Delhi wants upgrade its secondary schools and middle schools into senior secondary school and secondary schools respectively. A proposal in this regard has been mooted during the cabinet meeting of Delhi Government. At present there are 191 secondary schools and 34 middle schools in the city apart from 701 senior secondary schools and 19 Pratibha Vidyalayas.
The city cabinet has today decided to implement a centrally sponsored scheme – Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) in Delhi. According to the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit the GER for Delhi is 83% for class-IX as per the provisional data available for 2008-09 but the city government will strive hard to achieve cent percent GER by the end of 11th Five Year Plan to become a role model for other states/Union Territories. The Cabinet has also given its nod for setting up of an institutional framework to implement RMSA. A state mission on RMSA will be constituted under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister. Further an Executive Committee under the Chairmanship of Principal Secretary (Education) will be constituted.
It has also been decided to convert the existing Vidyalaya Kalyan Samiti of each school as School Management and Development Committee

The City of Barcelona wants to sign a friendship agreement with Delhi and to set up Public Art in the various parts of the city. A delegation led by Ambassador of Spain in India Ion de la Riva along with Director of International Relations of Barcelona City Council today called on Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at her office in this regard.

The delegation has offered to sign a friendship agreement with Delhi. They have also offered to render their constructive cooperation. Responding the offer the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said that friendship agreement will prove to be beneficial to both the cities. The delegation will also call on DDA Vice-Chairman and CMD (DMRC) to explore possibilities of further improvement in on-going works.

Tough time is ahead for Indian students who wish to study abroad, especially UK. After spate of attacks on Indian student community in Australia now it is turn of UK to make it a difficult place for Indian students, especially for those whose mother tongue is other than English.

In a latest move, after suspension of students visa process for North Indian students for one month, the UK government has announced tough measures for students. According to media reports British Home Minister Alan Johnson has announced Intermediate level English requirements to study in UK, including short term courses. This is tougher level for those students who have not nurtured in English education system, says a senior teacher of Delhi University. The level is normally required for school teachers in Indian context, he says.
“It was a kind of close shave. Our students got their visa approval just a week ago before the announcement of the suspension of visa process”, says Savita Mehta, Vice-President, (Communications), Amity University. 36 students of Amity got visa approval in January 2010, before the announcement, she adds.

On the other hand the UK has said that the step has been taken to keep bogus students out of the country who come here to work and not for study by misusing student visa. The number of work hours is also being reduced for the foreign students from 20 hours to 10 hours in a week.

The fourth flight of the Indian long range missile AGNI-3 with a range capability of 3500 km was tested successfully by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at 10:50 this morning from the Wheeler Island, in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Odisha. The AGNI-3 Missile tested for the full range, hit the target with pin-point accuracy and met all the mission objectives. Two down range ships located near the target tracked and witnessed the Missile reaching the target accurately.

The marker pen like AGNI-3 Missile is 17 meters long and 2 metres in diameter. The Missile is a two stage solid propellant system with a pay load capability of 1.5 tons. During the course of flight the Missile reached a peak height of 350 kms and re-entered into the atmosphere successfully tolerating the skin temperatures of nearly 3000 degree Celsius.

The missile is equipped with a state of the art computer system, navigated with a most advanced Navigation system and guided with an innovative guidance scheme. The Navigation system used for guidance is first of its kind. Number of Radars and electro optical tracking systems along the coast of Odisha have monitored the path of the Missile and evaluated all the parameters in realtime.

The launch is part of the pre-induction trial. Indian Army (the user) has carried out the total launch operations guided by the DRDO scientists. Now the Missile system will be fully inducted into the armed forces.

Mission Director Sri Avinash Chander and Project Director Dr V.G. Sekaran have guided and controlled the complete Missile integration and launch activities. Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and Director General, DRDO Dr V.K. Saraswat have over seen the total launch operations.

Dr V.K. Saraswat and Sri Avinash Chander congratulated all the Scientists and employees of DRDO and the industry partners.
Source: pib.nic.in

Taking cue from the booming BPO and KPO industry Indira Gandhi National Open University is going to launch a certificate programme in telecentre management. The new course will be available in 10 Indian and 10 international languages. Initially, the course will be started in English and Hindi. The progamme will be launched in collaboration with Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation, Microsoft and International Development Research Centre. According to IGNOU the course will also be helpful for running cyber café and telemarts.