Education - Current Affairs for June, 2017

The HRD ministry has constituted a new nine-member panel headed by space scientist K Kasturirangan to frame a new National Education Policy (NEP).

The other members of the panel include chosen experts and educationists from wide-ranging backgrounds.

The panel includes former IAS officer K.J. Alphonse Kanamthanam, who was instrumental in making Kerala’s Kottayam and Ernakulam districts achieve 100% literacy.

Another member of the panel will be Ram Shanker Kureel who has wide experience in the field of agricultural sciences and management.

He is also the Vice-Chancellor of Baba Saheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences, Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.

The committee also comprises of M.K. Shridhar, former member secretary of the Karnataka State Innovation Council, T.V. Kattimani, an expert on language communication, Dr. Mazhar Asif, professor of Persian at Guwahati University, Krishan Mohan Tripathi, a former director of education, Uttar Pradesh, mathematician Manjul Bhargava from Princeton University and Vasudha Kamat, former vice chancellor of Mumbai’s SNDT University.

The panel members belong to different sections and regions of the country reflecting the diversity of the country.

New Education Policy Committees

• In 2015, Narendra Modi Government had set up a committee under former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian to chalk out a new education policy.
• This committee had submitted its report in May 2016. The committee had presented its report in two volumes with around 90 suggestions.
• The other important past committees in Education includes Radhakrishnan Commission (1948-49) on higher education; Mudaliyar Commission (1952) on secondary education and the Kothari Commission (1964-66).
• The Kothari Commission had a mandate to advise the government on the development of education at all stage and in all aspects.
• The Kothari Commission’s report was used to formulate the Education Policy of 1968.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur will confer a doctorate on former sprint queen PT Usha, who missed a medal by a whisker at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

The degree, Doctor of Science (honoris causa - a degree awarded as a mark of esteem) will be conferred on June 16 to mark the 50th convocation of the prestigious institute of the country.

This is her second doctorate - in 2002, Kannur University had conferred D.Lit on her.

For the former sprinter, the news came at an opportune time when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate her synthetic track stadium through video conferencing on June 15.

Usha (52) was in news recently when she declined an offer from Bollywood to do a biopic on her. She said she will not do this until the country wins a gold medal in Olympics athletics.

Running a private sports school, Usha School of Athletics near Kozhikkode, she is busy training young athletes eyeing 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The newly-built synthetic track will be a big push. It will help budding athletes for international events.

Grooming youngsters for more than two decades, her school has produced some of the best women athletes of the country, including Tintu Luka, Jisna Mathew and Jessy Joseph.

Samsung India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for setting up two new Samsung Tech Schools in Bengaluru and Jamshedpur as well as to renew the partnership for 10 existing schools being run across the country.

As a part of Samsung’s commitment to government’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign, the company has announced the MSME-Samsung Technical School Scholarship programme for girls and differently-abled trainees.

Under this Programme, 1,000 girls and differently-abled trainees will be given a grant of up to INR 20,000. Also, a Meritorious Reward Programme for toppers has also been launched.

The toppers among Samsung Technical School students will also be rewarded INR 20,000.

Samsung already runs 10 schools in the Sates of Rajasthan, Kerala, Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal. These schools are run in collaboration with Departments of Technical Education.

Samsung: Know More

• Samsung is a South Korean multinational conglomerate headquartered in Seoul.
• Samsung was founded in 1938 by Lee Byung-Chul.
• The group has diversified into areas including electronics, heavy industries, food processing, textiles, insurance, securities, retail, construction, ship building among others.