Banks can't insist on minimum 60% marks to extend educational loans: Madras high court

CHENNAI: Banks cannot fix 60% of marks as minimum required percentage for extending education loan to students, Madras high court has ruled.

A division bench of Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, coming to the aid of an engineering student who got admission under management quota, said on Wednesday that it was incorrect on the part of the bank to deny loan to him on the ground that he has scored only 59% of marks and not the minimum required percentage of 60%.

After being denied an education loan by the Indian Overseas Bank, A Ravi moved the high court for a direction. In June last year, a single judge directed the bank to extend loan to the boy, saying banks cannot deny loans on the ground of minimum marks percentage, that too after he is given admission under management quota.

The bank filed the present appeal saying candidates who have secured 60% marks and above alone are eligible to get education loan as they alone can be treated as meritorious candidates.

Rejecting the submissions, the bench said, "The Government of India launched the scheme of providing educational loans to the economically disadvantaged people, through nationalised banks. Sanction of educational loan is not free, but it is repayable with interest at a later point of time, of course, at reduced rate of interest. The whole idea behind the scheme is to finance the economically disadvantaged people. It is a social commitment for the upliftment of weaker, vulnerable and other sections of the society. It is a social welfare measure. In a way, it is some sort of social banking."

The judges said public sector banks and other financial institutions should bear the government's policy in mind while sanctioning educational loans covering the genuine, reasonable and justified educational expenses and relieve the students and their parents from pressing financial crisis.

In this regard, the judges also pointed out that a review meeting of top bankers decided on September 27, 2013, that they would extend loans to meritorious students who get admission under management quota. It is also stated in the decision that loan applications have to be disposed of within a period of 15 days to one month.

Budget 2014: Need of the hour in education

Manish Thakur lists the important educational issues the upcoming budget needs to address 

Education is the key driver for achieving a socio-economic transformation and a concerted policy focus on this sector is crucial for reaping the demographic dividend in the global knowledge economy. 

Appreciably, the past few years have witnessed a sustained increase in budgetary allocation to education. During the 11th plan period (2007-2012), central expenditure on education grew at 25% per year. However, public expenditure on education as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) continues to hover around a meagre 4%. 

Suggest school syllabi to boost innovation: Irani to IITs

NEW DELHI: The government plans to formulate a national innovation policy that would stress on innovation at the school level, according to human resource development minister Smriti Irani. 

Apprising directors and chairmen of 16 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) about the policy at a retreat in Goa Sunday, Irani asked them to suggest curriculum changes at the school level that would not only align with higher education institutions but also help set up innovation labs at the district level across India with a view to infusing a culture of research and innovation among students. 

Irani asked the institutes to set up cultures of excellence in central universities, said a ministry statement.

1,000 foreign students keen to join Nalanda university

PATNA: More than 1,000 students from 40 countries have sought admission in Nalanda university. 

The university is scheduled to start its academic session from September 1 with two schools: School of Historical Sciences and School of Environment and Ecology, an official said Friday. 

The university has received application for admission from the US, Russia, England, Spain, Germany, Japan, Myanmar, Austria, Sri Lanka and West Asian and South East Asian countries. 

"This year only 20 students will be selected in each of two schools," the official said. 

Six faculty members each for the two schools have been appointed. They are from New Zealand, England, the US, Singapore and other countries. 

The university is set to come up on 446 acres of land at Rajgir, 10km from the site of the ancient university in Nalanda, about 100km southeast of Patna. 

The university will be fully residential, like the ancient Nalanda university. It will offer courses in science, philosophy and spirituality as well as social sciences.

Marginal drop in Delhi University's 2nd cutoff list holds out hope

NEW DELHI: The second cutoff list for undergraduate admissions in Delhi University colleges, issued on Thursday, holds out some hope. Admissions are open in all colleges as well as for all courses.

At over 50 colleges, admission is still open in Commerce though the drop in cut-offs is marginal at most of them. Seats are also available in Economics in about 28 colleges and in English in over 30. The two subjects in which admissions have closed in most colleges are, surprisingly, History and Political Science, with the number of admissions more than the sanctioned seats by very wide margins in some.

The drop in cutoffs, though marginal, will see withdrawal of admissions and a second round in many colleges. Admissions based on the second list begin on July 4.

Shri Ram College of Commerce has issued a second cut-off for commerce with a marginal drop of only 0.25 percentage points — from a range of 97.5%-99.25% to 97.25%-99%, which is likely to result in withdrawals from other colleges. Most colleges have been very cautious about reducing the cut-off in this subject. Lady Shri Ram College has lowered its commerce cut-off by the same amount as SRCC — from 97.5% to 97.25%. Kamala Nehru College, Ram Lal Anand and Acharya Narendra Dev have dropped the BCom (H) cut-off by a single percentage point.

Economics seats are available in several north campus colleges, including Hindu, Hansraj, Ramjas, Indraprastha, Daulat Ram and Miranda House. LSR and Kamala Nehru too have some seats.

After Commerce, English is the subject still available in maximum number of colleges. It is open in Hansraj, Hindu, Miranda and LSR, but the drop in cut-offs is generally low. For instance, Hansraj and Hindu have reduced the cutoff by half a percentage point each; LSR has been more generous and reduced it by three marks (0.75 percentage points); SGTB Khalsa has dropped it from 96.5%-97.5% to 94.25%-95.5%.

In sciences, Chemistry and Physics are still available. Seats are available in Hansraj, Hindu, Miranda House and Sri Venkateswara and the difference between the first and second list is more pronounced in these subjects. The cutoff for Physics at Miranda has reduced from 96.33% to 95%; at Hansraj, from 97.33% to 96.33%; and at Sri Venkateswara, from 96% to 94.33%. There is a similar drop in Chemistry as well. Seats across science courses in a majority of the off-campus colleges are also available.

The response to the programme courses — reintroduced after the rollback of FYUP — has been discouraging and the cut-offs for these, fixed without any applications, have been very high. Principals say there have been few applicants for courses that were till 2012 very popular because most still don't know they are being offered. The cut-offs have reduced in BA Programme across DU — from 82% to 76% at Deshbandhu; from 90% to 82% at Ram Lal Anand; and 80% to 72% at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

Poor pupil-teacher ratio plagues Urdu schools

HYDERABAD: More than 80,000 students of Urdu medium schools, enrolled in 2012-14, in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are victims of a poor pupil-teacher ratio (PTR). Statistics show that of the 2,682 Urdu medium schools in both states, more than 700 primary schools have a PTR of one teacher instructing more than 30 students, a violation of rules prescribed by Right to Education (RTE) Act.

Officials of the school education department pointed out that the PTR, as prescribed by the RTE Act, for primary schools is one teacher for every 30 students and for upper primary schools is one teacher for every 35 students.

Further, schools with student strength between 150 and 200 are to have a headmaster with five teachers.

IIT-B first choice for 44 out of top 50 rankers

MUMBAI: IIT-Bombay continues to be the top choice for the best of the young brains in the country. The institute has retained its position as the most sought-after IIT in the country, with Delhi and Chennai coming a distant second and third.

A number of factors have been responsible for this, ranging from importance given to streams over geography, from placement records to newer short-term courses on offer, tell students. Of the top 100 rankers in JEE-Advanced 2014, almost all have opted for IIT-B computer science as their first choice. But 58 were allotted seats at IIT-B in computer science in the first round, followed by Delhi, where 36 of the top 100 have been admitted
(see box).

While 58 of the top 100 rankers joined IIT-B, the number has fallen a bit, compared to 67 in 2013. Thirty-six students were allotted seats at IIT-D, as opposed to last year's 29. IIT-B director Devang Khakhar said he was happy that 44 of the top 50 rankers have opted for the Powai institute. "Students may have placed more importance to the stream over the location and once seats in computer science were filled up, they looked at the other IITs," he said. IIT-B has 44 seats for computer science and engineering in the open category.

Of the top 10 rankers, nine have opted for computer science at IIT-B and the only female candidate in the top 10 ranks, Aditi, who got the seventh rank, chose to go for computer science at IIT-Delhi. Computer science was among the most popular choices at IIT-B and IIT-D followed by electrical engineering among the top 100 ranks. Only one signed up for a dual degree programme in computer science at IIT-D and the rest chose the flagship BTech programmes at IIT-B, IIT-D, IIT-M and IIT-K.

This year, the IIT-Madras zone, home to popular coaching hub Andhra Pradesh, cornered half the seats in the most elite club of the JEE (Advanced); 50 of the top 100 ranks were from the zone. But only four among the top 100 are headed for IIT-Madras, though up to 30% top rankers used to choose Chennai earlier. Food apparently is the reason behind the dip. "Students have often said IIT-M does not have the kind of food that Bombay or Delhi have. But all our students are good, whether they are in the top 100 or below," said an IIT-M dean.

Twenty years ago, IIT-Kharagpur was the engineering mecca but the oldest IIT did not receive a single student from the top 100 this year. Even the new kids on the block, IIT Roorkee and Guwahati haven't got a single student from the top slots. IIT-Guwahati senior officials attributed this to the low representation of students from the Northeast.