Category Archives: Education

School alumni offer value classes to juniors from poor backgrounds

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

Madurai :

The alumni of a government-aided school here, who are now working in various fields, have taken upon themselves the task of helping junior students who come from very poor backgrounds achieve heights in life through motivational and skill-building sessions.

The former students of APT Durairaj Higher Secondary School in Mela Anupanadi have formed an old students association called ‘Kash’, short for ‘knowledge, attitude, skill and honesty’. P Pandiarajan, the founder of the association, who works in the Ma Foi foundation in Virudhunagar, remembers that they enjoyed studying in the school.

“But when we went for interviews, we were looked down upon when we gave the name of school and we wanted to change this attitude,” he said.

Most of the students who come to this school come from Keeraithurai, an area notorious for its criminal activities. Their background and economic conditions made them difficult students, he said. “It is difficult to motivate them to make achievements, because they move around with a lot of school dropouts in their homes. We want them to become good citizens and do well in their lives, so we are doing our best,” he said.

About 150 former students, who had passed out from the school since 1985, are part of the association. “We tell our juniors that they can achieve anything if they have knowledge, attitude, skill and honesty (kash),” said Pandiarajan.

P Swaminathan, former student and a medical representative by profession, strives to motive the present-day students whenever possible. “From this year onwards, we will do it in a more organized manner. Earlier, we used to encourage them by gifting books and paying their fees, if their performance in studies was good,” he said.

At a motivation session held on Tuesday, Vignesh Manikandan,17, expressed his aim to become a sub inspector and also work to bring the alcohol menace in the state under control. “I see alcohol as the reason for all the crimes around me, and would like to live in an environment which is free of it,” he said. His friends Karthik Kumar and Muthukumar also talked about their future plans.

Pandiarajan said that they tried to give value-addition classes to the students of Class 8, skill training to those in Class 9 and hold discussions on job opportunities with the students who are preparing to sit for the public examinations. Old students Gurunathan and Shanmuvavel, who dropped out after the SSLC and are now working in shops, never miss an opportunity to talk to the students about the benefits of higher education, especially completing the Plus Two examinations with good results.

Assistant headmaster S Gowthaman said that they usually dealt with problematic children who came from below poverty line families and troubled families, but the sessions organized by the alumni students was showing a lot of development. “It is encouraging to see some of the students listen to the motivators with enthusiasm and also respond, something they never do in class. I am happy that our old students are showing the way to their juniors in this manner,” he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / February 04th, 2015

Chennai start-up wins Rs.10-lakh funding

Business & Economy, Education, World Opinion
Suresh and Arul Murugan of Chloroplast Foods (second and third from left) with the organisers of IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Summit 2015.
Suresh and Arul Murugan of Chloroplast Foods (second and third from left) with the organisers of IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Summit 2015.

Chennai-based start-up Chloroplast Foods was one of the six start-ups to bag on-the-spot funding of up to Rs.10 lakh at IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Summit 2015.

Founded seven months ago by three college friends, the start-up was shortlisted from 260 applications. Chloroplast Foods aims to supply 30 preservative-free snacks online, through their website www.snackexperts.com, by tapping into the growing healthy snacks market.

The team’s 10-minute presentation at the ‘10 Minute Million’ event on Sunday received instant funding pledges from four investors, including Ajeet Khurana, CEO of IIT-B’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and angel investors Taha Nabee, V.C. Karthik, and Ravi Gururaj.

“We have created these products from unique recipes. Since this is a subscription-based model, they are prepared after a customer places an order. Within seven days, the customer gets a fresh product that has a 30-day shelf life. We offer five unique varieties for Rs.699,” said Arul Murugan Palanichamy, a co-founder of snackexperts.com.

The 27-year-old B. Tech graduate from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, worked with a food processing company for seven years before starting his own venture.

He said the money would help them expand from a leased bakery unit to a bigger bulk production facility.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mumbai / by Satish Nandgaonkar / Mumbai – February 03rd, 2015

A son’s gift to his father

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Science & Technologies
The team from MCC School that took part in the competition. (Extreme left) Sendil Madhavan. Photo : Special Arrangement
The team from MCC School that took part in the competition. (Extreme left) Sendil Madhavan. Photo : Special Arrangement

Class XI student’s design makes welder’s job easier. It wins prize at the innovation category in SYMA Child Fest.

It is a son’s gift to his father who has been toiling for years as a welder. B. Sendil Madhavan, a class XI student of MCC Higher Secondary School, Chetpet, has designed a device that takes the help of a robot to check the quality of welding. His creation recently won him the first prize in the innovative thinking category at ‘Child Fest 2015’ organised by Srinivas Young Men’s Association (SYMA).

“For the last three years, I have been visiting my father’s factory at Korattur every Sunday. I have seen him put in long hours at work to ensure the welding work is neatly executed, which includes absence of cracks. Sometimes, he would get scolded by his boss as the welding work would not come out fine. That would hurt me,” says Sendil.

As must be obvious to you now, Sendil wanted to create a device that would make for better welding and the idea of ‘Weld Inspector Robot’.

His first design, version 1.1, lacked proper circuitry, wiring and light. His second version took care of these problems. The third version of the device was waterproof and oil-proof. It had upgraded lights and a cover was attached to the camera. It was however the fourth version that won him the prize — its features included radio frequency receiver and lights. To be used in industries, the product has to however undergo more upgrades.

“I hope to incorporate laser technology in my next version – as I am not trained in the application of laser technology, I am looking for help to be able to do this,” says Sendil, who calls himself an average student who loves to get his hands dirty.

He was inspired to take up robotic technology after attending a workshop by Jay Robotics Club at school.

“They taught us the basics. I learnt the rest by experimenting on my own,” says Sendil who wants to pursue mechatronics.

His father helped him join the parts. The rest of the work he carried out on Autocad. He spent nearly Rs. 27,000 for the design: he raised the amount with the help of relatives.

Sendil has taken the device to his father’s factory and is optimistic that they will introduce his design.

“They have asked me to upgrade it further and I am hopeful of completing it,” says the resident of Mehta Nagar.

Sendil can be reached at 98840 57558.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Downtown / by Liffy Thomas / Chennai – January 31st, 2015

Ancient Indians taught math in verse, says prof

Education, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

Chennai :

If you think poetry and mathematics don’t get along, you are wrong. An interesting feature of Indian mathematics is that it is composed in verse, said K, noted mathematician and a professor at IIT Bombay. “Mathematicians successfully managed to couch a variety of formulae in beautiful verses. Among the Indian mathematicians, Bhaskaracarya is held very high,” he said.

Ramasubramanian said Bhaskaracarya, whose main treatise on mathematics is ‘Lilavati’ written in 1150AD, systematically developed a topic – whether it is arithmetic, geometry, algebra or astronomy. He would build on what had been already introduced.

“Lucid exposition of the subject was his hallmark. The examples presented by him are quite appealing, rich and varied. It involved characters from mythology and nature. He also drew a number of incidents from day-to-day life to solve problems in maths,” he said. was speaking at a two-day workshop on Bhaskaracarya’s contributions to mathematics and astronomy on the eve of his 900th birth anniversary.

Talking on ‘The Lila of Lilavati’, said when he started learning mathematics, the teacher would simply ‘teach’ a solution and present a set of formulae. “We were expected to learn the technique, memorise the formulae, and then work out those problems given at the end of the chapter, repeatedly.

I do not recall a single problem that could be related to practical life – as given in ‘Lilavati’. Texts on Indian mathematics, soon after enunciating a rule or principle, present plenty of examples from day-to-day life – all in the form of beautiful verses. Making students aware of the major achievements of their own civilization is the need of the hour,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / January 30th, 2015

Republic Day Marks 20th Alumni Meet of VIT

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Vellore :

Holistic education is more about character and nation building and not mere degrees and marks, observed Dr Kalyani Mathivanan, vice chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University.

Addressing the twentieth annual meet of the Vellore Institute of Technology Alumni association (VITAA) at the university campus here on Monday, she said that every educated person should develop a sense of commitment to uplift society.

“Each one of us should volunteer to do our bit for the development of society,” she added.

In his presidential address, VIT chancellor G Viswanathan said, “Many of the universities in the US are actively supported by the alumni associations and companies floated by them,” he pointed out at the alumni meet.

Archarya Ajit, founder chairman of ‘India on the Move’ who was the guest of honour, in his address noted that no success could be achieved without commitment and determination.  VIT vice president G V Selvam called upon the members of the VITAA to “go back to society and help them with knowledge”.

Nine of the alumni received distinguished achievement awards while the VITAA donated `2.2 lakh as scholarship grant to students of the university.

One of the awardees at the meet was K M Muniappan, (1989 batch) who had gone back after his education to his village, Kadachanallur in Nammakkal district and had turned it into an ideal village.  He is the panchayat president of the village for the last 20 years

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by V. Narayana Murthi /January 27th, 2015

Students Plan Huge Tricolour with Salt

Amazing Feats, Education, Records, All, World Opinion

Vellore :

Students, faculty and trustees of Sigaram Matriculation School in Vaniyambadi , on the eve of the 66th Republic Day celebrations, will be creating the world’s largest Indian national flag using plain salt scheduled to take place in the school premises on Sunday, January 25.

Students will be using around 40 tons of plain salt to create the largest national flag measuring 3,456 square meters (72 meters in length and 48 meters in breadth) on the ground. In addition 300 kgs each of Red and Green coloring powders and 90 kg of blue color power will be used.

The event will begin by 7.30 am on Sunday morning and the salt flag should be ready by 2.30 pm well within the 12 hour period the world record authorities have allowed for setting this particular record.

The world record will be judged by officials from various World Record agencies such as Asian Records Academy (Singapore), India Records Academy (Mumbai) and Tamilan Book of Records who will be present on the occasion. Each participant in the event will also receive a certificate after the acceptance of the record by the adjudicating agencies.

“We have conducted special classes and training to all the students and they have been practicing for the big day for two months,” said the college principal Kalpana.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / January 21st, 2015

City school alumni meets after 37 years

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Coimbatore :

After 37 years, the 1976-78 batch of Class 11 students of Suburban School in Ramnagar met in the city to spend an evening together. Now in their fifties, these men and women enjoyed catching up with each other, recollecting their school days while sharing a scrumptious meal.

Amidst some teasing and taunting, they danced to musical numbers that were popular in the 70s. To spice up the event, there was a ‘power-lifting’ competition where the men were asked to carry their wives.

While there was only prize on offer for the man carrying his wife in the air for the longest time, the jury was forced to give away three as there were three men who refused to let go of their wivesss.

‘This was the first time all of us are meeting after 37 years,” said V Natarajan, professor and head, Department of Mass Communication, Periyar University. Out of the 88 students in the class, 35 had managed to participate in the reunion. Some of them had come from as far as Simla and one even from Indonesia.

superintending engineer, Tangedco, Coimbatore metro circle, responded with, “You not only dress like a politician but you speak like one too”. tnn

There was also some mittai, pori urundai, kalkona and other eatables that used to be sold near the school, at the event, bringing back memories of the good old days.

CFI Floors IIT-M 1989 batch alumni

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Chennai  :

Alumni of IIT-Madras at the reunion of the silver jubilee batch of 1989 were floored by the Centre For Innovation (CFI) student lab of the institute on Friday.

The CFI offers students the freedom and infrastructure to ‘realise’ their ideas along with necessary guidance from faculty and peers. Many among the 120 from the 89’ batch, including the Senior Vice-President of Google Inc Sridhar Ramaswamy, who were shown a presentation by Professor Mahesh Panchagnula on CFI, were left awestruck at the facility as it provided the necessary outlet for the oozing creativity in budding engineers.

“The CFI is surely the one thing that stood out for most of us at the meet. Most of us were wishing that we had that facility while studying at IIT,” said CP Madhusudan, secretary of the alumuni association.

“The CFI does a great job of encouraging budding entrepreneurs,” said a visibly impressed Ramaswamy during a media interaction later.

Incidentally, the CFI was started with funds donated by the 1981 batch during their silver jubilee reunion. The lab has the informal slogan of ‘ Walk in with an idea, walk out with a product’.

Students also have the option of doing their final year projects at the CFI subject to approval by their professors.

Meanwhile, IIT-Madras announced the list of 10 pass-outs who would receive the ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’ for 2015. The awards are given for outstanding accomplishments in academics, research, technology, business, management, entrepreneurship, and in other walks of life.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / December 27th, 2014

139th Int’l Theosophy Meet Kicks off

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, World Opinion

Chennai  :

The 139th International Convention of the Theosophical Society began in the city on Friday, with delegates from several countries arriving at the headquarters in Adyar. The theme of the 2014 convention is ‘Theosophy in a changing world.’

The convention, which began in the morning, observed a two-minute silence in memory of the schoolchildren who were killed in Peshawar recently and the “ongoing cycle of violence” in the world. Representatives from different countries will be participating in the deliberations.

The four-day convention will also see lectures by philosophers, scientists and thinkers.

Members of the Society will examine the meaning and significance of Theosophy in the context of the present-day world, organisers said. There are also information booths, book displays, sales and stalls.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / December 27th, 2014

A French twist to Christmas carols

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, World Opinion

Madurai :

For the second year in a row, students of the Alliance Francaise in American College here sang Christmas carols in French, taking the opportunity of Christmas season to promote the French language and culture.

A group of six students from the batch of 55 gathered to sing the carols, in what turned out to be a different kind of Christmas experience for students from other colleges who had gathered to watch the rendition. Christmas carols, namely, ‘Joie pour le monde’, translated as ‘joy to the world’, was sung in French language, besides ‘jingle bells, jingle bells’ and ‘silent nights’.

Alliance Francaise was started in American College in 2002, where students enrolled to learn French.

Milton Powers, professor of French at American College, said, “This kind of celebration provides motivation to the students and helps them understand French in a better way. I always wanted to teach French in an innovative manner. When it comes to languages, songs are the best way to motivate and encourage students to learn the language.”

Nanette Elizabette, student at Alliance Francaise, said, “We get the idea of French culture and it’s a different learning experience when Christmas carols are sung in a different language. Being a French student, it helps me to learn the language better.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / December 24th, 2014