Category Archives: Education

11 CFAL students qualify for Maths Olympiad

Education, Records, All

Eleven students from Centre for Advanced Learning (CFAL), Mangaluru, have been selected in the Karnataka Regional Mathematics Olympiad 2017 to represent the State at the national-level Olympiad.

A release from CFAL here stated they are among the 35 selected to represent Karnataka .

The Mathematical Olympiad is one of the prestigious examinations conducted by the Union government. Those selected at the regional level qualify for Indian National Mathematical Olympiad leading to the International Mathematical Olympiad.

A pre-regional level examination was held in August with 623 students from Karnataka qualifying for the regional level. At the regional level examination in October, 35 got selected, including the 11 from Mangaluru, all from CFAL.

The Mathematics Olympiad Program in India is organised by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) on behalf of the National Board of Higher Mathematics (NBHM) of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – December 12th, 2017

City Corporation honorary lifetime award for Kadri Gopalnath

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, Sports
Mayor Kavita Sanil addressing a press conference at the Mangaluru City Corporation on Tuesday.
Mayor Kavita Sanil addressing a press conference at the Mangaluru City Corporation on Tuesday.

Three more chosen in Yakshagana, Education, Sports categories

A committee of the Mangaluru City Corporation has chosen well-known saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath for the corporation’s first Ullal Srinivas Mallya Memorial Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award carries a purse of ₹ 1 lakh, a memento and a citation. The award will be presented during the Mangaluru City Corporation Day at the Town Hall here on December 8.

In addition, the committee has chosen three persons for the Ullal Srinivas Mallya Memorial Award for Yakshagana, Education and Sports.

They are Agari Raghurama Bhagavatha (Yakshagana); K.A. Rohini (Education) and M.R. Poovamma (Sports). Each one of them would be given away a purse of ₹ 50,000, a memento and a citation.

Announcing the awards here on Tuesday, Mayor Kavita Sanil said that the corporation has instituted the awards for the first time to recognise the contribution of those who have brought laurels to Mangaluru.

The selection committee comprised B.A. Vivek Rai, former Vice-Chancellor of Kannada University and also Karnataka State Open University; B.A. Abdul Rahman, former Vice-Chancellor, Kannur and Calicut universities, K.N. Tingalaya, former Chairman of Syndicate Bank, Rita Noronha, a social worker, and Manohar Prasad, a journalist. The Mayor is the ex-officio chairperson of the committee.

She said that the corporation would conduct a drawing competition for primary and high school students within the jurisdiction of the corporation in the forenoon on December 8. The topics would be Mangaluru International Airport; New Mangaluru Port; National Institute of Technology, Surathkal; National Highway 66 and Mangaluru-Hassan railway line.

The topics have been selected on the basis of contribution of late Mallya for their development. The venue would be the mini Town Hall. There will be three awards each in primary and high school categories. Students will have to register their names either by sending a message on WhatsApp to 9964160249 or 9113995063 before December 6.

She said that the programmes of the City Corporation Day would be conducted from 2.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. The awards would be presented at 6.30 p.m. There would be cultural programmes before and after the award presentation. D. Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari of Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala, would present the awards.

The Mayor would present a karate demonstration after the award presentation.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Special Correspondent / Mangaluru – Decemberj06th, 2017

Bharatavani portal offers digital dictionaries of vanishing Indian languages

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

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The online platform hosted by the Central Institute for Indian Languages, Mysuru, publishes content in 121 Indian languages, and is working towards starting online classes.

The word for sunlight or sunshine in Angami — a language spoken by around 130,000 people in the North East — is niakikezie. In the Ao-language of Nagaland, it is anüpu oranüsangwa. And this reporter in far away Bengaluru could look up these words and many more from several Indian languages, thanks to digital dictionaries available on the Bharatavani website.

Most cities in India have infrastructure to teach many foreign languages . But how many look inwards to tap the domestic cultural motherlode of more than 1,500 Indian languages? It is this question that spurred Bharatavani, an online Indian Languages platform hosted by the Central Institute for Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, to not only publish content in 121 Indian languages, but work towards starting online classes.

Searchable resource

What is particularly causing ripples of excitement among linguists and researchers is the compilation of digitised searchable dictionaries. In a little over a year since its inception, the portal offers 262 unilingual and multilingual dictionaries in 50 Indian languages — all of them in a searchable format on android platforms — which can be accessed on Bharatavani’s free Android app.

The number of languages covered will soon cross a hundred, said Beluru Sudarshana, consultant with CIIL. “Bharatavani is not publishing new works, but we are for the first time digitising available dictionaries in smaller languages, to bring it to a wider audience,” he said. Malto-English-Hindi, Odia-Ho, English-Ao and Lepcha-English are some of the dictionaries on offer — most of them available in a searchable format and not as cumbersome PDF files.

Prof. Panchanan Mohanty, Dean, School of Humanities, University of Hyderabad and an expert in Eastern Language research, who is also on the Bharatavani committee, likened Bharatavani to Project Tiger, arguing for conservation of India’s fast-depleting language heritage. But more significantly, the digitised database of dictionaries is a goldmine for linguistic research in the country, he said.

These dictionaries can now be linked to create a large database of words across various languages, using English, Hindi or regional languages as the source words. With over seven lakh source words at present, the potential of the database is immense. For instance, the use of Odia source words will result in an Odia-English-Ho-Munda-Khadia-Kui-Oraon-Saura dictionary, integrating a family of Austroasiatic languages spoken in central-eastern India. The integration of these dictionaries is still a work in progress.

Accessible curricula

Linguist G.N. Devy, who spearheaded the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, believes this resource will help speed up socio-linguistic research and not just along themes of structure and genealogy, thereby ensuring better development planning.

“One serious challenge is that children from communities speaking non-scheduled languages are pushed out of schools leading to development deprivation. For an imaginative user, content on Bharatavani may help in designing a curriculum in these languages,” he said, adding that starting from scheduled languages, Bharatavani has now broadened its scope to smaller languages that have over 10,000 speakers. “But there are several languages with fewer than 10,000 speakers, which Bharatavani needs to work on in its second phase.”

Challenges ahead

This undertaking is not without it challenges. For one, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is still in a primitive stage even for major Indian languages. Thus constructing digitised databases for smaller languages will be a problem as their script cannot be scanned and converted into text format. Tedious desktop publishing is the only viable option.

Another hurdle is that unicode script input drivers are available in only recognised scripts. Incidentally, the Bharatavani portal will soon provide a virtual keyboard, integrating all available Unicode drivers of India languages for users to search for words by typing in language of their choice.

The bigger problem, however, is proofreading, said Mr. Sudarshana. “Ideally, for a multi-lingual digital dictionary we need to carry out a collaborative online proof-reading process, each expert looking at their language of expertise. In most of these smaller languages, it’s tough to even get language experts. Most are old and not equipped to proofread online. We have opted for assisted online proof reading, where a person reads out the text to the expert and makes suitable changes in the database on the expert’s recommendation, which is time consuming,” he said,

Bharhavani is steering in uncharted terrain, but researchers and linguists on board this project are optimistic that it will unveil India’s landscape of languages to its citizens despite the many challenges.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Tech> Sunday Special / by K.V. Aditya Bharadwaj / December 02nd, 2017

Bengaluru students bag Cambridge Learner awards

Education, Records, All

Bengaluru:

City students have emerged toppers in various categories in the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards in the 2016-17 examination series.

Three students from Inventure Academy received six awards. Pranav Manoj Kumar bagged the maximum number, including A Level Math – Top in Country (Nov 2016); A Level Computer Science – High Achievement Award (June 2017); Further Math – High Achievement Award (June 2017) and Best Across 3 subjects in Country (March/June 2017). Pranav has commenced his studies at Carnegie Mellon University  in computer science.

Other students from Inventure who bagged awards include Raveena Ray for AS Level Psychology – Top in Country (June 2017) and Anand Karthikeyan Madathil for A Level Mathematics – Top in Country (June 2017).

Three students from The International School Bangalore also bagged awards. Kushagra Jain topped in chemistry, Anusha Sarathy excelled in drama and Aniket Pratapneni in English language.

Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards are issued by Cambridge Assessment International Education. They recognize exceptional learner achievement in Cambridge examinations around the world. The awards will be distributed in January 2018.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.cosm / The Times of India / News> City News> Bangalore News> Schools & Colleges / TNN / November 25th, 2017

Turning around impoverished schools, one step at a time

Amazing Feats, Education
The OSAAT Rotary Government Primary School at Neelakanta Agrahara in Malur.
The OSAAT Rotary Government Primary School at Neelakanta Agrahara in Malur.

NRIs, expatriates in San Francisco conduct events to raise funds

In the heart of Kolar district, a winding tar road embraced by clusters of brick kiln on either side gives way to a muddy path that leads to a little-known village, Neelakanta Agrahara. The kilns relinquish their hold on the rugged road as rocks and the deceptively appealing but invasive lantana flowers dominate the landscape. One building stands out, its walls adorned with drawings of popular toons, birds and even vegetables. With a see-saw, swing and other playground fixtures, it has the trappings of a well-funded private school, beyond the budget of most village households. But locals know better. The village’s government primary school occupies pride of place here.

A year-and-a-half ago, however, it fit the standard stereotype of government-run schools with just three rooms, and overworked teachers taking combined classes to make up for the shortfall of staff. “Sometimes, we had classes in the open as there was a shortage of rooms. During the rainy season, water would drip into the classroom,” says Rakshitha R, now a class five student.

What the children and even teachers don’t know is that a fundraising event with music and dance performances by children in San Francisco helped turn their school around. The credit goes to a group of Indian origin and NRI software professionals living in San Francisco’s Bay Area as well as volunteers in India. Their organisation, One School At a Time (OSAAT), identifies schools in the country that are in desperate need of a facelift and provides funds for infrastructure work. Since its inception, nearly 15 years ago, the organisation has turned around 21 schools in India, of which17 are from Karnataka, two in Uttar Pradesh, one each in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. A majority of these are government schools in rural areas.

Explaining how it all began, Vadiraja Bhatt, Managing Trustee, OSAAT India said that a group of eight enthusiastic IT professionals of Indian origin living in the Bay Area in the U.S. wanted to do something for a “good cause.” “Our first fund raised $3000 in 2003, which went into the development of a government school in Bajegoli, Karkala taluk, Udupi,” he said.

OSAAT USA chairperson B.V. Jagadish, who studied till class seven at the Bagalur Primary and middle school in Devanahalli taluk in Bengaluru Rural district, said that the organisation raises funds by holding music and dance events in the San Francisco Bay Area. At these events, they raise anywhere between ₹60 lakh to ₹1 crore per annum. “We use our programmes as an anchor to get attention from people who later sponsor for OSAAT,” said Mr. Jagadish. Their signature annual event is NaatyaRaaga, conducted in February, which sees the participation of 1,200 to 1,500 children from 150 dance and music schools in the US. “Now there are several people who are willing to fund schools in their local States,” he added.

The original version expanded OSAAT as One Step At a Time. It was corrected to One School At a Time.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka > Sunday Special / by Tanu Kulkarni / November 25th, 2017

Karnatak College to celebrate centenary

Education, Records, All
A file photo of Karnatak College which was set up in 1917 in Dharwad
A file photo of Karnatak College which was set up in 1917 in Dharwad

Celebrations will begin from tomorrow

Karnatak College, Dharwad (KCD), is is all set to celebrate its centenary, this year.

Karnatak University Dharwad (KUD)s Vice-Chancellor Pramod Gai told presspersons here on Thursday that the celebrations will begin at a function on Saturday.

The college was started following a popular demand in 1917. Since its inception, it has played a key role in helping the region’s youth have access to collegiate education. It has been planned to have year-long programmes to mark the occasion, he said.

Supreme Court Judge Mohan Shantangoudar will be the chief guest for the inaugural function of the centenary celebration. ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayaraddi, Industries Minister R.V. Deshpande, RDPR Minister H.K. Patil, Labour Minister Santosh Lad and district in-charge Minister Vinay Kulkarni will take part in the programme. Plans to invite Chief Minister Siddaramaiah did not materialise due to his busy schedule.

The college, which had a handful of departments in the initial days, has witnessed tremendous growth and today it offers various courses. The student strength as on the date is over 5,000 at the undergraduate level. The college also offers postgraduate courses including Master of Arts in English, Economics, Master of Commerce, Master of Science in physics, chemistry and mathematics and Master of Tourism Administration, he added.

Prof. Gai stated that to make the centenary year memorable the university had planned a series of development works in the college.

Accordingly, it has submitted a proposal seeking Rs. 50 crore for the college. However, the State government has sanctioned Rs. 10 crore to the college of which Rs. 1.25 crore has been released, he said.

Construction of a ‘Centenary Hall’, renovation of Shriranga Open Air Theatre, launching of tree planting campaign, publication of 100 books to mark the centenary, release of souvenir ‘Ninada Smruti’, organising a lecture series, a week-long Karnatak University Inter-Collegiate and Inter-University cultural festival, special sports meet, film festival are some of the programmes planned. Mr. Rayaraddi, who is an alumnus of the college, has evinced keen interest in making the event meaningful.

Meanwhile, the Karnatak College Old Students’ Association has also chalked out plans for the year and has actively involved in the preparations, Mr. Gai added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / Dharwad – November 24th, 2017

Bengaluru girl bags national award for social service

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

NikhiyaBF15nov2017

Bengaluru :

Nikhiya Shamsher, a student of the city’s Greenwood High International School, has become a role model for fellow students at the age of 15. On Tuesday, she won the prestigious National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement 2017 from President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Class 10 student, who has achieved a milestone in social service, runs a registered NGO spearheading various campaigns to ensure that every child has equal opportunities to access basic necessities, learn and become successful in life. The award, instituted by the Centre in 1996 to recognize works of those aged 5-18 in various fields, carries Rs 10,000, book vouchers of Rs 3,000, a silver medal, certificate and a citation. Nikhiya’s initiative of Bags, Books and Blessings aims to provide schools and students with basic supplies such as uniforms, pens, paints, crayons and schoolbags. This campaign, which is in its third year, has helped over 7,700 students. The focus is mainly on underprivileged children and government school students.

Another campaign run by Nikhiya is Yearn to Learn, which opened free science and maths labs in schools and colleges that lack infrastructure. Thirty-five laboratories set up at various schools have been serving 6,000 students. This year, she launched an ecommerce website, knicnacs.com, to raise funds and sustain the activities of offline campaigns. The website sells quirky and unique gifting products. “I hope this will help me reach out to a wider audience and encourage more people to get involved in social activities. The world’s population is around seven billion and some people see this as a burden, but I see it as a huge opportunity. If we can get 10% more students into technological fields, we can solve a lot of problems, such as climate change, scarce resources and conflicts that plague us today. It is simply a statistical advantage,” Nikhiya pointed out

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Bangalore News / TNN / November 15th, 2017

Bengaluru’s cultural hub

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

NIKCbf13nov2017

From morning to night, NIKC is thriving with cultural activity

There was a time in namma Bengaluru, where one could only think of Bharatanatya when it came to classical dance. But, Natya Insititute of Kathak and Choreography (NIKC), founded by the late dancer-teacher and Kathak Exponent Dr Maya Rao changed that.

Founded by Rao in 1987, the institute was affiliated to the Bangalore University for years and offered degrees in dance. “But a few years ago we decided to go back to a diploma. Now, the courses are shorter and ideal for those who want to do a crash course in dance and choreography, making it a liberal arts course,” explains Madhu Natraj, dancer and daughter of Maya Rao, who adds, “My mother started this place in Malleshwram as she was born here and had many friends in the area, inlcuding Vimala Rangachar, who offered this space. That is how NIKC was built in the premises of MEWS (Malleshwaram Enterprisers Women’s Society).”

Today NIKC, is one of the most sought-after spaces for every form of cultural activity. Be it yoga, Kathak, lecture demonstrations, dance workshops or contemporary dance — NIKC is open to all.

The idea, adds Natraj, was to convert the place into a cultural hub. NIKC was originally on the ground floor. “It was just a huge hall with a restroom in the back,” recalls Natraj. Five years later they moved to the first floor and Natraj, who has a fascination for designing interiors, kept converting the place to suit the multi-functional works of the dance institute. The huge hall is now divided into two with a foldable door. “We shut the door when we have two workshops happening simultaneously. The foldable doors are also used as side wings for performances,” adds Natraj, who also conducts choreography and contemporary dance classes here.

The place also boasts of a huge library with over 2,000 books on dance, culture and dance history. Natraj also adds that many travelling dancers — Astaad Deboo, Anita Ratnam, Helen Acharya — visit NIKC to conduct workshops and lecture demonstrations. “Kalanidhi Mami (a well-known abhinaya teacher) opened up her first workshop in Bengaluru here,” she adds.

The the space is also let out for an event called Company Kutcheri, where they invite artistes on a regular basis. So there are also talks and seminars besides music that are held on its premises.

“In fact, we fight for the space. We have students, performers, Kathak dancers, working women, contemporary dancers and yoga practitioners — all trying to fit in and use this space. From morning 8 am to 9 pm, we have something happening here. It is always thriving with some activity or the other,” laughs Natraj.

(Where we discover hidden and not so hidden nooks and crannies of the city)

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style / by Shilpa Sebastian R / November 13th, 2017

MIT students devise GreenBoard for purification of air, obtain IPR

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology
Students Dhruv Suri, Rahil Nayak and Priyanshi Somani have developed the billboard
Students Dhruv Suri, Rahil Nayak and Priyanshi Somani have developed the billboard

Mangaluru :

The air quality in India is deteriorating by the day and to tackle this problem, a group of students from the Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal University, have devised a green billboard. Conceived by a budding aeronautical engineering student and his team, GreenBoard incorporates an air purifier into an ordinary billboard and purifies the air flowing through it.

The team obtained the Intellectual Property Right for it on Thursday. Dhruv Suri and Rahil Nayak, both aeronautical engineering students, and Priyanshi Somani, a computer science engineering student developed the billboard. Dhruv said carbon is one of the most important building blocks of life. Industries, automobiles, power houses, exhaust vents — all produce carbon dioxide and increase its concentration in the air.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Mangalore News / by Kevin Mendonsa / TNN / November 12th, 2017

Israel Centre opens at IIMB

Education, Science & Technology

‘The centre will bring together like-minded individuals in academic knowledge and research’

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) opened its campus to an Israel Centre on Sunday which is aimed at becoming a “bridge of academic collaboration” between India and Israel. The centre will be largely based on research by faculty and will also include faculty and student exchange programmes.

The Consul General of Israel to Bengaluru, Dana Kursh, during the inauguration of the centre, said the initiative was spearheaded by the heads of IIMB and Coller School of Management. “Both our countries have a similar ecosystem in terms of business, academia supported by the government, and research. Previously, the Karnataka Israel Research and Development agreement facilitated research with state-funding from both Israel and Karnataka. For any economy, startups are very important,” she said.

Speaking about the Israeli startup ecosystem, which is based on three factors — government, industry and academia — Ambassador of Israel to India Daniel Carmon said the collaboration will strengthen the ecosystem of both the countries. “Bengaluru is an ideal centre for startups, and this collaboration is an excellent idea. This is further highlighted by the fact that currently, a Bengaluru startup is representing India in Start Jerusalem programme back in our country. This centre will bring together like-minded individuals in academic knowledge and research.”

G. Raghuram, Director, IIMB, said the centre will act as a hub for research, technological innovations, business strategy, government policies, and culture. “Through this centre, we will also support exchange programmes, host seminars, discussions, and nurture entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / Bengaluru – November 06th, 2017