Chandigarh, July 9
Genius students of iMatrix World Wide, a city-based total brain development company, were honoured by the Governor, Education Minister, chairman of Education Board, Commissioner and Director General, Secondary Education, during a two-day education conference at Kurukshetra.

Those honoured were Srijan Shukla, Kanak Singh, Simran Singh and Ravi Godara.

The students mesmerised the audience which included principals of government senior secondary schools in Haryana and Education Board officials.

The Governor and the Education Minister praised the mental abilities of the students, who had earlier been awarded by top dignitaries like the President of India, Amitabh Bachchan, Subroto Roy of Sahara and Shabana Azmi.

The Principals also expressed their willingness to start iMatrix programmes in their schools so that school students could excel in all walks of life. They requested the higher authorities present to include the iMatrix courses like vedic maths, super memory booster programme, mental arithmetic through abacus and brain cell activation exercises to be included in the curriculum of schools.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Biswaroop Roy Chaudhary, ‘Memory Man’ of India and Director iMatrix World Wide, said: “It is myth that genius children are born with special abilities. In fact, anybody can take up our courses and become a genius and excel in all walks of life”.

Mr Rohit Shekhar Sharma, CEO, iMatrix, said: “We will be glad to provide free education to children from economically weaker section of our society so that they are able to meet and face the challenges of life in a better way.”

Chandigarh, July 9
The Union Government is actively considering to establish agriculture science colleges all over the country on the pattern of engineering and medical colleges and Rs 2,600 crore has been earmarked for the purpose under the 11th Five-Year Plan.

A top Planning Commission source disclosed that agricultural education was among the top-priority areas under the 11th plan and the government had been recommended to step up efforts and expenditure in this regard.

“Already, the Union Government has doled out Rs 200 crore more under the 10th Five-Year Plan to rev up agriculture,” he said.

Incidentally, the Centre has agreed in principle to designate the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) as a nodal body to ensure quality control in the agriculture science education.

“The ICAR would function on the lines of the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) in establishing, maintaining and supervising the quality of agro-education,” a source in the Education Wing of the ICAR disclosed.

The ICAR would soon send a proposal to the Union Cabinet for clearance following which colleges of agriculture would be set up all over the country, he said.

The proposal is aptly timed as there is a need for such colleges to boost reforms in the agro-sector as well as to create a high-class technical workforce adept in scientifically augmenting agricultural output.

Moreover, rapid advances in the field of biotechnology have spurred a demand for technically superior colleges.

Biotechnology, which plays an instrumental role in crop diversification and production of genetically modified (GM) foods, is the need of hour given India’s burgeoning population and resultant pressures on existing food-production capacity.

Chandigarh, July 9
The all-India quota in all engineering streams at Punjab Engineering College (PEC) were filled on day one of joint counselling for admission to the University, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Panjab University, Swami Sarvanand Giri Panjab University Regional Centre, Hoshiarpur, and Chandigarh College of Architecture.

PEC seats were rated as most coveted by various AIEEE rank-holders and by the evening, all seats in various streams at PEC, other than metallurgy were filled in the UT quota.

City students seemed to have preferred electronics, students from the all-India quota preferred computer science. In computer science stream, the cut-off rank of the all-India quota was 2,839 while the UT quota was 3,727 at PEC. In electronics, the all-India quota cut off was 3,113 while the UT quota was 3,300 at PEC. The 14 seats in information technology were filled next followed by mechanical, electrical, aeronautics and civil engineering.

The PEC authorities pointed out that this year the college had offered 97 more seats in various streams since the college would not be undertaking a second or subsequent counselling.

Chandigarh, July 9
Almost 75 per cent of the students of the Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology (CCET) have got job offers in the third year of their graduation.

There were 102 students eligible for job placements. So far 76 students have found placements in reputed companies like Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Satyam. At least 10 of the students are expecting an annual package of Rs 2.5 lakh.

Diploma students of the CCET are not far behind. At least 85 per cent students have already got placements while many companies are yet to come for campus placements.

All mechanical and architectural diploma students have got job placements, while 50 per cent students in electrical, 60 per cent in civil and 40 per cent students in electronics streams of diploma have got job offers already.

The college was established in 2002 but the first batch of the students were given to Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.

This batch of students will be the first batch to pass out from the institution, which will be in 2007. The college has started two more streams in the engineering graduation this year, civil engineering and mechanical engineer with 20 seats each.

Chandigarh, July 9
A seminar on physics and maths for classes IX to XII was conducted at Horizon Institute of Competitions, Sector 44, here today.

The emphasis was on how to learn the subjects.

Faculty members interacted with students and gave them tips for the forthcoming examinations. Group discussions were also held.