Homeschooling, a flexible way of educating your child
Dharam Pal Singh Mor
OUR entire education system revolves around the school, which is thought to be a platform where students grow, learn and evolve. It is the school alone that allows us to get a degree or a diploma in a particular discipline. However, is school the only means of getting education? The answer is “no” when it comes to the parents who choose to educate their children through unconventional educational practices like unschooling, homeschooling or alternative schooling.

• Admission Deadline

Jobs at risk as teacher training courses dwindle
Meanwhile, applicants to UK universities may also drop by 30,000 this year
Richard Garner
UK universities will be forced to axe teacher training courses this year, lecturers’ leaders say, causing job losses across the country. This follows a move to switch to school-based training of teachers. In addition, the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), which administers teacher training, has said the number of places for trainee secondary school teachers will fall.

Campus Notes
Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak
Workshop on economics
THE Department of Economics organised a daylong workshop on "Teaching of Economics" here recently under the auspices of UGC's Special Assistance Programme (SAP). The Workshop was inaugurated by Prof. Suneeta Malhotra, Dean, Faculty of Social sciences, MDU. Professor Kavita Chakravarty, Head, Department of Economics, and Coordinator, SAP, discussed the boundaries of the disciplines and sub-disciplines of economic science.

Homeschooling, a flexible way of educating your child
Dharam Pal Singh Mor

Educating children at home is significantly less expensive

OUR entire education system revolves around the school, which is thought to be a platform where students grow, learn and evolve. It is the school alone that allows us to get a degree or a diploma in a particular discipline. However, is school the only means of getting education? The answer is “no” when it comes to the parents who choose to educate their children through unconventional educational practices like unschooling, homeschooling or alternative schooling. These parents view traditional school as an artificial social environment, where high-performing students are usually preferred and the low performers are ignored; where the class size often remains high, with academic activities and classroom behaviour rigidly fixed; where most teachers, many a times, remain preoccupied with personal problems and ambitions; where the overall environment remain intensely competitive with huge amount of home work and very little time to play; and where fear or punishment approach of educating children is predominant.

These parents suspect that the traditional school environment seriously damage the well- being of their children. Most often, the children are “forcibly” taught to imbibe particular religious, ethnic or linguistic ideologies. To escape these hardships and many more of the conventional schooling, such parents view homeschooling as a better alternative of educating children in a more child-centred, holistic way. Although the curriculum of students in homeschooling remains similar to what is taught in conventional schools, it gives these parents a choice of educating their children in their own flexible and informal ways. Also, educating children at home is significantly less expensive.

Homeschooling in our country is fast catching up these days, as many parents in major cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune are already educating their children at home. However, homeschooling is still not very well pronounced in the policy documents, due to which there is no legally-approved curriculum for these children. As such, there is no problem to homeschooling children in India and a child can straightway be enrolled in Class VIII.

Ironically, the latest legislation with regard to compulsory elementary education, the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) 2009, keeps this mode of education out of its scope. The RTE Act makes attendance of children in schools compulsory for a minimum period of eight years. The Act does not take into account a number of unconventional educational practices of teaching children outside the conventional school system. These provisions of the RTE Act were petitioned in the Delhi High Court by some parents in April 2010. They pleaded that the Act by making children’s attendance compulsory in school impinges upon the right of the parents not to choose to send their children to conventional schools and rather teach them at home or send them to the alternative schools. However, the petition was dismissed by the court, but the government had to issue a statement saying “the RTE Act wants every child to be in school, but if somebody decides not to send his/her children to school, the government is not going to interfere. The compulsion is on the state, not on the parents. Parents are free not to send their children to school, but teach them at home”.

Keeping in view the considerable presence of homeschoolers in the country, apart from the right of the parents to choose the alternative educational practices of teaching, there is a need that the government should now approve a curriculum for the homeschoolers and should cover them under the special schemes or concessions provided to the students of the conventional schools.

The writer is Professor and Head, Department of Social Work, Punjabi University, Patiala

Eligibility: BSc / BA / BCom (min 50%) / BE / BTech / BBA / BCA (min 55%)

Selection: CAT 2011 / CMAT 2012 scores

Application Form & Details: Website

Application Deadline: 22 March 2012

TERI University, 10, Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110070
www.teriuniversity.ac.in

1) MBA (Business Sustainability)
2) MBA (Infrastructure)
3) MBA (Urban Management)

Eligibility: Bachelors degree (any, min 50%)

Selection: CAT / GMAT / MAT scores; GD and PI

Application Form & Details: Website

Application Deadline: 27 April 2012

Medicine

Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Agamkuan, Patna – 800007 (Bihar) (Under Indian Council of Medical Research)
www.rmrims.org.in, www.icmr.nic.in

PhD Programme (2012 - 2013)

Eligibility: MBBS (with 3 publications in peer reviewed international journal) / MPharm / MSc / MTech (Biotechnology / Biochemistry / Microbiology / Statistics / Zoology / Life Sciences)

Selection: Written Exam: 25 February 2012 / Qualified for JRF in CSIR-NET / DBT / ICM

Application Form & Details: Website.

Application Deadline: 31 January 2012

Scholarship

Maastricht University, Minderbroedersberg 4-6, 6211 LK Maastricht , The Netherlands,
www.maastrichtuniversity.nl

Maastricht University India Scholarship 2012
(The scholarship is a full-time residential programme aimed at training scholars to become skilled and innovative researchers and teachers in various domains)

Eligibility: Indian nationals admissible for a Masters program at Maastricht University with excellent academic background. Indian residents must meed the requirements of obtaining an entry visa and residence permit for the Netherlands.
Age Limit: 35 years (on 01 September 2012)

Duration: Duration of Masters program (12 / 24 months)
Application Form & Details: Website

Application Deadline: 01 March 2012

Clarendon Scholarships, Graduate Admissions & Funding, University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JD, UK.
www.clarendon.ox.ac.uk

Clarendon Scholarships
(for graduate study programmes at Oxford University)

Eligibility: A high first-class honours degree or equivalent (a GPA score of at least 3.7 if the mark is out of 4, noting that most successful candidates achieve a score higher than 3.7) or an outstanding academic record at Master's level.
Scholarship: Full tuition and college expenses, plus a grant to cover living costs

Application Form & Details: Website

Application Deadline: 01 February 2012

Sciences – Physical

National Physical Laboratory, Dr K S Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110012
www.nplindia.org

PhD (Science) 2012

Eligibility: MSc (Physics / Chemical Sciences) (min 60%) with a valid National Level Fellowship (JRF/SRF or various funding agencies / INSPIRE )

Application Form & Details: Website

Application Deadline: 08 February 2012

Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Health Centre, University of Mumbai, Vidhyanagari Campus, Mumbai - 400098 (Mah) (D/o Atomic Energy, GoI)
www.nestexam.in / www.cbs.ac.in / www.niser.ac.in

National Etrance Screening Test (NEST 2012)
(For admission to 5-year Integrated MSc Programme in Basic Sciences at National Institute of Science Education & Research, Bhubaneswar & University of Mumbai –Deptt of Atomic Energy Centre of Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai)

Eligibility: Class 12 (PCB/M), 60% (55% for Reserved/PD)
Age Limit: 24 years (DoB after 01 October ’87)

Selection: NEST: 27 May 2012; Interview

Application Form: Apply online

Details: Website

Application Deadline: 12 March 2012

Jobs at risk as teacher training courses dwindle
Meanwhile, applicants to UK universities may also drop by 30,000 this year
Richard Garner

UK universities will be forced to axe teacher training courses this year, lecturers’ leaders say, causing job losses across the country.

This follows a move to switch to school-based training of teachers. In addition, the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), which administers teacher training, has said the number of places for trainee secondary school teachers will fall.

The news emerged as the deadline for 2012 university applications expired on Sunday. Universities expect a fall of 5 to 6 per cent due to fees rising to up to £9,000 a year—a fall of between 25,000 and 30,000 in the number of applicants compared with last year.

But it is teacher training that worries union officials. They said Liverpool Hope University had already made job cuts ahead of the cutbacks. In a letter to universities, Tom Glover, director of marketing at the TDA, said: “The reduction in secondary places and the Department for Education’s strategy to increase school-led provision may result in some providers having to consider their involvement in initial teacher training.”

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “These changes will inevitably lead to job losses in every university where teacher training is taught.”

Institutions were also bracing for university applications for 2012. A poll of 21 universities by The Independent showed a mixed picture with 10 reporting a fall in applications this year, nine a rise and two fairly static. Manchester University has seen a fall in UK applicants from 35,052 last year to 30,359, the University of Bedfordshire saw a 7.9 per cent fall and London’s School of Oriental and African Studies reports “a marked decline in applications.”

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “I think we’re looking generally at some dip in applications although the situation is volatile.”

Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show arts and humanities courses like creative arts and design are down 14.6 per cent.

— The Independent

Campus Notes
Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak

Workshop on economics

THE Department of Economics organised a daylong workshop on "Teaching of Economics" here recently under the auspices of UGC's Special Assistance Programme (SAP). The Workshop was inaugurated by Prof. Suneeta Malhotra, Dean, Faculty of Social sciences, MDU. Professor Kavita Chakravarty, Head, Department of Economics, and Coordinator, SAP, discussed the boundaries of the disciplines and sub-disciplines of economic science. The world ranking of research journals in economics along with the world ranking of first 400 universities of the world was also discussed. Several faculty members from the Department of Economics, colleges affiliated to MDU and B.P.S. Mahila Vishvidyalya, Khanpur attended the workshop. Recommendations for the revision of the syllabi for BA and MA in Economics were also made by speakers at the workshop. Meanwhile, the Department of Physical Education will organise a national workshop on "Modern Developmental Trends in Sports Conditioning" from February 12 to 18. According to the Head, Department of Physical Education, latest techniques of sports conditioning and all related knowledge will be imparted at the workshop.

Youth rally organised

A youth rally, propagating the inspiring messages and thoughts of Swami Vivekanand, was recently taken out on the university campus on the occasion of the National Youth Day and birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand. The rally was comprised of volunteers from the National Service Scheme (NSS) of affiliated colleges and teaching departments of the university. Later on, declamation, painting, slogan, banner competitions were organised at the Tagore Auditorium. Professor S. S. Chahar gave away prizes to the winners.

Interview schedule

The university will conduct interviews for the post of Clerk-cum-Junior Data Entry Operator on January 21 and 22. According to MDU Registrar, S.P. Vats, interview letters have been sent to the eligible candidates. In case of non-receipt of interview letters, candidates may contact the Establishment Branch of the university after Janaury 17, he said.

Financial aid for research work

The Ministry of Science and Technology of Government of India has selected two departments for financial assistance under the FIST programme 2011 of the Department of Science and Technology. The selected departments of zoology and physics will receive grants of Rs 50 lakh and Rs 85 lakh, respectively, as financial assistance for strengthening infrastructure to promote research and higher studies.

Pt. B. D. Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak
Lecture on dental treatment

Ajay Kumar, a US-based engineer, delivered a lecture on "Dental Implant Biomechanics and Intraosseous Injections" at the Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences recently. Kumar, who did BE from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Master's in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and Master's in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers and UMDNJ, California, has 28 patents in dental implants. Presently, he is partner-cum-chief of research and development, Innovadontics, USA.

 — Contributed by Bijendra Ahlawat