selaqui.org

Chief minister TarunGogoi on Tuesday ordered the formation of a two-member committee to enquire into the anomalies in the Class X board exam conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Assam, (Seba) as pointed out by the All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu) and other organizations. The committee will constitute the vice-chancellors of Dibrugarh University and Assam Agricultural University and will submit its report within one month.

Aasu has been staging a dharna demanding removal of the Seba chairman and revamping of the state board at Seba’s office since Thursday.

Seba employees on Tuesday extended support to the ongoing protest of Aasu demanding ouster of the board’s chairman Shantikam Hazarika. They told an Aasu delegation that they will approach chief minister Tarun Gogoi to end the impasse.

On Sunday, state education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma accepted Aasu’s demand of initiating reforms in Seba so as to provide error-free and timely results to students. But the state government is yet to decide on the fate of Hazarika.

Aasu is adamant to continue its protest unless Hazarika is removed from his post. Lending support to the Aasu’s protest, vice-president of Asom Sahitya Sabha, Paramananda Rajbongshi, and general secretary of All Assam Tribal Sangha, Aditya Khakhlari, on Tuesday joined the Aasu protesters at the Seba premises.

Following the Aasu protest, Seba secretary Dayaram Rajbongshi had earlier tendered his resignation.

Aasu adviser Sammujal Bhattacharyya said that though the state government has agreed to bring reforms in the state board, the board should be controlled by an able educationist. “Ouster of Shantikam Hazarika is the only issue now. Changes in Seba will not yield fruitful results if the board is headed by Hazarika, under whose tenure major goof-ups have taken place in the last two years,” said Bhattacharyya.

The Aasu protest at the Seba headquarters has paralyzed work in the board office. “There is total chaos in the Seba office due to the ongoing protest. Senior officials are not in office for the last couple of days. We want an immediate solution to the logjam,” said Jugal Sarma, secretary of the employees union of Seba.

A Seba official said that absence of the chairman and secretary has hit work at the board. “Registration of class IX students is going on and the results of those who sent their paper of the Class X exam for re-evaluation is yet to be declared. In the absence of senior officials at the Seba office, we are facing serious difficulty,” said a board official.

The news could cherish those individuals who are keen on protecting the heritage of traditional Indian Education System. With the modernization of Indian Education system and adoption of Macaulay’s Modern Education System the traditional Indian education system has been neglected much however with this move Indian Government is again all set to rejuvenate the strength and capacity of traditional Indian education system.

Seeking to restore higher education institutions started by reformer-thinkers like Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore to their lost glory the HRD ministry plans on granting universities who have completed 100 years or more with a “special heritage” status. The tag will come with a one-time grant of up to Rs 60 crore along with greater administrative and academic autonomy.

There is a growing concern that while there has been a quantitative increase in higher education, the quality of education has suffered. A view within the ministry is that private players with commercial and profit-making goals have proliferated and government institutions have developed a sort of “systemic allergy” to promotion of excellence. Through the special heritage tag the ministry hopes that universities that have been tested since pre-Independence era will have a chance to rejuvenate their academic environment.

According to the scheme, the ministry has created three categories for universities: 150 years or more, those that have completed 125 years but are less than 149 years and varsities that are between 100 and 124 years. The quantum of grant will be proportionate with older universities being given more. So those institutions that have completed over 150 years will get Rs 10 crore-Rs 12 crore a year, category two will get between Rs 8 crore and Rs 10 crore a year while those that have completed 100 years will get Rs 6 crore-Rs 8 crore a year. The budgetary provision is for a five-year period.

Among the state universities that are over 150 years old include universities of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta Presidency. The Aligarh Muslim University and Allahabad University are both between 125 and 149 years old and will be considered while deemed universities like the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Gurukul Kangri Viswavidyalaya and Jamia Hamdard could also be considered.

 Other criteria include institutions that were started with a philanthropic and non-profit motive or established with a national need in mind. Institutions started by epoch-making thinkers like Swami Vivekananda, Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Vidyasagar would also be included. As an exception those educational institutions that had started as trusts or colleges but graduated to universities will also be considered. According to news from sources such moves would strengthen the power of traditional Indian education system and a new move will be taken to restore the traditional heritage of India.

While addressing a group of youth in the Gaya District of Bihar, Chetan Bhagat one of the renowned names in the Indian business and entertainment fraternity told that there is no short-cuts for success and hard-working, dedication and commitment is required to excel in any sphere of life. No matter which area you are in people will have to put continuous effort to materialize their dreams in practice.

Bhagat was delivering a motivational talk to Gaya youth on Sunday. The event was jointly organized by Yuva Prayas, the activist group engaged in road safety awareness creation to save young lives and a Jaipur-based educational group. Explaining the adoption of road safety as its ‘theme song’, Yuva Prayas leaders told Bhagat that most of the road accident victims are youth and as such road safety was all the more important.

Exhorting the youth to be extremely careful in the selection of career options, celebrated writer Chetan Bhagat said there was no ‘rewind button’ in real life and as such, one mistake can derail the entire venture.

Giving tips to hundreds of youth, Bhagat asked his audience to be always positive and go ahead in the ‘I can do it’ spirit. Those with a humble background need not be unnecessarily bogged down by their ‘auqat’ (capacity) bogey as there are innumerable examples of people with humble background doing extremely well in life. Bhagat told his audience that he scored a moderate 76% marks in the Class X board examinations but did not allow the relatively low marks to haunt his future and made a place for himself by leaving behind the less memorable moments of life.

However, he also admitted that luck plays a role in the success of a person but each one of us has the capability to go against the script written on the hands of individuals. Only thing that is required is your zeal to work hard and endeavoring efforts.

He told his Hasrat Mohani auditorium audience there was ‘no short cut’ to success and one has to work very hard consistently to achieve the goal. “Do something that you love and do not go by other people’s career perceptions,” was Bhagat’s advice to the Gaya youth. Giving his own example, Bhagat said people discouraged him from quitting a lucrative job in search for ‘something different and satisfying’. He also revealed that his books were initially rejected by several publishers, but he did not give up rather his resolve to make it went up with each rejection.

“Institutions and the family can only give you facilities, the real work has to be done by you,” he said. Bhagat asked the young boys and girls to develop book reading habits as books develop imagination. “Well read men need not introduce themselves, their approach to life reveals the depth acquired through reading,” he said.

Indian women have rocked every sphere of life and same goes for field of education and teaching where they are doing better than men. The notion becomes evident with the fact that recent induction of students in IIM-Kozhikode reveals a greater percentage of female candidates compared to male. Continuing with its impressive track record on bridging the gender divide, IIM-Kozhikode has inducted 54.29% women students for its postgraduate program for the 2013-15 batches.

According to recent news from various sources the recent inducted batch of the institute consists of 361 students include 165 men and 196 women. The batch comprises of 84.21% of students with bachelor’s degree in engineering and technology, 11% from commerce and economics stream and 4% from medicine, pharmacy, science and agriculture background.

Induction of women in IIM-Kozhikode has been on the rise for the past few years. In 2010, 100 women students were taken in a batch of 371 which rose to 121 women in 2011 of a batch of 341. There has been a steady rise of this number from 31.5% in 2010 to 35.48% in 2011. In 2012, it fell to 27.52% as only 98 out of 356 students were women.

The new batch that has just got the admission consists of students with 0-24 months’ work experience. The batch consists of students from all corners of the country – Southern India (27%), Western India (26%), Northern India (19%), Eastern India (12%), Union Territories including Delhi (11%) and Central India (5%). IIM-Kozhikode said it did not alter its admission procedure to accommodate higher number of women students, but factored in the consistent academic performance. IIMK was also among the first to slash its tuition fee by Rs. 30,000 for its post graduate program making the two year fee Rs 9.7 lakh, lowest of all IIMs.

IIMK director Debashis Chatterjee said, “We at IIM-Kozhikode aspire to create a unique academic space that will challenge convention. This year we have not only led in ensuring gender diversity but have also admitted national talent from the field of sports, music, martial arts and the social sector. Our goal is to churn out not just a competent manager but a well-rounded and a compassionate human being. In this endeavor, the current batch of students will be our assets.