An important person joins parent-teacher talk: The child

Karen Ann Cullotta

Streamwood (Illinois): For years attendance was minimal at Tefft Middle School’s annual parent-teacher conferences, but the principal did not chalk up the poor response to apathetic or dysfunctional families.Instead,she blamed what she saw as the outmoded, irrelevant way the conferences were conducted.

Roughly 60% of the 850 students at Tefft, in this working-class suburb some 30 miles northwest of Chicago, are from low-income families. Many are immigrants, unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the tradition of parents perched in pint-size chairs, listening intently as a teacher delivers a 15-minute soliloquy on their child’s academic progress, or lack thereof. “Five years ago, the most important person—the student—was left out of the parent-teacher conference,” Tefft’s principal, Lavonne Smiley, said. “The old conferences were such a negative thing, so we turned it around by removing all the barriers and obstacles,” including allowing students not only to attend but also to lead the gatherings instead of anxiously awaiting their parents’ return home with the teacher’s verdict on their classroom performance.

Recently, 525 parents attended parent-teacher-student conferences, Smiley said, compared with 75 parents in 2003. No appointments were needed, and everyone was welcome at this year’s conferences, spread over two days that school officials called a Celebration of Learning.

Student-led conferences are gaining ground at elementary and middle schools nationwide, said Patti Kinney, an associate director for middle-level services at the National Association of Secondary School Principals in Virginia.

Although researchers have long hailed the benefits of such conferences—anointing students as the main stakeholders in their education, accountable for their performance during the school day and responsible for their academic future—their popularity appears to be increasing in part because of the rapidly shifting demographics at public schools nationwide. The classrooms, after all, are where a community’s changing cultural identity is often first glimpsed.

“I think we’re learning that every school has its own DNA, and there is not a prescription for conferences that works for every school,” Kinney said. “There is such an increasingly diverse population at our nation’s schools, the one-sizefits-all model conference just doesn’t work anymore.” NYT NEWS SERVICE

Student-led conferences are gaining ground at elementary and middle schools around the United State.

IIT-B alumni woo faculty with Rs. 1 crore

Mumbai: On Sunday, the class of 1983 joined its seniors in supporting the IIT-Bombay’s efforts in attracting faculty members. The 1983 raised more than Rs 1.1 crore that will allow the institute to attract talent by paying a premium.

The initiative, Gurudakshina, builds upon the ‘Legacy Project’ launched by the 1982 batch and extends it to a broader activity focused on faculty recruitment and retention.

Already, the class of ’82 has pledged Rs 6 crore to address faculty compensation. Under the ‘Legacy Project’, the institute will be able to offer an annual amount of Rs 1 lakh for three years to every associate professor joining IIT-B.

Girish Gaitonde from the 1983 batch said, “Gurudakshina will also fund a reward and recognition programme for faculty members achieving significant education milestones.’’ TNN

Students can now get scores questionwise

Hemali Chhapia | TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: For millions of students, the battle to know details of their performance in board exams or competitive entrance tests has ended. In a landmark judgement that will change how examinations are conducted in the country, the Central Information Commission has ruled that exam-conducting authorities must usher in transparency and provide questionwise marks awarded to candidates under the Right To Information Act.

The ruling will bring cheer to India’s large student population, which has been fighting for access to copies of answer sheets ever since the Right To Information (RTI) Act was passed.

Students score with CIC ruling
Mumbai: The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that exam-conducting authorites provide questionwise marks awarded to candidates under the Right To Information Act.

In March 2006, Treesa Irish of Kerala was the first student to fight tooth and nail to get a peek into her exam answer scripts. She lost the battle when a full bench of the CIC ruled that the data she had requested was of a personal nature, and that its disclosure had no relation to any public interest and would therefore be prohibited under section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.

The CIC also held that the relationship between the exam-conducting authority and the examiner was fiduciary in nature, and therefore information must be kept confidential under section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act.

Irish was hardly alone. Students of several education boards across the country wanted copies of their answer booklets under the RTI Act. All failed in their quest, with Public Information Officers conveniently referring to Irish’s case as the precedent. That is, until Ajeet Kumar Pathak, a class XII student from Bihar, demanded that the CBSE board provide him details of questionwise marks awarded to him in the chemistry paper.

Here too, the CBSE board stated, “The larger public interest does not warrant disclosure of such information.’’ Pathak then filed his first appeal, which was again defeated, with the authority ruling that “no candidates shall have the right to obtain questionwise marks.’’

But in a dramatic twist, the CIC overturned those rulings. Information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, who ruled on December 22 that questionwise marks awarded must be shared with the candidate, said, “None of the exemption clauses in the RTI Act were applicable in this case.’’ Gandhi said that this ruling was now “in principle’’ applicable to all authorities conducting examinations across the country.

In Maharashtra too, several students have taken the RTI route to get their hands on copies of their answer sheets. Basanti Roy, divisional secretary of SSC board, said that to date there has been no provision in the law to part with answer sheets, and that several students had to be turned down. “But we will wait for orders to flow in from the state government on providing questionwise marks,’’ Roy added.

Currently, the Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Examination lets students demand verification, which allows for marks to be re-calculated by opening the answer booklets. Verification also helps ensure that all answers have been marked. However, there is no provision for reassessment, which requires the moderator to read through and reassess the content of the paper.

NCERT joint director G Ravindra said that this ruling was in line with the National Curriculum Framework of 2005, which emphasised transparency in conducting examinations. “NCF 2005 had suggested several exam reforms, including transparency and stress-free exams. However, NCERT is an advisory body, and it was upto boards to implement NCERT recommendations,’’ added Ravindra. Karnataka was the only state in the country that decided to go ahead and hand over answer sheets to students. But the latest CIC ruling will ensure that no state can stonewall students’ requests for information about their performance in an examination.

Educationist and former chairman of the Mumbai board J M Abhayankar said that while the CIC ruling is something to cheer about, boards must be proactive and provide copies of answer booklets. Abhyankar himself had presented a report to the state government on exam reforms in 2002, but it remains on paper. “I had recommended that the Maharashtra board also give copies of answer booklets to students. But the state did not accept the recommendations under some pressures,’’ he said. He added that providing copies of the answer scripts will ensure better evaluation. hemali.chhapia@timesgroup.com

JOURNEY OF A DIFFERENT KIND

This train will teach them basics of business

Madhavi Rajadhyaksha I TNN

Mumbai: Passengers: 18 to 25-year-olds
Route: Delhi to Kanyakumari
Duration: 18 days
Destination: Entrepreneurship and leadership
Unlike most train journeys, passengers hopping onto a 16-bogey train at Mumbai Central on Wednesday aren’t waiting to reach any destination. For the youngsters on board, the journey itself is their destination. The excursion organised under the aegis of the Tata Jagriti Yatra aims to inculcate entrepreneurial skills among the 350 youths on board.

From the dabbawalas of Mumbai to the barefoot college in Tilonia, Rajasthan, to Anand in Gujarat, the group will explore innovative ventures, interact with role models and get a dekko into social entrepreneurship.

“The aim is to get the youth to connect with the genius of India and the focus is on enterprise-led development. Today, enterpreneurship and enterprise are no longer a luxury, but a necessity and we hope to spark interest in the youth,’’ said Shashank Mani, an ex-IITian and one of the founders of the concept, adding that they hope to make this an annual feature. The group had organised a similar trip called Azad Bharat Rail Yatra in 1997 and many of them felt their experience deserved to be shared with others. That’s how the seeds for this journey were sown.

Explaining that the format wasn’t a classroom session but a see-and-learn experience, another organiser Raj Krishnamurthy offered an insight into their itinerary. “There will be conferences inside the train and stopovers to meet role models such as scientist R A Mashelkar (who formerly headed the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Dr M S Swaminathan who is known as the ‘father of the green revolution in India’ and Ela Bhatt who founded SEWA,’’ he said.

The youths would get a peek into successful enterprises, be it the Kuthambakkam village in Chennai which is acclaimed as a ‘model village’ or the sprawling Technopark in Thiruvananthpuram which is a hub of IT offices. The eclectic bunch will also participate in six televised panel discussions which will dwell on topics such as ‘poverty to self-help’ and the ‘power of one’.

They received applications from 10,000 youngsters and finally selected 350, including 25 foreigners. The youngsters who are waiting to hop on are predictably high on adrenaline. Suman Chennamaneni (24) from Hyderabad couldn’t have hoped for a better platform. An arts and law graduate who has dabbled in social ventures since he was 21, he said, “I recently interned with an NGO which promoted small entrepreneurs such as plumbers and electricians through the internet. I am keen to learn how social models are scaled up and made sustainable.’’

Breach Candy resident and dentist Neha Parekh is excited about interacting with likeminded youngsters. Summing up the excitement is a blog post by a youngster from Chennai, Abhishek Seth, who says he expects the trip to be “a turning point in his life’’. They may just throw up many success stories in the making.

City youth can now get voter I-cards from colleges

Anahita Mukherji | TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: Enthusiastic collegians keen on exercising their franchise but put off by the daunting task of getting themselves registered as voters will now have absolutely no excuse for not voting. In what’s probably the first-ever exercise of its kind in the country, the state election commission has brought the registration process right to the college campus.

Maharashtra’s chief election officer Debashish Chakrabarty has launched a campaign for ‘voter awareness and registration’ among college students. He was recently approached by the NGO AGNI (Action for Good Governance in India) and iVote-Wear the Mark, a student organisation, asking him to “catch ‘em young’’.

“Data during the Lok Sabha elections shows that only around 10% of Mumbai’s youth between 18 and 25 are voters,’’ says Chakrabarty, who responded to the appeal with alacrity. He has already sent out letters to about 50 colleges in Mumbai asking for their cooperation and is in the midst of communicating with the remaining colleges in the city.

The letter has asked colleges to allow AGNI and iVote volunteers to help with the campaign on campus. If the campaign works in Mumbai, Chakrabarty will consider starting it in other cities in Maharashtra. Colleges now have the power to certify a student’s date of birth and address for the election commission. Chakrabarty has enclosed a simple format of the certificate in his letter to principals.

Principals who are keen on participating in the campaign can invite AGNI and iVote volunteers to the college. “We will then put up posters across the college, address students on the need to vote and distribute voter registration forms to them. Students will then fill in these forms on campus in the presence of AGNI and iVote volunteers, who will address any queries that students may have while filling out their details. We will ensure that there are no mistakes on any of the forms,’’ said Gerson da Cunha, convenor, AGNI.

The completed registration forms, along with the certificates from colleges, will be collected either by AGNI and iVote volunteers or by officials from the Election Registration Office who will then route the forms to the election registration officers in charge of the areas where the students live. The processed voter ID cards will be sent to the colleges which can then pass them on to the students.

Principals thrilled with voter drive

Mumbai: Chief election officer of the state Debashish Chakrabarty has some dedicated college students participating in his voter awareness campaign. Natasha Kewalramani, a 20-year-old St Xavier’s College student, began iVote last year when she was faced with the task of getting herself registered as a voter. She wanted to simplify the process for other students.

Kewalramani compiled a great deal of matter on the topic and has actively canvassed for the need for citizens to vote at several city colleges. A large number of collegians joined hands with her. It’s while she was looking up information on how to vote that she came across the AGNI website and subsequently got in touch with da Cunha.

Several principals are thrilled with the latest initiative. K C College principal Manju Nichani says she’s excited about the project and wants to ensure that all her students understand the importance of voting.

St Xavier’s College has also held talks for students on the need to vote. “I think there’s been a great mobilisation of young people in the city even before the recent terror attacks. The youth are eager to do something for the country,’’ says Xavier’s principal Fr Frazer Mascarenhas. anahita.mukherji@timesgroup.com

WHIZZKIDS AT WORK

Thane kids make it to science event

Anahita Mukherji I TNN

Thane: A team of five children from Sonale, a sleepy village in Thane, studied the weather in their village during the monsoon this year for a science project that made it to the National Children’s Science Congress (NCSC), much to their surprise.

The event will be held in Nagaland this month. The children were guided by an NGO, Quality Education Support Trust (QUEST). The kids—Tejal Raut, Nirgun and Niranjan Tikhande, Shailesh Vishe and Sopan Mhaskar—come from families of farmers or masons.

The kids worked with rudimentary instruments, like a raingauge made out of a water bottle cut at the top, with the upper half inverted inward like a funnel. Often, cattlegrazers would knock down the bottle raingauges, mistaking them for trash. “We lost 20 bottles this way,’’ said Shailesh. Sometimes, villagers would mistake them for birdfeeders and fill them with water.

The children also made their own weather gauges and used glass tumblers filled with water to measure evaporation.

Initially, their parents weren’t too keen on them wandering about the village, collecting data instead of studying. “The parents didn’t feel that the project was an essential part of their learning,’’ said Nilesh Nimkar, a founder of QUEST. It’s only after the kids began winning the district, zonal and state level contests that their parents sat up and took notice. Now, even the sarpanch has put up a hoarding outside the village, congratulating the children.

The only girl from the group, Tejal, will represent the team in Nagaland. Her parents want her to go to Nagaland as they feel “the exposure will benefit her”.
anahita.mukherji@timesgroup.com

WHIZZKIDS AT WORK

Thane kids make it to science event

Anahita Mukherji I TNN

Thane: A team of five children from Sonale, a sleepy village in Thane, studied the weather in their village during the monsoon this year for a science project that made it to the National Children’s Science Congress (NCSC), much to their surprise.

The event will be held in Nagaland this month. The children were guided by an NGO, Quality Education Support Trust (QUEST). The kids—Tejal Raut, Nirgun and Niranjan Tikhande, Shailesh Vishe and Sopan Mhaskar—come from families of farmers or masons.

The kids worked with rudimentary instruments, like a raingauge made out of a water bottle cut at the top, with the upper half inverted inward like a funnel. Often, cattlegrazers would knock down the bottle raingauges, mistaking them for trash. “We lost 20 bottles this way,’’ said Shailesh. Sometimes, villagers would mistake them for birdfeeders and fill them with water.

The children also made their own weather gauges and used glass tumblers filled with water to measure evaporation.

Initially, their parents weren’t too keen on them wandering about the village, collecting data instead of studying. “The parents didn’t feel that the project was an essential part of their learning,’’ said Nilesh Nimkar, a founder of QUEST. It’s only after the kids began winning the district, zonal and state level contests that their parents sat up and took notice. Now, even the sarpanch has put up a hoarding outside the village, congratulating the children.

The only girl from the group, Tejal, will represent the team in Nagaland. Her parents want her to go to Nagaland as they feel “the exposure will benefit her”.
anahita.mukherji@timesgroup.com

He puts his heart and soul to model a picture perfect train

Roana Maria Costa | TNN

Mumbai: He takes a photograph and converts it into a blueprint. Raw material is painstakingly moulded into miniature parts. For hours on end, he crouches over a cluttered work table to build perfect little models of train engines, keeping alive a passion that revved to life nearly 20 years ago.

C L Singh, a section engineer at the tool room at the Parel workshop of the Central Railways, is the proud creator of 38 miniature train engines, including a 1928 rock engine used in steam trains. For Singh, everything starts with a picture.

Perched on a high stool in his home at the Trombay Railway Quarters in Chembur, Singh, who looks relaxed in army pants and a light brown tee, says his workshop is where he finds nirvana. “I was always artistically inclined, and never dreamt of joining the Railways. But my parents passed away when I was six, and I moved from Jhansi to Mumbai to stay with my sister. Her husband worked in the Parel workshop and after I finished my SSC, I joined as an apprentice,’’ says 56-year-old Singh, as he cuts white sheets of tough plastic which will be shaped into windows grills of an electric train engine.

Singh’s workshop—one of the two bedrooms of his flat—is lined with ceiling-high shelves stocked with prototypes in glass boxes bearing the names of the train engine models. “The family accommodates itself in the other room, besides there is always space in the hall,’’ he says. “I have all the tools I require. Some of the materials I use are very fine. I get them from old umbrellas, cycle spares and used fireworks.’’ In the room are a plastic cutting machine used to cut synthetic sheets, bench vices, a hacksaw, a grinding machine, a buffing machines and air compressors used for spray painting. Somewhere in the corner is a black bicycle. “Work ends at 3:45 pm. After that it’s a train from Parel to Kurla, from where I pick up my cycle parked near platform number 9 and peddle home,’’ he says. This practice helps him keep fit, save time and a few rupees.

Friends and colleagues, intrigued by his hobby, are always ready to help with pictures of rare train engines and raw material. A model takes at least a month to finish with a minimum of four hours of work every evening. His wife Usha is a great cook, he says, but when he’s midmodel, not even her food can entice him.

Singh, whose largest replica is a 140-tonne crane that weighs over 10 kg and is six-and-a-half-feet long, has exhibited his work at various railway exhibitions at CST, the Thane Railway Institute and the Lokmanya Tilak Engineering College. He is grateful for the support he has received from his employer. “I started making train engine replicas twenty years ago, after I married Usha and we moved into the Railway quarters. My daughter Deepti and my son Devendra help me out but are not hands on,’’ he says.

Usha enters the room at this point. “I never clean his desk. I sweep the room but never touch the desk since I don’t understand the importance of the small parts lying around,’’ she says. Singh enjoys listening to old Hindi film songs, but when he starts working, the music, like everything else, fades into the background. “I am not a person who enjoys going out. At the end of tiring day, this is where I find solace.’’

All his work is self-funded—as much as 30% of his salary goes into indulging this hobby. He is undeterred by this and the increasing strain on his eyes ever since he had a cataract operation in 1997. He refuses to sell his work. “People approach me but I can never think of selling my work,’’ he says. “Each creation is added to the collection. I never make the same piece twice. Usha never complains, who will she complain too? My family is very supportive.’’

TRAINED HANDS: C L Singh, a section engineer with the Central Railways, works on protoypes of train engines as a hobby.

Workers digging earth find gold coins in Pune

Pune: They literally struck gold but the discovery put them behind bars. While digging the earth for construction of a swimming tank being built by the Pune civic body in the city, three workers halted work as their instrument hit a metal vessel , deputy commissioner of police Anil Kumbhare told reporters on Saturday.

T h e y took it aside and found the jar full of gold coins. According to the police, the site from where the gold was spotted was in the vicinity of the relics of the historical Shanwarwada, the palace of Peshwa rulers of the 18th century.

The workers who tried to sell the historic coins to a goldsmith in Khadki area were arrested along with the shop owner on Friday evening, Kumbhare said. The gold coins numbering 847 and weighing over 3 kg are embossed with words in Persian dating back to 1551-1592, police said. AGENCIES

‘I am addicted to my passion for teaching’

60-Year-Old Lily Sawant Gives Lessons in Maths, English And Moral Science As A Volunteer

Ketan Tanna I TNN

The best way to describe 60-year-old Lily Sawant is that she is a serial volunteer. For the last 38 years, Sawant has been teaching students in Delhi, Aurangabad and Mumbai. When asked why she didn’t opt for teaching as a profession, she giggles. “I am addicted to teaching and not to money.

Mana lagli chand, Govind Govind,” she says, quoting a Tukaram abhang, which translates as, “I got addicted to my passion for teaching.” It all began in 1972, when she joined her research scholar husband at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. “During the holidays, especially in the afternoons, many teachers would take a nap and their children would play in the hot sun. One day, I decided that I should make them utilise their time constructively. I had graduated in chemistry and was very fond of maths. So, I devised puzzles and stories to teach them maths and even English,” she says.

When her husband got a job in Aurangabad University, she continued to teach in that town. In 1984, there was a drought in Aurangabad and other parts of Marathwada. The armed forces had advertised for entry-level posts and hundreds of youngsters from peasant families wanted to get in. To do so, they needed to pass an entrance exam and English was compulsory. Sawant was contacted by a colonel who asked if she could help. “All my boys passed. It was a cent per cent result,” she says proudly. “They came to me with a box of pedas and told me that whichever part of the world they ended up in, they would never forget me.”

Sawant moved to Mumbai with her husband in 1988. For the last 10 years, she has been teaching her favourite subjects—mathematics, English and moral science—as a volunteer in different schools. In 1995, when she was teaching science to students at a municipal school, she had to use a projector for a slide display. Her mind started ticking and she wondered how the visually impaired learned their lessons. Curiosity took her to Vikas Shorewalla, a visually challenged person from Charni Road, who taught her the basics of Braille.

A few months later, someone told her that children from a home for the blind were looking for a maths teacher for their board exam. The hitch was that though Sawant had learnt basic Braille, she didn’t know maths Braille, which had its own rules. But she started learning it and taught not only the students of that batch but four other batches as well. “My entire batch passed with good marks. When some of them got jobs, they came to me with gifts. That’s my reward. I don’t need money or a proper job to get satisfaction. Helping people grow and do well in life has its own joy,” she says.

For four years, Sawant has been teaching underprivileged children at the Baljivan Trust in Santa Cruz. She teaches them maths and science in Marathi, English and Hindi. She also trains students in disaster management.

Now that she is 60 and getting on, does she plan to take a break? “Not at all,”she retorts, aghast at the very thought. “I like to teach and I like to talk. If I don’t do both, I will go mad.”
(Lily Sawant can be contacted on 022-26670213)

ON A MISSION: For four years, Sawant has been teaching deprived children at Baljivan Trust in Santa Cruz

‘It changes your perspective’

At 22, when most are raring for a corporate career, Amit Mistry joined the Teach for America initiative. “I wanted to do something service-oriented before starting my career.” His choice was made easier by his stint as a teaching assistant during his undergraduate chemical engineering studies. “And I also enjoyed volunteering with kids,” says Amit, now 30, and working with a Democrat Congressman on various health and education issues.

The BS in chemical engineering from Rice University taught high school chemistry, physical science and algebra for two years in New Orleans. An experience that was not without its initial hiccups, challenges and as it is with any clear-minded and noble endeavour—the inevitable rewards. “It was extremely difficult to go from being a student at my university to being in charge of my own classroom.”

But Amit managed well enough. In the two years, he realised that to make science appealing to kids, designing lessons and assignments and, all the while, maintaining discipline were anything but child’s play. Once he got into the groove, though, Amit found himself enjoying the time. “I felt especially rewarded after a good lesson, when I felt students left my classroom learning something new or being able to do something they couldn't do before.”

But education is also about shared memories and character building. Amit recalls organising a Saturday cleanup, where many of his students helped clean the campus and repaint the gazebo. “I also remember sharing quite a few laughs with students. One of my chemistry students proclaimed during a lecture, ‘May the phosphorus be with you, Mr Mistry’. And I remember a student interrupting an exam when he noticed my name was in the word ‘chemistry’.”

Clearly, says Amit, he is a better communicator today because of the experience. “I also have a better perspective on many problems affecting under-served communities in the US.”

The young teacher moved on to do a PhD in bioengineering from Rice University and also obtained a teaching certificate from the State of Louisiana. He then worked at Research!America on various science policy and advocacy issues. Recently, in September, Amit began a Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship sponsored by the Materials Research Society and the Optical Society of America. For the fellowship, Amit works for Congressman Edward J Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, on various health and education issues.

Helping them take the walk of life

Kumar Sambhav I TNN

Mumbai: Meera Devi is patiently sitting with her 12-yearold son on her lap in a corner of a hall, overflowing with more than 400 children and their parents, at Bandra’s Lilavati Hospital. With every bite of lunch she feeds him with her hands, the Worli resident nurtures a dream to see his son break into a walk.

In the same hall, Kalyan resident Anand Kadam is pushing a wheelchair with his twin daughters sitting on it. Besides the timing of their birth, nine-year-olds Komal and Kajal have another thing in common: they cannot walk due to a knee disorder.

Like Mukesh, Komal and Kajal, more than 500 children with varying degrees of disability thronged the free children’s orthopaedic corrective surgery camp organised at Lilavati Hospital on Saturday.

Meera believes the camp will help his son, who suffers from cerebral palsy and has not been able to walk since his birth, lead a pain-free life. “We want to send him to school. Right now, he can’t even stand on his own. We hope this camp helps him,’’ said Mukesh’s father Mohan Lal.

Kadam said it was an opportunity for him to give his daughter “expert treatment’’ that was affordable. “This camp is for a noble cause. I really believe it will change the lives of many children,’’ he added.

The camp was organised and funded by Child Foundation, an NGO set up by paediatric orthopaedic surgeon Ashok Johari. It promises to not only take care of the immediate operation, plasters or botulumin (botox) shots, but also of follow-up visits for up to a year, that too, free of cost.

At least 50 doctors from all over India were deployed for check-ups and surgeries at the camp. “The surgeries will start from Saturday night and continue till Sunday. The operations will also be conducted on the 15th and 16th of this month,’’ said Dr Johari.

It is estimated that 5% of children in India suffer from some physical handicap, their numbers adding up to almost 20 million. Dr Johari said with his small efforts, he wants to bring a change in the lives of such children.

“Our main objective is to spread awareness about orthopaedic diseases. There are many deformities that can be fully cured if they are treated at the right time. But in many cases, even doctors are not aware and deny the treatment. Those deformities take severe shape with time,’’ he added.

“Child Foundation aims to raise awareness on how to help such children . We want to offer a platform for various philanthropic organisations,’’ says Ashiana Dhillon, a trustee of the foundation.

GOOD DEED: A free children’s orthopaedic corrective surgery camp was held at Bandra’s Lilavati Hospital on Saturday.

Becoming a leader IN THE CLASSROOM OF LIFE

Akanksha founder Shaheen Mistri describes her 20-year-long journey from teaching a group of kids in a small shanty in Mumbai to the Teach For India movement

When I was 18, I walked into a slum and started teaching. I had spent my life outside of India, graduating from a small, elite girl's private school in upmarket Greenwich, Connecticut, in the US. Back in India, curious, I walked into a Mumbai slum and was confronted by the deep inequity of a world where some kids attended top-notch academies while others just didn’t go to school at all.

Entering the slum on that first day, I was prepared to feel disturbed, sad, and angry. I wasn’t prepared for the bright eyes filled with untapped potential. Within a few days, without language, coming from a very different world, I found a base in a little home and started teaching.

Those days stay vivid in my mind; sitting on the floor of a 10 foot loft in Shakeel’s shanty with a growing group of kids of all ages around me. So many memories—cutting out alphabet ladders to teach three year-old Sameena, who is now in Sophia College; seeing a young girl on fire and rushing her to the hospital; looking for space to teach in a school and getting turned away by a nun who felt that her students would get diseases from our children—the idea is good, she said, but “revolutionary”.

And then, after 20 schools said no, finding our first classrooms in the Holy Name School. My days were immersed in thinking about children—trying to understand who they were, making sense of the communities that they lived in, discovering the deep prejudices that exist in society against them, trying to learn ways to make them engage in learning.

For the next 18 years, we built an organization, Akanksha, “aspiration”, that grew out of those days of teaching. Akanksha’s deep belief that every child has immense potential has created opportunities for thousands of less privileged children. And from our teachers, and from our children, I have learned my most significant life lessons. Take Rajshree, whose unshakeable belief in Sumeet through a decade of work where he tried to commit suicide several times, juggling huge home problems with repeated attempts to pass the SSC who today embarks on a journey to run his own NGO and has been nominated as MTV’s youth icon. Or Niki, who has rented a tiny home in the slum which is an after-school center for extra help. Or Nahida, one of our Akanksha alumni, who today teaches three year olds through song and dance. Or Anjali, whose kids after being relocated two hours away still commute to come to her class.

Often when I have thought I understood something, the Akanksha children have taught me that I really hadn’t. I don’t think I understood what it means to persevere until I saw a 17 year old Akanksha child get sexually abused in her home, have a baby, give it up for adoption, and come back to school. I don’t think I understood courage until I saw an Akanksha teenage boy stand up in a group of kids and parents and break down saying to his mother how much he loved her and had never told her that. I don’t think I understood what it meant to give until our student Latif passed away a few months ago; his grandfather told me that he had given him Rs 14,000—all his savings—to go to a private hospital. Latif quietly put it back, going instead to a government hospital.

From countless teachers and children I have seen how what matters the most is connecting, caring, believing in another person.

And then, a couple of years ago, I began to feel increasingly overwhelmed. As the stories of success with children increased, so did the realization that real change needs to be systemic; that quality needs to be scaled to reach every child. On one hand was this grave, overwhelming inequity and on the other was a huge dearth of talented minds addressing the issue.

The idea of Teach For India began through a conversation with Anand Shah, a friend and thought partner, who spoke about his vision for a domestic service program in India that got young Indians engaged in changing the country. A small group of us from Indicorps, The Piramal Foundation and Akanksha started talking about what a “Teach For India” would be.

Through that time, four Teach For America alumni came through Akanksha. I was struck by their mission, by their deep commitment to end inequity. These young people—some of the brightest—had chosen to spend two years in incredibly challenging classrooms.

A few months later, I met Wendy Kopp at the Teach For America office in New York. We talked about children and India and inequity and I left asking her to come to India. Intrigued by the possibility of some form of Teach For America’s idea working elsewhere, Wendy spent a few days in India-in schools, on campuses, with business and education leaders.

Wendy left and our discussions intensified. We worked closely with McKinsey and Co to e x a m i n e the feasibility of Teach For India in a context so vastly different from the U.S. At the end of the three month long study, we were convinced that Teach For India was not only possible, but critical.

The challenges of building the Teach For India movement are immense. The idea seems preposterous to many. Why would the best minds in the country teach? How can a force of a few thousand idealist, untrained young people bridge the stark achievement gap in our struggling schools? Why would corporate India (especially in the current financial crisis) encourage their best talent to go for two years? Teach For India will answer these questions with action. Already, applications are pouring in. Already, the most visionary companies are signing up. And we know that our first hundred Fellows, trained and supported, will define a new way of teaching, a new way of learning, a new way of being.

So, Teach For India now seems the right thing to do. For TFI’s fellows, this is a chance to study leadership in a classroom of life. For TFI’s students, this is a chance for them to bridge their staggering achievement gap, feel cared and valued and experience meaningful learning. And as the movement gains momentum and grows across the country, we will move closer to our vision that one day, every child across India will attain an excellent education.

Chandrayaan in lunar orbit, mission a success

Srinivas Laxman | TNN

Mumbai: It was a champagne moment. At exactly 5.04 pm (IST), Chandrayaan-I was inserted into the lunar orbit, a heart-stopping manoeuvre that marks the success of India’s first moon mission.

Toasting the event, K Kasturirangan, who had kicked off the mission, said, “This is undoubtedly a great moment for India because nearly 50% of the moon missions of other countries have not been successful.’’ India has now entered the exclusive moon club that has as its members only the US, the former Soviet Union, Japan, China and the European Space Agency.

Cock-a-hoop scientists said that after the successful Pokhran nuclear tests of May 1998, Saturday’s achievement marked another great Indian scientific accomplishment. This is the first time that an Indian satellite has left the grip of the Earth’s gravitional force.

“We have done it. We have done it for the country. All the systems are working well. During the last 20 minutes, everyone’s hearts had stood still. Our boys have done it very well,’’ Isro chief Madhavan Nair said on Saturday evening.

Kasturirangan explained that the LOI was a nail-biting moment because two moving objects—the moon and Chandrayaan—had to rendezvous successfully. The insertion had to be done at a precise point when the gravity of the moon and that of the earth cancelled each other.

Moon impact probe to detach on Nov 15

According to Isro officials, Chandrayaan’s liquid engine was fired for 817 seconds when the spacecraft passed at a distance of about 500 km from the moon to reduce its velocity and enable the lunar gravity to capture it and take it around the moon. Chandrayaan’s speed was reduced 366 metres per second when it flew into the moon’s orbit.

The spacecraft is now orbiting the moon in a elliptical orbit that passes over the polar region of the moon. The nearest point of this orbit (periselene) lies at a distance of about 504 km from the moon’s surface while the farthest point (aposelene) is 7,502 km. Chandrayaan would take about 11 hours to go around the moon in this orbit. M Annadurai, project director, said during the next few days, the altitude of the spacecraft will be gradually reduced and brought to a circular orbit only 100 km from the moon.

Isro officials said nearly 150 scientists and engineers had gathered in the mission control room right from the afternoon. “They were nervous. A second after 5.04 pm, when Chandrayaan signalled that it had entered the moon orbit, the team broke into applause, hugging and embracing each other and exchanging congratulatory handshakes,’’ an official said. The next exciting prospect is the launch of the 29-kg Moon Impact Probe which will crashland on the lunar polar region with the Tricolour on November 15. TNN

A speed record to show power of hydrogen

The Racing Car Is Expected To Touch 170Kmph In Its Bid To Become The Fastest In Its Category

Sydney: Researchers have unveiled the first hydrogen-powered racing car that demonstrates the incredible possibilities of hydrogen as the clean, renewable fuel of the future.

The car will be bidding for the title of world’s fastest hydrogen-powered racer when it attempts in early 2009 in Germany to break the Guinness World Records’ mark for speed by a vehicle of its class.

Powered by an internal combustion motorcycle engine that has been modified to run on hydrogen, the racing car is expected to reach speeds of up to 170kmph in its world record bid, according to a statement of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).

Aleksandar Subic, who heads the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, said the RMIT collaboration with Germany’s Fachhochschule Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences on the hydrogen car project could radically change the world’s approach to automotive technologies.

“This is a demonstration vehicle for the future — a car that is powerful, fast and runs on clean, sustainable fuel,” Subic said. “By aiming to set a new speed record for one-seater, hydrogen-powered racing cars, we want to show the world the possibilities of this alternative clean technology, both for ordinary vehicles and in racing.

“Our work will have benefits for all cars but we also hope it could lead one day to a first in racing — a clean and green Formula 1 competition.”

Texas-based Ronn Motor Company also rolled out its hydrogen hybrid supercar at the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association Show (SEMA) in Las Vegas. The Scorpion is a wildly sculpted exotic vehicle that promises 40 miles per gallon on the highway. Hydrogen is being seen as a realistic option to one day replace petrol, diesel and natural gas as vehicle fuel. AGENCIES

QUICK & CLEAN: The hydrogen car, built by Royal Melbourne Institute Of Technology, can radically change the world’s approach to automobiles of the future.

Maha tops in fake colleges

No Of Institutes Without AICTE Approval Has Gone Up To 203 In Country

D Suresh Kumar | TNN

Chennai: In a major concern for the regulators of higher education, the number of fake technical institutions is growing in India. While last year, there were 169 fake technical institutions, which offered engineering and management courses that were not approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), currently the number of such dubious institutions has grown to 203.

In Tamil Nadu, at least 15 institutions offer engineering and management courses for varying durations, all of which are not recognised by the AICTE.

“The AICTE has during the last three years identified 203 fake technical education institutions in the country. Maharashtra, with 74 institutions, has the highest number of such colleges and institutes which are functioning without approval or recognition. Delhi has 25 fake technical institutions, Karnataka 22, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal 15 each and Uttar Pradesh has 14,” statistics compiled by the HRD ministry revealed.

Union minister of state for human resources development D Purandeswari had recently informed the Lok Sabha that students and parents were being cautioned not to join in these institutions. While some of these institutions offered engineering degrees, some others offered MBA or post-graduate/diploma courses in management. Interestingly, quite a few of them also have tie-ups with foreign institutions, which again is not approved by the HRD ministry. Some of them even declare the fact, although not prominently, that the course offered in their institutions are not approved by the regulatory bodies in India.

The ministry has requested Chief Ministers of all States to issue instructions to the law enforcing authorities “to take punitive action under the Indian Penal Code against fake universities and educational institutions.”

It has also issued show cause notices to the fake unapproved institutions asking them to either seek approval from the competent regulatory body or discontinue offering the courses. “Students can contact the regional AICTE offices before enrolling for technical or management courses,” a ministry official said.

“We will contact our headquarters and obtain a list of such unapproved institutions. In consultation with the headquarters we will host the list of these institutes on our official website and also give it publicity in the media to ensure that students were not mislead,” M S Palanichamy, chairman, AICTE (Southern Region), told TOI.

Students turn up for exam, varsity hasn’t printed paper

Anahita Mukherji | TNN

Mumbai: Here’s a scene straight out of the theatre of the absurd. On Monday morning, hundreds of Mumbai University students arrived at examination venues across the city to take their MA Part I examinations in two subjects—History of China and History of South-East Asia. They settled in and waited endlessly for the exam to begin, but it didn’t—because the question papers had not been printed.

“I turned up at the exam centre on time for the paper which was to be held at 10.30 in the morning,’’ said a student, adding that she waited for half an hour as she did not know what was going on. “Even the supervisors at our centre had no clue as to why the papers had not arrived. They even handed out answer papers, on which we wrote our names and roll numbers,’’ said another student.

The supervisors eventually called up the university to find out what the problem was. The students left the exam hall when the peons told them that the papers had been postponed. “I was really tense as I had studied very hard for the paper. This was a most unsettling experience,’’ said a student appearing for the History of China paper. She added that this was to have been her last paper.

Mumbai University controller of examinations Vilas Shinde admitted that papers for the two subjects had not been printed.

Edu bill: A few more hurdles to overcome

Anahita Mukherji I TNN

Mumbai: After a three-year wait, the Union cabinet has finally cleared the Right to Education Bill, a revolutionary piece of legislation that aims to change the face of education in India. But whether the Bill will be passed in parliament before the elections is a million dollar question. If it is not passed, it will lapse and the next government will have to re-introduce the Bill from scratch.

While the next Lok Sabha session will be in December, it will probably be a very short session.“The government will have to be really pro-active if it wants to pass the Bill in the December session,’’ says Vinod Raina, one of the architects of the Bill.

If the Bill is not passed in the December session, and the
elections are held around May, the government will get another shot at passing the Bill if there’s another Lok Sabha session. But if elections are held earlier, the Bill will lapse. This will be the case even if the UPA government wins elections.

There is, however, an alternative. Though ‘Money Bills’ such as this one are normally introduced in the Lok Sabha, if a way was found to introduce this Bill in Rajya Sabha instead, it will not lapse and can be carried forward by the next government.

The Right to Education Bill is revolutionary in several respects. It aims to set minimum standards for both public and private schools so that the quality of education improves throughout the country and current inequities are levelled. The pupil-teacher ratio prescribed by the Bill is 40:1.

A controversial clause in the Bill makes it compulsory for all private schools to reserve 25% of their seats for poor children from the neighbourhood. This includes elite ICSE and IB schools.

In a bid to drastically improve the quality of education, the Bill has outlawed non-formal education. Non-formal schools across the country will have three years to upgrade themselves to formal schools, which provide the minimum standards prescribed by the Bill.

The Bill has also done away with the contract system of appointing teachers. Currently, schools can appoint teachers on a contract basis and pay them a paltry sum of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 a month. Often, they’re not qualified. According to the Bill, all teachers, both in private and government schools, will be appointed on a permanent basis and given full salary as long as they are qualified.

When the Bill was drafted in August 2005, the government canned it on the grounds that it was too expensive at Rs 3,21,000 crore. The Bill was virtually buried for two years. In between, a mid-census correction reduced the child population by six million, so budgets were halved from Rs 3,21,000 crore to Rs 1,51,000 crore. So a team of educationists, two of whom were involved in the drafting of the Bill, wrote a letter to the prime minister appraising him of the situation.

The PM met them in August 2007 and a new draft of the Bill was created in February 2008. The Bill was tossed between several ministries, including law and finance, before it finally reached the cabinet in August.

They help kids battle brain tumour

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: A happy family portrait that livened up the cover of the prestigious international medical journal Lancet Oncology in October was the artwork of a 12-yearold child Ajit Kholam from the city. Look beyond the colourful paintings and you will discover a silent force which has been helping kids like Ajit who are suffering from brain tumour in braving the odds.

The motivation comes from a support group that works under the aegis of the Brain Tumour Foundation (BTF) at Tata Memorial Hospital in Parel which has been bringing together hundreds of patients, drawing out their strengths and financing their treatment. The BTF had been propagating the message of optimism and positivism during the Brain Tumour Awareness Week that ended on Saturday.

On Sunday, the foundation members helped hundreds of children sketch their thoughts freely. The sketches will be printed on greeting cards to raise funds for patients. For some like Mumbra resident Irfan Khatri (22) who was diagnosed with brain tumour when he was in Std XI, the BTF has made survival possible. “The foundation has completely financed my radiation therapy which would have otherwise been difficult,’’ he says. The painting sessions take his mind of the illness and make it easier for him to cope.

Working behind the scenes is Dr Rakesh Jalali of Tata who says, “The purpose of BTF is to ensure that no patient who has brain tumour goes without treatment only because he can’t afford it.’’ According to him, the hospital receives nearly 700 new cases of brain tumour, every year. In India, the incidence of brain tumour is 3-4 per 100,000 persons every year.

Survivors like designer Diya Mohanty have been volunteering for the cause. “We are like a family of patients and I draw strength from the little children who soldier on,’’ she says.

Giovanni D’souza is optimistic as he shows off a scar on his head that he got from brain surgery. “If you had seen me two months ago, I wasn’t like this. I was devastated when doctors told me about my brain tumour and kept wondering why it had struck me,’’ says D’souza, a model by profession, who was diagnosed with brain tumour when he was in Milan. He had to be operated upon overnight and says the “sympathy’’ offered by visitors made him wallow in self-pity for days. However, he got a boost of positivism in Tata.

The BTF crossed another milestone recently, with preliminary findings of ongoing research by Dr Jalali, showing that surgery and radiation therapy used to treat breast cancer among patients did not affect their intellectual ability, an area that has been a major concern till now.

LETTING THEIR IMAGINATION RUN WILD: Brain Tumour Foundation members helped hundreds of children sketch their thoughts freely on Sunday. The sketches will be printed on greeting cards to raise funds for patients.

Street children line up to take the best course

Ranjani Rajendra I TNN

Mumbai: Long queues snaked through the Don Bosco School grounds at Matunga as hundreds of children, unmindful of the scorching heat, patiently waited their turn as the lines wound closer to the stalls. No, this was not a scene from a regular school fete. In progress was a career mela for street children and marginalised children, offering them a host of options to keep them off the street and help them build a stable future.

Pioneered by Don Bosco, the mela saw companies like Mahindra and Mahindra, Lamprell, Otis, Union Bank and Ahar (the restaurant association) step forward to offer career guidance and training courses to the children. As the children pored over forms, counsellors explained what each option entailed and the course of action to be taken. “Most of these children didn’t look beyond masonry, welding and carpentry.This capacity building exercise will offer an opportunity for children from this segment of society to explore diverse career options, foster independent decision-making with regard to career choices and enable them to become financially independent as they move to the world of work in future,” said Father Barnabe D’Souza, director, Don Bosco Shelter, Mumbai.

While some children had come merely to have fun at the mela that also had cultural programmes, most seemed serious about making use of the opportunity. “I want to become a cricketer or join a musical band. I never knew what would be the best way for me to realise my dreams. But the didi at the stall explained what I should do if I wanted to be successful,” said 14-year-old Rahul Shirkar, who plays the drums along with his father at weddings.

Similarly, 18-year-old Rupesh Londe who wants to get into hotel management was guided by Ahar. His father has a menial job with the BMC, and Rupesh is determined to do something different, like a computer course. Others like Mohammed Gouspeer and Bashir Hakim who are interested in the technical aspects of the industry have been recruited by Lamprell, an offshoring company, to be trained in welding and then be sent to Dubai as company employees.

In a new venture, Don Bosco in association with the Union Bank and FINO (Financial Information Network and Operations Limited) provided the children with a chip photo card. With this card they can deposit the savings from their daily wages in the bank. The card will also serve as an ID to get a driver’s license or a ration card.Said Sanjay Kuberkar,Chief Operating Officer, of FINO. “We expect through this scheme to work out a feasible solution that will empower street children by enabling them to open regular accounts with banks and save their earnings.”

“According to our research, we found that 90% of the children we had helped with jobs ended up back on the streets. The reason being they didn’t possess the necessary skills to retain the jobs. Hence we decided that we needed to attend to the root of the problem itself,” said Fr Barnabe.

FOR A BETTER FUTURE: Candidates apply for training courses and jobs at the street mela organised by Don Bosco School, Matunga on Friday.

They splash colours on bleak backgrounds

Sibi Arasu I TNN

They add a smidgen of colour to bleak cityscapes. For over seven years now, Himanshu S, an artist and teacher at the Rachna Sansad College Of Fine Art, and his friends have been going around Mumbai conducting art workshops and interactive sessions for those who don’t get a chance to express their opinions and can’t afford a fancy summer workshop to fine-tune their painting skills and art aesthetic. From a half-day painting session at a remand home in Matunga to a month-long workshop with the people of Koliwada in Dharavi, they’ve done, and continue to do, it all.

Himanshu, who is one of the core members of the group of avant-garde artists and painters who call themselves the Common Room Collective, says their art deals more with the people and less with art galleries. “For me, painting and ‘proper art’ are secondary; the work that I do with people has greater meaning and more priority in my life,’’ he says. “It’s more about the process of doing than the final product itself.’’

The workshops do not follow any set pattern and the collective tries to keep them as unstructured as possible. “When we go to a place, we don’t go with a pre-determined idea of all the things that we want to do; we do have a rough idea but we take it as it comes. I usually ask the kids to paint whatever they want to and then go on to do other things after that,’’ says Himanshu.

A few months ago, The Collective took part in the Urban Typhoon workshop in Koliwada, Dharavi, where they conducted a month-long workshop for the kids in the area. During the course of this, they painted on the roads, the walls, and any space that they could find in the slum. This was conducted simultaneously along with other ‘serious’ studies to figure out a wholly inclusive redevelopment plan for the area. One of the ideas that Himanshu proposed to the kids was to paint their dream home, and he says some of the ideas the kids came up with were mindblowing. “I know their sketches are not going to be taken into account in any slum redevelopment plan, but I really think authorities and city planners should just glance through them at least—after all, the houses are going to be built for them,’’ he says.

The children and even the adults who take part in the workshops conducted by Himanshu and the collective find it a unique experience. Little attention is paid to the final product; the process is what matters. As the workshops progress, the lines between those conducting the workshop and those attending get blurred, with everyone becoming an artist and painter and creator of masterpieces.

Himanshu reiterates his workshops will always be more about ‘how’ rather than ‘what’ art is produced. At the same time, he feels he cannot do with painting, as “the inherent honesty of the drawn line makes it the best vehicle for the voice of dissent’’.

With further events with people of different communities and groups across the city lined up, Himanshu is a quite busy for a self-styled “aimless wanderer’’. He is helping organise another month-long workshop at Koliwada where his group plans, along with the kids of course, to paint the walls of the houses in the area. A gallery exhibition of some of his earlier works is also on the menu. However, he doesn’t give this too much importance. “As long as I want to paint, I’d like to be doing the other things that I do,’’ he says.

sibi.arasu@timesgroup.com

LITTLE ARTIST: At the Dharavi workshop, children painted on the roads, walls and any space that they could fin.

This school uses the newspaper for a blackboard

Anahita Mukherji I TNN

Mumbai: Students at Vidya Niketan in Dombivli are turning the pages of newspapers to improve their scores.

When the authorities found that students had their noses buried so firmly in t h e i r b o o k s that they had little time to follow the news, the school introduced an examination paper called Common Knowledge for Stds V to VIII. Children are quizzed on current affairs, ranging from the Dalit killings in Khairlanji to the percentile fiasco that hit junior college admissions this year.

The first common knowledge exam was administered earlier this month, along with the other terminal exam papers. The results were more than a trifle amusing. While one student said that the Indo-US nuclear deal was inked so that India could protect America, another claimed that Chhagan Bhujbal belonged to the BJP, not the NCP. Many were not aware of Khairlanji to begin with, and others confused it with the Delhi Arushi Talwar murder case. Some found it hard to distinguish between the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Shiv Sena. And still others thought that the MNS was a national party.

“We don’t want children to treat textbooks like the Bhagvad Gita. We want them to look beyond their texts so that they’re aware of the world around them,’’ said Vivek Pandit, founder-president of the trust that runs Vidya Ram Niketan. Common Knowledge papers will be marked like any other subject and these marks will be counted in the student’s final tally. “That’s the only way they will take it seriously,’’ said Pandit, who is disturbed by the general lack of awareness in the classroom.

Although balancing the regular load with daily news updates on riots, floods and sports is proving rather tough for students, the new subject has been mostly wellreceived. “I’ve started reading the papers everyday. And I watch a lot of news channels too,’’ said Rahul Marathe, an enthusiastic 13-year-old who feels his general knowledge has benefited. “The questions are really different from the ones generally asked in examinations.’’

Uday Desai, the parent of a Std VIII student, says it is a good initiative on part of the school. “It will force students to keep abreast of current affairs,’’ he says. “This will certainly help them later on in life.’’

anahita.mukherji@timesgroup.com

Robotic suit can turn you into superman

Developed By Japanese Scientists, Exoskeleton Increases Body Strength Of Wearer Tenfold

London: Stopping a moving aircraft with one hand didn’t take much of an effort for Superman, and now, you too can possess such superhumanly strength, all thanks to a robotic suit that can multiply its wearer’s body strength tenfold.

Earlier this month, the world’s first fully functioning robotic exoskeleton was launched in Japan. Called the Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) system, the exoskeleton will provide the wearer with previously unthinkable abilities and strength. Developed by a Japanese company called Cyberdyne, HAL was moves only when you want it to move.

It makes use of sensors applied to the skin that detect the feeble electrical currents sent by the brain through the nervous system when it commands a particular activity. The sensors are connected to a computer that interprets the signal and then sends its own command to electric leg and arm braces. When detected, the appropriate electrical nerve signal, HAL moves a split-second before the leg muscle itself. The upper-body component of the exoskeleton improves the arm strength. The suit is calibrated to the user’s natural strength, so that weaker users can easily make use of the technology.

Teaming up with companies in Japan and Holland to lease the technology, Cyberdyne is planning to rent out up to 500 lower-body versions of HAL a year, at a cost of about £1,300 per month. Meant as a rehabilitation tool, HAL will bring mobility and strength to elderly and physically handicapped people. The technology could also have industrial and military applications. “Automobiles have been around for a century, but HAL is just beginning,” Times Online quoted Cyberdyne chief executive Yoshi-yuki Sankai, as saying. He added: “Unlike cars, HAL wasn’t developed in a one-sided fashion, but by incorporating the views of many people, including end-users.”

Cyberdyne isn’t the only company seduced by the idea of enhancing man’s physical capabilities. The US army is in the early stages of testing an aluminium exoskeleton made by a company called Sarcos, owned by Raytheon, a defence contractor. It aims to improve soldiers’ strength and a prototype was demonstrated earlier this year, although unlike the full HAL suit, which weighs 51lb, the military version is 150lb, limiting body movement and battery life. ANI

HERCULEAN STRENGTH: Meant as a rehabilitation tool, Hybrid Assistive Limb (left) will bring mobility and strength to elderly and physically handicapped

Tata’s $50m gift to Cornell to aid Indian admissions

New York: Industrialist Ratan Tata has gifted $50 million to his alma mater, Cornell University in New York, to help it admit brilliant Indian students and support joint research projects with Indian universities.

The gift from Tata Trusts, a group of philanthropic organizations run by Ratan Tata, will allow Cornell to establish and expand partnerships with Indian scientists that build on its strength in applied agriculture research. Tata had graduated from Cornell in 1959.

The endowment will also be used to set up a scholarship fund to bring more Indian students, who may be discouraged by Cornell’s price tag, to the university.

The endowment consists of $25 million to establish the Tata-Cornell initiative in agriculture and nutrition and $25 million for the Tata scholarship fund to help Cornell attract the best and brightest Indian talents. Cornell president David Skorton announced the gift during his state of the university address on Friday, calling it “one of the most generous endowments ever received from an international benefactor by an American university’’. AGENCIES

Scientists develop solar cells with a ‘twist’

Sliced Silicon Chips, 100 Times Thinner Than A Wafer, Can Be Used As Window Tints In Cars, Buildings

Chicago: US researchers have found a way to make efficient silicon-based solar cells that are flexible enough to be rolled around a pencil and transparent enough to be used to tint windows on buildings or cars.

The finding, reported on Sunday in the journal Nature Materials, offers a new way to process conventional silicon by slicing the brittle wafers into ultrathin bits and carefully transferring them onto a flexible surface.

“We can make it thin enough that we can put it on plastic to make a rollable system. You can make it gray in the form of a film that could be added to architectural glass,” said John Rogers of the University of Illinois.

“It opens up spaces on the fronts of buildings as opportunities for solar energy,” Rogers said. Solar cells, which convert solar energy into electricity, are in high demand because of higher oil prices and concerns over climate change.

The new technology could be used on car windows, generating enough electricity to power the GPS or air conditioning.

Many companies, including Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp and Germany’s Q-Cells are making thinfilm solar cells, but they typically are less efficient at converting solar energy into electricity than conventional cells.

Rogers said his technology uses conventional single crystal silicon. “It’s robust. It’s highly efficient. But in its current form, it’s rigid and fragile,” he said.

Rogers’ team uses a special etching method that slices chips off the surface of a bulk silicon wafer. The sliced chips are 10 to 100 times thinner than the wafer, and the size can be adapted to the application.

Once sliced, a device picks up the bits of silicon chips “like a rubber stamp” and transfers them to a new surface material, Rogers said. “These silicon solar cells become like a solid ink pad for that rubber stamp. The surface of the wafers after we’ve done this slicing become almost like an inking pad,” he said. “We just print them down onto a target surface.”

The final step is to electrically connect these cells to get power out of them, he said. Adding flexibility to the material would make the cells far easier to transport. Rogers envisions the material being “rolled up like a carpet and thrown on the truck.”

“The work could create new ways to use silicon in photovoltaics – as ‘tinting’ films in architectural or automotive glass (like sunroofs); as large area ‘rollable’ sheets; or as lightweight ‘solar skins’ for integration onto structural surfaces on buildings or even aircraft,” says Rogers. REUTERS

The new technology could be used on car windows, generating enough electricity to power the GPS or air conditioning

The material can be ‘rolled up like a carpet and thrown on the truck’

Spaces on the fronts of buildings can be used to power the buildings themselves

Lightweight ‘solar skins’ for integration onto structural surfaces on buildings or even aircraft