[B]Wipro Applying Thought in Schools Pune chapter[/B]
The Pune chapter of the Wipro Applying Thought in Schools (WATIS) programme covering ten schools and 110 teachers, was formally inaugurated on January 8. The objective of the WATIS programme, an initiative of infotech industry leader Wipro Ltd, is to upgrade learning systems in schools by training teachers and institutional leaders.
The participating schools in Pune are City International, Abhinav High School, DES English School, Gurukul, Kalamadi Shamrao High School, Rewachand Bhojwani Academy, SPM English School, Symbiosis High School, Vikhe Patil and Vidya Valley. Teachers from these schools will undergo a two year training programme comprising workshop training and school-based support.
The WATIS programme was launched in Bangalore in May 2001 for 100 teachers from five schools. Since then it has expanded to cover more than 2,200 teachers from over 100 schools in 14 cities. Its Education Leadership programme aims towards reorienting school leaders to prepare them to lead pedagogic transformations. Thus far over 150 school principals have participated in this leadership programme.
In his message to the participating teachers in Pune, Azim Premji, chairman of the Wipro Corp observed: “The almost factory-like efficiency of the end school exam seems to drive everything in the system, unifying all participants around the single objective of ‘doing well in exams’. This seems to have become the be-all and end-all of education. I have no doubt that our education system as it stands today is in need of transformation and that transforming our education is really the key to transforming India’s destiny.â€
The teacher training programme in Pune will be implemented in collaboration with Sparsh, a resource centre in education. It will be executed in two phases with teachers going through intensive training in the first phase of ten months duration which will equip them with contemporary methods of teaching. The second phase will last for one academic year with support provided to each school to ensure effective implementation.
[B]Bangalore School of Music’s 30-day festival[/B]
The Bangalore School of Music’s month-long eighth east West Music & Dance Encounter — a festival of ten major events involving 300 artistes drawn from all over the world (Europe, America, Sri Lanka, Australia, Indonesia) commenced on January 27 and will continue until February 28.
Participating groups include Antaragini; Osmosis; Les Wampas, the 35-member orchestra from Amsterdam; Stockholm’s Royal College of Music; Sri Lanka musicians; the Bangalore-based Panchaveena Ensemble of Suma Sudhindra, and the STEM dance company. The encounter will also feature Grammy Award winner Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt with Swedish cellist, Svante Henryson.
The highlight of the festival is a rendition of the opera Dido and Aenaes, featuring Swedish soprano Helen Larsson together with the 40 member BSM Orchestra and singers. The 30-day festival was inaugurated on January 27 at the Alliance Francaise, Bangalore with a multi-media event comprising painters, photographers and graphic artists from Germany, Sweden, Australia and India who offered an unusual insight into the process of converting music into line drawings/ photography/ paintings/ digital art.
Meanwhile construction work on BSM’s new Rs.3 crore premises which will boast a 260 seat sound-proof auditorium, 24 dedicated music studios, a library, a computerised composing room and recording studio has commenced. “With the number of students wait-listed for admission exceeding 200, the general consensus within the school was that it’s high time we moved to larger, professionally-designed premises which would offer international standard teaching-learning facilities,†says Aruna Sunderlal the founder-director of BSM.
[B]Bishop Cotton Boys School’s new auditorium[/B]
The Rt. Rev. Bishop S. Vasanthakumar inaugurated the new state-of-the-art auditorium of Bishop Cotton Boys School (BCBS, est. 1865) on January 9. The school’s Bishop Edward Lynch Cotton Auditorium claimed to be the largest of any school in India, is capable of seating 1,400 persons and is equipped with the most advanced hi-tech lighting and sound equipment.
“An auditorium that can seat such a large number of parents and well-wishers has long been a dream for us. Thanks to the dedication of all concerned — students, staff, parents, and others — this project has been completed on such a grand scale,†said Dr. Abraham Ebenezer, principal of BCBS speaking on the occasion.
Spread over 65,000 sq. ft the auditorium is constructed in the style of a Greek amphitheatre. Its 1,200 sq. ft stage is clearly visible from every corner of the auditorium. Also a one-stop service centre, it houses a bank, book and uniform stores, music room, cafetaria and a huge car park basement. The auditorium has 24-hour generator backup and a 70 tonne air conditioning plant. A half tonne statue of Bishop Cotton graces the entrance.
[B]Pan’s new Playhome Classroom furniture range[/B]
The Bangalore-based Pan Office Systems Pvt. Ltd. (est. 1977), a market leader in office and school furniture manufacture and marketing, has launched its new range of colourful Playhome Classroom furniture in three series. The new series includes the Four Friend series consisting of mouse, cat, bear and frog chairs and matching tables in four colours; the Soccer series with green soccer design on chairs and tables, and the Stackable Chair series in leopard and giraffe designs.
“These tables and chairs gel well with Montessori classroom environments and are suitable for pre-nursery to class I students. They can also be used as furniture for tiny tots as well as in children’s rooms as they are made of MDF and rubber wood with vibrant non toxic paint. These international designs are already well accepted in South-east Asian and European schools,†says Sushil Mehra, managing director, Pan Office Systems.
[B]Federation of Educational Publishers award winner[/B]
Books-n-all, a wholesale-cum-retail venture of Students’ Agencies (I) Pvt. Ltd was awarded the Best Retail Bookseller Award by the Federation of Educational Publishers, New Delhi on January 19. Students’ Agencies is one of the premier wholesale educational book vendors in India. In a novel departure from traditional business practice, the company has promoted Book-N-All as a retail and wholesale outlet housed in the same premises, making it the only bookstore of its kind in Mumbai.
This unique bookstore offers books on marketing, advertising, public relations, self help, fiction, non-fiction, tourism, engineering, medicine, health, philosophy, cooking etc apart from children’s books and magazines. Promoted in 1968 as a wholesale books vending company, currently Students’ Agencies markets 32,000 Indian and foreign titles to over 1,500 retail bookstores across the country and distributes the output of more than 300 publishers worldwide. Moreover the company’s website (www.books-n-all.com) offers 50,000 titles online.
[B]Brunel University’s international scholarships programme[/B]
Brunel University, UK has announced the launch of its Brunel International Scholarship Programme for 2004. “The programme is designed specifically for international students who would like to study at Brunel University in West London. It is intended to encourage and facilitate a wide range of students to study at Brunel and reflects our commitment to ensuring continued diversity within our student population,†says Clair Collingwood, a spokesperson of the university.
Brunel’s £100,000 (Rs.82 lakh) scholarship fund offers scholarships ranging from partial to full to students with strong academic backgrounds. Also on offer are three International Student Ambassador Scholarships to be awarded to outstanding students who can “bring both academic excellence and a breadth of non-academic skills to Brunelâ€. The scholarships will cover full tuition fees for a one-year Master’s programme.
Aspirants can download the scholarship form from Brunel International’s website — www.brunel.ac.uk/international or by contacting Brunel International via email — Brunel-international@brunel.ac.uk. The application deadline is 31 May, 2004.
Brunel International is a constituent of Brunel University, located in West London, UK. The university has a student population of 13,000 students, of whom 1,600 are from over 100 countries. The university offers study programmes in a wide range of subjects, including business and management, law and engineering.
[B]Green light for teacher training institutions[/B]
The Delhi-based National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has dispensed with the requirement of a no objection certificate (NOC) to be procured from state governments by institutions promoting training courses for school teachers. The notification issued to this effect invites applications from institutions wanting to start new teacher training courses for pre-school or nursery teachers in the academic year 2004-05.
“It is estimated that over 1,000,000 additional teachers will be required at the elementary level to achieve the goal of universalisation of elementary education by 2010. The present step is one of the measures to promote setting up of new institutions and increase availability of seats in existing institutions running elementary teacher education programmes,†says a spokesperson of the Union ministry of HRD.
The requirement of NOC has been waived for (i) institutions already recognised by NCTE for running a B.Ed course and seeking permission to start a course or training in elementary teacher education; (ii) existing elementary teacher institutions seeking permission to increase the intake in such courses; (iii) institutions seeking recognition to start a course or training in pre-school teacher education/ nursery teacher education, and (iv) existing institutions seeking permission to increase the intake in such courses.