School dept restructure: CEOs, DEOs can now inspect all schools 

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Published May 19, 2018, 4:01 am IST

They will also be empowered to visit any school within their territorial jurisdiction,” the order said.

It further delegated disciplinary and administrative powers to field level officers to ensure effective monitoring of schools and quality of education. (Representational Image)

Chennai: Effecting a major administrative revamp in school education, the state government has empowered the chief educational officers (CEOs) to administer and regulate all type of schools including primary, nursery and middle schools, high and higher secondary schools in a district.

It further delegated disciplinary and administrative powers to field level officers to ensure effective monitoring of schools and quality of education.

The government has decided to do away with posts such as inspector of matriculation schools and district elementary education officers which are equivalent to district education officers.

“Hence, all these posts shall be retained as district educational officer and territorial jurisdiction shall be divided in such a manner that every district educational officer gets a similar number of schools. He shall be entrusted with powers to administer all kinds of schools in an educational district,” school education secretary Pradeep Yadav said in the order.

The assistant elementary educational officers are renamed as block educational officers as they would be inspecting all kinds of schools including elementary schools in their jurisdiction. They supervise panchayat union primary and middle schools, self-financed schools within their territorial jurisdiction.

“They will also be empowered to visit any school within their territorial jurisdiction,” the order said.

There are totally 37,211 government schools, 8,403 government aided schools and 12,419 self-finance schools in the state which were governed by different parallel streams of administration at the field level. The order aims to give the field level officers more clarity in terms of jurisdiction and powers for effective monitoring.

Agents of foreign medical universities on prowl in Bengaluru

Such agents have set up camps in star hotels in the city, and have been contacting undergraduate medical seat aspirants after gathering their contact details from the public domain.



Published: 18th May 2018 05:25 AM | Last Updated: 

The main reason students go for foreign universities is because of the increasing fees for medical education in India.

By Rashmi Belur
Express News Service

BENGALURU: It's admission season and a ripe time for medical universities from foreign countries to attract undergraduate aspirants from the state. Education agencies and agents representing various overseas universities are now active across the state.

Such agents have set up camps in star hotels in the city, and have been contacting undergraduate medical seat aspirants after gathering their contact details from the public domain. Many candidates who have appeared for the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year and are awaiting results said they are being harassed with calls from agencies and agents.

A students told The New Indian Express, "I have been getting calls every day from some agencies asking me to attend counselling sessions at some star hotels about admission to medical courses in foreign countries. Even after saying that I am not interested, I have been getting calls every day and am really irritated."

Another student, Bhoomika C R, who is also waiting for her NEET scores, said, "I wonder how they can access our personal details. It is really disturbing. Not just one, I am getting repeated calls from at least two-three agencies."

Following contact numbers given by some students, The New Indian Express contacted a few agencies and agents operating from the city. They revealed that the admissions will be available at medical universities in Canada, Russia, USA, Malaysia, China, the Philippines, the Caribbean and Europe.

Talking to The New Indian Express, a person working with a Chennai-based agency, which has a branch in Bengaluru, said, "We provide admissions to universities located abroad. Most of them are government medical universities."

As per the information available from agencies, these are 5.8-year MBBS course for which the package starts from `9.9 lakh and goes up to `18 lakh a year. "This includes course fee, accommodation, flight and Visa charges," said the agency person.

According to experts from the field, the main reason students go for foreign universities is because of the increasing fees for medical education in India.

Dr Sachidanand, director, medical education, said, "As the cost of medical education is increasing here, many students prefer to get it done outside. But they (aspirants) have to appear for a licence test conducted by the Medical Council of India once they are back in India after completion of the course." And another reason for students choosing these universities is the difficulty in getting into good colleges here with NEET ranking.

Singapore Airlines announces special fares from Indian cities



Published: 13th October 2016 01:16 AM | 

By Express News Service

KOCHI: Singapore Airlines has announced special economy class fares for passengers travelling from various Indian cities including Kochi to three key New Zealand gateways - Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

Economy class customers travelling on Singapore Airlines or SilkAir from 11 Indian cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi, Trivandrum, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam), can avail themselves of all-inclusive, return fares starting from INR 72,000 per person subject to a minimum of two people booking and travelling together, the airlines said in a release.

The fares are available on sale till October 22, for the travel period between November 1 - December 6, 2016 and February 14 - June 30, 2017.

Madras High Court asks Dr Ambedkar Law University to hold special classes to make up for lost ones

The Madras High Court has suggested to the.Dr Ambedkar Law University to hold special classes to make up for the shortage of classes in January and February this year,



Published: 19th May 2018 06:30 AM | Last Updated: 

Madras High Court (File Photo | Express Photo Service)

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has suggested to the Dr Ambedkar Law University to hold special classes to make up for the shortage of classes in January and February this year, during which period the students had gone on a hunger strike.

If any special classes are going to be conducted to compensate the loss of working days, the petitioner shall be permitted to attend those classes and his attendance shall be considered, Justice S Vaidyanathan said while disposing of a writ petition from N Balasubramani, who prayed for a direction to the Law University to receive the term fee for the fourth semester in the third year LLB course to enable him to pursue his law course.

He could not attend the classes as he had been ill for a long time, he claimed. During this period, the students also went on a hunger strike, which resulted in loss of attendance.The judge said that the time for payment of fourth semester fees may be extended, without prejudice to the rights of the parties and the same shall be taken into consideration for the present semester if special classes are conducted. If special classes are not conducted for the purpose of completing the subjects and also to overcome shortage of attendance for all students, the said term fee will be carried forward to the next semester to enable the petitioner to re-do the semester, the judge added.

Vacation schedule

Chennai: In partial modification of the earlier notification dated April 24, the Madras High Court has changed the schedule of sitting of judges during the fifth and final part of the summer vacation. Justices S Baskaran, RMT Teekaa Raman, N Sathish Kumar and A D Jagdish Chandra will sit at the principal seat at Madras Hight Court on May 30 and 31. Justices M V Muralidharan and T Krishnavalli will sit at the Madurai Bench on the same dates.

Time for fee payment

The judge said that the time for payment of fourth semester fees may be extended, without prejudice to the rights of the parties and the same shall be taken into consideration for the present semester

Vandalur flyover to be completed by December 

Deepa H. Ramakrishnan 
 
CHENNAI, May 19, 2018 00:00 IST

Work is under way after delay caused by land acquisition

Work on the Vandalur flyover on G.S.T. Road, which was dogged by delay in land acquisition, is going on as per schedule and is likely to be completed by December. Already, two deck slabs (the flat, top portion of the flyover) of the total nine have been completed and the Highways Department has planned to construct two deck slabs every month.

Though construction of the Rs. 55 crore flyover at the ‘T’ junction of the Vandalur- Kelambakkam Road and the G.S.T. Road began in September 2016, it took the Highways Department eight months to hand over the site to the contractor.

Service lane

“We have completed the work on stormwater drains and taken possession of the land required for the service lane. We will complete retaining walls, approaches and hand rails simultaneously and finish by December,” said a Highways Department official.

Round-the-clock movement of vehicles on the road below is another factor that has led to delay in the work.

“We cannot move machinery as freely as we do at other sites due to restrictions on space. Even at night, we have very less traffic-free time since it is a National Highway,” an official added. At least 1.5 lakh vehicles take the road on a daily basis.

Pedestrian facility

On completion, the 711-m long, six-lane flyover will allow vehicles to zip through G.S.T. Road without waiting for signal at the junction. The department has also planned a pedestrian facility at the location since the flyover is close to the Arignar Anna Zoological park.

“We have not decided whether it would be a foot overbridge or a subway since it involves the concurrence of the National Highways Authority of India. But a facility would definitely be provided,” said another official.

Uday Express to be flagged off from Coimbatore on June 10 

R. Arivanantham 
 
COIMBATORE, May 19, 2018 00:00 IST


The long wait for the much publicised Uday Express is set to end soon.File Photo 

The double-decker day train to run between Coimbatore and Bengaluru

The much-awaited Utkrisht double-decker air-conditioned yatri (Uday) Express will be flagged off from Coimbatore on June 10 by Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain.

A communiqué received by the Southern Railway General Manager R.K. Kulshreshta, from the Office of the Minister, on Friday said “the Minister will inaugurate Train No. 22665/22666 Uday Express on the Coimbatore-Bengaluru-Coimbatore section and 16191/16192 Antyodaya SF Express on the Tambaram-Tirunelveli

-Tambaram section on June 10”.

Train No. 22666 Coimbatore-Bengaluru Uday Express will leave Coimbatore at 5.45 a.m. to reach Bengaluru at 12.40 p.m and in the return direction train no. 22665 will leave Bengaluru at 2.15 p.m to reach Coimbatore at 9 p.m. The trains will have stoppages at Tirupur, Erode, and Salem.

Food vending machines

The coaches will have automatic food vending machines besides a pantry. It has colourful exteriors and swanky interiors. The train will have 14 coaches, of these four will have pantry.

The exterior of the coaches will have vinyl wrapping to prevent graffiti.

The coaches have a seating capacity of 120, and those with pantry will have 104 seats. The coaches will have WiFi, GPS-based Passenger Information System through LCD display, diffused LEDs, and solar reflective coating on the roof.

The speed test of the train was conducted during the third week of December 2017 between Coimbatore Railway Junction and Somanakkanpatti Railway Station near Vellore.

During the speed test, the coaches were loaded with 16 tonnes of Rail Neer from Coimbatore to check its weight carrying capacity with maximum speed.

The Minister during his two-day visit to Kerala and Tamil Nadu will also flag off Train No. 16355/16356 Kochuveli-Mangaluru Antyodaya Express at Cochin, dedicate the Punalur-Shencotta gauge converted section for traffic and also inaugurate a new station building at Changanassery in Kerala on June 9.

CITY BOY GETS LETTER FROM AMITABH BACHCHAN

Ashish.Joseph1@timesgroup.com 19.05.2018

When Class 10 student Subhashish Dey returned home after a short post-board exam vacation with his family, there was a letter waiting for him — from Amitabh Bachchan! The veteran actor had written to the 15-year-old Chennai boy, appreciating him for penning a book at such a young age.

A visibly excited Subhashish says, “It was my mom’s idea to send the book to Mr Bachchan because he’s a really influential person and actually responds to people who send him gifts, books, etc. I sent him my book almost two months ago, and he did reply to me.”

His father, Subhendu Dey, interrupts, “Initially, he didn’t have the courage to send it to Mr Bachchan. We also didn’t push him. But one day, he told us that he should be sending it to Mr Bachchan. So, he wrote a letter, a poem, and sent them along with the book. I think this was in February, and we received the letter from Mr Bachchan in April.”

It was in December 2015 that Subhashish started writing and he says that it took him two years to come out with the book. “I started writing during the 2015 flood. My school was closed for a long time and I had nothing to do. It was during that time that I had this conversation with a friend of mine about a girl who got bullied. One day, when I woke up, I had this story running in my head about a little girl whose mother is a pop star. The girl gets bullied and that’s how the story starts; later, the mother takes the spotlight. I soon started writing the first draft, and titled the book Fate’s Design,” says Subhashish, a self-confessed fan of American novelist George RR Martin.

So, what was the poem that he wrote to Sr Bachchan? “I’d actually written that poem for a friend. It’s about how people sometimes forget to live for themselves. I thought it was apt for Mr Bachchan, who barely has time for himself,” he shares.

Quiz him if the letter of appreciation has encouraged him to write another book, and he says, “Yes, I already had ideas for this second book even while was I writing the first. This one is going to be a fantasy novel, unlike the first one, which was a family drama.”


Subhashish Dey and (left) the letter that he received from Amitabh Bachchan


Amitabh Bachchan