In partnership with Hero MotoCorp (annual revenue (2015-16): Rs.31,000 crore), the Haryana Vishwakarma Skill University (HVSU, estb.2016) has launched a first-of-its-type industry-integrated three-year bachelor’s degree programme in automobile mechatronics and automotive manufacturing. The entrance exam for admission into the study programme is scheduled for August 12. 

Addressing the media in Chandigarh on July 24, Raj Nehru, vice chancellor of HVSU, said this initiative, prompted by the Union government’s ‘earn while you learn’ scheme, will be based on the dual education model. “Students will be enrolled at the industry campus where on-the-job training and classroom learning will happen side by side. A stipend will also be paid to them for the duration of their training,” he said, adding that industry-linked Masters and Ph D programmes will soon follow.

 

Telangana
School teachers’ unique protest

Twenty-two teachers of the Zilla Parishad High School in the Shakarampet mandal of Medak district took classes wearing helmets to protest the failure of the school management to shield them from “raining concrete”. 

“Despite repeated reminders, our requests for renovating the school’s 60-year-old rundown building fell on deaf ears,” a spokesperson informed the media in Hyderabad on July 21.

Reacting to the protest, the Medak district collector Bharati Hollikeri said: “The matter was brought to my notice. Yes, it is an old building. Engineers have been asked to inspect it… whether it requires demolition or repairs, the report will tell. Meanwhile, teachers and students will be shifted,” she said.  

An official letter with renovation proposals has already been sent to the school education ministry, Hollikeri added.

 

Delhi
Teacher education overhaul initiative

The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in collaboration with the Quality Council of India has drawn up a draft regulatory framework ‘TeachR’ aimed at overhauling teacher training institutes in the country, A. Santhosh Mathew, chairman, NCTE informed media in New Delhi on July 19. The new policy will be rolled out in the second week of this month (August).

Unlike the earlier policy which focused on physical infrastructure of education institutions, the new framework gives 10 percent weightage to physical assets, 20 percent to academic assets, 30 percent to teacher transactions and 40 percent for learning outcomes.

The new draft also proposes to divide teacher education institutes into four categories — A to D. “Institutions in category D may be asked to shut down with immediate effect while category C institutions will be given a year’s time to take corrective measures,” the NCTE chairman added.

 

Jharkhand
Slew of education reforms promise

While addressing a press conference in Ranchi on July 7, Neera Yadav, the state’s education minister announced a slew of measures including fresh teacher recruitment drives, introduction of bus services for women college students living in remote areas, and setting up of well-equipped laboratories and libraries in primary and higher education institutions. 

Moreover, for the first time, the state government has approved grants to Sanskrit schools and madrasas, the minister said. While textbooks in Santhali, Ho, Mundari, Khadia and Kudukh languages are already available, Urdu textbooks will be available from the academic year beginning 2018-19, she added.

“Our priority is to ensure education for all. Towards this end, some schemes such as the Mukhya Mantri Fellowship Yojana under which Rs.1 lakh is awarded to meritorious students for higher education, have been introduced,” the minister said. 

 

Sikkim
First government engineering college inaugurated

Chief minister Pawan Chamling laid the foundation of the Sikkim Institute of Science and Technology (SIST), the state’s first government engineering college, at Chisopani in south Sikkim on July 6. SIST will enroll 60 students annually for its bachelor’s degree programmes in civil and computer science engineering.

Speaking at a function to mark the occasion, Chamling said the new education institution supported by the Union HRD ministry’s Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan  (national higher education mission), will provide employment opportunities for youth and residents of the surrounding areas. He also announced opening of a vocational education training college at Dentam, an arts college at Mangshilla and a girls’ college in Khamdong.

The principal secretary of the Union human resource development ministry G.P. Upadhyaya, who was present on the occasion, said SIST will be constructed at a cost of Rs.18.2 crore and affiliated with the Sikkim State University.

Paromita Sengupta with bureau inputs