Assembly line for creating Teachers in tatters, says panel

‘Of 291 Institutes In State, Only 34 Fit To Continue’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court appointed committee headed by former Chief Justice of India J S Verma has found that the assembly line for creating teachers was in tatters and needed heavy investment – both financially and qualitatively. 
    “Around 90% of pre-service teacher education institutions are in the non-government sector, and most of the states of the eastern and north-eastern region of the country are facing acute shortage of institutional capacity of teacher preparation in relation to the demand,” the Verma committee said in its report. 
    The committee’s recommendations included some of the suggestions given by the Kothari Commission in 1966. But it appears that successive governments have not acted on it for half a century. 
    The panel said it inspected 291 institutes, which prepared teachers in Maharashtra and found only 34 fit to continue. “There is a need for enhanced investment in promotion of research in education in general, and in teacher education in particular in the universities; creation of an inter-university centre in teacher education could play a significant role in this regard,” it said. “Teacher education should be part of the higher education system. The duration of programme of teacher education needs to be enhanced. Every pre-service teacher education institution needs to have a dedicated school attached to it as a laboratory, where student teachers get opportunities to experiment with new ideas and hone their capacities and skills to become reflective practitioners.” 
    The panel said the government needed to appoint an expert group to develop a policy framework for in-service teacher education in consultation with national and state level institutions, including institutions of higher studies. The Verma Committee has suggested heavy investment in education in general, and in teacher education in particular in the universities.

 

Source:::: The Times of India, 31-08-2012, p.11. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

Sibal, univ V-C bat for Unmukt

Manash Pratim Gohain TNN 

New Delhi: Help has arrived from the highest quarters for Unmukt Chand, captain of India’s World Cup-winning Under-19 cricket team who has failed in his second semester exam because of inadequate attendance. His college, St Stephen’s, had refused to allow Chand to appear for his first year BA exams as he did not have the minimum of 33.33% attendance mandatory for students under sports quota. 
    But Delhi University vicechancellor Dinesh Singh, who got a call from Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal, on Thursday said the matter would be resolved on priority. He said Chand would not be failed because of the issue. “I have asked St Stephen’s to immediately send his file. The varsity will take action to help him,” Singh said. As first reported in TOI’s Delhi edition, Chand, denied an admit card to take his exams, had moved the Delhi high court.  

Time wasted in Unmukt’s case, says Delhi Univ V-C 

New Delhi: Although Indian U-19 skipper Unmukt Chand had moved the Delhi high court over the denial of an admit card by St. Stephen’s College to take his exams, by the time the court directed the college to allow him to appear for the tests, Chand had already missed two of them. Also, since he did get internal assessment marks, he failed the exam. 
    While promising to speedily resolve the issue, the university administration pointed out that the decision to refuse Chand an admit card had been taken at college level. The V-C, Dinesh Singh, told TOI that had the matter been referred to the university at that time, things would not have come to such a pass. He added that the university would be revisiting policies related to attendance while introducing the four-year degree programme from2013-14. 
    “I have been away from Delhi, but after my return, I called up the college and spoke to the principal as well,” Singh said, adding, “A sportsperson who has achieved so much should not be made to suffer. The university will do everything to help him.” 
    Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal also called up St Stephen’s principal. When he was told that nothing much could be done, the minister called the V-C in the evening.

Source:::: The Times of India, 31-08-2012, p.1. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

ग्रंथपालांच्या निवृत्तीचे वय ६२ वर्षे

कॉलेजांतील शिक्षक आणि विद्यार्थ्यांपेक्षाही अधिक प्रमाणात ग्रंथांच्या सहवासात राहणाऱ्या ग्रंथपालांचा ग्रंथसहवास आता अधिक वाढणार आहे. कॉलेजांतील ग्रंथपालांच्या सेवानिवृत्तीची वयोमर्यादा ६० वरून ६२ वर्षे करण्याचा निर्णय राज्य सरकारने घेतला आहे. फेब्रुवारी २०११ पासून सेवानिवृत्त झालेल्या ग्रंथपालांना हा निर्णय लागू राहणार आहे. 

राज्यातील अकृषी विद्यापीठे आणि संलग्नित अनुदानित खासगी कॉलेजांसाठी हा निर्णय घेण्यात आला आहे. त्यामुळे कॉलेजांमधील प्राचार्य , प्राध्यापक आणि शारीरिक शिक्षण संचालकांबरोबरच ग्रंथपालांच्या सेवानिवृत्ती वयोमर्यादेतही वाढ झाली आहे. केवळ ग्रंथपालच नाही ; तर उपग्रंथपाल आणि सहाय्यक ग्रंथपालही या निर्णयामुळे ६२व्या वर्षी निवृत्त होणार आहेत. परंतु ही वाढ विद्यापीठ अनुदान आयोगाच्या विहीत अर्हतेनुसार नियुक्त केलेल्या ग्रंथपालांनाच मिळणार आहे. ही निवृत्ती वयोमर्यादा वाढ मिळविण्यासाठी ग्रंथपालांना कॉलेजच्या प्राचार्यांकडे आपल्या कामकाजाचा अहवाल आठ प्रतींमध्ये सादर करावा लागेल. प्राचार्यांकडून हा अहवाल विद्यापीठाकडे जमा केला जाणार असून , विद्यापीठामार्फत तपासणी झाल्यानंतर यासाठी उच्च शिक्षण संचालकांकडे शिफारस केली जाणार आहे. त्यानंतर हा अहवाल मंत्रालयाकडे मंजुरीसाठी पाठवला जाणार आहे. सेवानिवृत्ती वयोमर्यादा वाढविण्याच्या शिफारसीला मंजुरी देताना ग्रंथपालांच्या कामकाजाचा आढावा घेतला जाणार आहे. लायब्ररीचे व्यवस्थापन , लायब्ररीतील पुस्तकांचे बारकोडिंग तसेच कम्प्युटरायझेशन , इ-लायब्ररीची उपलब्धता ,ग्रंथप्रदर्शनांचे आणि प्रशिक्षण कार्यक्रमांचे आयोजन , ग्रंथालय विकास चळवळीतील सहभाग अशा विविध बाबींचा विचार हा आढावा घेताना केला जाणार आहे. राज्य सरकारच्या मंजुरीनंतर ज्या दिवशी हे ग्रंथपाल पुन्हा कॉलेजमध्ये रुजू होतील त्या दिवसापासूनचा पगार त्यांना दिला जाईल. निवृत्तीनंतर पुन्हा रुजू होण्यापर्यंतच्या दिवसांचा पगार त्यांना मिळणार नाही. परंतु हा कालावधी पेन्शनसाठी वेतनार्ह सेवा म्हणून ग्राह्य धरला जाईल.

Source ::: Maharashtra Times, 24-08-2012, p.09. http://maharashtratimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/15625556.cms

VIPs are ok, but what about common man? 
India Has A Poor Record In Organ Donation

(The Times of India, 14-08-2012, p.03)

Mumbai: Gujarat chief minister Narenda Modi’s tweet about his health officials looking for a cadaveric liver donation for ailing Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh—before Monday’s developments in Chennai—has been the topic of discussion in the medical fraternity. 
    Many doctors hope it will not only bring the spotlight on the poor rate of cadaver donation in the country, but also highlight the pathetic coordination between various states in this regard. It is, for instance, not easy for a solid organ such as the liver to be packed from Mumbai to Delhi or vice-versa. Most states—except for Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka—do not even have a state-governmentrun organization to coordinate a cadaver donation programme. “At present, there are no guideline on who should be talking to whom. Doctors from private hospitals talk to their counterparts in other states and transfer organs, with ethics taking a backseat and monetary considerations as the only guiding light,” said a doctor. 
    A cadaveric donation occurs when the family of a patient who has been declared brain dead agrees to donate his or her organs (mainly kidneys and liver). But the numbers in most states except Tamil Nadu are extremely low. Mumbai, which was the first in the country to set up an official body, called the Zonal Transplantation Coordination Centre, to oversee cadaveric organ donations, registers less than 20 such donations a year. 
    In 2004, an attempt to send a liver from Mumbai to Pune failed as no proper rules had been drawn up for the purpose. More recently, Chennai’s heart transplant surgeon K Cherian wrote to the Maharashtra government complaining about hearts not being retrieved in Mumbai’s hospitals. 
    In contrast, the US, which is geographically much bigger than India, has a central organ bank that coordinates about patients who are to receive organs. 
Times View: Free cadaver donation from red tape T he cadaver donation and organ transplant mechanism in India needs tobe unshackled immediately from red tape. Too much of bureaucratese and arbitrariness are the twin problems that block life-saving transplants in most states in India. The Gujarat government’s move to help the ailing Vilasrao Deshmukh is welcome; but this should be rule for everyone and not an exception for the privileged.

Surging sales: E-books overtake paperbacks in UK

London: Days of hardbound and paperback could soon end as ebooks take over! With growing popularity of virtual books which can be downloaded on book reading devices, the real paper books have taken a back seat, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported. The online retailer ‘Amazon’ which started selling downloadable books in the United Kingdom in August 2010, has sold 114 internet book downloads for every 100 print books this year. 

    Amazon’s eReader devices, the Kindle range, have been a huge seller in Britain despite the fact consumers pay up to 70% more than those in the USA.   “We hit this milestone in the United States less than four years after introducing Kindle, so to reach this landmark after just two years in the United Kingdom is remarkable and shows how quickly UK readers are embracing Kindle,” vice president of Kindle EU Jorrit Van der Meulen was quoted as saying. 

    “As a result of the success of Kindle, we are selling more books than ever before on behalf of authors and publishers,” Jorrit Van der Meulen added. However, this virtual success has been seen to be disastrous for independent book shops and are almost disappearing from most of the high streets. On the other hand, this has proved to be a good move for authors who can publish their books on-line, get direct access to readers and earn a big share of the sale money for themselves. The most popular downloads in the Kindle store so far this year have been the controversial Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by the British writer EL James. More than two million digital versions of the sexually charged novels were sold in just four months. PTI 

Source:::: The Times o India, 07-08-2012, p.17.  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW&AW=1344316256527

State ties up with British Council to train teachers

T o enhance the quality of English language taught in 67,000 state-run schools, the government of Maharashtra has signed a memorandum of understanding with the British Council to implement the English Language Initiative For Primary Schools. Sanjay Deshmukh, state project director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, and Rob Lynes, director (India), British Council, signed the MoU. 

“This MoU aims to enhance the level of English taught in state-run schools. British Council has selected 300 teachers who will take part in the training,” said Rajendra Darda, minister for school education. As per the state’s 2011-12 economic survey, there are 76,625 primary schools in the state, from which teachers of only 67,000 schools qualify. “Some schools are in remote areas where there could be 2-3 students and only one teacher. As this teacher can’t be sent for training, these schools haven’t qualified,” said sources. 

    According to Deshmukh, “We plan to teach 67,000 teachers, for which we have to train 1,700 master trainers. These trainers would travel across the state to train teachers from these schools, with 40 teachers for each master trainer.” Grace Pinto, MD, Ryan Group of Educational Institutions, said, “If the education minister calls upon Ryan Foundation to undertake this teachers’ training, we will support the Government’s plan. We’d do it as a social activity with the support of our NGO network. It’d be easy for us to implement it as the Ryan group has a network of educational institutions.” 

    VBalasubramanian, director, NES and SVB group of educational institutions, says, “It’s great that the state is taking up this English training initiative. It’s a global language and such efforts were long needed. The education minister’s initiative is commendable.”


Source::: The Times of India, 09-07-2012, p.06. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

Study suggests social networking websites feed anxiety and insecurity:

Tools for choice and change - Times View
    The findings of a study by the University of Salford, that social networking websites can increase anxiety and make users feel insecure, do not necessarily invalidate the usefulness of these new-age tools of communication. These Web-based applications are not only helpful in staying connected with friends and relatives across the globe – rendering distance and time irrelevant – but can also be leveraged in a variety of ways from product marketing to espousing a social cause. True, concerns such as privacy do exist. But like the internet itself, social media too is an evolving creature, constantly engaged in the process of improvement. And as technology becomes more accessible, greater numbers are expected to join the social media revolution. 

    The main driving force behind social media is its democratic character. It allows users to express themselves in their own unique way. In that sense, online avatars are a virtual extension of the real self, enabling like-minded people to network and share ideas. This was amply demonstrated during last year’s Arab Spring movement across the Middle East and north Africa. From Morocco to Bahrain, youth groups effectively leveraged social networking websites to mobilise support for their pro-democracy rallies and demonstrations. Similarly, protesters in Russia and China too are increasingly turning to social media
to dissent against authoritarian regimes. 

    On the business front there are opportunities galore. By combining old-fashioned word-of-mouth publicity with the reach of the internet, social networking websites can provide a fillip to businesses of all shapes and sizes. It is no surprise then that the same principle is being increasingly exploited by politicians and statesmen to reach out to their constituencies. From Queen Elizabeth II to Mamata Banerjee, those in positions of power have indeed woken up to the utility of social media. At the end of the day, social networking websites are what users make of them. Their success lies in their versatility. 

More trouble than it’s worth Anil Thakkar - Counter View
    The University of Salford study merely provides empirical backing for what many social media users already know from experience. And it isn’t the first study to link social
media usage and feelings of insecurity and anxiety, even depression. There have been a slew of them of late – from the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) warning of a problem called ‘Facebook Depression’ affecting teenagers, to researchers at Flinders University in Australia finding that teenage girls spending long hours on social networking sites are more likely to suffer from self-esteem issues. And a study at Utah Valley University in the US has also shown a correlation between Facebook use and depression. 

    The causes aren’t hard to discern. Our online personalities become an exercise in brand management where the brand is the individual. Thus, most users end up selectively putting information online that makes their lives seem far more interesting than they might be in reality. In a time where a significant number of people are always connected, this leads to a form of constant hyper-competition where they are comparing their lives to the essentially make-believe lives of others via status updates and vacation photos. There are other problems as well. The AAP points out that having the number of ‘friends’ on a person’s profile be clearly visible paradoxically leads to a feeling of isolation when other people are seen to have more. And relationships can also be complicated by online social networking, whether because of personal information that is best kept private becoming public or reconnecting with old romantic partners – something reflected in the growing incidence of divorces where these sites have a role to play. Ultimately, what could have been a useful communication tool has been turned into an online popularity contest. And that has made it more trouble than it’s worth.

Source::: The Times of India, 10-07-2012, p.14. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW