General Awareness

GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION - August 2020

Aug 2020

Apr 12, 2023

Six Indian-Americans Win 2023 Guggenheim Fellowships

Six Indian-Americans were among a diverse group of 171 scientists, writers, scholars, and artists across 48 fields were chosen out of almost 2,500 applicants for the 2023 Guggenheim Fellowships.
Scholars Animashree Anandkumar, Venkatesan Guruswami, Abraham Verghese, Projit Bihari Mukharji, Prineha Narang and Leela Prasad were selected on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise.
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 (98 years ago) by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts."
Each year, the foundation issues awards in each of two separate competitions:
One open to citizens and permanent residents of the United States and Canada.
The other to citizens and permanent residents of Latin America and the Caribbean.

TOEFL to be Made Hour Shorter

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) announced several changes and modifications to the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
According to the revised regulations, the TOEFL iBT test has been shortened by an hour now. The test will now take less than two hours to complete, earlier it was for a duration of three hours.
To do so, the test will now have a new, more modern 'Writing for an Academic Discussion' task, which will replace the previous independent writing task. The reading section has also been shortened and all unscored test questions have also been removed.
One of the biggest changes being brought in is that the test takers will see now be able to see their official score release date upon completion of the test, in addition to receiving real-time notification of changes to their score status.

IISc Bangalore Wins Praj IISER Mimamsa 2023

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore was awarded with the Praj-IISER Pune 'Mimamsa 2023' – the coveted National Level Science Competition.
This year, Mimamsa 2023 saw the participation of 1384 teams represented by more than 4800 students from around 450 colleges across the country. The highlight of this year was the participation of the 332 All Girls team, with a rise of 66 per cent as compared to last year (2022). Four teams that made it to finals were IISc Bangalore, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, and IIT Madras.
IISc Bangalore was presented the winner's trophy by Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, Founder and Executive Chairman Praj Industries at the CV Raman Auditorium, IISER, Pune.

AP Govt. Teachers to Upgrade Skills through IIT Madras Courses

In a move to upgrade teaching skills in science disciplines, the Andhra Pradesh government school teachers could soon be able to pursue certificate courses offered by IIT Madras. In a review meeting in the Education department, Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy approved the proposal on teaching methods for effective implementation of subject teacher concepts over the next two years in mathematics, physics, and chemistry.
The Chief Minister emphasised the importance of monitoring student attendance in schools. This is because the state government is currently enacting initiatives like "Amma Vodi," "Vidya Devena," and "Vasathi Devena" to reduce the number of dropouts.

Apr 08, 2023

Punjab Government Launches Punjab's 'CM di Yogshala' Programme

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal blamed the Centre for the suspension of free yoga classes under the AAP government's 'Dilli Ki Yogshala' initiative but expressed hope that it will restart again, saying good things cannot be stopped.
He was speaking during the launch of 'CM di Yogshala' programme in Punjab.
The initiative was initially launched for four cities -- Patiala, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Phagwara by Kejriwal along with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
A 'CM di yogshala' portal was also launched on the occasion.
Under the Punjab government's initiative, people could give a missed call on a helpline number 7669400500 to seek a free yoga teacher from the state government.
Sixty people have been trained at Guru Ravidas University to teach yoga under the 'CM di Yogshala' initiative.

Apr 07, 2023

IIT Madras Develops Electronic Kits for Govt. School Students

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras, IIT Madras, developed electronic kits for the students of government schools residing in rural areas to kindle their interest in STEM. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M. K. Stalin inaugurated the initiative that will connect one Lakh government school students studying in rural locations with electronic science.
As part of this endeavour, the Chief Minister also distributed electronic kits developed by IIT Madras to the government school students in the presence of Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Minister for School Education, Professor V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, and other dignitaries, at an event held on IITM Campus.
The objective is to encourage and help Tamil Nadu government schools students to continue their higher education without hurdles. A stipend of Rs. 1,000 will be provided every month until they finish their Class 12. Students selected under this scheme will also get Rs. 12,000 as a stipend annually during their under-graduation and post-graduation.

Major Changes Proposed in NCF

Draft recommendations for the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) propose major structural changes for students of Classes 9, 10 and 12 with respect to subject choice and the number of papers they need to appear for in the board exams.
Not only does it suggest that board exams be held twice a year, but it also suggests dividing all subjects into eight curricular areas to ensure students are able to build an overall knowledge base across different fields.
The NCF needs to be followed by both national boards, such as CBSE and CISCE, and state boards.
As per the draft recommendations of NCF, board examinations should be offered at least twice a year to ensure that students have both enough time and opportunity to perform well. Students can then appear for a board examination in courses they have completed and feel ready for.
This process could be made possible through the creation of a comprehensive test item bank which can be used to create tests using suitable software. This will enable the move towards a system of on-demand examinations in the near future as described in NEP 2020.

Apr 06, 2023

TN Govt, IIT Madras Tie Up to Connect Rural Students to Electronic Science

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin launched an initiative of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) to connect 100,000 students studying in government schools in rural areas to electronic science.
As part of this endeavour, Stalin also distributed electronic kits developed by IIT Madras to government school students. Through this initiative, 252 government schools were earmarked for getting these electronic kits.
The institute has already trained two teachers from each school to train children. To support the teachers, India Literacy Project (ILP India), a non-profit organisation, has come forward to deploy teachers to support them in electronics teaching and provide science kits (at least 10 kits to each of the 252 schools) through IIT Madras.

Apr 05, 2023

Samsung with MeitY & IIT Delhi Launches Season 2 of 'Solve for Tomorrow' Competition

Samsung launched the second season of National Innovation Competition 'Solve for Tomorrow' in association with MeitY and IIT Delhi. The application process ends on May 31, 2023. Candidates can apply for the competition online through the official site of Samsung at samsung.com/in/solvefortomorrow.
The organisation partnered with Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology's (MeitY's) Star-tup Hub and Foundation for Innovation & Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi for the second season of its national education and innovation competition to develop innovative thinking mindset among the youth.
With Solve for Tomorrow, Samsung aims to usher in a culture of innovative thinking and problem-solving amongst the country's youth.

First in India: Jaipur School Becomes Fully Digitised by Going Bagless

Adarsh Vidya Mandir School in Rajasthan's Jaipur district became India's first digitised school where students will not need to carry textbooks and heavy bags when they go to study.
It is the first school to offer a STEM Robotics & AI Programme with the US curriculum and certifications which is the first of its kind in India.
Teaching and learning will now happen using Tablets that are provided to students and teachers. Under the digitisation of classrooms, Tablets have been provided to students and teachers under our One Tablet Per Child (OTPC) and Digital Learning Ecosystem programmes.

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