MISSION ADMISSION

Hat-trick of delays: Most FYJC colleges to start only by mid-Aug

Shreya Bhandary & Yogita Rao | TNN

It’s the second week of August, but first-year junior college (FYJC) lectures across almost all city colleges have yet to begin, with more than 5,000 students still waiting to be assigned a seat. Principals are worried that with another list scheduled to be announced on August 12, before offline admissions begin on August 16, lectures will be delayed even further. The fact that professors have to cover a revised syllabus means that pressure on students and faculty members will intensify.
A few colleges such as St Xavier’s and HR Colleges in south Mumbai have already started lectures, but they are the exceptions. In fact, most principals say that with the delays in the online admission process, they don’t even know how many seats are vacant or the total number of students who have secured their seats.

M B Kekare, principal of Patkar Varde College in Goregaon (W) said that lectures will begin only by mid August. “We don’t believe in starting lectures before students have been allotted seats. Once the online admission process is over, our vacant seats will be put up for offline admissions. Our classes won’t begin until all students secure a seat,” said Kekare.

Many colleges are now waiting for a circular from the office of the deputy director of education (school) before they announce the induction programs for their students.

Apart from the delay in the admission process, the coming long weekend from August 13 to 15 has many colleges wondering how they will complete the admission process in time.

A handful of colleges, however, have already started classes with whatever strength that has been allotted to their respective streams. “We arranged the induction session for the new batch last weekend itself and started classes on Monday. We will conduct remedial classes for those students whose names appear in the fifth list,” said Fr Frazer Mascarenhas, principal of St Xavier’s College. H R College at Churchgate, also started their first day of lectures on Monday. “We had very few seats left for the last list and were surprised and happy to see our classes full on the first day itself,” said Deepika Bhatia, vice-principal of H R College.

Over 5K students left out in ‘last’ list

For The First Time Since Admissions Went Online 3 Yrs Ago, Edu Dept To Issue Special Merit List For Those Without Colleges

Cut-Offs For Science & Arts Fall Drastically, But Only A Marginal Dip In Commerce

Yogita Rao and Shreya Bhandary | TNN

Mumbai: More than 5,000 students have still not been allotted seats in junior colleges even after the third and final general merit list was announced on Monday. For the first time since the online admission system was introduced three years ago, the school education department will put up a ‘special’ merit list on August 12 for these students. Last year, despite technical glitches and confusion over the Best-5 policy, a relatively fewer number of students—around 4,400—were not allotted seats online. Parents and students are not amused and said that this time round, there was no excuse for the education department to not account for all the students.

“Every year, the education department says there’s no reason to worry as there are more seats than students. Yet every year, thousands of students are left out of the online system. Why is that?” asked one angry parent.

A total of 48,944 students were allotted seats in the third general list; of these 28,524 students were assigned colleges for the first time while the rest were those who were eligible for the betterment option. It’s worth noting that while cutoffs in the science and arts streams have dropped noticeably in the third list, cut-offs among commerce colleges are still on the higher side—reflecting the popularity of the course.

The third merit list left many students—especially those who had chosen commerce—disappointed as they were unable to get a seat in a top-rung college. The admissions at NM College, for instance, closed at a high 92.50%. At HR College, the cut-off was 90%.

Kirti Narain, principal of Jai Hind College, Churchgate, said: “We have 60-70 seats still vacant in the commerce stream. The cut-off for commerce has gone down by just over one percent, but the science list has dropped from 91.86% to 86.54%.” The college has more than 200 vacant seats in all the streams.

Cut-offs for science at K J Somaiya College in Vidyavihar dropped by 4%. Principal Vijay Joshi said, “There are too many cancellations happening because of the betterment option. Students who have already sought admissions in bifocals are getting repeated allotments in the general list as well, which is why the cut-offs were high in the previous lists. But many students finally secured their seats, the cut-offs dropped drastically.” “The merit list was the last chance for students to exercise the betterment option. Once they secure their seat, we will know exactly how many seats are vacant. We can then accommodate the remaining 5,191 students,” said an official from the office of the deputy director of school education. “We will come out with the special list at 10am on August 12. Students will have to secure their seats by August 13.”

Admission In Numbers

Students who were allotted seats for the first time in the third list: 23,333 n Students with betterment options: 25,611

Students who have not been assigned any seat: 5,191

What next?
A special list will be announced on August 12 at 10am for students who have not been assigned a college. There is no betterment option for this list n Students who have been allotted seats in the special list will have to finalize admissions on August 12 and 13 Offline admissions | Will start on August 16 Students eligible for offline admissions

More than 22,000 students who have failed in either one or two subjects can avail the keep term (ATKT) scheme n Students from international schools affiliated with the Cambridge International Examination (CIE) boardn Students who have not managed to secure their seat in the online process even after the August 12 list Times View

For students, the path to junior college should herald a stimulating and exciting experience. Instead, it has become a harrowing experience for families, as students—after the stress of sitting for a board exam—are made to jump through hoops to secure a seat. Despite no last-minute government policies and no technical glitches, the online admission process was delayed for the third consecutive year. What’s worse is that thousands of students have been left out yet again. Instead of enjoying their first few months of college and participating in campus festivals, they will now have to make up for lost time to cover the upgraded syllabus. In other states, the authorities are looking at ways to ensure that teenagers are not put through unnecessary angst. In Mumbai, though, the education department has yet to get its act together.

‘Why HSC if you sat for CBSE school exam?’

Shibu Thomas TNN
Mumbai: “You have exercised your option (for school exams) with open eyes,” the Bombay High Court on Monday reminded a CBSE student who had sought orders that would allow her to apply for the online admissions to first year junior college.

“If you wanted to take admission in a good college, why did you take the option of school exams?” asked a division bench of Justice D K Deshmukh and Justice Rajesh Ketkar.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Shruti Mathuria, a student of Rajhans Vidyalay, who scored 93% in her Standard X exams in CBSE. She had approached the court saying her chances of admission to top colleges in Mumbai had been affected due to the controversy over board exams versus school exams. Mathuria’s lawyer Aniket Nikam said the school had issued a letter to students saying both board exams and school exams would be treated on par. He sought time to furnish the document.

But the judges said that if they wanted an adjournment, the girl’s parents would have to pay a Rs 10,000 fine for wasting the time of the court. Arguing his case before the bench, Nikam said: “This is a question of the careers of thousands of CBSE students.” The judges replied: “Don’t think you are a leader for the students,” said the HC.

The state’s advocate said this year that around 1.24 lakh students had applied for admissions online. “Already, 50% of the admissions are finalized, and the first list will be out on Tuesday,” the advocate said. In fact, in August 2010 a circular had been issued laying down the difference between school-based and board exams. Nikam had argued that students were given to understand that both exams would be treated at par: “The papers for the school exams are set by the board, vetted by the board and even the mark-sheet is issued by the board.”

To which, the judges asked: “If you have appeared for CBSE exams, why do you now want to go for the state board?” The next hearing is scheduled on July 13.

School Versus Board Exam T he CBSE had introduced a new system of examination called comprehensive and continuous education (CCE) where 60% of the marks would be awarded by the school and the remaining 40% would be based on internal school exams or board exams depending upon what the student opted for. Students who appeared for school exams instead of the boards cannot participate in the online admission s to state-run colleges. They will get the chance to apply to junior colleges only once the online process is completed.

Life of pi over?

‘Tau’ may set calculations aright

London: The humble “pi” may have had its day. Mathematicians are campaigning for the most important number in the world to be replaced with alternate value “tau”. They are claiming that the number — the constant which references the circumference of a circle to its diameter — is wrong and it should be replaced with tau, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
The mathematicians have said that while 3.14159265, the number’s value, is not incorrect, it is the wrong figure to be associated with the properties of a circle as a matter of course. Tau has a value twice that of pi of 6.28.
“For all these years, we have been looking at the wrong number when we have been looking at pi. Pi simply isn’t the most natural number that we should associate with a circle. The proper number is 2pi, or tau,” Kevin Houston at the University of Leeds told ‘TheTimes’ newspaper. The number has long been seen as being essential to many mathematical formulae as well as being vital to equations in science and engineering.
It is used when calculating the circumference of a circle by multiplying the diameter by the value of pi, while its area can be deduced by multiplying pi by the square of its radius. However, mathematicians campaigning for its replacement argue that since so many formulae require the use of tau that may be used as the main circle constant instead.
“Mathematicians don’t measure angles in degrees, we measure them in radians, and there are 2pi radians in a circle. That leads to all sorts of unnecessary confusion. If you take a quarter of a circle, it has a quarter of 2pi radians, or half pi. “For the number of radians in three quarters of a circle, you have to think about it. It doesn’t come naturally. How much simpler it’d be if we just used tau instead of pi. The circle would have tau radians, a semicircle would have half tau, a quarter of a circle a quarter tau, and so on. You don’t have to think,” Dr Houston said.
Pi was first given its name in 1706 by mathematician William Jones. Ancient Egyptians and Babylonians are believed to have known approximate value of pi. PTI

VALUE JUDGMENT?

PRIVATE EDU

Govt plans law for self-financed schools in state

Yogita Rao TNN

Mumbai: The government is in the process of formulating a Self-Financed Schools Bill, opening a window for organizations to set up private schools in the state.

The bill aims to give private organizations permission tostartschoolson a self-financed basis. The bill, which may be tabled during the monsoon session, will lay down norms that such schools will have to follow. These institutions will never get any grants from the government.

The need to formulate such an actstemmedfrom the fact that private organizations seek permission from the state to set up new schools. Though they agree on the criteria of not getting grants from the government, they later apply for the same. The state had been, in the past, dragged to court for denying grants to such schools. As a result, the school education department wants an act to be formulated, which will ensure that such cases do not come up every year.

If the private organizations agreetothe norms,then the state will help provide them recognition and affiliation. School education minister Rajendra Darda said, “The government has done a mapping of the state to find out the areas where there are no schools. We will ensure that every area in the state has at least one school. After the condition is fulfilled, if there are any parties interested in setting up schools in addition to the existing ones, they will have complete access. The actwilllaydown the norms to run such schools.”

Darda said: “The private unaided schools at some point or the other come to the state seeking grants. Last year, one of the associations dragged the department to court for using the word ‘permanent’ unaided for them. We are hoping the new bill will ensure that such schoolsdo notseek grants at a later stage.”

New species

STUNNING DISCOVERIES: More than 1,000 new species have recently been found on the Melanesian island of New Guinea. Among these are (clockwise from top) a large green tree-dwelling frog, a monitor lizard, a rainbowfish and a blue-eyed spotted Cuscus

Primary school to be extended up to Std V

Hemali Chhapia TNN

Mumbai: For a long time, schools stuffed our children with more than they could digest. Suddenly, there is a feeling that chapters from history and maps of the world were introduced a year too early for generations of kids.

The Union human resources development ministry has now decided to take a massive correctional step. Indian schools will extend the primary class to include standard V. And elementary schooling will stretch for an additional year, instead of closing at class VII. This translates to more than just an internal rejig within the two school units—primary and secondary. For one, social studies will now be introduced in class VI. Ditto with science and environmental sciences.

“School subjects have evolved through their own complicated histories. However,educationists the world over believe that learning in the first five years of schooling should be integrated without subject-specific compartmentalization, and teaching children to study concepts at earlier ages in an attempt to prepare them to ‘compete’ in the world is counterproductive,” said a note from the HRD ministry.

Education ministers have been asked to shift from a seven (4+3) to an eight year (5+3) elementary education cycle by the next academic year. “It is important to provide agerelevant curricula and learning systems to our children,” said ministry officials.

LEARNING THEIR LESSONS

• Elementary education cycle will shift from 4+3 to 5+3 from next year

• Social studies will now be introduced at standard VI, as also the subjects of science and environmental sciences

• State governments will add class VIII to their elementary schools, allowing students to avail of free education for one more year

‘Govt is dumbing down edu’
Mumbai:Several states have entry-age school admissions in class I at age 5, rather than age 6. “Children in these states thus face the double burden of ‘heavy’ curriculum on account of early entry into the schooling system, as well as introduction of upper primary subjects at class V itself,” said a note from the Union HRD ministry.

The ministry feels it has an implication on the learning quality; and the faulty architecture often sees a high failure rate, adding to the pile of students who drop out.

Most teachers felt that the government was dumbing down education in the guise of easing pressure. “We introduce social studies at the third standard. And in the current method, the system is running smoothly. Children need to have their bearings in place—they need to know the north from the south and the local history,” said a principal of a private Mumbai school.

For a lot of state government schools, an additional class in the elementary cycle will mean expanding their overall infrastructure. Just as in Maharashtra, state governments have invested heavily on elementary schools (currently till class VII); there are not as many public schools at the secondary level, forcing many children to join private institutes.

“Close to 90% of the madhyamik schools are in the private sector. Bringing class VIII to the elementary system will mean not just adding classrooms, but recruiting teachers and providing mid-day meals,” said V Radha, state acting school education secretary.