ATKT: Court raps state for late decision

Shibu Thomas I TNN

Mumbai: The beleaguered state education department came in for some more flak over the ATKT system from the Bombay high court on Monday.

A division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Ajay Khanwilkar, while hearing a case regarding the state education department’s Allowed To Keep Term (ATKT) policy, questioned the government for taking decisions concerning academics at the eleventh hour. “Why are such decisions taken in June and not earlier?’’ the judges asked. The court also asked the state if there was adequate infrastructure to accommodate the additional students who would be promoted because of ATKT.

The HC also asked the state government to furnish records in connection with its decision to allow SSC students, who failed this year, to take admissions to first-year junior college using the ATKT facility.

Advocate-general Ravi Kadam told the court that the state had decided to introduce the ATKT system as a social welfare measure after finding that students who failed in their SSC examinations suffered psychological trauma. “ATKT will ensure that such students remain in education,’’ Kadam said.

Kadam added that the ATKT system was a stop-gap arrangement for this year as the state proposed to roll out a new scheme, allowing for supplementary examinations for students who failed, from the 2010-11 academic year.

The state last month introduced the ATKT system which allowed SSC students, who had failed in a maximum of two subjects during the March 2009 exams, to get admitted to the next grade. The ATKT students were required to clear the exams by March 2010, failing which their admissions would be cancelled.

A similar proposal to allow the ATKT facility for HSC students is pending with the higher and technical education department.

A state affidavit said 1.47 lakh students were eligible to take admission to FYJC with the help of the ATKT. Kadam said there were enough seats available; 1.85 lakh of the 10.03 lakh FYJC seats were vacant after the regular admissions. The advocate-general also pointed out that over a lakh students usually dropped out after passing their SSC exams.

Lawyers Ram Apte and Anjali Helekar, representing petitioner ABVP, however, claimed that there were discrepancies in the numbers furnished by the state. ABVP said the government introduced the system in haste without ensuring that infrastructure was in place.

Daily wagers win reality show

Sandeep Mishra | TNN

Bhubaneswar: The all-conquering members of the Oriya dance troupe ‘Prince’ — comprising daily wage earners — may now justly expect a reception fit for kings. Since the moment Bollywood star Rani Mukherjee announced that the dancers from far-flung Ganjam district in Orissa were the winners of a TV talent hunt reality show, everybody and his brother in the state is doing a jig.

And with good reason. The dancers are not just starry-eyed participants in a hotly contested programme where the ultimate prize was Rs 50 lakh and a Maruti Ritz. Nearly every member of the group of 24 has surmounted individual odds — two of them have overcome polio — and shown their unbeatable spirit.

Coming from different parts of Ganjam, the dancers displayed perfect symmetry of determination and talent to outperform groups from across India — including an improbable 10 in the grand finale. Their winning submission was a performance based on ‘Dashavatar’ — the 10 avataras of Lord Vishnu.

‘‘We’d hoped to win. Now that we have achieved our mission, we’re thrilled!’’ exclaimed troupe leader Krishna Mohan Reddy (26) on phone from Mumbai. The self-taught dancer-choreographer said, ‘‘The prize money has come as a blessing as most of us were in dire need of it. Some needed to build houses, others have sisters to get married.’’

Show winners plan to set up a dance academy
Bhubaneswar: Krishna Mohan Reddy, leader of the Oriya dance troupe that won a reality show, is from a non-descript village Ambapua on the outskirts of Berhampur, Ganjam. He now plans to set up a dance academy. ‘‘We’ll all contribute part of our prize money for the institute,’’ he said.

The Berhampur-based troupe — their story sounds a bit like the rags-to-riches tale of Jamal Malik in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ — has become a statewide obsession ever since its members startled everybody with their fleet-footed show. Such was ‘‘Prince’s’’ impact that CM Naveen Patnaik declared his vote for the group.

‘‘Their performance has been magical and they have made Orissa proud,’’ he said after congratulating Krishna and his boys.

CINDERELLA MEN: Two of the ‘Prince’ troupe’s 24 members overcame polio; their leader is a self-taught choreographer

I am happy :)

It’s back to school in Pune even as swine flu toll rises

Toddler dies in Pune, two more deaths in Gujarat and Karnataka as country-wide toll climbs to 72; over 100 fresh cases also reported

PUNE/BANGALORE/RAJKOT:

A toddler and two middle-aged persons have succumbed to swine flu in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat, pushing the pandemic toll to 72 even as schools and colleges in Pune, shut due to the spurt in the infection, reopened on Monday after nearly two weeks.

Over 100 more fresh cases of flu infection were reported from various states on Sunday, Union Health Ministry officials said in Delhi.

Meanwhile, schools and colleges in Pune reopened on Monday after almost two weeks of closure effected by the authorities to prevent spread of the flu virus.

Seven Pune ICSE schools, however, announced they will continue the swine flu break for another week and will reopen this month-end. Among the seven schools are Bishops School, St Mary’s School, St Helena’s School.

The two-and-a-half year-old child, who was suffering from a liver disorder, was admitted to the Command Hospital in worst-hit Pune on August 21 after she tested positive for the virus, health officials said.

She passed away last night, they said. With the toddler’s death, the toll in Pune has risen to 23 and in Maharashtra to 39.

A 50-year-old woman, Sarojamma, was admitted to Thirumala Hospital in Bangalore on August 15 and given Tamiflu treatment but she died on Sunday night, hospital sources said.

52-year-old Rajesh Udhad, who was admitted to Wockhardt Hospital in Rajkot on August 20 after he showed flu symptoms like fever, breathlessness and vomiting, died on Monday morning, raising the virus toll in Gujarat to seven.

With the two deaths, fatalities due to the disease has climbed to 72. This includes Karnataka with 13, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh with three each, Delhi two and Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Haryana one each.

Students of Rosary High School in Pune Cantonment wear masks to school which reopened on Monday

MY THOUGHTS

We have been more and more prone to such epidemics in this decade compared to the last few. Schools should seriously consider developing a plan-B, on the line of home-schooling, which allows children to stay at home and continue learning during such events.

Schools are under tremendous pressure of completing the syllabus, but then is it wise to restart shcools and risk young lives for the sake of completing a few chapters on time!

IIT-B faculty protest new pay scales:

Go on mass casual leave, take out procession to demand better hikes, other IITs likely to join protest today

DIPTI SONAWALA

Upset over their new pay scales, hundreds of professors of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay went on mass casual leave and took out a silent procession from the IIT-Bombay campus to mark their protest on Monday.

The teachers were offered an interim lump sum payment of between Rs 75,000 and Rs 2 lakh depending on their post, till final settlement is made. Faculty members, however, say it is inadequate.

“The hike is less than what we demanded and also less than that recommended by the Govardhan Mehta Committee,” said Dr B Seth, president, IIT-B Faculty Forum.

They claim there is already a dearth of teachers. “If you want to attract good teachers, compensation should be reasonable,” said a member.

They said that to become an IIT professor, one has to study six more years which means a loss of income during that period. Had we taken up a government job, we would have earned more than Rs 20 lakh by now, the members claimed. “So far we thought of our students, but now we are running out of patience.”

IITs in other parts of the country are likely to join the protest by Tuesday.

MY THOUGHTS:

I thought the goverment had increased education budget. Wonder where all the money goes. A google on drop out rates in India suggests that the state of primary education is pathetic! This article clearly points to problems at higher levels too.

Every year lakhs of Indian students fight [intellectually] for a few thousand seats in IITs across India. Is it all worth it? Is brand IIT really what it should be?

IITs annd IITians claim to be the definition of Quality Indian education ... which I don't agree with! True that IITs have produced some of the most brilliant brains in the past, but so have other institutes!

How can one expect professors to be exceptionally brilliant at teaching when somewhere in their mind the issue of payscale constantly troubles them?

DISCIPLINE CODE - Teachers can’t scold kids now

Edu Bill Bans Mental Harassment Of Students

Shruthi Balakrishna and Darinia Khongwir | TNN

Bangalore: Slapping or caning a student is banned. Now, even scolding a child in school can attract action. The Right to Education Bill 2009, while laying down that no child will be subjected to physical harassment in schools, has banned mental harassment.

The Bill, available with TOI, states that whoever is found guilty would be liable to disciplinary action under the service rules applicable to that person.

Although most schools maintain that they have banned corporal punishment, they also say there was no clear definition of corporal punishment or mental harassment, and that each institution had devised its own ways to ‘discipline’ students. With the passage of the Bill in the Lok Sabha, the HRD ministry is expected to define mental harassment, too.

“Anything can be termed mental harassment. We need to bring children under some discipline as well. Teachers in our school first advise the students; a few times we warn them. In extreme cases, we inform the parents,’’ said Princess Franklyn, principal, Bishop Cotton Girls’ High School.With the inclusion of mental harassment in the law, schools hope that the HRD ministry will define it. Else, they fear it could be misused by parents or schools themselves.

Schools have come out with innovative methods like community service and mentoring to discipline the children without using cane or harsh words. At Indus International School, they follow a structured community programme where children are motivated to involve in such programmes. “They learn empathy and love through this programme besides learning other human values,” said school principal Sarojini Rao. She said that the mentoring programme was initiated where a team of seven students headed by a teacher counsel the child. “It need not have to be a subject teacher. They help children think about transforming one’s life,’’ she added.

The Delhi Public School (DPS) has a different way to handle the naughty ones. They allot an hour for children called “golden moments’’. “It can range from anything to games or a library period. When a student needs to be disciplined, he would be denied that golden period,’’ said Chitra Sharma, head mistress of the school.

One day, humans too can regrow severed limbs

Self-Healing Ability Of Salamanders Can Be Applied To Us

Mexican salamanders who can regrow amputated legs are not pulling off quite as big a trick as scientists had first thought, which may help doctors trying to regenerate human limbs.

Researchers looking into how salamanders are able to to regrow their damaged bodies have discovered that the “almost magical ability” is closer to human healing then earlier thought. They believe that one day they will be able to completely unlock the secret and apply it to humans, reprogramming the body so it can repair itself perfectly as if nothing had happened.

The amphibians are almost unique in that if they lose a limb, a small bump forms over the injury called a blastema. Within about three weeks this blastema transforms into a new, fully functioning replacement limb without any scarring.

At first it was thought that the ability was so alien to human healing that, outside of science fiction novels, it could never be transformed into a useful treatment for damaged human bodies.

But researchers at the University of Florida have found that it is not as remarkable as first thought and we could learn how to replicate it in people. “I think it’s more mammallike than was ever expected,” said Malcolm Maden, author of the paper. “It gives you more hope for being able to someday regenerate individual tissues in people.”

Scientists studying the Axolotl salamander of Mexico had long thought the amphibious creature’s capabilities were down to so-called “pluripotent” cells, which had the ability to morph into whatever appendage, organ or tissue happens to be needed or due for a replacement, the Daily Telegraph reported.

But a paper in the journal Nature debunks that notion, discovering that the regenerative process is like a much more sophisticated version of healing in humans and other mammals.

They found that repairs were down to much more standard stem cells — like those in mammals — but with the ability to reorganise themselves in the correct order to rebuild the body. Standard mammal stem cells operate in the same way, albeit with far less dramatic results — they can heal wounds or knit bone together, but not regenerate a limb or rebuild a spinal cord.

The salamanders heal perfectly, without any scars whatsoever, another ability people would like to learn how to mimic, Maden said.

He said the findings will help researchers “zero in” on why salamander cells are capable of such remarkable regeneration. AGENCIES

MAGIC DECODED? Salamanders possess the rare ability to regenerate limbs without any scarring

ECONOMIC SURVEY

Push for big reforms in edu Team TOI
Aparadigm shift in the education sector is in store if big-ticket reforms promised in the Economic Survey are implemented. For the first time, it says, “There is an urgent need for replacement of bureaucratic controls in education by professional regulators along with private-public partnership to ensure universal primary education. Competition in tertiary and secondary education is also equally essential.”

Instead of complete government control, the Economic Survey talks of rating the quality of educational institutions and education service providers, both private and public. The government’s higher education funds should be focused on promoting scientific and technical education and R&D. There is also a clear direction about the kind of players who can enter the education sector. They range from non-profit registered societies to publically listed education companies, subject to the regulatory framework. The survey also makes it clear that education societies acquiring land at concessional rates should pass on the benefits to students. The survey also talks of streamlining the admission procedure in IITs/IIMs without compromising the quality.

49% hike in defence FDI likely
The Economic Survey has proposed the FDI limit in defence industries be raised to 49% (from the existing 26%) and allow up to 100% FDI on a case-bycase basis, in high technology, strategic defence goods, services and systems. This fits in with the demand of several global armament giants, keen to establish joint ventures in the lucrative Indian market. TNN

Govt for unique IDs in 6 mnths
The Economic Survey has underlined the need for unique identity smart cards to plug leakages in subsidies—especially those aimed at the poor—and issuing the identities (UID) to all in six months. The Survey says: “These IDs will form the base of a multi-application smart cards system that can be used to empower the poor and ensure that they get the full benefits of all programmes such as the NREGA, PDS, public education, health services, social security and fertilizer subsidy.” While setting the target of operationalising the UID Authority in three months and creating an integrated database on beneficiaries of government programmes in one year, the Survey says: “A household ID could be created simultaneously or parallely by linking it to a set of UIDs of individuals constituting the household.” But officials find the target unrealistic, as the government has just appointed Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, to head the UID Authority. TNN

Doctor shortage dogs healthcare
An acute shortage of trained medical staff and health centres is hindering India’s health sector, the Economic Survey says. India is short of 28,000 health centres, including 20,855 sub-centres, 4,833 primary health centres and 2,525 community health centres. Almost 34% of the existing health infrastructure is in rented buildings. Poor upkeep and high absenteeism in rural areas are the main problems in the health delivery system in public sector, it said. While there are 1.5 million nurses in the country, doctors in the modern system of medicine number just 84,852. TNN

Over 60% Indians live on Rs 20 a day
The debate over poverty levels found resonance in the survey with the report stating that 60.5% of the population were capable of spending only Rs 20 a day as per the latest National Sample Survey. A wide range of poverty numbers have been floating around from different government agencies with the N C Saxena panel being the latest. The plan panel’s estimate has been the most conservative at 27.5% while the National Commission on Enterprises in the unorganised sector had suggested that 77% of the total population in 2004-05 could spend less than Rs 20 a day per person. TNN