Civil services: A test of comprehensive knowledge

The recent announcement of the new syllabus for Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2011 by the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is likely to create jitters among aspirants.

A closer look at the syllabus and pattern of the examination mentioned in the text only stresses the need for more focus on general studies and revision of mathematics learned at the secondary school level. Aspirants analyzing recent question papers of other examinations conducted by the UPSC will have a better understanding of the new pattern and syllabus.

According to Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the Civil Services Preliminary examination will consist of two papers with a total of 400 marks. This is different from the earlier pattern that had one optional subject paper along with a general studies paper.

Relaxed approach

Hereafter, the civil services aspirants can be much more relaxed in their approach as the need for studying an optional subject has been dispensed with for the preliminary. But they have to complete two optional subjects for the mains. So balancing the main and prelims in the coming months will be the challenge before them.

The new pattern has forced coaching institutes to change strategy. The All India Civil Services Coaching Centre run by the State conducted its entrance examination on October 31. “The selected candidates will have special coaching sessions on comprehension, interpersonal skills, logical reasoning and other similar new topics covered in the new syllabus,” said P. Premkala Rani, principal of the centre. The strategy for the new pattern will be different, she adds.

Paper I is worth 200 marks and has been allotted two hours. Earlier the pattern was 150 marks for the general studies. In paper I, candidates will be tested on their knowledge of current events of national and international importance. Emphasis will be on Indian history, Indian national movement, Indian and world geography, including the physical, social and economic geography of India and the world.

Early preparation

The candidates can start preparation as soon as possible by reading newspapers and other periodicals to enrich their knowledge of current affairs. Questions on current affairs are likely to play a key role in scoring the required marks in the new pattern. Questions will also be asked on Indian polity and governance as well as the Constitution, the political system, panchayati raj, public policy and rights issues.

Apart from NCERT books, the Union government publications that have information on latest developments on these subjects are also important. India 2011 year book published by the Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting may continue to be of use to answer a large number of questions. “The new system is going to identify the comprehensive knowledge of an aspirant and his / her ability to apply it in decision making. The focus will be more on testing the personality of the candidate,” says Nandakumar, a civil servant.

Study material

Candidates will have to prepare for questions on economic and social development, sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics and social sector initiatives. NCERT books will provide a chunk of answers to questions pertaining to general issues on environmental ecology, bio-diversity, climate change and general science. Candidates are advised to revise the class X English language books for English language comprehension skills of Paper II. Appropriate IGNOU study material on interpersonal skills, including communication skills may be useful.

Study material used by aspirants of banking services are enough to tackle questions on logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision making and problem solving as well as general mental ability. Class X books of NCERT should be studied in detail for solving questions on basic numeric skills such as numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude and data interpretation.

Solving the paper is likely to be easy for the aspirants who go though the previous questions asked by the UPSC for other examinations such as NDA, particularly those conducted recently.

Spending at least six hours a day for solving such questions is crucial. Analysing the previous questions of examinations conducted by Reserve Bank of India and other banks is also likely to throw light on the new pattern of examination.

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Empowering English language educators

Come January and the British Council and English and Foreign Languages University will jointly offer an opportunity for English language educators across the country to share the best practices and experiences on teacher education programmes.

Hyderabad will host a three-day conference on ‘Starting, Stimulating and Sustaining English Language Teacher Education and Development' from January 22 to 24. State sector trainers, teacher educators and members of regional and international teacher associations will participate in the programme that would provide them a chance to connect with other practitioners for professional development and networking.

The event is being supported by the ELTAI (English Language Teachers' Association of India) and the IATEFL's Young Learner Teenagers Special Interest Group (YLT SIG) and Teacher Training and Education Special Interest Group (TTEd SIG). The aim of the event is to provide an opportunity for English language pre and in-service teacher educators from across South Asia to meet and share best practices and experiences in teaching the language. It will give English Language pre and in-service teacher educators an opportunity for professional development and updating, which will enable them to become more effective.

The conference objective is to establish and build a sustainable community and network of English language teacher educators.

According to the British Council, studies show that teacher educators need to be empowered and provided with the necessary training and support to help them acquire a range of skills and strategies required to design, develop and conduct quality teacher education programmes which promote and mirror the target approach and methodology.

The conference will have discussions on themes that include developing English language primary teachers; teacher education in difficult and rural contexts; curriculum and materials development for teacher education; role of technology (radio, Edusat, mobiles, ICT) in teacher education; distance teacher education; continuous professional development (CPD) for teachers and teacher educators; and challenges of evolving and implementing English Language teacher education policy.

The participants could be district centre chief tutors and tutors; international speakers and delegates; master trainers/ resource persons, State sector teacher educators; representatives of English language teacher institutes (ELTI); representatives of teacher education bodies and agencies; researchers in teacher education/ training; DIET/ SCERT lecturers and SSA teacher educators; B.Ed. lecturers of English; teacher association representatives; NGO teacher educators; teacher education managers and leaders; and teacher association representatives.

British Council has offered several programmes to step up the quality of English language learning in the country and abroad. The ‘Project English' initiative was launched in November 2007 with the aim of improving English language learning opportunities across the region.

The council has been working with State governments to design and run large scale teacher training and curriculum development projects that are helping to improve English language teaching in State schools.

It has also been working with large corporate sector employers to improve language assessment and training systems. The council had already trained over 2, 500 English language teacher educators from a number of different States across the country including Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal since 2007.

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CAT

Four days of CAT (Common Admission Test 2010) are now behind us. Across the country, practically no technical glitches were reported. More significantly, the new and improved CAT had something that was missing last time around: a contingency plan in the event of any technical failure. In fact, Prometric ground officials told The Hindu that in some places there was a back-up for as many as 50 per cent of the test takers.

A student coming out of the CAT testing centre at IBMT Business School in Banashankari on Day One said it all. Five minutes to closing time and he experienced some sort of a ‘technical glitch.' Within minutes the staff shifted him to another computer and he was able to resume the test from the point where he had left it. “The staff was not only helpful, they also ensured I was given exactly five minutes extra to do it,” he said. The staff was in control, asked him to relax, told him that in case he could not resume he would be given an alternative date and that most of all, the software had been re-designed in a way that the internal timer would stop where the computer hung on him. The software interface showed some marked improvements, other students said.

Compare this to CAT 2009, the maiden attempt of the Indian Institutes of Management at moving from their traditional ‘paper and pencil' format to the computer-based test, and you know that Prometric — the U.S.-based implementing agency for CAT — had done its homework and learnt from its mistakes. Last year, the media was inundated with reports of how the CAT experience was marred by the fact that their tests had not been stored and that there weren't enough “spare computers” at the testing centres.

Moreover, with a 20-day testing window, the maximum number of students taking a test on these days was less than 7,000 — some centres had as few as 100 students in one session. On Day One, around 4,300 students appeared for CAT, compared to the whopping 12,000 last year.

Another major topic of discussion last year was how can 20 different sets of questions be of the same difficulty level? This time around CAT has 40 different sets of papers.

Students who wrote exams on Day One and Two, who spoke on condition of anonymity given that the IIMs have strict non-disclosure rules in place, said that on both days the ‘Quantitative Analysis' section was tough. Of course, there were no surprises in the format: the same 60 questions, 20 from each of the three sections.

Some found the Verbal Ability section a tad tricky, others said that the Data Interpretation/Logic Reason section was “slightly lengthy and time consuming.” The response varied from person to person. However, online forums have been discussing that CAT 2010, while putting up a good show, has been an easy and, some say, dumbed-down affair. However, experts, many of whom take tests to sample the papers, say that this is not true.

Says Ajay Arora, Regional Director of the Triumphant Institute of Management Education, a leading coaching centre chain, “From what our students have told us, that is far from the truth. The difficulty levels on different days are more or less consistent. As long as people tell you that they found some part of the questions difficult, you know that the CAT's ‘standards' have not taken a beating.”

A word of caution

Still seen on many of these forums are dejected candidates who narrate their bitter CAT experience. Why bitter? Because they either forgot — yes, forgot! — to take their photo identity cards or vouchers or that their admit card was an old one (where their centre was not the same as the one they were turning up at). Of course, with stern rules and verification in place, Prometric and CAT officials are required to be strict, and not let you in.

At a centre in Bangalore, sources said that on Day Two at least a dozen candidates turned up with inadequate documents. In a recent interaction with The Hindu, CAT convenor Himanshu Rai said that this is a major issue and that students need to be told that carrying these documents is extremely important. “The first thing that students must do is make a list of what they need to carry and right on top of this list are the various documents, starting with the ID card, the CAT voucher and any other certificates (if applicant belongs to any category),” says Prof. Rai.

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CAT Online 2009 Results declared, Check Scores Online on Website

New Delhi: Breaking News! The much-awaited Common Admission Test (CAT) Online, 2009 results have been declared. Visit the CAT IIM Website at http://www.catiim.in/ to get your scorecard.

While checking your score online, please make sure to have your CAT Registration Number and the email address you had supplied during CAT registration. If you are unable to locate your details, you may contact Candidate Care or call the Toll Free Number 1-800-103-9293. Further details may be asked for to verify your identity.

Out of the 2.42 lac students, who had registered for CAT Online 2009, only 2.16 lac finally appeared in the online test. Some students had to appear again because of technical glitches.

The CAT Online 2009 will be the gateway for the admission into 8 IIMs across the country. They are IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Shillong and IIM Ranchi.

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Lions Gate, Weinsteins eye Disney's Miramax: sources

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lions Gate Entertainment Corp and the Weinstein brothers are among the potential buyers of Walt Disney Co's Miramax film unit, sources familiar with the situation said on Monday.

Independent studio Summit Entertainment, which is behind the popular "Twilight" franchise, could also be interested in Miramax, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Disney has put Miramax up for sale because its library of mostly small, independent films does not mesh with the media giant's plan to overhaul its movie operations, a source close to the company said.

Disney is focusing on its own movie brand, as well as films made by its Pixar division and the newly acquired Marvel, and a distribution deal with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks studio.

A spokesman for Lions Gate was unavailable for comment, while Disney and Summit declined comment. But Lions Gate and Disney are expected to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday, and will likely be grilled by investors and analysts about any possible interest.

Disney is asking between $650 million to $800 million for Miramax, home to art-house fare like "Clerks" and "No Country for Old Men," said a source close to one potential bidder.

But a $500 million to $700 million price tag is seen to be more realistic, according to another source.

The potential sale of Miramax comes as the auction for another storied Hollywood studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, entered a second round of bidding.

While DVD sales have slumped and will likely hurt the price of any studio sale, the libraries of both MGM and Miramax still generate cash flow through licensing deals for television and other distribution channels.

The Weinstein Co confirmed its interest in Miramax, which Bob and Harvey Weinstein built 31 years ago and named after their parents Miriam and Max. The Weinsteins sold Miramax to Disney in 1993, but stayed on as co-chief executives until five years ago, when they left to form The Weinstein Co.

"We are keen to look at the company and we will see what happens in coming weeks," said David Glasser, operations executive for the independent Weinstein Co.

The Weinsteins have been approached by financial partners to help them purchase Miramax and are reviewing the company's assets, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The New York Post reported that Lions Gate could initially bid from $500 million to $600 million for Miramax. This would be five times the studio's roughly $100 million in annual cash flow and about twice its $300 million in revenue.

But a person familiar with Lions Gate, home to the popular "Saw" franchise, said the company was "price sensitive" and not as aggressive as the Post story suggested.

As for MGM, its lenders late last month agreed to extend a debt forbearance to March 31, which gives the studio more time to find a buyer or explore alternatives including continuing to operate as a stand-alone entity.

Initial bids, including from Time Warner Inc and Lions Gate, had come in below $2 billion, sources have said.

MGM has said it is conducting due diligence with select bidders and that "process is expected to run for the next several weeks." MGM is considering a prepackaged bankruptcy along with a sale, other sources familiar have said.

MGM is owned by a group, including private equity firms TPG, Providence Equity Partners, DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group, and media companies Sony Corp and Comcast Corp.

The studio has a library of more than 4,000 titles, including the James Bond and Pink Panther franchises.

(Reporting by Sue Zeidler; editing by Andre Grenon, Bernard Orr)

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Education in INDIA

Overview of education in India
India's constitution provides that both the Central and the State Governments can bring laws and frame policies on education in India or in simpler words, this is the responsibly of both the respective State Governments as well as the Union Government. Therefore, whereas almost every State has its own Academic Boards and is responsible for establishing State Universities and maintaining them, the Central Government acts as a co-coordinator and helps in determining a uniform standard.

Higher education
Higher education in India has evolved in divergent and distinct streams with each stream monitored by an apex body, indirectly controlled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The universities, are mostly funded by the state governments. However, there are 12 important universities called Central universities, which are maintained by the Union Government and because of relatively large funding, they have an economic edge over the others. The engineering colleges and business schools in the country are monitored and accredited by AICTE while medical colleges are monitored and accredited by the MCI. An organisation, NCTE was constituted a couple of years ago to monitor, organise and accredit all the teacher training institutions in the country and this apex body has started making its presence felt. Apart from these, the country has some ace engineering, management and medical institutions which are directly funded by the Union Government.

School System
The school system is based upon 12 years of school (10+2), which includes primary and secondary schooling. Secondary Schools are affiliated with Central or states boards for conduct of examination. Most of the private schools as well as many government schools are affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Edn (CBSE). All the universities and other higher institutions recognize the various 10+2 qualifications from different states as well as national Boards like the CBSE. Though Class XIIth is the entry-level qualification for pursuing higher studies in any field, passing it in itself does not guarantee admission to a particular course. Like for example, some courses specify pre-requisite subjects that the student must have at the qualifying exam (class XIIth); for professional courses other than the pre-requisite subjects a student may also have to sit for an entrance test e.g. IIT-JEE, CPMT etc. Well known colleges specify cut-off marks in class XIIth) for admission in various courses, which may be as high as 85-90% for admission in say B.Sc Hons. (Physics). The cut-off marks or overall entry score can vary between courses in the same university/college, between similar courses in different universities/ colleges and from year to year in the same course. Some courses and some universities/institutions/colleges are in greater demand than others and therefore gaining entry into them is correspondingly more tough Central Government is responsible for major policy relating to higher education in the country. It provides grants to the UGC and establishes central universities in the country. The Central Government is also responsible for declaration of Educational Institutions as 'Deemed to be University' on the recommendation of the UGC.

Presently there are sixteen (18) Central Universities in the country. In pursuance of the Mizoram Accord, another Central University in the State of Mizoram is planned. There are 99 Institutions which have been declared as Deemed to be Universities by the Govt. of India as per Section of the UGC Act, 1956.

State Governments are responsible for establishment of State Universities and colleges, and provide plan grants for their development and non-plan grants for their maintenance.

The coordination and cooperation between the Union and the States is brought about in the field of education through the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).

Special Constitutional responsibility of the Central Government: Education is on the 'Concurrent list' subject to Entry 66 in the Union List of the Constitution. This gives exclusive Legislative Power to the Central Govt. for co-ordination and determination of standards in Institutions of higher education or research and scientific and technical institutions.

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