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A first of its kind effort, the website provides a platform to children, parents, concerned citizens and stakeholders like NGOs, government, police and child rights activists to get information on the Juvenile Justice System and a guide to use the law. It has the facility to report about a child in distress online and have an investigating officer follow up on the matter.

Besides sections on the law, NGOs, reports and contact persons, the website offers an innovative section for the urban child under a section `Hot tips for cool kids'. It talks of recent trends in child abuse. For instance, there is one section on bullying which not only elaborates on what bullying entails but also offers help to fight it.

EASY ACCESS

• Report a child in distress: Just at the click of the mouse a form appears asking for simple details regarding the complainant and the child in distress. Once the form is submitted online, the Juvenile Police Unit promises to get back with an investigating officer.

• Hot tips for cool kids: For the tech-savvy urban child, the site offers solutions to bullying, misuse of information on social networking sites and harassment through teen sexting via mobile phones. Problem of drug abuse and ways to quit it are also listed.

• Quick tips for parents: A section offers quick tips to parents through a book on child abuse, the trauma involved and ways to recognize its signs.

• Resources for police:The website has information on laws, guidelines, manual, various judgments as well as reports and case studies for reference.

As per the new `loadshedding' policy laid down for 981 Kendriya Vidyalayas across India, schoolbags for classes I and II should not weigh more than 2kg. For classes III and IV, the bag weight should be less than 3kg, and those studying in classes V to VIII shouldn't carry bags more than 4kg. The upper limit for senior classes IX to XII has been set at 6kg. More than a million children study in KVs.

The formula was stated in a circular from the KVS headquarters to the principals. It called for a phased implementation of the guidelines, starting with the primary classes.

In a bid totackle problem of heavy schoolbags, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) has come up with a graded formula that prescribes weight limits on schoolbags of its students.

KVS officials said the weight limits were an interim measure  the goal was to eventually move to a system where no child carried a bag load of more than 1kg. ``It is a pure violation of a child's right to place a burden on his back disproportionate to his age and health. The school system can be charged with cruelty to the child,'' the circular stated.

Source: Times Of India KV formula: Weight limits for schoolbags

The study, led by Ron Gillam, professor at Curtin University of Technology (CUT), is
based on children aged six to nine with primary language disorders, but no problems in cognition or hearing.

"The group of kids in the study had 100 minutes of therapy each day, over a period of six weeks. We followed their progress for six months," Gillam said.

"Our results proved six times more successful than a different study in which children

received therapy twice a week for 20 minutes each day, over a two-year period."

Gillam reviewed studies in which speech-language pathologists worked with teachers in a classroom setting.

"When I conducted a systematic review of existing research, classroom based instruction on vocabulary where speech pathologists were working with regular teachers, yielded very successful results," he said.

"Using simple demonstrations, picture cues or graphic organisers, summarisation techniques, allowing multiple opportunities to respond and repeat, and asking questions at various levels of complexity, are techniques that have proven to be most effective in improving language skills," he said.

"Most importantly, if you are doing this on an intense daily schedule with the help of a speech pathologist in a classroom setting, you will see a great improvement in the child's literacy skills," Gillam added.

He said children with language impairment were at risk of social and academic problems and, later in life, vocational problems.

A teacher can induce interest for her subject among her students and make them lifelong learners. She can also make the learning process so boring and painful that the student feels alienated and develop contempt for learning.

There are some attributes of a good teacher that are universal in nature. A couple of years back, Centre for Forecasting and Research, or C-fore, did a survey among schoolchildren (classes VIII to XII) in the metros. The prime objective of the survey was to find the attributes that they value the most in a teacher (see table).

Of all the attributes, classroom management skills is one area where otherwise good teachers flounder. How well a teacher manages the classroom is the primary determinant of how well the students will learn. There are two important characteristics of a well-managed classroom: First, there is maximum utilization of time in productive activities, and second, all students are active participants in the learning process.

For optimum utilization of time, the teacher should be well prepared, as should the students. In the conventional lecture method, the teacher does most of the work and the students are a passive audience.

This results in very little learning in class. If students are actively involved in the topic of learning by any means such as solving a case or doing a project or enacting a role, it greatly helps in their learning. Moreover, if there are no set procedures and routines, there is lot of wastage of time in organizing and explaining each activity every time, for recurring activities.

When I was doing my management programme, I was fortunate to get a few good teachers. They had some common traits. Besides creating interest for their subject, they were good in classroom management and maintained time and content discipline. At the start of the course, they would explain the pedagogy, evaluation procedure and conduct rules to be followed, and also how students were going to gain in terms of knowledge and skills.

They distributed course outline booklets that explained in detail what students are expected to read before they enter the classroom. Since every student was evaluated for class participation, most of the time students would enter the classroom well prepared.

Besides the case method, they would also use other methods of teaching such as simulation exercises and role-playing that made the process of learning experiential. The evaluation was continuous; we had a surprise test once a week. They were voracious readers of books and journals and would come to the class fully prepared with PowerPoint presentations and even short films. We respected them for their punctuality. Students who would be late by even a few minutes wouldn't be allowed to sit in the class. The time distribution of their typical class is given in the table.

I will write more about the attributes of good teacher in my next column.Premchand Palety is director of Centre for Forecasting & Research (C-fore) in New Delhi, from where he keeps a close eye on India's business schools.

Piro and Ortiz investigated the hypothesis that children (in two elementary schools) who have received keyboard instruction as part of a music curriculum that becomes progressively difficult over the years, would demonstrate significantly better performance on vocabulary and verbal sequencing than students who did not receive keyboard instruction.Several studies have reported positive associations between music education and increased abilities in non-musical (linguistic, mathematical, and spatial) domains in children.

The authors said there are similarities in the way individuals interpret music and language and "because neural response to music is a widely distributed system within the brain. It would not be unreasonable to expect that some processing networks for music and language behaviours, namely reading, located in both hemispheres of the brain would overlap."Using a quasi-experimental design, the investigators selected second-grade children from two school sites located in the same geographic vicinity and with similar demographic characteristics, to ensure the two groups of children were as similar as possible apart from their music experience.

Children in the intervention school studied piano formally for a period of three consecutive years as part of a comprehensive instructional intervention program.Children attending control school received no formal musical training on any musical instrument and had never taken music lessons as part of their general school curriculum or in private study.

Both schools followed comprehensive balanced literacy programmes that integrate skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening.All participants were individually tested to assess their reading skills at the start and close of a standard 10-month school year using the Structure of Intellect (SOI) measure, said a Long Island University release.

Results analyzed at the end of the year showed that the music-learning group had significantly better vocabulary and verbal sequencing scores than did the non-music-learning control group.

Don't worry be relaxed: T.V , is a very important and effective source of entertainment and knowledge. Besides giving some moments of happiness and fun, T.V also makes your child aware and smart about the world he is living in. So, don't fret if your child indulges in healthy T.V watching.

Guide him about the kind of programmes: Don't impose regulations on your child saying `Don't watch this'. It'll only rouse his curiosity Some times exposure is healthy to make the child understand the nitty gritties of growing up. At the same time be firm when the programme is not suitable for his age or is full of violence for it can make him aggressive or even develop phobias.

Let him not miss all the fun of growing up: Over indulgence in T.V leaves the child with no time or inclination to do anything else like going out to play with friends or read books or get engaged in some creative activity In absence of social interaction, children tend to develop introvert personalities.

Show him other alternatives of fun like take him to the park where he can play on swings; help to form a group of friends. A hobby class of music, dance or painting can channelise his energy in just the right direction.

Maintain a balance between entertainment and information: When your child loves to watch Cartoon Network or Disney channel, make sure you steer him towards programmes which enhance his knowledge like National Geographic channel, Discovery channel, quiz programmes etc.

The findings address long standing concerns on whether preschool education programmes should emphasise academic achievement or social and emotional development.

"Fostering academic achievement in preschoolers need not come at the expense of healthy emotional development," said Duane Alexander, director of Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), which funded the study.

Researchers compared the progress of students who received a traditional 'Head Start' curriculum to those who received a curriculum with enhancements in the areas of social and emotional learning and pre-reading skills.

The new programme is known as REDI (Research-Based, Developmentally Informed) 'Head Start' programme. The researchers developed the REDI curriculum by combining a programme that fosters social and emotional development (Preschool PATHS) with curriculum components that promote language development and pre-reading skills.

Like traditional preschool programmes, the REDI programme emphasises such pre-reading skills as learning the alphabet, and learning to manipulate the sounds that letters represent.

Earlier research has shown that children with such skills are more successful at learning to read than are children who lack them, according to a Penn State release.

The REDI programme also allows ample time for teachers to read interactively with children, asking them questions and encouraging their active involvement in story telling, which builds the vocabulary and language skills needed for later school success.

The weeklong (July 25 to 31) festival will see some of the best Indian and award-winning international films and all four screens at PVR will screen sessions specifically designed towards the 8-12 age group.

Keeping in tune with the aim of promoting "Entertainment with a Purpose", the WorldKids International Film Festival will introduce the present generation to different cultures and languages through the medium of cinema. It will showcase a diverse selection of films from all over the globe, thus exposing children to value-based entertainment.

The festival will showcase internationally acclaimed films including "An Inconvenient Truth" (US), "Summer with the Ghosts" (Canada), "Viva Cuba" (France/Cuba) and "Red like the Sky" (Italy).

The interactive educational software called 'Abracadabra' is designed to help struggling school students aged five to eight years learn basic literacy skills to equip them for the future.

The tool has just undergone a 10-week trial that has been described as a success.

Following several complaints about TV serials like `Boogie Woogie` and `Chak De Bache` showing young ones dancing and singing, the National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) sent a letter to Labour Secretary Sudha Pillai to enquire whether the `work` the children do comes under child labour.

In her two-page letter Monday, NCPCR member Sandhya Bajaj said: "We have come to know that there are so many programmes telecast on TV like `Chak De Bache`, `Boogie Woogie` etc. in which children of small age are playing roles.

`Children are too small to do such jobs. No doubt, they may be talented, maybe that some children might do their work proudly, others are little more than slaves,` she said.

She said the panel felt that `children are missing out on education and time to play. A child who spends even part of the day working instead of going to school remains uneducated, it attracts (the law of) child labour.`

As per the law, employing a child under the age of 14 is a crime.

Bajaj also asked the labour secretary to examine how many hours the children work daily in the entertainment sector, their renumeration and what is the imapct on children participating in high-profile competitions in terms of stress, school attendance in and continuing education.

`We also want to know whether the children are exposed to child abuse of any kind or their rights are being violated,` Bajaj told reporters.

The labour secretary has been directed to file a report in 15 days.

`We are planning to visit one of the studios where such talent hunt shows are shot. We will see the kind of environment they provide to the children, who are asked to dance or sing songs that are vulgar. Why children of such young age are exposed to adult things?` Bajaj asked.

She said the panel would also ask its officials to visit such studios independently to provide them with detailed information.

`We will also verify facts on remuneration, the hours the children work, the environment they are exposed to and how it is impacting the children. We will visit the studios after our officials submit a report. We are taking this very seriously,` Bajaj added.