Education

To take this survey Click here to start. For more details, write to survey@3pundits.com or visit www.3pundits.com and leave a message. 3pundits.com, an education startup focused on school admissions has just launched Bangalore's first-ever independent survey of international schools. The goal of the survey is to produce a report that will help parents select the right international school for their children.  3pundits aims to take away the pain of parents going through a lot of hassle towards research required to selecting a good international school. Citizen Matters is media partner for this survey. 25 international schools will be covered in…

A working group constituted by chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's ABIDe task force submitted its recomendations on rules for implementing RTE (Right To Education) in Karnataka to the government on February 3. A major change that the group proposed to the government's own original draft was to make the selection of unaided schools for RTE based on unmet demand in local areas. ABIDe as recommended removing provisions that make RTE mandatory for all unaided schools. ABIDe has also recommended removing restrictions regarding fees, admission procedures etc., on unaided schools.  ABIDe Working Group presenting RTE draft to Primary and Secondary Education…

Carmel Convent High School located on east end road in Bengaluru, celebrated its silver jubilee on the 10th and 11th of December by hosting an inter-school volleyball and basketball tournament. More than 20 schools from the city participated. The school also celebrated the bronze-medal that the girls' volleyball team, won at the national level, representing the Karnataka at the Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) volleyball tournament held in Bhopal on 3rd and 4th December.   Winners of the bronze medal at PYKKA tournament with their medals. Pic: Yograj S Mudalgi The school has over 800 students with an…

Most schools in Bengaluru have completed their admissions for the coming academic year. Despite that, the state government seems to be pushing to implement the RTE (Right to Education) Act for 2011-12. The SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) will soon submit a revised draft of the Act to the government. "We have revised the draft after taking suggestions from the public. The new draft will be submitted by end of this month," says Sandhya Venugopal Sharma, State Project Director, SSA. Ramakrishna School - 80% of the children are from low income groups. Pic: Navya P K While many private schools are…

Ghosts trapped in jars, straw flutes, tornado in a bottle; the complexities of science can be simplified for children in a fun way and this is exactly what Agastya Foundation does. A Bangalore based foundation dedicated to hand on science education, their aim is to foster creative thinking among underprivileged children who do not have access to books and laboratory facilities. Agastya Foundation's Science Fair. Pic: Usha Hariprasad. Chairman Ramji Raghavan left an illustrious corporate career in 1998 to set up the Foundation, which has such eminent scientists like P K Iyengar (Former chairman of Indian Atomic Energy commission) and…

Children listen attentively as Aparna shows pictures of characters from popular culture For adults like me, unused to interacting with small children on a regular basis, walking into a primary school classroom is like stepping into another world. A chorus of goodmorningma'am, keen faces, eagerness to listen...in short, enthusiasm unbound. For people like Aparna D and Rajeshwari S however, these reactions are familiar territory. Aparna and Rajeshwari are not teachers in the formal sense. But they are educators. People with a sense of mission, who understand how important it is to get children to think about what they eat. As…

Recently I took the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) civic club members of VET school, where I volunteer, to a plastic waste recycling factory, 'KK Plastic Waste Management' on Kanakapura Road.We are all aware that we should segregate garbage. Of course, we have all heard of separating kitchen waste, plastic, paper, metals etc. But when it has to be actually put into practice, people hesitate because (a) old lazy habits die hard, and (b) people are not sure how to dispose of each of these categories. However, there is a practical solution for each of these categories of waste.…

It was with absolute shock and disgust that I read a news piece about the government's decision to introduce Kurkure in the midday meals offered at anganwadis in the State. The "justification" offered is that children these days are addicted to this spicy snack so this would be an incentive for them to attend the anganwadi. Have we forgotten why the Midday Meal was introduced less than a decade ago? Was it not meant to address child malnutrition, protect children from classroom hunger, and increase school enrolment and retention?  Am I mistaken about the Supreme Court directive (2001) that made…

84 students from seven schools will perform streetplays on child rights and right to education in various parts of Bangalore this November. Bal Jamoore, is an initiative by CRY to make children think and act as social agents of change who respect and stand up for equal rights to all. Pic: Deepthi Sarma. The training program for Bal Jamoore was held on 30th and 31st of October at the CRY office, Cox town. Each participating school has a team of 12-15 students for the street play. The training programme is divided into two segments. The first segment helps the students…

Five days after an ABIDe-led committee was constituted to discuss Karnataka's draft rules for implementing the national Right to Education (RTE) Act, it has already received several suggestions from senior educationists and NGOs. To propose a way through the confusion regarding the implementation of the RTE Act the chief minister's task force for Bengaluru, ABIDe (Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force), formed a working group on September 23. The group plans to collect suggestions from the public and hold discussions with parents, teachers, NGOs, school associations and other stakeholders to discuss the draft rules proposed by the state…