Education system in madrassas to be restructured: Govt

September 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In a significant step aimed at reforming the educational system in India, the Central Government on Monday announced the Standard X examinations, held under the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), will become optional from the 2010-11 session. Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal told a press conference here that the Class X examination will become optional from the 2010-11 session.

August 29th, 2009 Koraput (Orissa) - Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday said the Government was planning to set up over 2,500 model and 200 central schools on public-private- partnership (PPP) basis in the country in next two years Inaugurating the much-awaited central university in this tribal-dominated town, which often witnesses Maoist violence, Sibal informed that the proposed model schools would be set up in the backward areas to provide primary education to all as "higher education has no meaning unless primary education was strengthened." "The schools would be set up in PPP as part of our efforts to strengthen the human resource base," Sibal said during the function. Sibal also asked corporate houses to invest in a big way in the education sector.

July 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Should the education imparted at madrassas be broad-based to include subjects like English, maths, science and computers to make it employment oriented? The proposal by Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has not found favour with madrassa authorities, though it has been welcomed by many Muslim intellectuals. Sibal has proposed introducing a Madrassa Board Bill, which will give broad-based education without affecting the religious teaching and also ensure that the degree obtained will be equivalent to that of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which will help in getting employment.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi Wednesday said that the Congress-led government lacked a road map to improve the education system and added that it should evolve consensus among all stakeholders before introducing reforms. "The government has no direction and no road map about the changes it wants to make in the education system.

June 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The UPA Government's plans to bring educational reforms drew flak from Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday which charged the Government of not taking States into confidence in the matter despite education falling in the concurrent list.enior BJP leader and former Union Human Resource Minister in the National Democratic Alliance Government, Murli Manohar Joshi, blamed the new HRD minister Kapil Sibal for not consulting the State Governments on the subject matter. "The HRD Minister is well-versed with law.

June 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With an aim to reform the examination system and de-traumatise the education, the government is planning to make the Class 10 exams "optional", Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said Thursday. We will reform the examination system and Class 10 examination will be optional, Sibal told reporters here while outlining his 100-day plans for the education sector.

June 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - New Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal is strongly in favour of allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in India's education sector and also plans to "synchronise" madrassa education with the mainstream. "FDI must come into India.

June 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI J - Union Human resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said here today that the recommendations given by the Prof Yashpal committee on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher education will be implemented in the first 100 days of the UPA Government. The committee was constituted in February 2008 to study the functioning of different agencies in higher education and to suggest measures to restructure the system.

June 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - At a time when scores of foreign educational institutions are queuing up to woo Indian students, leading industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Friday said it will showcase Indian higher education and its rich variety at Kuala Lumpur. The CII, with the support of the high commission of India, is organising the India Education Fair 2009 during June 20-21, the industry lobby said.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda on Wednesday stressed on the importance of a single regulatory body to decide matters pertaining to higher education. "I think in higher education what we really need is now some kind of a higher education commission, council, regulatory authority to create level playing field.

April 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Calling the Indian examination system faulty, education experts at a seminar Tuesday said the system of examination here fails to create questioning minds. Amit Kapoor, chairman of the Institute of Competitiveness who was one of the panellists, said that students in schools and colleges here choose to study at the end of the year with just examinations in mind - thus losing the whole purpose of learning.

February 25th, 2009 RANCHI - Teachers of madrassas and Sanskrit schools in Jharkhand Tuesday held protests here demanding that the Sixth Pay Commission report, recommending pay hikes for government employees, be implemented for them too. Hundreds of these teachers under the banner of the Madrassa-Sanskrit Teachers Coordination Committee (MSTCC) took part in the demonstration in front of the Governor's HOuse.

January 24th, 2009 PATNA - After school going girls, girls studying at Madrassas (Islamic seminaries) in Bihar would also be provided free bicycles by the state government, official sources Sunday said. The government plans to distribute bicycles free of cost to girls attending Madrassas across the state, and has approved funds for the purpose, the sources said.

January 24th, 2009 PATNA - Girls studying in madrassas in Bihar will be provided free bicycles by the government, official sources said Sunday. About 4,000 madrassa-going girls, who are students of Fauqania (equivalent to Class 10), would get the cycles to enable them to reach the seminaries on their own, particularly in rural areas.

January 19th, 2009 KOLKATA - Contrary to popular belief that madrassas are schools for fundamentalist Islamic teaching, madrassas in West Bengal are attracting an increasing number of Hindu students with their shift in focus from Islamist education to science and technology. Hindu students now outnumber Muslims in four madrassas of the state.