Education news

Innovative Artwork by B. Nasreen Banu, (Our PPTT Distance Candidate)

Artworks are about using hand and footprint to make a lesson on animals come alive and also connects art to language skills. The focus is on listening skills and following instructions (reading). It is a perfect example to making learning a fun activity for the children.

Leadership in Education

Dr. Margaret Davitt Maughan
Date: 17th February 2012
A seminar for school administrators, Principals, coordinators and educators titled: Leadership in School Administration by Dr. Margaret Davitt Maughan on 17th February 2012 at 11:00 am. The seminar was organized by American TESOL Institute in association with South City International School Kolkata.
The seminar was conducted by Dr. Maughan who has an Ed.D. Leadership from University of San Francisco and has 35 years of classroom experience, curriculum development, and interdisciplinary studies. Her area of expertise has been Psychology of Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Leadership in Educational Administration, School Law, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research and Classroom Management. Dr. Maughan has many publications to her credit and has taught in Jesuit High School in Sacramento, National University – Sacramento, State University of New York, Ramkhamhaeng University – Bangkok, Thailand and on the U.S. Navy Afloat via Central Texas College. She has made academic and professional presentations at various conferences and seminars and has travelled extensively.
The seminar was attended by 36 school leaders. The participant schools were Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan, Carmel High school, Calcutta International school, Gokhale Memorial, The Heritage School, Loreto Entally, Loreto Dharamtalla, Loreto Elliot Road, Loreto Bowbazar, Lake Point, M.P Birla, National High School, Our Lady Queen of the Mission, Sri Sri Academy, South Point, Vidyanjali International School, teachers Center Loreto House.
The seminar covered pertinent and relevant topics like Effective school leadership in today's changing education scenario, changing roles of school leaders and ways school leaders can make a difference. The seminar was interactive and engaging and it resulted in exchange of thoughts, ideas and opinions.

Increasing Demand of Teachers

The demand of teachers is going to sky rocket in the near future according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor. The overwhelming number of increase in teaching jobs would be due to increase in number of students in the elementary, middle and high school level. It is believed that teaching jobs will have a jump f 13% by 2018 and many foreign teachers will be required for this purpose. With the increasing number of non- English speaking students the demand for bilingual teachers who are able to teach English as a second language. It is also expected that the supply of teachers will also soar due to better pay and improvement of job prospects.
Courtesy : http://www.allthingspolitical.org/careers/Teaching_job_outlook.htm

Workshop at Gem’s Academia, Thakurpukur

Speaker- Janat Ruby Blackmon
Date: 17th October 2011
Janat Ruby Blackmon had conducted a workshop at Gem’s Academia Kolkata on 17th October 2011. The workshop was focused on ‘Differentiated Instructions & Evaluation’. The topic was about need based learning focusing on individual need on the students. The workshop was an enriching experience for the 35 teachers participants from various schools in Kolkata.

Workshop at Don Bosco School, Park Circus

Speaker: Dr Sylvia Orta
Date: 17th August, 2011
Dr Sylvia Orta’s workshop on 17th August 2011 at Don Bosco Park Circus was titled ‘Current Trends and Issues in Educational Leadership /Management’. It was a half day seminar attended by the Principals, School Administrators and Coordinators of many eminent schools in Kolkata. The workshop was interactive and there was discussion of case studies from Dr Orta’s repertoire. The case studies were well received by the audience and they also shared their own experiences in these regard.

Shortage of Primary Teachers

The country is facing a shortage of 6.89 lakh primary teachers and 5.30 lakh police personnel. According to M. Ramchandran, Minister of State, Home Affairs, while the total sanctioned strength of state police forces is 20.56 lakh, the actual strength is only 15.53 lakh. Uttar Pradesh Police is the worst off, with vacancies outnumbering the actual strength. While its total sanctioned strength is 3.68 lakh policemen, the actual number is merely 1,44,200. Most states facing a shortage of police personnel are also Naxalite-hit. Andhra Pradesh has a shortage of 20,340 policemen while Bihar has a shortage of 25,540. In Chhattisgarh, the sanctioned strength is 46,403 but the actual figure is only 32,979, leaving a shortage of 13,502 policemen. Jharkhand, on the other hand, has a shortage of 12,620 policemen. Even Delhi has a shortage of 7,102 policemen. Ramchandran says, "Even though strength of the police force is a state subject as per the Constitution of India, the Ministry of Home Affairs has raised its concern over large numbers of vacancies in state police forces."

Education also seems to be low on the Government's list of priorities. Though Kendriya Vidyalayas, Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and other Indian universities face a shortage of staff across the country, the shortage at the primary level is grave. Schools in India are short of of 6.89 lakh teachers. The Centre had given states permission to hire 18.89 lakh teachers by March 31, 2011 to spread primary education but so far only 12 lakh teachers have been appointed.

Minister of State, Human Resource Development, D. Purandeshwari, told the Lok Sabha recently that "recruitment of teachers, sanctioned under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), is undertaken by state governments. States have been advised to fill up all teaching vacancies expeditiously."

The record on teacher recruitment is abysmal across states. In Uttar Pradesh, there is a shortage of 1.40 lakh at the primary level while in Bihar it is 2.11 lakh. In Madhya Pradesh, the shortage of teachers stands at 72,980 while West Bengal needs 86,116 more teachers under ssa. Even Jharkhand is 20,745 teachers short while Maharashtra's primary teacher shortfall stands at 26,123.

Active Teachers' Workshop by ATI

A workshop was held for all junior school teachers of Don Bosco School, Park Circus, Kolkata on 30th August 2011. The workshop was held in the school premises from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm and was attended by close to 40 primary school teachers of the school. The workshop was conducted by Sangeeta Banerjee and Amrita Ghosh of ATI Training Company.

The workshop started with a session called "A Hundred Languages". Through an interactive session the teachers were made aware of the importance of music and art in the school curriculum. The next session was an over view of the theories, approaches and methodologies in "Early Childhood Education". The concluding session was about the needs and interests of the "21st Century Learners" and whether our teachers are prepared enough for them. Some thought provoking videos were shown to make the teachers think and debate the topic.

The teachers actively participated in all the sessions and the workshop was well received and appreciated.

Illinois President to Visit India

In the hope of new academic alliance with Indian institutes, president of Indiana University of the US will visit India soon. The high powered US delegation will visit cities like New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad for this purpose. The growing number of Indian students in the University of USA is one of the reasons behind their visit.

Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/President-of-a-top-US-university-to-visit-India/articleshow/9718768.cms

MCD Schools to Hire Teachers Online

The municipal corporation of Delhi has decided to hire teachers through an online recruitment program. This local body would conduct online recruitment of about 1600 teachers. The appointment will be online totally, from the process of interview to results. It ensures transparency in the recruitment process of about 700 MCD schools.

Courtesy: http://www.newkerala.com/news/2011/worldnews-53158.html

Universalisation of Secondary Education: PM

Prime Minister on 15th of August announced that the government is thinking about universalisation of secondary education. It is a bold step towards improving the educational system of India. The government hopes to see good result after secondary education is made universal.

Courtesy: http://www.newkerala.com/news/2011/worldnews-48220.html

NCTE taken over by Government

The Human Resource and Development Ministry is planning to take over the National Council for Teacher Education for six months. The irregularities with the grant give to recognized teacher training institutes is responsible for this step. The members were asked to go away from their office for investigation. The officials of the HRD department will be taking care of the National Council of Teacher Education for the time being.

Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/Govt-takes-over-National-Council-for-Teacher-Education/articleshow/9157359.cms

Monitoring of textbooks in India

HRD Ministry is going to come up with a bill to monitor the school textbooks, to make sure it adheres to the principles of our Indian Constitution. Though there are objections at various levels on this bill there is a high chance that proposed legislation will be passed. There will be a separate council working independently in preparing textbooks for schools.

Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/HRD-nod-for-council-to-monitor-textbooks/articleshow/9230433.cms

Quality in Education: Kapil Sibal

In the World Education Summit 2011, Mr. Kapil Sibal, Minister of Education, India has mentioned that India by 2020 wants to have a Sarva Sikhsa Abhiyan reach 30% from 15%. The target for college going children is 45 million. It is not just about the quantity, he also stressed on quality of the education. Mr. Sibal also emphasized on vocational education system apart from CBSE board.

Courtesy: http://www.indiaeducationreview.com/news/we-have-ensure-access-and-quality-education-sibal

According to the new report from HR Minister, there will be a shortage of 1.2 million teachers in the elementary school level in the near future. Focus has been given on the improvement of salary and living standards of the elementary school teachers so that this huge dearth is fulfilled. The deficiency of teachers is not just in the elementary schools but it is also present in the higher school levels.

Courtesy: http://www.bizindia.net/news/News.asp?newsID=102&catID=83

According to the recent survey, in the coming decade there would be a demand of 15 lakhs jobs. 50,000 crore has been pumped in the education sector, which has contributed to about 24% growth in teacher recruitment. According to Shiv Agrawal, demand starts right from the pre-nursery level with play schools and day care crèches which have increased due to the growing pattern of both parents working.

Courtesy: http://in.education.yahoo.com/news/yeducareers360/education-sector-15-lakh-jobs-coming-decade-20110419

The 24% increase in budgetary allocation this year has contributed towards educational growth. The Right to Education Act aims not just at literacy but also on improving skills. The current financial year has a budget of Rs 15000 crore for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and next year the budget allocated is about 6000 crores. For elementary education the government has allocated Rs29,000 crores. Education now is a profitable arena and has considerable influence.

http://edunews.successcds.net/india%E2%80%99s-overall-progress-in-education-1434.html

Government has newly targeted to make education related to skills so that it helps students with jobs. The state governments have decided to make reforms in the higher education sector for this purpose. Skills not merely education is what the new education system will be aiming at. Also putting money in research and giving autonomy is what the Education sector is aiming at.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/Let-skills-be-part-of-edu-system/articleshow/8657816.cms

India has a come a long way from 1951 in education sector. There has been 4 times growth in the literacy rate and the most significant fact is the growth of female literacy.

http://india-reports.in/social-commitment/powerpoint-slide-on-literates-per-thousand-population/