NEW DELHI: Ushering in a new phase in school education, CBSE has rolled out the roadmap for starting the continuous and comprehensive evaluation

(CCE) process in its schools across the country from next month.

The students who are now in Class IX will be the first to be evaluated for their scholastic as well as co-scholastic performance from next month, resulting in grades instead of marks.

This batch will be the first to be free from the stress of Class X Boards in 2010-11.

In a circular dated September 20, the Board has released a schedule and set of guidelines for schools to switch over to CCE and conduct formative and summative assessment of Class IX students in their second term, starting from October this year to March 2010. The Board is likely to start training the teachers for CCE from next month.

Aiming at “holistic assessment of a learner”, as announced earlier, the Board has decided to break a session into two terms with two formative and one summative assessment in each term. The weightage of these two assessments in a year will be 40% and 60%, respectively. However, for the current year, Class IX students will only have two formative assessments through quizzes, discussions, project work and practicals.

Significantly, the circular stressed that CCE “will motivate learning in a friendly environment rather than in a fearful situation…It is highly recommended that the school should not restrict the formative assessment to only a paper-pencil test. There are other means of testing such as quizzes, conversations, interviews, oral testing, visual testing, projects, practicals and assignments.” This will level the field for many students who are otherwise intelligent and keen learners but do not do so well in written tests.

One summative assessment will be done in March 2010 and the students will be evaluated on a nine-point grading system to pass for Class X. The questions for this assessment will be provided for every subject by the Board on its website. The curriculum will remain the same.

The students can also take an optional aptitude test at the end of Class IX and another at the end of Class X to choose the subjects for the next class. Those going in for vocational courses after Class X or switching over to any other board will, however, be required to take the Board exam in writing or online.

By introducing this system, CBSE also expects to do away with the general practice of finishing the syllabus before time to be followed by the pre-Boards and study leave. “Now there will be greater focus on learning rather than teaching to test,” the circular stressed.

The Board, however, is not leaving successful execution of these plans entirely to the schools. CBSE has planned rigorous training sessions for teachers all over the country from next month. It has been conducting meetings with the stakeholders in this regard across the country.

A member of the committee working on developing the CCE framework said, “The training modules for teachers are ready and we are going to start extensive training sessions of six to eight hours for teachers from next month. The first training session is likely to kick off in Delhi in the first week of October.” The Board may bring in other educational agencies also to train the teachers.

The training sessions will be attended by the heads of schools and two teacher representatives. They will in turn train the other teachers and counsel the parents. “Principals and trained teachers will thereafter interact with parents during parent-teacher meetings to create awareness regarding the Board’s scheme and address their concerns,” the circular stated. The Board will also release a

“Teacher’s Manual on School Based Assessment” in a couple of weeks which will be posted on the CBSE website too.
To help parents and teachers with the nitty-gritty of the new system, CBSE has also planned to put frequently asked questions on its website and the stakeholders can also write to the CBSE chairperson with their queries on CCE.

source :- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

“The moon was sighted last night and Id will be celebrated today,” a spokesperson of Fatehpuri Masjid said quoting the Shahi Imam of Fatehpuri Masjid, Mufti Mohd Mukarram Ahmed.

Id-ul-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramzan, which commenced on August 21.

source :- http://indiatoday.intoday.in

The results for the tests held in June 2009 were declared last Friday and Indian students topped in combined science, art and design, business studies, Hindi and English exams. As many as 230 schools in India are affiliated to CIE.

Prominent among the achievers was a Delhi boy, Karan Handa of British School, who topped in Art and Design in the IGCSE exam. Director of British School, Graham Ranger, told TOI, “It is amazing that we have one of the world toppers in Karan Handa. He is also the India topper in Computer Studies. To be a global topper of an exam of CIE’s magnitude is a real achievement. As a student, Handa has won many awards in the school.”

Indian students have been consistently doing well in the exam. While globally 33% of students get grade A (80% and above) and above, 38% of Indian students managed to get the top grade this year. “The number of students receiving numerous A and A* grades in their examinations in India has risen year-on-year from 34% in 2007 to 38% in 2009. Indian students now rank 5% above the rest of the world in their performance,” said Ian Chambers, regional manager for South Asia, CIE.

IGCSE is the equivalent of Class X boards in India, while the AS level corresponds to Class XI. Level A is equivalent to Class XII exams, in which the cumulative scores of AS and A levels are counted.

In the November 2008 session, Alokik Mishra of Choithram International, Indore topped in Accounting, Neil Surendra Satra of Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai topped in Mathematics (without coursework) and Ajay Ravindran of Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore, who also topped in Mathematics at the AS level.

Said Neil Surendra Satra, the Maths topper, “The CIE curriculum is very good as it focuses on critical thinking, problem solving and application skills, and not on rote learning. Now, I would do my IB diploma and then go to the US, maybe to Harvard or MIT for computer studies.”

A happy Sathish Jayarajan, principal of Mallya Aditi International School, said: “We have two world toppers in Sejal Pachisia and Ajay Ravindran. While Ravindran is still with us doing his A-level, Pachisia is pursuing engineering at Princeton University in the US. Pachisia was also involved in varied activities such as rowing and young enterprise.”

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

‘‘We have reached an amicable settlement on all issues,’’ said executive director of Jet Airways, Saroj Datta at 2.20 am on Sunday formally announcing the end of their strike that lasted for five days.

‘‘There was some misunderstanding in the family, but now the love has come back. We are the same loving family again,’’ said Capt Girish Kaushik, president of the National Aviators Guild (NAG). Capt Sam Thomas, one of the dismissed pilots, read out an MoU signed by the two parties. It included the airline’s demand of forming a consultative committee with five members from the airline — its chief executive officer, two representatives from flight operations department — and five from the pilots’ side.

The second important clause was status of National Aviators Guild, the pilots’ union. It was decided that the registrar of trade unions will review his earlier order — to register NAG — and with this the matter would stand concluded.

Hours later, on Sunday morning in a press conference, the Jet top brass read out Goyal’s statement to his employees. ‘‘The past few days, when we have stumbled, have been the most challenging our Jet Airways has ever faced in our 16-year old history…..,’’ it read. ‘‘Let us get back to where we were headed — the No.1 slot in the world. From Sunday, the 13th of September, let us write a new chapter in our proud history.’’

Last week, Jet’s ticket bookings fell from 23,000 a day to 7,500. ‘‘Bookings are coming back at a ferocious pace,’’ said Sudheer Raghavan, chief commercial officer, Jet Airways, on the sidelines of the press conference.

The airline has also thrown flyers a bait by offering a ‘‘50% discount on total fare (economy class)’’ on all domestic flights across Jet Airways and Jet Konnect for travel valid up to September 18.

Raghavan expects flight operations to be normal by Monday or latest by Tuesday morning. On Monday, the airline pilots and management are scheduled to meet the regional labour commissioner, the conciliation officer for the dispute. He will be informed that ‘‘on the personal intervention of the chairman the four pilots whose services had been terminated shall be restored back to service with immediate effect’’.

The stand-off has proved costly for the airline — a loss of over Rs 200 crore ($40 million). A grim executive director Saroj Dutta revealed to mediapersons on Sunday afternoon that on an average the airlines is patronized by nearly 24,000 passengers daily across its network spanning domestic and international sectors.

‘‘On an average, our daily revenues are in the range of $8 million (Rs 40 crore), so you can calculate how much we stand to lose for the past five days,’’ he said.

However, he pointed out that there were minor savings on certain variables, like aircraft turbine fuel (ATF) since the flights did not operate.

Moreover, during the past five days, the airline made attempts to transfer nearly 60% of the passengers to other airlines and a small number even to its sister airline, JetLite.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Facebook Lite, which went live on Thursday in both the U.S. and India has been in beta test for about a month. In mid-August, Facebook mistakenly sent out what its representatives said were too many invitations to test the service, which in look and feel is a bit like Facebook’s mobile version and limits functions to comments, writing on users’ walls, looking at photos and confirming friend requests.

At the time of its leak, we thought it strange that Facebook wouldn’t be forthcoming with a version that opens it up to so many untapped customers, and our opinion hasn’t changed. Why would Facebook wait on Lite when so many of its social networking competitors — including, yes, Twitter — are growing based on the no-frills ease-of-use of their platforms?

It’s hard to say who’s “winning” the social networking wars, as much as how to “win” them. Sure, Facebook trampled over once-mighty rivals like MySpace and both Facebook and Twitter have posted impressive growth. To be sure, Facebook Lite will only accelerate that growth, as it’ll theoretically attract curious users who don’t already use Facebook on a daily basis or have yet to dabble on the social network.

The takeaway, however, is versatility: give users as many options as possible, while keeping them on a single platform. Facebook’s certainly demonstrated as much, if this year’s redesigns, its recent acquisition of FriendFeed, and now Facebook Lite are any indication.

And it’s worth noting, of course, that Facebook users can also tag friends’ updates using the “@” symbol — another tweak that broadens the social network’s appeal and gives it a counterpoint to (or, in this case, an exact copy of) attractive Twitter features.

“Friends you tag in your status updates will receive a notification and a Wall post linking them to your post,” wrote Facebook engineer Tom Occhino on the Facebook Blog Thursday.

Staying ahead in social networking seems to mean having all bases covered — is there a Twitter or MySpace trick out there that Facebook has yet to try, to? Drop a note in the ChannelWeb Connect community and let us know.

Source:http://www.crn.com

HTC Hero has 3.2-inch HVGA (320×280) TFT-LCD touchscreen that will add to HTC’s new intuitive mobile interface dubbed HTC Sense. Well, as we noted earlier, HTC sense is the same Android UI that was dubbed as Donut/Rosie when it leaked. Hero packs Qualcomm 528MHz MSM7200A processor with 512MB ROM and 228MB RAM, all together promising a zippier UI navigating experience. Hero supports Adobe Flash which will aid the users for easy mobile web browsing and enjoy Flash-based multimedia content.

The best part is that HTC will integrate HTC Sense UI to the portfolio of its phones and hence, HTC Magic customers can expect new Sense update for their handsets too. HTC will also push firmware updates for Hero since many users had reported lagging and speed issues.

HTC Sense UI boasts of three major features – gesture control, widgets support and integration of different apps in single view. Gesture control offers features like the phone can be turned over to put into silence mode. Slew of widgets for social networks and productivity can be set to the homescreen – like Nokia and Samsung smartphones now allow. Single view of contact specific interaction is enabled by integrating the history of calls, SMS, and mails with the respective contact photos and Twitter/Facebook updates.

Boasting a 5 megapixel camera, Hero also has a built-in internal GPS antenna which can be used in future for geo-tagging the pictures clicked. HTC has added digital compass and accelerometer in Hero just like Apple had digital compass along with Accelerometer in iPhone 3GS.

Unlike in HTC Magic, music fanatics can hook up any headphones with 3.5mm audio jack in Hero and store more music on media card in microSD memory expansion slot. HTC assures a battery life of 7.8 hours with a 1350mAh lithium-ion battery.

Technical Specifications of HTC Hero:

Processor: 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A -
Memory ROM: 512 MB
RAM: 288 MB
Operating System: Android
Display: 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320×480 HVGA resolution
Network HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz – Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Device Control: Trackball with Enter button
GPS: Internal GPS antenna
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g
Data connection interface: HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
Camera: 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus
Audio slot: 3.5 mm audio port
Expansion Slot: microSD memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
Special Features: G-sensor, Digital Compass,
Audio supported formats: MP3, AAC (AAC, AAC+, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media” Audio 9
Video supported formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media Video 9
Dimensions (LxWxT): 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm (4.41 x 2.21 x 0.57 inches)
Weight: 135 grams (4.76 ounces) with battery
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
Capacity: 1350 mAh
Talk time:
Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA
Up to 470 minutes for GSM
Standby time:
Up to 750 hours for WCDMA
Up to 440 hours for GSM

HTC has smartly priced Hero lower than the iPhone 3G model and offers a number of features that puts the phone head-to-head with it.

Source:

http://www.techtree.com

The pilots “resorted to a simulated strike by reporting sick,” the carrier said in a statement. “This organised activity is a planned sabotage of operations that will damage the airline’s operations.”

Jet Airways said some flights may have to be combined or cancelled. The company will provide updated information using its website and call centre.

640 of Jet Airways pilots, affiliated to the National Aviators Guild, have gone on a mass sick leave, to protest the sacking of two senior colleagues.

The Guild opted for mass sick leave and not strike fearing action from the Regional Labour Commissioner, who deem any strike as illegal.

As many as 235 flights of Jet Airways, both domestic and international, and 130 flights of Jet Konnect are likely to be grounded. Pilots outside India are likely to fly back to their base and then report sick. But the management says it is in a conciliation process with the pilots.

In the statement released Jet Airways said: “Jet Airways is taking all steps to minimise the inconvenience to its guests. We will try to accommodate our guests on alternate flights.”

Those travelling by Jet can expect updates via SMS. The airline is also offering affected passengers a full refund or the option of rebooking on another date at no extra cost.

One of the first causalities of this strike was BJP Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar. “I was flying to Mumbai and they told me that the flight is cancelled and they will give me another flight. Let me find out.”

However, there were many passengers who were angry at the way the airline was handling the matter.

“They said the flight was on time. So I came to the airport at 4am. But there’s no one to help us, no one to say if flight will take off or not,” a disgruntled passenger said.

Another passenger said, “No arrangements, they’re just shuttling us from airline to airline. Everyone’s saying everything is sold out.”

Sourcehttp://ibnlive.in.com

Contrary to the space agency’s explanation that Chandrayaan’s orbit around the Moon had been raised from 100km to 200km in May this year for a better view of the Moon’s surface, it is now known that this was because of a miscalculation of the Moon’s temperature that had led to faulty thermal protection.

Admitting this, Dr T K Alex, director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, said, “We assumed that the temperature at 100km above the Moon’s surface would be around 75 degrees Celsius. However, it was more than 75 degrees and problems started to surface. We had to raise the orbit to 200km.”

On May 19, however, ISRO said it had raised Chandrayaan’s orbit to “enable further studies on orbit perturbations, gravitational field variation of the Moon and also enable imaging of the lunar surface with a wider swath”.

It now transpires that heating problems on the craft had begun as early as November 25, 2008, forcing ISRO to deactivate some of the payloads — there were 11 in all.

As a result, some of the experiments could not be carried out which raised questions on whether the pre-launch thermal vacuum test done on the spacecraft at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore was adequate.

In early 2009, the situation improved and Chandrayaan-1 started operating normally. However, the snags resurfaced. This time with the two star sensors of Chandrayaan because of high temperature. The sensors are crucial in determining the orientation of the craft in space.

The first star sensor packed up on April 26, and even the back-up sensor failed during the second week of May.

ISRO officials said scientists and engineers used ingenious ways to restore Chandrayaan-I by using gyroscopes. An official requesting anonymity acknowledged: “This was purely a temporary step. It was like a broken car’s steering wheel being repaired with scotch tapes. We could not predict how long this arrangement would last,” he admitted.

The official said much before the official announcement of the project’s end on August 30, it had become clear that the two-year mission would be cut short since 95% of the scientific goals had been accomplished.

Despite the failure of the star sensors, Chandrayaan-1 transmitted excellent images including that of the solar eclipse on July 22. Also at 12.30am on August 21, it flew along with Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) for four minutes to detect water ice in the north pole of the moon.

But worse was to follow. At 1.30am on August 29, communication with the spacecraft snapped all of a sudden. ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair has been quoted as saying that due to unforeseen radiation problems the two computers in the spacecraft controlling communication got affected resulting in the breakdown of communications. He has admitted that many of the heat-related problems were not anticipated at all, and it was definitely a learning experience.

“Keeping this in mind, Chandrayaan-2′s thermal design will be strengthened to withstand more than 100 degrees Celsius,” Alex told TOI on the sidelines of the recently concluded eighth international conference on low cost planetary mission conducted by the International Academy of Astronautics in Goa.

BARC is collaborating with ISRO to strengthen the radiation shield of Chandrayaan-2, slated for lift off in 2013 from Sriharikota. The average day temperature on the Moon’s surface is 107 degrees Celsius, while the mean night temperature is -153 degree Celsius.

Although, ISRO claims that 95% of its planned experiments have been completed, it remains to be known whether payloads designed to operate at a 100-km orbit completed their missions. The issue has triggered a fierce debate on whether ISRO should have declared it a one-year mission right at the beginning rather than an ambitious two-year programme.

Among the experiments to be conducted from a 100km orbit were observations in the visible, near-infrared and soft and hard X-rays. Further, the Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument’s objective was to provide ranging data for determining the height difference between the spacecraft and the lunar surface. Scientists admit that at an altitude of 200km, the return signal could be too weak for the purpose.

Chandrayaan’s objectives also included orbiting around the Moon at a height of 100km for chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic mapping of the surface and its X-ray spectrometer was to use X-rays to map the surface composition of the Moon and help scientists understand its origin and evolution, as well as quantifying the mineral resources that exist there.

The spacecraft’s 11 scientific instruments were built in India, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria. The mission was formally called off on August 30 by ISRO, which said that a failure analysis committee will probe into the matter. ISRO chairperson G Madhavan Nair also said US and European space agencies who had also taken part in the Indian space mission “were satisfied” with the results.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The campaign — quite unprecedented for the vulgar haste with which it has been mounted — reached a crescendo by evening when K Rosaiah was sworn in as interim CM. The erstwhile YSR cabinet in the presence of new CM Rosaiah passed a resolution on Thursday evening demanding that Jagan — just 100 days into formal politics — be made the new CM.

“Jagan knew the mind of Rajasekhara Reddy. He alone can finish the unfulfilled agenda of his father,” said government chief whip Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka who is marshalling the MLAs in favour of Jagan. Analysts said that more than Jagan it’s the lobby that gained from YSR that wants the son to take over the reins of the state, with a view to perpetuate status quo.

Congress sources in Delhi, however, said the high command was taking a dim view of this unseemly strong-arm tactic to push through Jagan as CM. They threw up other names as possible successor: Union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy, minister of state for defence Pallam Raju, NTR’s daughter and junior Union minister Purandeshwari Devi and acting CM K Rosaiah.

The day of dramatic developments began soon after it became clear that Rajasekhara Reddy had perished in the helicopter crash. Minutes after the bodies were recovered, the “Jagan-as-CM” campaign picked up momentum. Almost all the state ministers, about 22 MPs and several Congress legislators pitched Jagan’s case to the media even as hundreds of party workers gathered at the secretariat, CM’s camp office, Gandhi Bhavan and various traffic intersections vocally making a similar demand.

By the afternoon, the Jagan group met Union law minister M Veerappa Moily at the Lake View guest house in pursuance of their demand even as many Congress MLAs faxed individual memorandum to the party headquarters in New Delhi in support of Jagan as CM.

By the evening, minutes after K Rosaiah was sworn in as chief minister, the Jagan loyalists met governor N D Tiwari and submitted a list of 122 signatures in support of him being made the chief minister. According to sources, there was even an attempt to pressure the governor to swear in Jagan as acting CM immediately, but that was abandoned as Rosaiah had already been sworn in by the time the loyalists reached Raj Bhavan.

Analysts said that the Jagan camp realised that there would be a power struggle for the CM’s post and therefore decided to make the pitch first. An ungainly battle is imminent as there are many other aspirants for the CM’s post including Rajya Sabha members V Hanumantha Rao and K Keshava Rao, apart from Jaipal Reddy, Pallam Raju and Purandeshwari Devi.

Jagan, 36, is a first time MP from Kadapa and is merely 100 days old in politics. While Veerappa Moily made it clear that Rosaiah was only an interim CM and that the Congress high command will chose YSR’s successor in the next few days, the Jagan votaries seem ready to take on the central leadership on the issue.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

It is not the first time when Yahoo! has closed down its utilities. The internet giant had earlier dropped Yahoo 360 Geocities , Yahoo Gallery and its beta stage social networking site Mash in September 2008.

Confirming the development, a Yahoo! India spokesperson said, “After careful consideration, Yahoo! will no longer offer SpotM, a communications service that we experimented with in India.” However, he declined to divulge any detail of Guru or any subsequent application by the company.

The company offered a variety of facilities through SpotM for users such as SMS integration to target young population in the age group of 16-24 years.

Some people believe that SpotM was nothing more than an experiment for the company as it never tried to market it like its other utilities. The internet services company could have learnt a lesson from the experiment, gaining new experience to add in its forthcoming categories.

Source:http://www.topnews.in