54 new residential schools in Adivasi areas: Samaja
December 1st, 2007
More tidbits on Education and HRD in the 11th plan
Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
The 11th five year Plan document proposes an almost 10-fold increase in outlay for higher and technical education. The planners have set ambitious targets — to attract 15% students passing out of class XII (from the current 10%) into higher education by 2012 and 22% by 2017. The way to do this, they say, is to expand and upgrade on an unprecedented scale.
In the new Plan, there’s more of everything — 30 new central universities are to be set up, seven IITs and IIMs, 10 National Institute of Technology, five research institutes to be called Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, 20 IIITs, two schools of architecture and 330 colleges in educationally backward districts. All this is in line with the PM’s announcement in his August 15 speech this year.
Infrastructure in existing universities and institutions is also in for major upgradation. Among the big beneficiaries of these special grants will be 17 yet-to-identified central universities which will get Rs 3,298 crore. Besides, 39 engineering institutes will receive a whopping Rs 6,749 crore, again for ramping up infrastructure. A good dose of funds has also been set aside for upgrading agriculture, management and medical institutions.
But this money comes with a plan. …
For instance, the document seeks to raise fees for higher education to up to 20% of operational costs, which is 5% at present. “Higher education is highly subsidized. The document seeks to reduce this subsidy to improve quality of education,” said Bhalchandra Mungekar, member Planning Commission.
Another proposal is to break up large affiliating varsities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune into more manageable units. The document says large universities are unsustainable. Osmania University has more than 900 affiliated colleges while Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore varsities have around 500. Some of these institutions conduct over 1,000 examinations annually. “These universities have ceased to be centres of higher education. They are becoming agencies for conducting examinations,” said Mungekar.
Not all experts share this view. Deepak Pental, V-C of Delhi University (which has 83 affiliated colleges), said, “I am not convinced that smaller universities are better managed. Most of the varsities in the country are smaller than DU, are they better managed? Yes, we definitely won’t like to have any more colleges, but proper way of reforms would be to invest in the existing universities and upgrade their infrastructure.”
V N R Pillai, V-C of IGNOU, central open university, endorses this view. “A sizeable amount of new allocations should be earmarked for improving existing facilities of 18,000 colleges and 400 universities. This should be the first priority of reforms,” he said.
Another target of reforms is the examination system. … The paper says annual examinations have become irrelevant for testing knowledge. It suggests replacing this with continuous assessment and evaluation. The document calls for implementing the semester system and continuous evaluation in all central universities from the coming academic year (2008). It also suggests introducing a credit system where students will also be allowed to appear for papers in other streams. UGC chairman, Sukhadeo Thorat said, UGC has set up a committee to devise an action plan for exam reform within one month.
The paper also expands on the growing trend of private universities coming up in the country. It says the government isn’t in a position to ensure growth levels of 15-20% in higher education. Private investment will therefore be encouraged through tax breaks and other incentives. It has also sought private participation in providing services in existing institutions.
November 27th, 2007
Skill development for SC/ST engineering graduates; Infosys funds 50 lakhs
Following is an excerpt from a report in Tathya.in.
Hundreds of engineering graduates are either unemployed or engaged for a paltry sum.
… That is why the Secretary Industry of the Government of Orissa has mooted a program for skill development of the engineering graduates belonging to economically weaker section of the society.
Accordingly a program has been chalked out in consultation with the ST SC Development department, which will be work out in details by the College of Engineering & Technology (CET), Bhubaneswar.
Software Major, Infosys has agreed to fund the program partly and the gap will be covered by the Orissa Employment Mission, said an official here on 24 November.
Infosys has agreed to pay Rs.50 lakh for the program.
Giving out details the sources said that the program will be for 6 months and at least 100 engineering graduates will be included in the first batch.
All of them will receive stipends to pursue the courses.
During the program they will be provided with a laptop and necessary gadgets for their skill development, said Mr.Dalwai.
He said other companies are also interested to fund the program as with rising attrition and scarcity of talent, companies have no choice but to tap rural India for their growing workforce needs.
So TCS, Satyam and Wipro has also shown their inclination for the program, Mr.Dalwai told tathya.in.
2 comments November 24th, 2007
Orissa has asked for two central universities: Assembly answer by Higher Education minister (in Samaja)
November 23rd, 2007
More on the Ambedkar National Merit Scholarship
Following is an excerpt from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=32947.
The Ambedkar National Merit Scholarship is given to three students scoring highest marks in the regular Class X-level-examination conducted by the State Education Board/All India Board. Students securing highest, second highest and third highest marks are given Rs. 60,000/-, Rs. 50,000/- and Rs. 40,000/- respectively. Girl student securing highest marks in case she is not in the above three categories, is given a cash award of Rs. 40,000/-. The scheme provides for separate provisions both for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
7 comments November 21st, 2007
Various education schemes from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for disadvantaged students
Following is from an old PIB from 2003.
Despite India’s "political triumph of democracy", deprived sections of the society continue to remain marginalised. One of the major reasons has been wide spread illiteracy among these sections. Literacy is an important indicator of human development index. The literacy rate for Scheduled Castes (SC) in 1991 was 37.4 per cent as compared to 57.7 per cent for others. Expressing concern over the plight of those living on the fringes of social spectrum, the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee said, "Independence is incomplete without social justice". It may not be out of place to mention that these marginalised sections constitute a sizable portion of our population. According to the 1991 census, the Scheduled Castes comprise 16.73 per cent. The Other Backward Castes (OBCs) constitute 52 per cent and the Minorities 18 per cent of the country’s total population.
Dr.Bhim Rao Ambedkar believed that education is everybody’s birthright and should be available to the poorest of the poor. Education is the stepping stone towards social, economic and political empowerment. In pursuance of this, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has accorded top priority to radical improvement in literacy rates among the weaker sections. It has taken several major initiatives during the last five years in this direction. Lauding these efforts the Prime Minister said at the National Convention of Minorities , "It is good that you are focusing on education. Education is an investment for development, for progress and for a better future".
Towards Self-Reliance
To meet the emerging challenges, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has embarked upon schemes to promote merit among the SC/ST students right from the beginning. One of them is the Dr. Ambedkar National Merit Scholarship Scheme for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students launched early this year to encourage merit and excellence among them from the school level. Under this scheme more then Rs.1.25 crore would be distributed as scholarship to 458 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students having secured highest marks in 26 Education Boards/ Councils in the country each year. The Social Justice & Empowerment Minister, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya, described it as a historic initiative for generating self-confidence and self-reliance among SC/ST students.
The other scheme provides for upgradation of Merit of SC/ST students through cent per cent Central Assistance to the States/UTs for arranging remedial and special coaching for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students studying in class IX to XII. While remedial coaching aims at removing deficiencies in school subjects, special coaching is provided with a view to preparing students for competitive examinations for entry into professional courses like engineering and medical.
To enable them to pursue higher studies abroad, the National Overseas Scholarship Scheme to seventeen meritorious SC and ST students has also been improved. The rate of maintenance allowance has been enhanced to US $ 7,700 per annum or Pound Sterling 5,000 per annum per candidate. The scheme also provides for US $ 500 per annum for meeting various contingency expenses besides air passage, visa fee, equipment allowance and incidental expenses charged by the institution and insurance premium.
Many students belonging to the weaker sections find it difficult to compete for entry into institutions of higher learning or for employment. Consequently, the reserved quotas for them in technical and professional courses remain under-utilized. Therefore, NGOs, universities and institutions of repute are provided 90 per cent central assistance in running coaching and allied assistance programmes to prepare such students for competitive examinations.
Initiative
For their higher education, the Central Government is running a post-matric scholarship scheme for the SC students. They are also provided financial assistance. The amount varies from Rs. 90 to Rs. 425 per month for pursuing studies beyond matriculation in recognised institutions. There are other incentives also like reimbursement of compulsory non-refundable fees and study tour charges. The coverage under this scheme has grown at a much faster rate than that of the growth rate in the SC population. More than 93 per cent of SC students in the country are now covered under this scheme. An estimated number of over 46 lakh students have benefited from this scheme since 1999-2000.
The Central assistance under the scheme is normally provided to State /UT governments on 50:50 basis over and above the committed liability. The annual committed liability of the States during the Ninth Plan under the scheme was Rs. 231 crore. It would be Rs.390 crore per annum during the Tenth Plan as per existing pattern. The Centre is actively considering to revise the rates of maintenance allowance and other norms of the Scheme in view of the rising cost of books, school fees and food.
Yet another scholarship scheme at the pre-matric level has become popular with the children of the families engaged in occupations like scavenging and leather tanning. The number of beneficiaries increased by nearly 42 per cent during the first three years of the Ninth Plan.
The implementation of the scheme of hostels for SC boys and girls has been stepped up since 1998-1999. During the last 4 years 285 hostels were sanctioned for the boys and 183 for girls. These hostels are meant to enable the SC students pursue their studies in a congenial atmosphere. To encourage mixing among students, these hostels are allowed to accommodate non-SC students upto 10 per cent.
Two new schemes are on the anvil to boost quality education among the Scheduled Castes. These include provision of assistance to the SC students for pursuing studies in residential public schools. Under it meritorious students with family incomes of less than Rs. 1 lakh per annum would be financially assisted in getting quality education. The assistance would help them in fully meeting boarding, lodging fees and cost of study material charged by the management. It would be subject to a ceiling of Rs. 80 thousand per annum per student from Class VI to XII.
Another scheme in the pipeline envisages setting up of residential schools for SC/ST students studying between Class VI and XII. One residential school would be set up in districts where the literacy rate of the SCs is much lower than the general category. Such residential schools numbering 125 would be set up in the country with the establishment of 25 schools in each year under the Tenth Plan. The enrollment target in these schools stipulates admission to at least 30 per cent SC/ST girl students and 3 per cent disabled SC/ST students.
Yet another scheme on the anvil is to provide Bridge Education for Children living in city slum or street children. Under the scheme children between the age group of 6-10 years would be provided educational material and nutrition in the shape of one glass of milk and 2 biscuits per child per day.
Schemes for Disabled
There are about 10 million children with disabilities in the country according to the National Sample Survey Organisation Report, 1991. Reportedly being considered less productive even by their own families, they often require special learning aids and financial support besides encouragement from the scommunity to get proper education.
The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has started the Scheme of National Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities since the last financial year. The objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to students with disabilities for pursuing higher and technical education. To begin with 500 scholarships have been made available under the scheme. The amount of award varies from Rs.1000 per month for post-graduate courses to Rs.400 for graduate level professional courses. The awardees are also reimbursed the course fee upto Rs.10,000 per year. They are supported with financially for acquiring special aids and appliances for pursuing their studies.
The Ministry has also been providing a new thrust to not only encouraging new enrolments in schools and preventing drop-outs among the weaker and deprived sections but also imparting them with quality education. It is a new approach to tackle the problem rooted in history.
With the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a time-bound programme for imparting elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years by 2010, it is expected that all gender and social gaps would be bridged. Coupled with the provision of facilities for quality education the deprived people would be able to compete with the rest of the country’s population on a level platform. It would also create an urge among them for achieving excellence and make themselves equal partners in the country’s march towards a better future. (PIB Features)
*Contributed by Shri M.L.Dhar, Information Officer, PIB, New Delhi
17 comments November 21st, 2007
14 World class universities in India: Guidelines being formulated, States to compete
Following is an excerpt from a report on this in Economic Times.
NEW DELHI: With a thrust on improving the standard of higher education, government is working on a proposal to set up 14 ‘World Class Universities’ across the country at an early date.
A blueprint is being prepared by the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry and Planning Commission to set out the criteria for such universities, which will have a business management school, an engineering college, a medical college, a law college in a single campus.
The proposal is being pursued by the Prime Minister’s office which has asked the HRD Ministry and Planning Commission to expedite formulation of guidelines for such universities and give the final picture by the third week of this month.
… The HRD Ministry and Planning Commission have started working on these guidelines acting on the proposal of full Planning Commission meeting on education sector that held on September 13.
"We are working at a very fast pace on the guidelines because we have already been told once by the PMO that we are behind the schedule. So soon we will have the guidelines in place," said Mungekar, former Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University.
… Proposals for setting up the ‘World Class Universities’ will be invited from all the states and those meeting the criteria will benefit. This will, in effect, do away with allegations of discrimination by states.
"The rules are going to be very stringent. The states have to compete to get the world class university," Mungekar said while giving an outline of the regulations.
Besides reasonable rules like a big plot of a land for free in prime location, there would be other demanding criteria that the states will have to meet while competing for having such universities.
In the allotment of such centrally-funded universities, priority will be given to states which do not have central varsities at present.
Orissa must get ready to prepare and send a good proposal on this. After the criteria is announced there may not be much time to do this. So preparing for this beforehand is important.
1 comment November 18th, 2007
Planning Commission member Bhalchandra Mungekar on the 11th Plan education budget
Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.
Education is set to receive a Rs 2.85 lakh crore boost, with the Planning Commission increasing the allocation for the sector by a massive 19.9% in the 11th Five Year Plan.
The education budget has been classified into elementary, adult and secondary, and higher education. For elementary education, Rs 1.25 lakh crore is being earmarked, which is a major hike from the Rs 30,000 crore allocated in the last Plan.
Likewise, the share of adult and secondary education is being increased to Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 53,000 crore, respectively. As per the plan document, Rs 84,000 crore are being set aside for higher and technical education.
Planning Commission member, Bhalchandra Mungekar, said the increase in the budget for health and education is an attempt to achieve inclusive growth.
… "The most important issue is our agenda for reforms in higher education system, where we have asked for major structural changes," he said. "Major reforms are a must like introducing credit and semesters systems and exam reforms."
The Plan has set aside resources for a massive expansion of higher education. It seeks to establish 30 new central universities of which 16 are to be set up in areas which don’t have a central university. The rest 14 are to be model universities of world class infrastructure.
According to HRD ministry, each of these 14 universities would cost around Rs 1,000 crores. There are plans for seven more IITs, seven IIMs, 10 National Institute of Technology, five Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, 20 IIITs and two schools of architecture. There will also be 330 new colleges in educationally backward districts.
November 14th, 2007
PIB: Center to provide 100% of the construction cost of building hostels for SC girls
Following is from the PIB press release http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=32495.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval to the proposal mooted by the Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment for revision of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Hostels for SC Girls & Boys. The primary objective of the revised scheme is to attract the implementing agencies for undertaking hostel construction programme, especially for SC girls towards the broader vision of containment and reduction of their drop out rate. According to the revised scheme, focus would be given for construction of hostels for middle and higher secondary levels of education. However, hostels can also be constructed for college and University levels of education. The hostels shall be completed within a period of two years from the date of sanction of the project.
The Government of India would meet the entire cost of construction for SC girls’ hostels as central assistance. However, in the case of boys’ hostels, the prevailing pattern of funding would continue, which is 50% for States, 100% for UT Administration, 90% for Central Universities and 45% for other Universities etc. Further, as hitherto, central assistance for NGOs would be eligible only for expansion of their existing hostel buildings. In addition to meting the cost of construction in the form of central assistance as mentioned above, the Government of India would also provide one-time grant of Rs.2500/- per student for making provisions of a cot, a table and a chair for each hosteller.
Another important provision included in the revised scheme is involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions in the matter of selection of hostel site and overseeing the functioning of the hostels. Further, it has also been provided in the scheme that priority in allotment of hostel accommodation would be given to SC students whose parent are either “Safai Karamcharis” or engaged in unclean occupations.
1 comment November 8th, 2007
Business Standard on allocation for education in the 11th plan
Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard on this.
The Planning Commission, according to highly-placed sources, says GDP allocation to education will increase from its from current 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent by the end of the 11th Plan. Around 19.7 per cent of the total plan resources would be set aside for education, according to the sources in the Commission.
The Plan outlay for the education sector as a whole will thus be over Rs 2,20,000 crore, five times more than what it was during the 10th Five-Year plan.
… The plan outlay on education has increased from Rs 151.20 crore in the 1st Five Year plan to Rs 43,825 crore in the 10th Five Year plan (2002-2007). The expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP also rose from 0.64 per cent in 1951-52 to 3.74 per cent in 2003-2004.
In fact, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his independence day speech, had announced the setting up of eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 30 central universities. The government is already working on which states will house these institutes of excellence.
"With increased funds, establishing these IITs and IIMs will not be an issue with the government. Besides, the government is also looking at public-private partnership to involve private parties in education," said a professor.
With less than 50 per cent of secondary school students in India continuing college education in any form, and almost two-thirds of Indian universities and 90 per cent of the colleges being rated as "below average" on quality parameters, the funds would be utilised to put in place a better system of education.
The Planning Commission is also targeting a gross enrollment ratio (GER) of 15 per cent by 2015. In the 10th Five-Year Plan, the GER was 10 per cent.
November 7th, 2007
Orissa’s share of central universities in the 11th plan: Samaja op-ed by Sahadeva Sahu
November 2nd, 2007
Young Berkeley Economics Professor Raj Chetty on doing PhD and pursuing research
The following is an excerpt from http://specials.rediff.com/money/2007/oct/25sld3.htm.
My concern is that many bright students who would be leading scientists and researchers choose other careers because of misinformation. In talking with non-academic friends, particularly those in the Indian community, I think there are two misconceptions that need to be corrected. First, one does a PhD not so much to teach but to do research that will have a big impact. Many people view professors as skilled teachers – which is one important aspect of the job – but fail to realise that many of the fundamental discoveries in society that make our quality of life better today than in 1900 are made by academics. So I think that the social value of pursuing a PhD may be underappreciated. Second, academia has the reputation of being a very tough life, particularly financially. But I think the monetary rewards of academia are also often misperceived. This is especially true at top universities for quantitative fields, where salaries compare quite favorably with many specialties in medicine or law. Some people ask, "Why are economists and scientists paid so much to sit and think?" I think of the answer one of my colleagues at Berkeley gives: ‘If Milton Friedman’s research helped us avoid another Great Depression, then he’s paid the bill for all the economists in this generation.’ Now of course not every person is going to do what Milton Friedman did… but if one out of every ten thousand does, it’s worth paying researchers a lot. One of my objectives in the longer run is to try to attract more bright students to top PhD programs. For example, there’s an enormous pool of talent at the IITs in India that I think could be very successful. I’d like to think about ways to encourage some of that group to apply to PhD programs in the US.
October 29th, 2007
More news on the 1 lakh/year scholarship for science students
Following is an excerpt from an Economic Times report on this.
If you figure in the list of meritorious 1 lakh students, you will get Rs 1 lakh annually for pursuing university education in science stream and the amount may continue up to five years. The government is planning to institute scholarships to encourage education in science and technology. While modalities of selecting meritorious students are yet to be worked out, it is proposed that the future scientists would be caught young in the 12th class itself.
The financial assistance would be given to such students while pursuing BSc and MSc courses. “We have proposed to give adequate financial support to sufficient number of students to foster talent in scientific research. The government is considering to award 1 lakh scholarships of Rs 1 lakh each.
Meritorious students pursuing university education in science stream would be eligible for the award. The proposal is expected to be incorporated in the 11th Five-Year Plan, and expected to be announced in the forthcoming National Development Council (NDC) meeting,” a source in the government said.
It is understood that the proposed scholarship would be modelled on the line of INSPIRE programme mooted by the department of science & technology (DST).
INSPIRE stands for innovations in science pursuit for inspired research. The programme aims at reaching out to the young talent and help them to pursue their interest in science.
“It is also an intervention devised to redress low entry of students into science and technology streams,” a DST source said. After the programme would get a formal approval, the selection procedure for the meritorious students would be announced.
… It is expected that the budget allocation of scientific departments would be enhanced significantly in the 11th Plan. The plan allocation has been doubled from about Rs 12,000 crore in the 9th Plan to about Rs 25,000 crore in the 10 Plan and it is planned to increased it approximately four fold in the 11th Plan, official sources said.
10 comments October 26th, 2007
Steps for getting a commercial pilot liecence
Following is from an article in Rediff/Business Standard.
The route to the cockpit starts with a Student Pilot License (SPL). This can be attained at the age of sixteen years only. The cost of such courses is almost Rs 1 lakh. Once you have your SPL, you can go for Private Pilot License (PPL) or Commercial Pilot License (CPL). But the former does not allow you to fly commercially and is generally taken up by those who have a passion for flying.
A CPL allows you to fly for airlines, corporate private planes or even cargo airlines. To obtain a CPL, 200 hours of flying is necessary. The cost is as high as Rs 11 to 12 lakh. Then, you also require to have knowledge of handling multi-engine aircraft which is another three weeks of training and comes with an extra price tag of Rs 2.5 lakh. Similar courses done abroad come for almost Rs 25 to 30 lakh.
As the training costs are really steep, many banks offer loans for them. Student education loans of Rs 10 to 20 lakh are available for pursuing pilot training courses in India and abroad. Interest rates charged are between 12 to 13 per cent. Banks approve such loans easily, if the chosen training school is one from their own list of approved flight training schools.
The salaries start from Rs 10,000-20,000 (stipend) till the pilot successfully undergoes the initial training of six months to one year to become eligible for sharing the cockpit with the flying team. Going forward in the career, there are two other levels — first officer and commander. A first officer (junior and senior) can earn in the range of Rs 1.2 lakh to 1.8 lakh per month. The commander commands anywhere between Rs 2.5 to Rs 4 lakh a month.
As in any other field, your remuneration will rise with your years of experience. The best bait airlines use is to lure trained pilots by flashing huge salaries. That’s one good reason for aspirants to reach for the skies.
Salaries of professionals
* Trainee pilot – Rs 15,000-20,000
* First officer (junior) – Rs 1 lakh and up
* First officer (senior) – Rs 1.8 lakh and up
* Commander – Rs 2.5 lakh and up
8 comments October 23rd, 2007