-social behaviour is linked to genes: Study

Kounteya Sinha

London





Swedish researchers have found for the first time that people are genetically predisposed to anti-social behaviour.Both positive and negative experiences influence how genetic variants affect the brain, and thereby, behaviour. “Evidence is accumulating to show that the effects of variants of many genes that are common in the population depend on environmental factors.
Further, these genetic variants affect each other,” said Sheilagh Hodgins of the University of Montreal and its affiliated Institut Universitaire en Sante Mentale de Montreal. “About 25% of Caucasian men carry the less active variant of MAOA. Among them those who experience physical abuse in childhood are more likely than those who are not abused to display serious antisocial behaviour from childhood through adulthood,” Hodgins said.
“Among females it is the high activity variant of the MAOA gene that interacts with adversity in childhood to increase the likelihood of antisocial behaviour,” he added.