S. Vishnu Sharma
News in education is all about the developments that took place in the field of education in the recent times and are worth remembering.
The worthy News in education sector of our country are given below:
News in education
1. JEE Mains, NEET UG and JEE Advanced
One of the major news in education was successful conducting of JEE Mains, NEET UG and JEE Advanced exams for this year.
While these exam dates were declared more than five months ago, they could not be conducted on their actually decided schedule as corona virus outbreak left little room for conducting these exams.
After much deliberation, the dates were announced and exams saw attendance that was at commendable level.
Though not many attended these exams, the presence of candidates at exam centres was still worth mentioning.
Another major news in education was filing of cases in the nation’s top court demanding postponement of NEET UG and JEE Mains exam.
However, these petitions were cancelled and the decision to conduct these exams on their said dates was upheld by Supreme Court.
2. Arrest of topper from Assam
Another major News in education which did not go unnoticed was the arrest of JEE Main 2020 topper from Assam.
Assam Police took this youngster into custody as he did not go to write the exam and had sent someone else instead of him.
While the boy managed to get 99.8 percent marks in JEE Mains 2020, Police is in search of the person who had written the exam instead of the actual candidate.
The person who went as a proxy for the actual candidates is said to be an owner of a coaching institute and also an employee in an IT firm.
Also, Delhi Highcourt refused to interfere with the decision of authorities concerned to not conduct a re-exam of JEE Advanced for all those candidates who could not attend it due to COVID-19 positive status.
3. Tamil Nadu Governor gives his assent
Another News in education sector that stayed in everyone’s eyes is about Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit giving his assent to the bill passed in state assembly.
The bill seeks to provide 7.5 percent of medical seats to students from government schools in the state who pass the national level NEET.
Post approving the bill, Tamil Nadu Governor in a statement said the bill had got a favourable view from Solicitor General who said the bill was in consonance with constitution.
This move won praises from various sections in the state. This will give more scope for the students who come from government schools to reach greater heights in life.
4. DU Vice Chancellor removal
Delhi University which is considered to be one of the top most educational institutions in the country was in the news recently.
Sources following News in education sector said Vice Chancellor of Delhi University was removed from his post recently.
Department of Higher Education of Ministry of Education (Government of India) took this big step as the Vice Chancellor did not perform his duty promptly.
Yogesh Tyagi also did not appoint people on many important posts in the university.
Though the positions of Pro Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Controller of Exams and Libararian were said to be vacant for many year now, Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi did not take any measure.
5. Unlock and school reopening
Another major News in education field that made everyone ponder was school and college reopening.
Ministry of Home Affairs of Government of India extended Unlock 5 reopening guidelines also. As per these guidelines, Ministry of Home Affairs, left the job of deciding on school and college reopening to the concerned state governments.
Guidelines say schools and coaching centres can reopen after October 15 in a phased manner. It is now to be seen as to how things would unfold in this regard.
It is interesting to note that news about school reopening did rounds in the recent past when Central Government essayed the scope for reopening of schools.
However, many states did not show readiness to restart schools as the COVID-19 situation was yet to subside and the atmosphere was yet to turn safe.
Now it needs to be seen as to whether the schools would reopen now or not.
6. NEET Result does not go smooth
NEET exam was conducted this year after much deliberation and the result was declared 16 October. However, the happening post result declaration formed another big News in education.
Many who wrote the exam said there were lot of errors in the process of invigilation. A student who wrote NEET had to go for a rude shock when he saw the result only to know that his score was only 10 out of the total 720.
The student found that the codes on OMR sheet where candidates mark their answers did not match with those on the question paper.
Though the issue was taken to the notice of the invigilator, the faulty question paper was not changed and the candidate had to carryon with writing the exam.
The candidate was assured that his issue will taken to the notice of NTA. But when the candidate saw his result he went on for a shock.
There were many others who had to face similar situations. A student from Uttar Pradesh was in for no pleasant surprise when she saw the scan image of her OMR answer sheet.
While the candidate from Uttar Pradesh is said to have answered 177 questions, OMR answer sheet only showed that she answered three questions.
There is no dearth of candidates who have had such experiences and now it remains to be seen as to how these issues would be redressed.
7. The revised academic calendar 2020-21
One of the worth-noting News in education sector of this country is release of revised academic calendar.
All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) brought out the academic calendar for 2020-21 in connection with admission and commencement of engineering courses.
As per the revised calendar, last date for admission and starting of first year engineering classes have been extended by a month.
The technical education regulator of this country has permitted all technical education institutions to conduct admissions till November 30.
The revised calendar says the academic session will begin from December 1. The same was supposed to commence from November 1 as per the earlier decided schedule.
8. NCERT Signs Agreement
National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) entered into an agreement with Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center (ISLRTC) with an objective of coming up with resources to standardize the Indian Sign Language.
Even as this development formed a worth News in education sector, the agreement was a glorifying tribute to the 60th foundation day of NCERT.
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the newly formed agreement will prove beneficial for specially abled children.
Sources say, the top focus will be on converting the text books into Indian sign language.
The text books for classes 1 to 5 will be converted initially, and lateron, focus is to convert text books of classes 6 to 12.
9. IIT Madras conducts first ever mixed reality convocation
IIT Madras became the subject of News in education when it conducted its 57th convocation day for the first time in ‘mixed reality’ mode.
The event was held completely online combining the real and virtual world and showcasing how they can interact.
A total of 2,346 degrees were awarded during the 57th Convocation held today (25th October 2020).
Nobel Laureate and Chancellor’s Chair of Theoretical Physics, University of California Professor David J. Gross was the chief guest.
The chief guest addressing the graduands said they must be focused on their goals.
They are a privileged to have studied in a prestigious institution and now the time has come to move ahead in life and also focus in giving back to the society.
A total of 2,346 degrees were awarded this year. This includes highest number of PhDs awarded in an academic year, 353 (which includes PhDs, Joint Degree Ph.Ds, and Dual Degree Ph.Ds), M.S – 103, M.Tech. – 431, Web-based M.Tech – 14, PGDMRTM – 19, M.Sc – 122, Joint Degree MBA – 3, MBA – 48, EMBA – 37, MA – 33, Dual Degree – 680, B.Tech – 406.
Convocation 2020 also included, for the first time, 59 Inter-disciplinary Dual-Degree students who upgraded from the UG programme to obtain Masters’ degrees in Data Science, Computational Engineering, Robotics, Nanotechnology and Energy Systems, and 51 from industry who have earned their Masters’ degrees through our web-enabled executive programmes in Engineering specialisations and Business Administration.
10. IISC gets a top rank
Indian Institute of Science (IISC) in Bengaluru in Karnataka got 96th rank in Time Higher Education (THE) rating which was released recently.
This was a most celebrating moment for the whole country and also worth News in education sector of our nation.
While a total of 1,512 universities were ranked across 11 subjects, IISC won 96th rank in the Computer Science Stream and 94th in engineering and technology.
While the moment is so special on one hand for India, on the other hand it is also a bit of concern that no other university from India could get a top rank in any one of the subject.
IISc is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management.
The institute was established in 1909 with active support from Jamsetji Tata and thus is also locally known as the ‘Tata Institute.’
It was granted the deemed to be university status in 1958 and the Institute of Eminence status in 2018.
These are the News in education sector of this country which are worth noting as they are considered to be of importance.
11. NEET UG 2020 toppers
Declaration of NEET UG 2020 result was also a highlight News in education which won wide attention from all the quarters. The NEET exam this year saw an attendance of over 13 lakh candidates.
Soyeb Aftab stood topper on All India level with a score of 720/720. Akanksha Singh won the second rank on All India level in NEET exam this year with the score 720/720.
Hardwork had yielded results for these two students, now their dream is to pursue studies in medicine and carve out a career in that field.
However, considering the fact that news is a constant feature, Collegechalo will be making attempts to highlight the News in education sector of this country at regular intervals.
There are various other developments whose relevance can never be undermined. And, the News in Education who have made special impact on the education sector in particular will be the point of focus.
The attempts will be to cover any kind of News in education sector that has particularly managed to create a considerable effect on national level or atleast state level.