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RNI No.

UTTENG/2010/37634

www.curriculum-magazine.com

THE INDIA EDUCATION LANDSCAPE UPDATE

magazine

July16, 2014

UNION education BUDGET 2014-15


More or Less a 'UPA' standardized continuum
But Good on attracting girls to schools, promoting Entrepreneurships, Research

Editorial: The Social Impact of Open Education


COLUMN: Professional Makeup Artist as a career choice
SPOTLIGHT: HYA (UK)-Curriculum magazine motivational talk at Alhcon International School

Contents

20

Cover Story
UNION EDUCATION BUDGET 2014

6
Editorial

More or Less a 'UPA' standardized continuum


But Good on attracting girls to schools, promoting
Entrepreneurships, Research

The Social Impact of Open Education

4,11, 25
Spotlight
4th World Children Business Conclave & Expo
HYA (UK)-Curriculum magazine motivational talk at Alhcon
International School
Pathways Round Square Collaborative Service Project

8-9
Interview/ David Boddy, Founder ASIS
Study abroad aspirations now start earlyat School,
actually

10
Guest column
Professional Makeup Artist as a career choice

18
News Updates
National Scholarship Program worth Rs 55 million for School Students
First UC Berkeley Executive Management Program
New feature added to the GMAT exam
Dr Bibek Banerjee on Asia Pacific Advisory Council
Ethanol production incentivized, Area under Horticultural Crops Goes up
Indian App shortlisted for ImagineCup Apps Competition
NMIMS Announces NMAT 2015
Dell Champs 2014

26
Campus Buzz
OP Jindal University Conference On Higher Education
MoneyGram Foundation donates three Mobile
Science Labs
MoneyGram Foundation donates three Mobile
Science Labs
Art Periodical by DPS student
IndiaCollegeSearch.com scholarship for best
college review
Whistling Woods International Mumbai gets
SkillTree Knowledge Consortium recognition
Pearson invests in a preschool venture
IWP Celebrated Melange - The Blend of Women
Empowerment
TSCFM Awards for excellence
VLCC Institute of Beauty & Nutrition Convocation
Ceremony
Genesis Global School 'Core Values category'
champ at the FLL International Open, Toronto
Mini MBA for school students

The union budget 2014-15 has given Rs 83,771 crore for HRD
ministry (an increase of 12.3% from last year).A Rs 500 crore
teachers training
program named
after BHU founder
and legendary
educationist Pandit
Madan Mohan
Malviya, Rs 100 crore
Communication
Linked Interface for
Cultivating
Knowledge (CLICK)
and online courses
for spreading virtual
classroom, Rs.30
crore for School Assessment Programme are some other
highlights. In higher education, new 5 IITS and 5IIMs have been
announced. In skills and jobs, a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore for
providing equity through venture capital funds, quasi equity, soft
loans and other risk capital specially to encourage new startups by
youth, a national multi-skill programme called Skill India are
proposed. Beti bachao beti padhao" scheme for making education
more accessible to women and digital India to bridge the digital
gaps

10 NEWS
QS University Rankings:BRICS 2014 report
Educomp Launches SmartSchool, to celebrate 10 years of
Smartclass
WB loan for SSA
Ashoka University appoints chancellor, VC
South Asia Network for Sustainable Development Solutions
launched
Intel Education 2 in 1 tablet launched
edX celebrates self -motivated learners in India
Fellowship to Empower Delhi School Principals
State of Forest Report 2013 released
Feature: India joins Washington Accord

16
India skills special series
India and Iran collaboration in skill development
Indian designer Wins Laureate Education's Here for Good Award
'Digital Marketing for Entrepreneurs: Tactical or Strategic
Indian Beauty Therapy contestant selection for WorldSkills 2015
Automation Industry Association (AIA) launches campus connect
program

30
END PIECE
Indias first Online University
Dr. Ashok K Chauhan of Amity honored
NIIT University 'poor' Habitat
Tata Power's CAL in 8 Mumbai Schools
OMRAAN: US$30,000 global contest

Curriculum July 16, 2014

Spotlight
4TH WORLD CHILDREN BUSINESS CONCLAVE & EXPO

The four-day event from June 26-29 proved a valuable platform for children party,
VOICES GROW FOR A SEPARATE ECCE MINISTRY
A study on parenting trends conducted over 20,000 parents in six cities released at the business
convolve revealed interesting trends, some of which are quite disturbing. Apart from serious
deliberations on the issue of childhood education & entertainment, the expo enthralled thousands of
children & parents who had a great time meeting favorite cartoon characters, playing games and
attending workshops.

AHUL GUPTA, the


promoter of
Gurgaon-based Creative
Children Media, some
years back while visiting
Disneyland (USA)
dreamt of providing kids
back home in India, an
avenue similar to what he saw himself
and this inspiration made him set up a
Children expo four years back. And
four years hence, he has succeeded to a
great extent. This time, the first day of
the event was kept for some serious
deliberations over kids entertainment
and stakeholders from parents to teacher,
kids media hotnchos and experts joined
the day-long discussions on various
themes. Parul Ohri, Editor, My City for
Kids, presented results of a study
conducted by them on parenting trends.
The findings revealed that parents of this
age are in a hurry and want to put their
kids to structured activity as early as 4
months! Kids have a digital screen in
their hands. Also, with social media
around, parents are building a museum
of their kids for every achievement and
are stretching children to provide
additional skills
from music to
swimming, tennis, art etc. Similarly the
support system from maids to drivers,
tutors and grandparents is growing even
as validation and expertise advice
seeking is on rise.
Experts said that sociability is the need
of children and they should be allowed to
do things they want to and certainly not
told to do so. The sociological shift in

4 Curriculum July 16, 2014

parenting calls for parental


education given that human
brain develops in first a few
years of life to the extent of
98% and therefore right kind
of stimulation, and in fact a
policy is needed to regulate
what kids watch or are
subjected to do. It has been
our endeavor to create a
thought leadership forum for
the kids space. This year we
have a clear focus on early
childhood and the advent of
digital platforms, adds, Rahul Gupta.
Amongst the key speakers were Bradley
Caines, Creative Director of Withit
Licensing of Joey & Joy; Viraj Jit Singh
of Kidzania India; Dr Amit Kapoor,
Chairman Institute Of Competitiveness;
Tarun Bhalla, Founder & CEO, Building
Blocks; Akshay Sethi MD Stellar
Children's Museum; Gaurav
Jhunjhunwala, Director S. Chand
Group; Anju Khanna, Chief Mentor for
IPSAA initiative of Shri Ram New
Horizon; Neeraj Jain, MD at Scholastic
India and many others.
The expo that followed had over 65
brands as a part of the show. Kids had an
amazing time meeting and getting pics
clicked with their favourite characters
like Chhota Bheem, Dora the Explorer,
Doraemon, Ninja Hattori, Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles, Angry Birds,
Garfield, Geronimo Stilton and ChamkiMuppet - Galli Galli Sim Sim. This was
the first time ever, that 9 characters came
to an expo to meet kids, all at one place. It

was raining character meet and greets.


One of the major attraction at the event
was Angry Birds Zone, created for the
first time in Delhi-NCR. Visitors, both
kids and youth, enjoyed the opportunity
to play live Angry Birds games in the
Angry Birds Zone and also got a chance
meet the Angry Birds! For the first time
ever, UK's very well settled design brand
which reflect very adorable and
expressive character Joey and Joy got
launched in India at World Children
Expo.
There were so many interactive
activities for both Parents and Kids at the
expo, and they seemed to enjoy them all.
On one hand, kids really enjoyed at the
painting corner where they got a chance
to display their creative side, on the
other, parents got a few tips on
improvising their photography skills at
the Kids Photography workshop.
According to Rahul Gupta, WCE now
intends to move pan India and the next
destination could be Mumbai.

Editor's Note
Volume 4, Number 8
Editor
Autar Nehru
Chief Editorial Advisor:
R K Misra (Senior Journalist)
Consulting Editors
Sudha Passi (formerly Sr Journalist, PTI)
M K Bhat (Sr Journalist)
Ramanathan Iyer, (Chenna)i
(kr.iyar@gmail.com)
Associates
Akshay Kumar Sahu
Gurbinder Kaur
Editorial Board
AK Pandey (Principal, AIS New Delhi)
Prof. Raj Kachroo, Mrs. Neelam Singhvi,
Navin Bhatia, Prof Sarab N S Nagra.
Business Development Managers
Vijay Kaul, Rajesh Kaul, Suneel B
Vijaya Ragavan K
Dehradun: Utpala Deb
A K Koul Mob: 09410356940
Meerut: Uzma Rizv
Ghaziabad Zakir
Patna: Manoj Kumar 9006645924
Design & Graphics
Wazid Ali
Circulation
Dimple Nehru, Ganesh Sharma

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Editor: Avtar Nehru

RNI No. UTTENG/2010/37634

VEN WHILE YOU GET TO SEE OUR MAGAZINE,


thousands of protesters in Bangalore would be still protesting the
rape of a six-year old girl in city's Vibgyor High School, which
came to light on July 15. Many would see the heinous crime committed on
the child as a progression of the unabated crimes of such nature against
women in recent past. Parent community, is very much justified in
questioning the safety of children in schools after this incident. It must lead
to a big debate on school functioning and regulations environment that
governs this functiong. One of the good things proposed in the just
presented union budget is gender sensitization through curriculum and also
by a scheme named "Beti bachao beti padhao". And now, all of us must
build on that.
Many of us even after knowing the ill-health effects of junk food and
wanting it be banished from campuses fail to make an impact? Even a good
number of teachers and educationists try to tell this children every day. The
point is, the government and law makers have to take a serious view of
issues confronting our children in schools. It is high time, union HRD
ministry in close partnership with state education departments frame
enforceable regulations on be it the selection and training of support staff,
disaster safety, availability of quality food, etc. There must be a mandatory
counselor or a teacher, who can be minimally trained to act as one, so that
she becomes a visible face for students to report harassments or unusual
behaviors.
Our country's health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan recently made a
controversial comment on sex education. Naturally, advocates of this
education were upset. But again, the concept and teaching we want to
achieve under the subject can be embedded in science, social science and
even languages if curriculum designers are told so as a policy or rule. The
crux of matter is, unless you have fear of law, and school inspections
institutionalized, no amount of protest, lament or agitation can yield longterm results. The powers to be must understand that schools are the most
powerful nurseries of change, you want to see. Only catch is, you have to
provide an enabling and enlightened environment for the young mind to
grow without unwarranted pressure. The value system doesn't come from
text books, it evolves through environment. Let's make school a model
environment.
Rest, this issue covers reactions on union budget, short reports, interesting
stories, event news and all our regulars. Do enjoy reading the present
edition.
We'll continue to brining you the India education story. God bless!

Your suggestions/feedback is welcome


Curriculum July 16, 2014

EDITORIAL

The Social Impact of Open Education


By ANIL MAMMEN, Head Learning Design & Ssocial Impact initiatives at Tata ClassEdge

HE INTERNET OPENED UP KNOWLEDGE LIKE NO


other medium had ever before. And if knowledge did
open up, education as an organised discipline had no other
choice but to follow suit. After all, organised education or
academia used to have a dominant control over the
dissemination of knowledge. However, the role of education is
not just about the dissemination of
knowledge. In its most radical form,
education is about inviting local communities
from across the globe to participate in
challenging established knowledge, creating
new knowledge and interacting with diverse
groups of learners.
Education is essentially dialogic in nature, a
constant engagement with general and
specialised disciplines and with researchers, practitioners and
amateurs. That said, open education as we know it today is still
largely about access to quality resources, which is only the first
step but a crucial first step in reaching these resources to
millions in underdeveloped parts of the world.
Today, we are witnessing a further opening up of open
education itself. For example, the massive open online courses
(MOOCs) offered by prestigious universities like Stanford,
MIT and the University of Edinburgh on platforms such as
Coursera, EdX and Future Learn are distinctly different from
our own certified open courses offered by the National Institute
of Open Schooling(NIOS) and Indira Gandhi National Open
University (IGNOU). MOOCs allow anyone from any part of
the world to register for any course free of charge. What makes
these courses different is their invitation to anyone who is
passionate about learning anything. No prior qualification, no
age barrier, no geographical barrier, no class barrier.
But what is so radical about open education if the Internet had
already managed to reach quality content across the world?
Well, because a chaotic world of multiple knowledge resources
is not the same as knowledge organised by subject experts and
educationists. Where you start from the simple and move
towards the complex.
So, as learners, we now have the opportunity to engage with
real experts and multicultural peer groups as opposed to
interacting with static unverified conten,t an opportunity that is
open to both the privileged and the less privileged. Not just that.
It allows us to bring in more questions to the table, challenge
assumptions about geographical or cultural stereotypes and
provide feedback to the course designers and experts to further
sharpen their perspectives. In this sense, open education is a
great equaliser. Open education reaffirms the universal right to

6 Curriculum July 16, 2014

education regardless of one's status based on the accident of


one's birth.
The other advantage of modular open courses (that do not
demand any prior qualifications from learners) is that they help
break the barriers between academic silos. They allow us to
move from an eight-week course in programming to a six-week
course in poetry appreciation. This is not to
denigrate depth and specialisation that
demand rigorous study in a certain discipline
but is about promoting breadth of
understanding. It is about encouraging
amateur enquiries into diverse fields of
knowledge especially the humanities
(philosophy, literature, history, anthropology,
etc.), which are generally considered nonutilitarian.However, in our obsession with relating education to
creating skilled employees for the job market, we need to bear
in mind that without a proper understanding of the humanities,
there can be no engaged citizenry.
The opening up of quality education certainly has the potential
to raise the critical consciousness of people at large, a critical
consciousness that helps us see that the poor are not destined to
be poor and that one of the sharpest weapons for eradicating
poverty is the power of literacy.
However, there are several barriers that stand in the way of
widening access to open education. The first of course is
inadequate access to technology devices (such as laptops,
tablets and smart phones) for those who can't afford them. Then
there is lack of quality courses in local languages and a certain
American and Euro-centric slant in course design. Also, since
participating in open learning is highly dependent on selfmotivation, learners, especially first generation learners, need
lots of encouragement from their family and peer groups to
actively participate in these courses till the very end. In fact,
shorter duration courses might work well for such learners and
increase completion rates, provided there is a certain balance in
the complexity of content and the evaluation framework.
Perhaps, the courses should focus more on demanding
meaningful discussions and the creation of digital artefacts
from the learner community than on traditional quizzes and
assessments. The idea is to treat curriculum content as a
stimulus and real learning as active engagement around it.
Open courses today are mostly limited to higher education
content. So is it time to shift its focus to school curriculum and
vocational courses? Maybe we should start perceiving open
education as critical dialogues around multiple fields of
academic disciplines.

Guest Column
Professional Makeup Artist as a career choice

AASHMEEN MUNJAAL,
Director- Aashmeen Munjaal's
Star Salon n' Academy

UMANS HAVE BEEN WEARING


makeup since time immemorial,
back in the cave man days of Neanderthals.
There can be different reasons for choosing
to wear makeup. It makes you look
beautiful, confident, charming, and
sometimes your profession or occasion

demands it. There are also times when


you want to look different for a particular
occasion or event and don't know the
ideal ways to bring out the color of your
eyes, enhance the cheekbones or flatter
the lip shape. This is where a
professional makeup artist can come to
the rescue as they are well versed for the
job to be done. Professionally, it is the
make-up artist who ensures that models,
performers and presenters have suitable
make-up and hairstyles before they
appear in front of cameras or an
audience. This may be in a variety of
settings, including film, television,
theatre, live music and photographic
shoots.
Makeup is an art-form, and like any
other form of art, there is a lot to learn if
you want to be good at what you do. If
someone has an interest in getting
involved in a career in Makeup artistry
then he/she can expect a glamorous, fun
and creative career choice ahead. There
are a variety of courses that one can
pursue to become a professional makeup
artist. The duration of such courses
ranges from a week to 3 months and
sometimes a year. The courses are
designed to cover all the aspects of the
beauty services, from self grooming to
basic hair styles to make up and many
more. Curriculum is generally designed
in a manner that it allows the aspirants to
gain more practical knowledge within
duration of the course.
The courses in makeup artistry aim at
equipping the students with all the
requisite skills in the domain. Once a
student is trained under aforementioned
short term courses, he can look for job
opportunities in various sectors. As a
professional makeup artist one has a
rewarding job with flexible working
hours. Starting your own business or
working as a freelancer gives the
freedom of being your own boss.

Professional makeup artists are more in


demand than ever before. Job
opportunities for makeup artists lies in a
wide range of fields like
Advertisements, magazines, modelling
agencies, movies, music videos,
runaway shows, television, theatre and
salons & spas. A well experienced
makeup artist charges per event/hour
basis which is a major plus point in
itself. There are few jobs that offer so
many benefits. As a makeup artist you
will have the satisfaction of making your
vision a reality.
The field of makeup artistry offers a
variety of career choices, it will be
important for the aspiring makeup artist
to try to get experience in all areas of
pecial events and makeup artist for
cosmetics brands/product educator.
makeup artistry to aid in his/her search
of what area he/she will specialize. You
will want to find your strengths and
weaknesses in order to pinpoint the
career that is best for you. There is a list
of career options for makeup artists to
help them make the choice that is best
for them. It includes Freelance makeup
artist (may specialize in any of the
f o l l o w i n g o p t i o n s ) , We d d i n g s ,
Photography, Print (advertisements and
magazine shoots etc), Televisions (news
and TV shows), Films, Special FX,
Cosmetics counter (retail makeup
artist), Theatre makeup artist,
Camouflage and corrective makeup
artist for a dermatologist or plastic
surgeons, Salon or spa makeup artist
(with appropriate license), Fashion
makeup artist (runway), Proms and
special events and makeup artist for
cosmetics brands/product educator.
With the right skills and an eye for style,
your prospects for a career in the beauty
industry could look as good as the
people you pamper.

Curriculum July 16, 2014

INTERVIEW

Study abroad aspirations now start earlyat School, actually


Anglo Schools International Services (ASIS), which manages a Federation of a dozen top British
Boarding Schools to recruit Indian pupils, has been engaged here for over a year now. Autar Nehru
in an interview with David Boddy, founder & principal partner ASIS, a former Headmaster of St
James Senior Boys School in London and also a former Chairman of the UK Society of Headteachers.
explores how studying abroad which for many Indians is a big aspiration, has come to school level
with ASIS initiative.

1. Mr David Boddy, What promoted the


formation of ASIS in the first place? Has
this kind of initiative a precedent
anywhere before? Was economic
meltdown a factor?
DB: I have had a strong association with
India for many years and during my time as
Headmaster of an all-boys school in
London, I welcomed many Indian pupils.
They were bright, hard working, with a
great sense of inner values. They made a
wonderful contribution to school life. My
other Headmaster colleagues often heard
me talk about them and wondered whether
an initiative could be launched to help
attract more of these pupils into their
schools too. All of the ASIS schools have
strong international communities, and for
the Indian pupils not to be represented
properly leaves a big gap. India is widely

Curriculum July 16, 2014

seen as one of the world's emerging


economies and great nations. British
schools want to play their part in
unfolding that greatness. It is the first
initiative in India of its kind.
2. This is such a laudable and at the
same time innovative initiative where
you bring in intercultural adaptability
and grooming of a student at a young
age. You would have had a great deal
of discussion on that. So scientifically,
sociologically and culturally what
benefits do you see for the young
student and society?
DB: The Shankaracharya of Joyti Math,
Shantanand Saraswati, told me when he
was alive that you need to nourish young
and tender hearts and minds with the best
and most civilising influences from the
earliest of ages. Our schools offer a fully
holistic approach. Academic studies are
very important, but even more so is the
development of good character. When
these youngsters leave school and
university they are going to be
competing for work in an international
market place and so receiving an
international and culturally diverse
education is important for them. Further
more, more than 95% of ASIS pupils go
to the top universities. The
opportunities, therefore, for Indian
pupils attending UK schools is very
much greater than many of them
currently experience. We also know that
many of the Indian pupils want to take
those opportunities and then return to
India to give the best back to their
country. We applaud this attitude and
support it fully.

3. So it brings us to a point where we


would like know the right age at
which a child can part company with
parents? In India and oriental
cultures, we have a tradition of joint
families at a least till the children are
married?
DB: Yes, we appreciate this. However,
the world is 'shrinking'. I can get from
London to Delhi now quicker than I can
travel from Delhi to Dehrudun. And
with Skype and other connectivity
devices, families can stay very much
closer than in the past. So we are seeing a
change. Most of the children applying to
our schools are around 16 years old and
the next biggest group (about 35%) is
the 13+ age group. Leaving home at
these ages to come into a totally caring
environment is fine - often easier than
leaving home later and going to a
university abroad where there is no
specific pastoral care. Our schools also
offer 11+ entry, but in practice this is
only taken up where an older sibling is
also involved.
4. Coming to educational curricula,
pedagogies, facilities and activities,
briefly what sets ASIS apart?
DB: All ASIS schools are recognized in
the top 200 boarding schools and, for
their specialties, often in the top 10.
What really sets them apart, and why I
brought them together, is that they all
qualify as "schools of warmheartedness". The Dalai Lama has
spoken at length about how a new
educational paradigm is needed, one not
just based on pressure and academic
results. These schools have taken up that

Interview

Study abroad aspirations now start earlyat School


challenge. The pupils graduating from
them are wholly rounded youngsters with a
quiet, authoritative confidence which leads
others to call them
" very nice people."
And they have the academic skills to get
into their chosen university. It is a full
education where the best is brought out of
them.
5. What kind of incentives and
scholarships are you offering. What is
the admission criteria and fee structure?
DB: Three of our schools are offering
100% scholarships, which covers all
tutorial and boarding fees for the duration
of the education. That is worth several
Crore rupees.
There are also about 30 scholarships
providing 50% coverage of boarding and
tuition costs. Where a pupil excels in
sports, drama, music or any other skill,
such as the creative arts, schools may also
be willing to offer financial assistance and
scholarships.
There are three 'terms' per UK academic
year and on average, tuition and boarding
fees are between 7000 and 9000 per
term. Fees are paid termly, after a deposit is
collected.
The admission criteria is determined by the

ASIS Entrance Exam. This carries a


250 entrance fee and can be taken
through a Pearson Vue test centre in 16
locations across India. Go to
www.angloschools.co.uk for more
details.
6. Have you thought of any linkages to
some universities or colleges where
these students can go after graduating
from schools?
DB: All ASIS schools have very close
ties with the top UK universities,
including Oxford and Cambridge. ASIS,
in conjunction with a specialist
consultancy firm, also provides
coaching for access to those top

TWO MORE SCHOOLS JOIN


THE ASIS FEDERATION
Padworth College in Berkshire and
Ellesmere College in Shropshire,
have joined ASIS. Both schools are
offering significant scholarship
support including a further 100%
scholarship
taking the total
scholarship offering for the 2015
entry to over 9 Crore Rupees from 7
Crore.

universities. Indian children going onto


a top UK university from an ASIS
school are likely to be strongly
considered for additional financial
assistance.
7. Is ASIS looking elsewhere for
international students other than
India? And do we see more schools
getting added to your federation.
DB: ASIS is currently also recruiting
from Italy in Europe and parts of Africa.
We are frequently asked to add more
schools to the ASIS Federation, but we
have a strict criteria for entry. Over the
next few years, however, we see the
Federation growing to a maximum of 25
schools.
8. Lastly, you have been actively now
involved in India operations, do you
see ASIS also collaborating with
schools in India for sharing best
practices, building linkages and allied
networking.
DB: Yes, we would very much value
that. And if a school would like to
connect with us and any of our schools,
they should write to
principal@angloschools.co.uk

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Expert Columns Trends Announcements Listings Skill Development K-12 Pre-school Higher Education Technical Course Programs New Educational Products Sports
Institutional Profiles People News Current issues Featured stories Round Ups Spotlight Opinion Technology Innovations Science STEM Teacher Issues Study Abroad
News Current issues Featured stories Round Ups Spotlight Opinion Technology Innovations Science STEM Teacher Issues Study Abroad Careers Events Admissions
Expert Columns Trends Announcements Listings Skill Development K-12 Pre-school Higher Education Technical Course Programs New Educational Products Sports
Institutional Profiles People News Current issues Featured stories Round Ups Spotlight Opinion Technology Innovations Science STEM Teacher Issues Study Abroad
News Current issues Featured stories Round Ups Spotlight Opinion Technology Innovations Science STEM Teacher Issues Study Abroad Careers Events Admissions
Expert Columns Trends Announcements Listings Skill Development K-12 Pre-school Higher Education Technical Course Programs New Educational Products Sports
Institutional Profiles People News Current issues Featured stories Round Ups Spotlight Opinion Technology Innovations Science STEM Teacher Issues Study Abroad
News Current issues Featured stories Round Ups Spotlight Opinion Technology Innovations Science STEM Teacher Issues Study Abroad Careers Events Admissions
Expert Columns Trends Announcements Listings Skill Development K-12 Pre-school Higher Education Technical Course Programs New Educational Products Sports
Institutional Profiles People News Current issues Featured stories Round Ups Spotlight Opinion Technology Innovations Science STEM Teacher Issues Study Abroad
News Current issues Featured stories Round Ups Spotlight Opinion Technology Innovations Science STEM Teacher Issues Study Abroad Careers Events Admissions
Expert Columns Trends Announcements Listings Skill Development K-12 Pre-school Higher Education Technical Course Programs New Educational Products Sports
Institutional Profiles People News Current issues Featured stories Round Ups Spotlight Opinion Technology Innovations Science STEM Teacher Issues Study Abroad
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Reach out to Most Educationists, Students& People connected to sector

Education Sectors
Best 360 Coverage
THE INDIA EDUCATION LANDSCAPE UPDATE

to you & the World...

K-12 (school)

higher edu

institutional events

overseas education skill development

India Education
Story
Reporting
India Education Story to you & the World...
Curriculum July 16, 2014

News
QS University Rankings:
BRICS 2014 report
Prime Minister has emphasized the need
for India to evolve an independent 'India
Ranking' metric which can then involve
the SAARC nations as the existing
systems are skewed towards Western
Nations. He was commenting on QS
University Rankings: BRICS 2014
report. The need is to link research and
education to the development needs of
the country, he said.
20
Indian educational institutions
feature in the latest BRICS ranking and
five Indian Institutes of Technology
(IITs) win places in the top 20. IIT-Delhi,
IIT-Bombay, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Madras
and IIT-Kharagpur have made it to the
list. IITs are again by far the most
successful representatives of the
country's higher education system.
The prestigious IIT Kharagpur has a
higher proportion of PhDs among its
staff than any university in the five
countries, while another three Indian
institutions feature in the top five on this
measure. On overall staffing levels, only
Manipal University appears in the top
100 among the universities of the BRICS
countries.
Other educational institutions from
India in the list include University of
Mumbai, University of Madras, Banaras
Hindu University, Manipal University,
Birla Institute of Technology and
Science, University of Pune, Indian
Institute of Information Technology,
Calcutta University, Delhi University,
Allahabad, Amity University, Anna
University and Punjab University.
The Indian Centre for Assessment &
Accreditation is a not-for-profit
organization formed with a vision 'to
help assist the inclusion of at least 5
Indian Universities in the Top 200 of the
World University Rankings by 2025'.
The growing interest in international
rankings is reflected in a sharp increase
in the positions of some Indian
institutions featuring in the BRICS

10 Curriculum July 16, 2014

SmartClass to SmartSchool:
Educomp to celebrate 10 yearsof its flagship product Smartclass
WITH ROAD SHOWS IN 25 CITIES
EDUCOMP SOLUTIONS LTD ON JULY 12 LAUNCHED A NEW PRODUCT
called Educomp SmartSchool (ESS). The launch coincided with the 10th anniversary
of its flagship product, Smartclass. ESS developed by R & D team of Educomp is the
next generation learning suite of products for schools which brings together 5 layers
of technology adoption for schools, and integrates them into one composite solution.
Educomp Smartschool's (ESS) allows students to create and do experiments through
virtual experiments and master language though English Mentor, which uses neverseen-before technology for voice recognition' 3D Lab content offers a new world of
multi sensory learning and the assessment system, Educomp Insight, allows schools
and parents to track where students are in their cognitive development and through
Educomp Online, schools can link students, teachers and parents into a seamless
information exchange, messaging, CCE, assessments and peer to peer learning. The
Educomp Smartschool architecture also allows schools an unprecedented amount of
customization depending on scale, size or content. Being the largest player in the
sector with over 15000
schools
using its proprietory products, Educomp will be able
Kerry
& Raju
to effect a seamless transition for many existing schools to the Smartschool ecosystem.
Speaking on the launch, Shantanu Prakash, CMD, Educomp Solutions Ltd. said,
With Educomp SmartSchool, we close the loop on the pioneering beginnings in
digital classrooms that was epitomized by our flagship product, Smartclass.
SmartSchool looks at the school as an integrated learning ecosystem, where layers of
technology interventions at various delivery points create a 360 degree education
experience that encompasses content, delivery, access and assessment. It is our belief
that SmartSchool will not only provide schools a potent mechanism to improve
outcomes but also transform the teacher-student-parent collaboration model for the
future.
Educomp is undertaking a 25-city road show where the concept, its demonstration
along with benefits will be explained through workshops and seminars to Principals,
staff and school managements in these cities. The road show will also commemorate
10 years of Educomp Smartclass and early adopters (schools) of digital classrooms
across these cities will be felicitated .

WB loan for SSA


The Government has signed a financial agreement with the World Bank's
International Development Association (IDA) for an amount of Special Drawing
Rights (SDR) 651.00 million (equivalent to US$1006.2 million for the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan (SSA) Programme. The IDA credit will be effective from 27th August, 2014
and the closing date will be 30th September, 2017.
This credit is available in two portions, a first portion for an amount equivalent to SDR
544,400,000; and a second portion for an amount equivalent to SDR 106,600,000.
The interest charge payable is 1.25% per annum and 1.40% per annum respectively
for the amounts withdrawn out of the two portions of the credit.
Funding from the World Bank will form a part of the central share of funds under the
SSA and will constitute only 3.37% of the total central funding for SSA.

Spotlight

HYA (UK)-Curriculum magazine motivational talk at Alhcon International School

Jillian Haslam

CCLAIMED BRITISH
motivational speaker, Jillian
Haslam, stuck an emotional chord with the
class 12th students of Mayur Vihar, Delhibased Alhcon International School, while
delivering a motivational talk
o rg a n i z e d b y C u r r i c u l u m
magazine in association with
London-based Help Yourself
Associates on July 16. The hourlong session was so mesmerizing
and inspirational that students
opened up with their problems
and sought Ms Haslam's
counselling. She moved the
young audience of over 200 boys
and girls by narrating her own
story of perseverance in odd and
poverty stricken conditions and
said that in order to succeed one
needs self-belief, preparation and
focus. She asked them to pay back to
society once successful and always respect
parents and teachers. Citing neurological

science, she talked about


keys to success. Students
asked several questions
ranging from careers to
how they should handle
parental pressure, own
expectations, etc. I love
talking to students and
motivating them to use
their energies
constructively. I don't
believe in lecturing but in
coming down to their
mental wavelength and
befriending them so that
they share inner feelings
and fears. This way they
get out self-doubts, fears and seek advice
on issues that most of time they keep to
themselves, she says.
School Principal, Mr Ashok Pandey

With Ashok Pandey, Principal

to corporate workshops for colleges in


India. This inaugural talk in Delhi NCR
has given us confidence and necessary
impetus to take this offering to many
more schools across Delhi and other
parts of India. With international
expertise from our partner organization,
we are looking forward to a full calendar
of such talks and workshops in coming
months, says Autar Nehru, editor of the

A section of students listening attentively

lauded Ms Haslam and said that she


taught the students in one hour that we
have been trying to tell them for years.
After this talk, our students will
certainly become positive and
display positivity in thought and
acts, he said.
It may be mentioned that education
news magazine, Curriculum, has got
into an exclusive arrangement with
Ms Jillian Haslam's Help Yourself
Associates for motivational talks for
schools and institutions and campus

Curriculum magazine.
Ms Jillian Haslam, who was born and
brought up in Kolkata and pursued her
initial education in India is very excited
to be again in India. I am absolute at
pleasure to come here. I am an Indian
English and know the people well. I am
sure my association with Curriculum
magazine will prove beneficial to
educational institutions here and I
promise I am just a call away, she adds.

Curriculum July 16, 2014

11

News Feature

India joins Washington Accord


On June 13, 2014, the engineering education in country crossed a major milestone as India became the 17th country to
join the select group of countries of Washington Accord (WA), an agreement that recognizes the substantial equivalency of
professional engineering degree programs between the accrediting bodies of such programs in these countries.

THIS STATUS was granted to National


Board of Accreditation (NBA), India
along with The Institution of Engineers
Sri Lanka
at the meeting of the
International Engineering Alliance, the
parent organization of the WA in
Wellington, New Zealand on June 13. In
the case of NBA, recognition of
programmes by other signatories applies
only to programmes accredited by NBA
that are offered by education providers
accepted by NBA as Tier 1 institutions,
which are 220 in number, a mere 5-6% of
country's estimated 5672 engineering
colleges, which altogether churn about
1.5 million graduates annually.
Nonetheless, this is a big achievement
for India in the sense that the WA will
help the mobility Indian engineers and
engineers from India can register with
the official registration body in these
countries and also get legal protection
while practicing in these nations. Prior to
this, an Indian engineer wanting to
practice abroad, had to fulfil certain
requirements, in most cases, clearing an
examination. It was only when an
engineer went abroad on a contract with
his company that he didn't need the WA
accreditation.
Washing Accord is a hallmark of
quality and with India becoming a
permanent signatory, Indian engineers
will be recognized at par globally and
end discretion of the countries in
allowing Indian engineers, It will save a
year for them, says Shekhar Sanyal,
Director and Country Head India of the
UK-headquartered The Institution of
Engineering & Technology (IET).
The Washington Accord Agreement
recognises that: Accreditation of
engineering academic programs is a key
foundation for the practice of
engineering at the professional level in
each of the countries or territories
covered by the Accord. It recommends
that graduates of accredited programs in
any of the signatory countries be
recognized by the other countries as
having met the academic requirements
for entry to the practice of engineering.
Generally, the signatories only accept

12 Curriculum July 16, 2014

accredited degrees earned from the date


of acceptance of a signatory into the
Accord. WA was formed in 1989 initially
between UK, Ireland, USA Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and
subsequently is being expanded. The
other permanent signatories include
Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China,
India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Russia,
Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and
Turkey. There is a review every two
years. Bench marking of standards for
engineering education, of accreditation
policies and processes is a major activity
under the WA.

India has been making efforts from 2007


to enter this elite group, but it was only
after the National Board of Accreditation
(NBA) was made independent
accreditation body in 2010 in the
backdrop of corruption scandals at
AICTE
that it became a serious
c o n t e n d e r.
The International
Engineering Alliance (IEA), Secretariat
of the Washington Accord, sent a Review
Team in December 2013 and January
2014, to carry out a comprehensive
review and audit of NBA accreditation
systems and practices. The Review team
submitted its report in March 2014.
Reportedly several people, including
R.M. Unnikrishnan of California State
University, Fullerton, former NBA
member secretary Dinesh K. Paliwal and
education secretary Ashok Thakur, had
played a significant role in pushing for
the prestigious Washington Accord.
WA emphasizes on outcomes based
approach which means the engineering
graduate must have proven range of
knowledge and skills, which means he or
she should have undergone a rigorous
training based on most relevant
curriculum and pedagogy, which will
guarantee his exact and cutting edge

performance internationally.
WA
membership for India is very important
from the point of view of opportunities
that exist globally. For instance , the
population of G-8 countries is ageing
and there is a growing demand for
quality engineers. If we're able to
cultivate a culture of quality through
accreditation of our courses, it will be a
boost for our engineering graduates,
says Prof S. K. Kak Vice Chancellor,
Mahamaya Technical University, Noida
and member NBA. While mobility and
acceptance in foreign universities was
not much of a challenge for the IIT pass
outs, this latest development will
definitely help the graduates from other
Engineering Colleges in the Country in
coming years. According to Sanyal, the
problem in Indian system came from the
practice whereby AICTE approval was
seen as final stamp of quality and
accreditation was not being mandatory
or sought.
Clarifying about GRE, Prof Kak says
that GRE is still necessary like JEE for
cbse students, the only difference now is
that your country is recognized. It is
expected apart from recognition for
Indian engineering degrees, this
membership
will also ensure a
minimum global quality for all
engineering institutions in the nation.
We hope that this will open vast and new
opportunities for the India's abundant
talent pool. I see the real impact of this
membership coming after five years as
now the management of engineering
colleges will begin to see merit of
accreditation , adds Sanyal. Meanwhile
NBA has asked the Tier-2 institutions to
prepare themselves for becoming
members of the Washington Accord.
Universities have been asked to permit
affiliated technical institutions to design
at least 50 per cent of their programmes..
According to experts, engineers should
have a good understanding of society,
and also good management and
communication skills, which this accord
emphasizes. A welcome change for the
notoriously 'poor quality' engineering
education at last!

News
Ashoka University appoints chancellor, VC
The upcoming Ashoka University situated
in Sonepat (Haryana) has appointed noted
sociologist, Prof Andre Beteille as its
Chancellor, and historian-journaluist Prof
Rudrangshu Mukherjee, as the founder
Vice Chancellor of the University.
Professor Beteille (National Research
Professor and Professor Emeritus of
Sociology, Delhi School of Economics)
will head the Ashoka University's
Governing Body, its highest authority,
while Professor Mukherjee (ex-Editor,
Editorial Pages, The Telegraph) will lead
both Ashoka's Board of Management and
its Academic Council. He will also guide
the overall strategic direction and lead the
day-to-day operations of the University.
The announcement was made at a gathering
that included key Ashoka Founders and
Trustees, such as Sanjeev Bikhchandani,
Founder, InfoEdge (Naukri.com); Ashish
Dhawan, Founder, Central Square
Foundation and Former Senior MD,
ChrysCapital; Vineet Gupta, MD,
Jamboree Education; Dr. Pramath Raj
Sinha,MD, 9.9 Media and Founding Dean,
Indian School of Business.
Both Professor Beteille and Professor
Mukherjee have been actively involved in
Ashoka since its inception, helping set up
its preeminent Academic Council, which
includes such luminaries as Kaushik Basu,
Ramachandra Guha, Sunil Khilnani and
Pratap Bhanu Mehta and leading its faculty
recruitment efforts. . Kaushik Basu (Senior
Vice President & Chief Economist, World
Bank), also an Academic Council member
of Ashoka University, said, Andre
Beteille, one of the most famous
sociologists, not just in India Becoming
Chancellor speaks very well to [Ashoka]
he has got very wide Indian experience...
[having] been involved with a whole slew
of Indian institutions and been a very
distinguished professorRudrangshu is a
natural scholar. He has been a journalist for
several years of his life [and] his forte is
scholarship. He is just a naturally creative,
interested human being.
Ramachandra Guha, an Academic Council
member of Ashoka University, said, "I hold

Andr Bteille

Andr Bteille to be India's greatest as


well as wisest social scientist. He is a
world-renowned scholar of inequality, a
beloved teacher, and an extremely
influential public intellectual.
Rudrangshu Mukherjee is an
outstanding historian who, like
Professor Bteille, has effortlessly
bridged the words of academics and
public commentary. Both are genuine
liberals, unencumbered by dogma or
ideology, always open to debate and
dialogue in the pursuit of truth. "
Ashoka Universitywill admit its first
batch of 300 undergraduates in
September 2014 along with 200 Young
India Fellows to a fully-residential 25acre campus in Rajiv Gandhi Education
City in the NCR, Haryana. Programmes
at Ashoka are delivered in collaboration
with leading institutions, including the
University of Pennsylvania, the
University of Michigan, Carleton
College in the US, and Sciences Po,
Paris. Ashoka is supported by more than
80 successful entrepreneurs and
philanthropists, and boasts of a worldrenowned Academic Council.

South Asia Network for


Sustainable Development
Solutions launched
The South Asia Regional Network of the
Sustainable Development Solutions

Network (SDSN) was launched in New


Delhi on July 6. The SDSN is a unique
global collaboration to mobilize
expertise and experience from
academia, civil society, and the private
sector to help find solutions for some of
the world's most pressing
and
interconnected environmental, social,
and economic challenges. TERI
University (India) and BRAC
University (Bangladesh) are the
Regional SDSN Centers for South Asia.
The global SDSN is hosted by Columbia
University, and is governed by an
international Leadership Council.
Dr Jeffrey Sachs, Director, The Earth
Institute, Columbia University, and
Director, SDSN, said: The entire global
network of universities in the SDSN is
excited to work with our close friends
and colleagues in South Asia to advance
the cause of sustainable development
within the region and globally.
Dr. R K Pachauri, Director-General,
TERI, said: It is hoped that with the
launch and functioning of this network,
the South Asia Region will develop and
implement solutions that would
promote sustainability across the entire
region.
Dr. Leena Srivastava, Vice Chancellor,
TERI University, said: The most
valuable opportunity that this provides
us is to strengthen sustainable
development research, education, and
application in the University system in
South Asia. Focusing on such an
inclusive approach, with an aim to
broad-base the search for, and
application of, sustainable development
solutions across the length and breadth
of the region, promises to accelerate the
transition to more sustainable growth.
Launched by UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon in August 2012, the SDSN
and the SDSN Regional Centers will
help coordinate the activities of a
network of stakeholders and facilitate
solution-oriented partnerships on a subset of the following critical development
challenges: macroeconomics,
population dynamics and planetary
Curriculum July 16, 2014

13

News
boundaries; reducing poverty and
building peace in fragile regions;
challenges of social inclusion; health for
all; deep decarbonization pathways;
sustainable agriculture and food systems;
forests, oceans, biodiversity, and
ecosystem services; sustainable cities;
good governance of extractive and land
resources; global governance and norms
for sustainable development; and
redefining the role of business for
sustainable development.

Intel Education 2 in 1
tablet launched
Intel India on June 25 unveiled the Intel
Education 2 in 1, its first-ever 2 in 1
design for students at an event in New
Delhi. The new device 2 in 1 has the
flexibility and mobility of a tablet plus the
performance and productivity of a laptop,
giving students the best of both worlds in
one device. It has front-facing and rearfacing cameras to promote content
creation and scientific exploration. The
dual-docking mode allows students the
option of having the tablet screen face
them when using the keyboard or having
the tablet screen face their peers to
facilitate collaboration.
The Intel
Education 2 in 1 is powered by a quadcore Intel Atom processor Z3740D,
runs Windows* 8.1, and provides up to
7.8 hours of battery life as a tablet and an
optional 3+ hours of additional battery life
when docked1 to keep up with student
learning all through the day. It is designed
for education and ruggedized so that it can
withstand drops from 70cms2 and offers
IP 51 water and dust resistance to promote
anytime, anywhere learning. There are
kid friendly features such as a handle that
makes it easier for small hands to hold and
a stylus with a realistic pen-like grip. The
price is Rs 25000 upwards.
Ashutosh Chadha, Director, Corporate
Affairs Group - Intel South Asia and Rajiv
Bhalla Director, Market Development
Intel South Asia showcased the full range
of Intel Education Solutions on the
occasion. Intel India, together with Center
for Assessment, Evaluation and Research

14 Curriculum July 16, 2014

(CAER), also launched a white paper,


'Creating a transformed learning
environment' highlighting the need &
importance for integrating technology in
school based assessments. Ashutosh
Chadha, Director, Corporate Affairs
Group, Intel South Asia said, In a
global economy, creating 21st century
success for individual students,
communities and nations means giving
every student the skills and
opportunities to excel. With a vision to
advance excellence in education around
the world, Intel is directly involved in
education programs, policy advocacy
and technology products that enable
today's youth to develop the skills they
need to be the innovators of tomorrow

Anant Agarwal

Paul Russel

student population enrolled in one form of


course or another on our engaging
platform. Adding to this he said, We are
excited about the future and we will
continue to evolve edX in a way in which
blended MOOC models continue to
enthral and engross the 'scholar in you'
and which will pave the way for a
refreshed view at improving education
e d X c e l e b r a t e s s e l f - from the grassroots level.
motivated learners in India The event also included an address from
HOSTS MEET-UP AT MICROSOFT Prof. Deepak Phatak who has been with
IIT Bombay since 1971. He stated, Our
CENTRE FOR EDX ACHIEVERS
country has always had an affinity
EdX students in and around Bengaluru
towards quality education both in the
gathered at an edX Meetup at Microsoft
way it is taught and more importantly, on
Research Centre to connect with edX
how it is imparted! Partnering with edX
CEO Anant Agarwal and IIT Bombay
and its open source platform has been a
professor Deepak Phatak. The event was
revelation and this has already started
organized to celebrate self-motivated
yielding further results and has paved the
learners in India and honour edX
way in extending the courses to cover
learners across the country. EdX is a
vocational as well as classroom training.
non-profit created by MIT and Harvard
Every participant in our courses are
that brings the best of higher education
encouraged to indulge, be challenged and
to students of all ages anywhere in the
have immensely benefitted from the edX
world, via the Internet, with free curated
platform. Enthusiastic 'learners' from all
courses. It represents a revolution in
walks of society will continue to reap the
education and provides access to
benefits of having a truly open education
courses taught by the world's top faculty
platform which evolves to cater to the
for free. Top universities like University
needs of learners across the globe in
of Berkeley, The University of Texas
delivering impactful education.
System, University of Toronto, UT
Austin, Tsinghua University and IIT The edX Meetup gave the learners an
Bombay, among others contribute opportunity to share their stories and talk
about how online education and MOOCs
MOOCs to the edX platform.
have impacted and transformed their
Speaking at the occasion, Anant
lives. Bill Thies of Microsoft Research
Agarwal, CEO, edX said, When we are
India hosted this event and moderated
talking about edX in India, we are
discussion between the students and Dr.
talking about 'engaging and advocating
Anant Agarwal and Prof. Deepak Phatak.
education' with the second largest
participant country supporting MOOC
comprising of 12% of our entire edX

News

Fellowship to Empower Delhi


School Principals
India School Leadership Institute (ISLI)
has launched the City Fellowship: Delhi,
to equip school principals of low-cost
private schools in Delhi-NCR with skills
and knowledge aimed at improving
quality and taking their schools to new
levels of excellence. The initial cohort
consists of 14 school leaders from lowcost private schools in Delhi. 45% of all
Delhi schools are private institutions and
are witnessing a rise in enrollment,
confirming the trend towards private
education in the city.
The ISLI City Fellowship provides school
leaders with the knowledge, skills and
attitudes to turn their schools into highperforming institutions. The City
Fellowship makes this possible through a
combination of year-round training by
experts from organisations like Teach For
India, visits to well-known schools like
St. Mary's School, Step by Step, Vidhya
Gyan of the Shiv Nadar Foundation,
among others, and personalised in-school
coaching.The fellowship, a not-for profit
initiative, has been launched by ISLI in
association with Akanksha Foundation,
Central Square Foundation, Teach For
India and the US-based KIPP Foundation.

State of Forest Report 2013


released
Forest Survey of India (FSI), which has
been assessing the forest and tree
resources of our country on a biennial
basis since 1987 has released biennial
report India State of Forest Report
(ISFR).
The report is based on
interpretation of LISS III sensor data of
indigenous Resources at-II satellite with
spatial resolution of 23.5 meter with
minimum mapable area of one ha for the
period October, 2010January, 2012. The
satellite interpretation was followed by
extensive and rigorous ground truthing. In
addition, periodic ground data collected
by field parties and information from
other collateral sources were also used to
improve the accuracy of the interpreted

image. Change matrices recorded in the


present report refer to changes with
respect to the last report i.e. ISFR 2011.
As per the present assessment, the total
forest and tree cover of the country is
78.92 million hectare which is 24.01
percent of the geographical area of the
country. As compared to the assessment
of 2011, there is an increase of 5871 sq
km in the forest cover of the country. The
majority of the increase in the forest
cover has been observed in open forest
category mainly outside forest areas.
The maximum increase in forest cover
has been observed in West Bengal (3810
sq. km.) followed by Odisha (1444 sq.
km.) and Kerala (622sq km).
Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest
cover of 77,522 sq. km. in terms of area
in the country followed by Arunachal
Pradesh with forest cover of 67,321 sq.
km. In terms of percentage of forest
cover with respect to total geographical
area, Mizoram with 90.38 percent had
the highest forest cover in terms of
p er cen tag e o f f o r es t co v er to
Geographical area followed by
Lakshadweep with 84.56 percent. The
present assessment also reveals that 15
States/UTs had above 33 percent of the
geographical area under forest cover.
Out of these States and UTs, eight states
namely Mizoram, Lakshadweep, A&N
Island, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland,
Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura had
more than 75 percent forest cover while
7 States namely Goa, Sikkim, Kerala,
Uttarakhand, Dadra & Nagar Haveli,
Chhattisgarh and Assam had forest
cover between 33% to 75%.
The total growing stock of India's forest
and trees outside forests is estimated as
5,658.046 million cum which comprises
4,173.362 million cum inside the forests
and 1484.68 million cum outside the
forests. In the present assessment, total
carbon stock in country's forest was
estimated to be 6941 million tonnes.
There was an increase of 278 million
tonnes in the carbon stock of country as
compared to the year 2004 as reported in
ISFR 2011.

REGULATORY ADVISORY
The All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE) has notified
regulations in January, 2014 on the lines
of UGC Regulations, 2012. As per the
UGC (Mandatory Assessment and
Accreditation of Higher Educational
Institutions) Regulations, 2012, notified
on 19th January, 2013, it is mandatory for
each Higher Educational Institution to get
accredited by an Accreditation Agency
after passing out of two batches or six
years, whichever is earlier, in accordance
with the norms and methodology
prescribed by such agency or the
Commission, as the case may be. Further
as per these Regulations, every Higher
Educational Institution, which has
completed six years of existence or two
batches having passed out, whichever is
earlier, is to apply within six months from
the date of coming into force of these
Regulations, to the Accreditation Agency,
for accreditation.
According to the Regulations, the process
of accreditation has been laid down for
achieving the following objectives,
namely: advancing academic quality;
enabling students and other stakeholders
to make informed choices with regard to
Higher educational institutions; to
facilitate Higher Educational Institutions
to augment quality, by bench-marking
uniform reference points pertaining to
academic standards; to facilitate Higher
Educational Institutions to acquire
international recognition, cross-border
and trans-national collaborations; etc.
The regulations are available at
http://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/8541429_
English.PDF.
The National Board of Accreditation
(NBA) is already conducting
accreditation of technical programmes
being offered by technical institutions.
The UGC and AICTE Regulations
recognize NBA as an 'Assessment and
Accreditation Agency' for the purpose of
undertaking accreditation. National
Assessment and Accreditation Council
(NAAC) does not undertake programme
accreditation and does only institutional
accreditation.

Curriculum July 16, 2014

15

India Skills...
India and Iran collaboration in skill
development
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) recently
signed an MoU with the Technical and Vocational Training
Organization (TVTO), Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and
Social Welfare, Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for
collaborations in skill development between India and Iran.
Under this MoU, the two countries will be able to initiate work
in the skills space and will be able to share existing working
models and experiences, thus facilitate exchange and learning
from best-practices in training, entrepreneurship and skills
development. The MoU will felicitate and promote sharing the
quality and experience in Technical Vocational Education and
Training (TVET) of both countries. Kourosh Parand, Deputy
Minister & President TVTO accompanied by a eleven
member strong Iranian delegation also discussed the future
opportunities. He said We are delighted to be here in India and
partner with NSDC. Our partnership will be focused towards
undertaking an innovative approach for addressing skills
shortage in both the countries, and will have credible long term
solutions for young people entering the workforce. NSDC
will support TVTO in establishing a competency based
vocational education and training system besides sector skills
councils in Construction, Agriculture, Handicrafts and
Carpets, Textiles, Apparels, Capital Goods (for engineering
trades), Automotive, IT-ITeS, Healthcare, Hydrocarbons,
Security, Plumbing, Electronics, Mining, Telecom, Aviation
and Aerospace, Food Processing, Hospitality etc. This would
be based on NSDC experience in terms of establishing the
requisite institutional architecture in which the three main
stakeholders Industry, Government agencies and skill training
providers, both private and public can come together in a
common platform for skill development

Indian designer Wins Laureate Education's Here


for Good Award
A graduate from Pearl Academy, Kanika Sood, 26, was chosen
from a global pool of nominees to win the Here for Good
Award, which honors Laureate students, graduates and faculty
who have created or are leading projects that drive social and
economic progress in their countries.
Kanika has been featured in the book on these global achievers
for her venture NIEV Foundation, a NGO which provides
venues for rural Indian residents. Kanika is the founder of
NIEV foundation, a Himachal, India NIEV Foundation,
which provides venues for rural Indian residents-particularly
women- to sell handicrafts at fair prices. NIEV also promotes
organic farming and ecotourism, and so far has reached nearly

16 Curriculum July 16, 2014

200 Himalayan villages.


Born and brought up in the lap of Himalayas, Kanika was taught
that the proper role for young women was to get married early
and find a nice job. Breaking the rules, this dynamic and socially
responsible next generation Indian chose to take a different
route. She opened a bank account, with hardly any money, to set
up NIEV Needful Initiatives for Environment.
This conscious entrepreneur is focused and aspires to make
profit by doing something better for the society. Kanika has
earned acknowledgement at the prestigious Laureate's global
platform because of her work for the betterment of the society.
Since 2012, Laureate's Here For Good initiative has identified
and supported Laureate students and graduates who have
created projects that drive social and economic progress in their
countries. This year, the initiative was expanded to include
Laureate faculty. Kanika's project is very inspiring as it helps
empower the women involved by helping create new income
sources that can uplift their families. She is a great role model at
Pearl Academy where students are inspired to experience the
world in different ways, make their own discoveries, think for
themselves and discover their true potential. said Sharad
Mehra, CEO, Pearl Academy.

'Digital Marketing for Entrepreneurs: Tactical or


Strategic'
Indian School of Entrepreneurship (iSE) on July 12 organized a
panel discussion on 'Digital Marketing for Entrepreneurs:
Tactical or Strategic' as part of the 'Art of Start' series specially
designed by iSE to support entrepreneurs in their endeavor to
start a venture and manage successfully. India being third largest
internet using country, and 86% Indian web users visiting social
networking site, has a huge impact on how businesses strategize
for Indian market. Panel included successful entrepreneurs
like- Mayank Agarwal, co-founder of successful startups
'Upwardly Mobile Pvt. Ltd.' and 'RxVault.in'; Prasanna Singh,
COO & Publisher, Banyan Netfaqs Pvt Limited and
themobileindian.com, a portal providing news, reviews and
comparison of handsets, applications and games; and Ankit
Bhatia, an entrepreneur and Founder at FrogIdeas who is a
global brand strategy and digital marketing expert. Dr
Harshwardhan Mishra, founder Indian School of
Entrepreneurship was also present on this occasion.
Dr Harshwardhan Mishra, founder Indian School of
Entrepreneurship said, We have entered an age of simultaneity.
In some way this simultaneity is visible in the instant
gratification culture of instant cause and instant results that we
all are all too familiar with. In the digital age, the simultaneity of
'product designing, prototyping, testing, feedbacking' has set in.
The cycle has shortened and speeded. As changes become faster

India Skills...
and more significant, we need to get deeper into the minds and
hearts of our markets, of the people. Hence marketing in the
digital age is more wholesome, more hands on, more
challenging and at the same time more rewarding. iSE plans
to organize this series in every corner of NCR to connect with
maximum possible entrepreneurs and help build their ventures
successfully.

Indian Beauty Therapy contestant selection for


WorldSkills 2015
VLCC, in association Confederation of Indian Industries
(CII), NSDC and the Beauty and Wellness Sector Skill
Council, will be choosing the Indian contestant for the 'Beauty
Therapy' discipline for the 43rd WorldSkills competition to be
held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in August 2015. As part of the
selection process, VLCC, in collaboration with its partner
organizations, will be holding the WorldSkills Regional
Selections in Mumbai and Delhi between July 07 and July 20.
The winners of the Regional Selections across the different
centers will be shortlisted for the National Selections which
will be held later to decide who would finally be representing
the country in the 'Beauty Therapy' category at WorldSkills
2015.
VLCC Group Founder & Vice-Chairperson Vandana Luthra
said: we feel the WorldSkills competition provides the best
platform to the young men and women of this country to
display what they are capable of and also benchmark
themselves against their counterparts from the rest of the
world. VLCC will also be involved in the training and
mentoring of the Indian representative for the skill of Beauty
Therapy at the WorldSkills 2015 competition to ensure that the
contestant can do the country proud at the event,

Automation Industry Association (AIA) launches


campus connect program
to nurture competency building for manufacturing
competitiveness with engineering colleges
The Automation Industry Association (AIA), India's apex
body of automation technology companies, has launched a
national initiative for the education in industrial automation.
AIA 'Campus Connect Program' offers two levels of
engagement at undergraduate and during post graduate
engineering studies. The program envisages establishment of
Competency Development Centers (CDC) for training in the
state of art automation technologies for proliferation and
promotion of contemporary education in automation. K.
Nandakumar, President, AIA said Over the next two decades,
the continuing demographic dividend could add about two
percentage points per annum to India's per capita GDP growth.

This depends on the ability of the economy to absorb &


productively employ human capital through adoption of
appropriate technology and required skill. This is yet another
initiative from our end to bridge the gap between the industry
and the academia. We thank NSDC for encouraging us in this
endeavour.
The launch ceremony was held at AKG Engineering College,
Ghaziabad where a Competency Development Centre was
inaugurated by Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, NSDC & Surendra
Prasad, Chairman NBA & former Director IIT Delhi. Dilip
Chenoy, NSDC says, India's dream of being a world-class
industrial competitor is feasible with appropriate automation
technologies
AIA is helping the Partner Institutions to establish state-of-theart integrated labs that allow the trainees to gain practical
experience of working on the key sub-systems that they would
actually encounter in the industry. It includes emerging Sensing
technologies, Motion control, HMI, SCADA and Actuators.
Existing labs can also be hooked up with the new equipment. So
far College of Engineering, Pune (COEP); Vivekanand
Education Society's Institute of Technology (VESIT), Mumbai;
Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College (AKGEC), Ghaziabad
and The National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Mysore are the
colleges that AIA has tied up with.

NHPC CSR initiatives in J & K


As part of its commitment for the overall development of Jammu
& Kashmir, NHPC has adopted seven ITIs for up-gradation in
the state at Reasi, Ramban, Kargil, Leh, Kishtwar, Bandipora
and Uri. In addition, NHPC would be setting up a Hydro
Training Institute at Kangan near Ganderbal, for which an MOU
has been signed between NHPC and Jammu & Kashmir State
Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC). Under its CSR
initiatives, NHPC has already spent Rs. 984 lakh in the State till
March, 2014 and a further amount of Rs. 1268 Lakh is proposed
to be spent during the current financial year.
2014 Simpson Scholarship winners
Five winners including one from India (Abin Yesudas) have
won this year's Simpson Scholarship which gives a helping hand
with expenses to gain the ACCA (the Association of Chartered
Certified Accountants) Qualification. The winners will have
their exam fees, annual student or affiliate fees, and membership
admission fees paid for them by the scholarship fund for up to
five years, or until ACCA membership is achieved, whichever
happens sooner. BPP Learning Media, ACCA's Platinum
Approved Learning Partner (Content), is also providing them
with study materials for every ACCA paper they are studying.
For the chance to be awarded the scholarship, applicants had to
have excelled in the exams they had already sat, and submit a
1000-word essay on how the scholarship would help them
achieve their full potential.
Curriculum July 16, 2014

17

News Updates
LORE INDIA FOUNDATIONS
National Scholarship Program
worth Rs 55 million for School
Students
Lore India Foundation Scholarship Trust
on July 14 announced the launch of a
pioneering scholarship program that will
identify, assess, reward and mentor the
brightest young minds in India. The
program is open to school students from
classes X, XI and XII from across India
and is the nation's largest scholarship
program and national benchmarking
initiative. More than 100 of the most
brilliant students will be identified
through a scientifically evolved
Learning Aptitude Test (LAT), designed
by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
with the help of acclaimed education
scientists. Qualifying students will
receive cash scholarships from a
generous corpus of Rs. 55 million and
also benefit from valuable mentoring
and coaching provided by renowned
academicians. Once selected, the
Scholars will undergo a comprehensive
interest schedule/psychometric analysis
to gain insights that will allow experts to
provide them effective guidance in their
educational careers.
Administered in English and Hindi, the
LAT will assess the candidate's aptitude
and not the extent of knowledge in
subjects. The emphasis will be on
analytical and logical reasoning, reading
comprehension and puzzles. The key
differentiator between this and other
scholarships is that, here, the quality of
education a student has received so far
does not become an overriding factor in
identifying the brightest candidate. LAT,
in fact, is designed to provide a level
playing field for students to compete
irrespective of their socio-economic
status, geography or educational
background. The focus in on the child's
merit and merit alone.
In order to avail of this opportunity,
students will have to apply online on.
Registrations open on July 14, 2014.

18 Curriculum July 16, 2014

First UC Berkeley Executive


Management Program
Northwest Executive Education has
announced the launch of The Berkeley
Executive Program in Management
(EPM), in collaboration with UC
Berkeley Center for Executive
Education at the Haas School of
Business. The Berkeley EPM is a
distinguished general management
program that prepares Senior
Professionals for the next level of
leadership within their organizations and
the broader industry. Berkeley EPM is a
1-year program and begins in November
2014 in India, continuing then with in
class modules at UC Berkeley in
California and will actively leverage the
online infrastructure and learning
capabilities being developed today.
Mohit Jain, Co-founder, Northwest
Executive Education, speaking about the
program said, Our experience of
working closely with top ranked
business schools across the globe and
several participants in India have
reinforced facts that executives have to
upgrade skills, to be on par with global
counterparts. We assist in bringing
international programsat an accessible
price.

New feature added to the


GMAT exam
Test takers will now be able to see their
unofficial scores (Integrated Reasoning,
Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal
Reasoning and Total) before deciding to
accept or cancel their scores. The score
reporting feature is available to all test
takers and will take effect at
approximately 600 test centers around
the world that administer the GMAT
exam beginning on Friday, June 27,
2014. The new score reporting feature
gives test takers more certainty and
control in the testing process and in how
their scores are reported to schools.
GMAC is committed to helping schools
and students connect, and we believe this
change, by making the testing
experience easier, will be a part of

strengthening those connections, said


Ashok Sarathy, GMAC vice president,
product management. Analytical
Writing Assessment scores are
unaffected by the change. They are not
included on unofficial score reports
available immediately but are reported
on official score reports delivered within
20 days.

Dr Bibek Banerjee on Asia


Pacific Advisory Council
In view of the growing importance of
Indian MBA education on the global
stage, the Association to Advance
Collegiate Schools of Business
(AACSB) has invited Dr Bibek
Banerjee, Director IMT Ghaziabad, to
serve on its Asia-Pacific Advisory
Council (APAC).

Ethanol production incentivized,


Area under Horticultural Crops
Goes up
The Central Government, with a view to
increase production of ethanol is
providing soft loans up to 40% of the
project cost to the sugar mills from
Sugar Development Fund (SDF) for
setting up ethanol projects. Production
of alcohol or ethanol is linked to the
production of molasses which is a byproduct during production of sugar.
Under Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP)
programme, the Central Government
has already decided 5% blending at all
India level, which can go up to 10% in a
State.
The area under fruit farming increased
from 67.05 lakh ha. in the year 2011-12
to 71.36 lakh ha. in the year 2013-14.
Similarly, the area under vegetables
increased from 89.89 lakh ha. in the year
2011-12 to 96.09 lakh ha. in the year
2013-14. The increasing trend in
horticultural crops indicates that these
crops are becoming more popular. The
area under oilseeds varies from 260 to
275 lakh ha.

Qatar airways partners USIEF


Qatar Airways, the national carrier of
the State of Qatar, has partnered with

News Updates
United States India Educational
Foundation (USIEF) as the official
airline partner for the Pre-departure
Orientation for students who have
applied to US universities for further
education. The airline will be
participating at the pre-departure
orientation sessions which are organized
in 7 key cities by USIEF. Over 2000
students are expected to attend the
orientation and will get the opportunity
to interact with USIEF staff and receive
complete information about the
education system and culture in the
USA. Qatar Airways operates from 12
cities in India.

Global Scale of English (GSE)


launched
Pearson Education on July 3 launched
its Global Scale of English (GSE) the
global standard for scoring English
language proficiency. In development
for 25 years and tested on over 10,000
students in 130 countries, the GSE will
transform how English is assessed,
taught and scored. Developed by
Pearson English, a division of Pearson, it
aims to provide one precise, numeric,
universal scale for businesses,
governments and academic institutions,
as well as for the one billion plus people
estimated to be learning English
worldwide.

Indian App shortlisted for


ImagineCup Apps Competition
Students Jehi Jha and Neha Valecha of
Team CodeBlue from TechnoPlanet
Labs of Dr OP Bhalla Innovation and
Incubation Centre (MRIIC) have made it
to the final round of the top the Imagine
Cup Apps for Microsoft Office
Challenge 2014 for their App 'Molecule
Maker'. The MRIU team was selected
out of the 5 semi- finalists across the
world and thereby making them the only
team to qualify from India. The finalists
will meet in Seattle for the Imagine Cup
World Finals later this July where they
will compete on stage for first and
second prizes of $5,000 and $3,000

respectively and will get a chance to get


their app published in the Apps for
Office Store.The five teams--from China
(iGeek), India (Code Blue), Indonesia
(Neang Team), China (Ambiless) and
Canada (Lake of Timber) have qualified
for the semi final round.
Expressing his happiness on the
selection of Team India (CodeBlue), Dr.
B. S. Gill, Director, Dr OP Bhalla
Innovation and Incubation Centre, said,
It took the promising young girls just
three days to think up of 'Molecule
Maker' initiative and go ahead with their
written proposal. We at MREI are super
excited and hope to see their projects in
the Apps for Office Store. The Apps for
Office Challenge had invited teams of up
to four students worldwide to submit
short written proposals for their ideas by
January 23 2014, which were shortlisted
by the Microsoft Office team for the best
proposals.
The basic function of Molecule Maker
app is to simplify or nullify human
effort. With a single click of the mouse,
the user would be able to have access to
all the molecular diagram.This app
would really simplify the work of
researchers on PowerPoint. Also it
would enhance the study of elements and
their compounds.

NMIMS Announces NMAT 2015


SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of
Management Studies (NMIMS), India's
leading University has announced
NMIMS Management Aptitude Test
(NMAT) 2015 registration open for
admissions in its School of Business
Management for academic session
2015-17. For Admissions NMIMS fulltime Management Programs at Mumbai,
Bengaluru and Hyderabad campus,
applicants shall be able to take online
NMAT 2015 test in a window period of
almost one and a half month from 07th
October to 20th December 2014.
The programs that NMAT 2015 covers
for admission are 2-year full-time MBA,
MBA(HR), & MBA (Pharmaceutical

Management) at Mumbai campus and 2year full-time PGDM at Bengaluru and


PGDBM at Hyderabad campuses.
NMAT 2015 will be conducted at 18
centers located at Chandigarh, Delhi,
Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mumbai,
Nagpur, Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin,
Hyderabad, Bhillai, Bhopal, Indore,
Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Kolkata and
Patna. The last date of registration for
NMAT 2015 is 24th September, 2014.

Dell Champs 2014


Dell Champs 2014 School Program,
a 20 city student-outreach program
woven around the theme, 'Education,
Empowerment & Entertainment' for this
year has been announced. The Dell
Champs 2014 program features an
interactive technology based quiz
contest that provides a unique platform
for parents to participate with their child
and be a partner in their success. The
teams comprising of a parent and child
studying in class 5th - 7th standard will
vie for the title of "Dell Champs" 2014.
This grand quiz contest will reveal the
geniuses of tomorrow in 400 schools
across 20 Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities
throughout India and make the winning
team a Dell Champ. The competition
will be conducted in three levels with the
first being the 'School level', where
interested teams will have a written
Preliminary round out of which 6 teams
will be chosen and a Final On-stage
Round from which 2 teams will be
chosen to represent the school in the
City Finals. The second round will
involve the top 2 school teams to
compete in the 'City level' contest, and
the 20 City level finalists will complete
in an online quiz in the 'National level'.
The top four teams will receive All-inOne from Dell while the rest of the
sixteen finalists receive trophies from
Dell and each of the schools they
represent will receive gratifications
from Dell.

Curriculum July 16, 2014

19

Cover Story

Union Education Budget 2014

More or Less a 'UPA' standardized continuum


But Good on attracting girls to schools, promoting Entrepreneurships, Research
The union budget 2014-15 presented in the parliament on July 10
has given Rs 83,771 crore for HRD ministry (an increase of 12.3%
from last year), The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is the programme
for the implementation of the
Right to Education Act, got an
allocation of Rs 28,635 crore, an
increase of Rs 1,000 crore,
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha
Abhiyan got Rs 4,966 crore,
while the Mid-Day Meal
Programme has been allocated
Rs 13,215 crore. A Rs 500 crore
teachers training program named after BHU founder and legendary
educationist Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Rs 100 crore
Communication Linked Interface for Cultivating Knowledge (CLICK)
and online courses for spreading virtual classroom, Rs.30 crore for
School Assessment Programme are some other highlights.
In higher education, new 5 IITS and 5IIMs have been announced
besides two agriculture universities in Andhra Pradesh and
Rajasthan, two horticulture universities in Telangana. and Haryana,
New research centres in Assam and Jharkhand, Sports University in
Manipur and Jai Prakash Narayan National Centre for Excellence in
Humanities in MP.
In skills and jobs, a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore for providing equity
through venture capital funds, quasi equity, soft loans and other risk
capital specially to encourage new startups by youth, a national
multi-skill programme called Skill India are proposed. There is also
promise of employment exchanges to be transformed into career
centres. The government proposes Rs 100 crore for the Young Leader
Programme. Beti bachao beti padhao" scheme for making education
more accessible to women and digital India to bridge the digital gaps
are other major announcements.

20 Curriculum July 16, 2014

ITHIN ONE AND HALF


months in office, the BJPled National Democratic
Alliance government at the centre,
presented the union budget proposals for
the remaining eight months of the fiscal
year 2014-15 on July 10 by union
finance minister Arun Jaitley. While all
existing programs and central flagship
sachems like SSA, RMSA, MDM, etc
received a marginal increment if
inflation is taken into account, the
education budget had some positives in
terms of widening and mainstreaming of
research in agriculture, horticulture,
nanotechnology and support to
entrepreneurships and rural broadband
connectivity. Curiously, The budget did
not spell out in detail about the role and
the budget of the new skill ministry.
There were expectations of a big jump in
the skills budget. FM did not comment
on the STAR program. Does this mean
that the Rs 1000 Crore sanctioned in the
interim budget for 2014-15 will
continue?,
The Government as per budget will be
spending around Rs.28, 000 crores for
sanitation in primary schools. The state
of sanitation and hygiene in many of
primary schools is quite below par and
definitely needs a lot of improvement.
Elementary education is one of the
major priorities of the Government.
There is a residual gap in providing
minimal school infrastructure facilities.
Government would strive to provide
toilets and drinking water in all the girls
school in first phase, Arun Jaitley said
in his budget speech in parliament.
According to Ashish Dhawan, Founder
and CEO, Central Square Foundation,
"The Union Budget announced today

Cover Story

Union Education Budget 2014


reflects the government's commitment to
drive policy reforms in education
focused on improving quality. We
appreciate that the government has
Ashish Dhawan

maintained a commitment to the


important issue of education. At the
same time people have questioned the
wisdom of the government in continuing
with populist announcements regarding
premier higher education brands, IITs,
IIMs, AIIMS. Budget seemed like a
statement with a list of promises drawing
on what was put out on the BJP
manifesto. We know the existing IITs
and IIMs have problems that need fixing
from filling faculty vacancies, adequate
facilities for students and upping their
game with respect to research output and
competing on a global platform.
Capacity building is not about buildings
and labs, it is about teachers, quality,
good value education and I wonder if we
are going to continue making
announcements of adding more without
getting down to the business of
stemming the rot in education, says .
Lakshmi Iyer -Director and Head of
Education at Sannam S4 Consulting.
Anirudh Motwani, Founder and CEO,
IndiaCollegeSearch.com adds more to
this argument by saying that Unlike the
startup sector, the government's motives
here seem very convoluted and less than
noble - setting up IITs, IIMs & AIIMS
seems like the kind of quick fix that gets
proposed without considering cost
benefit analysis. 11 new IITs were have
been set up during the last few years.

BUD

BUDGET 2014-15 HIGHLIGHTS:

Proposes to set up 5 new IIMs and 5 new IITs, 12 more Govt Medical colleges with
dental facilities, four more AIIMS in Andhra, West Bengal, Vidarbha and Purvanchal
Rs.100 crore for 'Beti padhao, beti badhao yojana',
Proposes to allocate Rs 100 crore for upgradation of Madrasas.
Proposal to ease and simplify norms to facilitate education loans for higher studies.
Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya New Teachers Training Programme worth Rs 500
crore to be launched
A School Assessment Programme to start up at a cost of Rs 30 crore.
Two new institutes for farming and Agro technology to be set up in Assam and
Jharkhand.
Lok Nayak National Centre for Higher Education to be established.
New research centres to be set up in Assam and Jharkhand.
Rs 200 crore allocated to set up Agriculture Universities in various states like Andhra
Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Horticulture Universities to be set up in Haryana and Telangana.
A programme for the upgradation of skills and training in ancestral arts for
development for the minorities called "Up gradation of Traditional Skills in Arts,
Resources and Goods" would be launched to preserve the traditional arts and crafts
which are rich heritage.
Two new biotechnology clusters to be established at Bangalore and Faridabad.
The government proposes Rs 100 crore for the Young Leader Programme.
The government has proposed to establish national level institutes for Universal
Inclusive Design and Mental Health Rehabilitation and also a Centre for Disability
Sports.
Government to allocate Rs 500 crore as part of digital India programme to ensure
broadband connectivity at village level as well as to ensure transparency in
governance.
Government proposes that the school curriculum must have a separate chapter on
gender mainstreaming.
A national multi-skill programme called Skill India is proposed to be launched. It will
also provide training and support for traditional professions like welders, carpenters,
cobblers, masons, blacksmiths, weavers etc. Convergence of various schemes to
attain this objective is also proposed.
Apprenticeship Act will be suitably amended to make it more responsive to industry
and youth. MSMEs will also be encouraged to avail the benefits of this scheme.
Proposal to set up a Hastkala Academy for the preservation, revival and
documentation of the handloom/handicraft sector in PPP mode in Delhi. An amount
of Rs 30 crore has been set aside for this purpose.
Five technical research centres to be strengthened through PPP for nanotechnology.
National Academy for Customs & Excise to be established at Hindupur, Andhra
Pradesh.
Employment exchanges will be transformed into career centres and information and
counselling will also be provided for job availability.
An additional amount of Rs.100 crore has been provided for madarsa modernisation.
The madarsa modernisation would enable 10 lakh Muslim children to get education of
national standards which is certified through the National Institute of Open Schooling
(NIOS). This would enable Muslim students to progress to higher education or
vocational education depending on their choice.
Sports University to be set up in Manipur; Rs.100 cr provided in current financial year
Govt will set up national sports academy for different sports in different parts of
India
FTII Pune, SRFTI Kolkata to get special status of national importance

Curriculum July 16, 2014

21

Union Education Budget 2014

Cover Story

Lakshmi Iyer

During a recent social media survey by


ICS, of over 8,000 students surveyed, the
vast majority felt that the IITs were now
over-rated and several other institutes
(such as NITs) were now equal to or
better than most of the IITs - this is
almost entirely down to the brand
dilution resulting from the new IITs. )
ICS recently did a piece on how
hundreds of students have rejected the
new IITs and chosen to go elsewhere
leading to a loss of face for the premier
institution and the first time it has had to
publish a second cut-off - the article was
shared extensively across social media.
Unlike engineers and doctors (working
in the private sector with limited social
impact), a dilution in the brand of say
AIIMS doctors would affect our trust in
the healthcare system in general. These
initiatives leave a lot of questions
unanswered: Why IITs and not NITs or
RECs? Why these states and not others?
What is the advantage of having the
same brand across the country when
institutes such as DTU, NSIT & MAMC
(Maulana Azad Medical College)
already exist and could use an infusion of
funds? he wonders. While saying
setting up five IITs and IIMs is a
welcome step, Dhiraj Mathur, Leader
Education, PwC India feels the private
sector has been left out. There is no
mention of involving private sector
participation in providing higher
education. This is a departure of the
recommendation made in the Economic
Survey that Government spending must
focus on providing public goods - higher
education does not fall under that

22 Curriculum July 16, 2014

category, he adds.
Another questionable stance of this
government that many experts feel
belittles government vision on youth of
this country is defined role of skills
ministry and mainstreaming skills with
education. The budget did not spell out
in detail about the role and the budget of
the new skill ministry, asks T.
Muralidharan, Chairman & Managing
Director, TMI e2E Academy. Merging
the education sector and skill training
can help in adding credibility to such
trainings which currently fail to attract
the youth. Proper accreditation can
encourage them to train and be absorbed
in the workforce. We can expect that
accreditation systems for such trainings
will be re evaluated. This will also ensure
the semi-urban and rural youth to be a
part of the mainstream workforce,
feels Sachin Adhikari, India's first
Transformational Training Designer &
Chief Mentor of Achiever's Zone. At the
same time proposal to ease and simplify
norms to facilitate education loans for
higher studies has been widely
welcomed. "We welcome the Finance
Minister's proposal to easen and simplify

Fr. E. Abraham SJ

norms to facilitate higher education


loans for higher studies. This is a step in
the right direction as it will encourage
students to dream and aspire to take up
professional programs, says Fr. E.
Abraham SJ, Director XLRI,
Jamshedpur.
While the teaching training scheme is
seen as the most urgent requirement of
education sector, the contours and
details of the schemes are still sketchy to
provide any insight according to several

experts we contacted. Is it in light of the


final deadline under the RTE Act next
year on 31st March 2015 or a general
response will be clear only in coming
weeks. Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya's
Teacher Training Programme has been
provided Rs.500 crore in the budget.
This would enable the Government to
better train students who aspire to
become teachers in our professional
colleges. This will improve the quality of
teachers that we would produce and will
ultimately lead to improvement in
learning outcomes of the students in our
school system. This will benefit nearly
20,000 teacher trainees studying in
Teacher Education Institutions, said the
union HRD minister Smriti Irani.
Explaining the impact of the budget
further Ashish Dhawan says, Most
significantly, the government has
announced strategic interventions for
school education that will have a direct
impact on improving student learning.
These include the School Assessment
Programme (INR 50 crores), Madan
Mohan Malviya New Teachers Training
Programme (INR 500 crore) and setting
up virtual classrooms under the
Communication Linked Interface for
Cultivating Knowledge (CLICK) (INR
100 crore). Explicit allocation of
resources in these areas indicates a shift
towards an outcomes-based policy
direction. We are hopeful that
investment in these areas will only
increase over the next 5 years.
The announcement for of virtual
classroom has also been received
skeptically. 100 crore budget for digital
classroom seems insufficient to make
any impact anywhere as this can only
install a few thousand classrooms across
over a million schools. In my opinion,
changes to the definition of service tax
exempt educational services will prove
to be a burden on educational
institutions. Most outsourced services
that schools & colleges avail - expert
lecturers / Teacher Training / Technical
support services will now cost 12.36%
more, says Sameer Bora, EVP Research

Union Education Budget 2014


& Development. Next Education India
Pvt. Ltd. According to Iyer quoted earlier,
online modes of learning is a necessity in
India where capacity issues are posing us
huge challenges. India is a top participant
in popular MOOCs like Coursera, good to
see that at the national level the
Government is wanting to make a start.
Again credentialising the competencies
people gain in these virtual classrooms will
be important; perhaps an area where
foreign institutions can actively play a role.
According to Shantanu Prakash, CMD,
Educomp Solutions Ltd, We congratulate
the Finance Minister for making a strong
pitch for online education to bypass the
limitations of access to schools. It is
expected that both these thrust areas will
receive incremental allocations in the
budgets to follow and that these small
beginnings in these critical areas will
convert to a long term policy with
budgetary allocations to match.
The budget also did not spell out any
special incentive for employment creation.
The focus seems to be on Skilling and on
ramping up the manufacturing and infra
industry through investments. Skilling
increases supply of manpower. If the
demand is not there, this effort will be
counterproductive. The excess supply will
impact the compensation and keep it
artificially low, which is already
happening as per a recent study done by a
team of researchers from Tata Institute Of
Social Sciences and TMI . There are
vauge linkages between Growth-Job
creationSkill development, it lacks
implementation framework.. Create
Capability of skill ecosystem on
NOS,content, skill trainers, assessors
&certifying bodies across sectors across
districts of India must have been priortized.
Unless we have focus on manufacturing
skills across existing 4000 clusters & new
100 cities/industrial township and massive
scale up of delivery skill at schools from IX
to XII standards.Making one paper of
skills, we can't deliver Prime Minister's
skilled India vision, says Navin Bhatia,
MD of Navkar Skills. In words of T.
Muralidharan Unfortunately the demand

of experts to include the Skill


development training as a MGNREGA
outcome has not been met. The big plus
of the budget is on the Apprentice
scheme revamp promised by the FM and
expansion of the scheme to MSME. The
FM also talked of multi skill focus and
the need to integrate employment and
entrepreneurship. This is big departure
from the current policy of insisting that
all skill development should lead to
employment and employment is the
main measure of success. Selfemployment based skill courses will and
should get more attention and support
from the skill ministry. In fact the
Ajeevika skills program of Ministry of
Rural Development of late is focussed
heavily on skills and jobs and the FM
gave a new spin on that. FM proposed to
s e t u p a S t a r t U p Vi l l a g e
Entrepreneurship Programme for
encouraging rural youth to take up local
entrepreneurship programs with an
initial outlay of Rs 100 crore. So the
emphasis is slowly moving from pure
employment focussed skilling to a
balanced approach of job+
entrepreneurship model. Accoridng to
Deepak Mehrotra, MD, Pearson India,
India has over 430 million people in the
age group 15-34 years, constituting
around 35% of the total population.
There is a definite need of vocational
training and skill building to develop a
workforce that can significantly
contribute to the Indian as well as global
economy and Skill India, the project to
increase in the employability of Indian
youth is a great welcome move.
However, I feel more focus needs to be
given to make vocational training
affordable and accessible to the rural
areas of our country through PPP for the
learner funded models..
Overall, the focus of the budget on
Entrepreneurship, and Skill
development has enthused many
observers. With the expected GDP
growth to reach 7-8% in coming 3-4
years about 10 million jobs would be
created, primarily in Manufacturing,

Cover Story
Infrastructure and Insurance sectors- if
one takes cue from the revival plans in
the Budget. Initiatives in the above three
areas will help in meeting the needs of
both skill supply and demand side.The
Startup fund of 10,000 cr is a welcome
step. With over 64% of population
belonging to the working age of 20-35
years by 2021 , it's important to explore
alternative methods of job generation.
Encouraging self employment through
start-ups is a good way to resolve this
issue and at the same time fuel economic
growth, says Pankaj Bansal, CEO of
PeopleStrong. Entrepreneur friendly
legal bankruptcy framework will also be
developed for SMEs to enable easy exit.
A nationwide District level Incubation
and Accelerator Programme would be
taken up for incubation of new ideas and
providing necessary support for
accelerating entrepreneurship, Jaitley
said in his speech. According to Dilip
Chenoy, Managing Director and CEO,
NSDC The present government has
started with a very strong commitment to
develop a robust and sustainable skilling
ecosystem with the Prime Minister's
vision for building India on the Skill,
Scale and Speed plank. As a clear
reiteration of this commitment, the
Finance Minister in his Union Budget
speech, has also provided this
government's full support to build the
Skill India Mission and the
announcement of National Multi-Skill
Mission. How this unfolds in the coming
months is something we need to wait and
watch. After skilling over 2 million
people over the last five years, National
Skill Development Corporation is fully
geared to accept any challenge that the
government may expect us to take on in
the skilling space.
Govt in its budget has proposed to launch
a pan India Programme called Digital
India to further bridge the divide
between digital haves and havenots. This would ensure Broad band
connectivity at village level, improved
access to services through IT enabled
platforms, greater transparency in
Curriculum July 16, 2014

23

Union Education Budget 2014


Government processes and increased
indigenous production of IT hardware and
software for exports and improved
domestic availability. Union Finance
Minister,Arun Jaitley said that special
focus would be given on supporting
software product startups. He also
proposed to set-up A National Rural
Internet and Technology Mission for
services in villages and schools, training in
IT skills and E-Kranti for government
service delivery and governance scheme
with an initial corpus of Rs. 500 crore. A
special focus on broadband internet in this
budget, a blend of online delivery of
content through elearning along with
correct elements of classroom delivery will
ensure that the quality and standard is not
only maintained but that it also reaches
every corner of the country, especially the
rural population. It will most certainly have
a positive impact to inspire and boost the
manufacturing and services sectors. says
Vinay Pradhan, Country Manager,
Skillsoft, India.
Now whether all these announcements and
proposals become realities on ground is
another question mark on governance
system in the country. Delivering on that
will be a national service. To achieve this,
the Centre should include a performance
based component in its allocations to states
that would be contingent upon
implementation of education policies and
lead to greater accountability and
performance levels, advocates Dhawan.
The Budget has emphasised on gender
mainstreaming. The school curriculum
will have a separate chapter on gender
mainstreaming, which is indeed welcome.
This will sensitise students, teachers and
the community at large to be more sensitive
to the needs of girl child and women and
will promote growth of a more harmonious
society. That education can deliver such
important social and economic benefits to
the country must raise the profile of
education sector in coming years and
become a priority in governance, reforms
and spending for both union and states.
Hopefully!
Ends

24 Curriculum July 16, 2014

Special Comment

So close, yet so far:


The Higher education conundrum
According to an estimate
there are a few
India had about 17 million
encouraging trends like an
students enrolled in
increase in foreign
different colleges and
collaboration.
university in 2012, which is
Globalization has been
about 11% of the graduates
marked by a sustained
in the world, almost equal
interest in tie-ups and
to Russia, and lesser than
collaboration between
Dr Prem Kumar
only the United States
Indian varsities and their
(14%) and China (18%). However, there foreign counterparts. Twinning
are several critical structural gaps and Program, which promises a foreign
shortages in the Indian education degree, while studying in India has
system, which limit the utilization of the gained prominence. There were an
potential of these graduates.
estimated 631 twinning programs in
The growth in infrastructure has failed to 2010. Faculty exchange programs have
keep pace with their rising aspirations. often resulted in greater collaboration
This is partly due to lack of Government between the universities. Such
will. India spent only 3.8% of GDP on collaborations have a long-term
education, much lesser than the United advantage of building expertise, and
States and some European nations. This have often resulted in ground-breaking
has translated into a lack of quality research. It not only provides exposure
infrastructure, resulting in lower Gross to wider career options but also
Enrolment Ratio (GER)for higher encourages cross-border collaboration
education. This combined with the lack with students from other varsities. Such
of research facilities in the country has exposure also improves employability
resulted in dismal state of higher due to familiarity with foreign work
education. A QS Ranking released last culture, enabling students to work under
year included no Indian University in its different socio-cultural settings.
list of Top 200 Universities in the world. However, Government would need to be
Given these structural deficiencies, it more proactive in easing out the
seems unlikely that India would be able regulatory hurdles and encouraging
to achieve a reputable position globally such tie-ups.
in near future.
Improving the higher education scene in
Alarming as it may be, this is just one of the country currently seems outside the
the several major problems. A British scope of only Government efforts. To
Council survey released recently bring about a long-term and effective
claimed that the employability of change in the higher education scene in
graduates in India remains at a meager the country, industry and universities,
38.2%, even in high growth sectors . both domestic and foreign, need to work
T h e r e f o r e , w h i l e a d d i n g n e w in tandem. This will go a long-way in
universities could be helpful which ensuring the demographic dividend, that
seems to be the current focus of India currently enjoys, does not go to
Government it is unlikely to create a waste for the want of proper education
long-term impact until the larger and training.
question of quality of education is also Author is Director, Projects &
Distinguished Professor, BML
addressed.
In the midst of these alarming signs, Munjal University

Spotlight

Pathways Aravali hosts Round Square Collaborative Service Project


Keeping in tandem with Kurt Hahn's
belief that schools should have a
greater purpose beyond preparing
young people for college or university,
Pathways World school, Aravali
cultivated the much needed
momentum in students to prepare for
life by having them face it directly and
experience it in ways that would
d e m a n d c o u r a g e , g e n e r o s i t y,
imagination, principle and resolution.
The Round Square Collaborative
Service Project 2014 hosted by
Pathways World School Aravali was
held between 9 June to 16 June, 2014.
Round Square is a world-wide association
of schools on five continents sharing
unique and ambitious goals. Students
attending Round Square schools make a
strong commitment, which goes beyond
academic excellence and encourages
personal development and responsibility.
35 students from schools across India and
abroad participated in the project. The
participating schools included Millenium
School, Dubai; Assam Valley School,
Assam; Dhirubhai Ambani International
School, Mumbai and Genesis Global
School, Noida apart from Pathways World
School as the host school came together to
build six toilets for girl students at Govt.
Girls Sr. Sec School, Badshahpur and two
units at Primary Boys School, Badshahpur.
In addition, the Boys school access road
was paved by the students which is
approximately 10 feet wide and 70 feet in
length. Improvement of the water drinking
station with tiling, making a trough,

replacing taps and getting clean access to


running water was part of the project.
Closing/securing the rain water
harvesting pits which had been left
precariously open and were as deep as 20
to 25 feet and metal grate access near the
gate- with a deep drain to regulate the
flow of running rain water are also on the
agenda. Students constructed toilets in
both the schools under the aegis of the
Round Square Summer Project,
whitewashed the front ground wall,
carried out the plantation of trees.
This Project arose from something that
the students had identified over the last 3
years as a part of their village surveys.
The student body has been instrumental
in ensuring that service is not only 'hand
me down' but is actually identified by the
partners in this journey on their need
basis. To establish this, the students had
designed a survey about health, hygiene
and student enrolment in schools. What
emerged was that girls had a much

Pathways first LEED-EB platinum rated school in world


Pathways School Gurgaon has been conferred the LEED-EB (Leadership in
Energy & Environmental Design- Existing Buildings) Platinum by United
States Green Building Council. According to the school authorities, When we
were designing the school we laid all possible emphasis on creating a Green
Campus with Zero Discharge. Taking a cue from the traditional Indian
Architecture where old Forts and Palaces always remained cool in summers
and warm in winters, there were two challenges that we took on: go for
unconventional simple approaches for taking full benefit of natural energies
and infusion of latest complex technologies. Thinking with an open mind,
challenging the present norms of the industry, keeping things as simple as
possible, we devised our progress plan and accordingly built the Pathways
School Gurgaon Campus. The same has been recognised by the most
premier Green Building Organisation in the world - USGBC.

higher 'drop out' rate as they


moved from Middle to Senior
School largely owing to lack of
basic amenities for them to
access toilets. This initiated a
drive in and around the ridge to
confirm and verify this fact and
also ascertain the need.
"In the past 3 years, we have
added toilets for Girls in three
neighbouring schools and are
working on the current one
which would be the fourth such
school. This school is by far the
largest in student enrolment as it has a
catchment of 10 villages in the
neighbourhood and a student population
of 2000 girls in Senior/Senior
Secondary category. A well run school,
it is well respected in the community, but
has a dearth of toilets as there are only 3
toilets for 2000 persons, i.e. an average
of 667 students/girls sharing 1 toilet. We
intend to complete the task, with the help
of our students, and some funding from
Round Square, to add 6 more toilets in
this school which will help ease the
current ratios. Additionally, we have
also worked with a Boys Primary School
which is also one of the older schools in
Badshahpur and have given the school a
total face-lift with our children even
painting the walls with messages,
multiplication tables and related
educational material. But the most
utilitarian part has been giving them an
all season access road which was
lacking until now" says Mr Sumit
Dargan, Middle School Principal &
Round Square coordinator, Pathways
World School. Aravali.
The project was much appreciated by
the Village Panchayat and the entire
village community. The School staff and
students were influenced and motivated
and joined hands to work during the last
phase of work. Such Community service
efforts, allow children to understand and
appreciate the significance of their
contributions to environment and lives
of the lesser privileged around them.

Curriculum July 16, 2014

25

Campus Buzz
OP JINDAL UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Education Reforms in education must confer to Indian


expectations and needs
It is critical to examine the different global education models
and experiences in the Indian context before implementing any
of them in India. Also a student centric education would be the
next step in the growth ladder of Indian education system.
These were some of the censual statements arrived at a
conference on enhancing higher education opportunities for
high school graduates, promoting global excellence and
international education in India by Sonipat (Haryana)-based
Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities in association
with Claremont McKenna College (USA) at its campus on
June 28th& 29th. The conference commenced with an
inaugural address by Gudmundur Eiriksson, Ambassador of
Iceland to India, followed by two keynote addresses by Venu
Rajamony, Press Secretary to the President of India and Raghu
Rai, renowned photographer and photo journalist.
Sharing his views on this conference and its objective,
Professor Dr. C. Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, O.P Jindal
Global University, said, Higher education in India is at a
tipping point. Increasingly, classrooms are becoming global in
nature and India needs to leverage that to its advantage. The
existing dichotomy that prevails between the public sector
efforts and the private sector initiatives in higher education
need to be dismantled and a cohesive effort has to be made to
enhance the quality and applicability of higher education in a
global context. There is also a crying need for our education
system to address the lack of quality in liberal arts and
humanities colleges in India. We need to have many such
schools to deepen democracy and produce an enlightened
citizenry that is able to adapt itself to the changing demands
and circumstances of the contemporary world. In this
conference we have tried to determine what shape the
discourse on higher education needs to take in India, in the near
future.
Dr. Hiram E. Chodosh, President, Claremont McKenna
College, USA, who delivered the distinguished public lecture,
entitled 'Toward a Theory of Value for Global Higher
Education', commented, Institutions of higher learning in
India and the United State bear a profound responsibility: to
meet the educational imperatives of our day. We are honored
to work with our close colleagues at Jindal on this vital
collaboration. Our societies must simultaneously surmount
several severe challenges and work to seize a wide range of
extraordinary opportunities. To succeed, we need to develop a
theory of value that at once satisfies and yet goes beyond the
pressing needs for employability and good citizenship. Three
such values or capacities are of critical, sustained importance:
creativity, empathy, and courage. To grow these values, higher
education needs to become more student-centric and more
open to learning through experience that engage students
outside the classroom in research, service, social innovation,
and entrepreneurship
Renowned social commentator and public intellectual Shiv

26 Curriculum July 16, 2014

Visvanthan felt that the Indian education system must help


nurture individuals who are courageous enough to dissent, differ
and deviate from the popular view. A liberal arts education must
inculcate a value system where there is a nurturing space for
idiosyncrasy, eccentricity and dissent which are some of the
fundamental features of creativity.
Jerry Pinto, Author and Teacher, felt in the context of any
education, let alone liberal arts and humanities, the teacher
must engage and involve the outside world and bring it inside the
classroom or help make students empathetic to the world
outside the classroom, outside the framework of scoring high
marks, rote learning and career building.

MoneyGram Foundation donates three Mobile


Science Labs

MoneyGram International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGI), a leading


global money transfer and payment services company, gave a
grant to the Agastya International Foundation through the
MoneyGram Foundation, will fund three (3) Mobile Science
Labs for one year, each exposing over 7,000 children to handson science models. Each lab funded by the MoneyGram
Foundation will travel to thirty (30) schools in the states of Uttar
Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar, teaching children using handson science models in physics, chemistry, biology and
mathematics. The MoneyGram Foundation believes that
education is at the heart of better economic opportunities,
healthier families, and individual freedom and empowerment.
India possesses great young talent and we wish to nurture this
talent right at the beginning, says Grant Lines, Executive Vice
President of Asia Pacific, South Asia and the Middle East at
MoneyGram. The MoneyGram Foundation supports highimpact education programs around the world. We are excited to
work with Agastya International Foundation to provide this
innovative learning opportunity for thousands of children in the
important subject of science. Ramji Raghavan, Chairman,
Agastya International Foundation said, With the MoneyGram
Foundation's support, over 20,000 children every year will
experience the joy of hands-on, experiential learning which we
believe will spark their curiosity and help to nurture their
creativity like never experienced before."

Campus Buzz
21st Century Technology Skills to 150 schools in
Delhi NCR
Microsoft India and Rotary International District 3010 have
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide the
Microsoft IT Academy Program in 150 Delhi NCR schools
covering over 150,000 students and 7,500 educators.
Microsoft IT Academy is a subscription-based program
designed for accredited academic institutions worldwide. It
empowers educators to help students hone their skills and
recognize their career potential through relevant and high
quality technology training resources.
The program's resources include online learning content,
official Microsoft course materials, curricula, learning
management system and instructor tools. Further, each school
gets access to student and faculty certifications to train
educators to use world-class curriculum in their classrooms.
The curricula spans computer basics to high-level
programming including Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio
and other cutting-edge application development tools.
Providing Indian youth with 21st century skills and
knowledge is critical in helping them succeed in an
increasingly connected world. Our MoU with Rotary
International District 3010 is a step in providing these skills to
150,000 school students in Delhi through the Microsoft IT
Academy Program, said Karan Bajwa, Managing Director,
Microsoft India. As per industry estimates, 50% of today's
jobs require some degree of technology skills and this will
increase to 77% in the next decade. At Microsoft, we are
committed to partnering with governments, academic
institutions and not-for-profit organizations to enable Indian
youth through our education focused programs.
By collaborating with Microsoft, we are able to provide a
roadmap to technology proficiency and industry-recognized
Microsoft certification credentials that are not only well
aligned to Rotary's goal of 100% literacy by 2017 but go a step
further to provide Digital Literacy skills. We hope to spread
this initiative to the rest of the country, as well as globally, over
a period of time, said Rtn Sanjay Khanna, District Governor,
Rotary International District 3010.

Art Periodical by DPS student

Sahil Bansal, a student of Class 11, of DPS Mathura Road has


started Inkspire, an art magazine, which aims to fuel the creative
fire of budding artists by providing them a platform to showcase
their talents. A special school assembly was held to highlight the
achievement on July 10.
Principal, MI Hussain, talked about Sahil's remarkable
achievement in creating India's first art magazine, which placed
him in the Limca Book of Records as the youngest Editor in
Chief of a self founded art magazine. He also complimented
Sahil's parents for being a constant source of inspiration and
motivation for their son. The Chief Guest, Sandeep Sethi,
Education Officer, CBSE, held up the magazine for all to see.

IndiaCollegeSearch.com scholarship for best


college review
After successfully launching the all new 'College Reviews'
feature in March, IndiaCollegeSearch.com, India's largest
college search and application platform has announced winner
of its first reviews scholarship. An alumnus of Indian School of
Business, Ankur Garg's review was chosen as the best college
review and was awarded scholarship worth Rs 50,000.
Mousumi Deka and Vivek Mittal from NIT Silchar and Fore
School of Management respectively were declared as runners
up, who were awarded appreciation certificate and assorted
gifts.
Expressing his delight on winning the scholarship, Ankur Garg
said IndiaCollgeSearch.com has provided me an opportunity to
share my most memorable experiences at ISB Hyderabad. I will
use the scholarship amount of Rs 50,000 to repay a percentage
my education loan that I had undertaken for my MBA course at
ISB Hyderabad. ICS is a great platform for students to help
decide a college of their choice and I strongly recommend it to
all aspirants looking for college admissions.
Commenting on this initiative, Anirudh Motwani, Founder and
Chief Executive Officer, IndiaCollegeSearch.com said,
Acknowledging the significance of word of mouth and peer
feedback, the reviews section was designed to encourage
students to share first-hand information, which is not available
on public forums. We are confident that these reviews will create
a reservoir of reliable information and will help potential
students choose a right fit for themselves.
Out of a pool of 400+ insightful reviews in the first month, top
four reviews were shortlisted on the basis of the quality of
content and helpfulness. Personalized reviews that reflected a
comprehensive view of the college, faculty and course
curriculum were shortlisted as best reviews. Further, quality of
the content in terms of grammatical correctness and range of
information covered were also considered.
Another shortlisting criterion taken into account was the
number of students who found the review helpful review, which
was reflected by the number of votes to a particular review.
After the launch scholarship i.e., for the month of April, the next
scholarship is available for the best reviewer of the quarter. Over
800 reviewers are already contending for the second scholarship
to be rolled out in the first week of August 2014.
Curriculum July 16, 2014

27

Campus Buzz
Whistling Woods International Mumbai gets programme based on a ranking done by its peers in India. Peers
consistently scored Sudiksha high on its business model,
SkillTree Knowledge Consortium recognition
commitment to education and efficacy, as well as the strength of
On June 24, 2014, SkillTree Knowledge Consortium presented
Whistling Woods International (WWI) a certificate
recognizing it as a 'Great Place to Study' in India. The
recognition is a result of Whistling Woods' contribution to the
growth of the Indian education system and efforts to maintain
global standards. Meghna Ghai Puri, president of WWI was
awarded the
certificate by
Member of
Parliament at
the House of
Commons, Bob
Blackman, in
L o n d o n
r e c e n t l y. To
demonstrate the
country's vast
potential as a
hub of learning
a
n
d
development,
the Consortium awarded 20 of India's most prominent colleges
with a Skill Tree Great Place to Study certificate. UK public
personality, business leaders, and lynchpins from the
education sector also attended the event.
Meghna Ghai Puri, on the occasion says, UK stands for
advance education, hence being distinguished for contributing
towards educating students and giving them the opportunity to
learn about on-the-job challenges as well as make that
transition from being students to being professionals is warmly
accepted and humbly appreciated.

the founder, Naveen Kumar.

IWP Celebrated Melange - The Blend of Women


Empowerment
IWP a leading institute in women education in vocational as
well as professional studies, on June 28 celebrated its annual
festival Melange-The Blend of Art 2014 at Janakpuri, New
Delhi.
Melange, gave the students a plethora of information and open
access to professionals in the Fashion and lifestyle. With its
attempt to networking the students with industry stalwarts
through meet, greet and guidance, it tried to connect students
with active professionals who have themselves gone through
business's complex system. They provided the students with
advice and ideas and expected to excel. The girls at IWP were
exposed to the realities of post education and develop a working
intuition of how to navigate their future. Tina Chatwal, Ms. India
Asia Pacific 2002. Sumiko Murgai Nanda, renowned fashion
photographer, Jamal Sheikh (Founder Editor, Men's Health
Magazine), were some of the industry leaders who mentored
students with their vast experiences and ideas in the noble
endeavor by IWP.
The Students of the polytechnic showcased a number of dresses
during the fashion show, which were not only designed by them
but also buying the fabric, drafting, sketching, stitching,
embroidering, and finishing of the garment is done by the
students themselves and this very feature of the polytechnic's
educational aspect gives the students, the much needed
confidence and zeal to continue performing well. And in the end,
student awards were conferred on the winners in each show by
their parents.

Pearson invests in a preschool venture

TSCFM Awards for excellence

Pearson Education on June 30 announced an investment of


INR 30,00,000 ($50,000) in Sudiksha Knowledge Solutions,
the company behind a chain of pre-schools offering affordable
education in Hyderabad. The investment was made through
the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF), an investment
fund established in July 2012 to support early-stage highquality education enterprises serving lower socio-economic
groups across the world. Sudiksha operates pre-schools in
underprivileged areas in the urban Hyderabad. They have
implemented an innovative model that recruits educated
housewives locally to run branches under an incentivised
profit sharing scheme, thus developing the skills of women
alongside children. These women are usually educated women
with no previous professional employment. They are trained to
run franchise locations near their homes promoting childcentred learning so students 'learn by doing'. Presently
Sudikshareports having made a difference in the lives of
approximately 800 underprivileged families as a result of their
pre-school network
Sudiksha was one of the two winners of the 2013 Edupreneurs

Thadomal Shahani Centre for Management (TSCFM), Mumbai


which has been doing a pioneering work in unearthing the
innovative talent available with mid-level managers of the
companies, has unveiled a novel plan to shed light on all those
responsible for adoption of out-of-the-box ideas at the level by
decorating them with TSCFM Awards. The objective behind this
Award is to ignite a spark among the lesser known managerial
personnel to go in for innovative practices. This is the first time
that an educational institute is conducting an award ceremony
that is recognizing innovation and excellence in key functional
areas of Marketing, HR and Finance.

28 Curriculum July 16, 2014

VLCC Institute of Beauty & Nutrition Convocation


Ceremony
VLCC Institute of Beauty & Nutrition held its 13th Annual
Convocation at the FICCI Auditorium in New Delhi on July
11.Governor of Manipur, V.K. Duggal, DG, National Skill
Development Agency (NSDA), J.P. Rai, DG Directorate
General of Employment & Training (DGET), MD & CEO,
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Dilip

Campus Buzz
Chenoy, the Chairman & Managing Editor, India TV, Rajat
Sharma, the Commissioner, Jaipur Development Authority,
Shikhar Agarwal, and noted Actor & Social Activist Shabana
Azmi attended
Governor of Manipur, V.K. Duggal, DG of NSDA, J.P. Rai,
the Director General, ), Ministry of Labour & Employment, &
Joint Secretary, Government of India, Alok Kumar, the MD &

CEO, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Dilip


Chenoy, the Chairman & Managing Editor, India TV, Rajat
Sharma, the Commissioner, Jaipur Development Authority,
Shikhar Agarwal, and noted Actor & Social Activist Shabana
Azmi attended.
Over 400 of the nearly 5,000 students who successfully
completed their courses at the VLCC Institute of Beauty &
Nutrition during 2013-14 attended the Convocation ceremony
and were personally presented the diplomas.
Vandana Luthra who is also Chairperson of the NSDC's
backed Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council in India said,
India is uniquely positioned to leverage its favorable
demographic profile to take the final step in its transition from
a developing to a developed nation. The future of our country
rests on the skill-sets of our youths. It is imperative that all of us
work towards creating an ecosystem where skills are
recognized and valued. Only when we do that can we truly
leverage India's favorable demographic profile to emerge as a
developed nation, and possibly even become the 'Skills
Capital' of the world by the turn of this decade.

Mentorship Seminar for aspiring Engineers at


IIT Delhi You Score Solutions Pvt. Ltd operating in the area
of online assessment and skill development, in collaboration
with IIT Delhi Alumni Association hosted a mentorship
seminar for aspiring students on June 22. Ashok Kumar (IPS &
Head of IIT Delhi Alumni Association) was the chief guest.
YouScore enrolls students to this program and provide them
with a technology enabled self preparation and assessment
platform. Using this platform an engineering aspirant can
practise mock tests and get his strong/weak areas and
personalized examination strategy.

Genesis Global School 'Core Values category'


champ at the FLL International Open, Toronto
Five students (Piyush Singh, Amogh Sharma, Shashwat Jha,
Udyat Anand, and Drona Sharma) of the Noida-based Genesis
Global School, who represented India, bagged the first position
in the First Lego League International Open's Core Values
category held in Toronto recently. First Lego League is a

robotics program for 9 to 16 year olds, which is designed to get


children excited about science and technology and teaches them
valuable employment and life skills. Students actively
participated in activities like designing, building, and
programming robots using the LEGO MINDSTORM KIT
applying math and science concepts. The league stressed upon
team-building, critical thinking and presentation skills
exercises, with discussions and research around the challenges
faced by the scientists today.Mark Breadner, Executive Director
of FIRST Canada, Skip Gridley (USA), FLL Global Judge
Advisor and Dave Ellis, Director FLL, Toronto were amongst
the key jury members. India performed exceptionally well in
categories such as Core Values, Robot Design, Research Project
and Robot Game amongst the other 72 teams. . G P Tiwari, I/C
Robotic Club and team coach said, Winning the 1ST position
in the internationally acclaimed robotic competition was quite a
challenge for the school heroes who called themselves the
Electros. The competition witnessed around 20 countries with
participation of Asian countries such as India, Israel, Saudi
Arabia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey and China.

Mini MBA for school students


Era Business School (EBS), awarded certificates to the school
children who successfully completed world's first Mini MBA
program by any management institution in a convocation
ceremony at its Campus. Altogether 38 students were presented
Mini MBA Certificate during the ceremony. Under the mini
MBA program the endeavor was to bring the important nuances
of MBA to the budding leaders at the school level. Dr.
Sudhanshu Bhushan, Vice Chancellor, Shri Venkateshwara
University was the chief guest at the Ceremony.
Curriculum

July 16, 2014

29

End Piece
Indias first
University

Online Dr. Ashok K Chauhan-Founder President, Amity


Group of Institutions honored

NIIT University 'poor'


habitat

International Council of Jurists conferred upon Dr. Ashok K


Chauhan-Founder President, Amity Group the prestigious
"International Jurists
Award-2014" for his unique
contribution in the field of
legal education of the
country during
"International Conference
of Jurists and Writers 2014"
jointly organized by
International Council of
Jurists and International
Commission of Writers on
June 23, 2014 at Hotel
Crowne Plaza, London, UK.
The International Council of
Jurists is a body of jurists
from different countries
working together to establish a healthy development of justice
and equality around the world. The International Council of
Jurists is actively involved in organizing campaigns for legal
awareness.
Atul Chauhan- Chancellor, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh
received the Award on behalf of Dr. Ashok K Chauhan. The
Award was presented by Justice Peter Tomka, President,
International Court of Justice in the presence of the Chief
Justices, Ministers, Judges, Members of Parliament, Writers,
Authors, Ambassadors and Bar leaders from various countries.
Dr. Chauhan- a greatest philanthropist and an educationist, has
a mission and vision to contribute to make India a "Superpower
by 2030" by education and beyond. Dr. Chauhan started Amity
Law Schools in country to provide excellence in legal
education and to produce quality lawyers with good moral
principles and great human values. The first Law School of
Amity- Amity Law School, Delhi was established in 1999 with
the unique distinction of being the first Law School in Delhi to
start a 5-year integrated LL.B (H) programme. Currently, more
than 5000 budding lawyers are pursuing Law Programmes at
six Amity Law Schools all over the country.

NIIT may have made India


proud in several ways but it
has always been the
deployment of technology and
marketing prowess than
technology development or
innovation that the this Rs 700
cr training and education
solutions group set up in 1981,
which has given it success. It
set up a university called NIIT
university in 2009 in
Neemrana Rajasthan over a
100-acre campus. However, if
some of the student feedback
is to be believed, the
university project of the group
is no where comparable to
other private universities. The
management in guise of
natural enviros, obviously has
compromised on student
facilities. The 'canopy shaded'
campus in uncomfortable
Rajasthan heat has made some
student regret their decision to
be studying here despite 'huge
fees amounts'. As marketing
prodigies, the cloud learning
is being marketed by the
university as an alternative to
campus study. What is the
truth?

Mumbai-based ITM Group of


Institutions, recently
announcedthe launch of 'ITM
University Online'. The elearning platform is being
launched with ITM's flagship
MBA program. The classes
will commence in September
2014 with admissions being
opened by the July 21, 2014.
Students will undergo a
rigorous and thorough
curriculum that is designed by
a team of highly experienced
in-house faculties, validated
by industry experts and
includes a wide range of
courses, covering a broad
swath of business areas.
Unlike traditional distance
learning programs, the Online
MBA leverages technology to
provide a multi-channel
learning experience,
combining eBooks, video
streaming, social media and
online collaborative tools, as
well as a live virtual classrrom
experience. . Nitin Putcha Executive Vice President says
The appetite for e-learning is
growing on a global scale. By
2015, Asia will account for the
second highest expenditures
after North America,. The elearning market in India is
expected to grow at 20% with
increased internet penetration;
hence we at ITM are looking
forward to building an
elearning platform that can be
considered a benchmark of
academic quality, and learning
experience in India.

Awareness on Drugs
Arena Animation joined hands
with Smita Patil Street Theatre
on the occasion of World Anti
Drugs Day for spreading
awareness through street plays
performed
across twenty
colleges of Mumbai from June
23rd-June 30th. These shows
will also be listed in The Limca
Book of Records, 2015.

Tata Power's CAL in 8 Mumbai Schools


Tata Power has put nine 'Computer Aided Learning' (CAL)
stations in eight more schools (the DBC School; Vinay High
School; Chembur Karnataka Sangh; Janta Welfare English High
School; Chembur Welfare Marathi Shala; Sharad Acharaya
School; Narayan Aacharya School and Model High School) in
Mumbai under its initiative 'VIDYA'. The program is based on
the understanding that computers play a significant role in the
all-round growth of a child and is crucial for a holistic education
process. Be it studies, entertainment, research or just browsing,
kids spend a lot of time with their 'companion', and it certainly
occupies a very important place in their daily lives.

30 Curriculum July 6, 2014

OMRAAN: US$30,000
global contest for tech
start-ups and innovators
New Cities Foundation and
Oasis500 announced the
launch of Omraan in India, a
global competition for tech
start-ups and innovators
rewarding the best urban
technology ideas with
US$30,000 worth of seed
funding and a 100-day
acceleration program in
Amman, Jordan. Indian
technology startups and
innovators are invited to apply
at www.omraan.me. The
contest will be divided into two
batches with winners of the
first batch announced in early
October 2014 and second in
February 2015 respectively.

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