Literacy research

Azim Premji University and Tata Trusts announced the findings and recommendations of a three-year study, namely, the Literacy Research in Indian Languages. It was conducted in two socio-economically disadvantaged regions – Yadgir block (Yadgir district, Karnataka) and Wada block, (Palghar district, Maharashtra).

The project deep dives into how young students are taught in early primary grades and how children learn reading and writing in two Indian languages-Kannada and Marathi. According to it, the scripts take several years to master. The numbers of symbols are extensive and complex. Children perform poorly on tasks related to decoding the script. Even students who performed well on script-reading tasks, performed poorly on tasks assessing their understanding of what was read, and their ability to communicate ideas through writing. Teachers are not specifically equipped to teach language and literacy.

At a minimum, four blocks of time are necessary to adequately support early reading and writing – read aloud block, phonics and word work, guided reading and guided writing. For details, visit: http://tatatrusts.org/

Encouraging innovation

JIS group at the CII Innovation 2017 launched their first “JIS University Innovation Club”. The aim of the club is to encourage young minds and provide help to them so that they can come up with unique or rather, innovative ideas and projects.

Malay R Dave, the principal, spoke about flip learning facility which was adopted by the college in August. The facility introduced the concept of smart classrooms by doing away with conventional methods of teaching and learning. As was discussed in the seminar, the innovation club which is expected to give birth to new ideas has a potential to generate employment for the future generations.

Additional knowledge

SRM University, AP-Amaravati, announced that it will introduce “Inter Disciplinary Experiential Active Learning” for BTech students from the 2018 session. The university offers the option of pursuing minors and specialisations to students joining BTech degree programme. This allows students to have additional knowledge in some focus areas, providing them a career edge, or pursue an area of higher study in their field of interest.  20+ minors and specialisations are going to be available to SRM AP students.

This learning experience will be further enriched by providing undergraduate research opportunities programme, career-linked-capstone projects, industry internships, semester-abroad programs and technology-enabled active learning environment.

Raising awareness

Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre, Delhi hosted “Celebrating Life 2017” with its focus on raising awareness among childhood cancer survivors about ways to stay healthy after beating it. The event was marked with an introductory note on “Staying healthy after childhood cancer” by Sandeep Jain, consultant, Pediatric Hematology Oncology, RGCI. The get together was designed with the intent of bringing the survivors together and giving them an opportunity to share and connect with those who have been through the same experience. The survivors and their families received knowledge and information in an environment of fun and relaxation.