Quiz enthusiasts in the city gear up for Enigma – a multi-city, national-level general quiz competition organised by students of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus as part of its annual techno-management festival ATMOS 2013.
The Hyderabad regional round will be held on Saturday at 10.00 a.m. at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus,
The quiz competition is open to college and school students. Each team must comprise two members from different institutions. The national finals will commence on the same day at 1.00 p.m.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / October 12th, 2013
An engineering college has taken the clean energy route to power its sprawling campus and meet the energy demands.
Padmasri Dr B.V. Raju Institute of Technology in Narsapur, about 50 km from Hyderabad, has installed and commissioned a 100 kWp solar photovoltaic rooftop plant. The project is the first-of-its-kind among all the JNTU-affiliated colleges in Andhra Pradesh. It will harness solar power to the tune of 100 kWp from this month. The plant consists of a total 400 PV modules – each 250Wp – supplied by SIRIUS Solar Energy, Hyderabad, a press release from the Institute said. It was executed by Solaris Innovations & Systems, Hyderabad
“The Rs 1.3 crore project is installed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) Phase-III programme through New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP). Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), provided a subsidy of 30 per cent,” said Jagadishwar Reddy, Chief Executive Officer of the company.
A few students of BVRIT were involved right through the installation and commissioning and gained hands-on experience in putting together the different modules of the rooftop solar power plant, the release added.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Education / by The Hindu Bureau somasekhar.m@thehindu.co.in / Hyderabad – November 12th, 2013
At 13, S Jaahnavi is unlike any other teenager. Trained in ninjutsu (martial arts), trekking, parasailing, rafting, jummaring, rock climbing, sports climbing etc., it’s not an exaggeration when she says she does not know what fear is. Just when one feels she is the rough and tough youngster, she surprises you again by revealing that she is trained as a classical dancer too.
Jaahnavi has completed two high altitude treks–11,400 ft Roopkund ranges in 2010 and 12,000 ft Dhauladhar ranges in 2012. She is has been certified by the government of India as the youngest trekker to have scaled high altitude ranges at -5 degree Celsius.
This adventure freak is also the recipient of the Adventure Club of Andhra Pradesh’s (ACAP) Kids Adventure Award – 2013. She has also won the CM’s gold medal for sports climbing and National Himalayan Trek Completion certificate.
Jaahnavi’s father Dr Krishna Rao, a trained mountaineer and a first responder and mental health doctor, says, “I have been into adventure sports for the last 40 years and ensured that she did not miss out on it right from when she was only 10 months old.
Academics by itself is not sufficient. For all round growth and development, adventure is essential.”
Jaahnavi, on the other hand, says, “I will even jump from a building if asked to because I do not know what is fear. I just want to remain numero uno in everything I do.” The daredevil plans to scale the Mount Everest next year. “I am the youngest trekker to be provisionally selected to climb the Everest,” adds Jaahnavi, who has completed 15 most difficult treks across AP.
While being an adventure lover, Jaahnavi wants to become a doctor like her father.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / November 14th, 2013
The team of ‘Zindgani Apne Dum Par’. / Photo: G. Ramakrishna / The Hindu
For an inter-school competition, five students made a film on a man who most of us must have seen at the Jubilee Hills Checkpost
It took them just two minutes and forty seconds to tell the story of a man who most of us must have seen at Jubilee Hills Check Post signal. It is the story of Sriram a roadside vendor who sells dusting cloths. Physically challenged as a result of a childhood accident, Sriram has only one arm. Yet, instead of being dependent on others to fetch him food, he is on his own. An entrepreneur of sorts, Sriram sells dusting cloths to save enough, so that he can open a small shop. With whatever he earns he also takes care of his family — wife and two sons.
Titled Zindgani — a story untold, the film is what five students from the Annapurna International School of Film and Media made for the 48 hour Inter-school Filmmaking Competition.
The team of five consisted of Akula Nishant Shiv, Akshat Sharma, Saikat Chakravarty, Deven Ahire and Tanya Joshi.
The film bagged the Best Film award for most suitable depiction of the theme at the competition section — Apne Dum Par. It’s a story of a common man – who lives life on his own. ‘“The idea was to go beyond the heroes projected on the 70mm screen; beyond masks, flying gadgets and the like. For once maybe we can open our eyes, to look around us, communicate with those who are physically present in our surroundings, and pass them a smile whenever we can.’ This is what our teachers explained to us, so that we got the theme right,” says Nishant Akula. And 48 gave us another chance to deal with the theme. The guidelines of the competition mentioned that we had to make a short film (of not more than 3 min 30 sec) with the theme Apne Dum Par.
“Sriram is a common sight at the Jubilee Check post almost everyday. Often that sight would inspire us, and our conscience would say: “Here’s a story that people should know about…” explains Nishant.
Describing the experience, Nishant says, “it was challenging and exciting. Until we spoke to Sriramwe didn’t realise how difficult life is for him and his family. But Sriram isn’t someone who gives up hope. He is educating his two sons with the help of funds from an NGO and wants to provide them a good life. Also after being adjudged as the best film from the whole lot who we competed with, gives us a very good feeling.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Education Plus> Issues / by Prabalika M. Borah / November 11th, 2013
Prof. Yenisetty Sambasiva Rao has only one dream: Spread Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of peace and non-violence.
And the 72-year-old retired professor from Guntur has been trying relentlessly for nearly a decade to convince the Centre and state governments to establish the county’s first Gandhian university in Guntur.
He has even expressed his willingness to donate his own property- a building worth Rs 3.5 crore- for the purpose.
However, the good professor is now losing his patience. Prof. Rao is planning to donate the amount to China, which incidentally has introduced Gandhi’s lessons for students as young as those in Class I, going all the way up to the university level.
“Violence, terror attacks, communal riots etc., have become the order of the day. Not only India, the entire world is facing these problems. Besides, social values have been degrading. Gandhian ideology is the only solution to these problems. Gandhi’s principles of peace and non-violence have to be propagated by establishing a world-class varsity,” says Prof Rao.
Prof. Rao worked as a Telugu professor in SVKB Colleges in Markapur and VRS and YRN college. Impact of Gandhi on Telugu literature has been his pet topic.
He initiated efforts to set up a Gandhian University in Guntur by floating the Mahatma Gandhi Tatva Vishwavidyalayam Akan-sha Samiti after eliciting moral and financial support from prominent people in Guntur, including Crane Group chairman Grandhi Subba Rao and Guntur MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / by L. Venkat Ram Reddy / November 10th, 2013
If you have just moved to Hyderabad and looking for an affordable school near your locality, chances are that it has shut down and an expensive school that runs exclusive IIT training courses for students from an early age has sprung up in its place.
In the past year-and-a-half, at least 200 “affordable” private schools have been gobbled up by two chains of educational institutes that provide courses for competitive exams from junior level. About 2,000 such institutes have mushroomed in the same period across the twin cities.
These schools, which lure parents with dreams of seeing their children becoming future IITians with fat salaries have left officials very worried. “Parents should have a choice about which school they want to send their wards, but that is seldom the case now,” A Subba Reddy, a district education officer told STOI.
Some of the schools which were immensely popular with the middle-class but have shut down, include St Augustine in Boiguda, Sadar school at Madannapet, Vidyaniketan Talent School at Narayanguda, Om Vidyalaya at Barkatpura and Genius Grammar High School and Shantiniketan High School, Amberpet.
Some areas in the city have seen a huge drop in “affordable” schools, where the annual fees hover around Rs 35,000-Rs 40,000 per year compared to Rs 75,000 -1 lakh per year charged by specialist schools.
Officials and parents association members said IIT coaching schools are either buying out the neighbourhood schools, or luring students with free tuitions for a short while and later charging huge sums for training their kids for competitive exams.
“Parents should encourage smaller schools by not getting drawn to the bigger brands,” said Sangeetha Reddy, a school owner. S Srinivas Reddy, president of the AP Recognised Schools Management Association, said he has come across many such instances and in one case managed to stop a very popular school in Ramanthapur
from shutting down, after a big chain had lured half of its students away.
“They were running into losses and I somehow managed to save it with help from some like-minded people,” Reddy told STOI. But not many were so lucky. “I struggled to find a decent school which was cheaper as the one recommended by my relative in Bangalore. I am forced to spend nearly 40% of my salary now on education of my two kids,” said Mrinalini Nair, a resident in Himayatnagar.
About six months ago, the schools education department had asked all specialist schools to drop qualifying words such as “Techno” and “Olympiad” to prevent marketing of the brand name, but no steps have been taken to implement so far.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad> Schools / Nikhila Henry, TNN / November 10th, 2013
The Hyderabad Public School choir singing their school song during the inauguration of the three-day Eagles’ Fest being conducted as part of the 90th anniversary celebrations on Thursday | Neeraj Murali
Hyderabad Public school (HPS) is hosting the Eagles’ Fest as part of its 90 year celebrations. The three-day cultural, literary and creative celebrations which kickstarted on Thursday, will see participation from 24 schools in the city. The flagship event has 1000 students contesting for 45 events.
“The Eagles’ Fest is a powerful medium to express and show your talents and as students you must participate with healthy rivalry and a true competitive but gracious spirit,” advised Major General Cherish Mathson, the chief guest at the inaugural. “As children you must not forget that you are after all children; you must accept uncertainty because from that emerges your true calling,” added the major.
The fest split into three categories – Literary Hub, Cultural Hub and Creative Zone. The Literary Hub began teh festivities with the Turn Coat debate, book review and creative writing events.
“The Turn Coat debate is a different style of debating, where the participant debates both, for and against the theme. It is interesting because it tests the debater’s logical thinking capacity, whether they can differentiate between both the sides,” explained Meera Vedre, teacher and one of the organisers of the Literary Hub. The theme for the debate was ‘The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education’. Contesting students from grades six and 12 debated for three minutes each, throwing light on points like education being the pathway to learning, the marking system creating a rat race thereby removing the joy out of learning and the aspect of commercialisation of institutions where students become literate but not educated.
At the same time, the Cultural Hub hosted a poetry recitation and fancy dress competition. “The participants were very excited and were eager to recite their poems,” echoed a beaming Uma Rani, senior teacher and organiser of the event. Themed ‘Me and Mother nature,’ the fancy dress competition saw participation from nervous and shy yet eloquent tiny tots like Pushti, a class two student who dressed up as a globe and advised the audience to think green and act green. Class one student, Vignesh portrayed a tribal man and asked the audience to not cut his home – the jungle, and try to preserve it. The next two days will see students contest in extempore, quiz, recitation, music and dance events.
Alumnus Shaaz Mehmood, who is also the chief coordinator of the fest, found himself in not so familiar territory. “I miss wearing the uniform and lugging a heavy bag around the campus. Things have changed; today’s kid’s are fast and tech-savy and all the classrooms of HPS have been converted to e-classrooms,” said the 25 year-old restaurateur who left the school eight years ago. “Everything going on around here is very transparent, four different committees are set up in order to declare fair results,” added the alumnus.
As the chief coordinator of The Eagles’ Fest, he is extremely excited and is certain that the event will be a huge success. “After seeing such an immense participation, we may decide to have the fest next year as well,” he added. A valedictory function will be held on November 9 to give away the trophies to the Eagles’ Fest Champion school, cultural championship, literary championship and creative champions.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Ushma Jhaveri – Hyderabad / November 08th, 2013
Indian School of Business (ISB) with campuses at Hyderabad and Mohali is set to host the 11th edition of ISB Leadership Summit (ILS), the flagship business conclave of the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) at its Hyderabad campus tomorrow.
In its 11th year now, the two-day ILS 2013 with the theme ‘Breaking the Myth’ will be held with participation from over 40 high-profile leaders across sectors, ISB said in a statement today.
The first look of ILS 2013 was unveiled by Vinod Khosla co-founder of Sun Microsystems and founder of Khosla Ventures on September 6, 2013.
The event will host key note speakers such as Vineet Nayar , Vice chairman of HCL Technologies; Banmali Agrawala, President and CEO for GE South Asia; and CP Gurnani, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tech Mahindra, the release said.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> News By Company> Corporate Announcements / by PTI / November 07th, 2013
Shirisha Vepoor, an integrated MA Economics student of the University of Hyderabad, made history by becoming the first-ever woman president from the SFI this year. The elections were in news for being the first to have the Nota (None Of The Above) option. Nota grabbed four per cent votes. The results were annou-nced on Thursday.
Apart from the SFI, an Independent, ABVP, NSUI and UDA were in the race. Shirisha was declared the president, Sandeep Kumar (MCA) the general secretary and Aditya Harish (MSc) the joint secretary. UDA’s Manikanta was declared the vice-president and ABVP’s Krishna and Swathi were declared sports and cultural secretaries. President Shirisha received 1197 votes, and vice president Manikanta received 1193.
Delighted with the results, Shirisha Veppor said, her priority will be on ensuring security, safety and better facilities for girls on the campus. “I am very happy about my victory, it is the victory of every SFI cadre who has worked for the welfare of the students.
The first thing on my agenda would be on urging the administration to build more hostels for girls, as there is a dearth of hostels for them. We will also organize gender sensitization campaigns on the campus along with Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) to fight for the rights of women on the campus.
We will also not allow any fee hike to be imposed and ensure that there is no financial burden on students.”Adding, “One important factor is to keep a tab on the university land and make sure it is not given away to private bodies for non-academic purposes,” Shirisha said.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / November 01st, 2013
Interest in astronomy among city kids seems to be skyrocketing with various clubs observing growing participation of children in their projects.
Buzzing with ‘celestial’ activity, these clubs have gone beyond the routine stargazing outings and have created their own extension of traditional astronomy expeditions. Solar walks, astrophotography, history of astronomy are the latest add-ons to the clubs which seem to have caught the fancy of curious school kids.
‘Spaceadhyaan’, which promotes interest in astronomy among children, will mark the World Space Week starting Friday, and has tied up with city schools to conduct various astronomical programs. The week-long activities lined up include comet making competitions, workshops on mythology and stars and interactive orbital simulations.
The group has collaborated with NASA to upload videos of the activities as and when they take place in the city. The astronomy club of ‘Spaceadhyaan’ has gained popularity in the recent past and currently has a student strength of 500. “The interest in astronomy among children has swelled thanks to Indian astronauts making great progress in the field and recent occurrences like the mission to Mars,” said B Padma, director-member at ‘Spaceadhyaan’.
The Planetary Society of India (PSI) has also been trying to grab the attention of schoolkids by organising group sightings of celestial events. This week, the PSI will hold a three-day astronomy workshop for girl students from government schools to teach them basics of astronomy to boost their interest in the science.
Schools too are building their in-house space clubs to encourage interest in astronomy. Like NASR girls’ school, which sent 30 of its students to the US Space and Rocket Centre in Alabama last year, and regularly holds such events for students of its space clubs.
“The children were creating their own rocket models and exploring the insides of space shuttles as part of the project. It is heartening to see despite being one of the oldest sciences, astronomy still captures the fascination of children,” said Komal Singh, teacher at NASR.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad> City Schools / TNN / October 02nd, 2013
