Education

"We got the permission just a month back when the course was formally approved by the Union Government," said Shivajirao Kadam, vice chancellor of BVU who is also a member of Pharmaceutical Council of India. "The course will open new avenues for the students, who want to pursue career in pharmacy," he said.

At present, the four-year bachelor of pharmacy (BPharm) is the only option available for the students. PharmD is an integrated six-year course that gives students an authority to prescribe medicines to patients. "The admission procedure has already started and we expect an intake of 30 students for the first year," said Kadam.

The programme will be initially rolled out in 100 colleges affiliated to the university and the number of students expected to enrol is 30,000, vice-chancellor Narendra Jadhav said on Wednesday.

The programme will offer orientation and training in the information technology enabled services segment that needs human resources in huge numbers. These will include banking and financial services, insurance and retail, Jadhav said.

The programme contains three modules of 132 hours each, comprising awareness, skill training and employability development, Jadhav said, adding that the students are expected to complete these modules side by side their basic degree education. "The programme is optional, but we are confident that the students will find it relevant," Jadhav said.

Uma Ganesh of Global Talent Track said the outsourcing opportunity for India is very big and we need to prepare the country's youth to take up work that goes beyond call centres and other basic business process outsourcing categories. There will be opportunities in newer areas such as finance and accounting or publishing, she added.

Cisco, in the field of connectivity and networking technology, is the technology partner for the programme.

The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), which restarted the acting course in 2004, is now reopening the classroom.

The room that was kept locked for 32 years will see light and action once again on October 5 when it is officially thrown open for present and future batches.

The lead has been taken by the acting course coordinator, Kanwarjit Paintal. "This is a classroom where film industry's exceptional talent in acting was honed. Actors who have been tutored here include Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Shatrughan Sinha, Navin Nischol, Suresh Oberoi and Raza Murad amongst others. The course was discontinued in 1976 and the classroom remained unused. It was in a shambles. Eventually the acting batch was restarted in 2004 but the class remained ignored and nobody thought of opening it. But my love for the place propelled me to work towards restoring it and opening it once again," said Paintal who is himself a former student of the acting course.

Keeping in mind the spirit of the classroom, the inauguration will be done by acting guru Roshan Taneja.

However, the 70 schools that are participating in the Commonwealth Youth Games have welcomed the decision.

The Pune Zilla Parishad Secondary Education Officer had issued a circular on September 20 saying that the term-end exams should be conducted after the Diwali vacation. The decision is applicable to all schools in the city, including government aided, non-aided and private schools.

Said a visibly dismayed SPM English School Principal Medha Pandit, "We had announced the start of the term-end exam from September 29. But at the eleventh hour, we had to cancel it owing to the Secondary Education Department's recent circular which we received only yesterday (Thursday)," she said. "The students, too, are disappointed as they had prepared for the exams and will now have to study again during the vacation," Pandit added.

"We had constantly been in touch with the Education Department, even before the academic year started. It was clear from the very beginning of the academic year that the dates of the Commonwealth Youth Games and term-end exams would clash. Why then did the Education Department wait till September 20 to take a decision?" she asked.

It was way back in March that the Education Department had convened a meeting of principals of all schools in the city with the CYG Organising Committee. "But no decision was taken at that meeting," said Pandit.

Shobha Shimpi of MIT Marathi High School, too, expressed disappointment over the exam postponement order. "If the exams are conducted after the Diwali vacation, teachers won't get enough time to correct the answer sheets. Moreover, immediately after the term-end exam, students will have to prepare for the unit test," she pointed out.

Meanwhile, principals of schools taking part in the Games have welcomed the Education Department order. "It is good that students can experience an international event happening right in the city," said Jayashree Pai, principal of Abhinav English Medium School which is participating in the Games.

Pai opined that there would be no problem completing the remaining portion in the second term. "There are enough working days and we can manage," she claimed.

In June, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education introduced a simpler version of the subject - general mathematics, as compared to `regular' mathematics. Several months on, the idea has still not found favour with schools. In fact, many students don't even know that such a version exists.

There are two reasons why schools are reluctant to introduce the subject. One, it would dent their reputation: it would create the notion that their students are not strong enough at maths. The other thing going against the subject is that any student who opts for it will not be eligible for admission to the science stream in Class XI. In other words, it will close the door for admission to medical and engineering courses.

Only a handful of civic-run schools have introduced general mathematics so far. On record, most other schools cite non-availability of faculty. Many students find regular mathematics tough. It has been a low-scoring subject for years.

The board had issued a circular on the introduction of the simpler version for the weak in Class IX. It plans to extend the option to Class X students next year onwards.

But because so few schools have taken it up, many students have never heard of general mathematics. "I surveyed 59 schools in the city and found ambiguity about this among teachers and students," said Narendra Sidhaye, who is studying the new subject as part of his M.Ed thesis. "At some PMC schools, students have already been directed to take only general mathematics in Class IX," he said. "On the other hand, major schools don't want their students to take general mathematics as they fear losing their reputation. This is true of boys' as well as girls' schools," he said.

City schools are ready with their explanations. "The board conveyed the decision very late, when the academic year had already started. To introduce a new subject, it is necessary to increase a division and also arrange for the faculty, which was not possible at the eleventh hour," said T S Mundhe, principal of Ramanbaug High School. "."

Mundhe admitted that some students might have wanted to take up general mathematics at Class X next year, but would not be able to do so. "We are not introducing general mathematics at Class IX from next year either," he added.

"There is no demand for general mathematics at our school; no one has opted for it," said Shobha Shimpi, principal of MIT Marathi High School. "We had called a meeting of parents after we received the circular, but no one showed interest." Board chairman Vijaysheela Sardesai insisted that the schools had been informed well in advance about the decision. "We had also called a meeting of principals to inform them. If some schools are not implementing the decision, the parents should inform the board or nearest education officer," said Sardesai.

Through the initiative of Inter-University Centre for Astrophysics and Astronomy (IUCAA), nine Khagol Vidnyan Manch (KVM) have been established in Ambegaon, north of Pune, to popularise science among school students in the village.

IUCAA director Naresh Dadhich inaugurated the KVMs in Ambegaon on Monday. Under the initiative, which is part of the organisation's science outreach programme, the KVMs have been set up in eight secondary and one primary school in the village. IUCAA had earlier invited these nine secondary schools to volunteer to set up a KVM in their institutions. It may be noted that `khagol' means astronomy and `vidnyan' means science.

Speaking at the inaugural function, Dadhich said, "We are spreading IUCAA's mandate of science popularisation through this programme. Someday, there would be an astronomer from this region who would be using our two-metre telescope."

Meanwhile, IUCAA has installed a telescope on Girawali mountain, east of Ghodegaon, for the villagers to explore and familiarise themselves with.

Around 70 headmasters of secondary schools as well as science and geography teachers from the village attended the inauguration.

KVM is an ambitious project that aims to reach students in rural India to enrich them with quality learning, to help them derive pleasure out of studying and also to inculcate a scientific temperament in them.

At a meeting, the directorate of education decided that the exams should be postponed in order to enable the participation of teachers and students in the event. Accordingly, all Zilla Parishad School examinations in Pune district will be conducted immediately after the Diwali vacations. It was also decided that school principals should urge their teachers and students to participate in CYG at all levels.

The UoP, which is the state government's official agency for conducting SET in Maharashtra and Goa, has more than 140 vacant posts of professors, readers and lecturers due to be filled since a decade, but owing to a state government's ban on recruitment. The ban was lifted late last year.

Similarly, a large number of teaching posts at the affiliated colleges and institutions remain vacant for want of SET-qualified candidates.

Member secretary (SET) and UoP registrar Manikrao Jadhav confirmed the UGC clearance while speaking to TOI on Wednesday. "We got the go ahead a week ago," he said. "The next SET has been scheduled for January 18, 2009, and would be followed by another one in September 2009," he added. According to UoP's SET convenor N.N. Godbole, Maharashtra is the only state where the UGC has made an exception allowing two SET exams in a year owing to UoP's good record.

The norms include adherence to UGC prescribed syllabus, involvement of 30 per cent examiners from outside Maharashtra, sustaining the prescribed difficulty levels, passing percentage, among other things, he said.

Of the 21,000 students who appeared in the February 2008 SET, only 2.4 per cent candidates passed. The average passing percentage in the 21 SETs held before the February 2008 test was 3.5. The best ever showing was in 1998 when the passing percentage was recorded at 7.3, followed by 5.6 per cent in the inaugural year. Post-1998, the success rate has never crossed 4.5 per cent mark.

The exam pattern
The SET is conducted in two sessions of 2.5 hours each, consisting of three papers of total 400 marks. It involves non-technical subjects like languages, pure and social sciences, arts, commerce and education, among others.

Session one features two objective multiple-choice papers (I & II) of 100 marks each focussing on general abilities like comprehension, awareness about education system, numeric ability et.al., and a subject chosen by the candidate.

Candidates with a collective aggregate score of 50 per cent from papers I & II qualify for the next phase, which is the 200 mark paper III marked for the second session.

The test, which is seen as the gateway to lecturer jobs at state universities and their affiliated colleges, is scheduled for January 18, 2009.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, UoP registrar Manikrao Jadhav said students desirous of appearing in the SET should take note of the last date and ensure that their forms are submitted on time. Details of the form submission process are posted on the UoP's website -- www.unipune.ernet.in/set.

The state government has given permission to these colleges to start MBA, MCM, BBA, BFT, MCA and some post-graduate diploma courses in management after August 1. While some of these colleges are already affiliated to the University of Pune, many others are still to get affiliation.

According to a circular issued by the university, the first term for most of the courses concludes on October 31. "It is mandatory to complete 90 working days for the first term as per the guidelines in an ordinance issued by the university. As the courses have been given permission after August 1, the criterion would not be fulfilled if the courses get started this academic year," said a member of senate of the UoP.

The MSBSHSE has issued a press note in this regard saying, "Written exam for class 10 will be conducted from September 18 to 27 and for class 12 from September 18 to October 10." As many as 81,643 students will appear for SSC, while 54,032 students will appear for HSC exams.

"The exam for repeaters is usually conducted in October. But due to commonwealth youth games and Deewali holidays, the dates of exams are preponed," says the press note.

The students appearing for the exam based on old syllabus will have a last chance. If they fail to get through, they will have to appear for the exam in March, which will be based on the new syllabus.

The students appearing for the exams based on new syllabus will have to give 20 marks oral exams for languages. Orals and grade exams for class 10 and 12 will be conducted from September 11 to Sept 17.

In a first-of-its-kind exercise, the institute carried out a survey to find out the placement positions of the last three batches of students that passed out. The survey that began last month has put together the current work positions and earnings of students who passed out of various courses since 2004.

Inaugurating a post-graduate degree programme in agricultural business management at the College of Agriculture, he said, "Maharashtra is rich in agricultural produce and proper marketing would enable farmers to get appropriate prices for their produce."

The Master of Business Management (Agriculture) course has been launched by Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth at the century-old College of Agriculture from this academic year. Thorat said that agri-business managers can carve a very significant role in fields of agriculture such as marketing, processing and supply chain management.

The state, which has been producing experts in agriculture, horticulture and agricultural engineering, would now also produce experts in agri-business management, he noted.

Thorat added that MBM (Agriculture) course would also be considered for some fee concessions and waivers -- as in other courses like BSc (Agri), BSc (Hort) in accordance with State government norms.

Maharashtra Council of Agricultural Education and Research (MCAER) Vice-Chairman Vijay Kolte inaugurated a WiFi facility at the college.

Course: MTech (Energy Studies)

Eligibility: MSc/BE/BTech

How to apply: Application form can be obtained from the university on payment of Rs. 400 (reserved category: Rs. 300) or by sending a DD for Rs. 400 drawn in favour of the university, payable at Pune. The form is available at the university website as well

Contact: The Director, School of Energy Studies, University of Pune, Pune-11007 Phone: 020-25695201/25601415

Website: www.unipune.ernet.in

Last date: September 10

The problem, it is understood, is an absconding complainant, whose absence makes it difficult for the committee to conduct the inquiry.