Education Community

Varsha Gaikwad, Maharashtra’s school education minister, has urged the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) to offer an urgent clarification on the vaccine mandate for board exams beginning April 25. “Some students for the ICSE board have reached out to me regarding an advisory, dated January 4, 2022, issued by the CISCE, mandating Covid vaccination for all those appearing for the board exam. Some schools are citing it to say that unvaccinated students will not be permitted to sit for exams. This despite the Centre’s affidavit in the Supreme Court that vaccines are not mandatory,” Gaikwad tweeted, adding that her office had already contacted the CISCE. “The said mandate was issued in January,” Francis Joseph, President of the School Leaders Network, who has reached out to the CISCE on behalf of the Minister, said. Until a new advisory is published, schools will continue to follow the existing one. As a result, schools began giving their students instructions. Then some parents came to the Minister’s office to express their concerns.” “While vaccines are a lifesaver against Covid, not allowing unvaccinated students to take exams will be discriminatory,” Minister added. I would therefore urge the CISCE to issue an urgent clarification in this regard.”

The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and the Indian Plumbing Association (IPA) have inked an agreement to introduce a plumbing course in engineering and architecture institutes across India, according to officials. The MoU was signed by AICTE Chairman Anil D Sahasrabudhe and IPA National President Gurmit Singh Arora. Students majoring in engineering, architecture, or interior design, as well as graduates with a “major” degree in civil, environmental, or mechanical engineering, architecture, or interior design, will be eligible to take a four-credit course in “Plumbing” (Water and Sanitation) according to the agreement. Plumbing is a strongly felt requirement in engineering and architecture courses since plumbing is linked to a building’s health. At the signing of the MoU, AICTE Chairman said, “The IPA and the AICTE have collaborated to create a 50-hour plumbing course that would be 80 percent theory and 20 percent practical.” All educational institutions accredited by the technical education regulation should offer a plumbing (water and sanitation) programme to educate students for careers in the sector, according to the IPA and AICTE. IPA will train institutional faculty to administer the plumbing course through AICTE’s faculty development programmes. “This is a tremendous opportunity for all stakeholders in the plumbing industry because plumbing will become more organised and structured as a result,” said Arora. “One of IPA’s goals is to educate and instruct engineers, architects, and students in these fields on the characteristics of excellent and proper plumbing techniques.”

On April 22, 2022, the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) will hold the national launch of the Dr. Ambedkar Centre of Excellence. Virendra Kumar, India’s Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, will inaugurate the centre. The centres are being opened to provide coaching to students from the scheduled caste (SC) for the Union Public Service Commission’s civil service examination (UPSC). The proposed centre will be established in 31 central universities across the country, including Banaras Hindu University. The launch ceremony will be held at the Shatabdi Krishi Prekshagrih, Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Vice-chancellors from all of the other universities where the centre will be established will also be present. The Dr Ambedkar Foundation and implementing universities will also sign two MoUs to establish the centres and Dr Ambedkar Chairs. Each centre will have 100 seats, with over 33% of the total sanctioned seats going to eligible female candidates from the scheduled caste (SC) category. In each centre, up to three faculty members will be appointed. Separate classrooms, a library, high-speed WiFi connectivity, and other necessary infrastructure are recommended for the centres’ smooth operation. Candidates must pass an entrance exam in order to be admitted to the centre and get coaching.

Skill-Lync, an engineering edtech startup, announced on Tuesday that it has built an in-house electric vehicle to help its students gain insights into the automotive industry’s future. The vehicle was created by a team of six in-house experts at Skill-Lync in collaboration with professionals from the country’s leading OEMs. The EV, which would be built over the course of nine months at a cost of approximately Rs 5 lakh, would provide students with practical knowledge of what goes into building an EV. The EV currently has a top speed of 45 kilometres per hour and a range of 40 kilometres. It has a five-person carrying capacity and can accelerate from zero to top speed in six seconds. “The automotive industry is undergoing significant change, which is being driven by sustainability and an increasing base of conscious consumers.” “Skill-Lync cofounder SuryaNarayanan PaneerSelvam said in a statement. “In addition to our coursework, we offer first-hand experience building an EV from the scratch, providing a holistic view of the automotive industry’s future.” The company stated that it intends to release a series of masterclass videos that will visually depict the EV building process, and that it aims to build more such EV prototypes.  “EVs are a major part of the global sustainable journey and there is a pronounced need for a new crop of automotive engineers that can design, develop, and test these vehicles that are built on newage, sophisticated systems,” Sarangarajan V Iyengar, cofounder, Skill-Lync, said.

According to Ministry of Education sources, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided to return to the pre-pandemic single-exam format beginning with the next academic year, which means that the Class X and XII board exams will not be divided into two parts. For the 2021-22 academic year, the CBSE has instituted a bifurcated format with two terms: the Term-I board exams were held in November-December last year, while the Term-II exams will begin on April 26. It has been learned that the Term II exams will be weighted more heavily. Following the cancellation of board exams for the 2020-21 academic year due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the decision was made. Previous exam results, practical exams, and internal assessments were used to grade students. According to a senior official, the board decided to reinstate the single-exam pattern after hearing from schools. “The CBSE has never stated that the two-term exam format will be continued in the future.” It was a one-time formula. Now that schools are fully operational, the decision has been made to stick to the one-time exam format for the time being,” said the official. However, in terms of syllabus rationalisation, CBSE will stick to the policy it implemented over the last two years, which saw the syllabus reduced by 30%. “The NCERT will send us the rationalisation details, upon which an announcement will be made.” “The existing books can be used to teach the reduced syllabus in schools,” said the official. To “eliminate the high stakes aspect of board exams,” the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 proposes allowing all students to take the board exams up to two times in an academic year — “one main examination and one for improvement.” “While Grades X and XII board exams will be continued, the current system of board and entrance examinations will be reformed to eliminate the need for coaching classes.” According to the NEP, board exams will be redesigned to encourage holistic development in order to reverse the harmful effects of the current assessment system.

On Tuesday, the University Grants Commission (UGC) announced that students will now be able to pursue two full-time academic programmes in physical mode. The commission has developed a set of guidelines in this regard, which are now available on the official website, ugc.ac.in. Previously, UGC regulations prohibited students from pursuing two full-time programmes, and they could only pursue one full-time degree in addition to online/short-term/diploma courses. The guidelines will apply to all programmes offered throughout the country. Students can select between a diploma programme and an undergraduate (UG) degree, two master’s programmes, or two bachelor’s programmes. If a student is eligible to pursue a postgraduate (PG) degree and also wishes to enrol in a bachelor’s degree in a different domain, he or she will be able to do so. The class times for both programmes must not overlap. “It was decided at the last commission meeting on March 31 to issue guidelines that will enable students to pursue two academic programmes simultaneously because the NEP 2020 emphasises the need to facilitate multiple pathways to learning involving both formal and non-formal education forms, in the sense that a combination of the physical model, as well as the online form, should be used to provide more freedom to the students to acquire multiple skills,” UGC chairman, Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar said. Students will be able to pursue two degree programmes across domains such as sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and a wide range of disciplines under the new guidelines. Adopting these guidelines is optional for universities, and they can only be implemented with the approval of the universities’ governing bodies. The eligibility criteria for each programme will remain unchanged, and admissions will be made in accordance with current UGC and university norms. “A student can pursue two full-time academic programmes in the physical mode provided that in such cases, class timings for one programme do not overlap with the class timings of the other programme. Universities will have the flexibility to decide if they want to offer such a scheme of programmes or not. The guidelines will only be applicable to lecture-based courses, including undergraduate, postgraduate, and diploma programmes. MPhil and PhD programmes will not fall under the same scheme,” Kumar added. The change allows a student to enrol in not only two physical programmes at the same time, but also two academic programmes, one in full-time physical mode and the other in open and distance learning mode. They can also enrol in a physical programme at a university in addition to an online programme. Students can also pursue two online degrees simultaneously as a third option. Universities will have to develop attendance criteria for these courses because all academic programmes have minimum attendance requirements for students to be able to take exams. “UGC does not mandate any attendance requirements, and these are university policies,” Kumar added. “With the rapid increase in demand for high-quality higher education and the limitation of only enrolling about 3% of students on physical campuses, many developments in the fields of open and distance learning, as well as online education, have occurred.” Many universities now offer both offline and online programmes,” Kumar said, adding that the UGC will release revised regulations for online education in a few weeks, after which many top-tier institutes in India will begin offering online degrees.

Banaras Hindu University has launched a new scholarship programme designed to “promote and motivate international students.” Through this programme, the scheme hopes to attract international students. Foreign students will receive Rs 6000 per month under the programme, which will be renewed annually based on satisfactory performance. If a student is already receiving a scholarship of a lower value, he or she will be entitled to the difference. The decision to launch the ‘Scholarship to International Students’  was made at a meeting of the Governing Body of the Institution of Eminence, BHU, under the chairmanship of vice-chancellor Sudhir K Jain. According to VC Sudhir K Jain, the university has formed a three-member committee to oversee the scheme’s implementation and monitoring. All applications submitted under the scheme must be submitted to BHU’s Institution of Eminence Cell. Every year, the university claims to attract hundreds of international students who are admitted to undergraduate, postgraduate, PhD, and diploma programmes in agricultural sciences, arts, social sciences, performing arts, visual arts, law, commerce, and sciences. Foreign students account for up to 15% of total seat capacity. These seats are of supernumerary nature. Banaras Hindu University currently has 431 students from nearly 40 countries enrolled. Among them are 261 male and 170 female students from the United States, Brazil, France, Russia, Ireland, Australia, Yemen, Iran, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. “The scheme is expected to draw more international students to BHU. Besides, it is also in the spirit of National Education Policy 2020 which puts a greater focus on internationalisation of the Indian Education System, by way of having more students from abroad on Indian campuses,” according to an official statement released by BHU.

The Maharashtra government on Thursday launched a three-month online course designed by the state’s health sciences university for medical students who have returned home after stopping their studies in war-torn Ukraine. The digital content was prepared by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) in Nashik, in collaboration with Elsevier, a private entity. The study module was introduced by State Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh and MUHS Vice-Chancellor Lt Gen Madhuri Kanitkar (retd). “The digital content has been developed by the MUHS with the help from Elsevier. It is a voluntary course for students who have returned from Ukraine. This is a temporary arrangement for the students who at present have no access to education,” said Ms Kanitkar. According to her, the MUHS has also created a mobile application for the online learning module, which students can download on their phones and use to access the course material. “Students interested in taking up the online course will have to register themselves on the MUHS portal. No fee will be charged from the students for this course,” the Vice-Chancellor said. Deshmukh said the module will prove useful for Ukraine-returned students and they should take advantage of it. “Students pursuing medical education in Ukraine had to return to India due to outbreak of war there. To avoid educational loss of these students, the MUHS and Elsevier have made available useful content for them in a very short period,” the minister said. “As this course has been developed as a stopgap arrangement, there will be no special benefits of this course for the students,” said Amit Modi, a senior officer at Elsevier. Source: PTI

The exam dates for JEE Main 2022 Session 1 and 2 have been updated by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Following multiple representations from applicants, the examinations for both Session 1 and Session 2 have been rescheduled. On the official JEE Main website, jeemain.nta.nic.in, you can see the official announcement with the updated dates. As per the public notice, Session 1 examination that was scheduled to be conducted on April 21, 24, 25, 29 and May 1 and 4, 2022 has been revised and will be conducted on June 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29, 2022. The Session 2 examination, which was supposed to take place on May 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29, 2022, will instead take place on July 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30. Registration for Session 1 is currently closed, according to the official notification. The timetable for inviting online Application Forms for JEE (Main) – 2022 Session 2 will be released soon. Candidates can visit the official JEE Main website for further information.

Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, launched the ‘School Chalo Abhiyan’ on Monday, with the goal of achieving 100% enrolment in primary and upper primary schools across the state. “We have to give special emphasis on basic education. The campaign is being launched after two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It may happen that the children, who did not go to school, might be feeling lazy to return. But we have to ensure that no child is left out and all should be admitted to schools,” Adityanath said while addressing the gathering. According to him, 1.34 crore students were enrolled in basic education schools in 2017, and the scenario was “awavastha aur arajakta” (mismanagement and anarchy). The chief minister stated that the lack of basic amenities such as mid-day meals, toilets, drinking water, furniture, and smart classes “increased the dropout rate more than admissions.” According to Adityanath, the number of students in schools climbed to 1.80 crore in three years (till 2019), and students received free books, two uniform sets, shoes, socks, and sweaters as a result of the state government’s efforts. He urged everyone, including officials and public representatives, to join ‘Operation Kayakalp,’ which aims to give schools a facelift, and to adopt a school to offer basic facilities. He said that all activities had been halted owing to the coronavirus shutdown in 2020, which he said had primarily affected schools. “Now all activities have resumed. The Covid management of country was hailed worldwide. We have administered over 30 crore vaccines. We are providing free tablets and smartphones to students,” the chief minister said, adding that education was the only way to bring about change in society and strengthen the country. He stated that the initiative will last for the next month, with the goal of reuniting every student with their school. According to an official statement issued on Sunday, the chief minister had previously told officials that districts with low literacy rates should be prioritised, and primary schools in the state should be equipped with improved facilities. According to the statement, the ‘School Chalo Abhiyan’ will begin in Shravasti district, which has the lowest literacy rate in the state, followed by Bahraich, Balrampur, Badaun, and Rampur. All government schools must also provide students with essential amenities such as toilets, drinking water, furniture, and smart classes, according to Adityanath. Under the ‘Operation Kayalalp,’ departmental authorities must launch a campaign to engage with alumni (of government schools) and private enterprises to improve state-run schools, he said. The basic education department has also been given orders to prepare for the ‘Abhiyan’ and ensure that teachers are deployed in all state-run schools, according to Adityanath. Source: PTI