Category Archives: Education

Building libraries, rack by rack, book by book

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features
The student volunteers are also building their own bookshelves — Photo: M. Srinath / The Hindu
The student volunteers are also building their own bookshelves — Photo: M. Srinath / The Hindu

If you have books that your children have outgrown or don’t need anymore and are wondering what to do with them, the students of IIT-Madras have a solution — donate them to the needy.

The Pledge a Book Project, which started a couple of months ago, is building libraries for the underprivileged.

The students have tied up with different NGOs to help them set up bookshelves and libraries. Their first library was established through Avanti Fellows, an NGO that trains students for IIT-JEE. Around 100 JEE-related books were donated to the organisation and the students also supplied bookshelves. The team is collecting books from anyone who is willing to donate.

“Most people have some books that they do not use anymore. Whether they are IIT-JEE reference books or novels, there are people who need them,” Shubham Jain, a student volunteer said.

Once they collect the books, they sort them and then determine where to set up libraries based on the category. To save costs, the students are also building their own bookshelves at the Center for Innovation workshop.

“Many of the children’s reference books will go to the IDF’s Bal Gurukuls. We are also willing to tie up with any NGO that requires books for adults or children,” Romil Shah, another volunteer said.

Pledge A Book was initially started as part of IIT-Madras’ technical festival Shaastra 2015, but now, the project’s volunteers are planning to take it further.

“In the days to come, we also plan to start a programme that promotes reading among communities. In the future, we hope to establish libraries in different neighbourhoods. We are also looking for corporate support,” he said.

The Pledge a Book project is also supported by UNESCO. For further details contact shubham@shaastra.org.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Kavita Kishore / Chennai – October 09th, 2014

Model UN Helps Kids With Int’l Affairs

Education, World Opinion
Students suited up for their roles as model delegates with Masanori Nakano, Consul General of Japan | MARTIN LOUIS
Students suited up for their roles as model delegates with Masanori Nakano, Consul General of Japan | MARTIN LOUIS

Chennai :

Over 500 students from 27 schools in Chennai turned into delegates representing the members at United Nations, during a model UN organised by Sishya School in Adyar on Monday.

Dressed in their formal best, comparing notes and doling out figures on carbon footprint of the country, the students got ready to get involved in heated discussions on topics of international interest, and tried to emulate the proceedings at United Nations at SISHMUN 2014.

The two-day programme for students to be abreast with awareness on international issues of importance would involve moderated and unmoderated discussions among those representing the nations. The student delegates split into various committees such as the International Court of Justice and Security Council put forth related issues from their country’s perspective, a consensus would be arrived at and a resolution passed. The secretary general of SISHMUN, Vivek Jajoo added that emergency situations would be declared and the delegates from each council would deliberate and arrive at a solution.

The inauguration was presided over by Masanori Nakano, Consul General of Japan and P V S Giridhar, a senior advocate who addressed the student delegates. Masanori informed them about the discussions in the UN General assembly and urged the students to deliberate on international issues, especially those in Iraq and Syria. Giridhar, on the other hand, spoke about the need for disarmament. He also welcomed the initiative of conducting a model UN in schools. “When children leave school and get exposed to the real world, they need to be informed on what’s happening. This goes a long way to help them,” he said.

Student delegates are benefitted as well, feels Malavika Nambiar who has been participating for four years. “This not only keeps us informed of international affairs but lets us think from their perspective,” she concluded.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service  / October 07th, 2014

Sapna Bags Lions Club’s Best Teacher Award ’14

Education, Records, All

sapnaCF25sept2014

Chennai :

The initiative by Lions Club International, District 324 A6 to honour the true heroes of the classroom brought recognition for Sapna Sankhla, principal of Narayana E-Techno School Arumbakkam.

Her 18 years of exemplary contribution to the cause of education led to her selection for the Best Teacher Award 2014.

Sapna was invited to attend the award ceremony on September 21 and was felicitated with a certificate and a citation by the chief guest, district governor PMJF Lion D Thulasingam, and guest of honour district chairperson MJF Lion S Balasekaran.

The chief guest in his address emphasised the importance of teachers and said that the award was presented in appreciation and recognition of outstanding service to the student community with dedication and devotion as a teacher.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Education> Student / by Express News Service / September 25th, 2014

‘Anna Popularised Tamil Language Once the preserve of Poets, Pandits’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All
Chancellor G Viswanathan giving away a prize to a winner of a contest held under ‘Tamil Saral 2014’ function at VIT on Tuesday | express
Chancellor G Viswanathan giving away a prize to a winner of a contest held under ‘Tamil Saral 2014’ function at VIT on Tuesday | express

Vellore :

VIT chancellor  G Viswanathan while presiding over a function, to mark the birth anniversary of Anna on VIT campus on Tuesday said that the former CM Annadurai was the first man to make Tamil language accessible to the common man.

The programme was billed as ‘Tamil Saral 2014’ and was conducted under the aegis of the Tamil Literary Association of the university. Viswanathan, in his address, said that Tamil was once only in the realm of poets and pandits and added that Anna was an ideal leader who had a flair for writing and speaking Tamil.

Mannarmannan, son of the great Tamil Poet Bharathidasan, who was a special invitee on the occasion, lamented that people of this State were losing interest in the Tamil language. Quoting his father Bharathidasan, he said, the Tamilians here could do well only if their language was protected and nurtured. He said, while Anna was able to nurture Tamil through his fiery speeches, Bharathidasan did the same through writings.

The grandson of Bharathidasan, Bharathi, was also invited and in his address, wanted people of the State to work hard to realise the dreams of great leaders like Anna and Bharathidasan. Students should develop the habit of reading books written by great leaders. “Aim for the Nobel prize”, he told the young audience.

Prizes were distributed to winners of competitions conducted on the occasion, in which over 100 students from 50 colleges and universities participated.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / September 17th, 2014

Four ‘narikurava’ children enter school for first time

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Madurai :

Four narikurava children in Devakottai are among the first from the community to enter the stream of formal education, thanks to the efforts put in by teachers and students of a school.

L Chokkalingam, the headmaster of Chairman Manickavasagam Middle School in Devakottai in Sivaganga district, says that he used to find narikurava children loitering around near their school during school hours. “These children were just wasting their time and following their parents around and hence we decided to sensitize the parents on the importance of education,” he said.

The teachers accompanied by many eager students took up the challenge of visiting the narikurava colony which was near to their school at 6am. They had to go at that time so they could talk to the narikurava parents who would leave for work early. The narikurava parents were at first not receptive to the idea of sending their children to school. Undeterred, the students staged plays at the colony to explain the importance of education. The narikurava parents came to watch these plays.

It was Pandimeenal, a narikurava mother, who stepped forward. “We are nomads and migrate often. It was not a problem till we moved around by foot. Now we travel by bus and none of us knows how to read the name of the destination written on the bus. We often end up going to the wrong place, hence we want our children to be educated,” she said.

Pandimeenal had taken it upon herself to ensure that the narikurava children come to school. Today, Simbu, 5, a class 1 student, comes to the school every day along with Packialakshmi , 8, Kartheeswari, 8, and Santosh, 7. Teachers say that the regular students are welcoming of their nomadic peers.

The narikurava children were given new uniforms. As these students were admitted to the classes based on their age, they do have problems with writing skills but all of them excel in sports. “But, they are learning fast,” says Chokkalingam, who has been assured by the leader of the narikuravas that they will not take their children when they move around. Someone would be there at the colony to take care of the children so that they can come to school, says Chokkalingam.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / September 20th, 2014

Last chance to breathe life into 140-year-old trust

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

Chennai :

Academics and jurists are waiting with bated breath, even as Madras high court is busy finalizing the list of trustees to run the 140 year old P T Lee Chengalvaraya Naicker Trust, which has institutions and properties valued at more than Rs 1,000 crore in Chennai and Kancheepuram districts. To this day, the HSBC Bank is sending dividend amount ranging from Rs 51 lakh to Rs 1.1 crore to the trust every year. Such was the vision of the man.

At the time of his death, philanthropist Chengalvaraya Naicker was barely 45 years old. But he had bequeathed all his wealth with an intention to establish educational institutions and orphanages. As on date, the trust runs at least a dozen institutions and has properties on Anna Salai, Vepery, Royapettah, Choolai and Kancheepuram district.

A division bench of Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice K Ravichandrabaabu is slated to pass orders in the matter in a day or two.

Though more than five teams of trustees have had their full tenures in the past, the quality and volume of activities at the trust-run institutions have been steadily declining, say academics. “This year only a handful of students have joined our engineering college near Kancheepuram though we do not collect any capitation and we have good facilities,” he said, blaming the trustees’ misplaced priorities for the poor condition of the institutions. A former chairman suggested that the trust donate Rs 51 lakh to a city temple, while another wanted to sell a trust property at Mint street for a throwaway price, he rued. Another chairman appropriated all powers of all trustees, resulting in an internal revolt, while a chairman diverted all fixed deposit funds of the trust to a bank and branch of his personal choice.

“Malgovernance, rampant corruption and favouritism, besides discrimination of non-Vanniar staff members and employees at the trust and the trust-run institutions are causes of concern,” a jurist associated with the trust proceedings for a long time told The Times of India. Though the decree nowhere states that the retired HC judge who would head the team of trustees should be only from Vanniar community, for the past few terms only such candidates are being considered, resulting in the contraction of choices, he said.

Precious pieces of land such as the one in Royapettah are under illegal encroachment, and the trustees have not taken steps to get back Rs 2 crore from Pachaiyappa’s trust, a lawyer said, adding that the engineering college is deliberately being pushed into oblivion.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by A. Subramani,  TNN / September 18th, 2014

Teen invents device to avert road accidents

Education, Records, All, Science & Technologies

Trichy :

The death of a close relative in a road accident has prompted a 13-year-old student in the Nilgiris to invent a device he claims can alert drowsy drivers and help avert accidents.

The ‘Eye Blink Infrared Sensor’, the result of a year’s efforts by M Gokul, provided the class 8 student of the municipal middle school at RK Puram in Ooty, a chance to participate in the state-level exhibition for INSPIRE Award conducted by the Union government’s department of science and technology, Tamil Nadu science and technology centre and Shivani College of Engineering and Technology, Trichy on Saturday.

The device is aimed at preventing accidents due to the drowsiness of the drivers of all vehicles, including two-wheelers. The infrared sensor is designed to sense the blinking of the eyelids. If the lids remain idle for a few seconds, the sensor will pass a signal through a pic micro controller to the vibrator under the driver’s seat. The activated vibrator will shake the seat, jolting the driver awake.

“It was the death of my uncle P Kumar, a government bus driver, which kindled my innovation to design a device to avoid accidents. He met with the accident as he slept while driving the bus. The accident forced me to think that no one should die due to the drowsiness of the driver,” Gokul told ToI. He said he had been working on the device after class hours.

The signal will also stop the engine and make the vehicle come to halt gradually. L Sundaram, the science teacher who supported Gokul in his project, said they were making efforts to test the device in vehicles with the government’s help. “It is not costly and can be used in all vehicles. We need support from the government to take it to the next level,” he said.

Gokul’s father A Mani, a tea agent, is proud of his younger son. “When he expressed his thoughts to invent a device, I wholeheartedly supported him.

His continuous efforts have helped him create such a device. I will encourage him to go on in his career,” said Mani, whose elder son also won a competition at the INSPIRE programme in Chennai.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Trichy / by Gokul Rajendran, TNN / September 07th, 2014

German students get lessons in business skills, Indian cuisines

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, World Opinion

Coimbatore :

Seventeen students from various universities in Germany are in Coimbatore city to spend part of their summer at PSG Institute of Management, thanks to the Bavarian state government which facilitated the summer project.

The students are from different academic backgrounds, including, science, engineering and management.

They are on a 17-day tour to India and the schedule had been arranged by PSGIM and the Bavarian Government prior to the visit. Guest lectures on topics like textile engineering, entrepreneurship, cultural events, industrial visits, student interaction and sharing of tradition and culture were among the few events organized for the students.

The students arrived in India on August 31 and will also visit Kochi and Bangalore as part of their programme, spending a weekend in each city. Josef Bertler, a student of engineering science at University of Bayreuth said, “I wanted to come to India to learn entrepreneurial skills. The business tactics practiced in India, I am told, are futuristic and commendable.”

In most German Universities, students are required to undergo a summer programme between August and September.

While India is popular among students, other popular locations include China, USA, France and a few countries in South America.

The German visitors got hands-on training in cooking Indian dishes from students of catering and hotel management at the PSG College of Arts and Science.

“We learnt to make samosas, dosa and kolokottai,” said Daniela Islinger. “In return, we taught the PSG students a few German delicacies,” said Julian, who is an environmental engineering student at University of Applied Science Weihenstephan, Triesdorf.

It is not just entrepreneurial skills that attracted the German students. “India is skilled in technology too, especially when it comes to web design,” said Julian Vortendieck, a business administration student from Friedrich-Alexander University, Nuernburg.

“I find the websites of Indian organizations more user-friendly and attractive,” Julian said. He feels that the Germans are very conventional when it comes to designing their websites, while in India, innovation is integral to design.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by Adarsh Jain, TNN / September 08th, 2014

More students turn to entrepreneurship

Business & Economy, Education

Madurai :

Entrepreneurship is the buzz word in many engineering colleges in Madurai and a few colleges in the southern districts, thanks to the improving awareness among students and authorities. Other reasons are the incubation environment provided by non-profit organisations and angel investors’ network that are increasingly encouraging students to become entrepreneurs. Authorities of colleges say the decreasing number of companies and intake numbers in campus recruitment also encourage students to think about starting their own companies.

For instance, around 20% of the students in Pandian Saraswathi Yadav Engineering College are involved in developing their own ideas of a start-up. Over the last two years, a large number of students have taken to developing their own business ideas. They are inspired by their seniors who have already proved to be successful entrepreneurs. Many students get ready with their business ideas by the time they complete their course.

S P Varadarajan, managing director of the college said, “Engineering students from this region lack communication and soft skills which are needed to get selected in campus recruitment. But the students are sincere and hardworking. They are good at developing ideas. The on-campus recruitment in the last two years was also not encouraging. The support of agencies like Native Lead helps students take up entrepreneurship. In fact, 20% of our students want to start their own business.”

Similarly, many colleges help the students by setting up entrepreneurship development and incubation cells. Organisations like Indian Angel Network which provides financial support for sound business ideas and agencies have come as a boon for them.

N Suresh Kumar, principal, Velammal College of Engineering and Technology said, “Many of our students are into developing business ideas. Some of the ideas are in the final stages of starting up into a business. The students are willing to innovate and convert them into start ups. However, very few students receive support from their families. In our college, we have a centre for innovation and product development which helps the students.”

“There is a lot of sore scope in the southern districts. More colleges can come forward to encourage the students,” said R Sivarajah of Native Lead.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by Devanathan Veerappan, TNN / September 06th, 2014

State Best Teacher Awards Given to 10

Education, Records, All

Vellore :

Ten teachers, including four from higher secondary schools and six from elementary schools received the State Best Teachers Award for this year.

They are: K Visalakshmi, head master of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Poigai, P Karunanidhi, (PG teacher at SRK BHEL school at Ranipet, K Veermani of TVKV Aided High School at Vaniyambadi and G Tamilselvan of Governemnt Higher Secondary School at Vellakuttai, all from higher secondary school category.

In the elementary level, six teachers from the government middle schools received the award. They are: Jayaseelan, head master Panchayat Union Middle Schools at Thandalam, A P Janakiraman, head master, Panchayat Union Middle School at Mohamadhipettai, S Shanti, headmaster, Panchayat Union Middle School, Kalacheri, Bharathi Kandoji Rao, secondary grade teacher, Panchayat Middle School at Vandaranthangal, N Narumalar, headmaster, Panchayat Union Middle School, Anna Nagar, Natrampalli and C S Raja, Head master, Panchayat Union Middle School, Kavaraiyur.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / September 06th, 2014