Educational Resources, Tools and Latest News for Teachers and Students.

Google to prepare 1.3 lakh Indians for emerging technologies. Sensing the need to skill the Indian talent for emerging technologies, Google, in association with technology learning platform Pluralsight and educational institution Udacity, on Thursday announced a new scholarship programme that will help train 1.3 lakh developers and students across the country. As part of the programme, Google will fund 100,000 scholarships on the Pluralsight technology learning platform and 30,000 scholarships on Udacity platform.(HT)

Class 10, 12 board exams 2018: Likely to be delayed in these four states. The class 10, 12 board exams in Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland and Karnataka are likely to be delayed due to election polls. The fresh exam dates will be announced as soon as the poll dates gets declared.Last year, the CBSE board exams were delayed due to assembly polls being conducted in five states -- Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. (India Today)

Fee hike: Delhi Govt conducts inquiry against private school. An inquiry was being conducted by the Delhi government against a private school in south Delhi on the issue of a fee hike which was raised by more than 600 parents. The AAP government informed the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that after the inquiry is completed, a comprehensive report would be provided by its Directorate of Education (DoE) to the parents in six weeks.(DNA)

Teach children dangers of online games, Supreme Court to states. The Supreme Court on Monday directed all state governments to take steps in order to ensure that all children were informed about the dangers posed by virtual online dare games. The apex court’s directive is a follow up of its previous order where it directed state-run television network Doordarshan to use it prime time slot to broadcast programming warning viewers of the dangers of the so-called Blue Whale Challenge that has claimed a number of lives across the country. (DNA)

India climbs 3 steps to 51 on IMD World Talent rankings. India has improved its ranking by three notches to 51 globally in terms of ability to attract, develop and retain talent while Switzerland topped the list compiled by leading global business school IMD. Globally, Europe continues to dominate the rankings, with Switzerland, Denmark, and Belgium being the most competitive countries. Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg made up the top 10. (HT)

Autonomy to colleges: Funding won’t be hit, says UGC. Principals of various state and central universities from across the country Thursday gathered in the city for an orientation programme on the issue of autonomous colleges, organised by the University Grants Commission. Sources said principals of Delhi University (DU) were assured that autonomy would not result in any fund cut towards their institutions. (indian Express)

No aptitude for engineering, medicine? Vocational education could be your answer. The overwhelming focus on engineering and medicine in India as career options has contributed to reliance on rote learning and led to increasing competition for limited seats.We are grappling with unemployment on the one hand while on the other corporate houses and industries are facing a shortage of suitable candidates to fill available vacancies. Let us list out some of the most popular as well as relatively unknown yet promising vocational courses for students. (HT)

Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) Protests Against UGC's Autonomous Colleges Scheme. Delhi University teachers opposed to the University Grants Commission's (UGC) Autonomous Colleges scheme today staged a protest at an event organised by UGC to educate college principals about the scheme. Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) staging a demonstration on Lodhi Road said the scheme granted "arbitrary powers" to college governing bodies to determine fees and start courses in revenue generating mode. (NDTV)

Five ways to earn money while studying abroad. While a good education abroad works wonders for an individual’s career prospects, it also ends up burning a large hole in their pocket. It is not always easy to ask for money back home from your parents, yet the experience of living with a low supply of funds can be excruciating. Enlisted here are a few part-time jobs that are suitable for Indian students looking to substantiate their financial resources while simultaneously pursuing their studies. (Indian Express)

CAT 2017 - 26 Nov: How to score maximum. As soon as the test starts one should leaf through the entire question paper and divide it into easy, moderate and difficult categories of questions. After this jump to the easiest question in which one is very comfortable. This will not merely fetch marks for those particular questions rather it will help in boosting the confidence for the entire test. (Indian Express)

CISCE changes ISC Class 12 exam 2018 syllabus. See Videos here. The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has recently revised the syllabus of Indian School Certificate (ISC) or class 12 for various subjects.The Council has prepared videos to familiarise all stake holders with the changes, the Council said in a press release. Further, as reported, the aim of the video is to guide students and teachers with the changes and addresses the rules of the question paper. (India Today)

UGC to revise NET syllabus for first time in 10 years, may reduce test frequency. The curriculum of NET, a countrywide examination mandatory for people eyeing teaching jobs in colleges and universities in India, will be revised for the first time in a decade, officials of the University Grants Commission have told Hindustan Times. The UGC, India’s apex education regulator, has set up committees to revise the syllabus of each of the subjects to reflect changes in what is being taught in higher education institutions across the country, according to senior officials.(HT)

Centre pushes for culture test in schools. As a part of its vision to impart cultural and value-based education at the school level, the government is pushing for an exam that tests students's knowledge on Indian culture and values. Bharatiya Sanskriti Gyan Pariksha, an examination conducted by the spiritual organisation in Haridwar called Shantikunj tests knowledge about Indian culture. It will be conducted in all Navodaya Vidyalayas; these come under the Ministry of Human Resource Development. (DNA)

IISC Bangalore, IIFT, IIIT to lose word 'university': Check the complete list released by the UGC. In a major decision, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently has released a list of deemed varsities that can no more use the word ''university'' in their names. The list includes names of 123 deemed-to-be varsities like IIFT, Jamia Hamdard, BIT Mesra, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore etc. (India today)

Prince Charles backs new education bond for India. Britain’s Prince Charles, who is set to arrive in New Delhi as part of his ongoing Asian tour, has given his backing to a new development bond for India to provide education to marginalised children in the country. The 10-million-dollar Education Development Impact Bond (DIB) has been created by the British Asian Trust, founded by the Prince of Wales to fight poverty in South Asia, and is designed to improve learning outcomes for thousands of marginalised children in India. (The Hindu)

NCERT conducts largest ever survey to assess learning levels. The largest ever National Achievement Survey (NAS), based on the learning outcomes, was conducted among 25 lakhs school children from 1.1 lakh schools for Classes III, V and VIII by NCERT across 700 districts on Monday. It was an exercise to understand the gaps in learning in government and government-aided schools. The uploading of data will be completed by end November and the analytical reports will be available in three to five months.(TOI)

Times World University Rankings 2018 for Life Sciences: No Indian institution makes it to top 100. World university rankings have been released today, on November 11, by Times Higher Education for the subject of Life sciences. Unfortunately no Indian institution has made it to top 100. The top position has been obtained by Stanford University followed by the University College of London. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore has secured its position at the top in the 201-250 rank band. (India Today)

World's Largest City School According To Guinness Book Of World Records Is In India. India is a land of wonders. Well, we do have one of the seven wonders of the world. But apart from that India also has many other surprises in its kitty if you know where to look. For example, did you know that India is home to world's largest school? Indeed, it's true. The City Montessori School in Lucknow is the largest school in the world. It was entered in Guinness Book of World Records in 2013 as the Largest City School with over 45,000 students. (NDTV)

Union Cabinet approves creation of National Testing Agency. In an effort to relieve the CBSE, AICTE and other agencies from responsibility of conducting entrance examinations, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday cleared a proposal for creation of a National Testing Agency (NTA). The aim is to bring in high reliability, standardized difficulty level for assessing the aptitude, intelligence and problem solving abilities of students. (TOI)

This Pune university will give gold medals only to vegetarian and teetotaller PG students. The Savitribai Phule Pune University's (SPPU) convocation will observe distribution of gold medals to only those students who are pure vegetarian and teetotaller. In a circular, it informed affiliated colleges and departments about a gold medal award, constituted in the name of Yog Maharshi Ramchandra Gopal Shelar, for non-science streams postgraduate students. The decision has drawn flak from some quarters even though the varsity said it does not differentiate anyone on the basis of food habits. (India today)

Bridging India’s gender divide still a distant dream. The 2017 World Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum has not brought any cheer to India. Ranked at 108 out of 144 countries listed, India fell by 10 points over the last year. This should make us sit up, more so when Bangladesh is ranked at 47 and Rwanda, that not so long ago faced severe internal turmoil, is at 4. Overall, the gender gap in South Asia is 34 per cent compared to 25 per cent of the western developed countries, but better than the Middle East and Africa.(DNA)