Iconnect News magazine april

iConnect

EDITOR DESK

revolutionize the way...

+Executive Team Editor in Chief Varun Gupta Associate Editor Sudhanshu Shrivastav Special Correspondent Vinayaka Fulara Bureau Offices Madhya Pradesh Mr. Pramod Maheshwari (09165719419) Chandigarh Mr. Mohit Walia (08533022222) Gujarat Mr. Pankaj Sanghavi (09033776462) Punjab Mr. Gurudev Singh Saini (09876323965) Haryana Mr. R.K. Arora (09416805995) Rajasthan Mr. Sunil Chouhan (09671350020) Uttrakhand Mr. Rajender Kumar (09215037772) Jammu Mr. Sunil Sharma (09419116411) Production / Circulation Nagma Siddiqui (8588844164) Puneet Kumar Goswami (Sales, Criculation & Mktg.)

Design & Layout Ajay Kumar Singh Editorial Team can be contacted at: A-3/22, Khichri Pur, Delhi-110091 08130303330/ 08588844161 Subscription & Corporate Sales contact : Sudhanshu Shrivastav Mobile : 08588844161 sudhanshu@educationiconnect.com All information in iConnect is obtained from sources that the management considers reliable, and is disseminated to readers without any responsibility on our part. Any opinions or views on any contemporary or past topics, issues or developments expressed by third parties, whether in abstract or in interviews, are not necessarily shared by us. Copyrights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction of any material of this magazine in whole, or in part (s), in any manner, without prior permission, is totally prohibited. The publisher accepts no responsibility for any material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with any advertisement without explanation.All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts in New Delhi only.

Printed, Published & Owned by Varun Gupta, Printed at : Royal Offset, 489 Industrial Area, Patparganj, Delhi and Published at A-3/22, Khichri Pur, Delhi-110091 Editor : Varun Gupta

Regn. No.: DELENG/2013/51662

I

ndia needs reform, infrastructure and opportunities for hundreds of millions of young people. Good governance is needed to achieve these goals. Indians have already begun voting in the world's biggest election, to elect 543 members to the Lok Sabha.

The nine-phase ballot began on 7th April and will end on 12th May. Votes will be counted on 16th May. Some 814 million voters are eligible to vote at 930,000 polling stations.

Parties have released pre-poll manifestos recently. BJP’s manifesto came 10 days after the ruling congress released its election manifesto. This gave a chance to Congress to comment on it by stating that most of the promises made in the BJP’s manifesto, were either borrowed from its own manifesto or those that UPA had already implemented. The top 10 promises that are different in both the manifestos are related to price rise, corruption, FDI, tax, jobs/youth, growth, infra, new cities, minorities, and communalism/secularism One reason why both political parties and the voters have turned indifferent and agnostic towards this whole voting system is the nature of governments that have been formed at the centre since 1996. Each of them follows a concept of coalition government where the role and importance of individual party manifestos get diluted or devalued.

Education and Employment are two key sectors which should have been focused completely. In the recently released manifestos, political parties have focused on promising too many things at once, reducing the manifestos to promotional booklets. None of the manifestos explains how a party plans to reach their goals. On one end, BJP promises that public spending on education would be raised to 6% of the GDP, and UGC will be restructured and it will be transformed into a Higher Education Commission rather than just being a grant distribution agency. On the other end, Congress will transform "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan" to "Shreshth Shiksha Abhiyan”, revealing that the rights-based entitlement programmes – for food, work and education – are now proposed to be extended to housing and health care for all.

Despite the Election Commission warning the political parties to make only those promises that can be fulfilled, it seems like this year too they will let their “Janta” down. There are no specific laws or constitutional obligations which will compel them to fulfill their promises and seek reply from the parties on their promises after five years. Since, there are no constitutional pressures on the political parties; they are always ready with excuses over unfulfilled promises.

More education and employment will lead to a better nation, instead the political parties have other priorities to deal with. Now it depends on the going-to-rule party to take care of this matter.

Varun Gupta

Democracy government of people, for people

Democracy- An Introduction veryone is aware of a famous saying regarding democracy by the former President of USA, Abraham Lincoln which goes as – “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. As clearly as it explains that people of the nation do not exist to serve their government as it is the government authorities who need to serve its people. In addition, the quote also states that every individual of a nation has the right to decide whom he/she wants to

E

06

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

represent and how he /she wants to be represented. No matter the color, religion, caste, gender, everyone has the right to vote.

Power of Democracy Nobody can underestimate the power of democracy because as the notion goes the government of a nation should be afraid of its people and not the other way around. However, in our country the power of democracy has been subdued by the increasing corruption.

The prime question arises, how does

India take up democratic ideas broadly in terms of rule of law, the participation of citizens rule and the responsibility of the state in making sure whether basic freedom are granted to all citizens irrespective of their status. Although, the policy of a mixed economy has made us capable of securing one of the potential power countries in the world, its beneficial points are still far away. The schemes and money that are amassed from people themselves are misused by the people whom we had trusted during the elections.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

It should be clarified to the elected candidate that even after he wins a seat, he/she is still subjected to impeachment in case he/she is caught with illegal doings. Everybody is equal in the eyes of law.

People who have been entrusted with the high power and responsibility of our nation’s development are the people who have disregarded moral ethical values.

Corruption and bribery has become the main mantra for our government authorities to bully that very common man that had selected them to perform duties for the benefit of our society.

Some of this corruption has been termed as inevitable transactional costs while the others have been termed as an ‘economy of influence’ which have collaborated to weaken the institutions. In India human development has become a mere term as it is considered as joke by our government who has abused its power at a height that is inexplicable and uncountable.

How come the power that is originally is in hands of people can be misused in such a manner that it becomes a bane for the society? With the elections coming up, Indian citizens need to ponder over the kind of people they want to elect. The democracy is ours to give to the government. This time around the greater unity of people would have to take on the government that has for long stood on pillars of lies with open confidence.

Why is Democracy Needed?

Focusing on the political parties and politics around the world, it would be an understatement to call India as the next superpower. India gained independence in the year 1947 and thus since then we have been enjoying democracy for over six decades now. During this time, India has witnessed some remarkable development as well as growth. However, the country has garnered negatives as well for all the wrong reasons. Although, economic growth has accelerated the reputation of the country’s development, it has failed to cause any beneficial impact for the Indian population in innumerable ways.

Corruption has grappled every branch of any possible development. Despite such

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

situations, the electorate remains always ready during its political participations and elections.

When India won her independence from under the British rule, the option of democracy as well as universal franchise for poor and illiterate country was considered worthless and thus not of importance all over the world. With all the negations, the first general election was held in India in 1952 with great success and enthusiasm. Consequently, our nation formed a Constitution that would be India’s epitome of political and ideological goals. The Constituent Assembly, which includes 299 members from all parts of the country, had authored this Constitution.

The Constitution represents our republic and parliamentary democracy that further instate the principles of equality before the law, separation of civil and military powers, citizen with constitutional rights and the necessity for political competition. Like in other parts of the world, the Indian press has been granted freedom so that they can contribute to highly contested public arena. In a nutshell, we can say that India

as a democratic nation should and must value the viewpoints of its people.

In democracy the importance of Public Opinion (Vote) It is not only India that had understood the importance of voting as world over every citizen is reminded how crucial is it to vote as every vote is a vote for the better future, if we choose the right candidate over the wrong.

Value of Single Vote There could be people around you who feel that none of the parties participating is good enough to run a government and some may feel their vote is not important as they do not think they have ever contributed in betterment of the society.

However, such people should just think that by deciding not to vote they can cause a potential damage to the development of their own nation as the seat given to an unfaithful candidate, as a result of their absence for voting, would be difficult to undo. Therefore, in order to avoid the repent, everyone should come forward and vote. In brief, it can be concluded that every single vote counts and you make a

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

07

difference in creating future of your nation every time you vote.

Before Vote – How we choose our candidates and what should we think before voting?

If we discuss about elections in a global manner, it is pretty much similar as your votes elect officials who will be responsible for making decisions that would affect your life in more than one ways. The President and candidates you vote will be the people who would take the matter of raising or lowering taxes and innumerable economic policies linking and joining every individual as well as society. Do not vote just for your sake.

Expand your horizon and try to foresee a better future for your society and nation.

How to Know More about our Candidate Even though if you are not sure as to which candidate you should cast your vote to, you can always check on the Internet the background of the person. This information can be found by people on the election commission website. The background check involves history of the person like if he had ever been accused of violating any law. Through this you can at least make sure that you know about the candidates before going to the polling booth.

When you vote then as the citizen of India, your vote sends a message about the problems that you believe should be addressed by the government. More importantly, your vote affirms our rights as responsible citizens to select our candidate and thus be a part in democracy.

Without our voting rights, there would be no democracy but only terrorism.

Responsibility of our Candidates We discussed the responsibilities of a citizen in forming a strong democratic country. However, we did not discuss about the other end of the rope; it is our government officials. We talked about the importance of voting but there are certain works that are authorized to be executed properly and honestly for the nation by the elected officials. Therefore, as such there are big responsibilities on a shoulder of the candidate that is selected to address the grievances in a proper and timely fashion.

The roles that majority of members of parliament follow are often summarized as legislator, representative and scrutinizer 08

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

of the government. The MPs who are elected to parliament are considered as representatives of their electorates. As far as the responsibility of legislator is concerned it involves passing legislation, whether original or changes to existing acts, by an MP. Scrutinizing pertains to exercising over the doings of the executive including the implementation of rules passed by parliament.

Majority of MPs will utter that they are not delegates but just a representatives of the people who selected them. With the power vested in them they will only try to pass judgment on behalf of people they represent. However, this does not imply that they are liable to avoid constituency interests. MPs work toward meeting their constituency commitments by way of regularly attending meetings with constituents in their electorates. In any case, these interests are ignored by an MP, no amount of party commitments can certain his return to parliament during the next election.

Every MP has given a limited number of options regarding the freedom to operate on their own. As mentioned earlier, the three functions of legislator, representative and scrutinizer must be balanced at par with the persisting working environment.

5 Year Impeachment After Vote An important point should also be noted that in course and after the election, it should be clarified to the elected candidate that even after he wins a seat, he/she is still subjected to impeachment in case he/she is caught with illegal doings.

Everybody is equal in the eyes of law and therefore, same should be maintained for general public and government representatives.

Role of Education to Save India from Corruption During this election season, it should be mandatory to give basic education regarding elections to the people of our society who do not belong to educated class. Generally, what happens is the corrupt candidate in order to win his seat may lure people, especially who are not educated, with certain amount of money.

These candidates indirectly buy your vote which should not happen in a democratic country like India.

As mentioned earlier that vote is our

power and a pathway to brighter future of an individual and its society. Therefore, people who are not educated should be given a meaningful and elaborative lesson on how their vote is the primary weapon to end corruption.

People from rural as well as urban areas should be taught as to how our choice for an honest and worthy candidate precedes any amount of money offered by corrupt individuals. They should be made aware that their vote should go to a person who has the confidence and truthfulness to fulfill every demand and put an end to bribery and injustice. This election, every vote and voice should erupt against corruption and go for the truth and justice that are pillars of a democratic nation that is called India.

List of Parties

BJP

INC

AAP

BSP

SP

RJD

NCP

CPI

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

COURSE CONNECT

Great career less efforts Mobile software application development course

M

obile software Education is developed by a programmer on simple electronic devices and the applications can be on any niche.

Mobile phones have become a daily need in modern days. There are many operating systems in mobile, in which Android is the most popular now a days. The most important reason for the popularity of this operating system is “Software applications”.

Mobile Software applications are small programs which are written in some programming language and which run on the phone.

For developing a Mobile software application education, the developer must have some basic knowledge and training in development of mobile applications.

These courses are very cheap and effective a large number of institutes are providing this course.

Some of the major institutes providing courses in mobile application development are: 1. Bharti Vidyapeeth University, Pune 2. CodeFrux, Bangaluru 3. Genius Port, Bangaluru 4. NIIT Bharti Vidyapeeth University, Pune Bharti Vidyapeeth has a degree course in Mobile software application development. The Course is of three years and is named “Bachelors of Science in Mobile Application Development”. There are 90 seats available in the course for admission. In this institute, the fee is a bit high and it follows semester pattern.

CodeFrux: At this institute the courses for mobile application development is available for Android platform as well as for ios platform. Here classroom teaching (5 days a week) is available along with online courses. The duration of courses is of two months and the fee is around 15,000 INR to 20,000.

Genius Port: Apart from ios and Android application development courses, application development for Windows 7 is also taught here. The course is well

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

structured in this institute and also personal training is available. The institute got a limited no. of seats and are filled on the basis of “First Come First Serve “basis.

NIIT: NIIT is a very prestigious institute for mobile software application development course.

It got a variety of courses ranging from Java (J2ME) to Android and W i n d o w s platform. The cost of courses start from 5,000 INR, excluding taxes.

These were some of the institutes across India which offers courses in mobile software application development.

These institutes enable the person from very good skills for application development.

If a person does any of the courses related to application development and got good developing skills as well as good imagination power then no one can stop him from getting a decent job and secure the future.

Placements mobile software The person having this skill and best kind of knowledge can get jobs in Top companies like Facebook, twitter, snapdeal, google, shopping websites like Flipkart, reselling websites OLX and also in banking sector giants like ICICI Bank.

All of them want to provide more user

convenience and also want to expand their income.

We can conclude that the Mobile software development course is a very good and job providing course and this skill is highly in demand at current time.

The fee for the course is very less, when we look at the opportunities after having this skill.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

09

Design your future

Turn all the stones before joining a University R

ight to education is given to every child who is being born in the country. The dream of a student’s parent to see their child as engineer, doctor, architect, fashion designer etc. But what happens when even after paying heavy sums of money their child is not able to get the required degree or even if he gets one it remains of no use.

The rate with which new institutions and education bodies are coming up each day is huge. Every day you can hear some new college or school has come up. You can see huge, magnificent and attractive advertisements in newspaper, television and other media; where the college will boast of its infrastructure and the best teachers they have among all the other colleges. Obviously one gets attracted to these advertisements and on the other hand the thirst to get quality education lures you into the trap of getting into one. But in this modern world where everything is two faced one should make sure that the admission he/she is going to take is right step towards his/her dream. One should verify from all available sources and confirm about the university that the university degree that he will be getting in the end will be an accredited one.

In today’s world where there are many resources to find out about anything and everything, one can easily validate the university he/she is going to take admission in. Well connected internet that practically

connects the whole world and is a dinosaur of information, can easily help you gather all the right information that you may need before taking the next step of admission. The university recognizing authorities have themselves become more vigilant in making sure that the best information is available for the students and they can know well before hand that which college is actually approved and which is not.

AICTE is the body that is responsible for maintaining norms and standard. The purview of AICTE (the Council) covers programs of technical education including training and research in Engineering, Technology, Architecture, Town Planning, Management, Pharmacy, Applied Arts and Crafts, Hotel Management and Catering Technology etc. at different levels. AICTE makes sure that the institutes coming up in the country are authentic and gives them its accredition after making sure that all the conditions have been met by the college. All the students seeking admission should go and check on AICTE site and find the list of colleges that have been approved by the body and all that have been rejected by AICTE. Even then if someone is not sure about the standard of the college they can make use of the modern day technologies and contact people currently studying in the institute and make the most of it by asking them whatever they may want to know about the college. The students who have spent few years in a campus can

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

definitely give a better outlook on the college and its condition in regards to all the facilities , be it faculty or infrastructure or be it any kind of fraudulent activities of the college.

They are obviously a better judge of the ongoing placements in a particular college campus even if the newspapers and advertisements tell a different story.

The students seeking admission in a particular university should leave no stone unturned in gathering all the required information in order to satisfy him of the status of the college in which he is going to live his dreams. Students can even call up the AICTE board on the number mentioned on their website if he is not sure of the information he has been gathering from all the resources. One can even directly question the university authorities and they should have no problem in clearing up the doubts of a student if they are in actual AICTE approved institute. They are very well aware of a student’s apprehensions before he is getting into the road to his future. All the institutes have been encouraging as much research as possible from a students side.

In October 2013, University Grants Commission issued a list of 21 universities which were declared to be fake and the students were advised not to pursue higher education in these universities. But what about the students already qualified from these universities. Nothing was said in regards to the students who had already passed out from these universities. The

students who had already taken admission and degree from these universities were in a dilemma and most of them went on to take the same degree twice. Had they already verified the university they were seeking admission to, maybe they would not have suffered such a great loss in their life both in terms of time and money.

Today when everyone wants to grab up speed and run into the fight of winning the first position it is very much advised to be very careful about the path that is being chosen. Where some people are minting money by just starting a university and opening up colleges in every block of the city, the innocent children are falling into the traps and ruining their future after taking admission in such institutes.

Many universities are now offering distance education where you can sit at home and still give exams and get a degree to write in your life history. But how many of these deemed universities are in actual legal? This is a great question and every student who is planning to get such degree should not leave any scope of mistake in finding out the validation that has been offered to the institute by AICTE and UGC. Every ones future is in his/her own hands. So everyone must be dedicated on finding out the authenticity of the university and then only take a decision to take admission. Make use of all the technologies and secure your future with both hands so that no one can take it away even in the future from you.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

11

WE CONNECT

Coaching Vs Self Study Trust yourself, crack exams

students who prepare themselves not only get better understanding \of the syllabus but are able to comprehend each and everything about the subject in great depth.

A

t present the Indian education system is dominated by proliferation of coaching institutes around the country. The hunger to crack prestigious CAT exams is not only limited to passing but also conquer these competitive exams. TIME, Career Launcher, Aakash, IMS Learning Resources are some of the popular coaching institutes in India that provide extensive preparation for CAT and other similar competitive exams, namely, JMET, XAT, MAT and ATMA to name a few . As mentioned earlier the competition to excel this exam is very stiff as students would be competing with the best in India.

Therefore, students’ preparation should be very rigorous, which includes systematic practice along with exercising special skill that will enable them to do well.

On a closer look at the modules of CAT coaching centers, students will find that the entire preparation includes class 12

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

room coaching with study materials, comprehensive test, seminars, personalized counseling, All India MOCK CATs (AIMCATs) and many more. The duration of these courses can vary according to the needs of students but generally they are available from 3-12 months. If wished by students, a separate Group Discussion (GD)/Interview module is also available that will help candidates during the crucial process of campus placement as well as personality development. The practical interviews are held under the guidance of panel of experts.

During the commencement of the course, students are introduced with the basics that include vocabulary, reading skill improvement, basics of Mathematics, calculation speed improvement. These assist students to understand and tackle the ground level complexities of CAT exam thereby enabling them to handle more

difficult questions later on.

As far as the faculty is involved, these coaching institutes claim to include doctorates, graduates, post-graduates from IITs, IIMs and other premier universities across the country.

When it comes to providing basic training, the institutes help students to understand the fundamental concepts in massive detail thus helping candidates who may not have clear understanding of the particular subject. Special assistance is available for students pertaining from nonmathematical background to help them with quantitative skills. Once the basic training is executed, students are put through module tests that assist them to evaluate and understand their strong as well as weak pointers. Continuous mock tests along with regular assistance from faculty to work on students’ weaknesses will prevail till their big examination day.

With all the good and fine details also

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

WE CONNECT comes the flawed nature of these coaching institutes. It is very obvious that in order to achieve the dream of cracking the CAT with good percentile, an exorbitant amount of money has to be surrendered for its’ coaching. Students have no other option as they feel it has become mandatory to attend such coaching institutes. For nearly a decade, families in India are not shying away to pay extra bucks to such coaching institutes as not only student but his/her family aspire to witness and flaunt their child’s success through these examinations. However, the question is whether student can do without these institutes to achieve their dream?

Though majority of students may not agree but it is possible to crack these examinations sans over-hyped coaching centers.

The best and possibly the only way to get through with such competitive exams without our prestigious coaching centers is self study. The 21st century is blessed with the word Internet that contains the world on our finger tips. Self study along with the Internet can assist future candidates to prepare as good as students trained from coaching centers and thus preventing excessive and unnecessary money spending.

It has been discovered that students trained via coaching institutes act as robots as they are clouded with one aim of cracking such popular competitive entrance exams. Though they get through the entrance exams but it was found out that their performance in IITs or at jobs is not good enough as coaching structure prevents them to think beyond their set

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

syllabus. As oppose to this situation, students who prepare themselves not only get better understanding of the syllabus but are able to comprehend each and everything about the subject in great depth. Therefore, there is more than one reason to opt for self study in order to prepare better for not only CAT but other numerous joint entrance examinations conducted around the country.

Tips for students opting for self study: As mentioned earlier self study is the most effective way in succeeding not only in entrance but for remaining part of your career. Though coaching institutes are present to clarify all the concepts in the syllabus but it is not necessary that they would train students for their better half of their life. That is why primary preparation has to be executed via selfstudy.

To begin, candidate should know that there are basically three topics that are tested for MBA entrance exams, namely verbal ability, logical reasoning and quantitative ability. For gaining mastery in verbal ability, students should read daily newspapers or journals on daily basis.

Reading comprehension is another vital section that requires speed reading that can be executed by training yourself to read and comprehend faster than usual.

Last but not the least is honing quantitative section that can be mastered through solving questions on algebra, arithmetic, trigonometry, mensuration, geometry to name a few.

Apart from basics, students need to make a proper time-table as they need to sort out the right time to study and prepare

every section with full concentration.

Successful follow up with the time table comes with discipline. Stick to the time table and avoid laziness. While preparing for English section, candidates can refer to books like Verbal Ability by Arun Sharma and High School English Grammar and Composition Wren and Martin to strengthen the basics. In addition, Quantitative Aptitude for MBA Entrance Examinations by Abhijit Guha and How To Prepare For Quantitative Aptitude For The CAT by Arun Sharma can assist to get through Quantitative section. Students are advised to refer CAT preparation books from Pearson Education, R S Agarwal, TATA Mcgraw Hill and S Chand for the data interpretation and logical reasoning sections.

Once candidates feel confident about their ability to understand every section, they should go ahead with mock tests to do a self-analysis. This will make them focus on their weak sections that need more practice.

General Knowledge is also crucial and that is why students should keep in touch with the latest current affairs. While reading and watching news, students can keep records of all the latest happenings and can revise at last moment. At the conclusion of this topic, it is very important to know that self motivation can prevent you from even bigger failures. If you get fewer marks than you had expected then do not lose hope and move forward for a re-test with positive attitude.

It is a challenge in itself but once you realize that there is more than one chance, you will perform even better.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

13

Ansari questioned the authority of the current ViceChancellor, who was also responsible in taking this major step. Ansari commented that the responsibility was given to IGNOU by Parliament to regulate ODL system which alone is competent enough decide as which institution is capable enough to handle distance learning courses.

Pawns replaced UGC to not affiliate further new centers, nor conduct examination regarding ODL until it is introduced with new regulations

T

he education system in India has transformed a great mile over the last decade. Unexpected has happened as increasing number of courses have been formulated in a very short span of time for students according to their needs and choices. It is not just programs/courses that have been brought forward but an innumerable number of universities (both private and public) have been founded across the nation to address the issue of falling system of education.

Students are now blessed with options that their ancestors did not possess as they can not only choose from among plethora of subjects but also decide which universities they find as an advantage in shaping their future. Our country’s higher education system has been rated third largest in the world after neighboring country China and the United States of America. With the current rate of

14

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

successful implementation of universities, India would be considered one of the biggest educations hubs.

University Grants Commission (UGC) is India’s primary governing body at the tertiary level, which is responsible for coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education. It provides recognition to universities in India, and funds to such recognized universities and colleges. The country has central universities, state universities and private universities. In addition, distance learning has also played a great role in transforming the Indian higher education system. As far as the data of 2012 is concerned, 14 lakh students were enrolled through open and distance learning at the secondary and higher secondary level.

Distance Education Council (DEC) was a part of IGNOU authorities that was

initiated to promote the standard of Open and Distance Learning System throughout the country. The DEC is known for providing financial as well as technical support to ODL in India. As far as technical assistance is concerned, it focuses on development of institutional reforms, student support services, technological infrastructure, training, computerization and networking of improvement of education programs along with professional development. Coming to DEC’s financial assistance includes helping State Open Universities (SOUs) and many other colleges of open and distance learning, travel grants to person who is to attend international conferences, research grant on topics of contemporary relevance and providing funds in order to organize seminar to institutions.

About the latest developments that happened; almost a year ago Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHD) dissolved Distance Education Council (DEC) from under the reigns of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). With this decision, University Grants Commission was given the sole responsibility of covering and running the entire education system of Open and Distance Learning (ODL). Now, DEC is known as Distance Education Bureau (DEB).

Before this decision, IGNOU was considered as the apex regulatory body for running the distance education offered by universities situated across different parts of the nation. Since the major decision, UGC had been focusing on the development of regulations in order to maintain discipline in ODL programs. In addition to this, universities have been ordered by UGC to not affiliate further

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

EDUCATION CONNECT new centers, nor conduct examination regarding ODL until it is introduced with new regulations.

There have been different views since the dissolution of DEC from IGNOU with some of the opinion that the shift to UGC is a beneficial decision that would be in the interest of open distance learning education system in India. They also believe that ODL can be best handled by an emerging and powerful governing body like UGC that can handle educational affairs effectively.

After the issuance of order to dissolve DEC from IGNOU, UGC had framed a special bureau of its own which is named Distance Education Bureau (DEB). The DEB had been framed by UGC on behalf of DEC, but the new bureau will be working as DEC as work that was earlier controlled by DEC would be the responsibility of DEB. For students, in easier term, the Distance Education Bureau is framed to do better than the Distance Education Council with some new improvements.

The time the new directions came, UGC had been working swiftly to make some new amendments regarding distance education across numerous universities present across the nation.

However, it has been declared that until UGC does not introduce new regulations, the present guidelines formed by DEC will be implemented in order to grant permit orders to universities who are interested in providing distance education programs.

Before the new decision, it had been made mandatory in India that all the institutions that were providing distance education courses need to have a prior permission from DEC to continue the implementation of any distance education course. However, with new decision of dissolution of DEC, UGC has formed new rule that will allow universities interested in running distance education courses to take permission from Distance Education Bureau.

Students must have come across news last year when Punjab Technical University was not given permission to conduct exams for courses pertaining to distance education as university’s DEC approval had expired. Therefore, the students pursuing distance learning courses are advised to first check whether the university, which they are interested in taking admission in near future, has a valid approval from DEB instead of DEC. The information pertaining to colleges or

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

universities regarding DEB recognized can be found on the Internet. As per the latest information, there are a minimum of 201 such institutions across the country that have been given recognized by DEB under the new law.

Students must know this information that Distance Education Bureau (DEB) by UGC does not give permission to any national university or institution directly or via franchisee as such they are established by institution concerned according to certain provisions that are mentioned in their certain Acts and Statutes. An approval from apex bodies like AICTE, NCTE and others are needed in situations where an institution provides any kind of technical course via distance education mode.

But, this decision of dissolving DEC and forming DEB have left people dubious. If DEB will work on the same pattern with little changes then why was DEC dissolved in the first place? Even when DEC was dissolved, UGC presented with a notification on 27th June 2013 stating that Universities related to Distance Education, which are not 5 years old, will not be able to proceed with the admissions and examination. The students who took admission before dissolution of DEC are in a dilemma because of this.

Numerous students are suffering because of DEC has been dissolved.

Another notification from UGC is seen as a dividing factor in Indian Education system. As per the notification a student from different state cannot take admission in other state. UGC is a government body which was formed to take care of the future of students as well as their career.

But recently it has disappointed a lot of students.

Though this change has been approved by some, it has also attracted negative remarks. A member from the University Grants Commission (UGC), M M Ansari has not welcomed the dissolution of the Distance Education Council from under the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

According to Ansari, the move by MHRD is untenable under the law. He stated that the manner in which rules were formulated by the Parliament have been replaced by the bureaucratic process in order to escape and avoid proper discussions to undo the current law.

The dissolution of the DEC by the MHRD was taken on the recommendations of the Madhav Menon Committee in order to “Suggest Measures

to Regulate the Standards of Education Being Imparted through Distance Mode.”

The step was taken as the government wanted to formulate a separate regulatory entity for distance education.

As per the statements, Ansari questioned the authority of the current Vice-Chancellor, who was also responsible in taking this major step.

Ansari commented that the responsibility was given to IGNOU by Parliament to regulate ODL system which alone is competent enough decide as which institution is capable enough to handle distance learning courses. However, the concerned officials did not give importance to the existing law.

The DEC’s rules to formulate the ODL system is pertained to the IGNOU’s Act that cannot be taken back via any system, other than the process followed

by Parliament for enactment of laws.

Ansari stated that the Central government had allegedly interfered in the functioning of institutions and thus, violated established practices without keeping in mind the wisdom of Parliament.

With the new decision, HRD Ministry issued a statement that conveyed that the UGC and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) would be responsible for creating necessary physical infrastructure and qualified manpower in order to formulate the regulatory responsibilities of the ODL system. Both the bodies have been ordered to prepare an action plan within a time period of three months in order to promote growth and development of distance education system in India.

The UGC and AICTE are further mandate to carry forward all the important steps to make sure that as soon as notification pertaining to dissolution of DEC was ordered, both the bodies should take over responsibilities from IGNOU as soon as possible.

This order was issued before the formal notification regarding the dissolution of DEC. It must be noted that DEC was formulated as a statutory body to implement certain mandate of IGNOU and therefore the power to work on ODL system still lies with IGNOU until IGNOU’s Act is amended by Parliament.

According to Ansari, the order will not be able to replace the legal provisions made

by Parliament. In a nutshell, UGC as well as AICTE that have been governed as per their respective acts are not legally empowered and competent to carry on the role currently assigned to them.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

15

A Stern Voice Against Corruption

In 1968, Advocate Shanti Bhushan introduced the Lokpal Bill and then in 1969 passed it in the fourth Lok Sabha.

I

n last few years, Indian political scenario has witnessed some major events that were initiated by a common man which later on became the voice of millions. These movements have shook the foundation of this nation’s authoritative power, who till now have been taking its citizens for a fool.

A very prominent name in the modern era goes to Anna Hazare, who at age 70 decided to put an end to ruthless government rule. Corruption has been eating the development of our nation at its very core. Anna Hazare has given his entire life for well being of this nation.

One thing that has always affected him is treatment given to people living below the poverty line. These people are treated in a worst possible manner as government authority suck on their hard earned money which is originally meant for 2 time meal to keep them alive. These issues and many

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

such more bothered Hazare for long and thus he gave up his personal life to put an end to such discrimination and brought Jan Lokpal Bill.

Now the question arises, what actually is Jan Lokpal Bill and how did it originate? The Jan Lokpal Bill first came during under the presidential rule of Jawahar Lal Nehru. He was introduced to Citizen’s Ombudsman Bill that came from Sweden. This bill is an anti-corruption bill drafted and drawn by civil society activists who wanted an establishment of an independent body to investigate upon corruption cases. The Bill aims to keep a close check on corruption, protect whistleblowers and compensate citizen for their earlier grievances.

More importantly, the term Lokpal was introduced by Mr. L M Singhvi, a Member of Parliament, in 1963. The prefix Jan emphasizes that the

improvements include viewpoints provided by ordinary citizens via nongovernmental public consultation.

The leaders that came after Jawahar Lal Nehru did not put Jan Lokpal Bill as their prime objective. In 1968, Advocate Shanti Bhushan introduced the Lokpal Bill and then in 1969 passed it in the fourth Lok Sabha. However, the Lok Sabha was dissolved and thus the bill could not be passed by Rajya Sabha. After this incident, subsequent versions were introduced in years 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008 but the bill was aborted everytime.

During the Parliament’s Winter Session, in 2011, the Lok Sabha again passed the Lokpal Bill but Rajya Sabha did not pass the bill because of the shortage of time.

Before the Lokpal Bill was passed in Lok Sabha in 2011, it was given a push by

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

17

JANTA CONNECT

Anna Hazare in early 2011 when he along with his supporters Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan decided to persuade the Indian Government to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill. From Mumbai, Hazare wrote numerous letters to the government but all in vain as none were answered back.

After discussions with his members, Hazare decided to visit New Delhi in order to give voice to his opinions. On reaching New Delhi, Hazare decided to pen down the letter regarding the Jan Lokpal Bill to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. After meeting the Prime Minister on 7th March, 2011, Anna Hazare and his accomplices were not satisfied. This was the time when Hazare decided to go on hunger strike at Jantar Mantar. Through Twitter and 18

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

Facebook, people across the nation were made aware of the importance of passing the Jan Lokpal Bill. Social media also became a powerful weapon for team Anna to gather people in large numbers in order to persuade the government to pass the anti-corruption bill.

This movement led by Anna Hazare shook the Indian authorities to think over the matter. Before Hazare, many may have decided to pass a certain law for the benefit of this country but what team Anna did in 2011 was a phenomenon. It was because when Hazare went on hunger strike, people from all across New Delhi joined him at Jantar Mantar for a common cause and fight against corruption. People from other parts of the nation who could not make it to Jantar Mantar decided to

draw their own rallies in 52 different cities to show their support for Anna Hazare.

As told earlier, Jan Lokpal Bill is not a new amendment. It was tried to be passed but the bill has always found itself amidst many discussions and disputes. It was rendered useless as government authorities thought that there had been many similar bills similar to Jan Lokpal that have failed to end corruption and therefore it would be a waste of time.

If we’ll take a closer look at our last 50 years of government, we’ll find that parties, who stressed upon the eradication of corruption, were mere pretending as they wanted the seat. In addition, it was found that every political member wanted to join a team that was already corrupt.

According to Ram Bhadur Rai, Senior

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

JANTA CONNECT Journalist, Central Government did not welcome the idea of somebody spying on their moves that were meant to benefit the government members only and not the people. How can our government say that such anti-corruption bills were not worth discussing and passing when they themselves are the culprit and do not want anybody to disclose the truth.

With the promise for a better future of India, Anna Hazare decided to persevere and fight until his last breath to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill. It was a sight to watch that when Anna decided to go on hunger strike, Indian Cricket Team had just returned home with World Cup glory. The Indian cricketers were welcomed among cheers along with tri-color waving at every corner the airport. However, the tri-color flags swaying at airport were also for team Anna who for their country’s well being were fighting as peaceful warriors.

5th April, 2011 was the day when Anna Hazare decided to go on hunger strike. He first visited Rajghat and then arrived at Jantar Mantar where support for him and Jan Lokpal Bill was inexplicable. This was not it, as people poured in great numbers day by day as they even started candle light march at India Gate on 6th April, 2011.

It won’t be completely wrong if we put Anna Hazare’s name with Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. It is because latter were personalities who tried to fight for the human rights. With Anna Hazare, it is a little bit different as he instilled in every Indian citizen that they can be Anna too with sheer determination to fight against corruption. Hazare came out as more than an idol as he emphasized on the power of common man that is more effective than any big amount of money.

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

19

20

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

21

NEWS CONNECT

News Updates No Apporval for new engineering colleges in 2014-15

Engineering colleges aiming to add to their intake or begin new branches need to wait a year with the University Grants Commission (UGC) choosing to place a pause on setting up new colleges, branches or increasing seats for a year.

The UGC judgment will be relevant to the management colleges. It suggests that no new college can return up within the 2014-15 year within the nation. The choice apparently is to balance the intake within the colleges instead of many colleges benefiting, and was permitted by

the UGC at its new conference.

The huge range of available seats in each engineering and management streams additionally provoked the UGC to take this action. Figures offered with the Commission unconcealed that there aren't any takers for twenty to thirty per cent of the whole engineering intake within the country whereas the vacancy is thirty per cent for the management colleges. When enquired, UGC officers confirmed that every one unfinished applications for brand spanking new colleges and extra intake are placed on hold. “Only north-east States have stuffed up majority of seats in each the streams whereas the matter is completely different in different elements of the country. More so, in South India wherever vacant seats are large,” unconcealed faculty member.

D.N. Reddy, Member, UGC Commission.

Prof. Reddy alleged Supreme Court has additionally directed that permission method be completed before April month thirty each year. Since there's hardly any time left for line of work for contemporary applications and approval, we tend to determined to freeze admissions and new intake for the year, he said.

IIT initiates online courses with Google and Nasscom

Over four million engineering students will forestall to value on-line distance education material extended by IITs in association with partners like Nasscom and Google.

The Massive Open on-line Courses (MOOC), commenced by HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju are distance education courses for an outsized range of participants resourced through the net, that includes video, text material and drawback sets, providing an interactive platform for each students and professors.

The “exclusive” fraction of the whole proposal is that students will get the prospect to find out from the finest professors.

Prof. charged for producing forged documents for getting job A Mumbai based medical college academician has been set-aside for fraud when he allegedly cheated the management into securing employment there by presenting forged documents.

Dr Abhay Purushottam Kulkarni, academician of medical science department of the Rajiv Gandhi Medical College and Chatrapati Shivaji Civic Hospital at Kalwa was set-aside underneath the sections 420 and 468 of IPC on a grievance by Professor Dr Sanjay Barnwal. According to API Sandeep Bagul of the Kalwa police officer who is searching the case, Kulkarni applied 22

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

for the academician job within the college in 2001 when presenting forged documents.

The Selection Committee and competent

officer had not confirmed the documents made by Dr Kulkarni at that point and appointed him to the post.

However, later throughout the verification it absolutely was unconcealed that the information given by Dr Kulkarni were incorrect and therefore the management had been cheated following that a grievance was created with the Kalwa police. The Kalwa police carried out investigation into the case and clear it absolutely was found that the papers given

by Kulkarni weren't so as and offences were registered against him

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

NEWS CONNECT

CAG report bangs Eflu for asymmetry in promotion The English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu) has been preferring a part of its college through 'irregular' and illegal upgrade and provident fund theme, thereby spending crores within the method, a report by the comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) aforementioned.

The CAG audit was conducted over a time of 2 months beginning December last.

In a report submitted to the accountant general, the three-member audit team marked the theme of changing CPF (Contributory Provident Fund) to GPF (General Provident Fund) for eleven college members and preferment given to thirteen college members – from associate prof designation to professors - as "irregular" as per GOI norms. By admiring a provident fund theme while not the authorisation of the ministry of human resource development, the University spent over Rs 1.39 crore on eleven college members and promoted thirteen associate professors as professors. This, allowed the

members to carry key body posts on field, below associate illegal promotion theme, sources alleged.

While seventeen out of the twenty four college members who relished advantages of the 2 schemes have retired, seven are in commission. Sources supposed the university heads freshly approved the 2 schemes exclusively to gratify some authoritative lobbies on and off campus.

On alteration of the provident fund theme, the audit report said: "The call

taken within the fourteenth EC (Executive Committee) conference on this matter was enforced by the university while not notifying and taking official sanction of MHRD/UGC." The report conjointly aforementioned that when the university enforced the alteration below an provisional order by the AP high court, "considering the provisional orders of the high court as judicial decision, cannot be effective ground for application of the theme while not the previous approval of MHRD/UGC." The report additional aforementioned that the "irregular acceptance" of the alteration "had led to continual monetary liability in payment of retirement benefits to the eleven workers."

"Though the case of promotion of thirteen readers (associate professors) as professors, the EC set to implement the previous conclusion of the CIEFL board which wasn't accepted/ratified by the UGC/MHRD," the report aforementioned.

NU income increased around 31 crore

The Nagpur University has bestowed National Assessment and accreditation Council (NAAC) oriented budget that sadly couldn't get authorisation as supposedly members with unconditional interest refused to act. Pro-VC Mahesh Kumar Yenkie scan out the allow 201415 with a deficit of Rs. 24.72 crore.

The University budget showed a pointy rise in financial gain to over Rs152 crore and Rs175 crore in expenditure within the last 5 years. Throughout

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

discussions, the members crashed nonallocation of resources for placement officer and UGC Model College, and aforementioned the budget wasn't growth concerned. NU had established a board underneath head of its Business Administration department, Vinayak Deshpande and finance officer Puran Meshram to recommend on reducing the scarcity and to arrange budget.

The budget shows financial gain of Rs 281.45 crores, up by Rs 31.89 crore, and expenditure of Rs 306.18 crore, up by Rs 54.82 crore, as associated to 2013-14 business enterprise.

NU had accomplished to considerably block deficit from Rs 24.69crore last year to Rs 1.79 crore, primarily by delaying expenditure on divisions like new administrative block and multipurpose hall that stay on paper although Rs16 crore being authorised last year. Yenkie aforementioned that to cut back the deficit recommendations created by Deshpande panel would be taken into thought in discussion with authorities.

Karnataka HC stops the transfer of 172 KV scholars The High court on Friday approved a provisional order warning the principal of Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV), Kudremukh, from granting transfer certificates (TCs) to 172 students.

Justice Anand Byrareddy approved the order on a petition filed by Kudermukh Shrama Shakthi Sanghatan , a corporation representing the staff of Kudremukh iron ore corporation limited (KIOCL).

The requesters confronted the proposal to shut the Kudremukh kV in Chikmagalur district from April one.

Government advocate B Veerappa informed the court that the state is prepared to accommodate these students in near government schools.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

23

NEWS CONNECT

MHRD grants nod for filling up 1,130 UT school posts The union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has approved the Chandigarh management’s proposal of making 1,130 teaching and nonteaching jobs for its colleges.

MHRD’s judgment taken on March twenty seven was sent to Punjab and Haryana HC on Monday through the Chandigarh management.

Of the overall, 1,108 are teaching posts.

The ministry has clarified that the Chandigarh management might carry on the current follow of appealing masters and primary academics on adhoc basis.

Petitioner Gurbir Singh Sekhon’s adviser Vishal Aggarwal updated the division bench including chief justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and justice Arun Palli that since Dec 2013, until March this year around two hundred academics from Chandigarh colleges have resigned as

they were ad hoc academics and got stable schooling employment.

He updated that although the Chandigarh management has currently got consent of the centre government for filling up teaching and non-teaching posts though these posts ought to be filled permanent basis instead of ad hoc.

The court conjointly took serious reminder of the review report filed by Central Board of school; Education (CBSE) of all seventy seven connected colleges in Chandigarh to report on deficiencies.

The court asked the CBSE to respond for the explanation of filing the unfinished review report “in a casual way” that wasn't having complete information concerning colleges as per the Performa. The case would currently return up for hearing on April twenty one.

UGC invites proposals from universities under two new schemes The UGC has asked for applications from the Universities beneath its 2 newlyinitiated schemes by April fifteen. UGC has initiated 2 new schemes in universities and colleges i.e.

Community colleges and B.Voc Degree programme.

As per sources, as per UGC release, it introduced B.Voc degree programme and certificate / diploma courses via society colleges. With these schemes, skilled man power to accomplish increasing demands of the economy is going to be formed. UGC has conjointly asked the universities to process the university management and persuade colleges related to the colleges to send proposals beneath each the schemes by April fifteen, 2014. According to UGC release, the UGC can offer extra grants, over and on top of the XII plan General Development help, beneath each the schemes, as per the pattern of aid relying upon the supply of funds.

UGC asks for review of varsities recommended for blacklisting In an interval to forty four deemed universities suggested for blacklisting, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked for a current assessment of their present status.

The expansion comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court leading the govt in January this year to obtain a current look at them when taking recommendation from the UGC. The apex court had intended the UGC to look at all the reports on the universities' breakdown to accomplish the standards at interval of 2 months and tender its recommendation to the Centre which can take a final appeal about the problem.

These forty four establishments were blacklisted by the Tandon committee that had examined a complete of 126 institutes and had placed these forty four in class C 24

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

for failing on many parameters. Sources aforesaid the necessary review of each institute that is conceded out every 5 years are undertaken on these C catergory institutes on a priority basis.

They aforesaid Tandon committee report was bestowed concerning 5 years back and thence taking a decision

concerning the fate of those institutes currently would be unfair.

Moreover, 2 different committees that went into their standing had commenced with reports that were "different from one another in each parameter." Taking of these factors into concern, the commission when a gathering someday back has determined for contemporary review, sources aforesaid. They additionally pointed to a UGC report in 2009-10 that had not suggested blacklisting of any of the schools although all the committees were of the read that these universities failing on many parameters. Should UGC choose to upgrade their standing shortly, the Model Code of Conduct wouldn't are available the means because the matter is being examined by the Supreme Court, the sources additionally aforesaid.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

“Students

Notice to Shridhar University by the Students of University

D

espite Shridhar University being a Self-financed University which was established by the Government of Rajasthan, notified by UGC under Section 2(f) of UGC Act, 1956, it is facing a lot of challenges lately.

The Shridhar University’s officials are being accused for causing nuisances which have been affecting students badly. A legal notice has been sent by advocate of Delhi High Court on 12 April 2014 to the chancellor of Shridhar University Pilani, vice president of Shridhar University Pilani ,Chairman of UGC, Governor of Rajasthan and Education Minister Of Rajasthan. This notice was issued against the complaints made by thousands of students of Shridhar University Pilani. The students, who had taken admission in Shridhar University had claimed that despite University declaring the results only few of them received mark sheets; the rest of the mark sheets were withheld. In addition to this, provisional certificates were provided to just 30 or 40 students out of the thousands of candidates who had taken admission in Sridhar University Pilani Rajasthan.

The students were not satisfied with the excuses they were given. University is not ready to verify the given markhseet.

The students said that Mr. Vijay Pal Yadav, Chancellor of Shridhar University did not even meet them to listen to their grievances Students have recorded vedios of University officials and administration as an evidence. The ignorance of the University Officials has mentally disturbed the students as well as has raised a question on the UGC’s guidelines, education system in rajasthan and the procedures of selffinanced universities. Mirnal Khurana, Bhanu Yadav and Pradeep Sharma are some of the prominent people of the administration. Mirnal Khurana (vice president of University) has the authority to issue certificates to the students, but now extra fees is being demanded. According to Students, the court’s notice includes their names and a fact is mentioned that the University has its campus in pilani but students’ fees are being taken in Indirapuram branch of University.

When we tried to question the officials of the University, they said that they do not have the details of the students who did not receive the mark sheets and certificates. According to them there might be a chance of miscommunication among the recent batch but no mistake exists regarding the last two batches. But as per

who have faced problems related to mark sheets and provisional certificates because of Shridhar University, Rajasthan Govt and UGC’s ignorant attitude towards their life and future, are suffering from mental agony as well as monetary loss.

Now they complain about mental harassment.” the records the registered roll numbers j10BAGEN000012396* and many more did not receive their respective certificates.

The list containing the details of the regirstered numbers will be presented in front of the court.

A lot of students are suffering from mental agony as well as monetary loss and now they are claiming the amount of Rs.5,00,000 for mental harassment.

They took admission in the University and appeared for examinations for a better future. After all the hard work when the time came for their results they are forced to reach the doors of Court seeking help.

Serving in a University is not a business deal; education sector is supposed to be a non-profit medium. Involvement of the officials in the educational scam should be looked after in order to lessen the misery the students suffer.

Students who have faced problems related to mark sheets and provisional certificates because of Shridhar University and UGC’s ignorant attitude towards their life and future are hoping and still waiting to get justice.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

25

• • • • •

Acid throwing Breast ironing Bride burning Dating abuse Date rape

• Domestic violence • Honor killing • • Marital rape • Female genital • • Domestic violence mutilation or • and pregnancy Gishiri cutting • • Dowry death • Infibulation •

Female infanticide Femicide Foot binding Forced abortion Forced pregnancy

Angel begging protection I

n our patriarchal and chauvinist society, it is needless to say women need protection at every stage of their life. Starting from the stage of her conception in the mother’s womb till her death, people start thinking her as an obligation for future. No matter how much men of the family understand that their lives are incomplete without women at every stage of their life, but due to their chauvinism they start punishing women at every stage. Thus, to ensure safety of the women at each stage of her life, law and order has been made extremely effective and efficient these days.

In this male dominating society, global scenario of women is still pathetic even after considering all the women protecting acts. Considering global scenario, India is considered to be one of the most vulnerable countries in terms of protecting women from different types of crimes and injustice.

There are different stages where we can clearly segregate intolerable amount of inconsideration in women’s existence, which further leads to the limit of torture, resulting in miserable consequences up to death of a woman.

26

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

Now, we will discuss about harassment and torture that every woman must have faced once in her lifetime. Let us see what all are major women related issues largely prevalent in the male dominated society: Let’s just unfold one by one chapters of women’s life, starting from her existence in the mother’s womb to her death.

• Female infanticide: It is nothing but killing a female child inside the mother’s womb or dumping her in a garbage bin, dreading her responsibility in future life. This kind of crime is mainly predominant in third world countries like India, China and other Middle East region.

Female infanticide is done nothing but the family member of the unborn child. When with the help of Ultra-sound, family member of the family comes to know about the existence of the child as a female, child’s own family members become reluctant to take her responsibility considering her life to be financial burden on their shoulder.

There are heart-wrenching instances in female infanticide: “As per CNN report, in 2011, a relief

• • • • •

Forced prostitution Genocidal rape Human trafficking Rape Pregnancy from rape

agency called female infanticide ‘Pakistan's worst unfolding tragedy’ and that of 10 newborns thrown into the dumps of Karachi, nine are female. The NGO Edhi Foundation recorded 1,200 infants dumped in 2010, which was a rise of 200 over 2009.”

• Dowry Death: It is nothing but torturing any women till death or killing them by demanding dowry from her parental house. In this case, it is often seen that women commit suicide in order to lessen the burden from their parent’s shoulder. It is mostly seen in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and some regions of Africa.

Pakistan is said to have the highest reported rates of dowry-related deaths of women in the world.

Women protection act taken against dowry death in India is the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. This act extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

• Domestic Violence and Forced Pregnancy: Any kind of physical, mental and emotional trauma can lead to the damage of human’s overall personality and the entire life.

After marriage, women are forced to do many things that may or may not be within their boundary of consent. In third world country, especially in India, husbands are considered to be the master of the family. And, wives are treated as the means of slavery. They are forced to do many such things, which in turn damage their self-respect and dignity.

Most precariously, women are bitten

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

SOCIETY CONNECT physically for not performing any act as per their husband and their in-laws rules.

Also, women are being forced to get pregnant, even without their consent. This kind of brutal activity is often seen as Marital Rape. Forced pregnancy is nothing but the excessive greed for getting a grandchild so that they can secure their future, specifically with a boy child. Even in that case, if mother is not capable of bearing a boy child, she will be cursed to death.

In India, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 was brought into force by the Indian government from October 26, 2006. The Act was passed by the Parliament in August 2005 and assented to by the President on 13 September 2005.

“As of November 2007, it has been reported by four of twenty-eight state governments in India; namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. Of about 8,000 criminal cases registered all over India under this act, Rajasthan had 3440 cases, Kerala had 1,028 cases, while Punjab had 172 cases registered.”

• Sati: In many places in India, even today, where women are treated equal to the men in terms of their achievements and success, widows are brutally burnt on her husband’s funeral pyre. In some cases, women do it voluntarily but most of the cases where widows are still young are being thrown to the fire without their consent. This kind of act is done to prove that the woman is so dedicated to her husband. Many legal steps are being taken against this practice but still in many places it is found to be honor killing by the community.

• Rape: This brutal act is nothing but assaulting a woman sexually by the means of sexual intercourse without her consent. Rape is usually carried out by coercion, physical force, abuse of authority or against a person who is incapable of valid consent, such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, or below the legal age of consent.

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

Recently in India, on December 2012, India has cited one of the most brutal cases of gang rape, which had stirred the whole nation and cropped up one valid question in front of everyone how women empowerment is helping third world country to work against heinous crime like, rape.

In many cases, it is seen that women are forced to get physically involved with their married counterpart without their consent. This kind of act is also called as marital rape. Even in many cultures, women are not spared even after getting raped. They are forced to suffer additional trauma by getting married with the rapist.

Even in many cases, women are forced to

be dead by other member of the same community and people present this particular phenomenon as the honor killing. “Sexual violence, and rape in particular, is considered the most underreported violent crime (American Medical Association, 1995). Thus, the number of reported rapes is lower than both incidence and prevalence rates (Walby and Allen, 2004). The legal requirements for reporting rape vary by jurisdiction — each U.S. state may have different requirements while other countries may have less stringent limits.

In Italy, a 2006 National Statistic Institute survey on violence against women found that 91.6% of women who experienced rape did not report it to the police.”

• Female genital mutilation or Gishiri cutting: Like rape, women are even more brutally harassed when their genital parts are being mutilated.

Though certain law and order is being incorporated to stop this type of heinous crime but in reality, women are still not safe and secure.

• Human trafficking: It is nothing but the business with the humans, most commonly for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others, or for the extraction of organs or tissues, including surrogacy and ovary removal.

“Human trafficking represents an estimated $32 billion of international trade per annum, of the illegal international trade estimated at $650 billion per annum in 2010.”

“The '3P Antitrafficking Policy Index' measures the effectiveness of government policies to fight human trafficking based on an evaluation of policy requirements prescribed by the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000)”.

• F o r c e d Prostitution: Forced or involuntary prostitution takes place when someone is forced to become sex worker. Forced prostitution is quite different from legal or voluntary prostitution. This kind of prostitution is illegal under customary law in all countries. It is legally punishable ranging from fully illegal and punishable by death.

• Violence against prostitute: In many places, many violent activities against prostitute are found to be prevalent. Sometimes, many prostitutes are targeted by serial killers.

“In December 2006, Steve Wright murdered five prostitutes in Ipswich, England.”

These are few examples of women protection against the crime and brutality that they have to face in their whole life time.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

27

Reflection of Education

Credentials fraud is a serious problem in India, fueled by a huge demand for qualifications, endemic corruption and poor regulation of the ultra-competitive and fastgrowing education sector.

“And just because you have colleges and universities doesn't mean you have education.” ―Malcolm X, Civil Rights Activist, Minister

Number of Colleges in India TYPE Total number of colleges Colleges recognized under Section 2(f) of the UGC Act Colleges eligible to receive development grants under Section 12(B) of the UGC Act

T

here has been a tremendous increase in the number of students and of educational institutions in India in the recent years, giving rise to the new term ‘education explosion’. This has resulted in serious problems such as inadequacy of financial resources and infrastructure, misconception of personal attention to the education and loss in the development of personal integrity of the students. Also, there is the unwanted side-effect of enormous increase in the number of educated unemployed. Mere increase in the percentage of literate people does not indicate a qualitative change in the educational standards of the people and nor a substantial improvement in manpower resources of India.

Scams or dishonest schemes have surfaced recently as a result of the education explosion in India. The high rate of unemployment in our country and the unaffordable costs of higher education fuel the educational fraud rackets which sell forged certificates to the students and job

28

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

2005 2006 2009 17,625 18,064 25,951 5,589

6,109

7,176

5,273

5,525

5,936

seekers as a shortcut to success. Education Scam is the only scam where almost everyone is involved directly or indirectly, be it a student, a parent, a counselor, a college, a university, the media or even the government. The aspects of educational scams are always interlinked. For instance, in June 2011 when Delhi University’s (DU) prestigious college SRCC set its cut-off percentage as 100, another event related to fake caste certificate in DU took place. The cut-off and the scam are two manifestations of the same problem.

Educational degrees are important to enjoy the positions earned from it.

But, unfortunately very few work hard for it and the rest, goes the other way. Educational scams may comprise of a number of things like fake degrees, running of off-campus programmes/centres, providing back dated

degrees, providing franchisee, befooling students with part-time regular programmes and unrecognized courses and so on.

Initially the scams prevailed mostly in the higher education field, but recently the higher secondary education field seems to be infected as well. In March 2014, Manipur school principal issued fake admit cards to class 12 students, risking the career of nearly 86 students.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) of India is a statutory organization set up by the Union government in 1956, charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education.

It provides recognition to universities in India, and pay out funds to such recognized universities and colleges. There are nearly 42 Central Universities, 285 State Universities, 130 Deemed Universities and 173 Private Universities in India (as per the UGC reports). The increase in the educational scams made UGC take an initiative to point out the fake Universities existing in India in December 2011. As a result, 21 Universities were declared as bogus, as listed here in the table :

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

Bihar Maithili University/Vishwavidyalaya, Darbhanga, Bihar Delhi Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi (UP) Jagatpuri, Delhi Commercial University Ltd., Daryaganj, Delhi.

United Nations University, Delhi.

Vocational University, Delhi.

ADR-Centric Juridical University, ADR House, 8J, Gopala Tower, 25 Rajendra Place, New Delhi - 110 008.

Indian Institute of Science and Eng., ND Karnataka Badaganvi Sarkar World Open University Education Society, Gokak, Belgaum, Karnataka.

Kerala St. John’s University, Kishanattam, Kerala Madhya Pradesh Kesarwani Vidyapith, Jabalpur, MP Maharashtra Raja Arabic University, Nagpur, Maharashtra Tamil Nadu D.D.B. Sanskrit University, Putur, Trichi, Tamil Nadu West Bengal Indian Institute of Alternative Medicine, Kolkatta.

Uttar Pradesh Mahila Gram Vidyapith/Vishwavidyalaya, (Women’s University) Prayag, Allahabad, UP Gandhi Hindi Vidyapith, Prayag, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh National University of Electro Complex Homeopathy, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose University (Open University), Achaltal, Aligarh, UP Uttar Pradesh Vishwavidyalaya, Kosi Kalan, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh Maharana Pratap Shiksha Niketan Vishwavidyalaya, Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh Indraprastha Shiksha Parishad, Institutional Area,Khoda,Makanpur,Noida Phase-II, UP Gurukul Vishwavidyala, Vridanvan, U P

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

As per UGC Regulation, 2003, State Private Universities cannot affiliate colleges and start off-campus centre(s) beyond the territorial jurisdiction and they cannot run these centers on franchising basis. Recently, reports related to violation of this norm are surfacing.

Mismanagement of all types in educational institutions and the maladministration of educational programs has become quite common. Commercialization of the education system, particularly technical and professional education is a growing problem as well.

An instance where people in power too contributed in educational scams can be the case of Minister of Health in the VP Singh Government between 1990 and 1991, who was held guilty of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool. Another one is about the case where Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and two IAS officers were among 55 people convicted by a special CBI court in New Delhi Wednesday of illegally recruiting teachers in 1999. In both of the cases the punishment was given in the year 2013.

Credentials fraud is a serious problem in India, fuelled by a huge demand for qualifications, endemic corruption and poor regulation of the ultra-competitive and fastgrowing education sector. 21 universities across the country have been declared fake, and the M. Phil and PhD degrees accredited by these universities have been designated worthless, by the Dr. Baba Sahib Ambedkar Marathawada University (BAMU), which includes, Jagdishprasad Jhabarmal Tibrewala University in Rajasthan, Chandra Mohan Jha University (CMJ) in Shillong and the Algappa University in Tamilnadu. In Vishakhapatnam, the police had arrested four individuals in connection with the fake certificates of a number of universities, including secondary education boards of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In yet another instance of fake certificates, the University of Kerala had unraveled over six cases of bogus certificate holders and over 12 cases of fake graduation certificate holders in just a months’ time in Thiruvananthapuram. In another scam of a similar nature, nine officials of the Lucknow University were alleged of selling bogus certificates to a number of students, of which 18 individuals were successful in acquiring an admission in the Basic Training Certificate (BTC) Institute of the district, on the basis of the said bogus credentials.

There were some instances where the authorities of the Universities themselves were involved in the scams.

Banaras Hindu University (BHU) which held its 96th convocation on March 2014 too faced a scam in the year 1956. In one of the first instances of corruption in the educational sector, BHU officials were accused of misappropriation of funds worth Rs 50 lakh. Another instance is of Nalanda University, which is one of the first great universities in recorded history. Despite this fact, a scam emerged at the University. In September 2011, an ambitious plan of setting up the Nalanda University on the ruins of the ancient one was befouled with controversies even before it started any academic courses.

The first Controversy relates to the inappropriate appointment of Dr. Gopa Sabharwal as the Vice

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

29

In this matter, the poor suffer a lot and a penurious girl suffers the most. Usually a girl belonging to poverty-stricken family is never sent to get educated. Even if she gets an opportunity, and is sent to some CMJ type of institution, her education life gets over. Firstly, the degree becomes invalid and secondly, the parents will not even allow her to join some other academy.

Chancellor. The second Controversy is regarding the appointment of Dr Anjana Sharma as the Officer on Special Duty. The third is regarding Mr. N K Singh, member of Nalanda Mentor Group which also serves as the Board of Nalanda University.

The fourth is dissociation of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam from Nalanda International University. In 2011, Dr. Kalam refused to continue as the visitor of the University since he was not in agreement with few of the decisions made by the Nalanda Mentor Group headed by Amartya Sen. The fifth one is that in the first meeting of Governing Board (Mentor Group) in February 2011, this board nominated adviser committee to help out and two

persons representing India in it were Ms Upinder Singh, daughter of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and her colleague Ms Nayanjot Lahiri, who are not experts on any aspect of the Nalanda tradition or history. Apart from these, there have been several questions raised over the finances of the University. Between 2007 and 2011, the government had to spend Rs 2.11 crore on meetings held by a mentor group.

Identifying an unrecognized degree can be a hard task. The forgers usually use the same kind of stationery or paper, the right kind of ink as well as identical stamps, making it difficult to spot the difference between the genuine and the fake. And also, the broken system with the help of the

university officials allows some of the fake degrees to be issued. There are not many options left with the employers and the institution to check the validity. Using manual checking systems is an expensive, lengthy and a cumbersome process which may take days or even weeks to complete.

This is not always foolproof. Recently, a new solution is being considered by institutions which seem to be a quick and economical option. Authenticate, a global software company, has recently launched a verification process, which can be implemented by educational institutions while issuing degrees and certificates, and can be instantly verified at the user end by a simple and free downloadable app on a smart phone.

The pressure of being scholarly good either brings out geniuses or foul players.

Law and order problems involving teachers and students are on the increase. The examination system is in a mess. The capitation fee system is a glaring example of the role of money power in education.

UGC has laid down strong guidelines regarding Universities, but it does not bother to keep a check on the universities so that the universities do not violate the norms. As per the under-sectary of UGC and PIO, P. K. Sharma no action can be taken at the universities until the complaint has been made in writing (and complaining orally will not be entertained). He also informed us about the process of inspection which is done after every five years, but unfortunately he could not recall when was the last time they went to the inspection. On one hand, the Government is fighting against the educational issues with schemes like Right To Education Act (RTE), 2009 and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and on the other hand, there is no action taken against the wrong doers in the educational sector.

Scams by authority Year: 1956

University: Banaras Hindu Funds misappropriation In one of the first instances of corruption in educational institutions, Benaras Hindu University officials were accused of misappropriation of funds worth Rs 50 lakh.

Worth: 5million (USD 82,000)

Year: 2003

Bundelkhand University scam The fake degree scam was unearthed when B.Ed degrees of 17 teachers 30

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

appointed in Panchmahal were scrutinized by district education officer of Godhra, VJ Shah. Since the DEO had a doubt he sent an official to verify the authenticity of these degrees and all turned out to be unrecognized.

Year: June 2003

Haryana Teachers’ recruitment scam Former Haryana chief minister and 60 others used forged documents to appoint 3,206 teachers after taking hefty amounts from them which could collectively run into crores of rupees.

Worth: Crore of rupees

Year: April 2004

Ahmedabad Scam Nearly 1,700 teachers with degrees from other states were appointed by the education department in grant-in-aid schools. Twenty-one of these teachers were found with bogus degrees who were relieved from duty with immediate effect.

Year: October 2008

Sagar Central University Scam The H S Gour Central University’s

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

(Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh) vicechancellor, N S Gajbiye is allegedly embroiled in a scam involving siphoning off Rs 1000-crore of Central funds and committing irregularities in recruitment of professors over five years.

Worth: Rs 1000 crore

Year: 2009

UGC chairman Ved Prakash scam Provided fake PHD degree to his wife, who was not entitled to receive it. The degree was from Jamia Hamdard University.

Year: May 2010

UPTU registrar scam An NGO, Nyay Vikas Samiti, filed the petition at the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court saying Tomar used forged letters for his appointment as the registrar of the Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU).

Year: August 2010

Teacher training institutes scam -Irregularities nd corruption in NRC had its impact on teacher education in six states — Haryana, Himachal, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and the UT of Chandigarh — all of whom fall under its jurisdiction.

Year: Oct 2011

IGNOU Scam The CBI had charged VN Rajsekharan Pillai, VC of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) with noncompliance of norms. In 2009, SikkimManipal University (SMU) had applied for recognition of its 55 courses under the distance education programme. A joint expert committee of UGC-AICTE and Distance Education Council (DEC) visited SMU campus and found that the quality of course material did not meet the minimum required standard. Pillai, as chairperson of DEC, did not submit the compliance report before the joint action committee (JAC) of UGC-AICTE-DEC as mandated, but unilaterally gave a three-year extension to SMU. Pillai also faces charge for giving a three-year extension to Punjab Technical University without placing the compliance report before UGC-AICTEDEC's JAC.

Year: May 2013

revolutionize the way...

Year: Jun 2013

KSOU vice-chancellor scam The state government issued a showcause notice to KSOU vice-chancellor Prof. M.G. Krishnan asking him to explain how the KSOU had allotted study and examination centres and why examination centres have been allotted outside the state in contravention of all rules and regulations.

Year: Jul 2009

Anna University scam Madras High Court issued notice to Tamil Nadu Government, state police and Anna University (Coimbatore) on a petition charging that the Vice-Chancellor, Dr R Radhakrishnan had violated provisions of the University Act and acted against public interest.

Jul 2012-A probe was launched into irregularities in the allocation of industrial quota seats at the Anna University.

Jun 2013- AU constituted a threemember committee to look into a charge that some students who had failed in the exams were given pass marks by a few assistant professors who were allegedly forced to do so.

Year: Jul 2013

Amartya Sen’s Nalanda University scam Amartya Sen found guilty of inappropriately appointing Vice Chancellor for Nalanda University

Year: Oct 2013

Karnataka MLA’s “study tour” scam In October, nine MLAs went on an 18day study tour to Singapore, China and Japan that also included trips to deer parks and tropical rain forests.

Worth – Rs. 5, 85,900 per MLA

Year: Oct 2013

University of Madras’ Book scam University of Madras bought 5,000 to 10,000 copies of some textbooks for courses that don’t have more than 100 students a year.

Year: Dec 2013

EIILM University Scam Police in Sikkim and Bengal arrested the Vice Chancellor, Chairman, Registrar and the controller of examinations of EIILM University, a private university for fraudulently issuing mark sheet and certificate of a course that is not taught at

iConnect

the institution. A case of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy has been registered against all the four senior university officials.

DYSS: invalid certificate scam by lecturers A probe panel formed to look into validations of Masters Degree of Physical Education Lecturers in the Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) found the qualifications acquired by the lecturers

as invalid and recommended action against them.

Year: Jan 2014

Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences scam Until now, there have only been whispers about irregularities in and manipulation of the examination process at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), the country's prestigious university responsible for churning out top draw doctors. The alleged scam is now out in the open.

Year: Feb 2014

Madhya Pradesh PEB Scam The MPPEB scam came to light in July last year after alleged irregularities were found in the state's Pre-Medical Test (PMT) and in recruitment for various government posts, including contractual teachers. "A total of 32 scams including recruitment of contract teachers took place during 2012. I have proof of 22,000 fake appointments," Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly, Satyadev Katare told reporters in February 2014.

Degree/Certificate/ Mark-sheets Scams Year: Dec 2001

Bharitya Shiksha Parishad scam The high court on a public interest litigation (pil) petition asked Lucknow University and registrar, firms, societies and chits up to release a public advertisement informing the public at large that the degrees granted by the Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad are not valid degrees and to take appropriate action against the same.

Year: Nov 2006

Andhra University scam The internal committee set up to probe the marks scandal confirmed that some students of M.Sc Chemistry and other courses of 2005-06 batch were awarded pass marks despite they failed in the examinations.

Worth: 100 crore

Year: Sept 2007

Utkal University scam Oriya news portal odisha.com reported that higher marks were given to dozens of students who appeared in the final year examination conducted by Utkal University this year.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

31

Education system in

India

E

ducation in India began with teaching of traditional elements such as Indian Logic, Mathematic, and religions and so on. India had the Gurukula system of education in which anyone who wished to study went to a teacher's (Guru) house and requested to be taught. The guru taught everything the child wanted to learn, from Sanskrit to the Holy Scriptures and from Mathematics to Metaphysics. The student stayed as long as he wished or until the guru felt that he had taught everything he could teach. All learning was closely linked to nature and to life, and not confined to memorizing some information. With Islamic empires, the Islamic education came in the picture.

And then, Europeans brought western education along with them. Originally, Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay in the 1830s introduced the new school system, in which curriculum was confined to

32

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

“modern” subjects such as science and mathematics, and subjects like metaphysics and philosophy were considered unnecessary. Teaching was confined to classrooms and the link with nature was broken, as also the close relationship between the teacher and the student. Thus, one can also say that education in India is an age old tradition that has undergone a makeover to generate a conglomerate that is developing each day.

The Uttar Pradesh Board of High School and Intermediate Education was the first Board set up in India in the year 1921 with jurisdiction over Rajputana, Central India and Gwalior. There has been a considerable increase in the spread of educational institutions since India gained its independence in 1947. For instance, during the period 1950-51 and 2001-2002, the number of primary schools grew three-

fold, while the number of middle (upper primary) schools increased 16 times.

Today India’s higher education system has been ranked as the third largest in the world, after China and U.S.A. According to Mr. Binay Pattnayak, Education specialist, UNICEF, “This is a historic time in Indian education. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 is a boon for all children in the 6 to 14 year age group as it promises quality education for every child.

Section 29.2 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) prescribes that the curriculum and evaluation procedure for elementary education should be laid down by an academic authority to be specified by the appropriate Government, by notification. The academic authority, while laying down the curriculum and the evaluation procedure under sub-section (1), needs to take into consideration the following, namely: a) Conformity with the values enshrined in the Constitution; b) All round development of the child; c) Building up child's knowledge, potentiality and talent; d) Development of physical and mental abilities to the fullest extent; e) Learning through activities, discovery and exploration in a child friendly and child-centred manner; f) Medium of instructions shall, as far as practicable, be in child's mother tongue; g) Making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety and helping the child to express views freely; h) Comprehensive and continuous evaluation of child understands of knowledge and his or her ability to apply the same.

These broad guidelines set the tone for an appropriate planning for quality education for children. Inspite of debates and discussions regarding its achievements, it is visible that SSA has created a good ground for quality education in schools. In nearly every habitation in the country children have access to primary and upper primary schools. Schools are better equipped than before in terms of get up, space, rooms, cleanliness, toilets, drinking water, etc.

Teachers, although they are not adequate in number, are there in schools.

Majority of children are in school.

Diversity of children has increased significantly as they are entering school

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

EDUCATION CONNECT much more than ever before from all social categories. Children get free text books, uniforms, mid-day meals which enable them to stay in school and focus on education than bother about other basic issues. Probably a very few other programmes of the government have achieved as visibly as this.

To support the approach to teaching learning processes the National Curricular Framework, 2005 and the textbooks for primary and secondary level are very much activity based, child-friendly and learning focused. These are very much complimentary to the RTE Act. Some of the major challenges remain in following areas 1. Shortage of teachers as per norms of RTE Act 2. SSA is yet to focus on ‘learning’ aspects to ensure education of equitable quality for children 3. Attendance of students and teachers needs a lot of improvement 4. There is a need for greater focus on education of children in civil strife areas, multilingual areas, areas with

high child labour, migration, child marriage and child trafficking.

5. Learning assessment needs to be more child-friendly, continuous and comprehensive 6. Monitoring of education quality needs to improvement For years, Indian educational system has emphasized on ‘rote learning’ than understanding concepts thoroughly. This has affected several generations who have completed education without acquiring the desired knowledge, skills, interest and attitudes. We have mugged a lot of information without understanding the meaning of those concepts or, ways to apply concepts in daily lives. This has remained major challenge!

The new curriculum (NCF 2005) has questioned the approach to rote based learning and has emphasized on inquiry based learning, mathematisation of thinking, critical inquiry and activity based pedagogy. This is very different from the traditional teaching learning practices. Thinkers such as Yashpal have

clearly indicated in the new curriculum that ‘In India there is emphasis on a lot of teaching...but there is a little learning!!’

To address this, the new curriculum has emphasized on ‘learning’ based on research based learning theories. It has advocated for the following guiding principles. l connecting knowledge to life outside the school, l ensuring that learning is shifted away from rote methods, l enriching the curriculum to provide for overall development of children rather than remain textbook centric, l making examinations more flexible and integrated into classroom life and, l nurturing an over-riding identity informed by caring concerns within the democratic polity of the country I have attempted to put these into practice in the Jharkhand state.”

An interview of Mr. Prabhash K Dutta, Senior Producer and Journalist, Focus News will give a clear picture of today’s scenario of Indian education system:-

SKILL CONNECT

NSDC is associated with many industries which check with it if any worker requirement comes up. On the other hand NSDC is associated with both Training companies and Assessment Companies. Training companies are responsible to provide training who are registered under this program and Assessment companies decide on what basis should they qualify the candidates as qualified or not.

N

National skill development corporation

Scholarship for every student worth Rs. 1

SDC is a public private partnership (PPP) of education in India. It is a not for profit company setup under Ministry of Finance. The Finance Minister announced the formation of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in his Budget Speech (2008-09). It was set up to facilitate the development and upgradation of the skills of the growing Indian workforce through skill training programs.

It has a target of skilling 500 million Indians by the end of 2022.

It was set up under Section 25 of the Companies Act. NSDC is one of its kind, established by the Ministry of Finance. It has an equity base of Rs 10 crore, of which the private sector holds 51%, while the Government of India controls 49%. Its target is towards developing the skills in the unorganized sectors in India. NSDC supports skill development efforts, especially in the unorganized sector in India by funding skill training and development programs. It also aims at quality assurance, information systems, and having training institutes of its own or through

34

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

partnerships. India is a growing economy.

Being a developing country there is an increasing demand for skilled labour. There is a large workforce available but they lack in skills to meet the difficult demands of current times. This has created obstacles in the path of economic growth of our country. So here comes the role of NSDC. NSDC aims at increasing the productivity of current workforce by providing proper training and different certifications as per the need of the modern industry in this developing country. NSDC aims at benefiting atleast 10 lakh youths by providing a monetary reward at the time of successful completion of the training.

The main purpose of this scheme was to meet the gap between the demands and supply of skilled workforce in India. So in order to fulfill the demand of skilled workforce NSDC was setup. NSDC has a list of people already available who are already well qualified for the new role.

NSDC plays 3 key roles: Funding and incentivizing: This involves providing financial help to

upcoming industries. This help can be given either as loans or equity or by providing grants. It also promises to help upcoming businesses by providing them a tax break up and helping them in getting some tax relief.

Enabling support services: NSDC will play a significant enabling role in some of these support services, most importantly setting up standards even in partnership with industry associations.

Shaping/creating: It will have to identify critical skill groups that will need development and develop models for development of skills and attract potential private players and provide support to these efforts.

NSDC’s main focus Areas are: Skill development: The challenge of skilling / upskilling 500 million by 2022 will require both fundamental education reform across primary, secondary and higher education and significant enhancement of supplementary skill development.

Foster private sector initiatives: In

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

SKILL CONNECT

s. 10,000 strengthening supplementary skill development, NSDC will focus on fostering private sector led efforts that will include both non-profit and for-profit initiatives with the goal of building models that are scalable.

NSDC is associated with many industries which check with it if any worker requirement comes up. On the other hand NSDC is associated with both Training companies and Assessment Companies.

Training companies are responsible to provide training who are registered under this program and Assessment companies decide on what basis should they qualify the candidates as qualified or not. They are responsible for all kinds of assessment that are to be taken before providing a candidate with skill certificate.

Some of the Training companies with whom NSDC has partnered with are: Access Livelihoods, AISECT, Amass Skill Ventures Private Limited, Ants Consulting, Anudip Foundation, Anuna, Apollo Med Skills, Aptech, ARUNIM, Aspiring Minds Assessment Pvt. Ltd., Avon Facility

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

Management, AVR Edge, B – ABLE, Best First Step Education Pvt. Ltd, Calance Software, CAP Workforce Development, Caravan Craft Retail, CENTUM, Cinema Vision, CREDAI, Datapro Computers, Delphi Skill Development Corporation Pvt Ltd (DSDC), District wise presence of NSDC partners and centers, Don Bosco Tech Society, Drishtee, Edubridge, Edulight Careers, Emerge Learning Services Pvt Ltd, EMPOWER, ePalm Leaf, ESMS Esource Consulting, Extramarks Education, FUTURE, Future India: The Creative Skills & Innovation Reality Show, Global Talent Track, GLOBSYN, GOLS, GRAM TARANG, GRAS, IAHV, ICA Infotech Private Limited, ICA, ICSS (Pragmatic), IIGJ, IIJT, IISD, IL & FS Education, Indus Edutrain Private Limited, Mahindra Special Services Group (MSSG), Apollo Technical Education Foundation, ISKILL, Istar, Industree Crafts Foundation, Institute of Advanced Security Training & Management, Involute and many more.

All institutions, government or private (who, during the last two years, have been selected by any State Government or any Ministry of the Government of India to implement any Government funded or sponsored scheme), or are NSDC partners, are eligible to be a part of the approved list of training providers under this scheme.

Any other training provider who wishes to participate in the scheme needs to contact the relevant SSC and get affiliated through a formal process based on an Affiliation Protocol, which will be available on the scheme website.

This scheme is available to any candidate of Indian nationality who: -Undergoes a skill development training in an eligible sector by an eligible training provider -Is certified during Financial Year by approved assessment agencies -Is availing of this monetary award for the first and only time during the operation of this scheme. At the time of registration, it is desirable that the trainee shares the Aadhar number with the Training partner.

In case the Aadhar number is not available at the time of registration, it is mandatory to share the mobile number. While the trainee can undergo training without an Aadhar number, certificate generation and monetary award is not possible without the Aadhar number. The trainee must get an Aandhar number before assessment and certification is completed. The Training Provider may support the trainee in the creation of the Aadhar number before training completion. A candidate can go for

any course from the list of all the registered courses specified in the high demand area.

The details of the candidate will be entered into SDMS database with his UID/NPR number or mobile number along with all the contact details.

A candidate does have to pay fee for the course he wants to go for but special kind of arrangement has been made for candidates from economically weaker section. They are given a facility of paying the fee only equal to the difference of fee amount and the reward amount. In such case the reward money to be received by candidate on completion of course is directly transferred to the training provider once the candidate passes the assessment. Once training is completed the candidate can get himself assessed and capture the details on SDMS. Then a certificate will be issued to the candidate and if same course is being run by other institutes then NSDC will try for dual certification of the course for the candidate. Thereafter the payment of the award money is also done to the candidate directly to his account.

NSDC ensures decentralization by having so many partners to work along with it and thus increase the scope of people covered through this program. It has revitalized the Craft Centre with increased sales. The Craft component of CACC has been redrawn to improve the quantity, quality and variety. To know that how much affect did NSDC had on the current employment and results of employment, a impact survey was conducted which revealed that Job Attachment had increased by a 13% rate from 2006. NSDC is currently working with TVET Accreditation Unit of the Ministry of Education to gain Accreditation which will then be used to award Caribbean Vocational Qualification.

Many kinds of campaigns have been launched by NSDC to promote itself and become known in people so that people can utilize this platform for a better living for themselves and their families.

Advertisement campaign through TV has been taken up by the agency named Ogilvy & Mather. In this campaign to special industries have been selected and the campaign went on air in February 2014. All in all NSDC is working consecutively to improve its service and increasing the partners so that the reach of NSDC comes to every citizen of India be it in a village or town. NSDC is going forward and empowering youth with the power of self development.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

35

Problems with News Reporters It is true that the law enforcement agencies have to be more vigilant. At the same time some protective legislation needs to be put into place for protecting the life and liberties of journalists

I

n recent years the instances of attacks on Indian journalists have been growing with alarming rapidity.

Many of these could be attributed to the sheer contempt in which anti-socials and wealthy classes hold the law enforcement agency and the judiciary. What are the causes of this growing social evil could be?

Of late there have been several instances of attacks on the journalists that include everything from insult, beating, harassment, wrong punishment through the most atrocious events of rape and murder. Media is considered to be the fourth pillar of democracy but it is unfortunate that in a democratic set up like India, this 4th pillar is coming under consistent attacks by anti-socials and 36

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

vested interests. One truly wonders what the possible causes are and what the possible remedies to eradicate this social evil could be.

Incidences of Attacks on Journalists in Recent Years But first of all; we may have a look at the incidences that have taken place in recent years constituting attacks against journalists.

• August 24th 2013 – A reporter representing a Hindi daily newspaper was shot dead in the Erawah district, the district that is represented by the Chief Minister of the State of Uttar Pradesh, Sri Akhilesh Yadav.

• August 22nd 2013 – Lady photo journalist representing an English

•

•

•

•

Magazine was gang raped by five persons in the Shakti Mills compound of Mahalxminagar in Mumbai.

May 19th 2013 –Manger Ranji Chowdhury of Bengali newspaper Dainik Ganadoot was stabbed to death by three masked men. Also the proof reader Suji t Bhattacharjee and driver Balaram Ghosh were assaulted.

January 16th 2013 – A photographer and a trainee reporter were beaten up

by Telegu Desam Party MLA Chintamaneni Prabhakar in Koppaka village in Andhra Pradesh.

December 23rd 2012 – Reporter Nanao Singh of Prime News was killed in police fire in Thangmeiband in Imphal in Manipur.

September27th 2012 – Chaitali

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

MEDIA CONNECT Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Odisha, Assam, and Gujarat during these two yeas. However sporadic incidences also occurred in these states during earlier years.

Jurm Se Jung was killed due to parcel bomb blast in Howrah.

• April 11th 2012 – District Bureau Chief of Rajasthan Patrika was attacked by a political activist in Kanker in Chhattisgarh.

• March 1st 2012 –Media Raj journalist Rajesh Mishra was beaten to death by a group of unidentified persons in Jabbalpur.

These are only the incidence covering a period of two years; 2012 and 2013 and are in no way exhaustive as there had been umpteenth smaller incidences that could not find place prominently in print and electronic media.

Why Such Assault When it comes to assault by anti-socials, mafia bosses, or so called elite traders dealing in crores and in reality blood suckers of the country, the motive behind the assault on journalists can be easily guessed.

• These people do not want the truth discovered by the journalist does not come out in the public which may harm their evil designs and interests.

• They want to prevent the journalist from taking up a right cause for rendering justice to the victim.

• Such attempts are detestable actions to throttle the voice of truth and needs to be denounced on all costs.

On the other hand there could be instances where personal rivalries between two commercial organizations come to the forefront. Each of them tries to outgun the other and it often ends up in preparation of plan to disable the most vital tool in the hands of one of them, a promising journalist. However, at times it seems bizarre because many of the print and electronic media are run by businessmen who don’t have much interest for public welfare and instead look forward to greater profits. Another reason that the journalists are at times subjected to public wrath is because they are steadily losing their credibility in the eyes of the public thanks to mindless indulgence in corruption by a sector of the media persons. These people do not have

male journalists in India by unruly crowd and anti-socials is a matter that needs to be handled properly by the law enforcement agency, a later trend is even more alarming. It is the assault on woman journalists by their male counterparts. An example is the Tehalka Chief Tejpal being accused and arrested for sexual harassment dealt out to fellow women journalist in the organization. It was the same Tahalka that rocked the nation with several sting operations of VIPs in the country. If the journalists themselves indulge in attacks against journalists then who can save them? All said and done there is necessity to take certain positive steps in this regards.

It is true that the law enforcement agencies have to be more vigilant. At the same time some protective legislation needs to be put into place for protecting the life and liberties of journalists who have a very important role in the society to play. But more than others; the media should indulge in creating awareness among common mass and create sympathetic attitude in them removing the negative feeling many have towards the journalists and their profession thanks to some journalists indulging in unethical scandalizing of people. Public reaction is not as it should be in case of assault on journalists and most of it is their own doing. The Government as well as the NGOs has not contributed much to this end either. It is high time that all forces join hands to make ethical journalism (not yellow journalism) independent and free from all threats; an important ingredient of a truly democratic set up.

Matter of Greater Concerns While assault or attack on male and fe-

Trend More Visible in Certain Parts of the Country Among the incidences reported above; one third or four occurred in Chhattisgarh and one in Madhya Pradesh. Other places were Kashmir, Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. Strangely enough; no such incidences took place in states like Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014

37

NEWS CONNECT

Beyond the boundaries of 'on campus' If ‘open source’ is the buzzword on the web, the idea of open pedagogy is what is making news for producing pedagogy free as well as available to all.

While using the reputation of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), the series appears to be blurring between online and on campus. This is true even in India.

Consider this illustration: edX, the online learning effort founded by Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has India as its second largest niche for MOOCs on the globe, after the U.S. It is even expected that India might exceed the U.S. soon.

Anant Agarwal, President of edX, says approximately 12.5 % of the total number of individuals having their web

based classes is through India. The U.S. constitutes 30 per cent even though the U.K. had about four per cent. “The Indian demographic is slightly younger – the average age is 23 years when worldwide it is 26 years. Of this, about 5 % are less than 18 years old, 40 per cent are among 18 and 25 years of age and the remainder, under 25 years,” he stated.

This open pedagogy trend is being attributed to the chance for Indian students to get into top notch learning online. Programs designed by Harvard, MIT, IIT and similar esteemed universities have become accessible to students anywhere in the world. One of the first Hindi MOOCs has been presented by the Australian National University (ANUx) on the edX podium in the form of a program called Engaging India. edX has also announced a tie-up with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai and will also be introducing courses by IIT-Mumbai on their podium

by July of this year.

Mr. Agarwal stated the programs offered online aren't full breadth of a degree but a percentage of it. For example, the Introduction to Computer Science course provides an ‘introduction for the intellectual businesses of computer science and the art of programming with or without preceding programming experience’; the Engaging India course is described as a ‘course that investigates some of the factors which have shaped India and what makes India the nation it is today.’

One of the most favorite factors of taking online courses is the fact it offers versatility to students/professionals.

Because of the flexibility provided by online learning, not only undergraduate students, but additionally individuals who already have full-time jobs or some other responsibilities can easily take additional courses as well as earn their college certifications on the internet.

IIM calcutta to establish branches in Malaysia & Dubai Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta is exploring the chance of putting in campuses in Dubai and in Malaysia before long. As per sources, the proposal has been conversed with many Board of Governor members and is awaiting a final approval. Presently IIM Indore, IMT Ghaziabad and XLRI among others, have branches in Dubai.

Business colleges within the Mideast attract aspirants not eager to travel all the way to Europe or USA for best quality education. Indian Institutes are more economical than European or America institutes. IIM Calcutta officers have additionally mentioned that they're expecting sensible response to their govt. programmes that are offered on a vicinity time basis to permit individuals presently operating to review side-by-side. The 38

iConnect

revolutionize the way...

center east is additionally host to several firms, which is able to change a lot of

opportunities for placements. However, Indian Institutes are needed to obtain clearance from Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) before fixing international branches.

Apart from Dubai, IIM Calcutta is additionally considering a branch in Malaysia, as Malaysian government representatives had earlier invited IIM Calcutta to open a field at their coming data village.

At the time of the preliminary invite, IIM Calcutta had turned down the request attributable to shortage of faculty, however currently once increasing their teaching force; a Malaysian field could before long air the cards. A Singapore field isn't probably as several international business colleges have their footprint in Singapore already.

www.iconnectnews.com | E-mail: media@educationiconnect.com | April 2014