Education Community

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

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged society on Thursday to treat sons and daughters equally and to treat them as equals, claiming that if a society fails to recognise girls’ skills, it will never grow. PM Modi made these statements while responding to a question during a “Pariksha Pe Charcha” interaction with students, noting that things have evolved since a time when prejudice between males and girls was evident. In terms of new students, girls are expected to outnumber boys, he said, adding that every Indian may now be proud of the spirit and aspirations of girls. “Now, girls have become a big asset and strength for every family. The more this change occurs, the better it is,” he said. He noted that there was a time when many parents believed that their limited resources should be spent on sons so that they can take care of them later because they expected their daughters to not work and instead settle down in their in-laws’ house, but that while such a mindset still exists in some places, things have largely changed. In society, sons and daughters should be treated equally. “It’s a requirement of this era.” It is a requirement of every era,” the prime minister added, citing prominent female figures such as Ahilya Bai and Lakshmi Bai for their contributions to respective areas. He believes that equal opportunities for girls should be institutionalised, noting that they thrive in a variety of professions, from sports to science. He says that there are more women in parliament now than ever before, and that their numbers are growing in the police and security forces. He also says that girls consistently outperform boys in board exams. While women hold half of the elected panchayat seats in Gujarat, they have also been winning general seats, demonstrating society’s faith in their talents, he said. Modi also mentioned the enormous number of women working in the nursing and teaching areas, and joked that males might stage a rally demanding that their quotas be fixed. “If boys and girls are given an equal opportunity, then the latter may do better,” he said. According to the prime minister, he has witnessed daughters who do not marry in order to care for their parents, as well as parents who live in old age homes despite their sons leading a wonderful life away from them. Source: PTI

The Gujarat government notified the Gujarat Assembly on Monday that over 13,000 state-run primary schools lack computer laboratories. In response to a question from Congress MLA Ashvin Kotwal, state Education Minister Jitu Vaghani claimed in a written response that 13,818 elementary schools do not have computer labs. According to Vaghani’s data, the tribal-dominated Dahod district contains 1,024 such primary schools, followed by Mehsana (991), and Chhotaudepur (928). Patan 786, Kutch 739 and Mahisagar with 642. In reply, Vaghani stated that, rather than computer laboratories, the state government has decided to establish “smart classrooms” in schools as part of its “Gyankunj Project” to provide education using the latest technology. Source: PTI

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has urged public universities, colleges, and private universities to use the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) to enroll candidates to undergraduate programmes from the 2022-23 academic session onwards. Rajnish Jain, the UGC secretary, has written to all university and college vice-chancellors, directors, and principals, urging them to adopt CUET, for which the application window will be available from April 2 to April 30. For the time being, CUET has been mandated for the 45 central universities beginning in the upcoming academic year. Students will not have to take multiple admission tests if all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), regardless of affiliation, adopt the CUET, Jain stated in the letter. It will also provide students from other boards an equal chance, he noted. “Many state universities, deemed to be universities, private universities, and other Higher Education Institutions in the country also use either marks of 12th board or conduct entrance test for admission in UG programmes. To save students from appearing in multiple entrance examinations, conducted in different dates, sometimes coinciding with each other, and to also provide equal opportunity to all students from different boards, UGC invites and encourages all state universities, deemed to be universities, private universities and other HEIs to adopt and use CUET score from 2022-23 onwards for admissions of students in their UG programs,” mentions the UGC letter. Meanwhile, the National Testing Agency (NTA), which will conduct the CUET, published the broad instructions for the test on its website nta.ac.in on Sunday. The test is expected to take place in the first week of July. The test will be broken into four components based on the NCERT class 12 syllabus. Applicants in Sections I A and I B will be required to take language exams. Each segment will include 50 questions, with the candidate having to answer 40 of them. Section II will assess a candidate’s knowledge of core courses that they want to study in college. In the Section II paper, which will also be 45 minutes long, a candidate will have to answer 40 out of 50 questions. Section III of the CUET will be a general test for any undergraduate programme or programmes offered by universities that use a General Test for admission rather than accepting students based on their domain subject scores.

At the fifth edition of the ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha,’ which will be conducted on April 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give students pointers on how to cope with exam stress, according to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. On February 16, 2018, the prime minister’s interactive event with school and college students was held for the first time at the Talkatora Stadium here. “The interaction every youngster is looking forward to is going to be held on 1st April, 2022. Get mentored, seek advice, learn pro tips to beat stress, nervousness and exam blues from PM Shri @narendramodi ji. #ExamWarriors, teachers & parents get ready for #PPC2022,” tweeted Pradhan. The event has attracted a total of 12.12 lakh students, 2.71 lakh teachers, and 90,000 parents. This session will focus on some of the key questions on examination. Doordarshan will be broadcasting the program live. Apart from Doordarshan, the programme can be heard on All India Radio, PMO’s live web streaming, Ministry of Education, Doordarshan, My.gov.in, and the Ministry of Education’s You Tube channel, Facebook Live, and Swayaprabha channels. This year’s themes for students, teachers, and parents are all different. Exam stress management strategies for COVID19, Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Self-reliant school for self-reliant India, Clean India, green India, Digital collaboration in Classrooms, Environmental conservation, and climate change resilience are among the themes for students. Students and other stakeholders can visit My Gov’s official website for more information. The Ministry of Education’s Department of School Education and Literacy has conducted this event for the past four years. The first three editions of PPC were held in a town-hall format in New Delhi. Last year’s fourth edition was held online on April 7th.

The National Testing Agency will conduct the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the academic year 2022-23, and test dates would be notified within a week, according to University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman M Jagdesh Kumar. The test would be required for admission to undergraduate courses at UGC-funded central universities, but state, private, and deemed-to-be universities will be able to opt out if they desire, he said. “All higher educational institutions, irrespective of whether they are state universities, private universities, or deemed to be universities, all of them can use the CUET scores for admission in UG and PG programmes. However, it may be noted that admission in UG programmes in all central universities funded by the UGC will be solely on CUET scores,” the UGC chairman said. “We have decided to give wide choice to students to pick the subjects…a candidate can take as many as six domain subjects in addition to a compulsory language test and also the general test,” he added. In CUET 2022, there will be 43 domain-specific subjects. According to the UGC chairman, universities can set their own minimum percentages for admission to UG programmes in class 12 board exams, and there would be no centralised CUET counselling process. The entrance test, according to the newly-appointed chairman of the UGC, will provide a common platform for admission to all universities and colleges across the country, as well as equal opportunities to students studying under different boards, particularly those from the North East region and other rural and remote areas. “CUET is expected to reduce the financial burden on parents and students since students do not have to write multiple entrance exams for admission to UG and PG programmes,” he added.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Sunday that the ancient gurukul system of education has played a significant role in the comprehensive and well-rounded development of individuals. In a Facebook post, Naidu mentioned his visit to Haridwar’s Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya on Saturday. He described the university as a non-conventional centre of higher learning, inspired by the ideals of Shriram Sharma Acharya, a spiritual leader and social reformer in modern India. “With around 1500 full-time residential students and researchers, the university is adopting a gurukul-type system of community living. “The institution is devoted to holistic education by combining practical knowledge (shiksha) with spiritual education (vidya) and seeks to provide a comprehensive learning experience to every student,” he posted on Facebook. The Vice President was reminded of the ancient gurukul system’s remarkable importance in the holistic and well-rounded development of individuals. Naidu expressed his excitement at learning that the university and Gayatri Parivar have been using music and folk songs to combat societal problems such as casteism and gender discrimination, as well as to promote nationalism among the public at large. He further mentioned that the university has its own gaushala (cow shelter) with around 300 cows of indigenous breeds. According to Naidu, the Swavalamban Kendra uses contemporary and scientific processes to make various cow products, and he is confident that such projects, in keeping with Gandhi ji’s Gramodyog idea, may give farmers with an alternative source of income. Source: PTI