Posts filed under ‘Education’
Birla Global University Bill passed in Odisha Assembly
Following is a report from the IE:
Amidst a walk out and protest by Congress and BJP members, the Odisha Assembly today passed the Birla Global University, Odisha, Bill – 2015.
The Bill, which was introduced by state Higher Education Minister Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi, was passed in absence of opposition Congress members who protested rejection of some of their amendments.
“The objective of the bill is to impart quality education in the state through the Kolkata-based Birla Academy of Art
and Culture, a non-profit making trust registered under the Indian Trust Act, 1982,” Panigrahi said.
Stating that academic activities in the proposed university would start in two years, the Minister said the
institute would become a private self-financed unitary university in the state.
There would be seven schools like management, architecture and planning, social science and humanities, law,
natural science, marine science, and communication to function under the Birla Global University, Panigrahi said.
The state government has already provided 29.4 acres to Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) at
Gothapatna, Bhubaneswar and the promoters have created physical infrastructure to set up the institute, Panigrahi
said, adding the proposed university would be run by a board of governors, board of management, academic council and finance committee.
Odisha to set up open university at Sambalpur
Following is a report from the ET:
BHUBANESWAR: In an apparent bid to pacify the ongoing agitation demanding establishment of an IIM in western Odisha, the state government today announced setting up an open university at Sambalpur.
The announcement in this regard was made by Higher Education Minister Pradeep Panigrahi in the assembly today.
“The proposed open university at Sambalpur will be first of its kind in the state. Therefore, its impact and jurisdiction will be vast,” Panigrahi said.
Panigrahi said, “The state government has already made provision of Rs 35 crore for establishment and infrastructure of the proposed open university.”
Besides contributing to progress of higher education, the open university would facilitate distance education, continuous training and research for students and teachers.
The open university would also help a large number of students, drop-outs and provide need-based quality education in the backward and tribal-dominated districts of the state, Panigrahi said.
He said the varsity at Sambalpur also reflected the state government’s steps to eradicate regional imbalance in Odisha.
The people of western Odisha, particularly the residents of Sambalpur have been agitating since a long time demanding establishment of the proposed IIM for the state in their region. However, the state government decided to locate the proposed IIM in Bhubaneswar which led to intensification of agitation in Sambalpur.
Odia and English Language
Following article from the Samaja:
I guess Karabara babu has hit the right target. While I agree with some of the points raised by Dr. Patnaik; like his previous articles this article is also very emotional.
-It is worth noting that, now he is preaching about dialect and language. Now, Dr. Patnaik says, each language is a dialect and each dialect is a language. If this is the case, why there is a Kosli language phobia?
-He writes mother tongue should be the medium of instruction in the primary school level. In this context, will Kosli language be the medium of instruction in the western Odisha?
-First he says, he is not against English and then he says he is opposed to the learning of English language from the first standard. Here, Dr Patnaik is talking like oxymoron. He is self contradicting.
In my view, the kids should practice English, Hindi and mother tongue from the first standard itself. Some Shishu Mandir kids are doing that. So that, later they will not pronounce Kyat for Cat, Ryat for Rat, Fiyat for Fat etc etc. Learning a language is much easier in the childhood. Why should kids wait until 6th standard to learn Hindi and English? Just because Dr Patnaik learned English from 6th standard that does not mean all the kids will follow him. This is typical language fundamentalist thinking. In the past decades many things have changed. Therefore, it is not a good idea to impose the age-old thinking on Face book kids.
45,000 teacher posts vacant in Odisha: Sikhyak Mahasangh
Following is a report from express-buzz:
BHUBANESWAR: Even as the State Government has been able to arrest the high dropout rate of schoolchildren, it has failed to fill up the huge vacancy of teachers at primary level.
While the Government claimed that nearly 35,000 teacher posts are lying vacant at primary level, sources in Sikhyak Mahasangh said that the number would be more than 45,000. With many primary schools reeling under shortage of teachers, the existing teachers are shouldering the extra burden. Apart from trained teachers, there is shortage of headmasters and headmistresses too. Sources in the All Utkal Primary School Federation said more than 21,000 schools do not have headmaster/headmistress and there are many single teacher schools in many districts. A high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, decided in December last year to recruit 17,543 sikhya sahayaks. Necessary instruction was issued to the district collectors to go for recruitment in a transparent manner. Though advertisements were issued and applications received, recruitment of teachers was stalled without any reason.
Sarva Sikhya Abhijan (SSA), a flagship programme of the Centre for universalisation of elementary education, was launched in 2001 with an objective to provide education to children in the age group of 6-14 in a time-bound manner. The other aim of the programme was to retain all the school-going children by 2010. The State has no doubt made a significant achievement by reducing the dropout rate from a high of 52.41 per cent in 2002-03 to 3.1 per cent in 2011-12. The number of out- of-school children came down from 10 lakh to 0.31 lakh during the same period. Besides, gender gap in primary enrolment has narrowed down. Meanwhile, the State Government has decided to open more schools in tribal sub-plan area so as to provide schooling to children near their villages and hamlets. If necessary, norms regarding number of children, required for opening a school, will be relaxed for tribal areas having inadequate communication infrastructure, official sources said.
Under the annual action plan for 2012-13, a budgetary provision of ` 3,679 crore has been made in which SSA component is around ` 3,571 crore, National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) accounts for ` 18 crore and Kasturaba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) component is ` 89 crore. While the Centre is sharing the bulk of expenditure under SSA, the State Government should have no problem in filling up the vacant posts, said a functionary of the teachers’ federation.
Learning Hindi, English and state language should be given equal importance in schools
I am surprised by this writing (See the following report from the Sambad). Educated people are speaking and writing in Hindi and English because these are global languages. Learning Hindi and English will get them a job. Odia MPs can not debate in parliament because of their poor command in Hindi and English. There is no harm in learning Hindi and English. It seems Natabara babu is worried because of globalization. May I ask, is Natabara babu teaching his children only in Odia? It may hurt people like Natabara babu; but in my opinion inIndiaevery state should make Hindi and English compulsory along with their state language.
Without adequate infrastructure Odisha government plans to increase 300 MBBS seats
There are no adequate infrastructures to sustain the present MBBS students and faculty. In this circumstances such statement is like day-dreaming or the govt. is fooling the people.
BHUBANESWAR: The state government is planning to increase the number of undergraduate seats in all three government medical colleges to 250 each, the highest possible intake for any college under the Medical Council of India (MCI) norms. However, the government has been struggling hard to meet the standard set for the existing capacity of 150 students in these colleges.
Working on the principle that raising the capacity in the colleges instead of establishing new ones will save costs, the government has been pushing for the maximum seat possibiity. There are just 10 medical colleges across India with such peak ability.
“The government will approach MCI to consider 100 more seats for Cuttack in 2013. A year later in 2014, it will plead for similar hike in VSS Medical College and Hospital Burla and MKCG Medical College and Hospital Berhampur,” said Dr P K Das, director medical education and training (DMET).
Dr Das said the Cuttack hospital is almost ready for the increase in seats, while efforts are on to match the requirement in the two other colleges. The government will create additional lecture theatres, increase hostel capacity, create one auditorium of 650-capacity each and upgrade laboratories and libraries in these colleges. The state has to increase the bed strength in Burla and Berhampur hospitals to at least 1,190 as per MCI norms for 250 MBBS seats from the current 800 and 1,081 beds respectively. The Cuttack hospital has a bed strength of 1,600, which exceeds the minimum bed requirement criteria for 250 seats.
Dr Das said after infrastructure upgradation, there should not be any big huddles in increasing the number of seats. “We don’t have to worry much about faculties, except for filling up existing vacancies as the sanctioned strength is not far short of meeting the criteria for the proposed expansion. The government is taking steps to fill up the vacancies on a priority basis,” the DMET said.
If new medical colleges are established for 300 seats, the government will incur a cost of Rs 1,100 crore. But by spending Rs 450 crore on upgradation of infrastructure in existing colleges, the government can produce 300 more doctors every year at a 40% cost, said a senior officer of the DMET.
Notably, the government increased MBBS seats in SCB Medical College from 107 to 150 in 2006 and made similar increase in VSS and MKCG after a year in 2007. The MCI last year gave its final recognition for the increased capacity in SCB Medical College. However, it is yet to give its permanent recognition to the two other colleges. Though MCI inspection for permanent recognition in these two colleges is due in February-March, the government is still struggling to fill up largescale vacancies in the two institutions.
In Burla, around 60 of the sanctioned 163 posts in clinical disciplines are lying unoccupied, while over 20 of the 79 non-clinical posts are vacant. “We have written to the government to fill up these vacancies before the MCI inspection,” said Dr Santosh K Behera, principal of VSS Medical College. Similar largescale vacancies mar the MKCG Medical College and Hospital as well, sources said.
“We have around 50 vacancies of faculty members because base level posts of assistant professors could not be filled up for long. Now, the process has started again. We will shortly fill these vacancies,” said Dr Sunamali Bag, principal of MKCG Medical College. Hopefully by another year, the infrastructure for the proposed expansion too will be ready, he added.
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 