The Progressive School Vol 02 Issue 04

All govt schools to get digital boards
from Classes IX to XII
The Centre government is set to launch a new scheme
to provide
digital boards
for Classes IX to XII
of all government
schools. According to
HRD Minister Prakash
Javadekar, as many
as 15-lakh classrooms
will get digital boards.
The scheme will be
implemented under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, an umbrella
scheme rolled out recently to implement Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Teacher Education
Programmes together. To provide blackboards to schools, the
Centre had launched ‘Operation Black Board’ in 1987 under the
Rajiv Gandhi regime. But today, according to Javadekar, the
centre is launching ‘Operation Digital Board.’ Since the cost
of digital boards is ‘very high,’ the government is planning to
reach out to the India Inc for contributions under the corporate
social responsibility (CSR). Installation of digital boards will
allow schools to adopt “flipped classroom model” of teaching
and learning. A flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in
which short video lectures are viewed by students at home
before they attend their classes.
Eastman Auto and Power Ltd to solarize 100
schools in India
Raipur Government
Primary School is
the only school in
Raipur village of Mewat.
Being the only primary
school in the village, it is
expected to bring about a
paradigm shift in literacy
levels. Yet many basic amenities elude the school. Come
summers and power outages become common. Students have
to brave the scorching heat amidst the lessons and it becomes
increasingly difficult to sit and study in the classrooms.
Eastman Auto and Power Limited (EAPL), one of India’s
leading companies in energy storage and solar solutions, has
found a noble way of redressing the power woes of the school by
harnessing sunshine. Government Primary School will be one of
the schools among 100 others in India that will be solarized as
soon as the part of the company’s ‘Yellow Umbrella Campaign.’
This CSR initiative apart from taking the schools solar and
providing them uninterrupted electricity also aims to sensitize
students about the need for sustainable development and
judicious use of green resources. The project is aligned with the
broader vision to contribute to National Solar Mission by moving
a step forward towards encouraging the use of renewable energy
through solarizing schools.
As a part of this initiative, a full solar structure consisting
of solar panels, PCU and batteries will be installed by EAPL
at the school completely free of cost. A total of 15,000 students
are expected to be sensitized about the benefits of solar energy
through this project. Beginning from Mewat, Haryana, the
campaign will target states such as Rajasthan, UP, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala &Madhya Pradesh.
www.progressiveschool.in
Reena Ray takes over as Secretary HRD
Reena Ray has been appointed
as Secretary of Department
of School Education and
Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Government of India.
She is the 1984 batch IAS officer of UT
cadre. In 2015, she was appointed as
Additional Secretary, Department of
School Education and Literacy, HRD.
Prior to it, she was Chief Electoral
Officer, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. She takes over her current
position on superannuation of Anil Swarup on June 30, 2018.
Reena Ray brings with her enormous experience in the sector.
R Praggnanandhaa: The new
grandmaster from India
R
Praggnanandhaa, a 12 years and 10 months old chess
prodigy from Chennai, made history by becoming the
youngest ever
Indian grandmaster
and the world’s second
youngest till date by
earning his third
GM norm during the
Gredine Open in Italy.
He had won his
first GM norm at
the World Junior
Championships in
Tarvisio in November
2017. He achieved his second norm by winning the Herkalion
Fischer Memorial GM Norm tournament in Greece in April this
year. Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine holds the record for being the
youngest GM at 12 years and 7 months.
Court intervenes in NEET question
papers leak case
Delhi High Court refused to stay results of the 2018 National
Eligibility Cum
Entrance Test
(NEET) on a plea
alleging that the
question papers were
leaked. The petition
was filed by one of
the candidates, who
appeared in the exam
at a Gurugram centre.
It alleged that there was a shortage of question papers in one of
the cities that showed that the papers were leaked. However, the
counsel for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE),
which conducted the exam, said there was some confusion in
the distribution of the question papers, but later it was sorted
out and there was no shortage. The court was informed that the
CBI has also lodged an FIR after it received a complaint from the
CBSE, alleging that a few touts helped students in qualifying
the NEET in various government and private colleges across
the country. A total of 13,26,725 candidates had appeared for
the NEET examination on May 6, which was conducted in 136
cities in 11 languages.
JUL-AUG-SEP 2018
THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL
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