Leading From The Front by Col. S.P. Wahi; Sterling Publishers; Price: Rs.695; 266 pp
From the viewpoint of the energy security of the country, it is India’s most important company. Yet there is a curious conspiracy of silence on the failure of the public sector ONGC Ltd (formerly the Oil & Natural Gas Commission) to deliver its […]
One of the major infirmities of education systems the world over is that they tend to accord minimal importance to developing the general or extra-curricular knowledge of students. That’s a glaring lacuna which Mumbai-based education entrepreneurs Gautam and Ami Goradia are determined to address by providing a combination of qualitative content and robust technology. The […]
The Union ministry of science & technology and Bentley Systems, Inc. have launched the 2008-2009 Future Cities India 2020 competition. Currently in its third year, the competition encourages students to prepare Indias cities for the year 2020, by providing design solutions for real-world infrastructure challenges.This years competition focuses on Indian Railways recently announced plans to […]
A blueprint for turning around poor performance by European universities has called for more money, greater autonomy, better student mobility and increased competition. A study by the Brussels-based higher education think-tank Breugel, says growth of the sector in continental Europe has been disappointing for 30 years, particularly in comparison with the US. It examines the […]
Axiom Education, a Mumbai-based innovator in education solutions, has launched a first-of-its-kind national science and technology competition named ScientificA, 2008 for class V-VIII students across India. ScientificA will adopt a unique audio-visual methodology of assessing students aptitude through their ‘enterprising quotient. This annual national competition will culminate with a search for the ‘Student Icon of […]
The Right to Education Bill which belatedly proposes to put the countrys massive 160 million out-of-school children into classrooms, was first mooted in 2003. Despite a constitutional amendment, it is being passed from Centre to state governments, committee to committee and shuttled between groups of ministers. Summiya Yasmeen reports Given its deep, long-term implications, its […]
Anil Dubey, former country manager (India) of IDP:IELTS Australia, and Roohi Trehan, former administrator (Delhi) IDP, have recently published a first-of-its-kind, utilitarian textbook IELTS Made Easy (IELTS Facilitation Centre, Gurgaon, Price: Rs.1,500).The book offers aid and advice to students writing the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam, clearance of which is a mandatory requirement […]
After being buried in the HRD ministry and tossed between the finance and law ministries and the Planning Commission for over four years, the Right to Education Bill, 2008 which will give effect to Article 21A of the Constitution of India (viz. the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the […]
Chennai-based V. Rajagopalan, a pioneer of spoken English training in the country, was conferred the prestigious Acharya Award on the occasion of Teachers Day, for his remarkable contribution to English language learning. The award was presented at Guru Samarpan, where 14 teachers from diverse fields, including carnatic music, sports, and theatre were felicitated.Rajagopalan is the […]
The Right to Education Bill, 2008, an Act to put into ffect the Right to Free and Compulsory Education to all children in the age group of six-14 years, is a 39-page document that details every childs right to free and compulsory education of equitable quality; responsibility of the State, parents, schools, teachers; the content […]
Promoted by education entrepreneur Shantanu Prakash and the legendary Dr. Y.G. Parthasarathy, this K-XII school, which blends latest ICT with Indian values and culture, has wowed the port city Sited in the heart of the port city of Chennai (pop. 4.1 million), but insulated from the noise and bustle of the busy metropolis, the recently […]
According to the famous American author Mark Twain, Mauritius was made first and then heaven was copied after it. Known for its powder-soft, palm fringed beaches and translucent lagoons, the island is particularly attractive for Indian tourists because 75 percent of its population comprises ethnic Indians.
A resplendent dot in the Indian Ocean, 2,400 km off […]
Good news for all those who find cooking a time-consuming chore after a hard day at the office! Four electronics and communications engineering (ECE) students of Saveetha Engineering College, Chennai — Jambulingam Muthu, Jesly Jose, Aravindh Ganesh and Chembian Parthiban, who graduated this year — have invented a fully automatic cooking appliance (chef bot). An […]
Jacked Up by Bill Lane; McGraw Hill; Price: Rs.325; 324 ppAt the height of his fame in the 1990s, perhaps no business leader — before or since — attained the iconic status of Jack Welch, former chairman of the American conglomerate GE (formerly General Electric) for almost a quarter century from 1980-2000. Most business analysts […]
A class VII student of Mumbais high-profile Podar World School, Ruhi Saraf (12) gave her academic career a five grade jump when she passed the rigorous ‘A level (class XII) exam of the UK-based Cambridge International Examination (CIE) board recently. In the exam held at Podar World School last May, Ruhi wrote four papers receiving […]
The first ten days of every new academic year is the most vital and stimulating time of the school calendar. Its the time when teachers should provide students with a broad overview of the subjects they will teach through the year. What topics will the subject cover? What is their relevance to students? How can […]
The social disrespectability associated with modelling is old hat. Today intelligent young professionals are gravitating towards fashion/product modelling to reap instant fame and fortuneGlamorous fashion ramps and catwalks are no longer the preserve of classroom back-benchers or those disinclined to do nine-to-five jobs. Today, intelligent young professionals are gravitating towards fashion and product modelling to […]
Im a second year BA student interested in a career in photography. Which colleges in India offer study courses in photography? Is it necessary to enroll in a study programme abroad?Ravi Narayan, Chennai
Its not necessary to go abroad to qualify as a photographer. You could qualify right here in India, starting with short-term courses, […]
The heavy price in terms of loss of lives, property and livelihood that the economically disadvantaged and politically ignored people of Bihar have paid, following the River Kosi breaking its upper riparian banks in Nepal and charting an entirely new course on the north eastern plains of this state (pop. 82 million), which has become […]
On August 8 the Dubai-based Global Education Management Systems (GEMS) announced the launch of its biggest project in India to date — the Guruvar Awards for teachers. These awards have been instituted for the teaching profession with the twin aims of not just rewarding excellent teachers who have made an indelible difference, but also those […]
The violence and terror visited upon churches, clergy members and Christian tribals in Kandhamal district in the eastern state of Orissa through August by rowdy cadres of the Bajrang Dal, the armed youth wing of the Hindu fundamentalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), has set a dangerous precedent and a template for emulation countrywide. The anti-Christian […]
Whats the use of progress and development if one day its going to be wiped out by an epidemic? queries the home page of Little Drops, which sports several such hard-hitting messages aimed at jolting the public into health awareness. Launched by a committed coalition of 70 medical practitioners of the Chennai-based Stanley Medical College […]
Confronted with perhaps the worst image crisis in its history after one of its students was shot dead by the Delhi police on September 19, and another three arrested following the deadly September 13 serial bomb blasts in the national capital which claimed 25 lives and injured 100, the management of the Jamia Millia Islamia […]
Human capital development has to become the top priority of Indian business and industry. Thousands of schools, colleges and skills development centres need to be promoted immediately in urban and rural India to fulfill industrys growing demand for skilled professionals, says Jaithirth aka Jerry Rao, founder chief executive and chairman of the Bangalore/New York-based software […]
Every year during the monsoon season (June-September), several hund- red children in Uttar Pradesh (pop. 166 million) fall prey to the fatal Japanese Encephalitis (JE) virus. This is par for the course in UP where of the 5.4 million children born every year, 275,000 die within 30 days of birth and 450,000 before their first […]
After three decades of increases at more than double the rate of inflation, the cost of attending an American private university has reached a politically unpalatable new high. This autumn, one year of tuition, room and board and mandatory fees will surpass the US annual median household income of $48,023 (Rs.22 lakh).It is a milestone […]
Half way through its sixth successive five-year term in office, West Bengals Left Front government led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) is in a tearing hurry to present the states 61 million strong electorate (of W. Bengals total population of 80.2 million) with a positive governance balance sheet. Thats perhaps why with one […]
Fears for the independence of Canadian universities have been heightened by the involvement of a provincial government minister in the search for a new university president. Joan Burke, the Newfoundland and Labrador education minister, has admitted interviewing and black-balling two candidates for the presidency of Memorial University in St. Johns, the provinces capital.Ms. Burkes role […]
“At their intellectual best, Mamata Banerjee and her ilk suffer from a grand delusion that agriculture alone will make marginal farmers significantly better off. It cant. The salvation of rural India lies in more industry and services.”
Well-known economist Omkar Goswami in Businessworld (September 15)
“Sometimes in India, when the Olympics come, we are not preparing […]
Nigerias university system used to be the finest in West Africa, but todays classes are overcrowded, buildings are crumbling and the curriculum has remained unchanged for years. Cults have emerged from the shambles. Started as confraternities of the most academic students, they have deteriorated into gang violence. The Exam Ethics Project, a lobby group, says […]
