Sambada school of media and culture: entrance exam on the 18th
August 16th, 2007
Following are the relevant excerpts from the Prime Minister’s independence day speech(TOI) (Hindu)(PIB)
Towards this end, our Government has decided to invest in setting up good quality schools across the country. We will support 6,000 new high quality schools — one in every block of the country. Each such school will set standards of excellence for other schools in the area.
As our primary education programmes achieve a degree of success, there is growing demand for secondary schools and colleges. We are committed to universalizing secondary education. An extensive programme for this is being finalized.
We will also ensure that adequate numbers of colleges are set up across the country, especially in districts where enrolment levels are low. We will help States set up colleges in 370 such districts.
The University system, which has been relatively neglected in recent years, is now the focus of our reform and development agenda. We will set up thirty new Central Universities. Every state that does not have a central university will now have one.
In order to promote science and professional education, we are setting up five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, seven new Indian Institutes of Management, and twenty new Indian Institutes of Information Technology. These will generate new educational opportunities for our youth. I am sure that, working together, we can ensure that at least a fifth of our children go to college as compared to one-tenth now.
The vast majority of our youth seek skilled employment after schooling. Last year I spoke the need for a Vocational Education Mission. Such a Mission is ready to be launched. We will soon launch a Mission on Vocational Education and Skill Development, through which we will open 1600 new industrial training institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics, 10,000 new vocational schools and 50,000 new Skill Development Centres.
We will ensure that annually, over 100 lakh students get vocational training – which is a four-fold increase from today’s level. We will seek the active help of the private sector in this initiative so that they not only assist in the training but also lend a hand in providing employment opportunities.
We should seek not just functional literacy, but good quality education – education that is affordable, accessible, equitable – and available to every boy and girl who seeks to study. For the needy we will provide more scholarships.
I wish to see a revolution in the field of modern education in the next few years. It is my fervent desire that India becomes a fully educated, modern, progressive nation. From this historic Red Fort, I would like this message to go to every corner of India – we will make India a nation of educated people, of skilled people, of creative people.
This is the first time eight new IITs have been formally and officially mentioned. Three of these were previously announced to be in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar. So it would be a shame if Orissa does not get one of the remaining five.
1 comment August 15th, 2007
Following are excerpts from a report in The Hindu:
… Surmounting heavy odds, the well-trained rugby team of the Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) was now ready to take on the world, representing India at an under-14 international school rugby tournament in London.
For the products of the country’s largest school for tribal communities, rugby was just the right tool to unleash their collective talent. Hitherto dismissed to their miserable tribal hinterland, the students had a mission: to prove their mettle to a world cynically ignorant of the tribal life, their dreams and ambitions.
KISS, a sister concern of the KIIT Deemed University, had picked them out of their poverty-stricken families to offer an education, to get them a slice of mainstream life. Nurtured in the residential campus since age six, the team members were now prepared to announce their arrival. London beckoned, so did recognition and fame.
The training
Behind their collective exuberance was a well-tuned method. Thirty students had been selected from a first list of 56, who underwent rigorous training by a World Rugby Association coach.
The 30 proved their worth at a tournament in Kolkata on July 16, watched closely by their sponsors, the Kolkata Jungle Crows.
The final 12 now await the flight for the big fight on September 24, but not before some fine-tuning by an English coach, Paul Walsh, and two coaches from the Kolkata Rugby Association.
“We are confident of beating the other teams.” This remark by the KISS Rugby team captain to a visiting media team from Bangalore, had a solidity built on months of disciplined training. “From 6 a.m. to 7.30 a.m., 4 p.m. to 6.30 p.m., we are at it every day,” explained the team’s school coach, Manash Jena.
The team
Tag Rugby was the team’s first brush with the game, 18 months ago. Graduating to full rugby in quick time, the team captained by Bikash Chandra Murmu practised hard. Any tribe-based differences forgotten, the students were now part of one team. It had Chitta Ranjan Mumu and Babula Malka, Raj Kishore Murmu and Bukai Hansda, Niranjan Biswal, Hadi Dhangada Majhi, Sahadev Majhi, Gauranga Jamuda, Narsingh Kerai, Barial Beshra and Ganesh Hembram. Represented were the tribes Banda, Santal, Bathudi, Kandha and Kolha, whose people were otherwise dismissed to the poor rural backyard of Orissa.
The vision
Tribal people make up 23.13 per cent of Orissa’s population. It needed a body as systematic as KISS to pull them out of obscurity and neglect.
It was eventually left to philanthropist and Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) founder Achyutananda Samanta to make that critical difference through KISS. …
2 comments August 15th, 2007
Following are some excerpts from a Business standrad report on this.
Asian School of Business Management (ASBM), one of the premier business schools of Orissa today a Post-graduate Programme in Banking, Insurance and Financial Services Management (PGPBIFSM).
The programmed is tailored to meet manpower requirement in these sectors. …
The director of ASBM Biswajit Patnaik said the PGPBIFSM course aims to bring appropriate balancing of banking, insurance and financial services. It is the only B-school focussing on the sectoral programmes, he claimed.
The school had launched the retail programme management earlier.
The new course contents 90 hours of elective study and 150 hours of soft skill development along with the foundation courses, specialisation and super specialisation programmes.
August 15th, 2007
Tathya.in has a detailed report on this. There are lots of "ifs" and "may" in the report. So excerpts will confuse readers. Please read the full article.
17 comments August 14th, 2007
BJB Junior College is the premier junior college of Orissa. Earlier we listed its arts and science merit lists. In the science merit list there are about 418 students who have secured more than 90% in their class X exam. Although I have not seen Ravenshaw Junior College’s list, my guess is the situation will be almost similar (may be a little bit less) percentage wise. BJB Junior College currently has 512 seats in plus two science and Ravenshaw (after the recent seat increase) has 384 seats.
I am an alumnus of BJB (when it had 384 seats) and have close friends from Ravenshaw. Based on my experience in BJB, and my subsequent experience in IIT Kharagpur Computer Sc and University of Maryland (where I had JEE number 1 of a year in one of my classes) I can say that at least 200 of BJB Jr plus two science students and 150 of Ravenshaw Jr plus two science students have the ability to make it to an IIT and do well in them.
Yet, as I am told, these days annually only about 10-12 fresh plus two pass outs from BJB Jr make it to IITs and may be another 10-12 older pass outs also make it. The result for Ravenshaw Jr is similar. Considering the quality of students that get into BJB Jr and Ravenshaw Jr, this result is dismal and is a shame.
One should just compare how similar colleges from others states do. Many of them send more than 100 students to IITs. An example is Little Flower Junior College of Hyderabad. (It was true in my time and as Partyusa confirms, it was true in his time too.)
Now, it is not the case that Orissa students (as aptly represented by BJB and Ravenshaw) are inferior than students from other states. They are as good, and often they do better (than what their incoming ranks would suggest) once they get in to a national institute.
So why is it that their result in the IIT entrance exam is so dismal!
From my analysis, experience and talking to other friends following are some of my thoughts on this.
1. Lack of Confidence; not believing in oneself: Many students hear about the performance of the previous year and when they find out that only 10-12 from their college made it to IITs, they figure that they won’t be among the top 10-12 in their batch and hence give up before starting. Many others start preparing for IIT but because of lack of confidence, give up mid way.
2. Negative advice: I have heard that certain teachers/seniors/parents/guardians give negative advice. They say that IIT is too hard and if one focuses so much on the IIT preparation then he/she may do badly in other exams and as a result, neither will he/she get IIT, nor will he/she get into the easier options through AIEEE and Orissa JEE.
3. Over dependence on low quality tuitions: Many students take multiple tutions and coaching classes that leaves them little time to study on their own. They depend on their tuition master’s notes rather than reading the books themselves.
4. Satisfied with easier alternatives: Some students set a lower goal for themselves. They notice that graduates from various private colleges in and around Bhubaneswar get well-paying jobs in recognized companies and decide why work hard to prepare for IIT.
Some basic advice to plus 2 students regarding getting into IITs
1. Confidence issues and countering the negative advice: The students who get into BJB jr and Ravenshaw jr colleges with more than or close to 90% marks in their Class X need not doubt their abilities. They will be successful in no matter what they do, provided they put their mind to it. Now, not every one needs to aim or go to IITs. But whatever field they decide for their career they should aim for the best college/institute in that field. So if Engineering is their choice then IITs and BITS should be in the top of their list and if science and maths is their interest then they should aim for NISER and IISERs. If one prepares for these entrance exams in a proper way then even if they are not successful for IIT/BITS/NISER/IISER they will do well in AIEEE, Orissa JEE and Plus 2 examination. The students that get into BJB jr and Ravenshaw jr are among the top 1000 students of Orissa. So there is no reason they should not get within the top 1000 of Orissa JEE and get into a very good local engineering college. With that excellent fall back option, BJB jr and Ravenshaw jr plus two science students interested in engineering should prepare for IIT with their full heart, and without any fear, but in a proper way.
2. A proper way for preparing for IIT and other entrance exams: First, only reading notes dictated by ones tuition master is the worst way for preparing for entrance exams. When a tuition master dictates notes, at best what it implies is that he/she has read the material from one or more places, hopefully understood it, and has made a summary of it. When someone else (a student taking tuition) just reads those notes he/she does not develop the same level of understanding as he/she would have developed if he/she had read the original material in the books himself/herself. Similarly, by only reading examples of solved problems (or listening to a tuition master explaining a solved problem) one does not develop the skill to solve problems. Unfortunately, many plus two students take multiple tuitions where their tuition masters dictate notes, and go through solved examples; they do not have time or energy left to read the text book and develop their own understanding and solve problems on their own to develop the problem solving skill. Now that we have discussed what is the wrong way; let us discuss the right or proper way.
* One must read one of the text books and develop their own understanding of a topic. It is ok to ask a teacher, including a tuition master, to clarify certain aspects that the student could not understand on his/her own. One may (does not have to) make their own notes based on their reading and understanding for quick revisions of the material later.
* For each topic, one must solve many problems on their own. Some of the problems may not be solvable in one sitting. Sometimes one may have to think about the problem, and may be go to sleep; may be in their subconscious they will get some insight of how to solve the problems. In other words, for any topic, pick one source (say X) that has a few solved problems and several problems to be solved (but with final answers). One should then read the material in the book, then read the material in X, then read the solved examples in X, and then solve the exercise problems in X on their own. They should not look at another source Y which may have solved some of the exercise problems in X. One needs to do their best, and if necessary spend 2-3 days thinking about the exercise problems in X that they could not immediately solve. Only after one does this kind of routine with respect to a topic and a source X, and has time, one may take a stab at another source Y. After working with source X, when working with source Y, one should try to not read all the solved examples of Y, but read a few of them and do the solved example problems (without looking at the solution) as well as the exercise problems on their own. However, in general, most students won’t have time to work with more than one source.
* In summary, one must read a book to understand the material (and make their own notes if they desire so) and pick one source (may be the study material of a postal coaching class, or a preparing for IIT book, etc.), and solve all its exercise problem on their own.
Now how does the above fit in with classes at your Junior College and the tuition that many student seem to be taking. I worry that there is not enough hours in a day for most people to take multiple tuitions, attend classes at BJB/Ravenshaw and then prepare in a proper way as I suggest above. So one has to make decisions.
I personally attended my classes at BJB, and prepared in the above way with my source being study material of a postal coaching class. I never took tuition in my life, and never attended a face-to-face coaching class.
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Many coaching classes do simulated tests. Taking simulated tests are useful, but only if you have prepared in the proper way described above. Otherwise, they are not much useful as you would not have developed the understanding and problem solving skills necessary to answer hard question in an exam.
This is all for now. In my next write up I will discuss some studying as well as test taking strategies. But let me sum up the main thoughts in the above write up.
4 comments August 12th, 2007
UPDATE on 17th Aug 2007: see https://www.orissalinks.com/?cat=106 , jeeorissa for some new information on this.
UPDATE on 16th Aug 2007: There has not been any definite news on this. For latest news see https://www.orissalinks.com/?cat=106 , jeeorissa, and aieee Orissa sites.
Following is Sambada’s report on it. I hope soon the official AIEEE Orissa site will have the additional details.
131 comments August 11th, 2007
Odisha.com reports on this. Following is a picture from Kalinga Times.
Following is Lalit Patnaik’s report and pictures on it.
Dear Friends,
On behalf of Agami Odisha, me and Dillip Sabat has been deputed to participate in the mass rally for demand of KBK university. Our President sri Dhiren Ray wished us good luck in the departing moment.
We have to travel 700 KM to reach Malkangiri from Bhubaneswar. 350 KM by Train up to Vizaynagaram, and subsequently by Bus another 225 Km through Ghat up to Jeypore and rest 125 Km through deep jungle to Malkangiri. We reached their in the early morning hours to be received by Malkangiri MLA Mr Nimai Sarkar and his associates. We proceeded to Dandakaranya Guest House and found Police in the nook and corner of Malkangiri town, the last one of Orissa before Chattishgarah. The town is Naxal infected and it needs courage to live there, for Police as well as for People.
Mr Sadan naik, MLA of Kodinga came along with his associate by 11 am and our rally started at 11.30 am from bus stand arena. I was really surprised to see the large gathering of students( Young men and women ) of not less than 1250 in number. There were around 250 Intellectuals, business men and retired old persons. The rally was led at three places, front one by Intellectuals, the middle one by the women students and the last one by Men students. the slogan of KBK University is our demand reverberated the high walls of Malkangiri Mountain and almost entire town was by the side road watching the marathon rally of nearly 1 Km long. The rally moved for 2 hours and culminated at Collector’s Office. Collector rushed to his office from a meeting some where else so as to receive our Memorandum to the President of India. Even after handing over of memorandum, the students were in no mood to disperse but went on giving slogans for their right to have a University around KBK. The people were aghast since long, because the nearest University of Berhampur is 500 Km away from their place.
Sincerity of their demand was well visible from the eyes of those boys as well as girl students. After wards, the president of their college walked close to me and expressed his thanks to Agamee odisha for taking up their cause. In return I assured him to carry their message to the Swabhimani odiya all over the world, to support in their endeavor to get an Central funded University at KBK.
They are struggling for their right to higher education, amidst the chaos of Naxalisim. They are not demanding their land to be annexed to Chattisgarah, a very close by State, nor are they demanding for more food or money but are only asking for a Central University, which we all should fight and get it for them, is not it. Are they not real swabhimani Odiya’s ?.
While staying 700 Km away from the capital, they are reciting the song of Mother Odiya, day in and day out.
I salute them.
Yours,
Lalit Pattnaik
1 comment August 11th, 2007
Information for the Middle School Scholarship/National Talent Search (MSS/NTS) Examination can be found here and information on the National Rural Talent Search (NRTS) program can be found here. Information for the JBNSTS (Jagdish Bose National Science Talent Search) exam can be found here. These exams are normally taken as follows:
15 comments August 11th, 2007
Dharitri reports on this conspiracy regarding CIFT in Burla and how more on this conspiracy is coming to light due to information obtained through the RTI ACT.
August 9th, 2007
KISS, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences is made and run by the promoters of KIIT University. Hindu has a very nice article about it. Following are some excerpts.
A sister concern of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), KISS is a working dream that trained the tribal children to be self-reliant, resourceful and empowered to tackle the challenges of life.
For the visiting media team from Bangalore, KISS was an education in looking beyond urban-centric development. From the well-stocked library, hostel and computer centre to a medical facility that insured every child, KISS is also a home away from home. The institute ensures that the children have enough exposure to their tribal culture, heritage and tradition. …
Today, there are children here from most of the 52 tribes of Orissa, including 13 primitive tribes. This year, we added 700 more tribal children to reach the strength of 5,000,” he informed.
…For 22 of the brightest from KISS students, Dr. Samanta had reserved free engineering seats in KIIT, five per cent of the total intake.
“This year, the BCA and BBM courses were opened for them. The tribal students will leave this organisation with a job.” As the KIIT Deemed University Chancellor assured this, he was working on an expansion plan: a project to add another 5,000 children to India’s biggest residential tribal school in the next three years.
2 comments August 8th, 2007
((Update on June 17 2008: For guidance on what you can get with your Orissa JEE rank in 2008, please see https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1185 I do not have more information than that.)
Continuing with our methodology, and solely based on the student preferences in the GE (general) category, we develop a ranking below. Our methodology is we compare when the various branches of the colleges get finished. For example below when we write CET (8, 8, 12, 12, 16) it means that two of the CET branches were all finished in the GE category by the ranks 800, two by 1200 and one by 1600. We will use the first three numbers unless it becomes necessary to go beyond that.
The colleges that are missing from the above are NIT Rourkela, and KIIT. I consider NIT Rourkela to currently be the best in Orissa. I would slot KIIT around ITER and Silicon.
Outlook for 2008-2009:
Now that ITER’s parent organization Siksha O Anusandhan has become a deemed university, ITER may opt out of Orissa JEE and/or 2008 BPUT counseling.
In 2008 and 2009 there would be several new colleges. Among them three of them, if they get their approvals in time, are going to make a splash because of the people involved in the making of those colleges. They are:
158 comments August 7th, 2007
Hindu reports that IFFCO will set up a farmers training institute in Orissa. Following are excerpts from that report.
… Indian Farmers’ Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd (IFFCO) plans to set up a farmers training institute in Orissa.
Director of the farmers’ cooperative’s Paradip unit K L Singh …
"The farmers of Orissa will be given training on best crop practices in cereals, pulses, oilseeds, horticultural crops, fruit preservation, fish farming, dairy and poultry, maintenance of agricultural equipment and bee keeping," Singh said.
The training institute would have boarding and lodging facilities. Farmers would be provided free of cost facilities here, he said.
The director said the cooperative aims to train at least 50,000 farmers a year, which would be increased to 1,00,000 in a phased manner.
"IFFCO will do extensive analysis of soil samples through this institute for improving soil health and productivity of crops with balanced and integrated use of nutrients," Singh said.
The activities will include farmers’ meetings, field demonstrations, crop seminars, soil testing campaign, seed multiplication programme and sugarcane development programme, he added.
Currently there exists a farmer training institute in Nagpur (operated by RCF) and another one in Phuplur (near Allahabad) operated by IFFCO.
12 comments August 7th, 2007
Following is Samaja’s detailed story on this.
August 5th, 2007
To improve the quality of engineering colleges in Orissa, IIIT Bhubaneswar should offer weekend M.tech for Engineering College faculty. This will be similar to weekend MBAs offered to working executives at many universities in the USA. To encourage the private engineering colleges to send their faculty for M.Tech Orissa government and BPUT should decide the fees amount based on how many faculty with M.tech (or pursuing M.tech) or more a particular college has.
16 comments August 4th, 2007
(Update on June 17 2008: For guidance on what you can get with your Orissa JEE rank in 2008, please see https://www.orissalinks.com/archives/1185 I do not have more information than that.)
This is a continuation of our earlier effort. Following are the branches and colleges that no longer have any GE seats. On the side we mention in which counseling the seats got filled up and what are left. The colleges that do not appear in the list below have seats left in all their disciplines.
8 comments August 4th, 2007
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