Category Archives: Education

Kautilya Vidyalaya emerges zonal champion in PV Quiz

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All
Champions: Participants of the zonal finals of Prajavani Quiz Championship, along with VC of University of Mysore G Hemantha Kumar, in Mysuru on Tuesday. DH Photo
Champions: Participants of the zonal finals of Prajavani Quiz Championship, along with VC of University of Mysore G Hemantha Kumar, in Mysuru on Tuesday. DH Photo

The students of Kautilya Vidyalaya emerged zonal champions in the Prajavani Quiz Championship, held at Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar auditorium of Senate Bhavan in Manasagangothri in the city on Tuesday. Students of Maharshi Public School, followed  them by a narrow margin of eight points.

The students of Kautilya Vidyalaya, Kaushik S Nandan and Sachit C Shetty, studying in 10th standard, scored 108 points and gained entry to the state finals of Prajavani Quiz Championship, scheduled to be held at Bengaluru on January 24.

The second prize was won by Shashank and Balaji of Maharshi Public School, who scored 100 points. Ankith Anish and Sudhanva Kashyap of Excel Public School, with 65 points, secured the third prize. The other teams in order are Sathvik and Dhyan from Sadvidya School; Aprameya and Kishen from Sadvidya School; and Uday and Yogesh from St Joseph’s School. The winners got cash prizes of Rs 6,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 2,000 respectively, along with medals, trophies and certificates.

Brave bandh

Despite the Bharat bandh call, given by various organisations, the quiz championship received good response and the auditorium was almost full. More than 150 teams of two students each took part in the preliminary written quiz. Each school was allowed to send a maximum of three teams. Teachers, school staff and also parents accompanied the students.

The students had 20 questions, including five starred ones, to answer, in the preliminary written quiz. The highest score was 14 points, scored by five teams.

The sixth team, which had scored 13 points, was selected in a tie-breaker, based on the score in the starred questions section. A team of Excel Public School defended the tie-breaker.

The quiz master was Meghavi Manjunath. Vice Chancellor of the University of Mysore G Hemantha Kumar distributed the prizes to winners. Assistant general manager for circulation R Jaganath Jois, Prajavani Mysuru bureau chief K J Mariyappa, Deccan Herald principal correspondent T R Sathish Kumar and circulation manager H C Lakshmikantha were present.

The fifth edition of the Prajavani Quiz Championship began in the city on Tuesday. It will be held in nine more cities across the state, up to January 24. The competition will be held on Wednesday at Hassan. All zonal winners will take part in the in the state finals.

Students from Mysuru, Mandya, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts participated in the quiz in Mysuru. The publishers of Deccan Herald, Prajavani, Sudha and Mayura, The Printers (Mysore) Limited (TPML), have organised the quiz competition for children of Class 5 to Class 10. It is being held in association with Deeksha group of institutions.

While the first prize in the finals is Rs 50,000, the second, third, fourth and fifth prizes respectively are Rs 30,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 6,000 and Rs 4,000.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State / by T T Sathish Kumar / DH News Service, Mysuru / January 08th, 2019

Karnataka’s Bapuji Vidyaniketan School charges Rs 7 per day as fee

Amazing Feats, Education

The school has 140 children, most of them coming from poor economical background.

Students attend a PT class in Bapuji Vidyaniketan school.
Students attend a PT class in Bapuji Vidyaniketan school.

Hubballi :

This school in Hubballi charges Rs 7 per day for  LKG and UKG students. The school does not take donation and is run by a retired art teacher. Bapuji Vidyaniketan School in Anand Nagar is successfully running in its third year and the school collects Rs 5 per day for pre-nursery students and Rs 7 per day for LKG and UKG students.

The school has 140 children, most of them coming from poor economical background. The school has all the basic facilities including toilets, play area and CCTVs.

This is the dreamchild of Wallimahammad Dharwad, a retired art teacher from Hubballi who decided to establish a school that does not take donation and whose fee structure is affordable.

“There are nine teachers in the school and the fee collected is used to pay salaries to the teachers. We teach both Kannada and English. The school also gets donations from the local businessmen in Hubballi and Dharwad and many young teachers who come here to teach students for free,” he said.

“When I was studying, my family had difficult times. I wanted to leave studies due to financial issues. Hence, I decided to do something for society and came up with the fee structure. For instance, when I say for UKG the parents have to pay Rs 210 per month, they are exhilarated and ensure that their wards do not leave school,” he said.

He said, “I have seen many families stopping their children from going to school due to high fees. We take Rs 500 at the time of admission and the money is used for the children stationery and other purposes. We also provide free uniform.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Kiran Balannanavar / Express News Service / January 03rd, 2019

American Tulu researcher Peter Claus no more

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, World Opinion
Peter J Claus interacting with Siri Paddana artiste Kargi Pujarthi. Photo credit: S A Krishnaiah, senior folklorist, Udupi.
Peter J Claus interacting with Siri Paddana artiste Kargi Pujarthi. Photo credit: S A Krishnaiah, senior folklorist, Udupi.

American researcher Dr Peter J Claus, who extensively studied Tulu culture and folklore, passed away on Sunday. He was 87.

Dr Claus headed the Department of Anthropology at the California State University.

He had carried out research on Tulunadu from 1967. He had followed the participation method and was well-versed in the use of Tulu and Sanskrit.

Before coming to Dakshina Kannada for research, Dr Claus learnt Kannada through interaction with Prof M B Krishnamurthy and Dr A K Ramanujan. He was also honoured with the Gaurava Prashasti by the Tulu Sahitya Academy in 2004.

He studied the kinship system in the Bunt community and was also attracted to folk art like Paddana and Siri cult.

According to researcher Prof A V Navada, after Dr Claus’ study on kinship among Bunts, he visited the coastal district four to five times and expanded his knowledge of Tulu culture.

Prof Navada and Subhashchandra have translated eight research articles of Dr Claus and published as ‘Tuluva Darshana’. Up to 15 articles of Dr Claus, related to Tulu will be published by Prasaranga of Mangaluru University next month.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by Naina J A / DH News Service / Mangaluru – December 30th, 2018

Snazzy, tech-savvy solutions, thanks to Bengaluru students

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

Installing close circuit television cameras might just be a thing of the past.

The device can alert users of unusual activity
The device can alert users of unusual activity

Bengaluru :

Installing close circuit television cameras might just be a thing of the past. Imagine getting alerts on your phone for every person — known and unknown — that enters your house. This might soon be a reality, said Roshan Fernandes, Anisha Rodrigues and Sudeepa KB, from Nitte Mahalinga Adyantha Memorial Institute of Technology, who recently presented a paper on facial recognition systems that improvise on the existing ones in the market.

The trio were among the 150 delegates present at the three-day international conference on Information Processing, organised by Bangalore University.According to Fernandes, a face is detected in a live video and the system tries to extract features for facial recognition. “This system also secures homes from theft by instantly detecting unusual activity, as well as allowing users to view the theft details.

The system then transmits the face details over IoT, to be viewed by users on their phone or tablet anywhere. Thus, it can recognise whether he is a known or unknown person,” he added, in his presentation. Users will also be notified when the person comes home. “The proposed work can be useful to the differently-abled as the system includes voice recognition to help and guide them,” read their paper.

Automatic spring cleaning
Chores like sweeping and mopping are droll-worthy tasks for anyone. SWAKSH, an automatic vacuum cleaner, offers a solution for this at `2,000. The device has been developed by Siddharth Srivastava of IIT Kanpur, Ayushi Nigam of Rama University, Kanpur, Monika Arya of PES Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, and Shalini Lamba of Lucknow’s National PG College.

“This version currently uses a simple concept of image depth recognition. It basically uses two cameras to monitor the area under consideration and finds the distance where unclean patches are present,” said Srivastava.

Professor KR Venugopal, vice chancellor, Bangalore University, said, “It is not easy to translate papers into prototypes and get patents for the same. At the every least, this conference, held for the 14th year now provides a platform for brainstorming and so many ideas have been generated.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Suraksha P / Express News Service / December 26th, 2018

Karavali Gaurava award for Hilda Rayappan

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All
Prof Hilda Rayappan
Prof Hilda Rayappan

The Dakshina Kannada District Karavali Utsava Samiti has chosen social activist Prof Hilda Rayappan for the Karavali Gaurava Prashasti 2018-19.

A press release from Additional Deputy Commissioner Kumar has said that the award will be present to Prof Rayappan in recognition of her contribution in the field of social service, education and women’s empowerment, among others.

Prof Rayappan  will be given the award during the valedictory of the Karavali Utsav at Panambur beach on December 30.

Prof Rayappan was a professor at School of Social Work Roshni Nilaya. She is the founder and managing trustee of the Prajna Counselling Centre, which was launched in 1987 and was the first counselling centre in Mangaluru. She has been providing shelter to poor destitute children at Makkala Kuteera and Chinnara Tangudana and has been engaged in rehabilitating child labourers by imparting them education.

Through the Prajna Counselling Centre, Prof Rayappan has been providing short stay home for needy women. The Centre is also running Santwana, a women’s helpline in Mangaluru.

In addition, women self help groups have been started that have been helping women to achieve financial independence. She is the recipient of many honours such as ‘Best Student Award’ on the 125th anniversary of the University College, ‘Social Service Award’ during the Taluk Kannada Sahitya Sammelana 1997, ‘Women Empowerment Award’ by St Agnes College in 2000 and others.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by Naina J A / DH News Service / Mangaluru – December 30th, 2018

Art is alive with one block print at a time

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education,

The art of hand block printing has crossed regional borders and is creating a niche for itself in the city hub.

HandBlockPrintingBF27dec2018

A dropout because of poverty, he now helps poor students

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

As a young boy, Ningappa Gatin (43) was unable to study further than SSLC due to financial crunch.

Dharwad:

As a young boy, Ningappa Gatin (43) was unable to study further than SSLC due to financial crunch. Since the past decade, he has been giving away his remuneration of Rs 5,000 per month to meritorious and poor students. Till date, 300 students have received Rs 2 lakh from him.

A member of Dharwad Zilla Panchayat and president of the Standing Committee of Social Justice, Gatin does not want anyone to quit studies like he did. But he had to discontinue studies after the fourth standard. After a gap of years, he completed SSLC. But he could not afford college.

Gatin’s political journey began when he became a member of the Murkatti Gram Panchayat in 2005. Since then, he had not used a single rupee of his remuneration for his own use. Every year, he organises a programme, Pratibha Puraskar and distributes the remuneration to needy students. He has been giving away small cash prizes to meritorious and poor students selected by school teachers and committee members.

“The importance of education cannot be overstated. It can be the catalyst needed to pull families out of poverty. It is the most important for development. As I faced hard days and could not fulfil my dreams, today I am extending a helping hand to the poor and needy,” he said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Mallikarjun Hiremath / Express News Service / November 30th, 2018

PES varsity first in state with IET accreditation

Education, Records, All

The Minister for Higher Education, G T Devegowda, also attended the event.

Minister G T Devegowda at the PES University foundation day ceremony where students were given scholarships, in Bengaluru on Saturday
Minister G T Devegowda at the PES University foundation day ceremony where students were given scholarships, in Bengaluru on Saturday

Bengaluru :

The foundation day of the PES university was held on Saturday where it was announced that the University was the first institution in Karnataka to secure the IET’s international Accreditation for 8 of its engineering programmes. The Minister for Higher Education, G T Devegowda, also attended the event.

The formal accreditation was handed over by Mustafa Wajid, Chairman of IET, India Development Panel. IET accreditation is an internationally recognised benchmark, awarded to high quality programmes that provide an ideal preparation for aspiring professional engineers.
PES University applied for IET Accreditation in 2014.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / November 25th, 2018

Country’s first digital library to be launched at VTU

Education, Records, All

The Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belagavi, has become the first in the country to launch a virtual/digital library.

Bengaluru :

The Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belagavi, has become the first in the country to launch a virtual/digital library. It was launched during the “Tech VCs Conclave-2018,” a two-day conference inaugurated in Bengaluru on Friday.

From now on, students need not go sit in libraries. Instead, they can just access the reference books or journals they want at the click of a button.  The university will provide them login IDs and passwords through which students can access the digital library, which is free of cost.

AICTE chairman Dr D Anil Sahasrabude said, “VTU is the first university in country to introduce such a facility for the benefit of students and faculty. Hope other universities across the nation will follow this.”
VTU Vice Chancellor Dr Karisidappa said, “We will give a password for students so that they can log-in from VTU website and can access all their textbooks materials whenever and wherever they want to.”
He even said that it is possible to access these books from mobile phones. “We will soon make an option for students to avail this facility on the phone as well. They can make notes, prepare for exams and also lab exams through these digital books,” he explained.

Innovation will be a major parameters for ranking of technical Institutions in the country by AICTE from here on, AICTE chairman announced this during the conclave. He said, “A new ranking system called ‘Atal Ranking System’ has been started for which registration is open. The officials said they are working in this respect to enhance the quality of education.”

Open book exams not mandatory
The ‘open book’ examination proposed by AICTE for engineering courses will not be implemented at VTU Belagavi, at least for the next four years. Vice Chancellor of VTU, Dr Karisiddappa, said, “It is not mandatory to introduce ‘open book’ exams.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / November 24th, 2018

EURAXESS Science Slam India award for Bengaluru-based researcher

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion
Prabahan Chakraborty is a graduate student of the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Benglauru. | Photo Credit: the hindu
Prabahan Chakraborty is a graduate student of the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Benglauru. | Photo Credit: the hindu

Won contest for communicating science through theatre

Neuroscience is a complex subject, but Prabahan Chakraborty, a graduate student from National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru, has an entertaining and simple method to get his message across: musical theatre. The 28-year-old uses this art form to help people understand his research.

For this unique fusion of art and science, Mr. Chakraborty won the EURAXESS Science Slam India competition held in the city recently. The contest — organised in collaboration with the embassy of France, Alliance Francaise Bengaluru, India Bioscience, Global Innovation and Technology Alliance and Indo-German Science and Technology Centre — offers a platform for young researchers to showcase their work outside their labs in a way that can be easily understood by everyone. He competed with five other researchers from across the country in the finals.

As part of his PhD, Mr. Chakraborty has been researching the effects of stress on the brain. “My thesis is on what happens to the amygdala and hippocampus when a person is stressed. My research shows that during times of stress, the amygdala, which regulates anxiety and fear, becomes stronger. The hippocampus, which processes and stores short-term memory, becomes weaker. As a result, a person suffers from mental health issues, including depression and memory impairment. But, communicating this to everyone is not that easy,” he said

When he got to know about the contest, he saw a perfect opportunity to combine two of his passions. “It is a challenge to communicate science in a fun way. But, theatre is an effective tool. My presentation on stress and ways to combat it was in the form of multiple songs and enactments,” he said.

He enacted a scene involving a patient suffering with clinical depression caused due to stress. As he told the audience about his condition, his anxieties and memory loss, he broke into a song to explain what was happening in his brain — in the amygdala and hippocampus. He then went back to dialogue form to talk about solutions. “I presented the topic in a musicial theatre format, which combines words, music and movement,” he said.

As part of winning the contest, Mr. Chakraborty will be going on a trip to Europe, where he will interact with other researchers in top institutes.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / Bengaluru – November 22nd, 2018