Summary – Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi is the apex body for school education in India and is the most popular board among students. The network of CBSE Schools extends throughout the country. Many schools in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jaipur and other cities of India are affiliated to CBSE. They provide quality education with excellent infrastructure facilities to the students.

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Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi is the apex body for school education in India. CBSE is the most popular board among students with the objectives of ‘Serving the educational institutions more effective, to be responsive to the educational needs of students with
parents on transferable jobs.

The CBSE is also working out some system of examination that would qualify students for seeking admission in universities, though assessment will be based on continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE), the grading system adopted in the Indian schools

The network of CBSE schools extends throughout the country. From 309 schools in 1962 the Board today has a total of 8979 CBSE schools on 31-03-2007 including 141 schools in 21 countries. There are 897 Kendriya Vidyalayas, 1761 Government Schools, 5827 Independent Schools, 480 Jawahar Novodaya Vidyalayas and 14 Central Tibetan Schools.

Language of Instruction for CBSE curriculum is available both in English as well as Hindi. CBSE is a recognized board by the Government of India. The syllabus of CBSE is set with an idea of providing objective knowledge which is tested in the competitive examinations.

In order to keep pace with the technological advancements, CBSE has launched an online educational system to sort out students difficulties. CBSE online provides study material for students. It is a powerful resource offering a stress free learning environment. It provides conceptual learning supported by multimedia resources such as audio, visuals and animation. These are also supported with relevant power point presentations, graphics and illustrations that are easy to understand, grasp, and remember. The multimedia-enriched way of learning is an attractive option to students, unlike books that tend to be boring. It helps create energy and excitement in the students.

The CBSE provides affiliations to the government and government aided schools; autonomous organizations, which would be controlled by the government; private educational institutions, recognized by the state government; society religious institutions, etc. which are included in the
Bye-laws of the board.

There are more than 400 CBSE schools in Delhi located in different parts of Delhi, Gurgoan, Noida etc. These schools follow the curriculum decided by the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi. In addition to academics equal importance is given to the Extra-curricular and sports activities. Delhi Public School R.K. Puram is one of the most prestigious schools in India. Founded as a Public School in 1972 in New Delhi, it is a private institution run by the Delhi Public School Society. DPS R.K. Puram is a co-educational day-cum-boarding school, with approximately 9,500 students on its rolls. Other top CBSE schools in Delhi are – Delhi Public School Matura Road, Delhi Public School Dwarka, Air Force Bal Bharti School Lodi Road, Birla Vidhya Niketan New Delhi.

There are more than 23 CBSE Schools in Jaipur that are owned by private educational trusts and 6 Kendriya Vidyalaya Jaipur which are also included amongst the CBSE Schools in Jaipur. Some CBSE schools like MGD Girls Public School have boarding facility and report to have 370 students staying in their hostels. Some top CBSE schools in Jaipur are Neerja Modi School, Delhi Public School, SMS Public School.

Kolkata CBSE Schools host several cultural and academic competitions which is extremely beneficial to the students. Kolkata CBSE Schools often act as a role model for schools across the country as they have managed to produce lot of talented and disciplined students. Some of the top rankers in the tenth and twelfth Board exams in the country are from Kolkata CBSE Schools. A lot of achievements are also made in the field of sports and art. Many parents prefer to enroll their children in these Kolkata CBSE Schools.

Top CBSE Schools in Kolkata are Birla High School, St. James School, M.P. Birla School, Delhi Public School Kolkata, and South Point School Kolkata.

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For most, education does not conclude at class XII level. A vast majority opts for higher education, thus schools should prepare them for learning challenges beyond the school years. The curriculum design and the learning processes in ICSE therefore, are designed and structured to help children become lifelong learners. The ICSE syllabus is preferred by many as there is a lot of stress given on projects and activities.

The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) examination is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private, non-governmental board of school education in India, for class 10, i.e., grade 10. It has been designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance with the recommendations of the New Education Policy 1986 (India), through the medium of English. The examination allows secure suitable representation of Governments responsible for schools (which are affiliated to it) in their States/Territories. Private candidates are not permitted to appear for this examination.

The aim of ICSE Schools in India is-

• To provide knowledge
• To promote psycho-motor skills
• To develop logical thinking and scientific aptitude
• To facilitate creativity and excellence
• To cope up with the development of science and technology
• To appreciate, nurture and inculcate aesthetic sense
• To maintain health consciousness and hygiene
• To strengthen value-based approach to life
• To meet emerging global challenges

There are 1700 ICSE Schools in India. Out of them more than 100 ICSE schools are in Kolkata. Top ICSE schools of Kolkata include St. James School, M.P. Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School, Loreto School, Don Bosco School and St. Mary’s School.

The number of ICSE Schools is many in Delhi also and they are very popular there. Top ICSE Schools in Delhi include Birla Vidya Niketan School, Army Public School, Bal Mandir Senior Secondary School and Mount Saint Mary School.

Other good ICSE schools in India are –Zee School Bangalore, Vidhyaranya School Hyderabad, St. Mary’s High School Mumbai, St. Joseph’s Boy High School Bangalore.

In all subjects other than Science and Computers, students must submit compulsory coursework assignments. In groups I and II they count for 20% of the student’s performance in the subject; in group III the assignments count for 50%. In Science and Computers, students are tested on their laboratory work.

In 2010 the Delhi-based Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations has restructured the ICSE and ISC courses on the lines of the curriculum followed by the boards that conduct all-India admission tests for leading engineering and medical institutes.

For the affiliation of the ICSE Board the school should be run by the registered society, a trust or a company for educational purposes and not to earn profit. And medium of instruction should be English. ICSE schools have adequate infrastructure for accommodating the number and sex of pupils attending the School. All teachers are properly qualified and trained.

After all, most of the parents want their child to stand first in the class and score highest in all the subjects. This is the  only  criterion where all –the  parents, teachers and our Indian society agrees- to declare that  such  kind of children  are really  bright  students. But are these students really the “brightest” of all the students as it is believed by the masses? And  what about  those  students who were not  the “brightest”  lot in their  schools,  yet they  are exceptionally doing  well  in their  practical  lives and  later these are  more renowned than their favorite and  bright scholars?  Live examples are available like Azim Premji- who had to leave his engineering education midway after his father’s death to take over his family’s business.  Though, he belonged to a  wealthy family and  he was supposed to take over his family business  of vegetable and  hydrogenated oil or  soaps and toiletries but  he chose to  diversify his business and stepped into the  field  of  Information Technology which led  him to the “Wipro Technologies…” and  now  he  is known as the  Bill  Gates  of  India and finally the  second  richest  Indian.

What are your views about Sachin Tendulkar? Recently, he almost broke the record of the cricket legend Don Bradman. He is  now supposed to  be  the  best  batsman  in the  world,  starting  his  cricket career from just  the  age  of   15 years and  still  achieving  highly  even at the  age  of  37 years. I know , every Indian is proud  of  his achievements and  till  date when most  of  the  cricketers retire when  they  are about  his  age  or  their glory of  achievements  starts  declining even  then  he  surprises the  world through  his amazing achievements. Do you know his one secret? He is a school drop out, not even able to qualify his exams still he is so extra-ordinary for all you. Why an ordinary school failure is a star today?  Can you call him under-achiever or “retarded”? I can bet nobody can in this whole world.  Though, he  did not meet the criteria of all of  you to survive  the academic theoretical education of becoming a  bright scholar, he even  did  not  qualify to  be  a  dull  scholar,  still he is educated. Yes, educated differently. He has been coached for his cricketing right from the schooling days. Probably, there was something which kept him motivated for this game. And, it is not that he got this success in one shot. Initially, he tried his  luck  as a bowler  but he could  not  impress his coach about it  and so  finally  the  coach only  guided him  to  choose  for  batting. Now, see the difference his bowler coach guided him what was the best suitable for his interests.  Even in cricket, one  could not be  successful  in all types of abilities like one  could be expert in fielding, other in  batting, another in  bowling(that  too  could be fast  or  spin etc.), or  in wicket  keeping. So cricket is one field but still so many options where you could excel in.

Now, you could say that these people are selected, trained and encouraged for sports. May be that is true. But what about school drop outs who  excelled in science, technology, mathematics or  writing and  so on, which  is  supposed  to be developed and nurtured by only those “bright students” who  proved academically (rather theoretically I would say). What you  have to  say  about Ramanujan, who just excelled in Mathematics but denied  the scholarship to  continue  his studies further as  he failed in other  non-mathematical subject. Ramanujan who discovered his own  theorems  of mathematics at just at the age  of 12 years only got later renowned because one of the  Collectors, who himself was a scholar of mathematics, during  the British  Regime in India, discovered Ramanujan’s talents by chance and made attempts for his  international  recognition.

Not everyone is so lucky though to be recognized that way. For example, I could recall one of my own classmates, who just migrated from Punjab to  a small town in Uttar Pradesh and his  father  was an illiterate  farmer, who came  to Uttar Pradesh to  avoid the burning  Punjab  of  1980’s and got his son admitted in the  so  called “best school” in that town. He happened to be my classmate. A very tall fellow, who never used to speak much but used to observe everything sharply.  We were in class VII then. We had our quarterly  exams after three months  of the  start  of  this new session and this student –named  as Bachattar Singh – failed in all the subjects –not  just failed but  he  got “zero” in all the subjects- except  for Mathematics- where  he  score 100 out of 100. And then  we kept on  beating exams after exams for  the  whole  year, he kept  even the toppers  in mathematics always behind  him-for  he never scored less than  100% in  any  of  the  class tests or any  exams. Finally, the session ended for that  year and class  and  we wrote  the final exams. He again  scored  100% in mathematics but  again nearly  “zero”  in all the other  subjects. Reports cards were handed over  the  students in  the presence  of their  parents-teachers “judging”  their students abilities  and  drawbacks- giving suggestions how  to  improve  in certain “weaker subjects”- but Bachattar Singh was  expelled from  the  school. Our class  teacher just told him, that  you are brilliant in mathematics but  still to continue your education  you  need  to  score  at  least  “passing marks” in the other  subjects. Alas, the great talent in Mathematics, who could have been another Ramanujan, if and only if, he was allowed to continue  his  interests in mathematics, perhaps ended only  in the geometric  dimensions of his  the agricultural  fields and his  interests  in mathematics  which was just reduced to manage  the accounts of  his crops being sold, but never had of  any  such chance to get recognized in mathematics.

Just think of many other talents, in your own locality, amongst your own relatives and acquaintances, amongst your own school and most importantly amongst your own children. Have you ever thought of about these extra-ordinary talents which if given little encouragement and direction in life may do wonders. These talents are not so rare as  you  think .Usually  people  think that  these talented people  are “too lucky” and “extra-ordinarily gifted” and perhaps  you  could  not  accept  your own  child to be that gifted because he  cannot take the  “risk” your child’s career  in these extra-ordinary pursuits as it  may not  turn out to be that  fruitful. Of course, it  is little  risky if you  are still in doubt  of your child’s talent  and  especially if  you are not an ordinary  family when you  cannot  afford to give him the education  of that “extra-ordinary” talent  on  your  “extra-ordinary” expenses. But at the same time who is responsible for all this?  You may blame  the  educational system and  educational policies- each one  of you-whether you  are a parent or  a teacher  or even you  are  a  student. Aren’t you responsible for it?  Who has made this educational system, it is one of you. May be you  can say  that whatever  the  policy  and  system is ,one  as  a school  teacher,  or a  parent –they have  to  accept it and  follow  it. Why you need to accept anything blindly? If you accept anything blindly, then again you are also responsible for its establishment, as you have accepted it blindly without thinking over it logically. Please do not be so irresponsible to avoid your responsibilities. Not only the policy makers but each one of us are responsible for it, only few made the policies but all of us accepted it  and  not  only  accepted  it  followed  and implemented it  in our  day to  day lives. Being a democratic country, having complete rights of expressions, how can you just be transferring your responsibilities to the policy makers only. You share an equal part. Don’t give excuses. At the same time I do not believe that anyone kind of demonstrations or road blocks, closure of markets etc. would help this cause or  any cause. You  have  to think logically,  debate it  with the  qualified  professionals and take a  little  bold  step ahead  of  others  protect your child’s or student’s rights.

I would like to first describe your responsibilities as a school teacher. How do you evaluate your student who is extra-noisy in the class?  A student who cannot sit patiently in the class on his respective seat, who does  not  follow  your instructions in one go  and  asks lot of questions like  “why  do you do  this,  act like  this or why it cannot  be this way…why you tell  us  this  way only?…why we  cannot describe  things  some other way?” Teachers usually call such student as a naughty, indisciplined child and so on. But did you ever think actual why he or she behaves like that. He or she might be just  specifically talented,  extra-curious child with divergent thinking who  could not think in  the  class  because  he  or  she  gets bored  of those extra dozes of  teaching which  he already knows and is  tired and  bored  of learning  again and  again. Sometimes,  such  children do  not  prefer  to  answer those boring  questions  in the  school exams  because they feel these are  “below their standards” but they do  not think of  the  term  standards or  something like that –only they find it too boring. They  keep  getting bored by those less appealing, sort of  average or normal tasks for  these  above –average  and  abnormally intelligent who  are exceptionally  talented  and gifted  in some  way  or  the  other. All the more they could not tolerate lot of revisions of such tasks-as this loses their interests further in those  topics.  For such  reasons many exceptionally  talented children  refuse  to write exams for  those boring topics or  if  forced  to  write exams  may  fail or turn out  to be  a drop outs like Albert  Einstein or Thomas  Alva  Edison- who were actually  unable to clear  formal exams in  schools but  known to be the scientists and  their  inventions  are  well  known to the world. Some  others children find  out  the  alternative ways to keep themselves interested  in  answering those  questions like  writing  little different answers which are actually not wrong  but is beyond your syllabus  and  finally got  discouraged by  their surroundings-parents, teachers  or  even the seniors.

Here  I  would  like to narrate cases whom I  was sent for counseling or  advise  or  addressing their problems efficiently. Either they were labeled  as  “mentally retarded” due to their low scholastic  performances or  they were named to be fit in highly  complex disorders like learning disabled or  autism or attention deficit hyperactive disorders or  some times even  labeled as having behavioral problems amounting to conduct disorders.  Though, teachers  and parents are increasingly getting  aware of these  terms  but unfortunately they  are  not  “trained in those professions” to make  such diagnoses or  labeling such disorders. Of course, they have full right  to  suspect such disorders but  I  have a  request that  before  any  professional assessment by a qualified and trained professional  one could not claim such labels.  So please be patient before labeling them for such complex terms just on the basis of your suspicions.

I would like to explain here  a case of about  five  year old student who  was labeled as Attention  Deficit Hyperactive  Disorder  commonly called ADHD by his school teachers. The child was the  student  of UKG in a  renowned  school but because  he  was able  to  grasp  things very quickly than  his other classmates, he  used to get  up tried  to help  his  little  weaker classmates,  he was  labeled by  his  teacher  as  a  distracted child. His parents getting fearful about this classification brought the child for my advice. I found the  child extra-ordinarily intelligent, at least three  years ahead of his  normal age  and his  mother told  me that  he could  read the story  books meant  for  9-10 year old  children and could  read  and understand  the head-lines and  high-lights in newspapers. How can  you expect such  a child to  restrict  himself just  to write only three letter words starting  with  the  letter “A” and  not more  letter  words. His  mother  told  me how  his other words which  was for about 6-7 letters, all starting from  letter “A” only where encircled by  his  teacher only to  be  labeled him as an “average”  or  “under-performer”. When his  mother  gently asked for  explanation, the teacher said “The question  was very  clear-to write just  the  three  letter  words starting from  letter “A” and obviously  if  he writes something which is not  asked  for , then  it  would  not be  accepted. Also, these words were never taught to him or any of these are not even in his course books”.  The child’s mother got stunned but did not know how to respond to this unnecessary description of the criteria of performance. The irony was that  his  mother informed us  that  he  could maintain his attention  at a stretch  for about  90 minutes,  which many  normal adults find  it  difficult to maintain unless it becomes their  habit or  demanded  in their  profession. It is  disgusting  that  people call  these  children as  ADHD  when even at  this age  they could  concentrate for so long.

If you want to think or act in a little different manner than most of the other people are doing then do the other authorities have the right to label a child or an individual like this? But it is not the fault of the school or teacher either. The only problem is the proper awareness about these kinds of problems. So  here  I would like  to request the  school authorities to have some kind  of  periodic training  for your teachers about “knowing about their  students” and also holding some kind of workshops that are involving both the  students  and  teachers as  staff where they could  have some interaction in a  little relaxed  discipline  where they could understand the particular  student  as  an  individual. May be  if due to work pressure  it  is not  possible or for some  reasons, at least you could  enquire  more  about such  children whom you  suspect  to be  little different from others. Also, enquiring from the parents in detail about their  other interests  ad  activities  rather  than  just  the academics  would help  teachers to understand their student  as an individual  as  such and his or her perception about  that  student would not be limited to  his or her academic  activities.

There was another student whose parents came to seek advice for the similar reasons.  His  teacher  also labeled  his as  ADHD but  actually  he  was  a  normal , active  child  with average  intelligence  that too  on the  higher side. Whenever, he  got  free time he did some  adventurous  activities  like climbing  on the  window grills in the  class, or  running over or standing  over the  desk , but  otherwise  he  could  concentrate on his  class work  or  homework even for  more  than half –an-hour. He was again five years old in age. Also, he was said that since he could  not complete  his  homework or  class work  unless and  until somebody like  his mother  at home  or  teacher in class especially paid attention to  him. In fact it is quiet normal for many children of his age.

Though, the above  case indicated that  teachers  and parents are  becoming aware  of these kinds of problems but you have take every  account  of the  other  situations  also  in context. The problem with this student was that he came from a very small town from Haryana where he lived in a joint family earlier. It was only three months back that his parents shifted to Gurgaon to explore better employment  opportunities, for  their own restaurant. Parents themselves found it difficult to adjust in that National Capital Region where they were never exposed earlier. And now they had to help their son also to grow in a proper manner. Knowing the reality, that restaurant just opened, three months back would not give us any kind of profit, the mother took up a job near by her residence. Also, aware of their responsibilities towards their son, father used to spend time early in the morning , while  mother  used to reach office  by  7:00 a.m and  then father  used  to go  for his  restaurant  business. When the mother  returned  back to home  by 12:00  noon, picked  up her  child from school and fed  him and then she prepared to  go  back  to her 4.00pm duty  leaving the  child to tuitions till 8:00pm their until  she returned back home from duty. It was difficult for them to balance the physical activities of their son, who had the facility of a huge house and a playground with lots of cousins and friends from neighborhood and started playing by climbing on the window grills, rather than tree at his home town  for which he  was used  to. So we have to  understand the child’s full context before making a  diagnoses.

I  would  like you  to narrate you another  case  where the  teacher  called  the child  as “abnormal”  because  he  did not  speak  much and  did not answer exactly  what the teacher wanted  and moreover  he  had  no  friends in the  class.  His school counselor labeled him to be  “autistic”  and “retarded”, who herself was  a qualified  counselor  and  trained  in Psychology!  When I spoke to the  child, amazingly, this  eight  year  child  spoke  to me  about food pipe and large and  small intestines and  digestive juices explaining  me  clearly  its role  and  how  we get energy from the  food we  eat and even the residual  part which gets excreted  and  what part  is responsible  for it. Also, he spoke  to me  about how the electricity is generated. He  explained  me  further  of  inhaling oxygen  by  human  beings and  exhaled Carbon-di-oxide  by humans  later inhaled by  plants for themselves to  prepare their own  food with the  help  of  sunlight. He spoke to me  how  rockets  are  prepared, how they get fuel  and how  they are launched which  I did  not  even understand as  I was never  interested in knowing this “rocket  technology”. He spoke to me about touch-me-not plant and other insect eating plants. Imagine just a third standard kid and having that much of knowledge. His mother revealed that  he  reads those books related to  science  and  ask  questions related to  science ,  interested in Discovery  Channels or National Geographic Channels and never interested in cartoon  networks etc. An  amazing  painter and apparently  great knowledge  of science  his only  problem was  that  he did  not  like  to write answers much  in detail- perhaps  that  is the reason  why  he was  called  “retarded” and since he could not express  himself properly  to his fellow classmates- so  labeled as  “autistic”. I can bet had  he  been autistic he  would  not  have  been able to relate to  me in  just  half-an-hour, would not  be    so comfortable with the  surroundings etc. Also, perhaps he  could not get along  with the  kids  of his  own age  because he did not like to participate  in their cartoon film discussions and he  loved  to believe in  real  concepts of  science and geography and  history and perhaps nobody tried  to pay  attention  to  him when he  spoke such things in front of  them. And “mentally retarded”- no way-even any lay person- not knowing the meaning of intelligence as such would never call him retarded!

My dear friends, these are just the glimpse of cases which I have  come  across in  real life. So, please do not ignore this fact also if someone tries  to point fingers on your  childs’ capabilities but  also  do  not follow any professional just “blindly”. Just think  logically. If  you some doubts  about your student’s or  own child’s  talents or abilties then contact some professional  efficient to handle this  situation  in a  better manner.  May  be  your child  might  have some of the problems which many  others are  thinking but even  then  do  not get disappointed, because even the  children with many  kind  of disorders also  have something or the  other  which is  unique  special about  them. And  who  knows, these apparent  problems are  not problems  at  all as  these might have been appearing on the  surface due  to  some  other deep  rooted talents, abilities, aptitudes and interests. And  even if  your child is  weak,  remember about Sachin  Tendulkar, Ramanujan and many  others- they were also weak  in many  things- so  why not  now start thinking  about- what actually your  students or children  are  especially  good  at. As  you  all  know,  nobody is  usually  remembered in  life by  his or  her weaknesses but  the fondest  memories and  the  most  beautiful  and cherished  moments are when the  person  whom you are remembering  had done  something  great or  special at least if  not  to  others but  to  you. Remember those moments of your students and children and try to move them ahead in their  natural strengths and talents. Why overstressing so  much  overcoming  their shortcomings  unless  it  is  not harming to  the society by  and  large.

Look into  yourself,  are  you  able  to  overcome your own  shortcomings, for you  have  been  criticized so much  and even  if  to some extent whether you are still  able to excel so much that you could still compete with those who  were  supposed  to be  the  “best” in that. And  at the  same  time if you spent even half the time overcoming  your  those  weaknesses  that  you have  been pointed out from time to time then certainly you would  have been  exceptionally well  in  that talent which you  still secretly  cherish!. So teachers and parents, please first try to look at your own strengths, rather than weaknesses, try to discover  your own  talents  and  then only  you would  be able to  understand its special significance. May  be the  similar incident/s might  have also troubled or  discouraged you  in the  past  for which you  could  not  become what you  wanted  to  be. Please  do not  repeat those mistakes  to this  younger  kids! Let  us join hands  for their  cause and  may  be we  have many more Sachin’s or  Ramanujan’s. It  is  still  a dream but you  can  all  make this dream to come  true and  convert  it to  reality!

Article written by Dr Smita Pandey Bhat

Dr Smita Pandey Bhat is a Counselor and Clinical Psychologist. She has completed her M.Phil and PhD in Clinical Psychology, from Central Institute of Psychiatry (C.I.P), Ranchi. She has seven years of experience in this field at different places. She provides psychological counseling, psychotherapies like, Supportive Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Social Skills Training, Assertiveness Training etc. as per the requirement of the people. She also provides assessments like Intelligence Tests and Personality Assessments for Children as well as Adults. Dr. Smita Pandey Bhat gave lectures on clinical psychology to nursing students and staff, as well as M.Phil students. She is a clinical psychologist of repute and has made appearances on several live television shows and appeared as Celebrity Guest on Indiatimes.

1. Near blind girl scores 91.5 per cent

Mumbai: With a mere two percent vision in both her eyes, Aditi Shah did not let her impairment come in her way. She scored 91.5 percent in Maharashtra’s HSC (Class 12, junior college) exams despite her shortcoming. Born sighted, Aditi was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a disease which results in a progressive loss of vision, when she was 10.

http://tinyurl.com/34k8pza

2. Delhi IIT JEE topper is just 14
Sahal, schooled at home by his mother, Ruchi Kaushik, a doctor-turned-homemaker cracks  the IIT with AIR 44 and tops the Delhi region. The boy is special. He doesnt need pen and paper.  He solved JEE problems orally. and the most important thing he is not after engineering, he wants to study pure science, physics  mathematics. He has a library with more tha 2000 books at home  and he has already read them all. The boys is different!!

http://tinyurl.com/3agf8t7

3. Hat trick for Bihar’s Super 30
The super 30 program in bihar made a Hat trick. All 30 students cleared the JEE.  Super 30, a free coaching centre in Bihar, started by Abhayanand
helps the economically backward students crack the IIT-JEE, one of the toughest exam.
In 2003, the first year of the institute, 18 students made it to the IITs. The number rose to 22 in 2004 and to 26 in 2005. In 2007 and 2006, 28 students made it through ITT-JEE. In 2008, for the first time 30 students cracked the IIT-JEE followed by 2009. This is a great effort and has also been featured in Time Magazine in the list of The Best of Asia 2010, discovery channel.

http://tinyurl.com/2wftau2

4. Visually impaired talent bells the CAT
Puneite Alpana Dubey, who conquered her visual limitations to appear for the exams with three lakh aspirants from all over the country. Alpana lost her vision when she was in the 10th standard, but she managed to get a place for herself in the prestigious list of IIM Calcutta among others. She got calls from IIM B (Bangalore), C (Calcutta), L (Lucknow), I (Indore) and Shillong and converted Calcutta and Lucknow. Her words- “i want to use my potential to the fullest, and maybe opt for a government job one day. I want to use my intellect for the country”. Country needs people like her.

http://tinyurl.com/2uvp9my

There are so many professional streams we see and admire. We listen to Zakir Hussain, appreciate A R Rahman, we like Rohit Bal’s Designs, we are a fan of Boman Irani’s acting but did we ever think that these people are different and are not a common man, not a common Doctor, Engineer or a CA. There are umpteen number of fields and arena in which the growing kids can venture into if we as their parents/relatives let them to. We all agree that there needs to be more awareness, more information about such courses and fields.

I would like if Indian parents let the students free to chose their area of interest and let the students select their own career. A person can best perform when he is working on his interests, the work seems to be fun and if its fun it can be done 24 x 7. Let there be that extra edge of support with your child and see what difference he/she can create.

Below is an article from MSN. Spread it!!

10 offbeat courses after 12th standard

Here you are, at the crossroads. You have finished your 10+2, and are on a hunt for the course that best suits your taste and chances in the future. A good number of students choose Engineer, Medicine, Management or IT after their PUC. But there are other offbeat, yet interesting, courses too. Here is a collection of 10 of them. Check them out.

One of these students, with a similar state of mind like thousands of students asked me the same. He informed about his interest in computer science….He thought IIT or AIEEE was a good option….He loved Physics and Chemistry but had not much interest in Mathematics. Just on the basis of his likes and dislikes for academics subject was going to be his deciding factor of his career and life ahead. Majority of students are not able to do a correct analysis of their aptitude for a career path. Moreover, most of them are not aware of different paths that are available to them.
Well, interest in Computer Sciences, liking Physics & Chemistry does not mean that Engineering is the only field for you. You have a Myriad of options which can be thought of based on your passions and interests and not just your academic expertise. Moreover, its high time you need to decide on it.Following one’s dreams, something you really would love to do all your life is a lot less sought after thought one comes across. May be one’s interest in arts or music for example can lead him/her to a totally different world. Yes, these fields can as well be taken as good career prospects. Why not.! More over, most of us go with the flow and opt for what everyone around is aiming for!

Referring to that kid’s so called interests, I informed him of what would be his step ahead to pursue Engineering. So If we are talking about Interest in Computers, It can lead you to pursuing Engineering in Computer Sciences from one of the thousands of engineering schools we have in India. Ofcourse IITs Top the chart. The Admission is through JEE. If you can manage Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at school level, you are good to go and give IIT JEE a try. Yes, from a while ago, the pattern has been changing, and more stress in JEE is given on the secondary and senior secondary syllabus i.e. all that you will be studying in your 11th and 12th standard. this has been seen as a general change in the last 3-4 years. So it is definitely achievable if you are good in academics at school level.

Appearing for this exam is more about confidence, sincerity and hard work rather than being good or bad at a subject. You will have to start preparing for it right here, right now, the moment you are done with your board exams. you can join a coaching centre right beside you 11th class studies. Or you can prepare yourself along with your school. coaching classes always help in terms of being updated with the latest trends in the exam, comparing yourself with other students to check where you stand etc but they are expensive as well.

You can Join certain schools in the country which give more stress of JEE preparation than the board exams itself.

You can as well, continue 2 years with your 11th and 12th, enjoy final school days and then later spend one complete year preparing for JEE. Yes, Students sometimes do put in an effort for complete one year to prepare for it. I would not recommend it since it is a one year gone if nothing is materialized.

You also need to remember that each student can give JEE only 2 times. Thats about it!!!

The second option you can have for engineering is to go for the private sector colleges which have made their mark in the education sector. Colleges like VIT Vellore, BITS Pilani, Manipal, Banasthali(for girls) are really good options. They have their separate examination tests/procedures.

The third option you have is to go for NITs and other Regional colleges. This can be done through AIEEE. This is comparitively an easier test but if you see the number of students applying for it, getting a good NIT/ college becomes a challenging task.

Further you as well have private colleges spread all across our country, where you can have a paid seat.

This is all about engineering in Indian schools, In the next session we will touch upon a yet another career prospective with a slice of self-introspection.!

Have a good day!

Ayush
SchoolSearch

Research and grading criteria:

The list below is formed using following criteria

• Online traffic it attract
• Technology used
• Ease of use
• Value for Money metrics
• Volume of Resources available

8 Best School curriculum resources online list goes here:

LearnNext: TutorVista Backed product which has international distinguished presence in this domain. LearnNext has technically sound and helps make learning a bit fun for class 6-12 by presenting multimedia solutions to school curriculum. You can know more about LearnNext by subscribing to free demo CD which contains an application to be installed in the computer. Overall a sound technology and great learning pleasure.

Paremeters:

Mode: Multimedia (CD/DVD)

Organisation: TutotVista

Boards: CBSE

Ease of Use: Very Easy

Technical rating: Excellent

Average Cost: 2000-2500/- per class

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MeritNation: It is an InfoEdge Funded (A naukri.com Initiative) online school resources portal. The portal apart from traditional curriculum (like CBSE,ICSE) helps Indian Students to succeed in National and International Examinations like Olympiad (Firs of its kind in online domain). MeritNation is a subscription based resource portal where students can buy packages online and start learning modules straightaway.

Paremeters:

Mode: Subscription based Web Applications

Organisation: InfoEdge funded A Naukri.com initiative

Boards: CBSE,ICSE, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu State Board

Ease of Use: Easy

Technical rating: Good

Average Cost: 500-1500/- per class per package

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ExtraMarks and NDTV Tutor : NDTV provides tutor services online through the product powered by ExtraMarks. ExtraMarks provides CBSE curriculum multimedia learning resources for class6- class12.  It uses WhiteBoard technology for linking students and teacher from distant corners of the country.

Paremeters:

Mode: Desktop/Web application

Boards: CBSE

Ease of Use: Easy

Technical rating: Good

Average Cost: 275-300/- per online class

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WIZIQ: Wiziq is an Educomp backed product and helps Teachers worldwide to create their profile and carry out web conferences. Wiziq is unique in its approach where it charges Teachers for creating their online profile (sort of linkedin for Teachers!). Teachers feature their competence by holding web seminars/conferences and students can attend these seminars.

Paremeters:

Mode: Web based learning resources

Boards: All in general

Ease of Use: very easy

Technical rating: Excellent

Average Cost: varies

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MathGuru: Mathguru is also an Educomp initiative where Students can get free videos and other resources on math topics. Students can ask doubts and get apt examples to help them with their queries.

Paremeters:

Mode: Web based learning resources

Boards: All in general

Ease of Use: very easy

Technical rating: Excellent

Average Cost: FREE

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LearnHours: Also an Educomp initiative, LearnHours is based in WhiteBoard technology. It helps students find the best eligible tutor around the world to help him/her with queries. It charges students on hourly basis depending upon the class of the student. It help teachers to earn an extra income as well by profiling them as registered LearnHour Tutor. Teachers need to pass an entrance exam and has to undergo a tutorship training program organized by Educomp

Paremeters:

Mode: Desktop/Web application

Boards: CSBE,ICSE,IGCSE,GCSE,State Boards

Ease of Use: very easy

Technical rating: Excellent

Average Cost: Hourly subscription charges

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TalentBarometer: Talent barometer is as well a descent students learning resource portal. We made a space for this portal in our research due to its content, team and future prospect. Although website is a bit naive, we can have this portal here for its strong content and traffic

Paremeters:

Mode: Web application

Boards: CSBE

Ease of Use: very easy

Technical rating: good

Average Cost: 500/-  per course

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For more details on each of these products please drop a comment.

If you want us to cover any other services offered by you for Schools, Students or Teachers contact us here: contact@schoolsearch.in

There’s is lot of Buzz around about Social Network is changing the rules of the market place where competitors are measuring their market position using customized Twitter clients. Nike is using Facebook to entice its customers by sending them free vouchers online through Mail Box. Samsung started Google BUZZ to send product updates to News agencies and customers. How Social Networks can be helpful for School?

1) Teachers – Parents Bridge: While parents are the first teacher’s for their kids, knowledge to understand the world comes only through school teachers. Parents can learn a lot about their ward when they are in regular communication with the teachers so that they can give right directions to their kids development. Although such Parent-Teachers meetings are regularly organized by School administration, but mostly last for general feedback from teachers to parents which are in general cases very less detail oriented and irrelevant. Internet Social networks can play a great role in such cases. SchoolSearch by itself is an Open social network where Parents and Teachers can have open discussions. Facebook, TheSchoolsUnited, Edmodo are few to name.

2) Social Network for Learning: While there are many resources available online for schools kids, all parents are more or less confused which resources are more useful. But when these resources are channelized through a well controlled social community these resources come served to their hands. An Oracle initiative ThinkQuest, is one of best leaning space for children. It organizes International Project contest and  other online quizzes in a true social way. Edmodo is also an online platform where teachers can set assignments and polls to be in contact with their fellow students.

3) School News Updates: School administrations can make best use social networks to inform parents about the upcoming event/important date/results. SchoolSearch enables schools to provide all these updates and help them reach to school parents through EMails/SMS/Social network. Well many school in India have started using Twitter to send out School opening update to Parents. As the Indian masses grow who accept such technologies, schools are expected to be ruling in social network sphere more than ever.

4) School Branding and Advertisement: Social Networks are the cheapest medium to shell out schools’ achievements, results, news that will help upcoming schools create its reputation and confidence among parents. Pre-Schools and Kindergarten are sprouting each days can go online to create a buzz among the new tech savvy parents generation.

5) School Networks as a Learning Game Tool: Enter social video games as a solution — immersive environments that simulate real-world problems. Today, technologically eager schools are replacing textbook learning with social video games, and improving learning outcomes in the process. Here’s how they’re doing it  Quest2Learn

All in all the world is changing and so should our education infrastructure.

Hope this post was helpful. SchoolSearch team keeps on researching to bring the latest updates on Schools and modern technology. Your feedback on such research will be helpful for us as well.

Comments invited, we are listening!

They haven’t taken a single breathe and their fate is decided. why..? why he needs to be a doctor and she an engineer?  because you couldn’t do that or you want a free medical checkup every day.

before coming to the world he has to compete with millions of sperms and this competing, struggling goes life long. Life is a race, if you don’t run fast you will get lost somewhere.

so this is the first step when parents  start making their grip on the child. this grips get stronger with the time.
parents decide the first school the kid gonna be. obviously he has to perform best in studies, extra curricular every thing after all he is my son…and if he doesn’t what would i say when my friends would discuss the brilliance of their kids.

now comes class 11. he has to decide what subject he gonna choose for further studies. Again a big confusion. he doesn’t like science, he is a failure in maths but he cant take humanities also , they are treated like beggars, science students are the hero. some how he  manages to get through with 11 and 12th with science. now what…?Another exam, to get into a good college he has to clear Pre Medical Test or Joint Entrance Exam. and people are in so hurry that they start preparing for these exams from class 11th only. after college if you want good salary then there is another exam..

this and that and this and that. he never gets time to think what he is doing and why he is doing. he does it as his friends are doing or his parents are forcing him to do that,  may be because his elder brother is already an engineer or because of financial problems.one exam doesn’t gets over and another is in pipeline. there is no place of learning here. exams and marks and then again exams. the whole idea of learning has been belittled by exams.

once he gets over with these exam things some how then the marriage. after marriage here comes the kids. the small kid who was just trying to escape from the formalities, responsibilities of the life has now become the father of a child. the new born child also will not be able to escape from the grips of the life and cycle goes on…
he tries to escape but life doesn’t let him escape..

Nishant-VMV64C5YA5W8

School Search Team

http://www.schoolsearch.in

When I thought of writing this blog, there were several things that were running through my mind, but everything was just average and was not exciting enough to get the feel coming from inside. Then, yesterday I came across a video and not only it was exciting enough to write about it here but I am feeling a strange kind of energy from inside after watching the video.
How many of us knew that Ahmedabad is India’s First Child Friendly City? Most of us must be thinking what is the meaning of this? Well go through the blog to know more. We all know that the education system that we see all around have loop holes and is not exactly knowledge based but competition based where the vicious circle of exams, results and improvement does not leave any time and room for real grooming. The point is what are we doing knowing it, its not that we know will matter but our actions will matter, isn’t it common sense, but alas common sense is not so common. Well I found a place where effort is being put to make it common and a person who is ardently working on it. Kiran Bir Sethi is the name, I got hold of her talk at TED India in 2009 (Video) and was very much influenced by her thinking and preaching of the power of ‘i can’ which collectively becomes ‘we can’.

Kiran Bir Sethi is an NID, Ahmedabad Graduate and is the Founder Director of the one of its kind school, Riverside School, Ahmedabad. The School teaches the Children to take the charge and grow as an aware and active citizen of the country. The school does not only focus on the bookish knowledge but also teaches the children about the practical realities. The Riverside school regularly organizes a hands on session for the Children and inspires them to take charge of the society around them, now this is what I call ‘What an Idea?’

When we know ‘WE CAN’, Let’s do it! Inspire Children for the real knowledge, the real Common Sense.

VMV64C5YA5W8