Education Community

Ravindra Kulkarni has recently been designated as the Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University (MU), while Dr. Suresh Gosavi has assumed the role of Vice Chancellor at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), as per an announcement from the office of Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais on Tuesday. The Governor, who acts as the chancellor of public universities in the state, also tweeted about Dr. Sanjay Bhave being appointed as the new VC of Dr. Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth in Dapoli. Dr Ravindra Dattatray Kulkarni has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mumbai; while Dr. Suresh Wamangir Gosavi has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Savitribai Phule Pune University. — Governor of Maharashtra (@maha_governor) June 6, 2023 Dr. Kulkarni is a respected professor at the Institute of Chemical Technology, and Dr. Gosavi holds a senior professorship in the Department of Physics at SPPU. Dr. Bhave currently leads the department at Balasaheb Sawant Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth. Mumbai University (MU) and Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) are two prestigious educational institutions in Maharashtra, India. Mumbai University, established in 1857, is one of the oldest and largest universities in the country. It offers a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs across various disciplines, including arts, science, commerce, law, engineering, and technology. The university has numerous affiliated colleges and institutes, making it a hub of academic and research activities in the region. Savitribai Phule Pune University, founded in 1949, is another renowned university known for its academic excellence. It offers diverse academic programs in fields such as arts, science, commerce, management, engineering, and social sciences. SPPU has a strong focus on research and innovation, collaborating with national and international institutions to foster academic partnerships and advancements. Both universities play a crucial role in shaping the educational landscape of Maharashtra, producing skilled graduates and contributing to the overall development of the state. They are led by Vice Chancellors who oversee the administration, academic policies, and overall functioning of the institutions, ensuring quality education and research opportunities for students and faculty.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has announced that it is undertaking a need-based exercise to rationalize textbooks with the aim of reducing the content load. According to the NCERT, the new set of books will only be used for the upcoming academic year and are not intended for long-term use. This rationalization is a temporary measure as the NCERT is currently in the process of finalizing the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) based on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Once the NCF-SE is completed, a new set of textbooks will be introduced for the following academic year. The removal of the chapter on the periodic table from Class 10 Science textbooks and the deletion of passages on evolution were part of the rationalization exercise conducted in June 2022. The NCERT stated that these changes were made considering the mental health of students during the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath. The NCERT is committed to developing scientific thinking in students by providing updated and globally standardized textbooks in all subject areas, including Science. The development of the new textbooks will align with the principles outlined in the NEP 2020.

The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) has announced the results of the SSC (Class 10) board exams for the year 2023. The results can be accessed on the official websites of the board, namely mahresult.nic.in, sscresult.mkcl.org, or msbshse.co.in. This year, the pass percentage for SSC students is 93.83%, showing a decrease of 3.18% compared to the previous year. The decline in pass percentage is observed across various board exams at the state and national levels. Several factors may have contributed to this decline, including the impact of the lockdown on students’ learning abilities, the successful anti-cheating campaign implemented in the state, the leniency granted during the board exams in pandemic years, and the varying difficulty levels of question papers. In terms of individual scores, 151 students achieved a perfect 100%, with the majority from Latur (108) followed by Aurangabad (22), Amravati (7), Mumbai (6), Pune (5), and Konkan (3). Out of the 37,704 repeaters who registered for the SSC exams, 36,648 appeared, and 22,320 successfully passed, resulting in a pass percentage of 60.90%. Additionally, 8,397 persons with disabilities registered for the SSC exams, out of which 8,312 appeared and 7,688 passed, recording a pass percentage of 92.49%. Among the nine divisions, Konkan secured the highest pass percentage at 98.11%, while Nagpur had the lowest at 92.05%. Once again, girls outperformed boys with a pass percentage of 95.87% compared to boys’ 92.05%. A total of 1,529,096 students appeared for the exams, with 1,434,898 students passing. Among them, 526,210 students achieved first class, 334,015 received a second division, and 85,298 obtained a pass class. Students can apply for mark verification online at http://verification.mh-ssc.ac.in from June 3 to June 12, along with a fee of Rs 50. A remarkable 66,578 students scored 90% and above, and 173,586 students were granted additional marks for participating in non-academic activities such as sports. Additionally, 33,306 students have been allowed to proceed to the next grade with a “keep term” status (ATKT), in case they failed in a maximum of two subjects. These students need to clear their SSC papers before being admitted to Class 12. This year, a total of 1,577,256 students registered for the MSBSHSE SSC exam, comprising 844,116 boys and 733,067 girls. The exams were conducted from March 2 to March 25 at 5,033 centers across the state. In previous years, the pass percentages were as follows: 96.94% in 2022, 99.95% in 2021, 95.30% in 2020 (pre-pandemic), 77.10% in 2019, and 89.41% in 2018.

The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) has made an official announcement regarding the Maharashtra SSC Result 2023. According to the announcement, the results will be released tomorrow, June 2, 2023. This news follows the recent declaration of the HSC 12th Result on May 25, 2023, which was eagerly anticipated by 14 lakh students. Now, approximately 16 lakh students who appeared for the SSC exams are anxiously awaiting the release of their 10th class results. The Maharashtra Board conducted the SSC or Class 10 exams from March 2 to March 25, 2023. These exams marked a crucial milestone for students as they completed their secondary education. The board’s decision to release the results in the first week of June has added to the anticipation among students and their families. To access their Maharashtra SSC Result 2023, students will need to visit the official websites of the board, mahresult.nic.in and mahahsscboard.in. Once on the website, they will be required to enter their roll number and mother’s name, which will serve as authentication for accessing their individual results. This step ensures the privacy and security of the students’ information while providing them with an easy way to obtain their results online. As the Maharashtra SSC Result 2023 is set to be unveiled, students across the state are eagerly awaiting the outcome of their hard work and dedication. The release of the results will mark the beginning of a new chapter in their academic journey, guiding them towards their future endeavours.

On May 25, the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE) released the results for Class 12. The state’s chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, declared a few days after the results were made public that all deserving students would receive laptops. More than 78,000 deserving students who achieved over 75% in their Class 12 exams will receive laptops, according to Chouhan. Additionally, toppers will this time receive e-scooters from the MP Board. The state board previously only gave out e-scooters to female toppers, but this time, male toppers will also receive e-scooters. This time, an overall pass percentage of 55.28 percent has been recorded. Overall, girls outperformed boys since they received a pass percentage of 58.75% as opposed to 52.00% for boys. A total of 729426 students, including 353989 girls and 375437 boys, took the Class 12 exams. This time, the overall pass percentage for the Commerce stream was 57.37 percent. The overall pass percentage for the Science stream was 66.07%, whereas the overall pass percentage for the Humanities stream was 44.95%. The official websites, mpbse.nic.in, mpbse.mponline.gov.in, mpresults.nic.in, and madhyapradesh.shiksha, allow students who took the exam to view their results. The minister recently engaged in other interactions with students, encouraging them to set high goals, remain committed, and show respect for their parents and teachers.

The 54-year-old institution Sadhvidya Pratishtanam (SVP), which promotes the classical language, has launched Samskrita Sambhashanashala, its fifth online program on teaching spoken Sanskrit. According to a press release from the institute, SVP, founded by prominent Sanskrit scholar, the late Prof Padamnabha Sharma, aspires to teach Sanskrit to as many as 5,000 individuals by 2027. A former senior bureaucrat who is also SVP’s patron emeritus, CV Gopinath, inaugurated the session. Even though it is the language of the ancient scriptures, there are only a few thousand people who can speak it. However, a few villages, such Sasana (Odisha), Jhiri (Rajasthan), and (Karnataka), have embraced it as a spoken language. The SVP has a faculty that includes, among others, former senior Sanskrit professors of the University Prof. Smt. Dharma, Dr. Pitambar Poudel, and Dr. Shankar Dutt Pandey for the classes that are held in two batches every Saturday evening. After completing the Sambhashanashala, students are urged to join the SVP’s Samskrita Swadhyaya Mandala to continue practising spoken Sanskrit.

The Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur has partnered with the TIH iHub Drishti Foundation. For the academic year 2023–2024, the institute is accepting applications for a part-time MTech programme in augmented reality and virtual reality (AR and VR). To meet the immediate needs of working professionals in new AR and VR technologies, IIT Jodhpur is offering a part-time MTech. Candidates with a BE, BTech, MSc, or MCA degree in any field are eligible to apply. The course application deadline is June 10. Candidates who are interested and qualified should apply at the official website, ihub-drishti.ai/mtecharvr. The School of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science will offer the second batch of the curriculum. For the two-year programme, students must earn 60 credits. Students will complete the course offline and spend 15 days immersed on-campus. The candidates will be chosen based on programming, a written exam, an interview, and any other factors the admissions committee deems appropriate. Candidates with prior research exposure or professional experience will have an advantage. The programme seeks to offer a thorough comprehension, excellent analytical skills, and useful research skills. Students who complete the programme will be knowledgeable about the various design and modelling tools used in AR and VR applications. This programme will help students develop the ability to design technological solutions to meet the growing demands of AR and VR systems.

The class 12 or HSC examination results were released by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Education (MSBSHSE) at 11 a.m. 91.25% of students passed the MSBSHSE HSC exam. Today (May 25) at 2:00 PM, the HSC result link will be made live. The official websites mahresult.nic.in, hscresult.mkcl.org, hsc.mahresult.org.in, and msbshse.co.in are where HSC students can check their results. The Konkani division of the Maharashtra State Board continues to have the highest passing percentage (96.01%) out of all nine divisions. The HSC exams took place in 2023 from February 21 to March 20 in two shifts, from 11 am to 2 pm in the morning and from 3 pm to 6 pm in the evening. 7,92,780 boys and 6,64,441 girls made up the total number of candidates who enrolled for the exam, which had 14,57,293. The streamwise passing percentage are:- Science – 96.09 Commerce – 90.42 Vocational – 89.25 Arts – 84.05 According to an announcement from MSBSHSE, students who are dissatisfied with the results may apply online at verification.mh-hsc.ac.in for the verification of answer scripts or to request photocopies of the answer sheets. There were 6,60,780 students enrolled in the science stream. In the entire state, 4,04,761 students had registered for the arts stream and 3,45,532 for the commerce stream. MSBSHSE HSC students must go to the official website, mahresult.nic.in, to download their score card. You will then be taken to a new window via another link. To view the results, candidates will then need to provide their roll number and their mother’s first name. Results for the Class 12 HSC were released on June 8 in 2022. Maharashtra achieved a 94.22 percent overall pass percentage. The pass percentage for the boys was 93.29 percent, while for girls it was 95.35 percent. 14.85 lakh students, of which 8.17 lakh were boys and 6.68 lakh were girls, registered for the exam. The examinations took place between March 4 and April 7.

From the upcoming academic year, the University of Delhi intends to launch two integrated five-year LLB programmes, a senior Delhi University official informed PTI. The official identified these as the Bachelor of Arts-LLB and the Bachelor Business Administration/Bachelor of Commerce-LLB, adding that 102 students will initially be enrolled in each section. In order to begin the five-year integrated LLB programmes, the institution intends to submit an application to the Bar Council of India after receiving approval from the two statutory authorities, the Academic Council and Executive Council. The Department of Law was established in the Faculty of Law at the University of Delhi in 1924, marking the beginning of legal education in India. Up until recently, the law school offered a three-year LLB, an LLM (both full- and part-time), and a PhD in Law. The official gave more information about the two new programmes, saying: “The Bachelor of Arts-LLB (BA-LLB) programme will offer at least three arts disciplines, such as political science, sociology, and economics, along with the courses in law, while the Bachelor Business Administration/Bachelor of Commerce-LLB (BBA/BCom-LLB) will offer various courses (papers) of commerce, management, and economics disciplines.” According to him, entrance to the new courses will be determined by the results of the Common Law Entrance Test (CLAT) 2023. The official was a member of the committee established to create these courses. Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh formed a Workload Assessment Committee in 2022 to investigate the five-year integrated LLB programmes’ implementation in terms of determining the existing workload and formulating the program’s operational guidelines. The Academic Council will meet on May 26 and will be discussing a report that the committee provided. “Legal education institutions imparting such integrated programmes in NCT are either very expensive or lack quality or both. Therefore, access to quality legal education is a challenge for the youth. Accordingly, it was felt that the university, in its centennial year, should start five-year integrated law programmes, which shall be of a high standard and more affordable,” the official said. The seats allocated for the programmes will be additional to the authorised seats for the Faculty of Law and will be new. The committee has recommended creating a new centre that will be a component of the Faculty of Law. The official stated, “The new centre will be given a name and a professor-in-charge will be in charge.” The committee has recommended that these two programmes be initially operated by the current faculty members of the three law centres (LC-I, LC-II, and CLC) with regard to providing for teaching faculty. However, the committee has recommended that, “depending on the operational requirement, necessary arrangements be made by the university for the purpose of teaching in Arts and BBA/Commerce components of the programmes.” The committee also discussed the problem of available space for the five-year integrated LLB degrees, and it was determined that sufficient space, in accordance with Bar Council of India standards, will be supplied within the current infrastructural facilities offered by the university. The two programmes will begin in a few rooms on two floors of Kanad Bhavan. According to the Bar Council’s 2008 Legal Education Rules, these rooms will be prepared, the source stated. Source: PTI

The Common University Entrance Test-Undergraduate (CUET-UG), with the exception of Jammu & Kashmir and Manipur, will be conducted nationwide by the National Testing Agency (NTA) starting in 2023. Students can access the official website, cuet.samarth.ac.in, to download their CUET-UG Admit Cards. Between May 21 and May 31, the exam will be administered all around the nation. 14.99 lakh candidates have enrolled for the entrance exam overall this year, and they opted for 64,35,050 test papers. Nearly 6.51 lakh of the 14.99 lakh candidates who will take the CUET UG 2023 exam are female. Candidates are recommended to be at the examination centre two hours prior to the start of the examination. A valid ID proof, such as an Aadhar card, UID, driver’s licence, passport, voter identification card, etc., must be carried by candidates along with their admission cards. For pasting on the designated place in the Attendance Sheet at the Centre during the exam, candidates may need to bring one passport-size photo (identical to the one uploaded on the online application form). The examination centre does not permit the use of any electronic devices, including smartphones, smartwatches, and other gadgets. Only the Rough Sheets provided at the site of the test in the Examination Room/Hall may be used for calculations or writing, and after finishing the exam, applicants must turn in the Rough Sheets to the Invigilator on duty in the Room/Hall.