Education

Ever come across a worker from the unorganized sector striving hard to ensure that her/his daughter(s) and son(s) study? Probe a little and most probably the girl(s) will be in a government school and the boy(s) in a private or a government funded English medium school. The latter have a better student-teacher ratio and the teachers are motivated or at least compelled to teach properly and regularly. Further, the parents and teachers are held accountable for the children's presence and performance. Unlike the vernacular medium government schools!   Talking to Joseph, a fruit vendor in Benson Town whose regular customer…

Ashraff Unnissa of Alahalli vanished two years ago. So did Shanthamma, who was last seen in and around rural Yediyur. Then there's Geetha HR, who has clean vanished from her place of employment in Kodihalli. Pic courtesy: IIJNM All three are members of an elite yet dubious Karnataka club: Bangalore government school teachers with some of the worst absenteeism records in the state. They are gone, forcing their colleagues to pick up their long-forgotten class load. Never gone But in the twisted logic of the educational bureaucracy, they are not forgotten. Since their bosses in the district offices haven't purged…

Buddha meditated under the Peepal tree for a full 49 days before enlightenment. For RV Quizcorp, the timeline is eleven years and counting. The exclusive quiz club of RV College of Engineering, one of the first of its kind, is all set to conduct the eleventh edition of its annual quiz fest- Under The Peepal Tree 2009. RV Quiz CorpStarted as a platform to explore the vast multitudes that quizzing had to offer in terms of depth and variety by well-known quizzers Avinash Mudaliar and Gopal Srinivasan, RV Quizcorp has built an indomitable reputation for churning out stellar quizzes and…

As parents, most of us want the world for our children; the right school, good manners, quality toys and the best of books. But few of us would probably do what Richa and Tarun Jain did for their daughter Suhani. Inspired by her willingness to learn, read and explore more, they set up Mindgym, a library for children! Out of the Box library (pic: Reshmi Chakraborty) As is with children, Suhani too would soon get bored of her new toys and books before moving on to other things. It led Richa and Tarun to talk to friends and come up…

Is this how other government schools are? Kannada 'Model' Primary School- irony or euphemism? In my minimal exposure to such schools, I've seen worse. This one has sufficient functioning infrastructure like building, rooms, 'play'ground, furniture, teaching aids, washrooms and so on. But the lighting and/or ventilation in some of the classrooms is dangerously poor. And all have metallic furniture which is rusted and heavy. Near the playground. L to R: Bharat (class V), Ramesh, Venkatesh & Pushpalata (class VII) (pic: Pushpa Achanta) The computer lab which has 3-4 desktops, including one with a completely state-of-the-art flat screen, LCD monitor with…

Bengaluru made international headlines with the successful Chandrayaan operation, the first unmanned mission to moon by India. And the institution responsible for Chandrayaan's initiation and monitoring is none other Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In the same league as ISRO are the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Jawaharlal Nehru Pl anetarium (JNP) and so on. Indeed, among the many feathers in the city's cap are some ofthese renowned science institutions. But how many of us, especially students and scientifically-inclined citizens are aware of the opportunities for the local public at these major institutions? Not many,…

This Children's Day, Pupil Tree, from Future Tree Learning Services Pvt. Ltd, helped start 'Booky Bob', a unique interactive reading hub designed to nurture children's love for learning. The unique library aims at promoting healthy reading, leading to analytical thinking, making use of the rich literature that is available here. 'Booky Bob', the first interactive learning hub of its kind, was inaugurated by B Jayashree, the well known theatre and literary personality in Bangalore. Jayashree is also a great promoter of book reading among children and has book reading shows on local channels especially aimed at increasing their reading habits.…

Manjulatha, 25, died a few months ago while giving birth to her third child. She has left behind a five year old daughter and a two year old son. Manjulatha used to help her husband in his ragi fields and take care of the house also. Her daughter, Anitha is now forced to drop out of school to take care of her younger brother and look after the house while her father works in the field. Manjulatha's is not the only case of Gollahalli. There are several similar cases in this small village 35 kms from the Silicon city of…

The aim of the CSR Team at Infosys Bangalore is to build awareness about the socially relevant initiatives of the organization, enroll people and execute the initiatives. One of the noteworthy initiatives (among the many programs initiated over the last 2 years) of this well established CSR team at Infosys is the Notebook Drive. This was made possible through the contribution made by 25,000 employees of Infosys. It helped the CSR team to distribute notebooks to 19238 children from 235 schools across Karnataka. This initiative for the underprivileged government school children raised Rs. 7 Lakhs in three days. The partnering…

The Tata Crucible Corporate Quiz was conducted in its fifth edition on the 31st of August 2008, at the NIMHANS Convention Centre.The quiz has proved popular enough for the organisers to have moved the venue from the St John's auditorium to the larger NIMHANS Convention Centre on Hosur Road. The quizmaster, Giri ‘Pickbrain’ Balasubramaniam has been a popular quizmaster in several quizzing circles; and he says that the Crucible Quiz seeks to challenge young minds with ‘thetoughest business quiz in India’. The Tata group is ‘focusing its communication at youth as a key audience cluster', and as part of this…