Education

Education is one of the most important drivers of India’s social and economic development. Higher levels of literacy lead to greater economic output, higher employment levels, better health, better social structures, and higher marks along a number of other development indicators. More specifically, the impact of educating girls and women has been shown to result in rapid improvements in family planning, nutrition, health, and income and is seen as one of the best tools for promoting social and economic development.

The 1986 National Policy on Education (NPE) first emphasized universalization of elementary education (UEE) as a national priority. Yet, despite a huge expansion in India’s formal education system in the last few decades, there are still roughly 50-60 million children out of school in the age group 6-14 years, or nearly 25 percent of total child population in the elementary age group. The key challenges to achieving UEE are:

Access: The reasons for children being out-of-school are to do with lack of physical access as well as social access. In several parts of the country, especially in small, remote habitations, children still do not have access to schooling facilities and thus remain out of school. Seasonal migration of families in search of work for several months every year is another reason which deprives children the chance to go to school. In addition, a sizeable proportion of children live in villages and habitations where formal schools exist, but due to social reasons such as caste and gender they are either not allowed to go to school, or not given the proper treatment in school.

Retention: This is an issue of serious concern. According to statistics 53% of children drop out of school before completing the elementary level, or grade VIII. This high drop out is due to poor functioning of schools, for example, dilapidated school buildings, overcrowded classrooms, irregular attendance of teachers and children, lack of teaching learning materials, ineffective teaching, unintelligible language used by the teachers and the discriminatory attitude of teachers towards children of the marginalized sections of society.

Quality: Many studies have shown that children who do complete primary schooling attain abysmal learning levels. A majority of grade V children are estimated to be at a level no higher than grade II or III. The causes stem from the poorly functioning educational system which are transmitted down to the schools.

Hallo!

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If you hold high school diploma or equivalent degree and are interested in this unique opportunity, apply by sending your CV, including the latest university transcript and a statement of purpose (around two pages).  Applications should be sent to the IU Admissions Office by Aug 15 for the intake in September 2008; November 1, 2008 for the intake January 2009. Scholarships may be granted to exceptional students.

If you have any questions, please contact: admission2008@i-u.de or info@education-germany.de or visit www.i-u.de .

I am happy to answer any further questions.

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Admission Guidelines For Arts and science

The State government has revised the admission guidelines for arts and science colleges from this academic year (2008-09) in view of the introduction of Choice Based Credit System (CBCS).

A G.O., dated May 10, was issued citing the procedures for admission of students to undergraduate/postgraduate courses in Government, aided and unaided arts and science colleges, an official in the Department of Collegiate Education here told The Hindu on Tuesday. Under the new system, colleges will have to prepare a rank list for admission to undergraduate courses out of 800 marks in subject components in the Plus Two examination.

“Colleges have been told to follow the revised guidelines in letter and spirit, and the particulars of how admissions should be made for various courses like B.A., B.Sc. and B.Com. have been sent to them by the Directorate,” said V. Swaminathan, Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education.

Admission to Government colleges will be through counselling like last year. The general rule of calculating marks for the subject component for candidates who apply for undergraduate courses is mentioned in the latest guidelines.

The GO also cites the subjects that a student should have studied in Plus Two for becoming eligible for admission to a particular undergraduate course.

According to the GO, the last date for receipt of filled-in applications by colleges should be fixed as the 10th working day from the date of issue of Plus Two mark statement.

Fee For Government Quota Seats

An amicable settlement has been reached for the long pending issue of fee revision for unaided engineering colleges in the state. While the government stuck to its stand of not changing the tuition fee for government quota seats, the bureaucrats consented to allow an annual development fee of Rs 2,500 per student. This was based on the condition that the development fee should be used for strengthening, computing and teaching infrastructure.

Enquiries on both sides revealed that the government had given consent to the managements to collect Rs 65,000 as annual fees for their quota. The consensus basically means the government has met the college managements’ demands for differential fees structure. The government said it could consider the demand for another fee revision in case the sixth pay commission is implemented.

The government had five to six rounds of negotiations with the managements of unaided engineering colleges. All stakeholders in Tamil Nadu engineering scenario have been eagerly waiting for the announcement over the revision of fees chargeable by unaided colleges in the state. The delay has a lot of stress to parents and students, who say that they were left in the dark about the issue.

Private engineering college managements have been seeking a 100 to 150 percent increase from the present Rs 32,500 fixed by the government four years ago. The managements had contended that they need at least Rs 60,000 as fees considering that not only provide education, but also they complete training in soft skills, which makes give students employable.

A chairperson of a private engineering college said, “Industries recruit students with at least three types of skills (computing, soft skills and problem solving capability). Several managements spend at least Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per student the third and fourth year to provide these value adding skills. Other than this, the cost of software has phenomenally gone up, although hardware cost has come down significantly.

Approach The Success You’re Looking For

A wise saying that “Hard work is the key to success”, big achievement and success is only possible with hardwork, courage, boldness and long lasting patience then one can get its goal in life successfully. Behind every big success there are lots of sacrifices and hardships exist.

In other word success means different things to different people. For some it means making a lot of money. For others it means being famous or having a loving relationship at home. Or it may mean doing the work you love on a schedule that meets your own needs.

Most people wait for success, thinking it will find them. Usually it doesn’t. You have to make space for success to happen. Just as there are many kinds of success, there are many ways to achieve it.

So there are many keys by which we can get success. Here are the most important ones:

• Be clear about what success means to you. Is it getting high marks on your performance? Losing weight or running a marathon? Or perhaps you want to achieve financial independence. Whatever your definition of success, it must be clear to you.
• A plan of action is concrete and takes you a step closer to achieving success. Whatever your goal, you need a plan that includes focused activities, a schedule, and ongoing support from others. Having a plan helps you get organized. It also gives you a clear sense of purpose. You know exactly what you need to do.
• Once you’ve got a goal, or goals, it’s important to break them down into smaller, achievable targets so you don’t feel overwhelmed and can measure your progress along the way. Celebrating wins, no matter how small, will help you keep up momentum. Rewarding yourself gives you the motivation to continue.
• Setting a timeline for your accomplishments, you put yourself under pressure to perform. This increases the pace at which you approach the success you’re looking for.
• Always enjoy yourself it is the most crucial key to success. Often the journey is just as much fun or more so than where you finally end up. When you achieve success, you need to be able to look back and feel happy that you chose the path you did.