Apply for Abdul Kalam postgraduate fellowship

The University of South Florida is offering the Dr Abdul Kalam fellowship for Indian students, to help cover their tuition. The fellowship is available to an Indian graduate student who wants to pursue a PhD degree at the University of South Florida in the following subjects: applied anthropology, applied physics, business PhD programmes, cell biology, microbiology and molecular biology, chemistry, computer science and engineering, criminology, integrative biology, marine science, engineering and psychology.

To apply to this scholarship, applicants must have completed a graduate degree programme. Applicants must also have academic credentials and a passion for the STEM fields of study.

The university will waive off tuition for four years, and contribute a stipend of $18,000 (about Rs 12.2 lakh) over the nine months of the fall and spring semesters ($2,000 per month — about Rs 1.3 lakh).

The Provost’s Office will pay a nine-month stipend for the first year with the department/college contributing a teaching/ research assistantship for up to an additional three years.

Deadline: February 5 Visit: usf.e du/ world/ resources/ ka lam fellowship. aspx. For online forms, visit usf.edu/world/ resources/ kalam_ fellowship_ form 201617. pdf 

Source: Hindustan Times dated 20 January, 2016

Redefining education: Make it creative, encourage risk-taking and expand the idea of success

During his recent India visit, Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke of how India’s education system would do well to emphasise greater creativity and risk-taking. We ought to listen.

There is perhaps no other country in the world that glorifies examination results and starting salaries the way we do. In most cultures it’s a bit rude to talk about these things even in private. But in India, it’s the stuff of front-page, prime-time news. Buses and outdoor hoardings are plastered with images of top rankers who have “cracked” significant exams and “aced” standardised tests. We put starting salaries and entrance exams on a pedestal and force a singular definition of success down our collective throats. Is the purpose of education really to max standardised tests and rake in the cash?

Most Indian parents today, themselves products of a top-down, instructional model of education, replete with corporal punishment, mindless cramming, and regurgitation of facts, would agree with Ken Robinson, that such a system, devised during the Industrial Revolution, is ill-suited to the needs of modern society. At the same time, there is huge anxiety among parents, teachers and children in India today about a society where 99-per cent cutoffs are the new normal for college admissions. Multiple voices compete inside the heads of everyone involved. Shouldn’t education be about a holistic exposure to all facets of life rather than a cracking of tests? Shouldn’t education be a force for peace, a means to overcoming prejudice? But the material world doesn’t reward these qualities! Yes, I want my kids to be creative and curious but didn’t the work ethic and analytical abilities drilled into us by old-fashioned Indian public schools make us a generation of high-achievers? Will new-age approaches to education turn my kids into under-achievers?

Multiple studies have shown that personality attributes such as grit, curiosity, and self-control are stronger predictors of achievement than IQ. Writer Paul Tough in his book, How Children Succeed, challenged what he called “the cognitive hypothesis” or the belief “that success today depends primarily on cognitive skills — the kind of intelligence that gets measured on IQ tests, including the abilities to recognise letters and words, to calculate, to detect patterns”. Instead, Tough offered a character-hypothesis or the idea that non-cognitive skills, like persistence, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control, are more crucial than raw brainpower to achieving success. Tough believes that character is created by encountering and overcoming failure. A culture that allows children to explore, take academic risks and learn from failure is a culture that creates curious, passionate, confident, and empathetic adults. As Einstein famously noted, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”.

An education system that values creativity is one that makes a deliberate effort to spark thoughtfulness and independent thinking, teaches students how to learn, instils a lifelong love of learning, pushes students to find their own interpretations, and guides the development of a strong moral compass. Creativity in education has to do with a constructivist approach to education, where learning is an active, contextualised process of knowledge construction that builds on prior knowledge, social interaction and authentic tasks, rather than the passive receiving of information.

By glorifying starting salaries and standardised tests in India, we also propagate a singular definition of intelligence that skews our incentives and priorities in unhealthy ways. This creates, for example, a society where blind obeisance to corporate imperatives is valued far more than, say, the pursuit of teaching or the arts. To be fair, this is a flaw intrinsic to capitalism but one that is at least recognised and partially redressed via generous subsidies and grants in the developed world. Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner introduced the theory of multiple intelligences in 1983, and posited that IQ was an inadequate measure of human ability. Beyond the linguistic and logical-mathematical skills that IQ tests entail, Gardner proposed musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence and naturalist intelligence as key expressions of human ability that find relevance in a wide variety of professions. Gardner’s research expanded the idea of intelligence. We could do with such an expansion in India.

A society that values multiple intelligences, encourages exploration, accepts failure, prizes environmental conscientiousness, and allows people to define success on their terms may be what Pichai had in mind. For India’s over-populated, hyper-competitive context, such a reality may still be a while away. But it’s a goal that’s well worth aiming for.

Source: The Indian Express dated 19 January, 2016

BOOK BANK FACILITY FOR FE TO BE

The library is providing the “Book Bank” facility to all the students FE to BE.

Date and timings are as mentioned below :

Date : 16/01/2016

Timing :10.00am to 1.00pm and 2.00pm to 3.00pm.

Sachin Tendulkar's near-death experience while crossing rail tracks

Sachin Tendulkar recalled a scary experience which he underwent during his school days while crossing the rail tracks.

Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday recalled a scary experience which he underwent during his school days while crossing the rail tracks.

The former India batsman was speaking at the launch of two initiatives by the Mumbai Railway Police - SAMEEP (Safety Alert Messages Exclusively For Passengers) and B-Safe.

"Right from the age of 11, I travelled by trains in Mumbai. When I travelled, I had a kit-bag. I have also experienced jostling, being pushed in and out of trains...these experiences will stay with me," Tendulkar said.

"In school, I had gone to Vile Parle to a friend's place. We five or six boys... had practiced in the morning and had gone to his place for lunch. Then we decided to watch a movie. After watching the movie, we got late for practice and hence we decided to cross railway tracks and go to the platform, and board the train at Dadar," he added.

The 42-year-old talking about the horrific incident said, "While crossing the tracks, halfway, we realised that trains were coming fast on all the tracks. We ended up crouching on our knees in between the tracks with our kits. That was a scary experience and then onwards we never crossed train tracks."

Tendulkar also urged all rail commuters not to sit on train roofs and to avoid travel if the train is crowded.

"I feel in today's world every minute matters, there is competition everywhere. I feel, a lot of time (the thinking is) if we cross railway tracks, then we will reach quicker, there will be benefit of five minutes instead of crossing the bridge while going to the other platform. These are small things - one, you are breaking the law, and you are risking life for five minutes," he said.

"Your family and friends are waiting for you back home and if you reach there five minutes later it really does not matter. It is important to be there, safe and sound, rather than be in hospital. I will request: do not sit on the train roof and travel if the train is crowded. Everyone is hard pressed for time, but still (I ask you), leave that train, be patient and do not break rules," Tendulkar said.

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sachin-tendulkar-near-death-experience-while-crossing-rail-tracks/1/570197.html

SFIT Student's Council FB Page

Check out SFIT Student's Council Facebook Page for current updates!

Plant a tree with a few clicks

SankalpTaru’s model also benefits farmers who help in maintaining the fruit-bearing trees and benefit from them

SankalpTaru founder Apurva Bhandari. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

New Delhi: Home to 1.2 billion people, India is the second-most populated country in the world, but its tree-to-people ratio is not very high and stands at only 28 per person. China, the only country with a higher population, has 108 trees per person, according to a recent study published inNature. To remedy the situation, technology-enabled non-government organization SankalpTaru Foundation is providing a platform to facilitate the planting of trees.

Its mobile app was launched in July 2013, aiming to bridge the gap between people’s busy schedules and their willingness to participate for an environment-friendly country.

The app helps people to plant at any desired location with a few clicks on the website or from their app, and in turn is used by the worker at the plantation site of SankalpTaru across India.

“We have plantation locations across India which range from Ladakh to Tamil Nadu. We have locations in Thar desert, Himalayas, Maharashtra and Gujarat,” said Apurva Bhandari, founder of SankalpTaru Foundation.

The model revolves around schools and rural farmers so that users can grow fruit-bearing trees that can contribute to the livelihood of farmers or involve school students and teachers in plantation activity in schools.

SankalpTaru workers will plant a sapling on behalf of the person who selects a location and makes a contribution. A mail will confirm that the sapling has been planted.

The sapling is also photographed and geotagged by the ground-level worker so that the user can see its progress as it grows into a tree and the beneficiary who will nurture it. The user then gets regular growth updates to keep him/her more connected to the tree.

“For corporations, we have taken it a step further, where we create virtual forests for them through which different employees come to that virtual forest, plant trees and the virtual forest gives a lot of branding mileage to the company and connects a lot of employees who plant trees there,” said Bhandari.

The NGO works towards two objectives: to provide people who want to plant trees with a sustainable credible platform, thus making plantation more organized.

“People claim that they have planted 1 million plants in an hour, but what happens then? We decided that every plant that is planted should grow to become a tree,” said Bhandari.

The second objective was to facilitate livelihood support programmes through tree plantation for farmers. The on-ground coordinators work closely with the beneficiary farmers in maintaining the trees and also train these beneficiaries on sustainable farming methods.

Once grown, these medicinal and fruit-bearing trees can act as a source of livelihood for the beneficiaries.

The initiative won a Manthan award in 2015 in the e-Environment category.

“If you plant a tree in a park and it grows, there is an impact on the environment. But if you grow a plant for a farmer and it becomes a tree, then it becomes the source of livelihood. IT is helping integrating the whole process and making the process transparent,” said Bhandari.

Bhandari added that the biggest challenge initially was to mobilize resources, but as the concept offered transparency and visibility, many companies showed interest in the programme and helped it kick off.

The NGO has till now planted 316,665 trees across India and has tied up with 30 countries, while more than 21,000 people have been beneficiaries.

The first tree was planted by former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in Uttarakhand.

Source:
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/eZvRUkK9ar2WJHOhn0oPrN/Plant-a-tree-with-a-few-clicks.html

New exam to replace JEE this October for admissions to engg

NEW DELHI: Learning by rote or attending coaching classes will no longer guarantee admission to popular and premier engineering institutions in the country.

The Union human resource development (HRD) ministry will soon set up a National Authority for Testing (NAT) to conduct a new entrance examination — starting this October — that will replace the two-tier joint entrance examination (JEE) main and advanced tests for entry into engineering colleges.

The JEE is a national common entrance examination conducted to provide admissions to several engineering courses.

The focus now will be to standardise the test so that it can’t be cracked by coaching institutes or “teaching shops” and learning by rote — which bring down the standard because such practices fail to teach analytical and logical skills needed for scientific research. The new system will test the logical and analytical abilities of students rather than knowledge on subjects. The first such test from October will screen students aspiring for admission to the 2017 session, sources said.

Under the new system, students will be able to write the test online four times a year. About 4,00,000 students will then be shortlisted for the joint entrance examination (JEE), which will follow the same pattern of the current advanced test and examine their knowledge of physics, chemistry and mathematics.

The score will be used f or admission to IITs and NITs.

The NAT will be constituted after approval from the Union cabinet and registered as an independent society under the HRD ministry.

The concept was given inprinciple approval by the ministry at a meeting last week, where contours of the authority were discussed.

“The NAT is a general aptitude score like SAT and will be used for JEE. The National Authority for Testing will be mandated to design and administer world-class aptitude tests to judge innovative abilities, l o gical t hinking, problem solving and critical thinking of students,” said a senior official.

Officials said the NAT would be nurtured to evolve as a globally-acclaimed organisation for educational and psychological tests with the ability to design exams for people from diverse cultural, linguistic and social backgrounds.

The NAT is likely to have a technical wing too along with wings for tests, IT, administrative and finance. “The technical wing will have educationi sts and psychometricians while the test wing will comprise administrators specialising in conducting tests,” an official said.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that the offline JEE main exam for 2016 will be held on April 3 while the online test is scheduled for April 9 and 10.

Source: Hindustan Times dated 11 January 2016