Yogesh Avasthi

Sunita Williams is visiting Gujarat from April 4, but request for hosting her interaction with children at Science City has not been granted yet Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Saturday, March 30, 2013 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/2013033020130330034020296afd97399/Space-crunch-for-space-woman.html ) Sunita Williams. The world hails her as the woman who has spent the highest number of days in space. Gujarat celebrates her as its own, for she is of Gujarati origin; has been honoured with the country’s third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan; given honorary doctorate of Gujarat Technological University and took time out to interact with kids from Gujarat when she was orbiting the earth. The chief minister hailed her when she took off for her last space odyssey and welcomed her back 127 days later, tweeting, “Welcome back Sunita Williams! You are truly an inspiration for all, especially for youth and women. We are very proud of you.” Yet when Williams visits Gujarat for three da...

Claim 109 architecture students of SVPIT, who will meet GU pro-VC on Monday over examination result; University denies bias, promises to look into the matter Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Monday, March 25, 2013  ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/3/2013032520130325002308843b835cfb2/%E2%80%98We-failed-because-teachers-were-biased%E2%80%99.html Failure is hard to accept. It is even harder when one believes that one has been wrongly thwarted. So is the case with 109 students studying architecture at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Technology (SVPIT) in Vasad who believe they have been wrongly given ATKT (Allowed to keep term) in their second year examination. These students have written a letter to the Gujarat University regarding the matter and also plan to meet vice-chancellor on Monday. The students alleged bias in checking of papers. “We have received ATKT in our third semester which was held in November 2012. The results were announced on March 21. We suspect som...

University to implement flexible system where bright students can complete course sooner by choosing to clear more number of papers per semester Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Wednesday, March 20, 2013  ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/2013032020130320032252953f5206fbe/GTU-students-can-set-own-study-pace-get-degrees-sooner.html Students of Gujarat Technological University will soon be able to set their own pace in securing their degrees. With the varsity planning to implement a more flexible credit system, students can complete their course in half or double the allotted period. Under the current system, students usually take four years to receive a bachelor’s degree. The anticipated overhaul means that bright students will be able to complete such a course in two years by choosing to clear more number of papers at a go, while slow learners can take up to eight years by giving fewer exams per semester till they gather enough credit needed to pass a course. Students can move...

To create a level playing field, a common merit list will be prepared for students belonging to different boards from this academic year Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Saturday, March 16, 2013  ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/201303162013031601015017194a13df/Single-merit-list-for-all-boards.html ) Beginning this year, there will be a common merit list for students of various boards seeking admission to engineering and pharmacy courses. The list will be prepared taking into consideration their scores in JEE and the standardised marks in their class 12 board examination. Previously, separate merit lists were made by Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), Cental Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and other boards which created discrepancy and added to confusion, said sources. The seats available in engineering and pharmacy colleges were divided among various boards proportionate to the number of their students passing out. However, it was going agai...

GTU will provide grassroots innovators a platform to pass on their skills to students; to award innovators with teacher’s certificates Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Thursday, March 14, 2013  ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/3/201303142013031400444446257ed360/Innovators-turn-teachers.html ) University students will soon learn the basics of innovation from the innovators themselves. In a novel development, Gujarat Technological University has decided to provide a platform to grassroots innovators to pass on their skills to its students. This will help the students better understand the problems of the rural masses and use technology to better use in making products for them. As per the plan, GTU will provide these innovators with a teacher’s certificate. The certificate will entitle them to pass on their knowledge to students. In this regard, GTU has organised a programme on March 25 in Gandhinagar, where around 15 grassroots innovators will be awarded teacher’s certificates. ...

Meant to improve academics, the semester system has eaten into classroom instruction time; it has also made education exam-oriented and more expensive Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Tuesday, March 12, 2013 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/2013031220130312013545656f30b8288/Semester-riddle.html ) The semester system that was introduced by Gujarat University about two years ago to make life easier for students does not seem to be serving the purpose. Students are caught in a web of examinations which run round the year, cutting down on classroom teaching time and reducing colleges to being “examination departments”. Education system is tottering on the brink and its credibility will soon come to be questioned if things are not sorted out soon, teachers feel. Says Prof Bhalchandra Joshi, registrar of GLS group of colleges, “According to the feedback from the teachers and students, classroom teaching hours have been compromised. Exams are round the corner for the second and fourth seme...

In a survey conducted by Mirror to check the standard of education in municipal schools, class 5 students failed to answer questions drawn from books of classes 1, 2 and 3 Yogesh Avasthi & Dhwani Pathak Dave Posted On Wednesday, March 06, 2013 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/2013030620130306025908125e300686f/Nothing%E2%80%99s-right-.html Kya aap paanchvi paas se tez ho? asked Shah Rukh Khan, setting a standard of how knowledgeable one should be. But if a survey conducted by Mirror in AMC-run schools is any indication, SRK might have to do a rethink. Corn (makai) and bitter gourd (karela) are classified as pulses. A wooden door is a transparent object. And it is ‘wrong’ to cut nails, answered class 5 students of municipal schools. Even as Chief Minister Narendra Modi has great plans for the Smart Class Project — an audio-visual learning process in government primary schools, these shocking answers reveal that it will take more than just technology to set the kids on the ...

A year after they completed MBA course, students of International Business School find themselves in lurch without a degree and ‘guaranteed placement’ Zahid Qureshi and Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Thursday, February 21, 2013 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/201302212013022103354279699a8d5e7/%E2%80%98We-neither-have-degrees-nor-jobs%E2%80%99.html Call it the fallout of unbridled consumerism or unethical commercialisation of our education system, an increasing number of students are falling prey to designs of dubious institutes that promise MBA, MCA degrees from universities situated outside the state. These institutes create a rosy picture with a promise of placements in top companies, but the reality turns out to be completely the opposite as 40 students of International Business School at Satyam Mall in Satellite found out. Before they took admission in 2010, these students were promised free laptops, blazers and study material, industry internship, 100% guaranteed placement, ...

Consumer forum awards Piyush Doshi Rs 3K for mental harassment and Rs 1,500 towards legal cost after his Srinagar-Delhi SpiceJet flight is cancelled Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Tuesday, February 12, 2013 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/3/2013021220130212040545704a1925be8/Airline-asked-to-pay-for-harassing-passenger.html ) An airline company has been ordered to compensate a passenger for mental harassment and expenses towards filing of application. The Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum Ahmedabad City in its January 28 order ruled that SpiceJet must pay the complainant Piyush Doshi Rs 3,000 for mental harassment and Rs 1,500 towards legal cost. Doshi, a resident of Akshardham Tower in Shahibaug, had booked a return flight from Ahmedabad to Delhi and Srinagar on June 8, 2010. He was to take the SpiceJet flight from Srinagar to Delhi on June 17 at 11.50 am. Both Doshi and his wife reached the airport more than an hour before the scheduled departure. They frequently checked wit...

Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Saturday, February 09, 2013 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/3/20130209201302090330567667c484e3c/Vacancy-in-govt-engg-colleges-to-be-filled-soon.html The Commissionerate of Technical Education has asked Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) to fill the vacancy of 1750 teachers in government engineering colleges before the new academic session begins in August. These vacancies have existed for quite some time and the colleges have been managing with ad hoc teachers appointed from time to time. Technical Education Commissioner T Natarajan said, “Looking at the vacancies in government colleges and the needs of the students, we have given the nod for the recruitment of permanent teachers. The process will begin soon.” Sources in GPSC said the commission would begin the recruitment process by the end of this month. While 1300 teachers will be hired in diploma colleges, 450 will be offered jobs in degree engineering colleges. While this is good news for a...