Category Archives: Education

Two Madurai students to attend first Seema Darshan

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

Madurai :

Two students from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Narimedu, in Madurai will be the participants from Chennai region (Tamil Nadu – Pondicherry) to attend the first ever “Seema Darshan” to be held on the Indo-Pakistan border at Wagah in Punjab on January 26.

The Seema Darshan programme is being organised by the Ministry of Human Resource Development for school students. Students from Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas are eligible to participate in the programme which aims at encouraging students to witness soldiers in action on the borders.

M Ponni and K Bala Ramadas, both 11th,  12th standard students, edged out students in other parts of the state. They left for Delhi on Saturday evening. The 50-year-old Kendriya Vidyalaya-Narimedu has been having NCC programmes for the last 12 years. The NCC cadets are given intensive training.

Principal of the school C Muthiah said the two students had proved their prowess in firing, attended over 25 camps and had NCC-A certification. The programme aims at selecting 60 students from 32 Kendriya Vidyalayas and 28 Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti schools throughout the country. They will participate in the flag hoisting ceremony to be held on the Wagah border during the 67 th Republic Day celebrations and will have the honour of spending some time with the Border Security Forces (BSF) in their camps.

The two students said they were excited about this journey and that their school and parents had helped them achieve this. G S Murugan, NCC officer of the school, said the two students had brought laurels to the institution.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India/ News Home> City> Madurai / TNN / January 18th, 2016

I wasn’t aware my name was nominated in the achiever’s list: Shima Sendhil

Amazing Feats, Education, Leaders, Records, All

She hails from a family of educationists and is married to one. So, it was only natural that Shima Sendhil, who spent more than a decade in the US, came back to the country to help with the family run educational institution.

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The director of Rathinam Educational Institutions tells us, “I hail from a remote village in Ernakulam, Kerala and my father was a headmaster of a school there. We moved to the US, when I was just 15 years old. After completing my studies in the University of Florida, I worked for a private concern as a programmer for five years. I moved to Coimbatore to take over the family business after the stint. When my husband heard the news about the award, he was quite excited. He asked me to consider this achievement as a motivation to take up many more programmes for the benefit of students.”

Shima has been voted as one of the #100Women Achievers of India in the category of education by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. “I wasn’t even aware of the fact that my name was nominated in the list. It was only when the Ministry asked for my profile that I believed the news was true. A lot of credit goes to my husband for being a pillar of support.”

When it comes to education, Shima ensures that she doesn’t leave any stone unturned as far as benefiting her students are concerned. “We have associated with many corporate companies to provide skill-based training to our students, through their CSR activities. The activities include training in electrical work, plumbing, IT and even costume designing. The idea is to make our students more employable.”

Shima says that her five-year-stint in the US has helped her pick many tricks of the trade and implement them back home in Coimbatore. “For instance, we have upgraded many technical aspects in the college and have also begun providing smart classes for students.” This apart, Shima has also taken steps to provide scholarships to underprivileged students. “We have also been undertaking tree plantation drives, helmet awareness campaigns and providing support to the needy in the times of crises, like the Nepal earthquake and Chennai deluge. We are now envisioning a waste-free campus in 2016 by which we intend to reuse plastics and covert food waste into gas & thus, use negligible resources from outside. This apart, we have a plethora of new activities in the pipeline, focusing on women.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Coimbatore / P . Sangeetha, TNN / January 17th, 2016

National award for MSU professor

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Science & Technologies
A.G. Murugesan receiving the national award from Union Minister for Chemicals Anantkumar in New Delhi recently. Joint Secretory of Ministery of Petrochemicals Avinash Joshi looks on.
A.G. Murugesan receiving the national award from Union Minister for Chemicals Anantkumar in New Delhi recently. Joint Secretory of Ministery of Petrochemicals Avinash Joshi looks on.

A.G. Murugesan, Professor and Head, Sri Paramakalyani Centre of Excellence in Environmental Sciences, Alwarkurichi, a satellite centre of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, has won the national award of the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Petrochemicals for his innovative research in polymer from natural resources.

He received the award from Union Minister for Petrochemicals Ananthkumar at a function in New Delhi recently. The Ministry is recognising scientists and innovators by giving national awards for the past five years.

Dr. Murugesan was selected for the sixth national award under the category ‘Innovation in Polymeric Material’ for his research in biopolymer from natural resources. The award includes a memento, citation and a shawl.

The awardees were selected by a high-level juries committee under the chairmanship of S.K. Nayak, Director General of Central Institutes of Plastic Engineering and Technology, Haryana.

Prof. Murugesan is doing research in different aspects of industrial toxicology, natural resources management, environmental impact assessment, bio-remediation and bio-energy generation using microbial technologies.

He has produced a biopolymer – Poly Hydroxy Butyrate B – from water hyacinth.

Dr. Murugesan, who has received several State awards, has guided 34 research scholars so far, published more than 675 research papers and authored six books on environment. He is a Fellow in several top-level academies of the country. He has also served as expert member in several high-level environmental committees, including the Ministry of Environment and Forest’s State-level expert appraisal committee for two consecutive terms.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Tirunelvelli – January 23rd, 2016

CA Final Topper Clears Exam in One Sitting, Makes Chennai Proud

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All

Chennai /  Vijayawada :

A 23-year-old BCom graduate from Chennai, James John Britto, has emerged the national topper in his maiden attempt in the final Chartered Accountant exam, the results of which were announced on Sunday. Trailing him was Mohan Kumar Nagolu from Thottamledu, a non-descript hamlet under Chodavaram village panchayat near Srikalahasti in Chittoor district in Andhra, who emerged second.

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A resident of Mogappair, Britto completed his graduation in Loyola College. The final exam of one of the most toughest and rigorous professional courses in the world was conducted in November. Britto’s overall score was 595 out of 800 (74.38 per cent) which secured him the first rank in the country. The CA exams are divided into three levels — Common Proficiency Test (CPT), Integrated Professional Competence Course (IPCC) and the Final Examination.

“After clearing the foundation exams (CPT), I started preparing for the intermediate exams (IPCC). Since I did not wish to discontinue, I was preparing for the IPCC alongside my UG course,” said Britto.

On strategies he adopted to clear the exam, which people with even five to 10 years of professional CA experience find tough, he said, “I stuck to my basic plan of studying hard for 10-12 hours on an average everyday and this eventually peaked during the last few weeks of preparation.”

When asked about his future plans, one thing Britto was clear about was that he wanted to work in the city.

“As of now, I am looking at employment and have kept options open regarding the nature of the company. But one thing is for sure, I wouldn’t prefer working abroad as I love working here in the city,” said Britto, son of A Raja, a leading chartered accountant.

His father being in the field for nearly 30 years was one of the factors that Britto said contributed to his great success. “My father, who is in the same industry for close to 30 years, helped me a lot during the preparations and I would say his role was crucial throughout the CA exam journey.” Of the 42, 469 candidates who took up the exam last November, only 2,440 (5.75%) managed to clear the exam.

Nagolu Mohan Kumar from Tirupati and Avinash Sancheti from Kolkata secured the second and third rank in the final exam with scores 572 (71. 5 per cent) and 566 (70.75 per cent) respectively. When Mohan received a call from Manoj Fadnis, the president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), informing him about his results, Mohan Kumar was literally on cloud nine.

“My happiness knew no bounds when Manoj Sir called me up and told me that I had secured the all-India second rank. The call was immediately followed by another one, this time from M Devaraj Reddy, vice-president of ICAI. I was thrilled and shared the news with my family,” Mohan Kumar told Express over the phone. Mohan, who pursued the CA course right from Intermediate, took coaching from Superwhiz in Vijayawada and did his articleship with Datla and Associates in Hyderabad. He attributed his success in the CA final to hard work. “Since November, four months prior to the commencement of exams, I had been studying 12 to 13 hours a day, including Sundays,” he said, opining that systematic preparation is the key for success in CA exams.

Mohan Kumar’s father N Nagaraju Reddy is a farmer, while his brother Bhanuprakash has completed his BTech. Kumar’s entire family celebrated his success with the villagers also joining them.

Going forward, Mohan Kumar said, he wanted to work with a good MNC for three-four years before going for own practice.

Meanwhile, Superwhizz principal S Venkateswara Rao said along with Mohan Kumar, the institute had bagged three more ranks within the first 50 ranks. J Harsha Sai bagged the 7th rank, M Swathi the 32nd and P Pradeep Rai secured the 50th rank at the national level. The ICAI also released results for the CPT exams conducted during the December 2015 on Sunday. The overall pass percentage for this exam was around 34.45 percent as only 34,129 out of the 99,077 candidates who appeared for it cleared the test.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / January 18th, 2016

Educationist’s role in integrating culture and education hailed

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Leaders, Records, All
Mrs. Y.G .Parthasarathy (centre) receives the award from Padma Subrahmanyam. Also seen are K. Shivakumar (left) and Mohan Rajan (right) of PSBB Alumni Association and Ravi Venkatraman (second from right), President, Rotary Club of Madras T. Nagar —Photo: S. R. Raghunathan
Mrs. Y.G .Parthasarathy (centre) receives the award from Padma Subrahmanyam. Also seen are K. Shivakumar (left) and Mohan Rajan (right) of PSBB Alumni Association and Ravi Venkatraman (second from right), President, Rotary Club of Madras T. Nagar —Photo: S. R. Raghunathan

Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy was conferred the ‘Living Legend’ award on Sunday

Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, dean and director of PSBB Group of Schools, was conferred the ‘Living Legend’ award here on Sunday by PSBB Alumni Association and Rotary Club of Madras T. Nagar.

Speaking on the occasion, she said many students of the school have attained great heights now. But what was more important was that art and culture have become part of teaching and children have taken to music and dance very well, she said.

“My mother always told me ‘be true to what you do and children will always be grateful to you’,” she said.

Dancer Padma Subrahmanyam, who felicitated Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, recollected her decades-long association with the family.

She noted that Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy was the first person to combine education with culture and that is one of her greatest contributions to society.

“I still remember how she completed her doctorate in Vaishnavism at the age of 75. Her husband was in the hospital and she was sitting beside him and writing her thesis to be submitted. She is a very strong woman,” she said.

K. Shivakumar and Mohan Rajan of PSBB Alumni Association were among those who spoke at the function.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter  / Chennai – January 18th, 2016

Kumbakonam college physicist bags CSIR project

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologies, World Opinion

R. Radha is one of the eight physicists to get it

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has awarded a research project to physicist R. Radha, Director, Centre for Nonlinear Science, Government Arts College, Kumbakonam.

The CSIR will fund the project to the tune of Rs. 25 lakh and Dr. Radha is one of the eight physicists to be awarded the prestigious research project in Physical Sciences in 2015.

The Centre had come out with 30 international publications in the last five years while Dr. Radha received international recognition for pioneering research work from fora such as INSA Royal Society of London Visiting Fellow, INSA Polish Academy of Science Visiting Fellow, Third World Academy of Sciences UNESCO Association Award and is a Visiting Scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Kumbakonam – January 18th, 2015

City candidate emerges all-India topper in CA finals

Education, Records, All
James John Britto scored 74.38 per cent with 595 marks on 800. — Photo: Shaju John
James John Britto scored 74.38 per cent with 595 marks on 800. — Photo: Shaju John

The Chartered Accountancy examination is considered to be among the toughest academic tests in the country.

It was late evening and 23-year-old James John Britto of Chennai was still getting used to the news that he was the All India topper in the Chartered Accountancy exam held in November last. He scored 74.38 per cent with 595 marks on 800. He still has four months of articleship left at Sharp and Tannan before he can take up a job.

The Chartered Accountancy examination is considered to be among the toughest academic tests in the country and the overall pass percentage is consistently low.

It required planning, strategy and some hard work to achieve this remarkable feat, says Mr. Britto. An alumnus of the Don Bosco, Egmore, he stood third in class X and would have been ranked sixth in the State but for his choice of second language in class XII.

He was a gold medallist in Loyola College and ranked fourth in ACS (company secretaryship), but says, “I wanted to be a CA and will be applying for membership in four months,” he says.

So what was his winning strategy? He began planning in college by choosing to work on his strengths and weaknesses. “Science required me to draw diagrams, so I took the commerce stream. Then I decided to do CA. That settled I had to find my strengths and weaknesses and then choose faculty who could help me improve. Chennai has the best faculty and I had the guidance of seniors who told me about the faculty,” Mr. Britto reveals.

According to him all students felt that the direct taxes paper was tough. “It was a yorker, but they usually want to shake you up,” he says.

His father is also a chartered accountant and has his own practice. But Mr. Britto plans to work six to 10 years in firms elsewhere as he feels he needs mentoring.

Nagulu Mohan Kumar of Tirupati with a score of 572 marks and Avinash Sancheti of Kolkata with 566 marks have been ranked second and third in the country. Of the 42,469 candidates , 2,440 have passed.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by R. Sujatha / Chennai – January 18th, 2016

Retired professor dead

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

K.R. Rajagopalan, retired professor of statistics, Madras Christian College (MCC), died in the early hours of Monday. He was 90. He served the institution for more than three decades, introducing innovative methods of teaching.

He was a pioneer in conducting pre-poll opinion surveys in the early 1970s and also authored a book in Tamil on the history of Indian Mathematics ( Indhiya Ganitha Varalaru ).

On the occasion of the birth centenary of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, he authored a biography of him. Besides Statistics, Prof. Rajagopalan was deeply interested in music and literature. His studies, on topics ranging from music to social customs, were published by the Statistics Department of MCC. He was associated with Sruti Magazine. He is survived by wife, two daughters and a son.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – December 30th, 2015

IIT Madras helps KoPT to slash dredging costs by Rs.250 crore

Education, Science & Technologies

The Kolkata Port Trust may implement a technology that will help it save Rs.250 crore annually through reduced dredging costs, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari said.

Dredging costs at the country’s only riverine port is likely to get reduced from around Rs.400 crore to around Rs.150 crore due to a new process of dredging suggested by the IIT-Madras on the basis of recommendations made by the Boston Consulting Group. The two port systems of KoPT at Kolkata and Haldia have a draft of around 7.5 metres.

Within five years, 50 lakh jobs are expected to be generated by the transport sector, which would have a two per cent addition to GDP, says Nitin Gadkari. Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping. R.P.S.Kahlon, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, is also seen.— PHOTO: PTI
Within five years, 50 lakh jobs are expected to be generated by the transport sector, which would have a two per cent addition to GDP, says Nitin Gadkari. Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping. R.P.S.Kahlon, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, is also seen.— PHOTO: PTI

Boston Consulting, on the basis of a Ministry mandate, had made 120 recommendations on improving the performance of all the major Indian ports. “About 20 suggestions are being implemented and the rest would be put in place in two years,” Mr Gadkari said adding that it is not possible to improve exports without good ports.

“For this government, waterways had the highest priority in the logistics segment followed by railways and roadways.” Against the previous government’s pace of laying two km of roads daily, now 18 km of roadways were being laid, he said. The target is to increase it to 30 km a day by March 2016. The Minister also said that within five years, 50 lakh jobs are expected to be generated by the transport sector, which would contribute two per cent to the GDP.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Business / by Special Correspondent / Kolkata – December 02nd, 2015

Vellore School Student Continues Gold Medal-winning Spree

Education, Records, All, Sports
N Hemamalini, with her father Neelakandan, who is a farmer in Odugathur, talking to District Sports Officer Nagaraj on Monday | S Dinesh | EPS
N Hemamalini, with her father Neelakandan, who is a farmer in Odugathur, talking to District Sports Officer Nagaraj on Monday | S Dinesh | EPS

Vellore :

The not-yet-16-year-old N Hemamalini of Odugathur Government Girls Higher Secondary School, the daughter of a farmer from Madiyapattu village in Vellore district in the recently concluded 31st national level junior athletic meet held in Ranchi in Jharkhand, threw the javelin for a distance of 39.69 metres in the under-16-year category. It bettered the previous national level record by 0.60 metres.

She also won gold medals and achieved the distinction of being the record holder in the Junior State (Open) held in Kumbakonam in July 2015 when she threw the javelin to a record distance of 40.98 meter. Earlier, she set the record in the 26th South India Athletic Championship by throwing the javelin for a distance of 38.05 metres. She has won gold medals in state level school meets, state level junior open meets and the regional level CM Trophy.

“I have been practicing hard for two to three hours a day for the last three years. Even during school holidays, I use to train,” said Hemamalini, who is studying in class XI.

Hemamalini has been improving her ability to better her performance in every meet and she even outdid seniors in the recently held CM Trophy, in which she won silver medal and a cash prize of `75,000.

Since January 2014, she won eight gold medals and three silver medals, said her school Physical Education Teacher and mentor V Krishnamoorthy.

“She has the potential to win medals for the country at the international level athletic meets,” said the teacher, who has been training her for the last three years.

The teacher, in fact, arranged an air ticket for the young athlete from Bangalore to Ranchi to attend the national level meet during the third week of November in Ranchi after the trains were cancelled due to rain.

She is the pride for her father Neelakandan.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by J. Shanmuga Sundaram / ENS / December 01st, 2015