Education Community

Tarun Bajaj, a 1988 batch IAS officer from the Haryana cadre who currently serves as the revenue secretary, was assigned the additional charge of secretary in the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA). According to the ministry of personnel, public grievances, and pensions, he will succeed Rajesh Verma, who was appointed secretary to President Droupadi Murmu on August 18. According to official records, Bajaj, who has been the revenue secretary since April 6, 2021, also served as the secretary of economic affairs from April 30, 2020, to April 5, 2021. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, or ACC, approved assigning Shri Tarun Bajaj, lAS (1988 batch, Haryana cadre), Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, with additional charge of the post of Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, with immediate effect and until the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier, the ACC secretariat said in a statement on Monday. The ACC is comprised of the home minister Amit Shah and the prime minister Narendra Modi. Unless he receives an extension before the Union Budget 2023–24, Bajaj is anticipated to retire on November 30.

The government has finalised a proposal to name each AIIMS, including the one in Delhi, based on local heroes, freedom fighters, significant local historical occurrences or landmarks, or their unique geographic identity. After being asked for proposals by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the majority of the 23 All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have provided a list of names, according to official sources quoted by PTI. The Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) is a government initiative that aims to establish new AIIMS, some of which are already functioning. According to an official, AIIMS are all known by the same name and are only differentiated by location. In order to offer distinct names to all 23 AIIMS, including those that are fully functional, partially operating, or under construction, the Union Health Ministry has created a plan, the source added. In this regard, suggestions for giving specific names to various AIIMS were requested, the source said. These names could be connected to notable local or regional heroes, freedom fighters, the distinctive geographical identity of the area where the institute is located, and important historical events or monuments of the region. Reports state that the most of these esteemed health institutions have offered three to four names, each with an explanation. In Phase 1 of PMSSY, six new AIIMS were approved and are now operational in Bihar (Patna), Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal), Odisha (Bhubaneswar), Rajasthan (Jodhpur), and Uttarakhand (Rishikesh). Ten of the 16 AIIMS established between 2015 and 2022 have started providing both MBBS programmes and outpatient department services, while the other two have only recently started providing MBBS classes. The other four institutes are in various stages of development. Source: PTI

A gender equity curriculum will be incorporated into the curriculum for students in all government schools in Odisha in order to change their views, aspirations, and behaviour. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal), South Asia, and the women’s rights organisation Breakthrough inked a memorandum of understanding with the School Education Department on Monday in Bhubaneswar. According to a formal statement, the curriculum includes interactive class discussions to educate adolescent boys and girls to consider the culturally embedded gender norms, roles, and discriminatory practises. By August, it will be included in the social studies curriculum for both boys and girls in classes 6 – 10 at more than 18,000 elementary and 5,000 secondary schools. J-Pal South Asia executive director Shobhini Mukerji said, “Adolescence presents a crucial window of opportunity to change even deeply-rooted norms and instil more progressive gender attitudes.” Breakthrough will collaborate with the department to integrate the curriculum into the syllabus, contextualise it, educate teachers, gather teacher feedback, hold workshops, and involve parents in the process. To make sure the programme is meeting its goals to produce insights for long-term, high-quality government implementation of the curriculum, J-Pal will carry out independent monitoring activities. “Gender equality is very important. We are working on it.” School Education Minister Samir Dash said. Positive gender attitudes, parental support for daughters’ education, an improvement in the sex ratio, and higher rates of female labour force participation are all anticipated outcomes of the programme. The project intends to offer girls options for their education and employment, keep them in school for a greater number of years, reduce dropout rates, and raise the age of marriage and first childbirth. Sohini Bhattacharya, the chief executive officer of Breakthrough, emphasised that gender perceptions are developed at a young age. “Therefore, we need to ensure that children, especially those between the 10-15 years, have access to the right information related to gender equality, legal rights, and healthy gender behaviours,” Bhattacharya stated. The state’s sustainable development goals (SDG) of gender equality and high-quality education would be more easily attained with the support of the Gender Equity Programme. Principal secretary, school education secretary department, Bishnupada Sethi said, “We’ll have wide-ranging topics that will be covered in schools as part of this programme in our continued efforts to build a gender-equal world.” Source: PTI

Prof. Ashok Banerjee has been appointed as the new director of IIM Udaipur as of today. IIM Calcutta faculty member Prof. Banerjee succeeds Prof. Janat Shah, who has led the organisation since its establishment in 2011. Prof. Banerjee is a chartered accountant who also possesses a PhD from Rajasthan University in addition to an MCom from Calcutta University. According to a release from IIM-U, the new director has extensive expertise as a senior professor in the field of finance and control. His areas of interest for study include sentiment analysis, Fintech, and high-frequency finance. From 2012 until 2015, he served as the Dean of New Initiatives and External Relations at IIM Calcutta. He worked as a professor at IIM Lucknow before moving on to IIM Calcutta. On the boards of companies in the financial and technology sectors, he also serves as an independent director. IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, which is recognised by the Department of Science & Technology as a Technology Business Incubator, was established at IIM Calcutta during Prof. Banerjee’s tenure as Dean. The Financial Research and Trading Laboratory of IIM Calcutta was established by Prof. Banerjee, who also served as its coordinator. At IIM Calcutta, he played a key role in launching the International Finance Conference in 2009. Now known as the India Finance Conference, it is jointly put on by IIM Calcutta, IIM Bangalore, and IIM Ahmedabad. Following the completion of Prof. Janat Shah’s second term, Prof. Banerjee was appointed. He was in charge for 11 years in all, starting with the first term and continuing for an additional year in between. IIM Udaipur has become a highly regarded and recognised institution under Prof. Shah’s leadership. The fourth IIM and youngest B-School to receive ACCSB or EQUIS accreditation was IIM Udaipur. In 2021, it became the youngest B-School in Asia and only the third IIM to be ranked in the prestigious FT Global Top 100 MIM Rankings for a third consecutive year.