How are Ekalavya Vidyalayas doing? Some reports from Samaja.
July 25th, 2007
BJB Junior College Plus two science and arts merit list of students
BJB Junior College has put its plus two science and arts merit list of students in the web.
2 comments July 16th, 2007
Orissa’s dismal performance in IIT entrance examinations; no one cares
The Telegraph has an article titled "IIT wake-up bell for backbencher Bengal" where it rues the low performance of students from Bengal in the IIT entrance exams. It concludes with: "Fewer students from Bengal in the IITs and IIMs mean fewer decision makers of tomorrow from Bengal." Orissa has been doing much worse than Bengal, but hardly anyone in Orissa is worried about it. Its time decision makers in Orissa, start worrying about it and taking corrective actions.
5 comments July 16th, 2007
Seat increase in plus 2 science and commerce in many government colleges
Following is a report on this from Dharitri. As per the report the number of seats will increase as follows:
- BJB Junior College plus two science: Current 512. Will increase by 32 IT 4th optional seats.
- Ravenshaw Junior College plus two science: Current 288. Will increase by 96 seats.
- RD Womens college plus two science: Current 256. Will increase by 128 seats.
- Sailabala womens college plus two science: Current 128.Will increase by 96 seats.
- Govt College Anugul plus two science: Current 192. Will increase by 64 seats.
- Rajdhani junior college plus two science: Current 256. Will increase by 64 seats.
- RD Womens college plus two commerce: Will increase by 128 seats.
- Govt College Anugul plus two commerce: Current 128. Will increase by 128 seats.
- Govt College Rourkela: will start +3 Computer Science (hons)
2 comments July 13th, 2007
Special school for child laborers
Odisha.com reports on a special school for child workers that has been started in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
July 7th, 2007
Sarva Siksha Abhiyan: EGS (Education Guarantee Scheme) and its follow-up
Quoting from http://ssa.nic.in/ssaframework/
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is an effort to universalise elementary education by community-ownership of the school system. It is a response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country. The SSA programme is also an attempt to provide an opportunity for improving human capabilities to all children, through provision of community-owned quality education in a mission mode.
EGS is one of schemes that has been used for the above effort. Now that the central govt has asked some aspects of EGS to be changed the Orissa government plans to develop an alternative. The following article in Samaja elaborates on a proposal that is under consideration.
July 7th, 2007
Sai International establishing a school near Infocity
Odisha.com reports that Sai International plans to establish a K-12 school in a 5.5 acres land near Infocity in Bhubaneswar. The school will be built at an expense of 25 crores and will aim to cater the children of IT employees working in the Infocity.
16 comments July 4th, 2007
Letter to SAC-PM on science magnet schools
Update: IMSA website is a bit hard to navigate; following are some important links.
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Dear esteemed SAC–PM:
Thank you for your role in the creation of the 6 IISc type institutes that the PM mentioned today in his address at Mumbai. I assume he meant the 5 IISERs and the NISER in Bhubaneswar.
I have been interacting with the NISER Bhubaneswar and getting some feedback on the IISERs. Its a bit worrisome that many students are going to IISERs because they could not get into IITs. I am told some IISER students gave the IIT JEE again and then moved. That is partly because the current 10+2 schools do not encourage students towards a career in science. The best science minded students get influenced by the big hype about IITs and engineering, and unless appropriate strategies are made they may not opt for science at IISERs.
I have read regrading plans for big scholarships for students pursuing 5 yr integrated M.Sc. That is a good step.
Regardless, I propose that the government of India establish at least one science magnet high school, perhaps boarding schools, in each state during the 11th plan. These schools could partly feed the IISERs. Its role would be similar to the role of Sainik Schools vis-a-vis NDA and the Indian military academy. The science magnet schools could be from class 8 or 9 to 12 with the goal of exposing the wonders of science and arousing the scientific creativity among the most talented youngsters of the country. It will also indirectly shield them from the hype of the IITs. (I am an IIT graduate so I can say that without being accused of being jealous of IITs.)
I currently live in the USA and there are many science magnet high schools in the USA. I do not know of any in India. (IIT Coaching high schools in Kota or other places don’t count. I am told at best certain schools have special science groupings and there are those junior science colleges at +2 level.) To understand what I mean by a science magnet school I would request you to explore the web page of the Illinois Math and Science Academy (http://www.imsa.edu). 40% of IMSA faculty have Ph.Ds and it has a Nobel laureate as a residential scholar.
There are many other such science magnet schools in the USA such as http://www.dallasisd.org/schools/hs/sem/ (School of Science and Engineering in Dallas), http://www.lsmsa.edu/Welcome/index.htm (The Louisiana School of Math, Science and Arts), http://www.bsu.edu/academy/ (The Indiana Academy for Science Mathematics and Humanities, associated with a university), http://www.bxscience.edu/?rn=7944 (Bronx high school of science ), http://www.ncssm.edu/ (North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics), and http://www.tams.unt.edu/ (Texas Academy of Maths and Sciences, associated with a university). There is a list of such schools world wide at
http://jubilee.batelco.jo/Links/tabid/55/Default.aspx but none are in India.
If this interests you I would be happy to provide more pointers and may be able to put in touch with Indian origin students studying at IMSA, Illinois and/or their parents.
Thanks again for the revolutionary steps that you all have taken for India and I believe the proposed magnet schools will complement that. If you like the idea, please please consider having one of the initial/pilot schools in Orissa, my home state. We have already done some groundwork on that. Actually, the initial set of schools could be located near the IISER, NISER and IIsc campus. In this regard, please note that some of the science magnet schools in US are associated with universities. (IMSA is not.)
best regards
Chitta
ps — Perhaps you have already thought about this.
2 comments June 24th, 2007
Plus two science colleges in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack area
- ABIT junior college, Cuttack (web)
- Akash Institute’s plus 2 science college, Bhubaneswar
- Apex Institute of Science, Bhubaneswar
- Basic Science College of OUAT, Bhubaneswar (govt.)
- Bhubaneswar plus two science college
- Bhubaneswar College of Computer Science and technology
- BJB junior College, Bhubaneswar (govt.)
- B. P. College of Science and Education, Bhubaneswar
- Christ junior college, Cuttack
- Dakshi College of Science and Technology, Bhubaneswar (Plus 2 science and commerce)
- Driems plus two science (website)
- Ekamra College, Bhubaneswar
- Glorious plus two science college, Bhubaneswar
- Hi-Tech plus two science college, Bhubaneswar
- Image plus two science residential college, Bhubaneswar (web page)
- Irodov Science College, Bhubaneswar
- Jupiter plus 2 science college, Bhubaneswar
- Kalinga Bharati residential College, Bhubaneswar
- Kalinga Vikas junior plus 2 science college
- KIIT Science College, Bhubaneswar (webpage)
- Kiran Science College, Bhubaneswar
- Koustuva Institute of Science Plus 2 colleges, Bhubaneswar
- Maharshi College of Natural Law, Bhubaneswar
- MITS school of Biotechnology -Plus 2 science program, Bhubaneswar
- Model plus two science college, Bhubaneswar
- NIIS Junior college – Plus two science and commerce, Bhubaneswar
- Nucleus Plus 2 science college, Bhubaneswar
- Odisha plus two science college, Bhubaneswar
- Padhee Tutorials integrated plus 2 science
- Panchanan Jena College, Bhubaneswar
- Pipli College, Pipli
- P. N. College, Khurda
- Raghunath Jew College, Deula Sahi Cuttack
- Rajdhani Junior college, Bhubaneswar (govt.)
- Raman fortune science college, Bhubaneswar
- RD Women’s junior College, Bhubaneswar (govt.)
- Ravenshaw junior college, Cuttack (govt.)
- Resham Science College, Bhubaneswar
- Royal College of Science and Technology, Bhubaneswar (webpage)
- Royal School of management and technology – plus two science program (webpage)
- Satyasai Women’s College, Bhubaneswar
- Sailabala women’s junior college, Cuttack (govt.)
- SJCET, Naharkanta, Bhubaneswar
- Sri Aurobindo institute of integral education, Bhubaneswar
- Stewart Science College, Cuttack
- Subas Science College, Bhubaneswar
- Temple city institute of basic sciences, Khurda
- Times plus two science college, Bhubaneswar
- Triveni Academy plus two science college, Bhubaneswar
- Utkal Bharati plus two science, Bhubaneswar
- Vivekananda residential college, Bhubaneswar
- Plus two programs at various schools (Central Schools, DM School, DAV Schools, etc.) Search for "Bhubaneswar" (2), "Bhubaneshwar" (9), "Bhubanshwar" (1), "Bhubneshwar" (2), "Buxi" (1), "Cuttack" (8), "Khurda" (2) in the CBSE site.
23 comments June 20th, 2007
Ganjam district has the maximum number of out-of-school students in Orissa
As per a report in Times of India, Ganjam district has the maximum number of out-of-school students in Orissa. It has 63,546 out of school students. The state govt. should pay special attention to Ganjam in this regard.
June 20th, 2007
Apparently Orissa students are doing well in medical entrance exams
In the comments section of our earlier post a claim has been made that Orissa students are doing very well in medical entrance exams. If it is true then it is great news and with the national coaching institute Akash opening a plus two college, it should get better. This year the homegrown (turned national) coaching agency iBOOKs claims in its ads that 219 students from Orissa were selected in the CBSE-PMT out of which 121 were from the iBOOKS institute. Akash in its ad claims that 52 of its Bhubaneswar students qualified in CBSE-PMT. So iBOOKS did better. Akash claims its only its second year. Following are the ads of iBOOKs and Akash with the pictures of their successful students and their CBSE-PMT ranks.
Continue Reading 2 comments June 8th, 2007
Central Schools (Kendriya Vidyalayas) in Orissa
At present there are 29 Central Schools in Orissa the latest being one in Neeladri Vihar Bhubaneswar (2003), one in Keonjhar (2001) and a second shift (2004) at Central School 1 in Bhubaneswar. In KBK districts the central schools are in Sunabeda, Koraput, Bhawanipatna and Balangir (2 of them). Many of the central schools have their own websites.
June 4th, 2007
Orissa government higher education web site and UGC list of colleges
The Orissa government’s higher education website is here. Following are some of the interesting links at that site:
- The list of government colleges in Orissa
- List of private Colleges by district and by block
- A list of colleges with disciplines they offer
- Another list of colleges
The above lists are incomplete as they are missing some colleges. There are colleges in list 3 and 4 that do not appear in 1 and 2. Well known private colleges such as Christ College and Stewart Science College do not appear in list 2.
The UGC also has lists of colleges and universities in various states. Following are some links.
- List of Colleges in Orissa: page 1 ; page 2; page 3
- List of Universities in Orissa
- List of autonomous colleges (page 2 contains the list for Orissa)
June 4th, 2007
On-line resources for IIT JEE preparation
Following are some on-line resources for preparing for IIT JEE.
- Goiit.com
- IITGlobal_Free_JEE_coaching yahoogroup
- IIT-JEE Guidance by IITian Rohin Saluja
- IIT-JEE Guidebooks by IITian Rohin Saluja
5 comments June 4th, 2007
Ads for IIT JEE, AIEEE, Orissa JEE and Medical coaching classes
There seems to be a lot of coaching institutions at the plus two science level in the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack area. Below is a list and their ads just after the IIT and AIEEE results were out. They are not doing that well in the IIT front. Lets hope that in the near future some of the top-notch national level coaching institutions (such as FIIT JEE, Bansals) move to Orissa and increase the number of students sent from Orissa to IITs and IISERs. One national level coaching institution that will start this year is Narayana coaching.
Continue Reading 2 comments June 4th, 2007