The CCE, which focusses on "de-stressing" the students, was implemented in Class IX from October last year.

"The Board has extended the concept to Class IX with effect from October 2009. It will be taken forward to Class X from 2010-11," CBSE spokesperson Rama Sharma said.

All schools affiliated to the CBSE have been asked to give 3 to 3.5 hours to the students to attempt the question paper.

The Class IX exams were earlier conducted by the schools but this year, with the introduction of CCE, CBSE has extended its operations to Class IX. Their exams begin next week.

Under the CCE, both scholastic and co-scholastic areas will be evaluated. The syllabus has been split into two terms; in each term, there will be two formative assessments and one summative assessment. The two formative tests carry 10 per cent weightage each while one summative test carries 20 per cent weightage in first term and 40 per cent weightage in the final term.

Flexible timing has been given for the summative assessment-II that starts next month. "By giving flexible timing to the students, they are at ease while attempting the question paper. Now if a child feels that the question paper is lengthy, she can take her time and not be anxious when the three hours are over," Usha Ram, principal, Laxman Public School, said.

The syllabus and question paper format in different subjects for Class IX summative assessment-II were circulated by the Board earlier. "CDs wth question banks were distributed to each school. Principals were sent the code word to access the papers," Sharma added. The summative assessment will be conducted by the schools. "In order to ensure standardisation and uniformity, the question paper banks in different subjects have been sent by the Board to schools," Sharma said.

The evaluation of answer scripts will be done by teachers of the schools themselves. "We have sent a marking scheme to the schools," the spokesperson said. There will be "random verification of the assessment procedures carried out by schools by Board officials or nominees appointed by the Board."

Under the system, average grades obtained by students in each subject will be considered while allocating them different streams in Class XI.

With grades replacing marks from this year in Class X, schools are uncertain about the admission criteria to be followed for Class XI.

Schools believe that grades will make allocation of streams in Class XI difficult as a "large number of students will have the same grade." With CBSE planning to in- troduce the CGPA system, schools can heave a sigh of re- lief. CBSE chairperson Vineet Joshi said, "We will come up with detailed guidelines for schools by March end. Our guidelines will clarify how to break a tie. It is a pilot test and we hope it will work well." CBSE is soon issuing an advisory to all affiliated schools.

Till last year, schools would allocate streams to students based on pre-Board results or on the basis of a test that they would conduct after Class X.

The CBSE will award grades on a nine-point scale to "indicate subject-wise performance". Students scoring A1 grade will be given 9 points, a student getting grade A2 will get 8 points and so on.

R K Sharma, principal of Ahlcon Public School, said, "Schools can calculate average grade points in all subjects. For admission in the Science stream, a school can take the average of grade points in Mathematics, Science and English."

The foreign locations include Dubai, Indonesia, Sharjah and Singapore. ICSE has 1,573 senior secondary and 733 secondary schools affiliated to it. In Delhi, however, only 221 students from two schools will appear for ICSE exams while 130 students are expected to take the class XII exam. Of all states, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of candidates -- 25,203 in class X and 18, 350 in class XII -- taking the exam under this Board. While class X exams would conclude on April 6, all papers of class XII will be over by April 8.

For class X, the exam starts at 11am, except for the four art papers which would start at 9am. Students would get the question paper 15 minutes prior to the start of the exam for understanding the questions.

The IIM-A this year has eased its CAT cutoff points to 99 percentile from last year's 99.3 percentile largely due to the number of seats that has gone up from 315 to 417 this year. But the institute has also introduced a new benchmark: those who couldn't manage 70% or more marks in their senior school certificate (SSC) or higher secondary school certificate (HSSC) would not be allowed into its hallowed portals regardless of their CAT scores.

IIM-A admissions chairperson Diptesh Ghosh told ETthat until last year, the B-school had used the point-based system in shortlisting candidates for the second round. The academic record would be divided into bands, with each band given weightage while shortlisting a candidate. "This year, we have removed the complexity of the calculation and set a clear cutoff percentage of 70% for the two boards while shortlisting candidates," he said.

So far, Ahmedabad seems to be the only one among the six IIMs to come up with this benchmark. The criterion applies only to general stream candidates.

In fact, IIM-A had introduced the criterion of academic brilliance for shortlisting a candidate last year, but had not specified the calculation clearly to the candidates. This year, for the first time, the institute spelt out a clear cutoff percentage in secondary and higher secondary marks for shortlisting candidates. There would not be any change in other selection processes that include essay writing and personal interview.

Source: Economic Times By Kumar Anand Engineers Hit Top Shot : IIM-A Invites Subject To 70% Marks In School Board Exams

Different criteria at various IIMs    

The MoU was signed by Prof. P.B. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, DTU, and Prof R.C. Budhani, director, NPL on the occasion of the `National Science Day' being celebrated by NPL.

Professor Sharma, said, "The new knowledge age which is ushered by talent and driven by innovation, requires the practice of science and engineering in the environment of scientism such that the thin line of divide between science and engineering disappears when a scientist is working in his lab or a technologist is exploring new ways of innovations."

Under the MoU, a joint academic committee with five members of matching expertise from both sides will be constituted to implement the various initiatives proposed under the collaboration, including advanced professional courses (M.Tech.) to be offered in the areas of advanced electronic materials, thin film technology, advanced engineering materials, materials characterization, instrumentation, and biomedical methods and instrumentation, joint M.Tech. thesis supervision.

"Candidates must apply in the Common Application Form devised by the UPSC for its examinations, which can be purchased from the designated head post offices/ post offices (specified in Appendix-III of the notice) throughout the country," said an official from the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions.

For details regarding the eligibility conditions, syllabus and scheme of the examination, centers of examination, guidelines for filling up application form etc. aspirants must consult the detailed notice of the examination published in the Employment News/ Rozgar Samachar dated February 20, 2010. Details are also available on the UPSC website.

"In case of any difficulty in obtaining application forms from the designated HPOs/POs, the candidates should contact the concerned post master or UPSC's 'Forms supply monitoring cell' over telephone no.011-23389366/ Fax No.011-23387310," he added.

Application must reach the 'Secreary, Union Service Public Commission, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi, 110069' either by hand or by post/ speed post or by courier, on or before March 22, 2010.

However, in respect of candidates residing abroad or in certain remote areas specified in the notice, the last date for receipt of applications by post/speed post only (not by hand or by courier) is March 29, 2010.

In its recent circular to all the CBSE affiliated schools about the conduct of the summative assessment for Class IX students, the Board has asked them not to be strict with the time limit and, "allow students flexible timing to answer question papers. This may vary from three to three-and-a-half hours."

The decision, said the circular, was taken into consideration since the pace at which students answer the questions varies.

Lalitha Chandrasekaran, principal of DAV Girls Senior Secondary School in Gopalapuram, said, "The extra half an hour will not only ease the tension of students but will also allow them more time to think and write clearly. It will also give a chance to those slower than others to complete their exam."

With the recent directive of the Board, the level of anxiety among students has decreased and the news of completing the exam in more than the stipulated time has generated confidence.

Source: indiaedunews.net 30 minutes extra for CBSE class IX exams

In a public notice issued recently, the AICTE said, "The technical education programmes, which fall under the purview of AICTE, are in the fields of engineering, technology including MCA, Architecture, Town Planning, Pharmacy, Hotel Management & Catering Technology, Applied Arts and Craft and Post Graduate diploma in Management (PGDM)".

"It has been the policy of the AICTE, not to recognize the qualifications acquired through distance mode at diploma, bachelor's and master's level in these fields however. It now has the policy to consider only MBA and MCA through distance mode".

The Council also alerted all existing / prospective students pursuing or aspiring to pursue any educational programme in the fields to check the approval by the Joint Committee of Distance Education Council (DEC) of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), University Grants Commission (UGC) and AICTE on AICTE's website.

In the absence of the Council's approval, the MBA and MCA degrees acquired through the distance mode may not be considered for employment under Central Government.

India has 2,000 nursing diploma schools, 1,200 nursing degree schools and 281 MSc nursing colleges. Annually, the country produces around 60,000 nurses. "But majority of them work in the private sector. At present, we have a gap of 3.5 lakh nurses," Kumar said.

Officials say one reason why India is facing an acute shortage of trained nurses is mass exodus of qualified nurses to Europe for better pay. "By the end of the 11th plan (2007-2012), India will require 10.43 lakh nurses. But with the existing infrastructure, the number would stand at just 6.84 lakh, short by 3.59 lakh nurses," an official said. India has a capacity to train 79,850 diploma nurses, 41,650 graduate nurses and 1,940 postgraduate nurses per year. However, over 20% of this number every year head to foreign shores. "For every 500 persons, there has to be one nurse," an official said.

The ministry has now increased the retirement age of the faculty in nursing colleges to 70 years. At a meeting of the consultative committee of Parliament on health, held on Wednesday, it was decided to relax the qualification and experience of nursing teachers upto 2012.

Source: Times Of India By Kounteya Sinha Nod for married women joining nursing courses

The list of online courses on offer includes master in intellectual property law, post-graduate diploma in legal process outsourcing and post-graduate certificate in cyber law. Also on offer are distance education programmes in diploma in paralegal practice and other law courses.

In the two-year master of intellectual property law, law graduates have the added option to obtain a dual certification by studying at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. It is open to graduates from any discipline.

Also, the one-year post graduate diploma in legal process outsourcing is open to law graduates, including final year students. The six-month post graduate certificate in cyber law is open to graduates from any discipline and final year students of the 5-year integrated law programme.

One year diploma in paralegal practice is available through distance mode and its eligibility is 10+2 or equivalent or BPP from IGNOU.

Other courses for which admissions have been opened are Ph.D in law, diploma in intellectual property rights, post-graduate certification in patent practice, certificate in human rights and certificate in consumer protection.

Programmes will commence on March 1 and the last date for enrolment is March 31. A late fee of Rs 200 will be charged on all enrollments between March 1 and 31.