Education Community

The Union Cabinet approved the ‘Agnipath’ recruitment scheme for Indian youths to serve in the Armed Forces on June 14, and those who are selected would be known as Agniveers. ‘Agnipath’ is a four-year programme that allows patriotic and motivated young people to serve in the Armed Forces. The ‘Agnipath’ scheme was created to give the Armed Forces a more youthful appearance. On Wednesday, the Education Ministry announced the commencement of a three-year skill-based bachelor’s degree programme for serving defence personnel, which will acknowledge the vocational training gained by Agniveers under the ‘Agnipath’ scheme during their time in the defence establishments. “In order to improve the future career prospects of our Agniveers and equip them for various job roles in the civilian sector, the Ministry of Education is to launch a special, three-year skill-based bachelor degree programme for serving defence personnel that will recognise the skill training they received during their tenure in the defence establishments,” the Education Ministry said in a statement. “Under this programme, which was designed by IGNOU and will be implemented by them, 50% of the credits required for a graduate degree will come from the Agniveer’s skill training – both technical and non-technical – and the remaining 50% will come from a basket of courses that cover a wide range of subjects such as languages, Economics, History, Political Science, Public Administration, Sociology, Mathematics, Education, Commerce, Tourism, Vocational Studies, Agriculture and Jyotish, as also Ability Enhancement Courses on Environmental Studies and Communication Skills in English,” the Ministry said. “This programme is compliant with UGC regulations and the National Credit Framework/National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) as stipulated under the National Education Policy 2020,” the Education Ministry added. It also allows for various departure points: an undergraduate certificate after successfully completing the first year of courses, an undergraduate diploma after successfully completing the first and second years of studies, and a degree after successfully completing all three years of courses. The program’s framework has been approved by the pertinent regulatory organisations, including the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), and the University Grants Commission (UGC). IGNOU will award the degree in accordance with UGC nomenclature (BA, B.Com, BA (vocational); BA (Tourism Management), and it will be recognised for work and education in India and abroad. For the scheme’s execution, the Army, Navy, and Air Force would sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with IGNOU. Source: ANI

Faculty members from IIT-Guwahati will train teachers in Assam government schools, several of which have been issued show cause warnings by the state education department for registering zero pass percentages in the recently released Class X state board exam results. A total of 102 government-run schools were investigated, with pass rates ranging from zero to ten percent. “In order to train the teachers, especially those imparting maths, science and english lessons, we have inked a deal with IIT- Guwahati,” education minister Ranoj Pegu told the media. We are also taking measures so that school teachers can benefit from college teachers through training programme.” Pegu stated that the education department will be overhauling the school education system in the near future. “The government is considering implementation of a school rule book across the state. Introduction of the concept of class teacher is also being mulled. There will be some changes in the course curriculum as well,” he said. The government took the poor performance of government-run schools on a serious note, and the director of secondary education even warned school headmasters and principals with dismissal if their responses to show cause warnings are unsatisfactory. The MoU inked between IIT-Guwahati and Samagra Shiksha, the Assam education department, would promote science and technology at all levels of schools and institutions across the state, according to Prof. Parameswar K Iyer, dean, public relations at IIT Guwahati. He stated that these activities are anticipated to start soon. Prof. TG Sitharam, director of IIT-Guwahati, stated that the goal is to improve the quality of education in the state by exposing teachers to world-class laboratories at IIT-Guwahati, raising awareness about modern teaching methodologies, and providing residential training to teachers, all of which will be followed up with regular proactive follow-up efforts. “We will closely work with the education department of the state and identify areas that require immediate upgrading so that the education standards in the state can be improved drastically,” he added. The collaboration, according to IIT-Guwahati, will be used to carry out a master trainer residential training programme on science subjects at IIT-Guwahati, school mentorship activities, science and maths quizzes, and olympiads as part of the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan. Source: TNN

Following reprimands of restaurants and ride-hailing apps, the Consumer Affairs Ministry will conduct a meeting with edtech companies such as Byju’s and Unacademy in the near future, following accusations that these platforms impose additional study pressure on schools. Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh responded when asked if the government is taking action against edtech businesses’ ads, namely Byju’s new commercial ‘two teacher advantage,’ which is placing pressure on children. “We are aware of this. I have called a meeting of edtech companies next week or so,” he said. The secretary was responding to questions from reporters on the new standards for avoiding deceptive advertising. A group has been formed to develop guidelines to avoid fraudulent reviews on e-commerce sites, according to the secretary. Representatives from e-tailers such as Amazon, consumer advocacy groups, and legal firms will serve on the committee. “We will hopefully come out with guidelines to prevent fake reviews in the next 60 days,” he stated. The secretary recently met with officials from restaurants and hotels to discuss service charge issues, as well as ride-hailing companies to discuss unfair trade practises. The press conference was attended by Nidhi Khare, the Chief Commissioner of the Central Consumer Protection Authority and Additional Secretary in the Consumer Affairs Ministry, as well as other senior officials. Source: PTI

The QS World University Rankings 2023 include 41 Indian universities, up from 35 last year, including seven new institutes. Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (155th globally) has climbed 31 places since last year to take first place among Indian institutes, with IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi rounding out the top 200. India has also performed well in research, with IISc ranking first in the world in the ‘citations per faculty’ (CpF) index, which is used by higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds to assess the effect of university research. IIT Guwahati (37th for CpF), IIT Roorkee (47th for CpF), and the newly added University of Madras (48th for CpF) are all among the top 50 research universities in the world. “This edition of the rankings reflects the excellent work that several Indian universities are doing to improve their research footprint, with positive consequences for their reputation on the global stage,” said Ben Sowter, senior vice president at QS. “Conversely, our dataset also suggests that the Indian higher education sector still struggles to provide adequate teaching capacity.” Twelve of the 41 Indian institutes represented increased their score from the previous year, 12 stayed the same, ten declined, and seven were new entries. The rankings of all of the highlighted Indian Institutes of Technology have improved. IIT Bombay (172nd) improved five spots over previous year, while IIT Delhi (174th) improved 11 places. IIT Madras (250th), IIT Kanpur (264th), and IIT Kharagpur (270th) are in the top 300. Among the private universities in the country, O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has secured the 1st rank in India. JGU has been ranked in the 651-700 band this year, making it the only private university from India which has found a place among the world’s Top 700 universities. Followed by this, Manipal Academy of Higher Education has secured the 2nd rank, it has been ranked in the 751-800 band. Shoolini university has been ranked 801-1000 globally, thus securing the 3rd rank among private institutions of India. Rank: Institution Name 155: IISc Bangalore 172: IIT Bombay 174: IIT Delhi 250: IIT Madras 264: IIT Kanpur 270: IIT Kharagpur 369: IIT Roorkee 384: IIT Guwahati 396: IIT Indore 521-530: University of Delhi 541-550: Savitribai Phule Pune University 541-550: University of Madras 551-560: Anna University 581-590: IIT Hyderabad 601-650: JNU 651-700: IIT (BHU) Varanasi 651-700: OP Jindal 701-750: Jadavpur University 751-800: Manipal Academy of Higher Education 751-800: University of Hyderabad 801-1000: Shoolini University 801-1000: Chandigarh University 801-1000: IIT Bhubaneswar 801-1000: Jamia Millia Islamia 801-1000: NIT Tiruchirappalli 801-1000: Pondicherry University 801-1000: University of Calcutta 1001-1200: Aligarh Muslim University 1001-1200: Amity University 1001-1200: Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham 1001-1200: Banaras Hindu University 1001-1200: BITS, Pilani 1001-1200: Sathyabama Institute of Science & Technology 1001-1200: Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan 1001-1200: Thapar Institute of Engg. & Technology 1001-1200: University of Mumbai 1001-1200: VIT 1201-1400: Jamia Hamdard 1201-1400: Osmania University 1201-1400: Panjab University 1201-1400: SRM Institute of Science & Technology    

The Centre will host a two-day conference of education ministers in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, starting on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The Ministry of Education said in a statement that the conference will be attended by education ministers from states and UTs, as well as Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State Skill Development Rajeev Chandrasekhar. “The conference is expected to witness deliberations on strengthening the education ecosystem in the country with focus on implementation of National Education Policy 2020, skilling in schools and digital initiatives,” according to the release. During the two-day event, the ministers will also tour the Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK), the Gujarat government’s command control centre for school education, as well as the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG), according to the release.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced the results of the civil services exam 2021 on Monday, May 30, 2022, with Shruti Sharma, Ankita Agarwal, and Gamini Singla taking first, second, and third rank, respectively. It reported that 685 people had cleared the prestigious exam, but it did not provide any other information about the candidates who had qualified. According to the Commission, 244 of the successful candidates are from the general category, 73 from the Economically Weaker Sections, 203 from Other Backward Classes, 105 from Scheduled Castes, and 60 from Scheduled Tribes. The UPSC conducts the civil services examination in three parts – preliminary, main, and interview – every year to select officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. The written or main part of the exam took place in January 2022, and the interviews took place in April and May of this year, according to the announcement. 80 candidates’ candidature are provisional, and one candidate’s result has been withheld. Aishwarya Verma came in fourth place, and Utkarsh Dwivedi came in fifth, according to the report. “UPSC has a ‘facilitation counter’ near examination hall in its campus. Candidates can obtain any information / clarification regarding their examinations / recruitment on the working days between 10:00 hours to 17:00 hours in person or over telephone nos. 23385271/23381125 /23098543,” according to the Commission. “Within 15 days of the date of result declaration, marks will be published on the website,” it stated. Source: PTI

The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) has decided to change the dates of the NEET-SS (National Eligibility Entrance Test-Super Specialty) test in 2022. The new dates will be posted on the official website, natboard.edu.in, shortly. NEET SS 2022 exams were formerly planned for June 18 and 19, 2022. The exam was scheduled to take place on these two dates across the country, however NBEMS has decided to reschedule them and will announce the new dates in due time. The actual causes for this modification are unknown at this time. The NBEMS conducts the NEET SS entrance examination. Candidates who want to study DM/MCh and DrNB Super Specialty programmes at various colleges and universities around the country must clear this exam. It’s done using a computer-based test that’s done online.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP), a pilot programme aimed at promoting values-based curriculum to help youngsters become active, healthy, and responsible citizens, on Tuesday. Odisha is the first state in the country to introduce OVEP, according to officials. The programme is founded on the Olympic principle that learning occurs when the body and mind are developed in a balanced manner. The OVEP programme is based on these pillars, and it takes advantage of sport’s universality to improve curriculum delivery both inside and outside the classroom. According to a press release from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), programmes and activities based on OVEP help to address worldwide concerns such as sedentary lifestyles, lack of concentration, and adolescent dropout. The initial pilot project seeks to reach 32,000 children enrolled in 90 schools across Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, with a total effect of 70 lakh children across India once fully operational. “This will be the beginning of (a) new Olympic movement in the country,” Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik remarked in a virtual event. He emphasised that Olympic principles of excellence, friendship, and respect would help youngsters, and he hoped that these collaborations would contribute significantly to the impacting and holistic development of schoolchildren. “Education is an integral part of the Olympic Movement’s continual contribution to society,” said IOC Education Commission Chair Mikaela Jaworski. OVEP has been in use around the world since 2006, according to the chair. The initiative is being developed in partnership with the Odisha Department of School and Mass Education (SME) and the Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust, and will be integrated into the school curriculum. The OVEP will be gradually introduced to all schools and higher education institutions in Odisha. According to the IOC, the project aims to personalise the curriculum for children by leveraging on the state’s rich cultural and artistic legacy.