Educomp to open IIT Coaching centers

To cash-in on the growing demand for courses to help student crack competitive exams, education content and service provider Educomp Solutions on Thursday said it will open around 75 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) coaching centres in the country this fiscal.


The centres, called Leap, will charge students Rs. 15,000-20,000 per annum for the preparatory course. Leap centres will be set up inside school campuses which will allow students to pursue their mainstream school curriculum and test preparatory courses inside their school premises. It plans to roll out other test preparatory material for BBA and medicine from 2011-12. By 2012, Leap centres will be present in around 200 cities across India.


Shares of Educomp closed at Rs. 763.05, up by 0.32 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.


http://beta.thehindu.com/education/article304668.ece

Tuition centres - Peer pressure?

A colleague who is a PHY tuition teacher for Std 12 recently told me that the fee paid at tuition centres is thrice the school tution fee. She also mentioned that school tests/education was taken lightly for pre-university in bangalore,and it was the tuition that mattered. I almost gaped at that.These days, the school fee is in itself climbing the charts, and having to pay thrice the amount - Just imagine.

This is a common sight even in schools where you have A class teachers .


The pressure from the school's end on students at the pre-u level is high. They conduct more than 3 tests/subject/week. The same is repeated at the tuition centres.

I dont see any huge difference between how a tuition centre and a school operates. In olden days, tuition meant individualized attention. At present, it isnt the case. Tuition centres also have 40students/class.So what's the big deal about these tuition centre's?


These students who get enrolled into these tuition centres- Is it due to peer pressure? Is it the fear that their friends who attend these tutitons might be trained in a better manner?. Is is the psychological pressure about the pre-u stage that make one want to squeeze all the knowledge and training available.


What makes tuition centres tick? Something to ponder upon.

A positive note from Nandan Nilekani on Education in India

Parents and Children!

I came across this article at DNA India. I really liked few parts of the article. The best ones are below:

• I hear moms talk about their four-year-olds’ participation in some rhymes contest. Parents here get pushy because their peers are pushy. Schools don’t pressurise, parents do.
• Parents should not solve children's problems for them — just be a sounding board. Most of the time, children know that their problems are unsolvable, don't react too much.
• Parental pressure is at its peak during exam season. It’s worse if both parents are working. They feel guilty too that they are not able to spend time with the children. 

To read the full article: http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report_are-you-pushing-your-child-too-much_1358884

Kindergarten more expensive than IIT

An an expose on the harassment of parents by kindergarten schools in Chennai has now created an uproar. The State Education Minister has now said that his government would not allow such institutions to flourish. "We will take all appropriate action to prevent such things from happening again", said Thangam Thennarasu, the present School Education Minister of Chennai.


For example, Vel's kindergarten school extracts from parents a one time non refundable charge that is equal to the entire annual fee to study in IIT Delhi!!! And it is 10 times more expensive than Delhi University.  


VEL'S KINDERGARTEN: Capital fees: Rs 60,000; Annual fees: 1,70,000
IIT DELHI: Annual fees: 76,000
DELHI UNIVERSITY: BA (Honours) : 6,000


http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/chennai-nursery-more-expensive-than-iit-17579.php


My comments:
Kindergarten has become a fasion - there is one in our neighbourhood as well. Kids stay there from 9 in the morning to  11/12 noon - thats it! And it just baffles me how parents are willing to shell out fortunes for this. According to me, parents are squarely guilty as well. There should be a special tax on such services, when the amount charged by these pre-schools crosses a threshold.

Current Affairs-Indian Education Sector

The dynamism of the Indian education industry happens to be a key area of interest to many different kinds of parties at the moment. To keep in pace with its many exciting changes being introduced by the government this post would touch upon the current affairs and interesting developments in the education industry.


1. One of most important initiatives taken up in this sector is to reduce the enormous stress on the students leaving high school. The proposal to hold a single entrance exam for medical and engineering colleges from 2013 should go some way towards achieving this. The move will reduce the number of entrance exams aspiring medical and engineering students in the country typically have to face.

2. The joint entrance examination (JEE) for admission to the IITs is likely to become history from 2013 as the central government decided to work on a common entrance test.

3. All school boards across India will have a common curriculum in science and mathematics for Classes 11 and 12 from the 2011 academic year to give students a level playing field and help them in competitive examinations.

4. In a step aimed at enhancing the acceptability of open schooling system, the government is considering framing a policy which will enable regular schools adapt distance education programme. Of the 1 crore children in the age group of 14-18 years who currently pursue secondary education, 16 lakh are doing it through open schooling system. The Govt. Aims to increase it to 1.5 crore by 2020.

Stay tuned in for further updates on Tutelages.

What is Tutelages?

Tutelages is a pioneering concept in the space of technology enabled academic assistance to the Indian education sector. It targets a niche category of 10th and +2 students with a suite of services that helps analyze and improve academic performance. Tutelages aims to provide an online-offline service that would give complete and comprehensive control over a student’s academic performance. Tutelages will get school test marks from school administration through a very simple offline process. Based on the collected data a mathematical algorithmic analysis engine will generate intelligent and actionable reports.

One of the most important features of Tutelages, is the ability to analyze the academic performance right at the chapter level within each subject. It is often an occurrence that the student is weak in particular chapters of the subject while strong in few other chapters. When forced to study the subject, the student prefers to study the strong chapters, continuously neglecting the weak ones. Armed with the intelligence of the students strength and weakness right at the chapter level, parents and teachers can direct the student's effort in overcoming the shortfalls in the weak chapters.