Education - Current Affairs for September, 2016

Students from KR Montford School in Perambur designed an online search engine and app to create awareness on internet usage and online distractions.

• The 15 member class XI students designed a search engine called Schoogle- Google for School
• This is an exclusive engine for the student community with information pertaining only to education
• Students have also come out with games designed on educational concept with the idea that students that can log on with their school ID and dabble in science and maths.
• The project coordinator will be presenting the idea to Google
• Another app Poppeagle expected to of life on 28th Sept 2016 has been designed for alerting students and parents on internet usage by users
• Internet being a big distraction for students, online monitoring tools such as these are beneficial.

Bar Council of India has restored the limit for legal education in 3 and 5 year programmes following an order by the Madras HC.

• The council's letter mentions that they will have to comply with clause 28 of the Legal Education Rules 2008, which restricts the maximum age for seeking admission in the five-year integrated programme to 20 years and for the three-year one at 30.
• The council has, however, failed to consider earlier orders of the Bombay and Punjab & Haryana HC that had struck down the age limit provision as being unconstitutional say legal experts
• Many students admitted in the three-year programme now do not meet the age criteria
• Earlier BCI had left the decision on the age criteria on the state.
• The state did not implement the criteria as they had not mentioned it in their admission rules for the common entrance test, said an official.
• BCI has not relaxed the age norms, paving the way for hurdles for older students pursuing law.

Census 2011 data has revealed two alarming facts: as many as 78 lakh Indian children are forced to earn a livelihood even as they attend schools while 8.4 crore children don't go to school at all.

• Although the share of working students is low, compared to the whole student population, the numbers are sufficiently big to show how much importance is placed on education by families and the children themselves.
• They also point to the increasing cost of education, which should ideally be free for the age group of 5 to 17 years.
• Among students who work, 57 per cent are boys, the remaining 43 per cent are girls.
• Of working students, some of them as young as six years old, 68 per cent are into marginal work.
• The other shocking dimension is that 8.4 crore children don't go to school at all -that's nearly 20 per cent of the age group covered under the Right to Education Act.
• Boys and girls make up nearly the same proportion of the out-of-school segment. But, contrary to popular perception that children don't go to school because they are forced to work, the Census data shows that just 19 per cent of them are working somewhere.

Union Cabinet on 12th Sept 2016 approved the creation of HEFA or Higher Education Financing Agency.
HEFA will be established to provide a major push for creation of quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions.

• HEFA will be jointly promoted by Identified Promoter and MHRD
• It has an authorised capital of INR 2000 crore
• Government equity will be INR 1000 crore rupees.
• HEFA will be formed as an SPV within a PSU Bank/Government owned NBFC
• It will leverage the equity to rise up to INR 20000 crore rupees for funding projects for infrastructure and development of world class labs in IITs/IIMs/NITs and other such institutions
• It will also mobilise CSR funds from PSUs/Corporates in turn to be released for promoting research and innovation on grant basis in these institutions
• HEFA will finance the civil and lab infrastructure projects through a 10 year on
• Centrally Funded Higher Educational Institutions will join HEFA as embers
• For joining as members, institutions need to escrow specific amount from internal accruals to HEFA for 10 years
• Secured future flows will be securitised by the HEFA for mobilising the funds from the market.
• Each member institution will be eligible for credit limit as per HEFA based on amount agreed to be escrowed from internal accruals

The state education department of Rajasthan has partnered with US based technology firm CISCO to promote digital learning across the state using virtual digital room solutions.

• Initiative aims to enhance the quality of education through digital learning for academia to connect, collaborate and share content across 12 centres of State Institute for Education Management and Training.
• CISCO has committed to 5000 man hours of training and partnered with the Rajasthan government to establish Digital Learning Solution Rooms which will deploy virtual digital classrooms across 12 institutes as part of the ongoing social initiative programme in Rajasthan.
• Partnership covers various initiatives of digitising the state which include projects on urban development and acceleration of local innovation.
• Education is the most potent catalyst of economic empowerment as highly skilled workforce and building local capacity will speed up digital transformation in the state.
• Digital learning initiative will result in qualitative and quantitative enhancement of training capabilities.

Transgender or third gender may soon be introduced as a new category in UPSC application forms. Delhi HC has directed the state to take necessary steps to expeditiously modify riles regarding prestigious civil services examinations to incorporate transgender or third gender in exam application forms.

• In regard to the landmark judgement passed by the SC court on April 15, 2014 granting legal recognition to transgenders or eunuchs as a third category of gender, according to the bench asked to take urgent steps in this regard with the Centre
• ASG has told the bench regarding this, as an application seeking clarification that an April 2014 judgement was related only to transgenders and did to include bisexual, gay or lesbians was disposed in June 2016 by apex court which had held that lesbians, gays and bisexuals were not a third gender

The Energy and Resources Institute on 31st August 2016 appointed former Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla as the new Chancellor of TERI University.

• The governing council took the decision on 19th August 2016
• The University ended its association with RK Pachauri who has been charged with sexually harassing a lady colleague
• Chawla has been serving as TERI chairman since February 2016
• The Energy and Resources Institute was set up in 1974
• It was formerly known as TATA Energy Research Institute
• In 2013, it won the top rank in a list of think tanks prepared by International Centre for Climate Governance