Category Archives: Education

History in the remaking

Education, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

The green gate of 3 Peary Charan Sarkar Street has been leading thousands into the enchanting premises of the Eden Hindu Hostel for almost 130 years now. The lush green field, the wooden staircase, the kharkharis, the high-ceiling rooms, everything oozes an old-world charm that’s hard to ignore. And on Wednesday, the hostel closed down for renovations -its first overhaul since its establishment in 1886. CT celebrates the heritage and history of the colonial building and takes a trip down memory lane…

RICH HERITAGE

The hostel was initially built for the Hindu students of Presidency College, but later accommodated students from outside Kolkata. In 1988, the building was extended in order to accommodate postgraduate students and research scholars.Among its many famous boarders were the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, who studied in Presidency between 1902 and 1907, and professor Amartya Sen. Presidency University registrar Debajyoti Konar said, “Dr Rajendra Prasad was a student here and his room in the hostel is still not used.”

Divided into six wards, the hostel houses over 274 boarders, including undergraduate and postgraduate students.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

With its seasonal tournaments, annual athletic meets, Saraswati Puja, reunions, freshers’ welcome, political meetings and farewell ceremonies, this hostel has been a second home for thousands of students.”It feels bad to leave this place. I’ve been here for over three years now and have spent some wonderful times with my friends and seniors,” third-year chemistry student Swarup Maji said. He added that they had been shifting to the new address in Rajarhat for the past three weeks. “We will be staying in Rajarhat for 11 months till the work gets done here. It’s going to be difficult, as we are used to staying in central Kolkata with so many facilities within reach,” Swarup said.

A NEW LOOK

Konar said an architect from the Heritage Commission will oversee the renovation. “As of now, Partha Das will supervise the work. This is a heritage structure and the plan has been made keeping that in mind,” he said. An amount of Rs 3 crore has been sanctioned for the first phase of renovation, while estimation is still under way for the second phase.

HELPING HAND

The University is more than happy to receive help from the government of West Bengal. “The renovation will span over 11 months and the higher education department has arranged for 80 flats in Rajarhat for the 150 students who have been shifted. A canteen, too, has been arranged. That’s not all. A subsidized bus will ferry the students from Rajarhat to Presidency,” Konar told us.

SAYING GOODBYE

For Sajan Dewan, a postgraduate political science student, it’s time to bid adieu to the hostel. “I’ve been here for the last four-and-a-half years. We’ve spent some of the best and worst days of our lives in this building. By the time the work gets done here, I’ll be out of college. But I’m taking back some fond memories with me, so we had a small party last night to say goodbye,” Sajan said.

HOSTEL HIGHLIGHTS

Eden Hindu Hostel was established in 1886 The hostel was built using funds raised by Ashley Eden, WB Gwyther was the architect The first president of India Dr Rajendra Prasad and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen are its alumni The hostel has eight guest rooms where parents of students and other guests are allowed to stay The six wards in the hostel include a kitchen, dining hall and staff-quarters, which occupy a total area of 26,000 sq ft.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata /by Kathakali Banerjee, TNN / August 03rd, 2015

HIT wins accolades

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Kolkata :

It was a proud moment for Heritage Institute of Technology Kolkata when the students of the Rotaract Club of Heritage Institute received the Best Club Award in the Rotaract District out of 30 clubs on June 28, 2015 in the district award ceremony.

Rotaract Club of Heritage Institute won 16 awardsfor the term 2014-2015. Since 2009 the club has maintained the record of winning the Best Club award and this time it was no different from the previous years. The list of awards received included, best club, best president, secretary, best in community service, best in spreading community literacy and of course the best social media presence.

“It was a great moment for Heritage Institute as the students worked hard in organizing various projects for social welfare,” said P.K. Agarwal, CEO, Heritage Group of Institutions Kolkata. Both in Heritage School and its specialized higher education institutes, a great deal of stress is laid on social service. Children are taught to share their good fortunes with the underprivileged and spend time with them so that they realize that it is their responsibility to take up the cause of the less fortunate.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey, TNN / July 03rd, 2015

Kolkata students develop system to help farmers switch on pump sets from home

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology

Kolkata :

Five pass-outs from the Meghnad Saha Institute of Technology (MSIT) have bagged the runners-up prize at the prestigious Texas Instruments Innovation Challenge 2015 by inventing a system that will enable farmers to turn on their pump sets (to water their fields) from home by using mobile or landline telephones.

Not only will this help in conservation of water, the system also promises to protect farmers from snakebite. As per a latest WHO report, nearly 50% Indian farmers suffer snakebites while travelling through dense undergrowth in the night to reach the pump sets.

The ministry of water resources claims that nearly 40% water is wasted due to inefficient irrigation practices. An IAPC – World Bank report states that irrigation efficiency in India is only 35%. This is what Suman Basak, Anik Dutta, Sourav Sinha, Priyanjit Kumar Ghosh and Mostafa Kamal Mallick, from the electronics & communication engineering department of MSIT, set out to rectify in 2014. They participated in the challenge along with 3,200 other teams from engineering colleges across India and Sri Lanka.

“They came up with something they named XENCOM. Xen means water in Chinese and ‘Com’ is short for communication. They presented this idea to Nasscom’s Idea to Proto-type Challenge for eastern India and bagged first position in June, 2014. For the TI Innovation Challenge, they had to have the product ready. They toiled hard for the last one year to develop this,” says MSIT principal Tirthankar Datta.

Apart from the timer facility, the system considers several parameters such as temperature and humidity and after interpreting the data on the basis of test cases, lets the farmer know through SMS when it is time to water his field for better irrigation. Datta calls this ‘suggestive farming’. The farmer is also kept in the loop about power availability in his field at any point of time.

“We feel awesome. Our hard work paid off. We received a lot of support from out institute, Prof Datta, Kamalendu Langal and Saikat Paul, our point of contacts with the industry and Sudip Dogra, our faculty mentor,” says Priyanjit Kumar Ghosh.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Jayanta Gupta, TNN / June 20th, 2015

MCKV Institute of Engineering Hosts Tech Fest – PRAGATI 2015

Education, Science & Technology

Kolkata :

MCKV Institute of Engineering (MCKVIE) kick-started a two-day ‘Tech Fest- PRAGATI 2015’, on Thursday.

The major attraction of the day was the session on “Robotics Prelims”- a creative implementation of the students of various colleges with the latest technological trends.

“We have always been proud of our students who have attained heights in their endeavours. And as MUCH as I understand, COLLEGEfest is a platform where students are our prime focus and it is always a ground for talent hunt and an undefinable innovation. We look forward to more such platforms for the future leaders of our country,” said Mr KK Kejriwal Managing Trustee, MCKVIE.

Innovation FORMS an integral part of every engineer’s life. Generally the curriculum does not always suffice in developing the creativity and the knack for coming up with innovative ideas.

The event on ‘Robotics’ at Pragati is one of the most sought after events in this year’s fest. There are different categories in this competition under the core head Robotics Prelims, they are Robo soccer, Inferno, Line follower and Chase the Maze. All these events required a team’s participation. These events had inwardly helped develop a sense of team work amongst the students and to work with high end technological improvements. There were also other highlights of the event like Arcane (Treasure Hunt), Mathemania, CODE STORM (C PROGRAMMING), Gaming Prelims and many more.

There were 16 participating colleges along with schools in the Tech Fest. Some of them were Surendranath College, Rishra Bidhan College, Bangabasi College, JLD College of Engineering, and Dinabandhu College among others.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey, TNN / April 17th, 2015

IIEST to focus on industry knowledge

Education, Science & Technology

Kolkata :

Matching steps with global standards, the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) is planning to introduce a unique hands-on teaching method where students will be asked to take assignments from reputable multinational companies and get their projects evaluated by the firms.

“Students will have to compulsorily undergo two months of industrial training. They will be required to do projects offered by the industry in their respective discipline,” said institute director Ajay Ray.

He explained: “For example, a civil engineering company dealing with design or structure of multistoried buildings or bridges will assign tasks to students who will work on those projects and submit it to the institute as well as to the company. The projects will be evaluated by both. This will give us an idea about the knowledge acquired by students. This exercise will be repeated from time to time. ”

“We hope to use these projects for societal needs. Students will have to learn 3D engineering objects, including 3D models of human organs or the aircraft or the automobiles. The students will also learn the essence of engineering design and simulation through advance simulation laboratories. Simulation laboratories will be set up soon,” Ray said, adding that the proposal will be placed before the IIEST board of governors soon.

To usher in more changes, IIEST-Shibpur has set up a senate committee to look into the complete restructuring of the five-year dual degree — BTech and MTech programmes. “IIEST is trying to make a model course structure to ensure that a student receives a holistic education with adequate skill in diverse fields. One of the features of the new structure will be to provide a large number of elective subjects so that the students can choose a subject they want to study. Projects will be compulsory in all semesters from second year onwards so that the students can learn industry methods while studying. The slogan of the new structure is ‘Active Learning’ as students will learn while they design and develop the engineering models, structures and systems, including software,” added Ray.

Students will get credit for all extra work like robotics, software writing or even dramatics, music, debating, quiz, etc. But it does not mean the credits will be mentioned alongside the scores obtained in core subjects. The credits will be a part of the aggregate. “Various schools of co-curricular activities will decide on the weightage and the methods in which students will be evaluated,” said Ray.

In the near future, the university will have industry experts as their honorary faculty members. The institute has initiated consulting experts from IITs, IISE-Bangalore and from various universities from the West.

Humanities will be an integral part of the new curriculum to make the syllabi holistic. Apart from it, environmental science and human biology will be compulsory subjects. “Students should understand environmental degradation, which has caused tremendous change in the ecology, and they should try and find solutions as well,” added Ray.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Somdatta Basu, TNN / April 07th, 2015

E-networking reunites alumni after 2 decades

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Kolkata :

Online socialization paved the way for an ‘offline’ chat at a city hotel, bringing together many former students of Apeejay School, Park Street. They revisited their colourful school days and felicitated their teachers at a reunion ceremony, ‘Rejoice’.

The revelers were thrilled to have come across their classmates after a gap of as many as 25 years. Around 15 former students of the school’s 1988 batch chalked out the event over social networking sites, though they had been toying with the idea for the past two years.

The members of the school’s alumni association, APJOSA, Kolkata, who passed out between 1985 and 1993 reminisced about their bygone student life, reconnected with their school friends and sought the blessings of their teachers including Rita Chatterjee, current principal and administrator and Neville McNamara, former principal of the school.

The main objective of the event was to increase the membership of the alumni association, which was formed in the 1980s, according to Rajib Basu, a chartered accountant who was among the school’s 1988 batch. Around 10 alumni of the school, settled in different places outside the city, had also joined the party.

The school anthem, ‘Soaring High’, set the right mood for the evening that revolved around unadulterated fun mixed with nostalgia. Jyoti Vardhan Sonthalia, a corporate professional, said: “I left the school way back in 1988 but my bond with the alma mater is so strong because of the teachers who imparted discipline and value education to us; who groomed us for what we are today.” The party ended on a happy note when Manoj Lunia, an alumnus of the 1985 batch, sang the Hindi version of Kishore Kumar’s ‘Chirodini tumi je amar’. On McNamara’s request, silence was observed in memory of the students who passed away untimely.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Sarthak Ganguly, TNN / April 06th, 2015

Guv attends Garia school’s lit fest

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Kolkata :

Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi recently presided over the literary festival celebrating the golden jubilee celebration of BDM International school near Pratapgarh in Garia. Tripathi, who was accompanied by Usha Mehta, director and administrator, Shailesh Khaitan, chairman and Shankar Lal Gupta, secretary of the school, stressed on the promotion of Hindi literature by the students and teachers of the school.

The governor was praised students for their performances at the event, which revolved around the richness of Indian culture, art and literature. He described the five-decade journey of BDM International as a story of success, which began with Usha Mehta, and just two learners, in 1966. It is now a leading CBSE-affiliated institution with nearly 8,000 students.

Speaking about the late Draupadi Devi Khaitan and the late G N Khaitan, who dreamt of the school changing the academic landscape of the area, Tripathi said, “I am happy to know that the school authorities have introduced subjects like mass media and biotechnology to keep pace with global education trends.”

The governor told his audience, “If you get good marks in exams, don’t think yourself to be an educated or learned person. Rather imbibe moral values to become ideal citizens of India in the future. The society has high hopes from you and I want you to fulfil them.”

An author and poet, whose chief literary works include anthologies like ‘Manonukriti’ and ‘Aayu Pankh’, Tripathi lauded the students for depicting different segments of Hindi literature in their presentations.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / March 30th, 2015

IIT alumnus makes green sanitary pads

Business & Economy, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Science & Technology

Kolkata :

Spurthi Gummadala, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus who is now working with National Innovation Foundation and Honeybee Network, has developed low-cost, “semi-reusable” and “bio-friendly” sanitary napkins.

“The napkins available in the market have three parts – the top dry feel layer, the middle absorbent polymer layer mixed with wood pulp to soak in the liquid and the bottom polypropelene layer that helps avoid leakage. Once used, the entire napkin is discarded adding to landfills. I have tried to tweak this in my product,” Spurthi said.

“I have made my napkin a semi-reusable one. Here you have a holder made of polyurethin coated polyester for repeated use. The absorbent layer can be disposed and refilled with a fresh layer which doesn’t pose biohazard. So, it will help arrest biohazard to an extent,” she added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / March 12th, 2015

Mission call brings back Presi old boy – 40 YRS ON, RETURN TO TEACH & RESTORE GLORY

Education, Leaders

Presidency welcomed back an old boy on Monday as a distinguished professor four decades since he left to join arch-rival Jadavpur University, first as a student and then a teacher.

Swapan Chakravorty, adored and revered by generations of students who studied English at JU, is now a Rabindranath Tagore Distinguished University Professor in literature and cultural studies at Presidency University.

Swapan Chakravorty
Swapan Chakravorty

Chakravorty sees little significance in the shift, but to those well-versed in the dynamics of the Presidency-JU rivalry a tinge of delight here and the sense of loss there would be hard to miss. “I don’t think institutions miss any individual, and it’s silly of an individual to miss the institute,” Chakravorty told Metro on the first day of his new assignment.

Malabika Sarkar, former JU professor and Presidency’s first vice-chancellor, said Chakravorty joining his alma mater was “a gain” for his alma mater rather than a loss for the institution he served for three decades. “At least he will be working in the same city and probably will take time off to attend seminars and conferences at JU.”

While his brief is to provide Presidency University academic leadership and help achieve its goal of becoming a centre of excellence, Chakravorty is pragmatic about what needs to be done. “Even to be recognised nationally, our infrastructure has to be far better,” he said.

Chakravorty recalled that it was with “astounding infrastructure” that American universities had attracted “the best and brightest teachers post World War-II”.

And could Presidency realistically aim to create similar infrastructure to woo the best and brightest? “Presidency has a 10-acre plot in Rajarhat, but what will it do with the land if it doesn’t have enough money? Ahead of the institute’s bicentenary, one of the immediate requirements is money,” Chakravorty said.

The former JU professor had been a member of the Presidency mentor group that submitted a report in 2012 expressing disappointment over the lack of clarity on financial assistance from the state government.

“We are disappointed to note that no follow-up action was taken on a proposal from the vice-chancellor, specifically sought by the principal secretary, higher education, in January 2012 for an allocation in the range of Rs 200 crore for Presidency University. This needs to be clarified,” the report had stated.

On Monday, Chakravorty pleaded for an “out-of-budget allocation”, be it from the state coffers, the Centre or a private source. “Visva-Bharati University was once granted by the Centre a corpus of Rs 100 crore to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. If a similar amount could be tapped from some quarters, it would mean a lot for this fledgling university. Then we can say, ‘Oh! Yes, there is a future for Presidency’,” he said.

Sajal Nag, until recently professor of history at Assam Central University, too stressed the need for better infrastructure hours after joining Presidency on lien as Distinguished University Professor in history and political science. “It is a privilege for me to be part of Presidency…I believe that with the right infrastructure we can do wonders,” he said.

Crumbling infrastructure has been Presidency’s hurdle in the quest for old glory. Baker Building, where once strode stalwarts such as Acharya Jagadis Chandra Bose, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Satyendra Nath Bose and Meghnad Saha, wears a ceiling so fragile that teachers and students risk injury every day to teach and study there.

source:http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Subhankar Chowdhury / Tuesday – March 03rd, 2015

KMC school brings hope for poor kids

Education

Kolkata :

Md Bilal, a student of Class II at a primary school near Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, never liked his classroom where thirty odd boys are crammed in a small room. But Bilal, son of a grocer in Ripon Street, knows that his father cannot afford to send him to schools which have big classrooms and large playgrounds. Hundreds of kids like Bilal, who live in and around Ripon Street, go to schools which lack basic infrastructure.

But, their dreams will soon come true when an English-medium school will come up in the area. The school, being built by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), will cater to more than 1,500 students. Proposed to be affiliated to the ICSE board, the school will bring best education to these children free of cost. The foundation stone for the school was laid on Saturday.

“Unlike traditional corporation schools, this school will be run by professionals. The idea is to bring best education to those who can’t afford it,” said Iqbal Ahmed, local MLA. The school, proposed to be run under the guidance of some well-known ICSE schools in the locality, will involve an investment of Rs 2 crore.

“We have tried similar models in six places in the city before. This is the seventh such school. While we are starting with upper-primary sections, we will gradually expand to the tenth standard,” said Mitali Banerjee, MMiC (education) of KMC.

T H Ireland, principal of St James School, believes that good communication skills in English is the need of the hour for the children. “It is therefore essential that these kids get their education in English,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / TNN / February 22nd, 2015