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Farmers in classrooms at IGNOU A new certificate programmes has been introduced by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for the benefit of farmers in the state of West Bengal. The programmes were launched by the Minister for Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Government of West Bengal, Narendra Nath Dey in the EMPC studio at IGNOU. The three months long programmes are Integrated Pest Management Technology in Potato cultivation and Short Term Training programmes for farmers of Betelvine. They have been developed by the Regional Centre, Kolkata and the School of Agriculture, IGNOU. Around 8000 farmers are being sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal for these programmes. These are training intensive programmes in which farmers will be taught practically about how to control pests through demonstrations and relevant theory classes. The programme launch was telecast live on Gyan Darshan channel.
Punjab plans to e-literate every student The Punjab Government is to come up with 494 more new computer labs under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project in Government and Govt. Aided schools in the state. The initiative aims to digitally literate every student of Punjab state. Besides, 3,564 more computer teachers would also be recruited in the schools. Punjab ICT Education Society (PICTES) had launched this ambitious computer learning programme for 6th to 12th classes in all upper primary and secondary schools the state in a phased manner. It was reported that three phases of the ICT education programme are running in line with the plan and in the forth phase the government would be facilitating 136 computer labs in the remaining government schools and 358 labs in government aided schools to impart computer literacy to students. It is anticipated that under the ICT project, 3,564 more computer teachers would be recruited for these labs which included 494 teachers for the new labs and 3070 teachers for existing government schools.
Education Advertisements to be regulated by guidelines Education sector topped the charts in print advertising this year. It will be required to follow certain advertising guidelines from October 2010.The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) will shortly release the guidelines approved by the ASCI board. Some of the institutes that advertise regularly over the said period include Lovely Professional University, Maharana Pratap Group of Institutions, Manav Rachna International University and Aakash Institute. The proposed guidelines bar the educational institutions from claiming that enrollment in the institution or programme will provide the student a temporary or permanent job, job promotions or salary increase, etc, unless the advertiser is able to substantiate and also assume full responsibility of the advertisement. Additionally, advertisements shall not make claims regarding extent of the batch placed, highest or average compensation of the students placed, admissions of students to renowned educational institutes, and affiliation with a foreign institution, etc, unless they are substantiated with evidence.
Mobile to locate misplaced items
` 3,000 crore for upcoming 16 central varsities
Two students from IIT Madras in their second year of education in the engineering design department have developed a technique, blutag, to locate the misplaced things using the blue-tooth technology and mobile phone. The item to be located is tagged with a Bluetooth module, each of which has unique code. The code will be embedded in a barcode sticker or a chip-like object. This will then be pasted on items that you want to tag. The students have written a code for a mobile application. When you need to locate the object, all you have to do is specify which object you are looking for and the application searches for the unique code of the object and connects with the Bluetooth module, which would then beep and glow to reveal its location. Students to execute the said idea have used Java application. Blutag is a spirit of engineering (SOE) project developed at the Centre For Innovation on the campus.
Recently, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for incurring an expenditure not exceeding ` 3,000 crore during the Eleventh FiveYear Plan Period for setting up of 13 new central universities. Three state universities are to be converted into central universities within this plan. 16 Central Universities were established in the various States under the Central Universities Act, 2009. While 13 of them are new Central Universities, three have been established by conversion of the erstwhile State Universities into Central Universities. This will increase access and enhance quality of higher education in the country.
digital LEARNING
NOVEMBER 2010
7