EDUCATION - 2004 - Indian Social Institute

More documents

Recommendations

Info

districts of the State under the National Programme for Education of Girls at the Elementary Level (NPEGEL), which aims at enhancing the quality of girls' education with a component of incentives. According to the director of the Sarva Siksha Abhyan (SSA), Rajkumar Kathri, the major focus of the programme was to bring girls, especially those from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, to schools through various interventions. The programme will sensitise school authorities to the need for making the institutions more responsive to the requirements of girls, especially those from the "hard to reach" groups. Various criteria were evolved for the identification of educationally backward blocks. One of them was the female literacy rate in blocks, and those with rates less than the national average of 46.58 per cent were chosen. Blocks where members of SCs and STs formed at least five per cent of the population, and slums in urban areas recognised by the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board were selected. The gender gap was also taken into consideration. (Hindu 21.11.04) 23 rd Nov. Just one-fifth get child benefits (11) New Delhi, Nov. 22: Just about 20 per cent of children in the age group of 3-6-years are beneficiaries of early childhood care and education programmes of the government across the country, states the 'Education For All: India Marches Ahead' report released by the Union human resource development ministry recently. The 2001 census figures show that there were about 157 million children in the below-six age group in the country. "Although more and more children are progressively participating in Centre based play-school activities, a significant number of children in the 3-6-years age group continue to remain outside the reach of early learning and pre-school activities," the report states. The sorry state of affairs is despite the fact that the National Policy on Education, 1986, views ECCE as a crucial input, "a feeder and support programme for primary education." The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002, under Article 45 of the Directive Principles of State Policy further enjoins the state "to provide early childhood care and education to all children until they complete the age of six years." ECCE is administered by the department of women and child development of the human resource development ministry. The department of elementary education enhances coverage to 3-6-year-old children with pre-school education through programmes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. (Asian Age 23.11.04 Arjun to set up N.E. education panel to push through plans (11) NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 22: BEFORE Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could fly out of Imphal after announcing a comprehensive development package, HRD Minister Arjun Singh was finalising crucial education strategies for all eight states (Sikkim included) of theNorth-East. Today, he decided on a high-power committee comprising chief ministers and education ministers of all the eight states to push through all the education programmes and policies and complete them in the stipulated time period. It is a 25-member committee which the HRD Minister will head himself. A government press note said that the committee would "address specific issues relating to education, women and child development in the Northeastern region, including Sikkim". This step to pursue the North-East education agenda with seniormost bureaucrats and top politicians on board follows Arjun Singh's statement in June this year that his ministry would channelise more funds for improvement of the education infrastructure in the North-East. This 25-member committee will also include the Union Minister for Development of the North Eastern Region, ministers of state in the HRD Ministry, the three secretaries in the HRD Ministry (higher education, elementary education, and women and child development) and the additional secretary of education. (Indian Express 23.11.04) 25 th Nov. New entrance exam policy (11) New Delhi, Nov. 24: The government on Wednesday announced a new policy regarding entrance tests for admission to all professional educational institutions. The policy is in keeping with the United Progressive Alliance government's commitment to respect the autonomy of educational institutions. Under the new policy, it will be mandatory for all educational institutions like the National Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Information Technology, National Institute of Forge and Foundry Technology, Ranchi, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and
other Central government institutes to base their admissions through the All-India Engineering Entrance Examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education. In keeping with the UPA government's policy of respecting the autonomy of educational institutions, the policy has been made optional for all other educational institutions like Central and deemed universities. (Asian Age 25.11.04) 266 th Novc. KG admissions are a nightmare for city children (11) Mumbai, Nov. 25: Even a job interview may not be as tough as the first interview of the child seeking admission to kindergarten. It has become more of a trauma for the parents than the children who have to undergo the test. Some of the schools have separate tests for boys and girls showing their sexist bias. "The boys, who are considered stronger compared to the fairer sex were asked to prove their strength by kicking the punching bags. The girls were given a simpler task of dancing to the tune of songs played from a music system," the parents of a three-and-ahalf-year old girl said. The parents were in for further shock when their daughter was asked to walk on an iron plank laid out in a zig zag manner. The child refused to walk alone and didn't shake a leg though she enjoyed the music. The principal of Holy Family School at Bandra, Dr Francis Swamy said that there is nothing wrong in it and most of the schools follow this practice. "This is done basically to judge whether the children are handicapped," he said. Mr Swamy said that some of the schools instruct the children to lift a pen from the table. (Asian Age 26.11.04) 27 th Nov. Chairperson appointed for minority education panel (11) NEW DELHI, NOV. 26. A fortnight after it promulgated an ordinance to set up the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, the Government today appointed retired judge M.S.A. Siddiqui as its chairperson with the former Union Minister, Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, and academic Valson Thampu as members. The three members will hold charge for five years from the day they take office. The Commission — billed as an appellate authority to leal with all ticklish issues pertaining to minority education — has been set up in keeping with a commitment made by the United Progressive Alliance in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP). Though in the NCMP the Government committed itself to amending "the Constitution to establish a Commission for Minority Educational Institutions that will provide direct affiliation to minority professional institutions to Central Universities," the Human Resource Development Ministry after examining all aspects came to the conclusion that legislation would suffice. (The Hindu 27.11.04) 28 th Nov. Stir to mark Education Rights Day (11) NEW DELHI, NOV. 27. To raise a voice for every child in the country who fails to make it to school, the National Alliance for Right to Education and Equity (NAFRE) will launch a nationwide campaign starting with Education Rights Day this coming Monday. Beginning with a dharna to be staged at Jantar Mantar on Monday, the campaign will culminate with a human chain and a candlelight rally later in the day. While calling for an end to disparity in the education system, NAFRE has demanded that the Kothari Commission's recommendations for a common school system be implemented at the earliest. Some of the other issues being raised by the organisation include six per cent allocation from the GDP, withdrawal of anti-people and free and compulsory education bill, and drafting of a new pro-people bill, withdrawal of price hike and Constitutional right to work. "We feel, since the advent of globalization in our economic policies, the issue of employment has become vital for the people of our country in the rural and urban areas. So, we strongly feel that to address this vital issue with all force, we need to unite and stand by our convictions. We need, Constitutional Right for all unemployed persons aged 18 years and above," said the organisation in a statement issued today. (The Hindu 28.11.04) 30 th Nov. Dharna in support of common school system (11) NEW DELHI, NOV. 29. In Support of their demand for withdrawal of the Free and Compulsory Education Bill and introduction of the common school system across the country, the National
Page 1 and 2:
EDUCATION - 2004 Compiled & Edited
Page 3 and 4: GUWAHATI, FEB. 4. The Axom Sarba Si
Page 5 and 6: Anger against profound illiteracy (
Page 7 and 8: The Central officials brought up a
Page 9 and 10: 8 th April 20% reservation likely i
Page 11 and 12: HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi no
Page 13 and 14: Secondary Education, the Union Publ
Page 15 and 16: New Delhi, May 22: The new human re
Page 17 and 18: y his ministry "which puts the stud
Page 19 and 20: NEW DELHI, JUNE 1. The Bharatiya Ja
Page 21 and 22: agree with. "These books were not w
Page 23 and 24: handing over higher education to ma
Page 25 and 26: College, at a press conference here
Page 27 and 28: CABE, somewhat smaller in size had
Page 29 and 30: 'History of India can't be history
Page 31 and 32: Another TN school catches fire, non
Page 33 and 34: anch of a nationalised bank to that
Page 35 and 36: 11. The notices were issued after h
Page 37 and 38: the situation is the same in almost
Page 39 and 40: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has sought corpo
Page 41 and 42: transparent manner," the release ad
Page 43 and 44: anners inviting applications for ad
Page 45 and 46: shades of saffron and ask the autho
Page 47 and 48: function in his hometown of Vadnaga
Page 49 and 50: egarding minority education in the
Page 51 and 52: The evaluators compared learning le
Page 53: 9 th Nov. India again gets red grad
Page 57 and 58: she added. According to sources, ex
Page 59: Bill on panel for minority bodies p
show all

EDUCATION - 2004 - Indian Social Institute

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?