Chandigarh-based Group Raises Money For Children's Education By Reusing Earthen Lamps

Motivating others to reduce and recycle waste materials, a Chandigarh-based group has come up with 'Deep Se Sahayog Tak' project under which they have reused discarded earthen lamps to raise money for children's education.

Rohit, a member of the group said the project was started in 2018 and they earned Rs 50,000 in 2019 after reusing earthen lamps from last year's waste. They contributed that money for the education of needy children.

Speaking to ANI, Rohit said, "We came up with the idea of reusing discarded earthen lamps in 2018 and started Deep Se Sahayog Tak project under which we provided funds to help needy children to study. We collected 20,000 lamps in 2018 and recycled them to sell, from which we earned Rs 50,000."

"In order to help people financially, we have created a self-help group of youth who were in contact with us during COVID-19. We engaged them in the cleaning and colouring of lamps. Now, 40 per cent of the earning will go to these youth who helped cleaning the lamps and 60 per cent will be invested in children's education," he added.

The group will sell a pack of 24 pieces of earthen lamps in an eco-friendly bag at the cost of Rs 50 with an option of home delivery.

"One of the known shopping malls at Chandigarh has also allowed us to sell these packs on their premises," Rohit said. 

Education ministry draws up 60-point agenda to implement NEP

The Ministry of Education has drawn up a 60-point agenda for the implementation of the new National Education Policy (NEP), which includes reforming the schooling system from the year 2022, ThePrint has learnt.

The Union Cabinet had cleared the NEP in July this year and the document charts out key educational reforms that will be undertaken over the coming years.

Agencies like the National Testing Agency (NTA), the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) have been tasked with different duties to kick-start the ministry’s plan from 2022-23, according to officials familiar with the development.

ThePrint reached the education ministry for a comment via email but no response was received till the time of publishing this report.

Common entrance exam for universities

To begin with, the government plans to streamline the admission process to undergraduate colleges for non-technical courses.

The NTA, which conducts the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) for engineering and the National Eligibility and Education Test (NEET) for medical courses, has been asked to work on the modalities of a single entrance exam for all universities.

As reported by ThePrint, the plan is likely to be rolled out next year and will be more streamlined by 2022.

According to sources in the ministry, it will not be mandatory for institutions to adopt the single entrance test for admission.

Currently, different universities have their own admission process. Some like the Delhi University admit students based on the marks obtained in the Class 12 board exams while others hold entrance tests.

The single entrance test is expected to reduce the burden of high cut-offs, especially in DU. This year, Lady Shri Ram College had pegged the cut-off of three courses at a record 100 per cent in the general category.

Changes to schooling system

Additionally, the CBSE and NIOS have been tasked with changing the assessment system in schools.

CBSE is preparing the format for two types of exams — objective and subjective — which is likely to be rolled out by 2022-23, sources in the ministry told ThePrint.

Meanwhile, NCERT has been asked to work on a new curriculum, focusing on learning outcomes, from pre-primary to Class 12.

In lieu with the new policy that focuses on early childhood education, the council has been asked to prepare a three-month study module for students in Class 1 to make them school-ready.

Modules on numerical literacy, with a special focus on younger children, will also be prepared by the council and is expected to be rolled out soon.

The NEP aims to change the current school education system, which is a 10+2 system, where formal schooling starts at the age of 6 years, to  5+3+3+4 system.

This will include five years of foundational learning (three years of preschool or anganwadi education and two years of classes 1 and 2); three years of preparatory learning (classes 3 to 5); three years of middle school (classes 6 to 8) and four years of secondary school (classes 9 to 12).

Source

HC directs IIT-Bombay to consider admitting student on supernumerary seat

In a setback for a 23-year-old aspiring to get admitted to a diploma course in the Industrial Design Centre of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), the Bombay high court has refused to give any directions to the institute to admit the student. The court while passing its judgement in the matter on Friday held that though initially it was inclined to help the aspirant student who is from the reserved category, it was not doing so as both the institute and the aspirant were equally responsible for the situation. The court however directed the Director of IIT-B to consider admitting the aspirant this year as it would elevate the image of the institute and not malign it by creating a supernumerary seat in the current academic year or accommodate him next year.

The aspirant student who had completed the selection process of the institute on July 21, had approached the court after he failed to get the intimation email from the institute on August 2 and thus lost the seat. The email was sent by the institute to all the students who were shortlisted and asked them to complete the admission procedure before the deadline of August 6.

During the hearing, the institute admitted that the email had not reached the aspirant student but claimed that had the student been diligent and checked the IIT-B website he would have known about his selection in the final list and secured his seat. In light of this the institute claimed that due to the lapse on the part of the student, the institute could not be faulted and directed to admit the student belatedly.

On Friday, the division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni while pronouncing its judgement in the petition filed by Prathmesh Pedamkar through advocate Ashraf Shaikh observed that after hearing both sides it was of the opinion that it would not be required to interfere and issue directions to the institution to admit the student.

While arguing, Shaikh had submitted that his client had approached the court after he was directed by the cyber cell of Navi Mumbai police. They had said that it could only find out if the IIT-B had sent him the intimation email as claimed by them if there was a court order. Shaikh had also submitted that after the institute had changed its entire admission procedure due to the pandemic, it had been sending emails and phone messages to all aspirants about every stage of the admission process. His client had responded to all the emails and completed his admission process which ended on July 21. Thereafter the institute had informed that selected candidates would be intimated through email.

Shaikh had submitted that it was only on August 21 that his client contacted the institute to be told that he had been shortlisted and an email had been sent to him on August 2. However when he sought details of the original sent email, the institute refused to share and hence he approached the Navi Mumbai cyber cell.

While opposing the petition advocate Arsh Mishra for the IIT-B had submitted that though the email had been blocked by the spam filter and not reached the aspirant, he could have checked on the website and known about his selection just like 18 other aspirants who had not received the email. Mishra submitted that 14 aspirants after finding their names on the institute’s website had secured their admission and hence Pedamkar could not claim any reliefs.

After hearing the submissions the court had initially observed that it wanted to help the student and had asked the institute to admit the student either in the current academic year or the next year without making the aspirant go through the admission process next year. However after the institute refused, the court called for past orders of the Supreme Court and other high courts wherein institutes were directed to admit a student to the current academic year by creating a supernumerary seat. Shaikh had furnished orders of both the SC as well as other HC’s which directed institutes to admit a student who was refused admission for no fault of his/her.

The court directed the institute to convey its decision to the student within four weeks and also permitted the student to take recourse to appropriate remedy if he was not admitted by the institute.