LIRC@SFIT

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 ...

Two ex-IITians have come up with a unique open- school communication and social learning platform that allows teachers, parents and students to interact freely and effectively on mobile phones. Ritesh Singh and Akshat Goel wanted to provide innovative solutions for effective knowledge transfer in our ecosystem. Hence, they chose the name ‘Eckovation’ for their startup, a portmanteau of ecosystem, knowledge and innovation. Eckovation allows teachers, parents and students to interact freely and effectively while safeguarding privacy. (Courtesy/Yo Success) Founded in March 2014, the app was finally launched this June after more than a yearlong market research and study. CEO Singh, who hails from tier-III town Chapra in  Founded in March 2014, the app was finally launched this June after more than a yearlong market research and study. CEO Singh, who hails from tier-III town Chapra in Bihar, said he had language issues from the beginning and these never left him. “So, I was ...