Digital learning will have a big impact in education process: VC

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

KARAIKUDI, NOVEMBER 10, 2018 00:00 IST

‘ Enrolment in ‘Swayam’ has touched 2.750’


The word ‘digital’ is used in all spheres of human activity. It has become inseparable and inevitable in daily life, playing a pivotal role in the learning for students now, said N. Rajendran, Vice-Chancellor, Alagappa University.

Presiding over an one-day workshop on ‘Design and development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)’ for the faculty members of the university and affiliated college here on Thursday, he said the digital initiatives would have a far-reaching impact in the education process. The Central government had exclusively dedicated the portal, ‘Swayam,’ for online learning and within a short span of its launching in 2014, it was offering more than 800 free courses in many disciplines, he said.

The online courses helped the students acquire knowledge and develop communication and other skills in an easy and interesting manner, he said. Thanks to online learning, a student could listen to a lecture of an eminent IIT professor while sitting at home.

Mr. Rajendran said when he assumed office as Vice-Chancellor in June this year, the enrolment in ‘Swayam’ in the úniversity was 1,000 and the number had increased to 2,750 now. The University was following the guidelines of University Grants Commission (UGC) in terms of activities of ‘Swayam, he said and asked the teachers to develop MOOC courses in regional language.

S. Gowri, Director, Education Multi Media Research Centre (EMMRC), Anna University, Chennai, who inaugurated the workshop, said that though many countries offered MOOC courses, India alone offered them free of cost to the students.

Referring to apprehensions that the technology would replace teachers in future, he said the technology, in fact, would support the teachers and make learning easy. “The technology reduces the burden of teachers,” he said.

He said 30 EMMRCs were functioning across the country, including two in Tamil Nadu. “EMMRC plays a key role in helping students learn at their own pace and at the place of their convenience,” he said.

Varsity gets a new exam controller

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, NOVEMBER 10, 2018 00:00 IST

The Syndicate of the University of Madras on Friday, appointed K. Pandian, professor of Inorganic Chemistry, as the Controller of Examinations. The present Controller K. Ravichandran has been appointed as the Director of the Institute of Distance Education (IDE). The Syndicate has also approved the fee for qualification approval of teachers in aided and self-financing colleges. For each faculty to be approved a college will have to pay Rs. 2,000.

“The qualification approval for 1,500 teachers in self-financing institutions, shifting of teachers will be taken up through special selection committees, as per UGC norms and the meetings will be held at the university,” said a member.

Several members raised objection to the fees but a senior university official said they would cover the travel allowances of the experts and other incidentals. The Syndicate also approved the appointment of 14 faculty to the IDE.

Courts cannot compel insurance companies to pay compensation to unauthorised passengers

Legal Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOVEMBER 10, 2018 00:00 IST

Holds that insurance companies cannot be compelled to pay compensation to unauthorised passengers

The Madras High Court has refused to consider as a precedent a judgment passed by the Supreme Court on September 5 and gone ahead to hold that courts cannot compel insurance companies to pay compensation to unauthorised or gratuitous passengers of goods vehicles and then recover the money from the owner of the vehicles. A Division Bench of Justices K.K. Sasidharan and R. Subramanian held that the September 5 judgment of the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar in the Shivaraj versus Rajendra case could not be taken as a precedent because it was not in consonance with the previous verdicts pronounced by the court’s larger Benches.

The decision was taken while allowing a batch of appeals preferred by a private insurance company which had challenged an award passed by a motor accident claims tribunal in Dharmapuri on September 23, 2014 for payment of compensation to 18 people who met with an accident while travelling in a goods vehicle to attend a marriage.

HC directs trial court to frame charges afresh against Maran brothers, others

Legal Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOVEMBER 10, 2018 00:00 IST



It was made clear that the prosecution could also assist the trial court.File Photo 

Counsel of Dayanidhi Maran says basic premise on which CBI rested case was false

The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed petitions filed by former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and three others to quash all charges framed against them by a special court for CBI cases here, in the alleged illegal BSNL telephone exchange case.

Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira, however, remanded the matter to the special court for framing the charges afresh, since it was brought to his notice that the lower court had framed common charges against all the seven accused in the case, without any material to substantiate individual involvement in the alleged offences.

“The trial court is directed to carefully look into all the materials and frame proper and necessary charges in respect of each and every accused (A1 to A7) in accordance with procedures contemplated in the Code of Criminal Procedure, particularly Chapter XVII, based on the materials available,” he ordered.

It was made clear that the prosecution could also assist the trial court by filing draft charges. Apart from the Maran brothers, those who wanted the charges quashed were SUN TV electrician K.S. Ravi, the former Minister’s personal secretary V. Gowthaman and the television network’s Chief Technical Officer S. Kannan.

The two other accused in the case — K.B. Brahmadathan and M.P. Velusamy — both former Chief General Managers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), had not approached the High Court challenging the charges framed against them.

False premise

During the course of the arguments, it was submitted on behalf of Mr. Dayanidhi Maran that the basic premise on which the CBI had rested its case itself was false.

His counsel claimed that the charge of his client having obtained more than 760 telephone connections at his residence, during his ministership, was completely wrong. He asserted that Mr. Maran had obtained only 10 connections at his residence in Chennai and around 12 to 13 connections in Delhi. These parent connections had several “child numbers” attached to them.

Even otherwise, there was no bar under law for a Minister to obtain multiple telephone connections, given the nature of work that he/she performs, he argued. It was also contended that the CBI had proceeded on the basis of an erroneous assumption that a cap of three telephone connections imposed on the Members of Parliament would apply to the Ministers.

According to him, there was no shred of evidence to prove that the telephone connections were illegally used by Sun TV Network, owned by his elder brother.

Though the Supreme Court had refused to interfere with the High Court’s July 25 order which reversed discharge of all seven accused from the case by the special court on March 14, the senior counsel said it would not preclude the court from examining the charges framed pursuant to those orders and quash them if they were found to be untenacious.

Mr. Kalanithi Maran’s lawyer had also contended that there were absolutely no materials on record to implicate him in the case.

Kalinga institute of Industrial Technology convocation 2018

Academicians bat for retd teachers as PhD guides

Yogita.Rao@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:10.11.2018

Not recognizing retired teachers as PhD guides could lead to a further drop in the number of PhDs from Mumbai University, say academicians.

TOI, on Thursday, reported a 35% drop in the number of PhDs passing out from the university this year as compared to the previous year. Students have claimed shortage of guides is forcing many aspirants to drop out.

Data shows Mumbai University has not once crossed the 400-mark in PhDs, while the neighbouring Savitribai Phule Pune University produced 685 PhDs in 2018 alone. While most attributed the drop in numbers to the lack of recognised PhD guides, others said ad hoc constitution of research review committees, responsible for approving research proposals, could be a factor too.

Batting for retired teachers to be taken on as guides, V I Katchi, additional director at Bhavan’s College in Andheri, said, “Their expertise is intact. Not allowing them to guide students would mean underutilisation of resources. If lawyers and surgeons are allowed to practice even post retirement age, then why can teachers not guide students? It is not even a financial burden on the government and the university can have a pool of supervisors too.”

Katchi said teachers who are willing to pursue research should be allowed to do so.

While commerce and management remain the most popular subjects at undergraduate and postgraduate level, few opt for PhD in these streams. The number of PhDs in law, too, has remained in single digits over the past four years, explaining why the university faces a serious shortage of approved law teachers. Data over the last four years shows most aspirants in Mumbai University pursue PhD in science and humanities.

Former dean of commerce, MU, Madhu Nair, said there could be two reasons for the shrinking numbers of PhDs. “Retired teachers and those on the verge of retirement are not allowed to guide students, leading to a serious shortage of guides in commerce faculty. Secondly, research review committees have not been properly constituted. RRCs meetings were delayed and proposals kept on hold for long around 2015,” said Nair.

ஆசிரியர்களுக்கு பணப்பலன் தாமதம் கல்வி அலுவலர் இருவர், 'சஸ்பெண்ட்'

Added : நவ 09, 2018 04:27

குளித்தலை:ஆசிரியர்களுக்கு, பணப்பலன்களை பெற்று தராமல், காலதாமதம் செய்ததால், இரு வட்டார கல்வி அலுவலர்கள், 'சஸ்பெண்ட்' செய்யப்பட்டனர்.

கரூர் மாவட்டம், குளித்தலை அடுத்த கிருஷ்ணராயபுரம் பகுதியில் இரு வட்டார கல்வி அலுவலகங்கள், மகாதானபுரம் அக்ரஹாரத்தில் செயல்படுகிறது. இங்குள்ள ஆசிரியர்களுக்கு கிடைக்க வேண்டிய பணப்பலன் மற்றும் அவர்கள் கடன் வேண்டி மனு அளித்திருந்தனர். மனுக்கள் மீது, உரிய நடவடிக்கை எடுக்காதால், பணப்பலன்களை பெற முடியாமல் ஆசிரியர்கள் தவித்தனர். 

இதையடுத்து, கல்வித்துறை அதிகாரிகள் மற்றும் கலெக்டரிடம் ஆசிரியர்கள் கோரிக்கை மனு அளித்தனர். மேலும், அனைத்து ஆசிரியர்கள் சார்பில், கல்வி அலுவலரை கண்டித்து கண்டன நோட்டீஸ் ஒட்டப்பட்டது.கடந்த மாதம் மாவட்ட முதன்மை கல்வி அலுவலர், தங்கவேல், குளித்தலை கல்வி மாவட்ட அலுவலர், கபீர் ஆகியோர், ஆசிரியர்களிடம், 'சட்டபடி நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்படும். பணப்பலன் உட்பட அனைத்து சலுகைகளும் பெற்று தரப்படும்' என, உறுதியளித்தனர்.
இந்நிலையில் ஆசிரியர்கள் கொடுத்த புகார்படி, ஆசிரியர்களுக்கு வழங்க வேண்டிய பணப்பலன் மற்றும் கடன் வசதி பெற்று தராமல் தாமதம் செய்ததாக, கிருஷ்ணராயபுரம் வட்டார கல்வி அலுவலர் சேகர், குமுதா ஆகியோர் சஸ்பெண்ட் செய்யப்பட்டனர்.இதுகுறித்து, முதன்மை கல்வி அலுவலர் தங்கவேல் கூறியதாவது:

கிருஷ்ணராயபுரம் தாலுகா வட்டார கல்வி அலுவலர் சேகர் மற்றும் குமுதா ஆகியோர், ஆசிரியர் களுக்கு பெற்று தர வேண்டிய பணப்பலன் மற்றும் கடன் வசதி செய்து தராமல், ஓராண்டுக்கு மேலாக இழுத்தடிக்கப்பட்டு வந்தது தெரிய வந்தது. ஆசிரியர்கள் கொடுத்த புகார்படி, இரு அலுவலர்களும் சஸ்பெண்ட் செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.இவ்வாறு அவர் கூறினார்.