Category: Education

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Bollywood Education Lite Blogs

Bhumi roped in for ‘KeepGirlsInSchool’ mission

With an aim to raise awareness and educate girls on menstrual hygiene management, UNESCO has joined the #KeepGirlsInSchool mission, being supported by Bollywood actress Bhumi Pednekar…writes Puja Gupta.

The movement, launched by feminine care brand Whisper, begins with shedding light on the impact of 2.3 crore girls dropping out of school due to lack of period education and protection.

According to studies, even today, 71 per cent of adolescent girls in India remain unaware of menstruation till they get their first period. This affects their confidence and self-esteem adversely, leading to 2.3 crore adolescent girls dropping out of school every year, at the onset of the puberty. In addition to this, the ongoing pandemic has led to the closure of schools and lack of structured learning process, making these girls even more vulnerable to dropping out.

UNESCO (WIKIPEDIA)

According to the UNESCO, the global pandemic has impacted 74 crore schoolgirls, and could severely affect their return to school.

To bring to light the struggles of young girls as they reach puberty, Whisper and UNESCO released a film that illustrates the journey of the playful innocence of a schoolgirl with boundless dreams coming to a grinding halt due to the lack of period education and protection. The film underscores the importance of empowering young girls to achieve their full potential and not let periods get in the way of 2.3 crore dreams.

Continuing to share her support for the cause, Bhumi Pednekar said: “For the past one year I have been working closely with Whisper to drive awareness on the importance of menstrual hygiene education and protection. This gave me an understanding of the on-ground reality of crores of girls who drop out of school and unfortunately give up on their dreams of becoming a pilot, doctor, teacher, designer, etc. Every girl in India should be able to complete her education like I did and not have to drop out just because of periods. I strongly believe that empowering young girls with menstrual education and protection will give them wings to transform into leaders of tomorrow. It is great to see that Whisper and UNESCO are enabling this change at a ground level, which will not only accelerate the cause but also encourage wider participation. I urge everyone to come forward and be part of the #KeepGirlsInSchool movement.”

Girls In School

Emphasizing UNESCO’s commitment to right to Education, Eric Falt, Director and UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, said: “During puberty and the start of menstruation, a girl’s confidence and self-esteem can be affected in many different ways, sometimes even leading to her dropping out of school. UNESCO and Whisper are on a mission to change that. The #KeepGirlsInSchool initiative builds on our strong commitment to ensuring everyone’s fundamental right to education. Investing in girls’ education is an investment for society as a whole.”

Sharing her thoughts on the movement, Chetna Soni, Senior Director and Category Head, P&G Indian Subcontinent, Feminine Care, said: “Whisper believes in empowering girls and women to unleash their confidence and ensure that nothing comes in the way of achieving their dreams. With this mission, we continue to challenge the barriers surrounding menstrual hygiene through education and multi-stakeholder engagement to advocate for change. To widen the impact, we are delighted to be joining hands with UNESCO to further our force for female good movement #KeepGirlsInSchool. We strongly believe that we all have a role to play in breaking menstrual stigma and normalizing periods so nothing can come in the way of girls fulfilling their dreams and achieving their full potential.”

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Education Gallery India News

PICS: Students Back To Schools

Students wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus, attend classes as schools reopen after being closed for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021 (Pallav/Asianlite)

Delhi schools which have been closed for the past 10 months due to the coronavirus pandemic, reopened on Monday and there is great enthusiasm among the students who say they prefer normal classes in school to online classes.

Students say opening of the schools is much better for preparing for board examinations. At the same time, private schools have also asked children to bring their Covid test reports to prove they are not carrying the virus.

Students say, “We are very happy with the opening of the schools. There were some problems in online studies at home, we were unable to ask our questions in a proper manner and not understand the answers.”

Students wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus, attend classes as schools reopen after being closed for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021 (Pallav/Asianlite)

“In offline studies you can understand your problems in a better way, and if you don’t understand then you can ask.”

Most parents have given their approval to send children to schools amid the pandemic. The schools’ administration believes that soon most parents will also approve and the number of students in school will increase.

However, there have been some changes. Schools will not have prayer meetings or assembly, nor will the canteens be open. Schools have also not provided transport facilities to the children. Children have to reach school by themselves.

Students wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus, attend classes as schools reopen after being closed for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021 (Pallav/Asianlite)

Principal of Vidya Bal Bhavan School, Dr Satveer Sharma told IANS, “It is a relief for all to open schools, children will now be able to study effectively, whereas teachers and children will be able to sit face to face and talk about problems related to education. We will be able to discuss it as well.”

“We have told the children to also bring their Covid reports and submit them to the schools, this will keep us and other children safe.”

Medical rooms in schools have been converted to Covid-19 isolation rooms.

A school teacher told IANS that “It was great meeting the children. There were lot of challenges during the online classes. We are expecting that the number of children in the school will increase in the coming days.”

At the Government Girls Secondary School in Delhi, when the 10th class students reached the school, they were very happy.

Children have been coming to school wearing masks and all the rules related to Covid-19 are being observed in schools.

Students wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus, attend classes as schools reopen after being closed for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021 (Pallav/Asianlite)

Government Girls Secondary School Vice Principal Sandhya Singh told IANS, “I am very happy. We have 147 children of class 10 present today, while 107 children are yet to come.”

“There are lot of challenges for the teachers in the classes, as along with offline classes, now we also have to do online classes.”

Board exams are to be held in May and now many states have decided to open schools for students of 10th and 12th classes.

Students wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus, attend classes as schools reopen after being closed for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021 (Pallav/Asianlite)

Right now, a lot of strictness has been followed in opening schools, such as written permission of the parents of the students is necessary. There will be no physical activity in the schools and guidelines have to be displayed everywhere.

The coronavirus pandemic in Delhi has now been largely controlled, although the threat remains, which is why people are being told to follow safety measures.

Also Read-WHO stresses effective ‘multilateralism in pandemic response’

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Asia News Education

Pakistan Plans To Reopen Schools From Feb 1

Pakistan Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Friday confirmed that grades 9-12 will resume from January 18 as planned, while primary classes will reopen nationwide from February 1.

While briefing the media after a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Mahmood said grades 1-8 will begin on February 1, The Express Tribune reported.

He added that the decision to resume the primary classes was taken after reviewing the health situation in the country.

On January 4, ministers from the education sector had announced the resuming of educational activities in phases.

Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan in March 2020, all educational institutions remained closed until September 15.

But due to a resurgence, the educational institutions across the country were closed again on November 26, 2020, after remaining open for about two-and-a-half-months.

According to the latest statistics, confirmed cases due to Covid-19 pandemic in the country currently stand at 514,338, while the recorded deaths stand at 10,863.

A total of 469,306 recoveries from the infections have been reported so far.

Also Read-Australia warned against delaying vaccine rollout

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Education Interview Lite Blogs

Learn And Grow Through Activities

Launched during the lockdown by three IIT alumni, FrontRow is an online platform that provides comprehensive skill-based courses, taught by celebrities in different categories…writes Puja Gupta.

Bollywood singer Neha Kakkar, comedian Biswa Kalyan Rath, Indian cricketers Yuzvendra Chahal and Suresh Raina among others have been roped in to take masterclasses to help a community of passionate users learn and grow together through activities, events, workshops and competitions.

The start-up has also managed to get Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone as one of its investors.

IANSlife speaks to Ishaan Preet Singh who co-founded the company along with Mikhil Raj and Shubhadit Sharma, to know more about it and the courses it offers.

Excerpts:

How did you come up with the idea of FrontRow? Tell us more about this learning platform?

Singh: We were working on a different problem in edtech — helping engineering students in Tier 3 and 4 colleges get better jobs. However, as we spent time with college students, we realised that their interest and excitement actually was not in engineering. It was way more in areas beyond engineering such as rap, singing, comedy and cricket.

There are hundreds of companies solving for better technical education, which is of course a big need, but the gap in this area resonated with us deeply. We also realised it is a space that has not been solved for either offline or online which has made the gap only deeper.

Mumbai: Actress Deepika Padukone(Photo: IANS)

How did you get Deepika Padukone as an investor?

Singh: Deepika was really excited by the market and the team. She was always excited about categories beyond academics when she was growing up and has seen these problems first hand.

Can you take us through the categories and how did you manage to sign such big names like Neha Kakkar, Suresh Raina?

Singh: Our current categories include cricket, singing, music, rap and comedy. An interesting learning was that whenever we would speak with celebrities they would instantly relate to the problem since they’ve faced it themselves while building their careers. They often did not have access to mentors or high quality resources that could help them learn, and now that they are successful, they want to give back.

For a layperson looking for a career in music, singing or cricket or stand-up comedy, how will FrontRow’s Masterclass with celebrities help them?

Singh: The courses will help them in two ways — one you’ll get better at your passion since you’ll get theory, examples and tips and tricks directly from the instructors whether it’s how Neha Kakkar learnt the ins and outs of music or how Suresh Raina thinks of a batting stance. Beyond this, you will also learn the essentials of building a career in those categories and what are the points that really matter.

Can we expect a Masterclass on non-conventional career choices like being a stylist or an influencer, chef, make-up artists etc?

Singh: We are working on expanding categories over the next 6-12 months and you will definitely see more categories launching including more sports and rap and music.

Are you looking to cater to millennials? Who all do you think will benefit from this platform?

Singh: Our audience is primarily 16-35 years old but interestingly it is spread across geographically and socio-economically. The problems are very broadly applicable and common! We have people from over 100 cities already learning on FrontRow and more than half our learners come from outside the top 10 cities.

You launched FrontRow in May 2020 during the peak of COVID-19. How did the pandemic help you?

Singh: 2020 was a breakout year for online education especially in terms of number of first users. A massive number of people across age groups took their first online course, their first zoom call or their first online exercise class. It’s moved the sector forward by a few years for sure, especially since learners now recognise that some things can just be done better online, such as learning from their idols or the absolute best teachers.

Every entrepreneur faces a few roadblocks and challenges. How has your journey been so far?

Singh: It’s a new market and a new opportunity so it of course took us some convincing to get people on board, but we’ve been lucky to have great investors and a great team supporting the vision!

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Education India News

TN to reopen schools for classes 10, 12

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K.Palaniswami on Tuesday announced reopening of schools for classes 10 and 12 from January 19.

In a statement issued here, Palaniswami said the schools will be reopened only for classes 10 and 12 and each classroom will have 25 students.

He also said in order to boost the immunity levels, the students attending the classes will be given vitamin and zinc tablets.

The Chief Minister said the government’s decision comes after 95 per cent of the parents had expressed in favour of reopening of the schools.

The parent’s views were taken on 8 and 9 of this month by the respective schools and a report was submitted to the government.

Meanwhile, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss on Tuesday opposed any move to extend the services of Anna University Vice Chancellor M.K. Surappa who is facing corruption charges.

Ramadoss also demanded Governor Banwarilal Purohit to withdraw the orders issued for extending the services of Vice Chancellors of Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli and Periyar University, Salem.

According to Ramadoss, the extension of services of Vice Chancellors of Bharathidasan University and Periyar University were made mainly to create a precedent so that Surappa who is set to retire in April this year.

The PMK leader said the Governor does not have the powers to appoint and extend the services of Vice Chancellors on his own.

The Governor can appoint one person out of three names recommended by a selection panel as the Vice Chancellor.

Ramadoss said the act of Purohit to extend the services of Vice Chancellors of two Universities with the consent of the state government and planning to extend the services of another cannot be justified.

The Tamil Nadu government has set up a committee headed retired Justice P. Kalaiyarasan to inquire into corruption complaints against Anna University Vice Chancellor Surappa.

Political parties like DMK and PMK had opposed the appointment of Surappa as Anna University Vice Chancellor in 2018 as he hailed from Karnataka and not the son of the soil.

Surappa had previously served as the Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar, for six years (2009 to 2015).

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Education India News

K’taka colleges to reopen from Jan 15

Classroom teaching for students of undergraduate, postgraduate, engineering and diploma courses in Karnataka will resume on January 15, Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayana said on Monday.

Narayana, in charge of higher education, said after a meeting with officials concerned here that authorities were already holding offline classes for final-year students.

“NCC and NSS classes will also be resumed, apart from all hostel and bus facilities, as per the standard operating procedures (SOPs). The social welfare and backward class departments have been instructed to follow and implement the SOPs in their respective hostels,” he said.

The SOPs are in place vis-a-vis college libraries and canteens, educational and cultural activities and sports, the Minister said and added that coronavirus testing camps will be set up for NCC students.

“Colleges will set up Covid-19 testing and sanitising facilities and follow social distancing norms,” Narayana said.

Arrangements have been made to distribute bus passes to students at the earliest, regarding which the Road Transport Department had agreed to do the needful. He appealed to college managements to approach departmental offices in their vicinity to expedite the process of issuance of bus passes to students.

“There are also talks with Vice Chancellors of private and government universities in Karnataka to hold offline exams. The exam schedule will be issued at the earliest,” the Minister said.

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-Top News Education UK News

Indian School Teacher Wins 1 Mn Global Teacher Prize

In a significant achievement, a Maharashtra government school academician from Solapur has bagged the Varkey Foundation’s top Global Teacher Prize-2020 worth $1 million (Rs 7.40 crore), according to an official announcement made in London.

The winner of the prestigious awrd is Ranjitsinh Disale, who teaches at the Zilla Parishad School in Paritewadi, Solapur district. Disale is credited with transforming education by using QR codes and other innovations to impart lessons, which helped reduce dropout rates drastically, especially among the girl students.

Credits: Varkey Foundation

Starting his academic career in a ramshackle building in a remote tribal-dominated village, Disale was among the 10 global teachers shortlisted in October for the top global honour and was proclaimed the winner on Wednesday evening at a ceremony in London.

“The impact of Ranjitsinh (Disale’s) interventions has been extraordinary: There are now no teenage marriages in the village and 100 per cent attendance by girls at the school. The school was also recently awarded the best school in the district with 85 per cent of his students achieving A grades in annual exams. One girl from the village has now graduated from University, something seen as an impossible dream before Ranjitsinh arrived,” said the official citation on the GTP website.

In an earlier statement, Disale had explained that after the school implemented QR coded textbooks in 2016, the Maharashtra government sent a proposal to the Centre about the usefulness of the technology.

A central team visited the school, studied the system, submitted its report in 2018 and finally the National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) decided to adopt the QR codes in its textbooks.

A majority of the girl students were from tribal backgrounds which did not prioritise education and teenage marriages were a common practice in the region.

Moreover, the Marathi-medium school had multi-language courses in Kannada or Telugu owing to which many students were not able to perform well.

With great pains, Disale decided to learn Kannada himself (the state language of adjoining Karnataka) after which he redesigned all the textbooks of primary school from Class I-IV, for easier understanding of the young students.

Along with unique QR codes, he also embedded audio poems, video lectures, stories and assignments in Kannada which proved to be a boon for the young learners.

Incidentally, Disale once aspired to be an IT engineer, but later followed his father’s advice to consider teaching as a career option, and reluctantly took it up.

He found his stint in a teachers’ training college as ‘life-changing’ and the 2020 Global Teacher Prize proved him correct.

Earlier, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had recognised Disale’s work in his book, ‘Hit Refresh’, while the Indian government had honured him with the Innovative Researcher of the Year-2016 and the National Innovation Foundation’s Innovator of the Year-2018 awards.

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-Top News Education USA

US varsities demand $120bn Covid-19 aid

London, Sept. 22, 2020 (Xinhua) -- A woman wearing a face mask walks at Covent Garden in London, Britain, on Sept. 21, 2020. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday that Britain is facing a "tipping point" regarding the coronavirus pandemic and more restrictions are possible to cope with the spread of virus. (Xinhua/Han Yan/IANS)

“Over 63 per cent of college students have experienced financial losses directly or within their families due to the pandemic,” the letter said…reports Asian Lite News

  • London, Sept. 22, 2020 (Xinhua) — A woman wearing a face mask walks at Covent Garden in London, Britain, on Sept. 21, 2020. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday that Britain is facing a “tipping point” regarding the coronavirus pandemic and more restrictions are possible to cope with the spread of virus. (Xinhua/Han Yan/IANS)

A coalition of US colleges and universities has urged Congress and President Donald Trump’s administration to finalise negotiations on a Covid-19 relief with at least $120 billion for higher education.

As “the scope of the financial duress of students and institutions has only grown” due to the pandemic, schools face an increase in student financial need and Covid-specific costs, as well as a decline in enrollments and auxiliary revenues, Xinhua news agency quoted a letter signed by the American Council on Education and 100 other groups on Wednesday.

U. colleges and universities face “a crisis of almost unimaginable” scale, however, many states have cut their higher education budgets, according to the letter.

“Over 63 per cent of college students have experienced financial losses directly or within their families due to the pandemic,” the letter said, citing a study conducted by the American College Health Association and the Healthy Minds Network.

An estimate in April predicted a decline of 25 per cent of institutional revenues in auxiliary revenues, which covers revenue from room and board charges, conference and facility fees, event tickets, parking fees and bookstores, it added.

Enrolments have also decreased amid the pandemic, with a 13 per cent drop in freshmen across all US institutions, the letter said.

The development comes as the US is currently the worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic with the highest number of cases and fatalties, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Thursday, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the country’s overall caseload and death toll stood at 13,916,543 and 273,316, respectively.

Also read:US CDC cuts quarantine period

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Education Lite Blogs

Study: Indian Parents Give Priority To Kids Education

 ‘All parents want the best for their children’ is a centuries old truth. For Indian parents this is by providing them with the best education, confirms a survey…PUJA GUPTA

Women, 55 per cent, more than men, 43 per cent, make investing in their child’s education a top long-term goal, said the survey done by Scripbox, a digital wealth management service.

In addition, investing in their children’s education is prioritised by Indians in both metros and non-metros, it said. While investing to put aside an emergency fund emerged as the most important short-term goal, owing to the current pandemic, investing in children’s education (46 per cent) topped other goals such as retirement (43 per cent), healthcare (37 per cent) or buying a house (29 per cent).

The survey included 630+ respondents in the age bracket of 25-55+ years across India. An equal number of men and women responded to the survey. Among the total number of respondents, 50 percent were under the age of 35.

The survey points to different priorities for those over the age of 35 years and those below. For those above 35, investing in their child’s education, 58 per cent, is by far their top priority. For millennials, those under 35 years of age, investing in a house trumps building a corpus for their child’s education.

(Xinhua/IANS)

Scripbox recommends that while individual investment goals are important, investors must have a holistic approach to their planning. They should begin by having a financial plan in place that takes into account different goals at different life stages. With education costs, right from pre-primary to university having escalated faster than inflation over the last decade or so, Scripbox offers the following recommendations for Indians to be prepared.

Work backwards while planning for the amount required. For a private college education in India, the fee over the next decade can be anywhere between Rs 8-15 lakh for the entire graduation course and a similar amount reaching up to Rs 25 lakh or so for post-graduation. After accounting for a 12 per cent escalation in annual education cost, it is an expense of around Rs 14 lakh on an average and upwards. This means you need a sum upwards of Rs 4.5 lakh each year for three years to fund higher education. In addition, factoring in a yearly increase, recommend upping the yearly investment amount by 5-10 per cent.

If you have time on your side, start a systematic investment plan (SIP) in an equity mutual fund. This will require you to invest every month regularly in an equity mutual fund, an amount that will accumulate gains over the next few years to help you achieve that target amount.

When you get closer to needing the money, move the corpus to a debt fund for safety of capital. The monthly SIP amount should be such that your equity investment itself grows to achieve the target amount net of taxes, while debt is simply for safety.

Amidst Covid disrupted academic year, cancelled classes and examinations, thousands of students across India are cashing in on every technological tool available to stay connected with academics.

If you are planning to send your child out of the country for education it is essential to invest in a basket of algorithmically selected Indian and US mutual funds. You can invest in the US mutual funds via an international fund of funds. This hedges against the appreciating US dollar.

If you have less than 5 years to fund the education expense, then opt for a 50-50 equity and debt allocation. At the same time begin by investing whatever lump sum you can in equity.

Remember, equity investments need time to mature. In the short term, daily market volatility can bear negatively on returns. Hence, the sooner you start, the higher the chances of achieving your expected return. An early start also means lower monthly investment.

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-Top News Asia News Education

Israel partially reopens schools

All students and staff will be obliged to always wear masks, except during sports activities and meals, which will take place outdoors…reports Asian Lite News

Israel’s special cabinet on the Covid-19 pandemic has decided to partially reopen elementary schools from Sunday onwards, as part of easing the full nationwide lockdown.

The Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Education announced in a joint statement on Thursday that schools in Israel will reopen for classes from the first to fourth grade, for at least four days a week in each grade, reports Xinhua news agency.

It was also decided that the number of students in each class should not exceed 20.

  • Washington, Sept. 3, 2020 (Xinhua) — Students study online at a recreation center in Los Angeles, the United States, on Sept. 3, 2020. (Xinhua/IANS)

All students and staff will be obliged to always wear masks, except during sports activities and meals, which will take place outdoors.

And on school buses, separation will be done by leaving an empty row of seats between the front and rear of the bus.

Israel has imposed a nationwide lockdown since September 18 to contain a rapid resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has so far infected more than 313,000 people in the country and claimed the lives of 2,508 others.

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