TIPS TO SCORE BETTER IN BOARD EXAMS

                           TIPS TO SCORE BETTER IN BOARD EXAMS

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If you will do proper justice to your studies ,you will score good marks. For that you must strategize your work properly and practice writing regularly. This will help to boost your self-confidence and in the final examination, you will be able to write the paper without any pressure.
Be it CBSE Board, ICSE Board,IB Board,IGCSE Board,ISC Board, SSC or HSC or any other board these tips will help you score better marks in any board exams:
1. A systematically written, clean and tidy paper will impress the paper checker; whereas
an untidy paper will lose a chance to score.
2. There is no hard and fast rule that you should write answers in serial order.But if
you follow a serial order in writing, lt will apper neat and, systematic. It will also
prove your discipline in writing.
3. Bold and clear, legible writing will definitely make a good impression. Your
handwriting is a reflection of your personality. It will reveal your clear thinking
process. So try to write in a clear and bold handwriting, spacing out each word
properly.
4. Go through the question paper and read it carefully. If you read it coolly, the writing of the
answer will be satisfactory.
5. Strictly answer the question as per the given instruction in the question paper. lf the paper-setter
has asked you to write an answer in 5 to 6 lines, avoid exceed the limit and
do not write a very long answer .Notice the marks allotted for each question
and then write the answer accordingly.
6. Do not write your answers in a hurry. If you are in a hurry to complete your paper, you are
likely to make mistakes in spellings and numbers etc.
7.Write the question numbers for every question that you write. If you are writing
short note, write the title clearly and then start the short note. Some students are
Very careless about this. The examiner should not get a chance to get annoyed of
Your carelessness.
8. Language papers line English, Hindi, Marathi, French, Sanskrit are not very scoring subjects. You cannot hope to score as you can score in your Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology , Social Science ( history, civics, geography, economics) Papers. But you should not neglect these subjects just because it
is not scoring.
9.To score better in languages and theory subjects make it a habit to underline the idioms and phrases you have used in your compositions/essays/paragraphs. If you
have used any quotations, make them distinctive by using quotation marks.
10.Underline the key words to attract the attention of the examiner.
Complete the paper in the given time or atleast 10 minutes before the final time. So, plan your writing accordingly. It' you wish to attempt any extra questions, attempt them at the end of the same question.
11.Your presentation of the paper should be so good that the examiner should feel
greatly satisfied and should say - 'This is what I had expected to see!!
We at UNIQORN HOME TUITIONS wish you all the very best for your exams.Create History.Break Records.Emerge As Winner!
VISIT US HERE: http://uniqorn.co.in/About_Us.html

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Uniform, but unworkable

The 9 August ruling of the Supreme Court that schools in Tamilnadu must implement Samacheer Kalvi immediately has received mixed reactions. Some think it is a great step forward for equality and social justice, while others fear that it will undermine the quality of education in some schools. I believe the judgment is flawed, and will prove harmful to the students, parents, and teachers of Tamilnadu.

Samacheer Kalvi, or the Uniform System of Education, was brought in with much excitement by the previous DMK government. It would, said the government, ensure a uniform curriculum across the state in public and private schools, require the use of standardised text books by all pupils, and protect the rights of children to education in their mother tongue.

The implementation of the scheme began in the 2010-2011 academic year for Standards I and VI, and it was set to roll out for Standards VII-X in 2011-2012. But then a new AIADMK government was elected in mid-2011, and objected to the content of the textbooks. The new dispensation claimed the books promoted the previous government's politics and policies, and they passed legislation to delay implementation of the scheme while the books were revamped. In the meantime, some schools waited for the new books, some spent large amounts on books that followed the earlier curriculum. Some halted the use of books altogether.

In June, the Madras High Court ruled that the new law was unconstitutional and that Samacheer Kalvi must be fully implemented this academic year itself, as previously planned. Books produced by the DMK government were acceptable, any objectionable sections could be removed or papered over, and the books should be used. The government's appeal to the Supreme Court proved fruitless, as the apex body affirmed the High Court's views.

All of this is happening after children have been in school for weeks. Valuable instructional time has been lost. Students have become innocent victims caught in a political crossfire over curriculum and textbooks.

The whole situation highlights several important problems - with Samacheer Kalvi in particular and with government control of education in general. First, this sort of political haggling is inevitable when government involves itself in the detailed operations of schools, and the ones who lose will always be the students. Governments are political; they are not educators. Their strengths do not lie in planning curricula or in writing and selecting text books. Schools are familiar with the exams their students will need to pass to be successful and can plan their curricula accordingly. They do not need detailed plans handed down to them by government officials.

When it comes to textbooks and other such resources, schools and teachers are better placed to evaluate various options and determine what will be the best fit for their unique children, teaching styles, and circumstances. Indeed, even the National Curriculum Framework 2005, the central government's guidelines to states, emphasises the importance of giving flexibility to teachers and schools in determining the best way to achieve educational outcomes and the best resources to employ in pursuing those aims.

Children are different from each other, schools are different, and teachers are different. There is no reason, therefore, to assume that the same books will most effectively teach maths or social sciences or English in every situation. Those decisions are best left to individual schools. The government of Tamilnadu has demonstrated extreme arrogance in asserting that it knows better than parents and teachers how to teach children.

Inevitably, when governments involve themselves so heavily in the minutiae of education, the curriculum and textbooks will be politicised. Whether the government itself is writing the books, or a publisher is writing books to sell to the government, the incentive is to produce what will appeal to politicians. Say some good things about the party, and that probably earns you points. Emphasise the bits of history that play to the governing party's strengths, and that will probably help your case. And that's before we even start to think about the potential for bribery and corruption.

Is it any surprise, then, that the new government objected to the old government's chosen textbooks? And is it not all but certain that the scenario will repeat itself when the next new government is elected? Samacheer Kalvi increases the politicisation of education, and disempowers schools, teachers and parents. Neither is good for the quality of education.

Second, Samacheer Kalvi, like so many other government initiatives related to education, focuses entirely on inputs rather than outcomes. Everyone agrees that we want children who can read and write, add and multiply, speak well in their mother tongue and use English. All of these are outcomes. The books that are used, the teaching methods that are employed, the number of teachers, the hours spent at school, and the buildings and other facilities available are all inputs. They are tools for achieving educational outcomes. They are means, rather than ends in and of themselves. We should therefore focus on those ends, those objectives, and trust teachers and parents to judge the tools that are best used to achieve them.

Rather than setting broad standards and allowing parents and teachers the freedom to achieve those in the ways most well suited to their particular circumstances, politicians have focused on equality of inputs. If all pupils were exactly the same, all parents had exactly the same values, all circumstances were identical, and all children had the same goals, then focusing on inputs might work. But they are not. Outcomes are what matter, so governments should trust parents and teachers to figure out how those outcomes are best achieved.

And it is important to remember that Samacheer Kalvi applies to all schools, even private schools that are neither operated nor paid for by the state. The freedom of parents to choose the education that is best for their children has been removed. The ability of talented, experienced teachers to employ creative methods to teach their students has been severely undermined. By focusing on inputs, rather than on outcomes, the government of Tamilnadu has reduced incentives for teachers and schools to be innovative, to raise standards, to achieve more. None of that will be rewarded. Instead, teachers must follow government-determined rules and use government-approved resources.

The signal sent loud and clear is that it is those inputs, not outcomes, that are most important.

The forced requirement that all children must be taught in the mother tongue violates parental rights and is rather impractical in a cosmopolitan and multi-cultural state. The UN Declaration of Human Rights, in the Article 26, clearly states "Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children." India was one of the first signatories of this Universal Declaration.

To implement this, not just in letter but also in spirit, the Tamilnadu government should not only allow private schools to decide the medium of instruction. It should offer choice to parents in government schools for different media of instruction. The parents should have a right to choose the medium of instruction in private as well as government schools.

The desire for quality education for all children is noble and surely one shared by all. But Samacheer Kalvi makes that more difficult. It ensures that all children will use the same curriculum and the same books, but it reduces the ability of teachers to respond to the unique needs of their students or for parents to choose the education they believe is best for their children. If the government of Tamilnadu truly wants to improve education for all children, it should free up teachers to teach, schools to determine the specifics of curriculum and resources, and parents to choose the education that is best for their children.

This is the best way to improve education for all: Not just the right to education but the right to education of choice.

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The real and present threat to our future

India and the world at large are witnessing the kind of change that we have not seen in recent times. We have been witness to worldwide ferment, revolutions, emergence of out-of-the-box ideas, inventions, disasters, untold agony, ecstasy and dramatic political, economic and sociological changes. And as the world changes, we have no choice but to revolutionise the field of education. Only that will help us ride the change.

We need innovations. We need people who will drive it, implement it and open the pathway for change by revitalizing and refashioning it. This is possible only with a dynamic education system churning out innovative students who can independently think, strategise and built the nation's future.

India needs an education system to empower teachers to teach differently. Ironically, ancient India had an ancient holistic education system aimed at creating well-rounded individuals who would reflect the soul of India. But the British changed it to one that historian and politician Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay introduced in 1935 - one that was specifically designed to create an army of clerks to run its administration. After more than 17 decades, the same continues at the primary and secondary school level.

Outdated and archaic

The goal of the British system was not to educate, but to enable people to get basic employment. Ironically, it appears we have even failed to achieve that objective consistently. As teachers and educationists, we have failed to develop the innate talent of our children that can help them do better in life, secure better jobs, get their creative juices flowing and contribute to society. At the moment, there is no foreseeable future effort by parents, teachers, educationists, policy makers and politicians to correct this and courageously bring in radical reforms. Talk to any of the thousands of engineering students passing out every year and the tragedy will be clear.

Politics is important in a democracy and has a rightful place, but if democracy is to succeed, it needs a literate thinking population to drive change and progress. Education should be our number one priority, as it has the potential to drive away many social ills, blind faith and, of course, poverty. It can help us think differently, build aspirations and inherent strengths. Political parties across sections have to realise this and hold hands to help the government in power to bring in reforms. We have already lost a lot of time. We cannot afford to miss this turning point in history.

Unprepared future

In ten years, India will overtake China as the world's most populous country. The good news is that India will be the only country with such a large young population. To turn around this demographic dividend, we need excellent schools, colleges and institutions of higher learning that have a revamped contemporary syllabus to meet the challenges of the future. Learning has to be exciting, proactive and practical.

Rote learning which thrives in India does not focus on learning or application of what is taught. It does not develop critical reasoning faculties. Joint studies by WIPRO and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development have shown that rote studies at the primary and secondary school level actually resulted in students regressing in mathematics and science. The emphasis in our schools and colleges is on examinations that rely on such memorisation and not on intelligence, innovative thinking or even problem solving.

The Chinese leadership has realised that it cannot keep sustaining its economy by making cheap imitations but needs bright minds in research and development to compete with the western world that have made impressive strides in biotechnology, nanotechnology, knowledge intensive services and manufacturing. It has recognised rote learning cannot get them to achieve this. We in India need to see the logic too. How much research is done today in educational institutions? Pedagogical methods are archaic. Rarely are teachers sent for refresher courses or exposed to innovative methods of instruction. Teachers need to be paid attractive salaries so as to attract the best talent to the profession.

The challenges to innovation

It is not as if India has not experimented in education - there are schools that teach in innovative ways and create space for children to think independently. There are many experimental schools without examinations, such as the one established by the Sri Aurobindo Society in Pondicherry. The accent there is on learning, not performance. Students are encouraged to question, debate and put to test what they have learnt. They are given the space to think freely, have differing opinions, disagree and not be bogged down with mind numbing theories and ideas. No one laughs at their ideas.

However, parents themselves are wary of sending children to such institutions that operate differently, as they fear that they will not be able to compete with the outside world. This, despite the fact that those who have graduated from these alternative schools have done extremely well in a variety of fields. The need, therefore, is to figure out what ignited their learning and how it can be replicated.

There is no space for original thinking in most traditional schools. Can students have fun doing assignments which call for all their senses to be put to task? It will be tougher for a teacher to assess such assignments, but it is worth the effort as students would remember this more than any lecture. It may also be a good idea to have customised tests and evaluations as students are so different from each other and cannot be tested and evaluated in a general test.

Contemporary teaching today must have a lot of electives weaved into our higher education. Liberal arts should be available for all the streams so that students of both science and commerce students would benefit from learning history, sociology and psychology. And when they do, they will start looking at life around them with a different lens. A business school at Lavale in Pune, is attempting to do this. Business students are exposed to painting, sculpture, music, mask making, theatre, horse-riding and golf.

Minutes before the state board examination, students of Corporation Higher Secondary give their books a final go, after three revision exams and countless hours of in-school preparation during their study leave. Pic: B A Raju.

Serious shortage of skills and talent

In the Indian context, education must be job-oriented. Organisations today invest heavily in training new recruits as the education they completed did not teach them the required skills. Former President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, admitted that only 25 per cent of graduating students were employable. The rest lacked technical knowledge, English proficiency and critical thinking. Sam Pitroda, former chairman of the National Knowledge Commission, also says that only 10,000 of the 90,000 MBAs who annually graduate are employable.

A study by Aspiring Minds of 230 fresh graduates in three out of the top 10 B-schools in India found them lagging in practical intelligence. The study attempted to gauge their mid-level managerial skills in business intelligence, judgement, risk taking ability, decisiveness, leadership, marketing, communication and personal effectiveness.

As various sectors such as information technology, engineering and manufacturing witness a boom, the emphasis will be on skilled and cost-effective manpower. Operational excellence will be the key. International companies are eyeing India as there is a serious shortage of young people in the United States, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In some years, China will also be counted among them. India cannot afford to miss this opportunity . it is the only country that has a young, upwardly mobile class ready to work hard, take risks and dream.

However, the present situation does not show our preparedness in positive light. Take for example the construction sector, which faces a serious shortage of civil engineers. A 2011 report by Ernst & Young and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry pegs the overall labour shortage in the Indian construction industry at 30 per cent. The problem is compounded by the fact that there is a significant shortage of civil engineers in the country.

Speaking to an English daily shortly after the Uttarakhand mishap of 2013, Professor C V R Murthy of IIT Madras pointed out that of the 2,700 engineering colleges in the country, civil engineering is taught in only 400. It could also be a classic chicken-and-egg problem as students increasingly opt for the information technology discipline, with prospects in the IT sector appearing to be brighter. The Builders Association of India further adds that the curriculum at engineering colleges do not keep pace with changes in use of technology. The result is that construction firms are now hiring retired personnel at fat pay packages in the face of unavailability of fresh talent.

Various metro rail projects too face a shortage of engineers. Metro wizard E Sreedharan has asked IITs to start a course in metro engineering and is lobbying for a postgraduate course that will churn out engineers to meet the need of metros in the future. The situation is so serious that engineers are being poached by rival metros which are ready to offer them three times the salary! If things go the way it is going at present, India will have to get foreign workers in the years to come as there is not enough trained hands for sophisticated jobs.

The National Knowledge Commission has suggested that premier institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology take lesser-known engineering colleges under its wing so that their mentoring can help raise standards of graduates from these colleges.

The tale is similar when it comes to medical professionals. According to a Planning Commission report, India needs around 6,00,000 doctors, 10,00,000 nurses and 2,00,000 dental surgeons. The health ministry estimates that India needs at least 21,00,000 nurses, if there has to be one nurse for a population of 500. But only 11,00,000 are available. India has only one doctor for every 10,000 people. Compare this with Australia that has around 250 and the United States, which has about 550.

Wanted: Trained hands

Another major challenge for Indian policy makers is to introduce quality vocational training. One way for this to happen is for the government and private sector to hold hands. This is not impossible as the government has the infrastructure, credibility and scale. On the other hand, the private sector is innovative and dynamic with a wide network of industry links. Both training and placement will not be a problem as there is huge demand.

In the overall job market of around 496 million people, 30 million are in the organised sector. Of these 30 million, nearly 24 million are blue-collar workers, says Sudhakar Balakrishnan, chief executive officer of human resource solutions firm Adecco India & Middle East. This semi-skilled worker pool includes mechanics, fitter, electricians, plumbers and other technical hands who usually come out of the industrial training institutes or ITIs. These institutes take in students who have completed their tenth standard and put them through various vocational courses like carpentry, welding, motor winding and the like. There are 1896 of these institutes but most of them are in poor shape with outdated syllabus, equipment or machinery.

Can we ride the advantage?

India is in a singularly commanding position as it has a young upwardly mobile class ready to take the plunge. One opportunity lies in Knowledge Process Outsourcing which is a $3 billion industry. It has opportunities galore like financial analysis, equity research, treasury operations, credit decision processes and accruals. Then, there is Legal Process Outsourcing that has tremendous potential, as law services are comparatively cheaper in India. New opportunities are emerging in areas such as patent application, drafting, legal research, pre-litigation documentation, advising clients, analysing draft documents and writing software licensing agreements. The question is whether our education system is aligned to these realities and fashioned to produce the kind of talent that is needed.

However difficult it may be for students, it has become more important than ever today for teachers to encourage multiplicity of ideas, richness of thought and acceptance of differing viewpoints. They must allow minds to flower, not atrophy. The education system must give students the courage to question what they learn, infer from intelligent reasoning and become thinking individuals instead of senseless robots. One definite way is to stimulate their minds and reasoning by throwing ideas at them. They will be forced to think, analyse and then comprehend.

It is possible to do this, but it needs political will. We need reforms and teachers to drive it. We really do not have a choice. It is only an innovative education system that will help India take the next giant leap.

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Why India needs an alternative model of development

April 2013 was a major deadline, of vital importance at the national level, but went almost fully ignored. 3 May constituted yet another important deadline set by the Supreme Court of India, and that too has gone largely unnoticed by activists as well as the general public for whom both deadlines determine the quality of our lives.

The Supreme Court had, in October 2012, given state governments six months’ time - till April - to ensure that all schools around the country were provided with drinking water and proper toilet facilities. That deadline has not been met. One can survive without books and blackboards but the absence of potable water and toilet facilities in schools, where millions of children spend the greater part of their wakeful hours, was (and is) not only a matter of shame six decades after independence, but also a major reason for preventable illnesses, high infant mortality rates and high dropout rates (especially among adolescent girls). All of this affects the human development indices of the future generation in the subcontinent.

Locked toilets at a school in Tamil Nadu. File pic by Krithika Ramalingam

Three weeks after that deadline imposed by the apex court, there has been not even a mention of this in the media, or contempt of court charges and no politician has so much as mentioned this, in or out of parliament. There are other, more pressing matters on their minds of course - the assembly elections in Karnataka, the choice and projection of a party candidate as future prime minister in view of next year‘s Lok Sabha elections, and so on. The health and education of millions of school children is apparently low priority matter, even if the Supreme Court took cognisance of this shocking state of affairs.

In international discussions about the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to be reached by all countries by 2015 (just two years away), India’s poor child health and sanitation record gets mentioned repeatedly, a matter of shame for a country that sees itself as an “emerging leader“ in the global arena.

A news item on 27 April reports how, out of more than 63,300 anganwadis in Karnataka state, over 42 per cent have no toilets. In the wake of the Supreme Court order, the state’s High Court also took note of this suo moto and asked the state administration to rectify matters. Why does it require court orders to urge our policymakers to attend to the provision of such basic needs, when we are supposed to be the world’s largest democracy and when every candidate standing for elections promises to “ensure that the country progresses fully and takes its rightful place in the global enclave of nations”? Because anganwadi children do not have votes and so, do not need to be wooed with promises? Because the parents of children who attend government schools are so poor that they can be enticed with gifts/bribes of polyester saris and liquor and cash, rather than clean water and sanitation?

We have come to such a pass now in the matter of siphoning off public money for showpieces instead of spending it on social betterment, that the courts have to intervene, whether it is about the use of red lights on VIPs' vehicles, disposal of plastic, clearing of garbage in the metropolis or provision of toilets in schools.

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Those children whose families can afford private schools -- the urban elite, primarily -- carry bottles of drinking water along with their satchels, adding to the burden that they haul (in a literal sense) on their backs every day. I weighed the backpack of a 10 year old last month; it tipped the scales at 9 kg. A litre of bottled water adds another kg to that burden. The boy weighed 26 kg. Many years ago, when the late novelist R.K.Narayan was a member of the Rajya Sabha, he raised the issue of heavy school bags during a session in parliament. Nothing happened, though thousands of parents were in full agreement with the sentiments that Narayan expressed in parliament. I know of parents who carry their wards’ bags to the bus stop each morning because the child cannot manage it on his own. Perhaps it is time to commission a study on the contribution of heavy backpacks to school children’s stunting during their growing years.

Now the Supreme Court has decreed that water and toilets “must be provided” in all schools. It is not that there is a financial crunch. A fancy clock tower (the tallest in Karnataka, as the state government proudly declares) was installed at South End Circle in south Bangalore a few weeks ago, at a cost of Rs 90 lakh. How much does it cost to build a functional toilet in a school? Out of the 40 per cent of schools in the state that lack a common toilet and another 40 per cent which don’t have a separate toilet for girls, how many could have benefited from this ‘clock tower’ money if it had been used for a socially useful purpose? It is the same story in all states around the country, east or west, north or south. There is not a single region that can boast of having provided water and toilets in all schools. Not a single party in power has deemed it fit to accord high priority to this basic need.

A former chief minister, H.D.Kumaraswamy of Karnataka, was reported to have carried with him (or rather, his entourage carried for his use) a portable toilet whenever he went visiting rural areas as a political PR exercise, to gather votes for his party. That is an eloquent comment on the insensitivity and hauteur of our politicians, who fold their hands in supplication when they go on their electioneering rounds as voting day approaches, but close their eyes to all social amelioration plans once they get to the corridors of power.

We have come to such a pass now in the matter of siphoning off public money for showpieces, instead of spending it on social betterment - especially of the disadvantaged sections, that the courts have to intervene, whether it is about the use of red lights on VIPs’ vehicles, disposal of plastic, clearing of garbage in the metropolis or provision of toilets in schools.

The other deadline that the Supreme Court set was for the Central Pollution Control Board and its state units to explain to the court “within four weeks” what steps they were taking to tackle plastic waste disposal. That deadline expired on 3 May. The judges who delivered the ultimatum expressed shock over the fact that the country is generating over 5.6 million tonnes of plastic waste annually (over 15,300 tonnes per day) of which nearly 40 per cent lies around as non-biodegradable litter. The figures are from the Pollution Control Board itself. Delhi tops the list with 690 tonnes generated daily, with Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata following close. Bangalore, which comes in at fifth place (out of the 60 major cities surveyed), throws up just half of the mess that Delhi spews, but life in this “IT capital” is already plagued by multiple environmental issues. Whether it is a city of rulers and national level decision-makers, or of high income global players such as software professionals, it apparently makes no difference to the callousness with which plastic waste is generated.

The enticement of advertisements. File pic

Connect this to two other recent developments -- a survey dated March 2013 which found that rural areas are taking to packaged commodities like branded juices and disposable diapers and the passing of the bill on allowing FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in retail. You can now connect the dots to arrive at a picture that explains why we generate increasing mounds of plastic waste when the trend in developing countries is to focus on discouraging lifestyles that lead to ecological damage. In the name of development, rural populations are spending Rs 200 crore on disposable diapers (a 150 percent increase in just two years). Multinational companies that see India as a “huge market to be tapped for profits” see the need for “greater penetration” of the rural market and spend billions on advertising. TV ads reach even the illiterate rustics who see the acquisition of consumer goods that the urban elites use as a measure of progress, even if the village school does not have a toilet (or drinking water). Such is the potent power of advertising!

More FDI in retail means more supermarkets and packaged goods (even vegetables come wrapped in cling film or plastic pouches) which in turn means more plastic waste thrown out every day. I have written elsewhere about the servant maid who was given Rs 10 by her employer to buy milk for her malnourished infant. She spent the money on a can of fizzy cola, and when chided, retorted saying that she too “wanted to experience, at least once, the pleasures that the rich enjoy every day with their meals” and declared that she and her child “got a lot of pleasure” from tasting the commercial drink -- she sees film stars drinking and advertising cola drinks on TV every day.

The problem is not poverty or teeming population, it is the adoption of a highly inappropriate model of development imported from the west in the name of ‘progress,’ and the exposure of the disadvantaged sections of the population to the dubious but enticing “luxuries“ of the upwardly mobile urban yuppies through ads. The media want advertisements for the revenue they bring, the multinationals rake in the moolah through sale of junk, the government declares that foreign companies are investing in India and GDP is rising -- everybody is happy, except for the marginalised millions who are doomed to lifelong deprivation. With the result that the Supreme Court has to intervene, in everything from garbage disposal to toilets in schools.

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Ashish Nanda’s global blueprint for IIM-Ahmedabad

Kala Vijayraghavan & Rica Bhattacharyya, ET Bureau Jan 21, 2014, 04.23AM IST

In early-2013, AM Naik, Chairman of Larsen & Toubro, took a private plane to Boston to convince a professor at Harvard University to take the reins of IIM-Ahmedabad. Naik, chair of the IIM-A board, could have called, but he wanted to personally tell Ashish Nanda why India's premier business school wanted him. "I wanted to look you in the eye and talk to you across the table to convince you," Naik had told Nanda.

Naik and a few others had done exactly that a few months back, when Nanda was in Ahmedabad to attend the 30th reunion of his IIM batch. Nanda returned, flattered and unsure. "How nice of them to consider me," he told Shubha, his wife. "I will send in my thanks and regrets."

Shubha, a practising dentist and a professor at Tufts Dental School, saw something else. "I thought it would be great for Ashish to take up the offer with a sense of adventure," she says. "And he did not need much convincing. Every time he spoke of his reunion, there was a sparkle in his eyes. Eventually, it was truly the spirit of learning, contributing and adventure that got him to return to India."

In September 2013, the 53-year-old returned to India and his alma mater, after more than 20 years. In the institute's 52-year history, Nanda was the first director to be hired from an overseas institute, and he came in with a mandate to take IIM-A to the next level—coveted by students and academics, sought by industry and respected by global peers. "I believe in global benchmarks," says Naik, who pushed Nanda's case with his colleagues and the government. "IIM-A, being a premier institute in India, needed new leadership to make it a truly global management institute that encourages diversity, thought leadership and research."

The breadth of that assignment is matched by the superlatives rolled out for him by those who have worked with Nanda: scholar, teacher, researcher, manager of academic programmes, global thinker...and, they add, pretty good in all those roles. Four months into his IIM-A assignment, an appointment offers a clue of what could follow in Nanda's fiveyear tenure.

Sharon Barnhardt worked on Wall Street, before doing her PHD in public policy at Harvard. In August, she joined the public systems group at IIM-A as fulltime faculty. "Ashish Nanda perfectly understands what makes research faculty tick because he's a great researcher," she says. "Ashish also understands how important it is to bring up the infrastructure and research environment of the institute to global standards in order to attract faculty and people from outside."

Academic Connect

Be it people appointments, orientation shifts or directional turns, 'global' is a refrain while discussing Nanda. It's for good reason, says Nitin Nohria, dean of Harvard Business School who has known Nanda personally for 20 years, and has taught and researched with him.

  Nohria cites the experience of an executive program they took together for a company that was struggling with a range of issues related to its globalisation. "We had developed a case study for the company, and it brought to the surface a range of tensions as the discussion unfolded," he recalls. "Ashish used the teaching process to help the participants navigate these tensions and recommit to a shared strategic vision."

Nanda will need to draw on such skills to balance a key challenge: adding new faculty while managing the old guard. During Nanda's days as student at IIM-A, between 1981 and 1983, the institute had about 400 students and a faculty of about 80—a teacher-student ratio of 1:5. Today, with about 1,000 students and a faculty of 90, that ratio has declined to 1:11.

Nanda wants to correct that ratio, but he wants to do it while improving quality: though a mix of young and old, Indian and global. IIM-A is looking to hire more professors in their early-30s at entry-level positions, like Barnhardt, and experienced faculty at senior levels. "They are bright academics who are intrigued by the idea of working and research in India, and want to build specialisation in the Indian setting," says Nanda.

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8 Indian-American high school students among Intel Science Talent Search competition finalists

8 Indian-American high school students among Intel Science Talent Search competition finalists - Economic Times You are here: Home>Collections>Research8 Indian-American high school students among Intel Science Talent Search competition finalistsPTI Jan 22, 2014, 10.32PM ISTTags:Vishnu Shankar|University of Chicago|Intel Science Talent Search competition|indian-american|Horace Greeley High School|Harker School(Eight Indian-American…)

WASHINGTON: Eight Indian-American high school students have been named as finalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search competition in the US.

In all 40 science students from across the nation have made it to the science competition for this year, which is considered to be one of the toughest and most prestigious in the US.

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The eight who have made it to the list are Anubhav Guha and Preeti Kakani from New York, Rahul Siddharth Mehta from Chicago, Ajay Saini from Massachusetts, Vishnu Sarkar and Sreyas Misra from California, Anand Srinivasan from Georgia, and Parth Thakker from North Carolina.

The students are among the 40 finalists, who would gather in Washington from March 6-12 to compete for USD 630,000 in awards with the first-place winner receiving USD 100,000 from the Intel Foundation.

These 40 finalists were narrowed down from 300 semifinalists and nearly 1,800 entrants.

Guha from Horace Greeley High School in New York made it to the prestigious list for his research on "Discovery of Rare Earth Oxide Nanoparticles as Agents for Prolonging Fluorescence Imaging in Biological and Other Systems: Fluorescence Studies from Single Molecules and Dispersions."

Kakani from Jericho Senior High School in New York was selected for her research on differential Gene Expression Prior to Eye Opening in Mouse Superior Colliculus; while Rahul Siddharth Mehta from the University of Chicago Laboratory High School in Chicago made it to final round for his research on "A New Max-Flow Algorithm for Sparse Networks".

Ajay Saini from Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in Massachusetts was selected for his research on "Predictive Modeling of Opinion and Connectivity Dynamics in Social Networks".

Vishnu Shankar from Monta Vista High School in California was selected for his research on the "3D Structure of Human DP Prostaglandin G-protein Coupled Receptor Bound to Selective Antagonists from GEnSeMBLE Predictions".

Anand Srinivasan from Roswell High School in Georgia made it to the final list for his research "RNNScan: Eukaryotic Gene Prediction via Recurrent Neural Networks Utilising Local-Feature Extraction".

Parth Thakker from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham was selected for his research "Design, Assembly, and Optimisation of Novel ZnxSeAgy Biocompatible Quantum Dot Sensitised Solar Cells".

Sreyas Misra from the Harker School in California was given entry to the final for his research on "Design and Characterisation of a Novel Single-headed and Hand-held PET Camera Using 511 keV Photon Collimation via Compton Scatter".

body{margin:0px;}google_ad_client=\"ca-pub-8415620659137418\";google_ad_slot=\"3278470286\";google_ad_width=\"640\";google_ad_height=\"110\";google_ad_channel=\"9126527482,1000001867,1000000195\";google_adtest=\"off\";google_safe=\"high\";google_hints=\"predictive modeling north carolina school gene expression\";google_max_num_ads=\"2\";google_override_format=true;google_page_url=\"http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-01-22/news/46463047_1_40-finalists-intel-foundation-research\";");document.close();})();' frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="640" height="110">FEATURED ARTICLESBig Bazaar leases 50 trucks to sell products during the 3-day Republic Day saleHow Akshai Varde has made Vardenchi Motorcycles a Rs 1 crore remodelling businessLal Bahadur Shastri's grandson Adarsh Shastri leaves job at Apple to join AAPMore:Lal Bahadur Shastri's grandson Adarsh Shastri leaves job at Apple to join AAPLimited offer: SpiceJet, IndiGo cut fares by 50%; Air India, Jet, GoAir may followIncome Tax department puts HRA exemption under scannerAAP finally asks Somnath Bharti to mind his languageWant to withdraw from your provident fund account? Here's how!Google maps find alien 'spaceship' on Moon? body{margin:0px;}google_ad_client=\"ca-pub-8415620659137418\";google_ad_slot=\"4755203488\";google_ad_width=\"300\";google_ad_height=\"250\";google_ad_channel=\"9126527482,1000001867,1000000195\";google_adtest=\"off\";google_safe=\"high\";google_hints=\"predictive modeling north carolina school gene expression\";google_max_num_ads=\"4\";google_override_format=true;google_page_url=\"http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-01-22/news/46463047_1_40-finalists-intel-foundation-research\";");document.close();})();' frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="300" height="250"> RELATED ARTICLES10 Indian-American among 40 Intel science finalists
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CAT 2013: IIM Indore sending scores of 700 students for verification and validation in batches

Shreya Biswas, ET Bureau Jan 24, 2014, 03.04PM IST

KOLKATA: Common Admission Test (CAT) scores of nearly 700 examinees for admission into the country's management institutes are being sent for verification and validation to Prometric, which conducts the tests, even as protests against a discrepancy in scores gain steam across the country.

Candidates across Indore, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ranchi are preparing to file public interest litigations against the scores. They have already met the CAT convenor in Indore and some 20 CAT takers protested at IIM Ranchi on Monday.

A few days ago, MBA aspirants filed an online petition calling for a revaluation of scores, which they believe have discrepancies because of a skewed normalisation process. The country's premier management institutes, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), released the scores on January 14.

IIM aspirants' petition filed by Abhishek Leel and signed by 5000 candidates, addressed to IIM Indore on online forum Change.org, said many test takers got unexpectedly low scores in two sections, particularly in verbal ability. Some candidates found they secured more than 90 percentile in the quantitative aptitude section, but only around 30 percentile in the verbal ability section.

The petition also claims there are people who have regularly been scoring over 95 percentile for the past three years in CAT, but this year, their score has not even crossed 80 percentile. This would waste a full year for them as 80 percentile is not enough for admission to any institute.

CAT 2013 convenor, Rohit Kapoor, however, insists that the results are in order. "Though there is no provision for such verification and validation of scores, we are doing it only to help examines," he says. He also refuted the claim that 5,000 candidates have signed the online petition, claiming that the number of cases received through emails with unique registration numbers is 700.

Candidates also point to a case where a candidate has got an overall score of 55 percentile despite not attempting a single question which means that over 50per cent of CAT candidates have scored in the negative.

The way it works is, for 30 questions, each correct answer fetches a candidate three marks while an incorrect answer gets him or her -1. The raw scores are then normalised -- equated from different papers of various difficulty level based on a formula.

Kapoor says this is possible. "CAT was quite tough this year because we wanted only good people to come into the system. There were lot of complaints from people over the past few years that the difficulty level has gone down, so we worked on that," he says.

But Abhijeet Chandak, a CAT 2013 candidate, refutes this claim. "This time, I was much more confident that I will go past 90 in verbal ability and logical reasoning as the paper was not that difficult," says Chandak, a graduate engineer trainee in Gammon who scored 92.90 percentile in verbal ability and logical reasoning (VA & LR, section-II) in 2011 and 98.71 percentile in 2012 but his score dropped to 30.36 percentile in 2013.

  Kapoor, however, says in mock tests, the candidate pool is limited and question samples are fixed, whereas CAT is conducted over multiple days, with multiple sets of question papers. "To be fair to everybody, no one knows which question will come when," he says, adding, "Students are saying there is a calculation error but a computerised algorithm can't be wrong."

"It may be possible theoretically that over 50per cent candidates get scores in the negative. This can only happen if the difficulty level has gone up drastically this year," says Gautam Puri, co founder, Career Launcher, who has been taking the tests himself -- a common practice amongst caching institutes. But the normalisation process needs to be explained more clearly, he says.

Historically, CAT has had five to six errors in papers every year for the past 10 to 15 years, "which they have never accepted except in 2006," says Puri. "In GMAT, a test similar to CAT, you know at the end of the paper how many answers are right and how many wrong, while in CAT you can only know how many you have attempted," he says.

Prometric too denies any anomalies in the results. "For CAT 2013, we have conducted additional quality control to verify that 100per cent of our reporting is accurate and our methodology is fair, reliable and determines the right scores according to candidate performance," says Soumitra Roy, general manager, Prometric India.

As per IIM direction, it was the company's job to heighten the exam's difficulty, he says, adding, "As a consequence, only the best performing test takers earned the highest scores."

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iProf Learning Solutions raises $9 million in series B round of funding

iProf Learning Solutions raises $9 million in series B round of funding - Economic Times You are here: Home>Collections>New DelhiiProf Learning Solutions raises $9 million in series B round of fundingBiswarup Gooptu, ET Bureau Jan 24, 2014, 08.04AM ISTTags:venture capital|risk|Product Life Cycle|Norwest Venture Partners|net worth|markets|iProf Learning Solutions|Insurability|IDG Ventures India|Hobsons|endorsements|e-learning(“Through this investment,…)

NEW DELHI: iProf Learning Solutions has raised $9 million (Rs. 55 crore) from a consortium of investors, led by global education research and technology company Hobsons, the Noida-based e-learning company announced on Thursday.

Proceeds from the series B round of financing, in which iProf's existing backers, early-to-mid stage venture capital firms IDG Ventures India and Norwest Venture Partners, also participated, will be used by the company to finance acquisitions, expand its network and consolidate its position as a market leader. The stake diluted by the company's founder was, however, not disclosed. Hobsons is the US-based education services and technology unit of diversified media conglomerate Daily Mail and General Trust.

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"Through this investment, we will continue to expand our geographical footprint in South Asia while exploring opportunities to contribute to new K-12 solutions that will help students in India achieve their post-secondary goals," said Craig Heldman, chief executive of Hobsons. iProf has, till date, raised a total of $15 million (Rs. 92.9 crore) across two rounds from its venture capital investors. In 2011, the company raised Rs. 22 crore from IDG Ventures India and Norwest Venture Partners.

"iProf has created a business model which works for education technology companies in India and neighbouring markets. The combination of online and offline, with lessons/contents delivered on tablets and smart phones is gaining acceptance," said Mohan Kumar, executive director at Norwest Venture Partners.

Founded in 2010 by IIT Mumbai and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus Sanjay Purohit, iProf Learning provides both online and offline - through tablets, personal computers and mobile - mode of content delivery to students, using Learning Management System at its back end.

"iProf is essential to the Indian education growth story as it is the future of learning in India and worldwide," said Sudhir Sethi, founder chairman and managing director of IDG Ventures.

Risk capital has once again turned its eye on the Indian e-learning space. Earlier this week, ET had reported that LIQVID e-Learning was in talks to raise up to $10 million to fund its expansion plans among others. In 2013, British media company Pearson Plc. completed its acquisition of Bangalore-based education services company TutorVista, providing a handsome exit for the latter's investors Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Ventures.

body{margin:0px;}google_ad_client=\"ca-pub-8415620659137418\";google_ad_slot=\"3278470286\";google_ad_width=\"640\";google_ad_height=\"110\";google_ad_channel=\"9126527482,1000001856,1000000195\";google_adtest=\"off\";google_safe=\"high\";google_hints=\"new delhi\";google_max_num_ads=\"2\";google_override_format=true;google_page_url=\"http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-01-24/news/46562990_1_solutions-series-b-round-funding\";");document.close();})();' frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="640" height="110">FEATURED ARTICLESBig Bazaar leases 50 trucks to sell products during the 3-day Republic Day saleHow Akshai Varde has made Vardenchi Motorcycles a Rs 1 crore remodelling businessLal Bahadur Shastri's grandson Adarsh Shastri leaves job at Apple to join AAPMore:Lal Bahadur Shastri's grandson Adarsh Shastri leaves job at Apple to join AAPLimited offer: SpiceJet, IndiGo cut fares by 50%; Air India, Jet, GoAir may followIncome Tax department puts HRA exemption under scannerAAP finally asks Somnath Bharti to mind his languageWant to withdraw from your provident fund account? Here's how!Google maps find alien 'spaceship' on Moon? body{margin:0px;}google_ad_client=\"ca-pub-8415620659137418\";google_ad_slot=\"4755203488\";google_ad_width=\"300\";google_ad_height=\"250\";google_ad_channel=\"9126527482,1000001856,1000000195\";google_adtest=\"off\";google_safe=\"high\";google_hints=\"new delhi\";google_max_num_ads=\"4\";google_override_format=true;google_page_url=\"http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-01-24/news/46562990_1_solutions-series-b-round-funding\";");document.close();})();' frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="300" height="250"> RELATED ARTICLESAujas Networks raises undisclosed Series B round of funding
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