Education Briefs

Lawrence Sanawar team scales Everest

Six students aged 15-17 of the Lawrence School, Sanawar — Prithvi Singh Chahal, Fateh Singh Brar, Guribadat Singh Somal, Ajay Sohal, Shubham Kaushik and Raghav Joneja — scaled the summit of Mt. Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, on May 21.

The team reached camp 4 on the southern face of the massif on the evening of May 20, from where it made its final ascent towards the summit at midnight, carrying traditional prayer flags given by local well-wishers who revere the mountain.

Felicitating the team on May 21, Praveen Vasisht, headmaster of Lawrence, Sanawar described their conquest of Everest as a giant leap for the school. “They have indomitably upheld the school credo — ‘Never Give In’ — in letter and spirit,” he said.

Lisaa Design School Open Day

The Lisaa School of Design, Delhi — a premier French design school — hosted its annual Open Day on May 18-19. On display at the campus were creative designs crafted by students marking their debut in the professional arena. Students showcased their very best to invitees including reputed professional designers, parents and fellow students.

Addressing the assembly on May 18, Bharat Sikka, an internationally renowned photographer and filmmaker, delivered an inspirational talk titled ‘Photography and its relation to design’. Illustrious designer Nitin Bal Chauhan also showcased designs created in collaboration with students from Lisaa.

KIIT bags excellency awards

The Bhubaneswar-based KIIT University was awarded the Consortium of Co-Chairpersons-Industry (CCI) Technology Education Excellency Award 2013, at a glittering ceremony staged in Ahmedabad on May 18. Prof. P.P. Mathur, vice chancellor of KIIT University, received the award from His Excellency Ndubulsi Vitus Amaku, high commissioner of Nigeria, in the presence of N.K. Goyal, president, CMAI and Dr. Akshai Aggarwal, vice chancellor of Gujarat Technological University.

The CCI-Technology Education Excellency awards have been instituted by Gujarat Technological University, jointly with the Communication Multimedia Applications Infra-structure (CMAI) Association of India. The awards are supported by ASSOCHAM.

KIIT University was awarded under the categories of ‘Best University in Promoting Research & Development Relevant to the Needs of Society’ and ‘Best University in Learned Publications in High Impact Journals in Top tier Conferences’.

Jetking Infotrain jobs fair

The Mumbai-based Jetking Infotrain Ltd organised a jobs fair in Bangalore on May 25. Representatives of companies in the electronics, computer hardware and maintenance, telecommunications, networking and IMS (IP- Multimedia Subsystems) industries participated in the one-day fair.

Students enrolled in undergraduate engineering degree and diploma programmes and BCA/MCA final year students writing their exams or having completed them, and who passed Jetking’s aptitude test based on English communication and basic technical questions on electronics, networking and PC hardware, were permitted to register to meet prospective employers. Among the corporates which attended the fair were Wipro, Toyota, System Links, Logus and KRISFO Infotech among others.

“We are pleased to organise this annual job fair as it offers a great opportunity to generate employment for youth. We are equally honoured to have the support of excellent companies from the IT and computer hardware industries who provide students industry exposure,” said Siddarth Bharwani, the company’s head of marketing and corporate communications, speaking on the occasion.  

Silver Oaks, Bangalore inauguration

A branch campus of the Hyderabad-based Silver Oaks School was inaugurated by Dr. Pankaj Chandra, director of IIM-B, in Bangalore on May 25. Silver Oaks, Bangalore, affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education, also offers the primary years programme of IBO, Geneva from pre-primary to class V. It features a teacher to student ratio of 1:25 with teachers certified by IBO and various national and international universities. Infrastructure facilities include  widescreen computers with high speed internet in every classroom, transport, and excellent sports facilities.

“We will continue our commitment to good education which we have imparted for more than a decade in Hyderabad. Silver Oaks, Bangalore, sited on a five-acre plot on Sarjapur Road, offers 50,000 sq. ft of built-up area of international standards. With 11 years of institution development experience of nurturing Silver Oaks, Hyderabad into the city’s best CBSE and IBPYP school, we are ready to replicate the experience in Bangalore,” says Dhanunjaya Vallabhaneni, director of Silver Oaks, Hyderabad. Silver Oaks, Bangalore will begin nursery-class V programmes this year.

LeapStart Football League 2013

Greenwood High School, Bangalore bagged the LeapStart Football League 2013 winner’s trophy, besting finalist teams from Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. The LeapStart Football League 2013, an inter-school, inter-state football tournament, was staged in Bangalore in end April.

Matches were played in three cities — Chennai, Bangalore, and Mumbai — starting on February 2 with 50 school teams comprising students aged below 15 years participating in the league-cum-knock out tournament. The eight finalist teams were Lady Andal School, SBOA, Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Bal Vidya Mandir (all Chennai), Parle Tilak Vidyalaya, Gyan Kendra (Mumbai), Parikrma Humanity Foundation and Greenwood High (Bangalore).

“The idea was to give children a platform to showcase their talent and test their skills against teams from not just their own cities but also from other states,” says Dev Roy, founder-managing director of the Bangalore-based FitKids Education and Training Pvt. Ltd, which offers the LeapStart sports and fitness programmes to K-12 children.