IIT programme to train school leaders

“The training of future school leaders must be seen as a social responsibility, a national duty,” says the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D), introducing the School Leadership Programme (SLP) 2011 which will train educators free of cost in its second edition this year.

The SLP is aimed at aspiring principals in the 35- 45 year age bracket with one to five years of experience with a view to improving leadership and professionalise school management. With increasingly “worrisome quality statistics” of higher education in India, IIT-Delhi recognised the need to improve education at the first step — the school level — in order to improve the overall quality of education in the country.

“During the first edition of SLP last year, we realised that the course fee of Rs. 45,000 was nearly two months’ salary for a couple of participants. This year, IIT-Delhi has sought support of the alumni community in sponsoring the course fee for participant teachers,” added the IIT-Delhi spokesperson.

The four weeks long SLP, which will be held between May 23 and June 18, aims to introduce participants to five key aspects of school leadership: instructional/educational, institutional, personal, administrative and entrepreneurial. The selected participants will only have to pay for their travel, boarding and lodging. The programme will be conducted at IIT- Delhi, with the second week in a residential mode outside Delhi.

“Teachers are expected to ‘just grow’ in their role through training on the job. While some teachers become excellent principals by self learning, most learn the ropes the hard way at a huge cost to society,” says the spokesperson. People interested in the programme can either apply online or download the application form at www.eduexcellence.org. The last date of receiving duly filled applications is May 10.

Source: The Hindu, May 2, 2011

IIM-A pays more than Rs. 100 million as fee waiver

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) doled out more than 20% of its total fee income as fee waiver during academic year 2011-12. The institute introduced family income-linked fee waiver policy in 2008 and in the last academic the total fee waiver was more than Rs. 10 crore (Rs. 100 million) to Post-graduate Programme in Management (PGP) and PGP-ABM (Agri Business Management) students, an amount that is highest so far.

In 2008, IIM-A hiked fee for the PGP from Rs. 400,000 for two years to Rs. 1.15 million. It then defended the move by saying the new fee structure also took into account the waiver the institute decided to offer to the students coming from weaker financial backgrounds. In 2009, it raised the fee by Rs. 100,000 while in 2010, it raised fees by Rs. 120,000. It has recently decided to increase fee for two-year PGP programme by 5.5% (bringing the total fees to around Rs. 1.45 million).

In 2008, IIM-A introduced various slabs for fee waiver based on annual family income between less than Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 600,000. “In the academic year 2010-11, the institute earned more than Rs. 45 crore (Rs. 450 million) from fees of PGP and ABM. On the other hand, we have given fee waiver of more than Rs. 10 crore (Rs. 100 million) to around 280 students of PGP and around 50 students of ABM,” said Professor Ajay Pandey, head of IIM-A’s financial aid committee. In the academic year 2009-10, the institute had given fee waiver of more than Rs. 8 crore (Rs. 80 million) to around 310 students of PGP and ABM.

“As the fee and batch size both increased in 2010, our waiver also increased. Financial aid given to the students in 2010 is the highest so far,” Professor Pandey added.

Source: The Economic Times, May 2, 2011

>Commerce graduates eligible for teaching jobs now

>Giving a big boost to B.Com. graduates aspiring to pursue a career in teaching, the Government has decided to allow them to appear for the mandatory test for appointment as teachers from standard six to eight. According to the qualification norms for teachers issued last year under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, B.A. and B.Sc. graduates were only eligible for appointment of teachers.

“The National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE), however, received representation from State governments and other stakeholders in respect of inclusion of B.Com. degree holder for the appointment of teacher for class VI to VIII,” said an official in the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Therefore, it has been decided to include B.Com. graduate also in the qualification prescribed for appointment as a teacher, the official added. A notification in this regard will be issued shortly.

As the minimum qualification laid down last year also required B.A. and B.Sc. graduates to pass the ‘Teacher Eligibility Test’ (TET), the official said all concerned have also been asked to make appropriate changes in the TET related criteria to allow B.Com. holders to sit for the test. The Government has decided to introduce this national level teacher eligibility test from this year for teacher recruitment for class I to VIII to set a benchmark in quality of teaching.

The “Central Teacher Eligibility Test” (CTET) will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on June 26 for recruitment in Central Government schools such as Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Navodaya Vidyalayas, Tibetan Schools, etc. and schools under the administrative control of union territories of Chandigarh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Source: Business Line, May 2, 2011

>Engg entrance exam papers leaked; fresh ones used

>Around 1.2 million students through the country who were to take the national engineering entrance examinations this morning had to wait for two hours and a fresh set of question papers, after it was discovered that the scheduled set of questions had been ‘leaked’ in Uttar Pradesh.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts the All India Engineering/Architecture Entrance Examination (AIEEE), promptly postponed the two sets of tests, scheduled to start at 9:30 am and 2:30 pm today, a senior official of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) said. That was after the state police discovered the papers had been reportedly sold for Rs. 600,000 each and informed CBSE.

A team of the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) nabbed a person in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) in connection with the leak and took him to Lucknow for questioning. Kanpur City Police chief K. Saurabh said the person was picked up near Devki Cinema Hall in Kakadev area, where most of the engineering coaching centres are located. His identity was not disclosed.

In Delhi, CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi said, “An inquiry will be conducted into the incident and those involved will be punished. When we got to know (about the leak) in the morning, our aim was to do it (hold the test) without causing much inconvenience to most of the children… First was to ensure the exam happens as early as possible and that we have been able to do,” he said. The exams for the first paper began at noon and the second paper was conducted at 4:00 pm and a fresh set of questions were distributed to students.

AIEEE is held in two parts — Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Architecture. About 12,00,000 students sat for the test at over 1,600 centres in 80 cities today.

Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force’s Senior Superintendent of Police Vijay Prakash said they received a copy of the question paper last night. “We faxed the paper to the CBSE Chairman and it was confirmed this morning that the paper was original,” he said.

This is the first time that AIEEE was also held in the online format for students willing to appear in this mode, which was also postponed accordingly. About 100,000 candidates from 20 cities in India registered for the examination online. AIEEE is conducted to gain admissions into National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and other engineering colleges in the country.

Special Director General of Police Brij Lal said in Lucknow that a police informer claimed the leaked AIEEE papers were available for Rs. 600,000 each.

The CBSE chairman said those students also appearing for the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) examination, being held today, will be allowed to appear for the AIEEE on May 8.

Source: Business Standard, May 2, 2011

>Skill education may get bank loan facility

>Youngsters from poor families may soon be able to pay for skill development courses through loans issued at low interest rates, similar to the education loans given for professional and technical courses. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), set up to boost the country’s skilled workforce, has proposed that skill development be made “an eligible category for financing from financial institutions/banks for rural and urban youth”.

“Skill training requires limited funds as most skill training is of limited duration… Making it part of priority sector lending, reducing interest rates and providing comfort to banks through a skill training fund are methods that could be considered,” said a note prepared by NSDC, a copy of which has been reviewed by Mint.

Skill development courses typically run for 3-12 months. The fees range from Rs.10,000 to Rs.100,000. Most skilled workers come from poor families in smaller towns, where raising such sums is a tall order, two government officials said, requesting anonymity. Skill training should be “made eligible for credit support as the country is targeting at inclusive development and creating a 500 million-strong skilled workforce by 2022”, one of them said.

The country faces an acute shortage of skilled workers, but the government has been unable to attract enough youngsters to skill development courses. NSDC has signed agreements with 24 organizations to promote skill development across India, but less than 25,000 youths received skill training over the past year, according to official data.

The government is now planning a Rs.100 crore (Rs. 1 billion) advertising campaign to bring more students to vocational schools, Mint reported on 23 March. Financing skill development remains a bottleneck, said Rituparna Chakravarty, Vice-President of TeamLease Services Pvt. Ltd, a staffing firm.

“We know as a fact that there are students who want to get into skill education, but cannot pay even Rs.10,000,” Chakravarty said. “Here, it will be a boost. From the industry perspective, it will improve efficiency and arrest high attrition of employees as the skilled manpower availability will increase.”

Source: Mint, May 2, 2011