cropped_enrica lexie
TRANSCRIPT
TIMES CITYTHE TIMES OF INDIA, KOCHI | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014
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For the love of science, for the love of reading, for the love of learning: A look at rapid strides taken by schools, NGOs and institutes who won a Social Impact Award
Award won, many milestones crossedGetting numbers, breaking stigmas,
& achieving resultsNew Delhi:The exteriors are still dilap-idated. But within the crumbling walls of Zeenat Mahal Haveli in the walled city’s Lal Kuan, the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya No 2 has undergone transfor-
mation in one and a half years. After this girls’ school with many first-generation learn-ers won the 2012 TOI Social Impact
Awards, classrooms have got tiled floors, new furniture, water-coolers, CCTV cameras and more. Authorities talk of a change in attitude of parents.
“Parents were elated. They told us we were doing a wonderful job. Our teachers won prestigious awards. Our school holds the second position in Del-
hi now. SIA has boosted our morale,” says Chitra Gupta, former principal.
Delhi’s education directorate gave the school Rs 10 lakh to improve infra-structure after TOI highlighted how it had improved from one of the worst performers in the city to achieving a 100% pass percentage. With the funds, Gupta undertook renovation work. The school maintained its 100% pass record in 2013 and 2014. “There’s so much inter-est now to get girls admitted here that we often have to refuse,” says Suman Pathi, an English teacher. Zoreshia Shamim, 21, an alumnus who had to fight her fam-ily to continue studies, says her parents now encourage her. Zoreshia plans to en-rol for BEd. Neha Riaz, 19, the school’s Class XII topper this year with 91.8%, says teachers gave her individual atten-tion. The school now hopes the teacher shortage will be addressed. -TNN
Noida: A year ago the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was awarded the TOI Social Impact Awards for progres-sive work in education. “Ever since, there’s been significant development over the last year,” C Dharuman, secretary, NIOS, said. Enrolments are up. “We’ve expanded oper-ations and tied up with more than 120,000 common service centres, the e-Governance Services India Limited, Government of In-dia, to take education to remote corners,” an NIOS spokesperson said. The institute has launched virtual open schooling to take e-learning to distant ar-eas. In all, enrolment in 2013 was 5.67lakh against 5.19lakh in 2012.
NIOS’s HUNAR programme based in Delhi provides skill-based education to girls from the Muslim communities. Em-phasis is on skill development and teach-ers’ training at the elementary level. “About 4 crore neo-literates were assessed, of whom 2.9 crore were certified covering 26 states and 1.5 lakh panchayats. The op-erational network has increased to 20 re-gional and one sub-regional centre provid-ing support through 7,000 study centres,” the official said.
The institute has developed talking books for visually impaired learners and Mukta Vidya Vani — a web radio — pro-vides live interactive academic support to learners. -TNN
Ahmedabad: The popularity of the Vikram Ambalal Sara-bhai Community Science Centre has grown since it became one of the first NGOs to win the TOI Social Impact Award in 2011. Hundreds of children come here to experience the magic of science outside textbooks.
Most of them abhor num-bers and find problems of science confusing. Once at the centre, their fears vanish
and numbers become friends. Not just children, in the last three years, 4,400 teachers
from across the state have come here to learn ways of mak-ing science inter-esting. Many states have approached it to conduct two-day
training sessions for their pri-mary teachers. In Ahmedabad, around 100 children visit the centre almost every day and nearly 50,000 attend workshops every year. The centre’s train –
the Science Express – has tak-en the magic of science to the remotest parts of the country. The 16-coach train travels to nearly 60-80 locations in a year. Till date, 1.15 crore people have visited it.
“The TOI award helped us reach out to many in the country. We’re getting ready to train teachers from across the country,” said centre director, Dilip Surkar. The centre encourages teachers to try innovative teaching methods. -TNN
Mumbai: Two years ago, Rupali Gunjavate found it hard to fill up the weekly library hour at the Vikhroli Park Site Marathi School where she teaches. Many couldn’t read. Those who could didn’t want to pick up books that had more text than pictures. Now, her students race through lunch hour to get to the library.
The return of the library in many municipal schools is a project spearheaded by Room to Read winner of the TOI Social
Impact Awards, 2012. It’s been helping govern-
ments establish reading rooms in primary schools since 2003.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which partners Room to Read in Mumbai, plans to replicate the model in 278 schools, says Neelima Naik, RTR’s manager for Maharashtra.
The organisation signs MoUs with states that provide them
with lists of schools that need libraries. The government short-lists the institutions after a site
verification. While the NGO trains teachers and sets up a model li-brary with storybooks as per NCERT guide-lines, the government fixes library hours. For
the next three years, the library is monitored and a management committee with children set up, says S John Sankey, India Lead-
Corporation and Foundation Re-lations. Once things are in place and library is running smoothly, the NGO exits.
An organisation started in Nepal in year 2000 by John Wood, a former Microsoft employee, Room to Read has now expanded its operations in 10 countries.
In India, it has launched 6,421 school libraries in nine states between 2003 and 2013. This year, 380 new libraries are being set up in six states. -TNN
To apply/ nominate an organization, please log onto www.timessocialawards.com
Connect with us on Facebook : www.facebook.com/TOIMYTIMES; twitter : @TOI_MyTimes (tweet with #socialimpactawards)
For any queries , please write to us at [email protected]
Rewarding read: All set to add 380 libraries
Enrolment high: Student numbers
shoot up by over 50k
Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai CommunityScience Centre
2011
‘Room To Read’Libraries in Government Schools
2012
NationalInstitute of Open Schooling
2012
Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya No 2, Zeenat Mahal Haveli, Lal Kuan
2012
Science express gathers speed
CHANGEMAKERS
EDUCATION
For queries, email [email protected]
www.timessocialawards.com
Kochi: After a month-longstay in Kashmir, SuhraBeevi (Chandni) cameback home on Sundaywithout admiring thebeauty of the paradise. “Itwas dream of a life time tovisit Kashmir,but it turnedout to be a nightmare,’’ sherecalled the days spent inflood-hit Kashmir.
Suhra from Fort Kochihad gone to Kashmir alongwith Abdul Majeed and hiswife Fathima, both nativesof Kashmir. The couplewas staying as tenants atSuhra’s house.
“The weather waspleasant for the first fewdays. It changed all of sud-den. Then we shifted to Ma-
jeed’s brother’s house . Westayed there for almostthree weeks,’’ she said.Suhra also had plans to at-tend Majeed’s niece’s wed-ding, which subsequentlygot cancelled due to the un-expected flood.
“The wedding seasonstarts in Kashmir afterRamzan. Not only this one,but thousands of otherweddings were cancelledfollowing the flood,’’ saidMajeed who runs a hand-icraft showroom in FortKochi.
“My brothers’ househad submerged complete-ly. His five-year-old son gottrapped on the third floorof the house for 20 days,’’he said while explainingabout the situation in hishomeland.
Woman stuck inJ&K flood returns
RELIEVED: Suhra Beevi with husband and the Kashmiri couple
TOI
Kozhikode: Chief ministerOommen Chandy said Kerala iswitnessing a silent revolutionin the small and medium enter-prises (SME) sector, which hasthe potential to emerge as a keygrowth driver .
He was speaking after inau-gurating ‘Rising Kerala 2014’ or-ganized by Kerala State SmallIndustries Association at TajGateway here on Sunday. “Thisinitiative provides a platformfor entrepreneurs to acquaintthemselves with the latest man-ufacturing technologies andmachineries available,” he said.
Chandy also said the tre-mendous response for the stu-dent entrepreneurship pro-gramme launched by thegovernment indicated thegrowing interest in the sector.
Presiding over the function,industries minister P K Kunha-likutty said the government isplanning to bring in amend-ments to the industrial policy toaddress the challenges faced byentrepreneurs. An internation-al industrial exhibition isscheduled to be held at Swapna-nagari on November 24- 25 aspart of the event. TNN
Silent revolutionin SME sector: CM
Kochi: Central Board of Second-ary Education (CBSE) that hasbeen emphasizing on trainingteachers has now sought inputsfrom teachers on what needs to befurther done to empower them.
“CBSE as a part of its mandatehas been engaged in the in-servicetraining of teachers to supporttheir continuous professional de-velopment for the last decade. Thequestionnaire is aimed at identify-ing and analyzing training needs
of teachers which will provide ba-sis for further enrichment of theBoard's training and empower-ment programmes,” said the notefrom CBSE.
The Board wants to know howthe training programme provesuseful to understand the initia-tives taken and whether the infor-mation regarding innovativeteaching methods helped in mak-ing classroom teaching more effec-tive.
Besides help increase self-con-fidence of teachers, the Board is
preferences regarding face to faceinteraction and online mode ofteaching.
The Board also wants to knowwhat they prefer regarding themethods used in the training pro-grammes like lecture method,group discussion, quiz, e-content,role plays or demonstrationthrough videos.
Also they have asked teacherswhether the training programmesshould be organized during schooltimings, on off-teaching days orduring vacations.
feedback on the areas furthertraining programmes should giveemphasis on –subject competency,pedagogy, professional competen-cy, mode of assessment, ICT relat-ed or skill enhancement.
Teachers have been askedwhether they believe that knowl-edge, communication, inter-per-sonal, planning, documenting,problem solving, decision making,time management or ICT skills areneeded to make teaching more ef-fective.
Teachers can also give their
desirous that the training devel-ops ability to create useful teach-ing materials.
It helps teachers to present dif-ficult content in an easier manner.The Board wants the teachers’
CBSE seeks teachers’ inputs for their empowermentTIMES NEWS NETWORK
The questionnaire is aimedat identifying and analyzingtraining needs of teachersthat will provide the basis forenrichment programmes
Kochi: Enrica Lexie, thecontroversial oil tanker in-volved in the shooting oftwo fishermen off the Kera-la coast in 2012, has changedhands and also got a newname –– ‘Olympic Sky’.
Legendary Greek shipowners Onasis Group islearnt to have acquired En-rica Lexie and another ship,DT Providence, from theirItalian owner Fratelli Ar-matori D’Amato four weeksago. Onasis Group compa-ny Olympic Shipping &Management SA is report-ed to have paid $33.5 million(Rs 204 crore) each for thetwo ships.
Olympic Shipping &Management declined tocomment on the develop-ments when TOI contactedits Athens office on phone.
Mark O’Caroll, the CEOof O’Caroll Ship Brokingwhich had listed EnricaLexie on its website for salefor the last few months, alsoremained silent on thechange in ownership.
Lloyd’s List, the world’smost respected journal onshipping, has however reg-istered the change in own-ership and name on its web-site.
In fact, Olympic Sky wasoriginally the name of anOnasis fleet oil tankerwhich had run aground offthe coast of Cornwall in UKin 1973 while on its way toToronto.
Floated again, the shipwas taken to Taiwan andscrapped in late 1975.
The database of shipmovements tracked usingthe automatic identifica-tion system (AIS) showsthat Enrica Lexie is cur-rently positioned near Kep-pel in Singapore, after tak-
ing the new name. Recordsalso show that ICKC, thecall sign of Enrica Lexie,has been changed to SVCB5.Instead of the Italian flag,the ship now flies a Greekflag.
Olympic Shipping &Management SA is the suc-cessor of Olympic Mari-time SA founded by Greekshipping magnate AristotleOnassis in 1952.
According to its website,the company has 11 tankersand six bulk cargo carriers.
The Kerala police haddetained Enrica Lexie inKochi for 80 days after thekilling of two Indian fisher-men on February 15, 2012.The ship was allowed toleave the port only after fur-nishing a surety of Rs 3crore.
Indian shipping minis-try officials are howeverunaware of Enrica Lexie’sname change. “I don’t haveany information on that,”said director general ofshipping Gautam Chatterjee.
Enrica Lexiegets new
name, ownerThe Kerala police had detained Enrica Lexie in Kochi for 80 days afterthe killing of two Indianfishermen on February15, 2012. The ship was allowed to leave the portonly after furnishing asurety of Rs 3 crore