Pune
Edition, 10th July 2008
Schools too can be accredited now
Pune: After higher education institutions,
it is now the turn of schools to go for a brandbuilding
exercise by voluntarily opting for a national framework
on accreditation of schools, developed by the Quality Council
of India (QCI).
The QCI is an autonomous body of the Government of India
and the industry, set up 1997 under the prime minister,
to promote standardisation and quality consciousness across
the spectrum of social activity, including health and education.
Key industry bodies like the CII and Assocham are part of
the QCI, which has been implementing an accreditation programme
for hospitals across the country.
The council had been working on ‘standards for quality
school governance’, as it has titled the accreditation
process, for the last year and is now on a nationwide drive
to sensitise schools at level ‘A’ and ‘B’
cities about the need for accreditation.
On Wednesday, QCI secretary-general Girdhar Gyani and chairman
of education services committee, K.B. Kushal, unveiled the
newly-developed framework to the principals and heads of
at least 100 schools, representating various boards, from
the city.
“We plan to hold such sensitisation meets at 50 centres
across the country by December before the accreditation
process picks up in right earnest,” Gyani told reporters
on the sidelines of the meet.
The scheme envisages schools to voluntarily opt for the
accreditation programme and develop the requisite standards
that aim at a holistic progress of teaching and learning
activity. The accreditation will be for a three-year period,
subject to periodical reviews, said Gyani.
He said, the focus would be on establishing systems that
enable learning, selfdevelopment and improved performance
besides holistic development of students. Also, on encouraging
schools to pursue excellence and comply with statutory and
regulatory requirements. “Improving academic and physical
infrastructure like buildings, computer labs, teaching staff
and developing curriculum as well as pedagogy will be part
of the whole exercise,” he said.
According to Kushal, accreditation will also promote innovation,
creativity and outreach programmes among schools and enable
them to validate their areas of strength and map out future
programmes.
As of now, QCI is busy developing a band of trained examiners,
who will be certifying the schools, he said. Simultaneously,
it has posted the accreditation details on its website,
www.QCIN.org, for schools to apply for accreditation, said
Gyani.
Since December 2007, when the QCI went public with its school
accreditation initiative, established chains of public schools
like the Dayanand Anglo Vedic (DAV) schools, the Kendriya
Vidyalaya Sanghatan (KVS) and the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas
(JNVs) have evinced interest in the accreditation.
Proposals
for 29 jr colleges cleared
Pune: At least 29 proposals, moved by city-based
institutions to start new junior college (Std XI) divisions,
have been cleared by the state government.
The move came as part of the 556 new divisions across Maharashtra,
which were given a formal nod at a high-level meeting in
Mumbai on Tuesday.
Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh presided over the meet
while deputy chief minister R.R. Patil, education minister
Vasantrao Purke, secretary to department of education Sanjay
Kumar and other higher-ups were present.
In Pune, divisional deputy director for education G.K. Mhamane,
who is presiding over the Std XI centralised admission process
(CAP), said that his office was yet to receive the government’s
order. “We will wait and see what the order specifies
vis-a-vis allotment of these new divisions to various streams,”
he said.
This year, the science stream has drawn 6,608 excess applications
compared to the capacity of 17,270 seats. Similarly, commerce
(English) has drawn 1,406 excess pleas compared to the capacity
of 11,740 seats and commerce (Marathi) has drawn 1,247 excess
pleas against the availability of 8,900 seats.
The newly sanctioned junior college divisions are expected
to play a key role in addressing this situation.
Assistant director (education) V.M. Gaikwad explained that
a junior college division comprises 80 seats in case of
a college attached to a secondary school, and 120 seats
in case of a college attached to a degree-level institution.
Meanwhile, education officials in Mumbai pointed out that
against the state’s total admission capacity of 9.75
lakh students, as many as 13.15 lakh students have cleared
this year’s SSC (Std X) exam. This required 1,610
junior college divisions to ensure that all students get
admission.
Deshmukh directed education officials to immediately clear
all proposals for new junior college divisions, which have
been given a green-signal by district-level as well as the
state-level committees that scrutinise these proposals.
Among others, Thane district got 111 new divisions while
Mumbai got 40 and Raigad got 35 new divisions.
100%
admissions for engg courses
Pune: Barring 54 seats at the Nanded-based
Shri Guru Gobind Sinhji Institute of Engineering and Technology
(SGGSIET), all the remaining 2,611 seats at the six autonomous
engineering colleges were filled at the end of round 1 of
the admission process here on Tuesday.
The College of Engineering Pune (CoEP),
which is the nodal agency for the autonomous engineering
colleges, had commenced the admission round at its campus
on the Wellesly road here on June 30.
In all, 2,665 seats were up for grab at the six institutions
— CoEP, SGGSIET, Veermata Jeejabai Institute of Technology
(VJTI) and University Institute of Chemical Technology (UICT),
both in Mumbai, Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli
and the Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT), Pune.
According to N.B. Dhokey, vice chairman of the admissions
panel at CoEP, the authorities would now wait for seats
that are generated through cancellation on account of students
opting for medical seats or going to AIEEE allotments at
the National Institutes of Technology (NIT). “Some
are also expected to go to the Birla Institute of Technology’s
new campus established in Goa,” he said.
Post-cancellations, the vacancies generated would be offered
during round 2 admissions that are slated from July 25 to
28 at individual institution levels, Dhokey said. Apart
from the regular sanctioned intake of the six colleges,
the 10 per cent fee waiver seats, ie the 266 additional
seats under the All India Council for Technical Education’s
scheme for economically weaker sections, women and physically
handicapped candidates, have also been filled up, Dhokey
added.
The focus now shifts to the larger Centralised Admission
Process (CAP) run by the state directorate of technical
education (DTE) for the 170-odd non-autonomous engineering
colleges that collectively account for over 67,000 engineering
seats across the state.
On Tuesday, the DTE released the final merit list for the
CAP admission rounds for candidates from Maharashtra state,
Jammu & Kashmir and AIEEE pass students.
Distribution of seats under DTE CAP would be posted on the
directorate’s website — www.dte.org.in —
at 5 pm on July 10. From July 11 to 17, the process of filing
option forms at the application receipt centres would be
held for round 1 admissions.
