Surrounded by schoolchildren sitting at desks set up in the East Room of the White House, Trump smiled as held up the order after signing it at a special ceremony.

Trump said the order would “begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all.”

“We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It’s doing us no good,” Trump said. “We’re going to return education back to the states where it belongs.”

The Education Department, created in 1979, cannot be shuttered without the approval of Congress — but Trump’s order will likely have the power to starve it of funds and staff.
The move honors one of Trump’s campaign promises and is among the most drastic steps yet in the brutal overhaul of the government that Trump is carrying out with the help of tech tycoon Elon Musk.

The order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States.”

Democrats and educators have slammed the move.

The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, called it a “tyrannical power grab” and “one of the most destructive and devastating steps Donald Trump has ever taken.”
Republican leaders, including governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas, were in the audience for the signing ceremony.

Trump has cast the move as necessary to save money and improve educational standards in the United States, claiming they are lagging behind those in Europe and China.

But education has been a battleground for decades in America’s culture wars, and Republicans have long wanted to remove control of it from the federal government.

• ‘Beautiful day’ –
  Trump’s appointment of McMahon — the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment — to lead the department was widely seen as a sign that its days were numbered.
  The president said at the signing ceremony that “hopefully she will be our last secretary of education.”

McMahon, who moved to halve the department’s staff after being sworn in earlier this month, told reporters at the White House that Trump “wants to get those dollars back to the states without the bureaucracy of Washington.”

Trump promised on the campaign trail to get rid of the department and devolve its powers to US states, in much the same way that has happened with abortion rights.

But the White House said earlier that a rump education department was likely to stay on to deal with “critical functions” including loans and some grants for low-income students.
“The Department of Education will be much smaller than it is today,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters before the signing.

The Heritage Foundation — a right-wing think-tank that has seen many of its “Project 2025” recommendations adopted by Trump — welcomed the move.

“It’s a beautiful day to dismantle the Department of Education,” it said on X.

Traditionally the US government has had a limited role in education, with only about 13 percent of funding for primary and secondary schools coming from federal coffers, the rest being funded by states and local communities.
But federal funding is invaluable for low-income schools and students with special needs. And the federal government has been essential in enforcing key civil rights protections for students.

Trump, his billionaire advisor Musk and Musk’s Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE) have already dismantled several other government agencies, effectively crippling them by slashing programs and employees.

A similar move to dismantle the US Agency for International Development was halted earlier this week by a federal judge, who said the push likely violated the US Constitution.

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The UGC has however made it clear that admission to a certain university will depend on the institute’s admissions policy for these individuals, even after appearing to CUET. Foreign nationals will still be excluded from the CUET requirement despite the new regulations because institutions are free to set their policies for admitting international students on 25% supernumerary seats.

“International candidates, NRIs, and OCI candidates may also apply for CUET (UG) 2023 and may appear in any of the cities outside of India that have been designated as exam centers. Nonetheless, all international, NRI, and OCI applicants are urged to visit the university’s website, read any pertinent policies, and follow their advice,” said UGC Chairperson M. Jagadesh Kumar.

The National Testing Agency introduced 24 exam sites outside of the country this year for the CUET, the entrance exam to the majority of central universities, including Delhi University (DU). The candidates can apply for the exam at https://cuet.samarth.ac.in/ website.

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Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh unveiled the “VAIBHAV Fellowship,” which aims to enhance the research ecosystem of India’s higher educational institutions by facilitating academic and research partnerships with the best institutions worldwide through the mobility of researchers from abroad institutions to India.

The scholarship will be open to researchers from institutions that rank among the top 500 universities worldwide. The call for applications for ‘VAIBHAV Fellowship’ will be notified through the Department of Science and Technology’s website.

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In a award presentation ceremony at Sharjah Indian School Ghubaiba  he said, ‘he was very happy to  the students  in their distinguished achievements and efforts. The management of the school has been very sincere and supportive in the growth of Sharjah Indian School Ghubaiba.

This school is owned and managed by the Indian Association Sharjah. They have taken  up the progress and development of the school as their prime resposibility and duty and highly involved in the day to day activities of the school. The school community is grateful to the management for their  assiduous and staunch support

.

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Scheme is available in different disciplines proportionately

Abu Dhabi: Indian students living in the UAE and foreign nationals can now apply for 15 per cent of total seats at premier educational institutes in India.

The Indian Ministry of Education has notified that undergraduate admissions under Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA) Scheme for year 2022-23 will be made on the basis of the ranks obtained by students in the Joint Entrance Examination-Main (JEE – Main) conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA).

Nearly 15 per cent of total seats at National Institute of Technology (NITs), International Institute of Information Technology (IIITs), and centrally funded technical institutions, except Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have been reserved for this category of students.

The scheme is available in different disciplines proportionately. At present, approximately 3,900 undergraduate and 1,300 postgraduate seats are offered under the scheme.

DASA Scheme allows foreign nationals studying in any country, including India, wards of persons of Indian origin (PIOs), overseas citizen of India (OCI) and non-resident Indians (NRIs), to pursue technical education in India in NITs and other centrally funded technical institutions, excluding IITs.

“Boon for Indian students and foreign nationals. Apply now,” the Indian Embassy in said.

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SPEA noted that the decision was made after measures were taken to provide a healthy and safe environment for all participants, including the vaccination of most school staff.

SPEA said it has studied how to enable schools to receive students after applying necessary precautionary measures.

SPEA also carried out more than 2,000 monitoring visits since last September, launched an electronic platform to monitor infections in schools, and formed a committee to follow up on all infections. It  trained school administrators on guidelines for reopening schools and receiving students. It also held  workshops and training courses for schools regarding the distance learning system. Public awareness campaigns about the pandemic were launched through the Sharjah Education Academy.

SPEA also organised numerous courses and a health awareness campaign that receivved the participation of over 23,000 people.

Dr Muhadditha Al Hashimi, Chairperson of SPEA, said the pandemic strengthened the bonds of cooperation and unleashed qualitative ideas and initiatives, which contributed to the success of the education system that SPEA adopted. These efforts reinforced the need to return to the face-to-face education system.

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With the Indian government’s decision to cancel Class XII board exams this year, students, teachers and parents of CBSE schools in the UAE are relieved and happy. Parents and students, who had been expressing their anguish over the uncertainty and unending wait, can now proceed with university admissions.

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) also announced on June 1 that the Indian School Certificate (ISC) exams for Class 12 have been cancelled.

This decision was taken following at a high level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 1 taking into consideration the health and safety of students due to the intense second wave of Covid-19 pandemic sweeping India. The number of children affected by the current wave of Covid-19 in India has also seemingly had a role to play in the decision.

Hashtags such as #CancelBoardExams and #ModijiSave12thStudents was trending on social media until the government announcement.

CBSE-affiliated school principals in the UAE have welcomed the move. However, some expressed reservations about the assessment as most internal assessments in grade 12 were conducted online this year and chances of unfair scores were high compared to onsite exams.

Students will be evaluated ‘on an objective criteria and time-bound manner’, the details of which will be released later. The Class 12 result is likely to include the performance of a student in Grade 9, 10 and 11. Students will also have an option to appear for exams later if they wish, when it is safe.

Some students were skeptical about the assessment criteria. Petitions supported by students are being filed to Indian authorities to formulate aptitude-based admission criteria for students seeking admission to professional courses.

Apart from local colleges and those in India, many students in the UAE head to the US, UK or rest of Europe for higher studies.

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It’s Friday afternoon and being a weekly holiday in Kuwait, both the parents of 15-year-old Aditya are having their siesta while the teenager is immersed in his GrainEd session by a Malayali finance enthusiast in New York on the role of stock markets in a liberal economy and how they work. But Aditya is not alone. There is Clemi from Alappuzha, Deepak from New Castle, Shreya from Bangalore and there are around 30 other grade 10-12 kids like him in the class. Of them, Deepak is more than 8,000 kms away, outside Newcastle upon Tyne. It is morning there in the UK and sitting at his computer, Deepak also is barefoot and ready for the hour-long session on how businesses raise their investments. The high school freshman puts on a headset with a microphone and clicks on Zoom that will link him through the Internet to his mentor, Pradeepan Kunhiraman in New York while the class is also joined by other students scattered in three or four various time zones away.

Though COVID forced schools to go online, those classes did not go universal and wider using www’s biggest advantage but remained school-specific even in the era of digital classrooms. But then look at what GraindEd achieved, a crowd-sourced online learning platform founded and run by four engineering classmates sitting in three corners of the world? Govt Engineering College, Thrissur, their alma mater, was the only common spirit the foursome did have before they found their unique passion for excellence in each other, long after they parted ways with engineering degrees. It was after  coming up in life in their own individual ways, Satish, Sherry, Feroze and Shyam, presently in Thrissur, Muscat, Boston and New York respectively, founded GrainEd as a not-for-profit organisation in 2016 to impart online education meted out by working professionals and not by professional teachers.

It took a couple of years and fifty plus classroom and online sessions for the team to prototype and fine tune the alternate educational model based on pedagogic method of “known to unknown”, application-based learning and integrated curriculum which is global and syllabus-agnostic. The idea struck its big moment in early 2020 when the world caught covid and online education became popular even in rural India.

Within one year, the portal has conducted 500+ sessions by more than 40 professionals across the world in successful careers in different domains like engineering to music, catering to mining, movies to scientific research and finance to history. Dr Rajiv Mohanraj, neurosurgeon at NHS, UK to Dr Najeeb Kuzhiyil, Scientist at Exxon Mobil, USA to Sybille Sajeet, Engineering Manager at Qatar to Nidhi Jain Seth, CEO from Delhi to Rajesh Muttath, Advocate from Malaysia to Dr Arun Thankom, Professor at Essex University, UK to Rohin Narayanan, Scientist at Large Hydron Collider, USA to Dr Seena Devaki, Adolescent Psychiatrist from UK – the profiles of voluntary mentors are telling!  The beneficiary students? Again, from across the world.

“What makes GrainEd different is the encouragement for students to freely ask questions and the interest mentors display to answer all of them citing real life examples,” according to Dhanushree Suresh, one of the regular students from Kuwait.

“Till date, these kids have had a combined 12,000 student hours spent on our live and interactive classes and lately, the momentum has caught up really well,” explains Satish Kumar, one of those four founders. Most of the sessions are around 60 minutes long and parents and students can register through the portal www.grain-ed.com which provides the schedule, topics and meeting ID for each session. Notes, past session videos and offline activities are also managed through this portal.  “It’s alternate education at its best as it’s meted out by working professionals and does not depend too much on theories which the students would be already flooded upon by their conventional classes though done online now,” Miriam Joseph, a parent from Bangalore, said.

Mr. Satish said all of the sessions are done live with interactive participation from students and once complete, will be available on YouTube as videos. Focus is on imparting fundamentals and the unique approach of professionals based on application-oriented training methods make all the difference here.

For instance, one of the recent sessions was by a mentor from Oman named Ms. Tessy Roy Varghese and was participated by 46 students, from India, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and UK. “Our aim is to make learning interesting and holistic, making children to be confident and self-reliant. The classes are taken voluntarily by working professionals and almost all the courses are integrated with linkage to multiple subjects. The access is absolutely free and restricted to first registered 100 students for any course which is the maximum capacity set for the Zoom sessions. Our intent is to build a crowd-sourced learning platform in Wiki-model wherein professionals from around the world can voluntarily disseminate acquired knowledge for the benefit of aspiring students sans borders. Also, many institutions including schools, libraries and social organizations are partnering with us to take the platform to masses”, he explained.

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All Class X students were auto-promoted to Grade XI following the cancellation of board exams — scheduled from May 4 to June — by CBSE and ICSE.

On May 1, the CBSE released the assessment criteria for Class 10 board exams. Students will be evaluated on the basis of marks obtained in the tests and exams held during the academic year. They will be assessed out of a maximum of 100 marks for each subject. While 20 marks have to be submitted by the schools as internal assessment, the remaining 80 marks will be based on scores in periodic tests, half yearly or mid-term exams and pre-board examinations, the board said.

For students who have not appeared in any of the assessments conducted by the school, the school may conduct an offline, online or telephonic one-to-one assessment and record documentary evidence of it.

CBSE will also provide grace marks while computing the result if students do not obtain the minimum marks to qualify the exams.

“In case after application of grace marks policy by the Board, any student is not able to meet the qualifying criterion, he/she will be placed in “Essential Repeat” or “Compartment” category,” it added.

The Class 10 board examination result for 2021 is scheduled to be released on June 20.

Indian schools in the UAE have begun classes for Grade XI after the Board cancelled the Grade X final exams.

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As per the ICSE (class 10) revised timetable, no exams have been scheduled on May 13 and May 15 due to “unavoidable circumstances”.

The class 10 Economics (Group II Elective) exam, which was earlier scheduled for May 13, will now be held on May 4. Art Paper 2 (Nature Drawing/ Painting) exam, which was scheduled for May 15, has been rescheduled to May 22. Art Paper 3 (Original Composition) and Art Paper 4 (Applied Art) will be conducted on May 29 and June 5 respectively.

As per the ISC (Class XII) revised timetable, no examinations have been scheduled on May 13, 15, and June 12, 2021, subsequently some changes have been made in the timetable.

“The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), which is class 10 exam, will be conducted from May 5 to June 7. The Indian School Certificate Examination (ISC), which is class 12 exam, will be conducted from April 8 to June 16,” said Gerry Arathoon, CICSE’s Chief Executive and Secretary.

“The results will be issued through the convenors to the heads of schools by July. The results will not be available from office of council in New Delhi and no queries will be entertained from candidates, parents or guardians,” he added.

Usually, the CICSE board exams are conducted in February-March. However, the exams have been delayed this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts board exams around the same time every year, has also deferred its exams to May-June this year.

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Simon Albrecht, a scientist with Aarhus University and his colleagues have found two stars that rotate backwards in a planetary system that is 897 light-years away from the Earth. The system, namely, K2-290 consists of three stars and has two planets orbiting the main star, K2-290 A.

Generally, in the planetary system, the planets and their stars rotate in the same direction. For example in our solar system, the Sun spins in almost the exact same direction as Earth and other seven planets.

According to the scientists, when K2-290 A is compared with both planets’ orbits, its rotational axis is tilted by approximately 124 degrees, which indicates that the star spins in the opposite direction to its two orbiting planets.

Even though this misalignment has been observed before in other planetary systems, the reason given for the misalignment is the turbulence during star formation as stated in other theories.

However, Albrecht and his colleagues maintained that the whole system is misaligned because of the presence of a companion star perhaps K2-290 B, which could have exerted gravitational forces that moved the disc.

K2-290 is considered unique because both planets are orbiting in the same plane. This further indicates that there is history to the planetary system after the spinning molecular cloud had evolved to become a star.

According to the reports by New Scientist, Chris Watson at Queen’s University Belfast, UK said that the fact that planets appear to be coplanar means that maybe it wasn’t a dynamically violent mechanism that caused them to migrate, as he hints the process towards the disc.

“There are a lot of ways one can interpret the spin-orbit misalignment. However, one assumes that the actual planetary disc was aligned with the whole star in the first place,” he added.

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Aatmanirbharta means self-reliance. The word was chosen by an advisory panel of language experts Kritika Agrawal, Poonam Nigam Sahay and Imogen Foxell, news agency PTI reports.

The Oxford Hindi word of the year is a word or expression that is chosen to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance.

Oxford Languages, in their statement, said that as PM Modi announced India’s Covid-19 recovery package in the wake of the pandemic, he emphasised on the need to become self-reliant as a country, as an economy, as a society and as individuals, so as to navigate the perils of the novel coronavirus crisis.

There was a massive increase in the usage of aatmanirbharta following the Prime Minister’s address, highlighting its increased prominence as a phrase and concept in the public lexicon of India, the statement said.

The major success of the entire Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign is the large-scale manufacturing of the Covid-19 vaccine in India. During the Republic Day parade, the Department of Biotechnology highlighted the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign and showcased the Covid-19 vaccine development process in its tableau at Rajpath.

“In an unprecedented year, aatmanirbharta found resonance with a wide cross-section of people as it is seen to be an answer to the revival of a Covid-impacted economy,” Sivaramarkrishnan Venkateswaran, Oxford University Press India managing director, said.

This word “gives a voice to the strength displayed by young and old alike in dealing with extended periods of isolation, lack of familial support, loss of livelihoods and other difficulties through sheer determination and self-reliance”, Kritika Agrawal said.

Previous Hindi words of the year are Aadhar (2017), Nari Shakti (2018) and Samvidhaan (2019).

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Based in Thiruvananthapuram, Chempaka Kindergarten was founded in 1984 by Vernon and Daphne Gomez with the objective of developing a holistic approach to pre-school education. With 11 branches in Thiruvananthapuram, Chempaka has grown to become a reputed quality education provider. Proven highly successful with numerous little preschoolers over the years, the ‘Chempaka Way’ has now been extended to include all levels of schooling.

In 2019, the group was acquired by UAE-based Athena Education which found it more in line with its own philosophy of educating the young generation. What sets the schools apart is its stress-free learning pedagogy or as they call it The Chempaka Way.

L’école Chempaka “Silver Rocks”, L’ècole Chempaka “Serene Valley,” ICSE curriculum Schools and L’ècole Chempaka International, a Cambridge Pathway School are the schools run by the society. With wide recognition from higher educational institutions in India and across the world, the Cambridge IGCSE and AS & A Level Courses offer pupils from the Chempaka a wide range of opportunities.

A new kindergarten was opened at Venjaramodu near Thiruvananthapuram recently, making it the 11the kindergarten of the group. A new campus of L’école Chempakan International was inaugurated at Jawahar Nagar A-Street in Thiruvananthapuram by Ms. Sheeja, Director of L’école Chempaka Society for Educare, on January 14, 2021.

L’ecole Chempaka is a premier higher secondary educational institution based at Edavacode, Sreekariyam, Thiruvanthapuram and L’école Chempaka Serene Valley, Kallayam, opened on June 1 2015. A branch of L’ecole Chempaka, Serene Valley, Kallayam for Grades I and II only (for the academic year 2020-21) has been opened at Udarasirmony Road, Vellayambalam offering a choice of location to children of Grades I and II. With wide recognition from higher educational institutions in India and across the world, the Cambridge IGCSE and AS & A Level Courses offer our students a wide range of opportunities.

The Cambridge IGCSE programme is offered in Grades VIII – X and AS & A Level Courses in grades XI-XII.

For the past five years Chemapka has also started IGCSE and A Levels. The school has good results and their students are placed in best foreign universities for their education.

Based in Dubai, Athena Education is a dynamic education group dedicated to delivering quality learning for all students. The company is committed to developing students as outstanding, independent learners both online and in the classroom. It aims to ensure that all learners become self-confident, are secure and achieve at the highest level they can.
V.N.P. Raj, a banker-turned-educationalist, is the founder and Managing Director of Athena Education. Mr. Raj believes that, “Learning is to liberate oneself from the fear of the self. Knowledge without confidence is like a filled balloon with a hole. What mankind needs is the confidence to observe, think and execute what he or she has learned and experienced.”

The company’s vision is to enable all students to develop strong literacy, academic, innovation and social skills which enable them to become self-confident and significant contributors to the local and global communities, who have full confidence in their abilities.

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Students and parents as well as distinguished guests attended the Lamp Lighting ceremony at its campus.

L’école Chempaka Society for Educare runs and manages three schools and 11 kindergartens, It has carved a niche for itself in the last three decades. L’école Chempaka “Silver Rocks”, L’ècole Chempaka “Serene Valley,” ICSE curriculum Schools and L’ècole Chempaka International, a Cambridge Pathway School are the schools run by the society.

What sets the schools apart are their stress-free learning pedagogy or as they call it The Chempaka Way. The group has 10 kindergartens in the capital city and is easily the largest early childhood education providers. A new kindergarten was opened at Venjaramodu near Thiruvananthapuram recently, making it the 11the kindergarten of the group.

The Chempaka group of schools is now owned and run by Athena Education which found it more in line with its own philosophy of educating the young generation. The very aim of the school is the develop children who are confident and competent to meet the aspirations of a future society.

L’ecole Chempaka is a premier higher secondary educational institution based at Edavacode, Sreekariyam, Thiruvanthapuram and L’école Chempaka Serene Valley, Kallayam, opened on June 1 2015. A branch of L’ecole Chempaka, Serene Valley, Kallayam for Grades I and II only (for the academic year 2020-21) has been opened at Udarasirmony Road, Vellayambalam offering a choice of location to children of Grades I and II. With wide recognition from higher educational institutions in India and across the world, the Cambridge IGCSE and AS & A Level Courses offer our students a wide range of opportunities.

The Cambridge IGCSE programme is offered in Grades VIII – X and AS & A Level Courses in grades XI-XII.

For the past five years Chemapka has been IGCSE and A Levels. The school has good results and their students are placed in best foreign universities for their education

There are more than around 100 students in the Cambridge curriculum. The Chempaka went global when Athena Education, Dubai was handed over the charge to carry on the legacy with international standards and global networks.

Based in Dubai, Athena Education is a dynamic education group dedicated to delivering quality learning for all students. The company is committed to developing students as outstanding, independent learners both online and in the classroom. It aims to ensure that all learners become self-confident, are secure and achieve at the highest level they can.

V.N.P. Raj, a banker-turned-educationalist, is the founder and Managing Director of Athena Education. Mr. Raj believes that, “Learning is to liberate oneself from the fear of the self. Knowledge without confidence is like a filled balloon with a hole. What mankind needs is the confidence to observe, think and execute what he or she has learned and experienced.”

The company’s vision is vision is to enable all students to develop strong literacy, academic, innovation and social skills which enable them to become self-confident and significant contributors to the local and global communities, who have full confidence in their abilities.

In 2020, a branch of L’école Chempaka International, opened in Kochi. Located in a green environment near Vallathol Junction at Trikkakara, the schools is in perfect harmony with Mother Nature to learn, explore and play.
The school is headed by Ms. Sudha Menon, who hopes to develop the school into the greenest one in the entire country when the school moves into its new facility in the coming years.

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Vedhik IAS Academy, which offers high-quality online training for civil services aspirants, opened its off campus at Kattakada near Thiruvananthapuram on January 6.

Inaugurating the centre located at Church Road in Kattakada, I B Satheesh MLA, expressed the hope that the off campus would provide opportunities for civil service aspirants from rural areas to gain access to high quality training.

“Lack of opportunities often come in the way of highly talented students from rural background gaining entry into the civil services.  If proper opportunities are provided and their confidence boosted, they will be able to excel in competitive examinations and score high ranks,” Mr. Satheesh said.

Noting that two youths from the Kattakada assembly constituency had secured high ranks in the recent civil services examination, he said institutions like Vedhik IAS Academy has a key role to play in spotting and training talented students.

Mr. N Sakthan, former Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, who was the chief guest, said the off campus of the academy would be a boon for bright students who fail to come up in life due to financial constraints and lack of opportunities.

Reverend Biju Thampy, Vice-president of New India Church of God and founder of Vision Rescue, offered prayer and blessings at the ceremony.

Akku, the first student of the Kattakada centre, was given the Vedhik Erudite Scholarship sponsored by the Young People’s Christian Association (YPCA). Akku is the first student from the transgender community at Vedhik IAS Academy.

Vedhik IAS Academy’s Marketing Vice-president Shri Simon Tharakan and Ward Member Shri Satheendran Kattakada were among those spoke.  The centre director Manoj T Kurien welcomed the gathering and Associate Director Robin Julius proposed the vote of thanks.

The academy, with presence in 14 countries including the Gulf, has 129 centres in India and abroad. It has campuses in all the Educational Districts in Kerala.

This is the third off campus of Vedhik IAS Academy in the district, other centres being located in Thiruvananthapuram city and Neyyattinkara.

The Academy recently came out with a unique package that provides civil services coaching for aspirants from class VIII till the age of 32 at a one-time registration fee of just Rs 29,999.

Besides, the institution has rolled out a Vedhik Erudite Scholarship Programme with one-school-one-IAS as the motto, assuring free training to brilliant students who are economically backward. The scheme, supported by sponsors, envisages enrollment of 10,000 boys and girls across Kerala. The beneficiaries will be selected by a panel headed by the head of the respective educational institutions.

The Kochi-headquartered Vedhik IAS Academy is helmed by India’s top retired IAS and IPS officers and distinguished academics. While the dean is Kerala’s former Director General of Police Dr Alexander Jacob, the Chancellor is Dr Babu Sebastian, former VC of MG and Kannur Universities in Kerala.

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In his endeavour towards the achievement of his life’s mission, many honours and accolades have come his way.

Dr.Oommen David has been conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani Award for outstanding contributions done in the field of Education; Best Teacher’s Award from Rotary Club of Dombivli; Ragasudha Award for meritorious service in social work; JWALA Education Award 2010; Rotary Ratna Award 2010 received from Rotary International President Nominee Kalyan Banerjee; Excellence Award 2011 from World Malayalee Council; Excellence in Education Award from Shri.Shankarnarayan, Governor of Maharashtra; Best Educationist Award from the Newspaper ‘Sunny News’; ‘Bharat Gaurav Ratna Award 2012’ from Union Minister Manish Tiwari.

He was conferred with the International Gold Star Millennium Award at Bangkok for his excellent contribution in the field of education.

The BharatiyaLokdhare Sahitya Kala Academy bestowed on him an award for his contribution towards the social and cultural ameliorations and for his dedication towards the noble cause of education.

He has also been conferred with Mother Teresa Gaurav Puraskar-2013 for exemplary work and stupendous contribution in the field of education from Human Rights Department.

During Kerala in Mumbai 6th Anniversary 2016, Dr.Oommen David was conferred with Achievement Award for excellence in the field of Education; the Kashmir to Kerala Social Foundation conferred the Best Educationist of Mumbai Award 2017; the Indian Journalist Compendium awarded Quality Excellence Award 2017; the True Indian Information & Guidance Society conferred him with True Indian Leading Light Award 2017 in appreciation of his being a leading educationist and Philanthropist; and the Educational Idol – Couple Award by Jwala Publications 2017.

As recently as May 2018, the Kites (TV Channel) Kerala recognised his with Award for contributions in educational field.

In February 2019, the PEET Alumini Silver Lines Award for exemplary services to the profession, society and to the Nation was conferred on him.

Dr.Oommen David was given the All India Malayalee (AIMA) Award of Appreciation in the presence of Minister Vinod Tawade in 2019 and the Education Excellence Award 2019 by Amchi Mumbai, a TV channel.

International recognition

In 2018, the British Parliament House, London recognised his contributions to society by conferring him with ‘Mahatma Gandhi Samman’.

On November 24, 2013, the Open International University for Complementary Medicine conferred upon Mr. Oommen David, Chairman of Holy Angels School and Junior College, the Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Literature (D.Litt) at a convocation function held during the proceedings of the World Congress of Integrated Medicines held at the Bandaranaike International Auditorium, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

This honour has been conferred on the basis of achievements in humanitarian services and merits of excellence. The Honorary Doctorate was conferred on Mr. David by Prof. Dr. Sir. J.U.Ligotzky, Director, European Representative, Germany.

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Beneath the smiling face is a man who with sheer grit and integrity built up an educational institution that is the pride of every Mumbaikar. As an institution builder, Dr.Oommen David has earned a reputation that few in the State of Maharashtra would dispute. Many honours that have come his way are testimony to Dr.Oommen David’s immense contribution in the field of education and social service.

Oommen David was born as the eldest of the two sons of CG David and Kunjamma of Nambalathu House, at Kuttamperur in Mannar, Chennithala. Since his maternal grandfather was a school teacher who was insistent that his sons and grandchildren should have sound education, there was no doubt that little Oommen would get the best of education.
Oommen David had his primary education at Kuttamperur Primary School and secondary education at Chennithala Mahatma High School to which he had to walks a few kilometres every day. After passing the Secondary School Leaving Certificate examination in flying colours, Oommen David joined St Berchman’s College in Changanassery, where he excelled in studies as well as drama. He was even selected as the best actor in college once. During this period he was staying in the college hostel.

Oommen David secured BSc and B.Ed from University of Kerala. His love for Shakespearean dramas saw him pursue his post-graduation in English literature from the Agra University. During his student days Oommen was a prolific writer in school and college magazines.

In 1974, after completing his studies, Oommen, in his search for a career that best suited his education, landed in Mumbai, then Bombay. He was fortunate enough to secure a teaching position in a school in Panvel where he spent one year. He then joined Model English School, Dombivli as a teacher, a job into which he put his heart and soul.
After a few years of teaching, due to his academic proficiency, administrative acumen and leadership qualities he became the Principal of the school at a young age. During his tenure as Principal, Model English School grew in stature and academic excellence. Oommen David spent 15 long years in the school, shaping its character and destiny, that is to say that he left an indelible imprint on the institution.

Oommen David also headed the St. Thomas English School in Kalyan as the Principal for ten years.
After working for many years as Principal, Oommen felt that his sublime ideas of education could find better expression if he could start an educational institution on his own. He initiated all the necessary steps towards this goal and in 1989 started the Holy Angels’ School and Junior College managed by the Trinity Educational Trust, which today is an institution of repute, known in Maharashtra and beyond.

It is an intense passion for sound human values that sustains Dr Oommen’s life vision and life mission. Holy Angels’ School is all that this great educationist visualised in an educational institution. It is what Oommen David envisages an ideal educational institution that would not be just a centre of academic excellence but one that would be in line with the philosophical ideas and moral convictions of the educationist that he is and that would form the vision and mission of the institution.

Dr Oommen has a deep understanding about the objectives of education. He feels that education must sharpen the intellect and purify the heart. Wisdom must be combined with compassion. A capacity for deep thinking and a habit of serene meditativeness should be inculcated in the minds and hearts of young students.
Although it had started with Maharashtra State Syllabus, it had switched over to the Central Board of Secondary Education in 2007. In fact the institution can be proud that it is the first school in Dombivli with the CBSE syllabus.

For Oommen David teaching is not a profession but service to humanity. He feels that the teacher-student relationship of yesteryears is missing in the modern world. If earlier the teacher was the sole source of knowledge, today there are many other sources as well and this may be a factor that led to the decline of the importance of a teacher.

If earlier, teaching was a dedicated profession and service to society, today most teachers see it only as a source of income. Teachers are also chasing a mirage and riches like any other professionals in the world. Teachers or gurus of yester years had few wants unlike now, Dr. David Oommen says.

He also holds the view that the system of education needs to be rebuilt with a national outlook. Education needs to be reworked with more stress on practical orientation and a new education policy should be implemented. Only then will a generation of talented youth would be created, Dr.Oommen David says.

Situated in the outskirts of Dombivli, spread over two acres of land dotted with luxuriant trees and ever green shrubs, Holy Angels’ School and Junior College has over 2,000 students coming from the different strata of society, irrespective of caste, creed and religion.

Dr. Oommen David sees former President of India Dr.Sarveppalli Radhakrishnan as his guru and follows in his footsteps. He gives a lot of importance to sports and games in moulding the character of young students.
According to Dr Oommen, “One of the chief objectives of education should be to widen the windows through which we view the world. Education should kindle a child’s imagination, broaden his vision and open for him the super highways of knowledge. The aim of education should be to convert the mind into a lining fountain and not a reservoir.”

“Principle-centered, value-based education is the need of the hour,” says Dr Oommen. He is of the opinion that in today’s educational system deep human values such as honesty, selfless service, a compassionate attitude to the economically and socially marginalised are being ignored. There is a mad pursuit towards temporal success and achievements and to stem this swelling tide of crass materialism the school has initiated lectures, seminars, debates, etc. on the core issues of sound human values. Dr Oommen believes that only a principle-centered, value based education can produce enlightened patriotic citizens.

Dr.Oommen David believes that the current crisis in education is less about declining test scores and more about the failure to provide the ‘education for citizenship’. Making students become more socially responsible represents an essential objective for today’s institutions. Creating social responsibility amongst students must become the purpose of the academic environment, as young people’s formation also means to create a high level of awareness about involving these young members of society in solving social problems.

Students’ social responsibilities mainly focus on taking responsibility for one’s own actions. It is a promise every student should make for the society while working for the social, cultural and, ecological causes. These responsibilities are ethically binding and propose that each person acts in such a way that minimizes the adverse effect to those immediately around them.

The well-known educationist believes that the primary duty of a student is to learn and acquire knowledge, improve their intellect and widen their mental capabilities. It is estimated that nearly 15 per cent of the total population of India consists of students. The students, therefore, constitute a great potential force capable of leading a nation to great heights of progress.

It is well said that the Destiny of a Nation is being shaped in her Classrooms.Dr.Oommen strongly believes that schools have a tremendous role to play in making better citizens of the country. School is the platform wherein students learn the good traits of life such as discipline, obedience, dutifulness, diligence, respect to elders, honesty, and patriotism. It is the duty of every student to acquire these fine qualities of life which will enable him/ her to stand in good stead in the future.

Students can play an important role in improving and strengthening the society and can also act as the guardians of society. It is their duty to fight against all evils existing in society. They have a tremendous responsibility to see that injustice, inequality, oppression, exploitation, corruption, criminalization of politics, communalism, casteism, misuse of public money, etc., are done away with. Students have great strength to oppose these evils of society.

Dr.Oommen says that students do pay a vital role in society and have a strong bearing on how a society is shaped in the forthcoming generations. The society should give students the love and encouragement due to them. When students are treated with due respect and responsibility, they will also live up to be responsible and respect the society in return. When they are recognized, they will have the motivation to work for a better society even by facing hardships rather than giving up in between.

Family

Leelamma Oommen, who was the Principal of a School and Jr. College in Thane, is Oommen’s life partner who has stood by him through thick and thin. The couple has two sons, Bijoy and Manoj. Bijoy Oommen, who has an MA, B.Ed and M.Phil, is the principal of Holy Angels’ School and Junior College at present. Manoj Oommen is working in the United Kingdom.

http://hm9.b0c.mytemp.website/honours-and-award-for-oommen-david/

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The eleventh Annexe of Chempaka Kindergarten will be opened at Venjarumoodu, in Thiruvananthapuram district at 4.30 pm on December 31. Well-known film actor and national award winner Suraj Venjarumoodu will be the chief guest on the occasion.

Chempaka Kindergarten was founded in 1984 by Vernon and Daphne Gomez with the objective of developing a holistic approach to pre-school education. With ten branches in Thiruvananthapuram, Chempaka has grown to become a reputed quality education provider. Proven highly successful with numerous little preschoolers over the years, the ‘Chempaka Way’ has now been extended to include all levels of schooling.

In 2019, the group was acquired by UAE-based Athena Education which found it more in line with its own philosophy of educating the young generation.

In the crowded school education space in Thiruvananthapuram, L’école Chempaka Society for Educare has carved a niche for itself in the last three decades.

What sets the schools apart is its stress-free learning pedagogy or as they call it The Chempaka Way.

L’école Chempaka “Silver Rocks”, L’ècole Chempaka “Serene Valley,” ICSE curriculum Schools and L’ècole Chempaka International, a Cambridge Pathway School are the schools run by the society.

With wide recognition from higher educational institutions in India and across the world, the Cambridge IGCSE and AS & A Level Courses offer pupils from the Chempaka a wide range of opportunities.

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This extraordinary find is discovered in the archaeological park’s Regio V site, which is not yet open to the public.

Traces of nearly 2,000-year-old food were found in some of the deep terracotta jars containing hot food which the shop keeper transformed into a counter with circular holes.

The front of the counter was decorated with frescoes, some painted with animals that were ingredients in the food, such as chicken and ducks.

There was a multi-sided counter with deep vessels for hot food, similar to soup containers.

Archaeologists also found a decorated bronze drinking bowl known as patera, ceramic jars used for cooking stews and soups, wine flasks and amphora. They also traces of pork, fish, snails and beef had been found in the containers.

“This is an extraordinary find. It’s the first time we are excavating an entire termopolium,” said Massimo Ossana, director of the Pompeii archaeological park.

Pompeii was buried in a volcanic eruption in 79AD and is one of Italy’s most popular tourist attractions.

Nearly 80 fast food sites have been found at Pompeii but this is the first time an eatery has been entirely excavated, he added.

Around 13,000 people were living in Pompeii, 14 miles from Naples, when it was buried in ash, pumice and dust.

The ruins were discovered in the 16th century and excavations began around 1750. Around two-thirds of the town has been uncovered.

Pompeii, one of Italy’s most popular attractions and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a rare documentation of Greco-Roman life.

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Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari, is among the 18 astronauts selected by Nasa for its Moon and beyond mission. Nasa on Wednesday named the 18 astronauts — half of them women — who will train for its Artemis moon-landing programme.

Mr Jon, 43, a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, MIT, and US Naval Test Pilot School, is the only Indian-American on the list.

He was selected by Nasa to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. He reported for duty in August 2017 and having completed the initial astronaut candidate training is now eligible for a mission assignment.

“My fellow Americans, I give you the heroes of the future who will carry us back to the Moon and beyond: the Artemis Generation,” Vice President Mike Pence said at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday.

“It really is amazing to think that the next man and the first woman on the Moon are among the names that we just read…We started today reflecting on a great hero of the past. The Artemis Generation are the heroes of American space exploration in the future,” Pence said after he introduced the members of the Artemis Team during the eighth National Space Council meeting.

The astronauts on the Artemis Team come from a diverse range of backgrounds, expertise and experience. Most of the astronauts in the group are in their 30s or 40s. The oldest is 55, the youngest 32.

The agency’s modern lunar exploration programme will land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 and establish a sustainable human lunar presence by the end of the decade, Nasa said.

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Gitanjali was selected from more than 5,000 nominees for the title of ‘Kid of the Year’ as she “stood out for creating a global community of young innovators and inspiring them to pursue their goals”, according to Time.

“ If I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it,” she said.

She was interviewed by actor and activist Angelina Jolie for the TIME special.

While talking about her journey in innovation and science, Gitanjali said that a lot of her inspirations were drawn from India. “A lot of the inspiration that I have drawn in from India. Looking at the water problem in India helped me understand how much of a widespread problem lead water is, especially in India”, she said.

She believed that everyone has the right to clean water which led to her innovation, “It is such a tragedy that people don’t have clean water to drink. Everyone has the right to clean water.”
Gitanjali revealed that she has been approached by multiple institutions in India and would love to see those institutions reach out to their budding scientists too.

“When I was much younger, I was told to go fetch water with my cousin from a well. My grandma would boil it and then we would drink it. We walked a far distance to get the water. I remember taking a sip of it and for the next week I was sick,” she said.

She further said that it was one of the hardest experiences of her life, being only 4 or 5 years old at the time. The incident stuck with her, reminding her why clean water is so important for people all over the world. Marie Curie is her greatest inspiration.

She said that her cyberbullying app ‘Kindly’ is an artificial intelligence-based service to detect or prevent cyber bullying. This identifies words or phrases that might be considered bullying.

Gitanjali is currently working on a ‘ reporting’ feature in looking at the trends and report future cyber bullying to someone who is parent or guardian.

Gitanjali Rao was previously named “ America’s top young scientist” for inventing a quick, low-cost test to detect lead-contaminated water.

Time magazine began naming its ‘ Man of the Year’ in 1972 and later changed it to Person of the Year.

Last year, Greta Thunberg, the Swedish school girl who inspired a global movement to fight climate change. She was the youngest person ever to be chosen by the magazine.

Time said the new Kid of the Year title was a “ barometer for the rising leaders of America’s youngest generation”.

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