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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Panel suggests GRE-type test for college admissions

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Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal has promised action within 100 days on the Yash Pal committee’s recommendations of sweeping changes in the policy for managing higher education.

Among other things, the panel’s report,submitted to the minister on Wednesday, called for the setting up of an umbrella higher education regulator in place of bodies such as the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education, and for giving university status to IITs and IIMs.

“The report shows a road map for the future of education in India…I believe the nation will accept it,” Sibal said.

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posted by PressMart Team at 10:21 AM 0 Comments

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Three new IITs coming, but where is the infrastructutre?

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Here's another example of the clumsy manner in which the HRD ministry handles India's most prestigious institutions of higher education. Three new IITs are opening next month, but no buildings, infrastructure or faculty befitting the global brand is in place yet.

Three existing IITs - Guwahati, Madras and Delhi - have been made ‘mentor institutions' for the new institutes at Patna, Medak and Rajasthan.

Faculty from the Guwahati and Madras IITs will be deployed to teach at makeshift campuses at Patna and Medak. IIT Rajasthan doesn't even have a ‘makeshift campus', and will debut from its mentor's campus at IIT Delhi.

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posted by PressMart Team at 10:42 AM 0 Comments

Friday, April 11, 2008

Scheduled Castes clears Other Backward Classes quota law

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Ending uncertainty over the controversial law providing for 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in central educational institutions including IITs and IIMs, the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld its validity but ruled that the "creamy layer" among the backwards would not get reservation.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan upheld the Central Educational lnstitutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006, paying the way for its implementation in all central educational institutions.

The landmark verdict comes as a major victory for the UPA government, which had to face embarrassment after the court stayed the implementation of the OBC quota law last year.

The bench, also comprising justices Arijit Pasayat, C.K. Thakker, R.V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari, unanimously said the "creamy layer" must be excluded from the socially and educationally backward classes as per a 1993 government order The government order excludes wards of people holding constitutional posts and senior government officials from the quota ambit.

Justice Bhandari asked the government to exclude the children of former and present MPs and MLAs from the purview of OBC reservation. The judges, however, clarified that the "creamy layer" concept was not applicable to Scheduled Castes and Schedu1ed Tribes. There should be a periodic review after five years on continuing with the OBC quota, they added.

The bench also upheld the validity of the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act 2005 that enabled the government to enact laws providing for OBC reservation in central education- al institutions, saying it did not violate the Constitution's basic structure. It also rejected the petitioners' contention that not extending the OBC quota law to minority educational institutions was illegal.

The exclusion of minority educational institutions from the ambit of the law did not violate the Constitution as "they (minority institutions) are a separate class and their rights are protected by other constitutional provisions," the CJI said.

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posted by PressMart Team at 11:01 AM 0 Comments

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Your kid's school fee is set for a steep rise

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You are already paying more for your vegetables and grocery, now get ready to pay more for your child's school fees.

A group of 300 private schools, most of them in east Delhi, on Friday announced that they might soon increase their fees by up to 30 per cent. The announcement by the Federation of Schools could trigger similar fee hikes across the city .

The federation said the new fee structure would come into force once the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations are implemented.

Private schools in Delhi pay their teachers the same scale as government teachers. If the scale of government teachers rises after implementation of the pay panel's recommendations, private schools will a1so have to raise fees. "There wn be 20 to 30 per cent increase in fees as it is our only source of income," R.P Mallick, chairman of the federation, said.

S.L. Jain, chairman of the National Progressive Schools' Conference, another association of various prominent schools, said the fee hike might become necessary "But the hike will depend on various factors such as the present fee structure of a school, the budget and other individual specifications," Jain said. Most school authorities felt a fee hike was inevitable although Ameeta Wattal, principal of Springdales School, Pusa Road, said it was too early to comment. Usha Ram, principal of Laxman Public School, said: "The percentage of hike may depend upon what the government decides. But in order to retain good teachers we need to pay well." Gowri Ishwaran of Sanskriti School agreed.

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Planners, politicos in campus face-off

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A MAJOR controversy could be brewing between India's education planners, and politicians advocating a populist approach to education.

On Wednesday evening, IIM-Ahmedabad chairman Vijaypat Singhania refused to be persuaded by HRD Minister Arjun Singh to roll back its proposed 150 per cent fee hike.

Hours earlier, the Planning Commission recommended that profit-making should be allowed in higher education, thus paving the way for the entry of corporates in the sector.

The Commission's proposal, sent to PM Manmohan Singh, could trigger a debate reminiscent of the controversy over OBC quota in institutions of higher education.

The report has its genesis in a similar proposal mooted two years ago by the National Knowledge Commission. The HRD ministry had opposed it then, saying education was a ‘social service'.

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posted by PressMart Team at 10:29 AM 0 Comments