• Youth power can transform India: Kalam
• IIM-A graduate gets highest offer of Rs. 14.4 mn
• One million new jobs in India in 2008: Survey
• The job boom is in education
• Over 1.3 mn students to appear for board exams

• Bihar to set up FM radio stations in schools
• Indian schoolboy shines in International exam
• India to legislate a law to make education a fundamental right
• Hindi, Chinese may dethrone English

The Bihar government has planned to set up Frequency Modulation (FM) radio stations in schools across the state to make education more effective and user-friendly. Informing the media in the state capital on Sunday, state's Minister of Information & Public Relations Arjun Rai said, "Initially, the government would set up FM radio stations in 11 high schools in Patna and Nalanda. The government would select more schools for the purpose later." Adding further he maintained that the decision to set up school FM radio stations was taken in view of the fact that the world was using information technology in schools for easy access to knowledge. "Programmes on FM radio would be made to educate and inform students about community development, health and disaster management," Rai said. These FM radios would help revive local and folk music and art, and provide opportunities to local people to generate employment, particularly in the rural areas. "The FM radio station would air four to five hours programme daily, including entertainment," an official in the information and public relations department said. The state government has already applied for licence and the decision is pending with the central government. After the licence is issued, the state will set up FM radio stations in selected schools and relay programmes, the official added. The core programming will be done in Patna and the peripheral programming in the districts. The channels would host phone-in programmes featuring guest lectures, career counselling, and quizzes based on general and subject knowledge. According to a government estimate, the cost of setting up one Community Radio Station (CRS), including equipment and installation charges, is nearly Rs 4,80,000. The cost of studio, which would be optional, would be Rs 2,30,000. The operational cost per radio station, as worked out by the government, is Rs 46,965 per month while the expected monthly revenue per CRS is Rs 50,400. 60 per cent of the cost will be borne by the human resources development department of the state and the remaining will be taken as loan from banks. Half-a-dozen schools in Patna were selected and five in Nalanda, the home district of chief minister Nitish Kumar. "We were told by our class teacher that the government would set up a FM radio station in school. It is a big step," Aprajita Singh, a student of Bankipore Girls High School, said. Another student of the same school, Sanjana Kumari, said they were excited after being told that they would learn new things through FM radio station. "The experience will be different," she said. Ramesh Ranjan, a student of Miller High School, said the FM radio station would help the students to connect to the changing world. "It will be handy for us," he said.

Courtesy: www.headlinesindia.com, March 24, 2008

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According to the former president A P J Abdul Kalam the great challenge of transforming India can be achieved through youth, which has the power of ideas, ambition and ability. Speaking at a breakfast meeting with students of Wharton business school, Philadelphia on Saturday, Kalam said, "Resource of the youth is an important building block for transforming India into a developed nation." "If you have an aim in life, realise that spent time cannot be recovered, the precious time has to be used for achieving the goal, have confidence to win, have confidence to defeat the problems and succeed and have a righteous heart; you will definitely succeed in all your missions, said the missile man , asserting that youth today need not fear about the future. The former president was addressing the students at the 12th Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) held with the theme of "India Imagine". The WIEF is designed to serve as a platform for thought-leaders, professionals and policy makers to define their perception of the global Indian and discuss the wave of new imagination that is spurring the nouveau Indian to create unprecedented opportunities. Over the last two years WIEF has traced the Indian growth story exploring themes such as 'India's Mantra for Success' and 'Realising the Indian Dream'.

Courtesy: www.headlinesindia.com, March 24, 2008

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A nine-year-old Indian schoolboy in Bahrain has scored the highest marks worldwide in two subjects in an international examination. Alexandre Mariano D'Souza, a grade five student of the Sacred Heart School in Manama, scored the highest marks in English and Mathematics in the 'Global Achieve International Assessments for Improving Learning 2007', the Gulf Daily News reported. The examination is conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to help develop a global programme of school-level tests in English, Mathematics and Science. The tests are designed to assess, measure and recognise a student's performance in a range of generic skills underlying the three subjects. "The awards were a testimony to Alexandre's accomplishment of being the best student, not just from his school or country but all over the world, among all students who appeared for the assessments," ACER Middle East manager Alan Egbert said.

Courtesy: www.headlinesindia.com, March 20, 2008

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Despite the talk of slowdown in the global economy and the sub-prime crisis in the US, the students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) have managed to attract higher pay packets, with one of them receiving a record offer of Rs.14.4 million ($360,000). Briefing mediapersons on the on-campus recruitment drive, IIM-A director Samir K. Barua refused to divulge either the name of the company or that of the student. The figure is said to be the highest for any IIM student in India. However, he hastened to add this was an average salary that depended a lot on other factors like the annual bonus, which was in turn based on the candidate's performance. Barua said IIM-A continues to be the most preferred business school for recruitment as reflected not only in terms of the diversity of organisations that participated in the placement drive but also by the offers that have been made. The weeklong placement process, which began March 6, saw participation from 260 students and 120 companies, both domestic and foreign. Compared to last year, the highest international acceptances saw a 20 percent rise in salary that ranged from Rs.11.2 million to Rs.14.4 million, he said. 'In judging an offer do not talk simply of salaries. Talk of the diversities of offers. These are far more better parameters,' Barua told quizzing mediapersons, adding that salary figures depended on multifaceted factors such as the company involved, work experience and the candidate's ability. 'Given the adverse market conditions, the salaries offered this year have exceeded all expectations,' Piyush Kumar Sinha, chairperson of placement, said. The average domestic salary among the accepted offers was Rs.1.78 million, a 30 percent jump from last years' average figure of Rs.1.37 million. The average international salary was $1,19,000, which again is a significant jump from previous years, he said. The lateral placements - for students with work experience - conducted in January and February 2008 was also unprecedented both in terms of scale and diversity, Sinha said.

A significant amount of prior work experience of the 2006-08 batch led to an increase in the number of students eligible for lateral placements from 89 last year to 112 this year. With this increase, even the number of firms participating in the process shot up to 37. They made a total of 103 offers. The average salary for the lateral placements as a whole saw an increase from Rs.1.62 million last year to Rs.1.83 million. Replying to a query, Barua said consultancy, as always, has been strong with 30.89 percent share of placements followed finance-markets with 19.11 percent. There was a fair share from other recruiters like finance-general (10.98 percent), marketing (6.10 percent), operations (3.25 percent), real estate (1.22 percent), and entrepreneurship (3.66 percent) among others. With 11 graduates opting to start their own ventures, the trend of taking this road less travelled has grown stronger, Sinha said. These students planned to start their ventures in areas as diverse as logistics, manufacturing, advertising, finance and agro-processing in addition to IT. Sinha said IIM-A is also promoting this trend. The institute recently came up with the policy of a 'placement holiday' which allows graduating students who choose entrepreneurship as a career option to opt for the institutes' placement process for two years after passing out from the institute. However, no student person has availed of this option. Dushyant Mullar, who plans a venture in the services domain, said: 'The culture is wonderfully supportive in terms of encouraging entrepreneurship. Be it professors, peers or the institute, support is one thing certainly not lacking.' Concurred another entrepreneurial student Siddharth Jaiswal: 'I feel the biggest learning for me at IIM-A has been to think big.'

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, March 12, 2008

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India will soon legislate a law to make education a fundamental right, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Arjun Singh said Wednesday. Speaking at the second meeting of the Regional Forum of Ministers of Social Development of Saarc here, Arjun Singh said a provision of free and compulsory education for children in the age group of 6 to 14 years has already been declared as a fundamental right in the constitution. 'We would soon come out with a law to make education a fundamental right. The process for this has already begun,' the minister informed the forum. Describing education as the most critical aspect of social development, Arjun Singh said the society couldn't afford to leave it to the private players alone. 'There are restrictions of funds, but we cannot succumb to temptations of the market forces,' he added. Arjun Singh explained that the expansion of opportunities, especially in regards to accessing education, should reach the marginalized sections of the society, and said a nine-fold allocation proposed for education in the 11th Five Year Plan would target to achieve this goal. Ministers of social development of South Asian countries, from Maldives, Afghanistan, and ministers of women, child and social welfare from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan also took part in the meeting. The purpose of the forum is to establish a network among the countries of the region to address issues related to social justice and development and contribute to the policy making process.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, March 12, 2008

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It is good news for those fresh out of college or for those who are keen for a job change, as a leading HR consultancy firm has predicted one million new jobs in India this year. Ma Foi Employment Trends Survey (METS), conducted by Ma Foi, one of India's largest HR consultancy firm has predicted a three per cent increase in employment in 2008. The largest chunk of the new jobs, according to the survey, would be generated by hospitality sector which is riding high with the tourism boom in the country. "The hospitality sector will generate the maximum number of employment in 2008. 426,668 jobs are going to be generated by the hospitality sector. This sector is closely followed by health at 295,829 and education training & consultancy at 166,005," says the survey. It adds that an estimated USD 11.41 billion is expected to be seen in the hospitality sector in the next two years and that India is likely to have around 40 international hotel brands by 2011. "The boom in the tourism industry has had a cascading effect on the hospitality sector, which was a result of the increase in the occupancy ratios and average room rates. With the demand continuing to surge, many global hospitality majors have evinced a keen interest in the Indian hospitality sector," says K. Pandia Rajan, Managing Director, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd. While, IT and ITES sector continues with high growth in recruitment at 7.3 and 7.2 per cent, the survey says that it is the health sector which shows the highest growth in recruitment at 8.9 per cent.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, March 10, 2008

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Approximately one million new jobs will be created in the organised sector this year - with the education, health and hospitality industries being key drivers of the job market. That's the message emanating from the annual employment survey undertaken by Ma Foi Consultants, a Chennai-based human resource service provider and staffing company. The education sector is the largest employer in the country, employing around 10.26 million people in 2007. It is likely to add another 1,66,005 by the end of this year. It is closely followed by the hospitality and healthcare sectors, which employed about 6.17 million and 3.32 million people, respectively, in 2007. Hospitality and healthcare would add another 4,26,668 and 2,95,829 people this year. "This was the striking aspect of the survey as these sectors have left behind the traditional favourites such as banking, financial services and insurance (BSFI), and information technology," said K. Pandia Rajan, Managing Director of Ma Foi. BSFI and IT would be adding only about 7,600 and 74,693 more people, respectively this year.

The survey was conducted across 2,006 companies belonging to 22 organised sectors in the country. "We have a billion plus population which needs to be educated. There is currently a lot of activity happening in the education field. With government funding for education hiked from Rs 28,674 crore last year to Rs 34,400 crore in budget 2008-09, the sector will witness major transitions. This sector is the foundation on which other sectors rest," says Anand Sudarshan, chief executive officer of Manipal Education. According Sudhakar Balakrishnan, CEO of HR firm Adecco India, the entire education market is pegged at Rs 1,50,000 crore. "Not surprising then, that companies like Educomp are making the most of it by investing huge sums and setting up schools. We have companies like NIIT and Everonn, hiring about 800-1,000 people a year. All this will only drive the sector further." According to analysts, the market size of the tutorials sector in Mumbai alone is worth Rs 200 crore. Over one lakh students depend upon tutorial classes in English medium and two lakh in Hindi and Marathi mediums. With the healthcare industry growing at 15 per cent per annum, there will be greater demand for professionals, technicians, doctors, and health specialists, says V.P. Kamath, CEO of Apollo Hospitals, Mumbai. "Medical tourism is expected to become a $2 billion industry by 2010. This will only add to the job creation in the healthcare sector." According to Ficci, an apex industry association, the healthcare industry has emer-ged as one of the most challenging sectors in India with estimated revenue of about $30 billion (in financial year 2005-06), comprising 5 per cent of GDP. The survey further says that the real estate and construction industry has the highest percentage of outsourced workforce at 19 per cent and is closely followed by the hospitality sector at 18.5 per cent. It also says that experienced workers are hired more than freshers, who constitute a little more than a quarter of the newly hired. Sectors where the demand for freshers is above 30 per cent include hospitality, energy generation and supply sector, IT-enabled services, mining and extraction. "Although there is optimism about young minds and fresh ideas, experience counts to a large extent," says Rajan.

Courtesy: www.sify.com, March 07, 2008

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Hindi and Chinese, languages spoken in the emerging markets of the world, may dethrone Queen's English from the coveted status of 'preferred lingua franca', believes an American expert. US economist David Rosen said the official languages of the two emerging markets, India and China, will soon be the most preferred language in the workplace in coming times. Rosen, who is a China expert, is adjunct professor in the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University. He was in Mumbai to deliver a lecture to a group of industry captains on 'China's Macro Re-directions and Implications for India'. 'Current economic trends predict that the markets of English speaking nations are on the downslide and they are witnessing a hiatus in the growth sector,' Rosen told IANS in an interview. 'In all likelihood, functional knowledge of the Hindi and Chinese language may dominate the world market scene, as the English language speaking market, it seems, is fast becoming obsolete,' he said. Hindi and Chinese are said to be 400 and 4,000 years old respectively. In the same breath, Rosen, however, projected an optimistic future for English language, stating that it would be erroneous to jump the gun and 'prognosticate the demise of the First World'. 'They (First World) will not disappear. It will not be easy to bring down the existing economic giants. After all, when you look at the present economic trends, if China is the 'factory of the world' and 'India the office of the world', then USA is the knowledge book of the world,' he said. Refusing to get drawn into the controversial issue of economic recession in the US economy, Rosen said: 'I am not an investment banker so I cannot talk about an actual scene but going by the trends, it seems that NPA (non-performing assets) of banks is going to worsen and deteriorate further in coming days as investments will go down further.' Rosen said Indian economic planners should focus on the modernisation of agrarian sector. 'They should bring about changes in approach policies whereby they can wrench themselves free from the economic structure of the past,' he said. He said Indian planners should get 60 percent of population involved in agriculture, out of this arena and into other sectors. 'What I feel is that it is time the education planners should start focusing on basic education rather than going overboard on the Indian Institutes of Technology and IT. Otherwise a paradigm shift from agrarian arena to other sectors will result in people lining up the streets with begging bowls.'

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, March 03, 2008

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Anxious parents and nervous children were making last-minute preparations on Friday as over 1.3 million students are set to appear for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examinations for both Classes 10 and 12 that begin Saturday. The Class 12 examinations start off with the chemistry paper, while Class 10 begins with Elementary Business. This year a total of 1.31 million students will sit for the board exams - 765,095 of Class 10 and 548,815 of Class 12. Last year, 705,152 candidates appeared for Class 10 examinations both in India and abroad while 502,688 students took the Class 12 exams. Class 10 students from 8,199 schools will take the examinations in 2,624 centres. Similarly, Class 12 students from 5,171 schools will write their papers across 2,394 centres both in India and abroad. This year the CBSE has redesigned the question paper for all major subjects like mathematics, science, English, and social sciences. The new design includes about 10 per cent of very short sample questions and about 20 percent questions on High Order Thinking Skills

Courtesy: www.headlinesindia.com, March 01, 2008

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