Fill FYJC forms from today; colleges may allow digital payments this year

Vinamrata.Borwankar@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:

The FYJC online centralized admission process which begins today will include 1% reservation for orphans as declared by the state in April. The state has also asked junior colleges to accept digital payments to ease the process. 

“Like all other reservations, students will have to produce the relevant documents for orphans quota and get them attested from the admission guidance centres,” said Suvarna Kharat, deputy secretary, school education department.

The department has urged junior colleges to allow digital payments because students find it difficult to produce a demand draft (DD) in short period. “Most colleges seek DDs and getting them in two days adds to the stress of parents and burdens bank staff too. If that isn’t possible, they can ask students to confirm admissions by paying a token amount and give them some days to get the DD. Additionally, junior colleges must have a helpdesk for six days a week,” said Kharat.

This year too, students confirming their admissions under quotas will not be able to switch colleges in the regular rounds if they have already paid fees. While the rule was in place last year too, the department, at a later stage, allowed students to change colleges.

Meanwhile, the education department uploaded the previous year cut-offs on its portal but a lot of them were for 2016. “We will make the corrections in a day or two,” said an official. 

Source: https://epaper.timesgroup.com/

• 10 Jun 2018 | Mumbai | Ankita Menon

Schools to conduct checks on students’ bags

SCHOOLS HAVE MADE CHANGES IN TIME­TABLES AND ARE ENSURING RANDOM CHECKS THAT WILL HELP STUDENTS TO CARRY A LIGHTER BAG THIS ACADEMIC YEAR

THANE : After the state government’s diktat on making school bags lighter, many schools in Thane are taking measures to ensure that they succeed in doing so.
 
PRAFUL GANGURDE/HT PHOTO  

With the start of the new academic year, parents throng Jambali Naka market to buy stationery for their children. Schools have advised parents to not buy heavy pencil or tiffin boxes.

  Schools have made changes in time-tables and are ensuring random checks that will help students to carry a lighter bag this academic year. For the last few years, schools have been receiving notices to enforce a limit on the weight of bags.

With most schools reopening on Monday, the rules are already in place. Lokpuram Public School has maintained a register that will enlist every student’s body weight and bag weight.

Fortnightly checks and provisions to keep books within classrooms have been made.

“Parents have been advised to get books only on the basis of the time-table. All notebooks are kept in classrooms and are taken home only on Friday for revision. They are returned on Monday. This practice helps in making the bags lighter for the rest of the week,” said Deepa Bhattacharya, principal, Lokpuram Public School.

Meanwhile, a few schools have made changes in their time-tables. DAV public school’s time-table has four slots, consisting of three subjects only. Children have to get three pairs of textbooks and notebooks and one diary to school. They are also given the liberty to share the textbooks with their partners. Random checks are a part of the rules; DAV has prepared a bag committee that comprises teachers, students and parents.

“We have inculcated various measures to ensure that school bags remain light. Parents also should cooperate and not make a hue and cry about it. As an educational institute, our focus has always been to make education fun for children,” said Simmi Juneja, principal, DAV Public School.
Shreerang English School has clubbed two periods so in the eight periods of the day, they only have to learn four subjects.

“Children are advised not to get heavy pencil boxes or tiffin boxes, as it increase the weight. It is essential for parents also to cooperate with such rules, as we have noticed many parents send all the books to class,” added Rupa Dey, principal of Shreerang English School.

Source : http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx#

• 9 Jun 2018 | Pune | Neelam Pandey

School report cards to drop grades, marks

NEW DELHI : The progress report (or report card) of students between classes 1 and 8 should no longer carry comments such as slow, poor, and dull, and will also not display any scores or grades, so as to prevent underperformers from developing a sense of inferiority, according to a revised government policy guideline that Hindustan Times has seen.

Schools will have to maintain the progress report in the form of a diary or a log which will require teachers to simply tick a scale linked to the learning outcomes achieved by the student, the guideline says.

These changes are part of revised policy guidelines called Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation, commonly known as ‘CCE’ which was introduced as school-based system of evaluation as per Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act, 2009), implemented in April 2010. The policy guidelines have been shared with the states.

Education is a so-called concurrent subject in India, which means both the centre and the states have the right to make laws on it.

The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has prepared
the document which will be applicable for classes 1 to 8.

Earlier the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was the implementing body for CCE. NCERT director Hrushikesh Senapaty said the guidelines have been shared with all the states for their comments and a national conclave will be held to finalise the policy.

The Act requires that Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation be implemented for children till the completion of elementary schooling.

It has also been suggested that separate progress report cards should be maintained for children at various stages — primary and upper primary.

This will help trace the learning progression within and across stages.

“Only specific observations pertaining to children’s performance and behaviour which need to be highlighted to facilitate both students and teachers reflect and review their work, may only be noted in a diary or a logbook. The observations on learning outcomes depicting Personal Social Qualities (PSQs) may be noted as and when required/noticed,” says the policy

The guidelines have been developed keeping three major purposes of assessment in mind: ‘for Learning’, ‘as Learning’ and ‘of Learning’. It also involves getting students to evaluate themselves as well as their peers.

“It is important that the skills of reflection and critically reviewing one’s own work are developed over a period of time. For this opportunity need to be given right from early stages and the teachers need to be patient in this process,” the policy says.

An educationist welcomed the guidelines as progressive but said it was important to display the same approach beyond class 8.

“This kind of system can easily be implemented by schools from nursery to class 8, and some progressive schools already do it... but the problem is what comes after class 8. In class 9-12, the students are abruptly pushed into a system of scores, marks and exams; this can be traumatic. We need to rework the entire education system from nursery to class 12, and then our higher education as well,” said Ameeta Wattal, the principal of Springdales School Pusa Road in Delhi.



Source : http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx