[EnglishSTF-6998] Studying Childhood in India, Prof Krishna Kumar. Commentary - Vol. 51, Issue No. 23, 04 Jun, 2016

[Gurumurthy K]

 Dear teachers,

Perhaps our school system does grave injustice to childhood  this
article provokes serious thinking...

Instead of focusing on SSLC Pass percent, can we see how many students (and
girls and dalit students) joyfully join PU education, to study what they
are interested in  comments welcome

regards,
Guru

Received knowledge in the area of child development suggests that the
child’s horizons widen as physical and intellectual capacities grow between
the ages of five and 11, that is, the primary school years. In the case of
girls, the curtailing of their physical movement begins precisely during
these years, long before puberty sets in with its tougher regime.
Body-centric consciousness and active denial of intellect are crucial
aspects of the socialisation of girls in the family. Custom and ritual are
implicated in the upbringing of girls in ways that have no parallel in the
childhood of boys and which clash with the aims of education from the start
of schooling.

To think that the girl entering the gates of the school in her uniform
leaves behind that other girl who learns to live all aspects of her daily
existence in accordance with custom and ritual is to invite a fantasy to
guide our analysis. Child marriage has statistically declined, but
preparing the girl’s mind to hold matrimony and motherhood as her highest
goals is common, everyday wisdom. These and numerous other aspects of
gendering make a compelling case to say that our common construction of
childhood is not compatible with girlhood.

*Caste of Childhood*

Caste presents another frame that needs to be fully incorporated into
future attempts to study childhood in India. The recognition of its
strength and resilience as a social institution is yet to be applied to the
study of caste as a powerful agency of socialisation during childhood.
Leela Dube’s analysis of gendering points towards the role that
caste-specific customs and rituals might play in the early and later parts
of a girl’s childhood. In the case of the boys’ acculturation into the
caste system, there is some knowledge available in autobiographical
literature. Autobiographies written by Dalit writers such as Om Prakash
Valmiki are valuable sources of knowledge in the vast territory where the
school encounters—or avoids—caste as a system that legitimises
discriminatory practices.

There is little doubt that the role of education as an agency of
modernisation tends to get exaggerated when we assume that an educated
person will be less caste conscious. The same can be said about the role of
urbanisation. Both such assumptions need to be questioned if the role of
caste as a major agency of socialisation during childhood is to be fully
comprehended. Such appreciation is necessary for childhood to evolve, in
the long run, as a social category in India.
A look at the various ideas of childhood that have been dominant in India
over the past century or so, and what they mean for parenting, pedagogy and
politics in the new century. Our ability to use childhood as an analytical
term depends on the amount and type of knowledge we possess about
parenting, teaching, children’s literature, and children themselves—both
past and present. These are distinct areas of scholarly endeavour, and none
of them is particularly well-developed in our academic institutions. So,
when we discuss childhood, we must recognise the limitations set upon our
aims by the availability of knowledge. A major dimension of the limitations
relates to the diversity of circumstances in which childhood unfolds in our
country.

Diversity is a deceptive term; it highlights attractive differences arising
from geography and culture, while seeking to keep out of view the
differences arising from inequality rooted in economic conditions and the
caste hierarchy. When applied to childhood, diversity also tends to place
under a cover the sharp differentiation induced by culture over gender. It
may not be all that untrue to say that when it comes to poverty and the
female gender, childhood in India is not all that diverse. We will also
have to recognise rural and urban as categories relevant to the study of
childhood. Their relevance is, in fact, growing as India’s modernity passes
through into increasingly impatient phases of economic development.

Indeed, we may have to recognise new categories such as childhood under
forced displacement, just as the United Nations has recognised childhood in
difficult circumstances arising from war and endemic violence.

*Europe’s Child*

Our contemplation on childhood in India is likely to be framed by the
dominant global discourse on the subject. Its normative character has its
uses, but it also enforces an essentialised vision and a compulsively
comparative outlook on our attempts to study the childhood that surrounds
us. The problem is linked to the training that our curiosity has received
under a colonised system of education. We tend to look either for a
replication of the 

[EnglishSTF-6906] circulars for primary and secondary education

[Gurumurthy K]

http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/Prypdfs/GenCirculars/PrathamikaShaikshanikaMargadarshi1617.pdf

http://www.schooleducation.kar.nic.in/Secpdfs/circulars/SecondarySchoolShaikshanikaMargadarshi1617.pdf


IT for Change, Bengaluru
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[EnglishSTF-7080] Parents protest replacement of textbooks with tabs

[Gurumurthy K]

Parents protest replacement of textbooks with tabs:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/parents-protest-replacement-of-textbooks-with-tabs/article8766685.ece

Sometimes parents can be more sensible than the school management ☺
Gurumurthy Kasinathan, ITfC

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[EnglishSTF-6488] modern-pedagogy-the-way-forward-inclusive-schooling-makes-the-grade

[Gurumurthy K]

Schools are becoming more 'stratified' with private schools being able to
attract parents able to pay fees. Increasingly, Government schools are for
children whose parents are not able to afford the fees. However, it is
important for all schools to have a mix of children from divergent
backgrounds ... not only for social reasons but also pedagogical... read
article excerpt below

modern-pedagogy-the-way-forward-inclusive-schooling-makes-the-grade
Prof Krishna Kumar.

As a philosopher who also taught children, Dewey knew from experience that
the presence of children from divergent home backgrounds forces the teacher
to be more imaginative. Children’s talk and responses bring into the
classroom a richer cultural resource that is not available in an exclusive
school. The teacher has to perform a more active role in a socially
inclusive classroom, drawing from children their varied experiences and
viewpoints, thereby creating a collective mind with higher analytical
insights and social awareness. The benefits are not merely social or moral;
they extend to cognitive grasp in all areas of knowledge.

A vast amount of psychological and pedagogic research carried out in
different countries has proved the correctness of Dewey’s vision. Its
political worth has also been demonstrated by the fact that societies with
common school systems have shown greater inner strength while facing the
challenges of modernity than others where exclusiveness persisted.


read entire article on
http://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/modern-pedagogy-the-way-forward-inclusive-schooling-makes-the-grade/story-VbsJ1xh8UeM980M7CWolFM.html
Guru,

IT for Change, Bengaluru
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[EnglishSTF-6467] The 'good morning' syndrome

[Gurumurthy K]

dear teachers

let us use whatsapp / telegram / hike and the google groups setup for our
interactions for education related discussions and avoid sending irrelevant
messages. We should avoid forwarding messages unless we are sure the
information is correct (blood donation requests, Maaza poisoning, medical
ailments and cures are usually false). So also any message which asks you
to forward to others!!

If we can ensure meaningful messages then these groups will be useful
forums for our learning...

source -
http://m.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/the-good-morning-syndrome/article8188372.ece

regards
Guru, IT for Change

Are you one of those who have suffered the wrath of the good morning
messenger on your WhatsApp group? You are not alone

Your phone lights up with a loud ping of a WhatsApp message. And a series
of pings follow. You wake up from your slumber to see who’s messaged you so
early in the morning and if it’s anything important. But no, it’s just a
string of good morning messages from the various groups you are part of.
Annoyed? You are just one among millions who suffer the wrath of the ‘good
morning’ group messenger.

Be it family, college, friends, work or hobby groups – they are everywhere.
Relentlessly and religiously, they spam our mornings with images, videos
and greetings that make the morning anything but good. “There is no escape
from them,” grieves student Siddharth Joshua. “The moment I leave a group I
am added back and though I’ve muted them all, my notification bar still
shows the unread messages piling up. It’s inevitably annoying and I’m left
with no choice but to open the messages. I can’t even be rude to them and
tell them to stop for fear of hurting their sentiments and invariably have
to silently bear the brunt of their ‘good’ will messages.”

Amit Shekhar, an engineer by profession and a blogger at heart, had to
resort to the extreme of quitting WhatsApp. He is not alone, he points out.
“I read about a lot of people online who have quit the popular social media
app. There are various reasons, including the relentless group
notifications and the huge amount of bandwidth that goes into downloading
forwarded images and videos, but the most important reason is, of course,
meaningless groups and their unrelenting ‘good morning’ messages.”

He contends that in the last few months that he has distanced himself from
his smartphone, he realises just how much time the app used to take in his
daily life. “There was one less distraction to worry about and the constant
need to look at the phone every five minutes vanished. I make use of this
free time to listen to some good music, watch my favourite movie in peace
or read a book without disturbance.”

One of the reasons IT professional Nikita Jacob has deactivated automatic
downloads on her phone is the people in her groups who wake up just to wish
one another good morning. “Clearly they have no purpose in life other than
annoying the hell out of me!” she laments. “Their one ‘good morning’
greeting is followed ritually by 20 other people responding back. They even
annoy creatively with images and videos that wish good morning in so many
terrible ways that the mornings have nothing good in them for me. I am sure
half the money I spent in footing my huge mobile bills was because of
internet charges for these nonsensical images and videos. I don’t even
bother downloading them now.”

It doesn’t just stop with the ‘good morning’ messages, mourns Simeon
D’Souza, a banker. “These people go on to share photos of what they have
for breakfast, lunch and dinner, forward random viral chain messages,
meaningless moral lessons and inspirational quotes. My cousins are the
worst with their absolutely random selfies they religiously share almost
every six hours to which the rest of the family in the group devotedly
shower praises.” The worst is when they get into a random personal
conversation with one person in the group, he adds. “Why can’t they just
chat in private? And to top all this is that one drama queen in the group
who has to exaggerate emotions for every message with a stream of
emoticons.”

Naveen Thomas, an architecture student, contends that it isn’t all that
bad. “At a time when people are becoming digital islands, WhatsApp groups
help families and friends connect. Look at the bright side – at least there
are people who wish you to have a good morning. If you can make it past the
mindless spam, the app does help us socialise and stay in touch.”




regards
Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru
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[EnglishSTF-6471] All India Radio programme for SSLC students

[Gurumurthy K]

All India Radio programme for SSLC students:
http://m.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/all-india-radio-programme-for-sslc-students/article8190984.ece

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[EnglishSTF-6472] making our education meaningful to students from poor/marginalised backgrounds... the challenges of a government (public) school

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

In many of our schools, many if not most students come from poor /
marginalised backgrounds. They are unable to make sense of the syllabus in
its current form, which is unfortunately in many cases designed mainly for
middle class urban families. This problem is more acute in urban locations
like Bengaluru, where government school teachers struggle with the students
whose socio-economic background has challenges. Our government schools need
much much much more resource support to enable them to do a good job.

Read article below for an experience in an urban setting -
"According to Weiss at Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, policy makers
need to understand that low-income schools require vastly greater resources
because they must provide for expenses - extracurricular activities, field
trips, doctors' visits - that wealthier parents usually pay for out of
pocket."


Thursday, 04 February 2016 / TRUTH-OUT.ORG

It's 11:45 a.m. in East Harlem, and Samir Zaimi starts his lesson on life
in Colonial America. A social-studies teacher at a public middle school
called Renaissance School of the Arts, Zaimi urges the seventh-graders to
imagine themselves as colonial settlers, and to complete the writing prompt
on the board: "How can I convince people to come to my colony?" Then he
notices a student who has been absent for weeks and crosses the room to
welcome her.

"Been out a while."

"Yeah, 27 days," she says.

"We'll catch you up."

For the rest of the period, Zaimi barely takes a breath as he darts around
the room, addressing questions. There's Nunova Williams, who is usually
first to raise her hand and wonders what good can be said about
18th-century New Hampshire, which had slaves and high income-inequality.
But there are also students who come to class late after meeting with
social workers, and others struggling to take an interest in school. Last
year, only 13 percent of Renaissance's students demonstrated proficiency in
language arts and only 7 percent did so in math.

The conservative New York Post blames the problem at schools like
Renaissance on "ineffective teachers and staff." But the city's Department
of Education, while recognizing that some teachers should skill up, points
to students' difficult circumstances and social problems such as poverty as
the root source.

The department isn't just pointing fingers. It's actively working to
address those problems at Renaissance and 127 other schools. Last year, the
city began providing extra funds and support to these institutions to
transform them into "community schools" - places of learning that strive
not only for academic excellence, but for the holistic development of youth
and the strengthening of families and neighborhoods.

"You never know what's going on with a person at home," says seventh-grader
Jhanel McWhite, who found her passion in Renaissance's dance classes. She
says the school takes an interest in students' well-being, and that was one
of the reasons she chose Renaissance over the other middle schools in her
district.

When McWhite's brother died last year, the school gave her support through
a nonprofit called Partnership with Children. "They helped me feel better
about myself," she said. The Partnership has hired five social workers to
help students work through personal matters.

The idea that students' adverse circumstances - not bad teachers - could be
the real problem in poorly performing schools is not new. Studies show that
income is an important predictor of success, with students from families in
the highest-income 10 percent of the population scoring more than three
grade levels above students in the lowest 10 percent on standardized
reading tests, according to The New York Times.

And despite decades of politicians' handwringing, the disparity is only
getting worse: The testing gap has widened about 40 percent since the
1960s. This has led to questions about where education reform should focus.

"We would be well served to broaden the scope of who we hold accountable,"
says Elaine Weiss, national coordinator for the advocacy group Broader,
Bolder Approach to Education. Rather than just blaming teachers, she says,
why not turn to the politicians who fail to fund schools at adequate
levels? Or the officials who fail to ensure parents have living-wage jobs?

Over the past two decades, this simple understanding has taken root in the
community-school movement - a nationwide alliance of teachers,
administrators, and parents who reject the logic that reformers can save
students simply by replacing teachers and schools. They want schools to
transition into community hubs, adopting a strategy that combines rigorous
instruction and extracurricular enrichment with a vast social support
system. Any kind of school - public, private, or charter - can adopt the
model.

While the term "community school" has been in use for more than a century,
the current movement dates to the 1990s and gained strength from widespread

[EnglishSTF-6592] environmental literacy, justice, conservation .... teaching these ideas to our students .... and learning them ourselves ...

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Perhaps one of the most important challenges facing us today is climate
change/global warming. Saving the environment is something all of us need
to think about... and teachers need to bring into their teaching as well...
not only social science but science, language and all teachers!!

I am sharing an article on some experiences in bringing environment
conservation (and environmental literacy, stewardship, environmental
justice...) into teaching... please read and share. comments and
suggestions welcome...


regards,
Guru
source -
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34976-we-can-t-solve-climate-change-without-teaching-it-why-more-classes-are-heading-outside

Sunday, 28 February 2016 / TRUTH-OUT.ORG
We Can't Solve Climate Change Without Teaching It - Why More Classes Are
Heading Outside
Saturday, 27 February 2016 00:00 By Kate Stringer, YES! Magazine | Report

Standing waist-deep in Connecticut's West River, Nyasia Mercer's mind is
far from the cold, murky water lapping against her rubber waders.
The high-schooler is thinking of people. The ones who swim here. Fish here.
The ones who unwittingly dump liquid waste into nearby sewers. And how few
of them know what swirls through their neighborhood waterway.

"It's sad," Mercer said. "A lot of these things could have been prevented
if the community knew how. A lot don't know how to advocate for themselves."

But self-advocacy isn't a problem for the students at Common Ground High
School in New Haven, where Mercer is a senior. She and her classmates spend
their school days sometimes literally waist-deep in environmental justice
issues. Common Ground, a charter school with almost 200 students,
integrates conservation, sustainability, and environmental studies into the
curriculum and across disciplines.

And it's not the only one. A handful of schools across the United States
are finding place-based learning creates a valuable connection between
students' local environment and their education, especially during a time
of rapid climate change.

Environmentally-themed schools have grown in popularity since the early
1990s, fueled by increasing climate-change awareness, a push for smaller,
STEM-based schools, and a desire to connect an urban population of students
to nature, said Brigitte Griswold, director of youth programs at The Nature
Conservancy.

While climate change awareness has improved over the past two decades, U.S.
middle- and high-school classrooms spend an average of only one to two
hours per school year covering it, according to a survey of science
teachers published in the February 2016 issue of Science. And
misinformation abounds: Thirty percent of teachers say climate change is
likely caused by natural events; twelve percent don't emphasize a human
cause.

That's why it's so important to have schools that incorporate environmental
literacy across the curriculum, Griswold said. Every subject area is tied
in some way to the environment.  "If we don't have an environmentally
literate generation of young people trained, who will install the solar
panels, and retrofit buildings?" Griswold said. "The environment is
something everyone could be involved in and should be involved in."
Place-based learning isn't solely for the elite. Half of Common Ground's
student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, and two-thirds are
black or Hispanic.

"What's really important is that (students) have the tools they need to
speak up for what they know is important," said Liz Cox, Common Ground's
director. "That they have the fundamental understanding of what it means to
live in a sustainable way."  One of the attractions of an environment-based
curriculum is that students find their work has real-world outcomes.
They're no longer doing work just for the sake of doing it.

Mercer and her classmates, for example, collected data on water quality,
which the school presented to the Environmental Protection Agency's New
England Environmental Justice Council. She and her peers also put up signs
near sewers adjacent to the river to warn community members against
polluting the waterway.

Their projects blossomed. Mercer has found herself planting trees around
Connecticut with the Urban Resources Initiative, walking in a New York City
2014 climate march, and cleaning up metal and glass strewn across Jamaica
Bay after Hurricane Sandy.  The Port Townsend School District in Washington
State, similar economically to Common Ground, is developing maritime-themed
schooling to match its surroundings: the tip of the Olympic Peninsula,
overlooking the Salish Sea. Grant funding allows teachers, experts, and
community partners to collaborate on curriculum design for the district's
nearly 1,200 students.

For example, last spring a science teacher interested in introducing robots
to his students contacted the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Together
they designed a lesson for the high school seniors, which involved using
remotely operated vehicles to collect 

[EnglishSTF-6594] Make a banner for encouraging parents to enrol their children in your school

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Private schools often do publicity for getting enrolment. Even though in
many cases, private school teachers are not qualified as required by RTE,
infrastructure is poor, teachers are poorly paid, academic facilities are
poor, parents are sometimes misled by this publicity. Also media is guilty
of mostly only sharing bad news about Government schools and creating a
negative impression and making parents wrongly believe that private schools
are always better than Government schools.

Education Research says that when we allow for the home support and home
conditions, the quality of private schools is not better than that of
Government schools. In fact, with qualified teachers, regular teacher
training, good infrastructure, many Govt schools are far ahead of their
private counterparts.

It is therefore necessary to publicise the good work being done by the
Government schools so that parents have the full facts with them at the
time of seeking admission for their children. It is necessary to correct
the popular mis-conceptions about government schools. A strong public
education system is necessary for equity and quality reasons.

Some of the high schools in Bengaluru South 3 block have prepared simple
banners providing information about the school, its infrastructure, staff,
programs etc. Similar banners could be easily produced by any school,
providing *correct information* about the school, so that parents have the
required information. HMs should plan this in consultation with their staff
and SDMC.

For the Bengaluru South 3 banners, visit
https://goo.gl/photos/CLFxmmELEr7TNZ3a6

(This is on the lines of the 'Save Government Schools' campaign being
launched by many organisations in Karnataka).

regards
Guru


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-6570] Social media addiction

[Gurumurthy K]

http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/excessive-social-media-use-is-like-drug-addiction/article8277544.ece=PyCiAyZD=en-IN=1=804=www.google.co.in=1456367010=ALL1Aj4HnJ2ZXu3V8dXwB1i2o_f24oLWkA

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[EnglishSTF-6746] thought for today

[Gurumurthy K]

“It would be to let every child be the planner, director and assessor of
his own education, to allow and encourage him, with the inspiration and
guidance of more experienced and expert people, and as much help as he
asked for, to decide what he is to learn, when is he to learn it, and how
well he is learning it. It would be to make our schools, instead of what
they are, which is jails for children, into a resource for free and
independent learning, which everyone in the community of whatever age,
could use as much or as little as he wanted.”

John Holt, *The Under- Achieving School*, 2005

Can we all work together, help and support one another to build schools as
above

regards,

Guru, IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-6761] Re: [tsstf-'466'] Make a banner for encouraging parents to enrol their children in your school

[Gurumurthy K]

Nagaraju sir

pls see the google album

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPA0lJndaM5WWYrmWli6Sb-wa41TUaRH9arc9AysKVtJKqHhZVMrUf4tjYjRLhzqA?key=aWtJMTdRam01STMzSFdqWDFlSFB1dWhKeXlTUVd3

for admission banners by GHS in bengaluru south 3 block
regards
Guru


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 8:33 PM, Nagaraju Devanapalli <dnraj...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear sir,
>
> Very nice work by the school teachers. Here also so many Government
> schools are doing the same thing. Let us appreciate ourselves. Please all
> the teachers who are doing this type of propaganda by banners and pamphlets
> please share those photos in the mailing groups. So that all can do this.
> Please share your banners and pamphlets photos here.
>
> regards,
>
> On Sunday 28 February 2016 08:15 PM, Gurumurthy K wrote:
>
> Dear teachers,
>
> Private schools often do publicity for getting enrolment. Even though in
> many cases, private school teachers are not qualified as required by RTE,
> infrastructure is poor, teachers are poorly paid, academic facilities are
> poor, parents are sometimes misled by this publicity. Also media is guilty
> of mostly only sharing bad news about Government schools and creating a
> negative impression and making parents wrongly believe that private schools
> are always better than Government schools.
>
> Education Research says that when we allow for the home support and home
> conditions, the quality of private schools is not better than that of
> Government schools. In fact, with qualified teachers, regular teacher
> training, good infrastructure, many Govt schools are far ahead of their
> private counterparts.
>
> It is therefore necessary to publicise the good work being done by the
> Government schools so that parents have the full facts with them at the
> time of seeking admission for their children. It is necessary to correct
> the popular mis-conceptions about government schools. A strong public
> education system is necessary for equity and quality reasons.
>
> Some of the high schools in Bengaluru South 3 block have prepared simple
> banners providing information about the school, its infrastructure, staff,
> programs etc. Similar banners could be easily produced by any school,
> providing *correct information* about the school, so that parents have
> the required information. HMs should plan this in consultation with their
> staff and SDMC.
>
> For the Bengaluru South 3 banners, visit
> <https://goo.gl/photos/CLFxmmELEr7TNZ3a6>
> https://goo.gl/photos/CLFxmmELEr7TNZ3a6
>
> (This is on the lines of the 'Save Government Schools' campaign being
> launched by many organisations in Karnataka).
>
> regards
> Guru
>
>
> IT for Change, Bengaluru
> www.ITforChange.net
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[EnglishSTF-6766] Re: [ms-stf '56778'] Science paper was tough and kannadamedium students fails to understand questions why every year only science paper difficult I don't understand plz give clarific

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Subramani sir

thank you for your reply. It is exactly connected to what I was saying.

I agree that there are many pressures on teachers to take the 'short cut'
of drill/pass package instead of the 'more difficult' path of conceptual
understanding - the quantum of syllabus is too much, the education
system/department does not encourage conceptual learning but puts pressure
on exam results, teachers knowledge of pedagogies and concepts may also
need to be improved but teacher training programs are not effective. and
teacher educators themselves may not know better.

However, having said the above, I feel strongly that teachers must take the
path of teaching their students conceptual understanding and abandon the
drill/pass package method/route which only fails the children this is
not just my opinion, this is the spirit of NCF 2005, so it is national
policy as well.

Children are in school to learn, develop conceptual understanding which is
necessary for application in real life.

In my opinion, learning is not equal to drill / pass packages. I am making
a statement that will not be liked by some, but drill and pass packages
only end up cheating the children.  Also drill methods make students
dislike the subject. Whereas if students learn science through the right
approaches (learning science by doing, exploring science curiously,
building models to understand nature, developing a scientific temper etc
). 'Good' Indian students are well known for their ability to parrot
out content but with very poor ability to apply it in real life situations.
what use is that bookish knowledge.

And I say this with the knowledge that there are many teachers in our
Karnataka GHS, who are trying the path of conceptual learning and
succeeding as well. Their experiences and learnings can guide us well. Let
us give up the pass package approach... this I am saying not only for
science but for all subjects. I request teachers like Shashi Kumar sir,
Mohan sir, Radha Madam, Gulzar madam (and hundreds of other such teachers
who are members of this group) who have been adopting different approaches
to help students really develop conceptual understanding of science, to
share their experiences and methods, which can help all teachers.

Once again, Subramani sir, thanks for frankly sharing your views, so that
we can debate and discuss the issue fully and understand one another.

regards,
Guru


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 7:42 PM, Subramani V <subramaniv...@gmail.com> wrote:

> @gurumurthy sir.  Even I didn't see d paper.  M y students discussed
> questions wit me. I came to a conclusion that they are beyond d level a
> 10th grade students. No its our turn to think
> 1)hav v taught d concepts to that level.
> 2)is d time provided enough to us to teach Dat much deep about d concept.
> 3)can d rural below average students can think such deep into d concept.
> 4)we have given passpackages for drill. Was Dat came helpful to den.
> 5)below average students complained Dat no questions came from d pass
> packages wat v hav given for drill.
> On Apr 8, 2016 4:58 PM, "chiranjeevi khethavath" <
> yuvachiranjeevi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear sir not only this year.  every year science question paper was not
>> difficult to our teachers.compare to other  subject QP,sc QP is little bit
>> difficult to rural  Kannada medium students, they took passmark but cont
>> get more marks
>> On Apr 8, 2016 2:04 PM, "Gurumurthy K" <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> dear Sunil sir
>>>
>>> in my opinion, it is not useful to have a vote on this issue - that will
>>> only tell us how many people agree/disagree (summative information)
>>>
>>> what will be more useful for all teachers is if we can analyse why we
>>> feel it was difficult, i can suggest some points for the discussion
>>>
>>> 1. was the question paper having questions on topics not part of the
>>> syllabus
>>> 2. was the question forcing students to think and apply what they learnt
>>> ... and not focusing on producing information from rote memory
>>> 3. was the level of Kannada language difficult to understand.
>>>
>>> i have not seen the science paper. But my doubt is as follows -
>>> if the question paper is not encouraging students to write from rote
>>> memory but forcing them to think and apply what they have learnt in
>>> answering, I think it may be difficult but it is good. Here the question is
>>> as teachers, are we making students memorise content, or are we helping
>>> them understand concepts which they can apply as per the question in the
>>> exam. as per the national curricular framework 2005 science position paper,

[EnglishSTF-6747] Re: [tsstf-'487'] Re: [ss-stf '27221'] Why Finland has the best schools

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Laxmanrao sir,

Teachers and educationists agree that initial learning must be in the
mother tongue. unfortunately, in society today, there is a very huge
premium on learning English, which makes parents want English medium
schools from class 1.

we teachers need to educate parents/society that the best way to learn
English is not to have it as a medium in LPS but rather have it as second /
third language. if teachers are made capable to teach english using rich
and diverse materials (text, audio, video) then students can learn to
speak, understand English quite well...  for this we need to provide an
english materials rich class environment. English teachers can create
simple audio, video resources for language learning and use with the
students.. such as photo essays, audio books, digital stories etc  this
is a better option than making English as medium of instruction, which is
the cause of failure of many students...

my views. comments welcome..

regards
Guru


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Mon, Mar 28, 2016 at 6:26 PM, laxmanrao ayachithula <
laxmanrao...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Every country has some positive and negative points of progress. Though
> the education system of Finland is good and acceptable, we should think in
> what way and to what extent we adopt or adapt with that.  Not every inch of
> other countries is good and in the same way not every inch of out past is
> bad. Let noble thoughts come  from all  the corners of the universe is our
> philosophy. Wherever and whichever is good and useful that we admit, but we
> don’t ignore everything of our past in the name of something chosen like
> education was not for all in those days. Now no one says it its to followed
> but what are our needs and objectives of education that we should think and
> follow. up to primary it should be compulsory to impart education in mother
> tongue. Later on let them go for any of the media. As an Indian I am not
> against to English as a language but as a medium of instruction it doesn't
> work out in getting the concept and explain. May be some differ with this
> opinion.
>
> On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 1:44 PM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Sir
>>
>> I don't have details about their examination system, but i do know that
>> they do not have the huge competitive pressures from exams like we have
>> here.
>>
>> but following links may be useful
>>
>> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/?no-ist
>> (nice article - Finland also has a kind of no detention policy)
>>
>> http://www.oph.fi/english/education_system
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland
>>
>> regards
>> Guru
>>
>>
>>
>> IT for Change, Bengaluru
>> www.ITforChange.net
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 8:26 PM, Harishchandra Prabhu <
>> hari.panjikal...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> ಸರ್ ನಿಮ್ಮ  ಲೇಖನ  ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದೆ.  ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ  ಪರೀಕ್ಷಾ  ಪಧ್ಧತಿ  ಬಗ್ಗೆ  ಮಾಹಿತಿ
>>>  ಇದೆಯಾ ಸರ್?
>>>
>>>
>>> *ಹರಿಶ್ಚಂದ್ರ . ಪಿ.*
>>> ಸಮಾಜ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರು
>>> ಸರಕಾರಿ ಪದವಿ ಪೂವF ಕಾಲೇಜು ಬೆಳ್ಳಾರೆ , ಸುಳ್ಯ ,ದ.ಕ  574212
>>> e-mail: hari.panjikal...@gmail.com
>>> blog:NammaBellare.blogspot.com
>>> school blog:* gpucbellare.blogspot.com
>>> <http://gpucbellare.blogspot.com>*
>>> mobile: 9449592475
>>>
>>> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 7:57 PM, Basavaraja Naika H.D. <
>>> basavarajanaik...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> How better nonformal education in Finland
>>>> On 21-Mar-2016 7:30 pm, "Krishnakumar s" <skumaryellampa...@gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Very nice article sir, Why can't we apply the same system? The Great
>>>>> KES Officers are the main cause for failure of education sytem in
>>>>> karnataka. As soon as they passed KES exam and become officers, the feel
>>>>> that they know everything and try to dominate without any hold on either
>>>>> language or content. This is our fate. That is why now our DIETs have
>>>>> Rehabitation Centres(Ganji Kendra)
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 10:21 AM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com
>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Dear teachers
>>>>>>
>>>>>> article worth reading and thinking about and discussing comments
>>>>>> welcome
>>>>>>
>>>>>> regards
>>>>>> Guru
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The Harvard ed

[EnglishSTF-6700] Why Finland has the best schools

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

article worth reading and thinking about and discussing comments
welcome

regards
Guru

The Harvard education professor Howard Gardner once advised Americans,
“Learn from Finland, which has the most effective schools and which does
just about the opposite of what we are doing in the United States.”

I enrolled my 7-year-old son in a primary school in Joensuu, Finland.  For
five months, my wife, my son and I experienced a stunningly stress-free,
and stunningly good, school system. Finland has a history of producing the
highest global test scores in the Western world, as well as a trophy case
full of other recent No. 1 global rankings, including most literate nation.

In Finland, children don't receive formal academic training until the age
of 7. Until then, many are in day care and learn through play, songs, games
and conversation. Most children walk or bike to school, even the youngest.
School hours are short and homework is generally light.

Unlike in the United States, where many schools are slashing recess,
schoolchildren in Finland have a mandatory 15-minute outdoor free-play
break every hour of every day. Fresh air, nature and regular physical
activity breaks are considered engines of learning. According to one
Finnish maxim, “There is no bad weather. Only inadequate clothing.”

One evening, I asked my son what he did for gym that day. “They sent us
into the woods with a map and compass and we had to find our way out,” he
said.

Finland doesn't waste time or money on low-quality mass standardized
testing. Instead, children are assessed every day, through direct
observation, check-ins and quizzes by the highest-quality “personalized
learning device” ever created — flesh-and-blood teachers.

In class, children are allowed to have fun, giggle and daydream from time
to time. Finns put into practice the cultural mantras I heard over and
over: “Let children be children,” “The work of a child is to play,” and
“Children learn best through play.”
The emotional climate of the typical classroom is warm, safe, respectful
and highly supportive.

The emotional climate of the typical classroom is warm, safe, respectful
and highly supportive. There are no scripted lessons and no quasi-martial
requirements to walk in straight lines or sit up straight. As one Chinese
student-teacher studying in Finland marveled to me, “In Chinese schools,
you feel like you're in the military. Here, you feel like you're part of a
really nice family.” She is trying to figure out how she can stay in
Finland permanently.

In the United States, teachers are routinely degraded by politicians, and
thousands of teacher slots are filled by temps with six or seven weeks of
summer training. In Finland teachers are the most trusted and admired
professionals next to doctors, in part because they are required to have
master's degrees in education with specialization in research and classroom
practice.

“Our mission as adults is to protect our children from politicians,” one
Finnish childhood education professor told me. “We also have an ethical and
moral responsibility to tell businesspeople to stay out of our building.”
In fact, any Finnish citizen is free to visit any school whenever they
like, but her message was clear: Educators are the ultimate authorities on
education, not bureaucrats, and not technology vendors.

Skeptics might claim that the Finnish model would never work in America's
inner-city schools, which instead need boot-camp drilling and discipline,
Stakhanovite workloads, relentless standardized test prep and
screen-delivered testing.

But what if the opposite is true?

What if high-poverty students are the children most urgently in need of the
benefits that, for example, American parents of means obtain for their
children in private schools, things that Finland delivers on a national
public scale — highly qualified, highly respected and highly
professionalized teachers who conduct personalized one-on-one instruction;
manageable class sizes; a rich, developmentally correct curriculum; regular
physical activity; little or no low-quality standardized tests and the
toxic stress and wasted time and energy that accompanies them; daily
assessments by teachers; and a classroom atmosphere of safety,
collaboration, warmth and respect for children as cherished individuals?

Why should high-poverty students deserve anything less?

One day last November, when the first snow came to my part of Finland, I
heard a commotion outside my university faculty office window, which is
close to the teacher training school's outdoor play area. I walked over to
investigate.

The field was filled with children savoring the first taste of winter amid
the pine trees. My son was out there somewhere, but the children were so
buried in winter clothes and moving so fast that I couldn't spot him. The
noise of children laughing, shouting and singing as they tumbled in the
fresh snow was close to deafening.

“Do you hear that?” asked the recess 

[EnglishSTF-6716] Re: [ss-stf '27221'] Why Finland has the best schools

[Gurumurthy K]

Sir

I don't have details about their examination system, but i do know that
they do not have the huge competitive pressures from exams like we have
here.

but following links may be useful
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/?no-ist
(nice article - Finland also has a kind of no detention policy)

http://www.oph.fi/english/education_system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland

regards
Guru



IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 8:26 PM, Harishchandra Prabhu <
hari.panjikal...@gmail.com> wrote:

> ಸರ್ ನಿಮ್ಮ  ಲೇಖನ  ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದೆ.  ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ  ಪರೀಕ್ಷಾ  ಪಧ್ಧತಿ  ಬಗ್ಗೆ  ಮಾಹಿತಿ
>  ಇದೆಯಾ ಸರ್?
>
>
> *ಹರಿಶ್ಚಂದ್ರ . ಪಿ.*
> ಸಮಾಜ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರು
> ಸರಕಾರಿ ಪದವಿ ಪೂವF ಕಾಲೇಜು ಬೆಳ್ಳಾರೆ , ಸುಳ್ಯ ,ದ.ಕ  574212
> e-mail: hari.panjikal...@gmail.com
> blog:NammaBellare.blogspot.com
> school blog:* gpucbellare.blogspot.com <http://gpucbellare.blogspot.com>*
> mobile: 9449592475
>
> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 7:57 PM, Basavaraja Naika H.D. <
> basavarajanaik...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> How better nonformal education in Finland
>> On 21-Mar-2016 7:30 pm, "Krishnakumar s" <skumaryellampa...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Very nice article sir, Why can't we apply the same system? The Great KES
>>> Officers are the main cause for failure of education sytem in karnataka. As
>>> soon as they passed KES exam and become officers, the feel that they know
>>> everything and try to dominate without any hold on either language or
>>> content. This is our fate. That is why now our DIETs have Rehabitation
>>> Centres(Ganji Kendra)
>>>
>>> On Mon, Mar 21, 2016 at 10:21 AM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear teachers
>>>>
>>>> article worth reading and thinking about and discussing comments
>>>> welcome
>>>>
>>>> regards
>>>> Guru
>>>>
>>>> The Harvard education professor Howard Gardner once advised Americans,
>>>> “Learn from Finland, which has the most effective schools and which does
>>>> just about the opposite of what we are doing in the United States.”
>>>>
>>>> I enrolled my 7-year-old son in a primary school in Joensuu, Finland.
>>>> For five months, my wife, my son and I experienced a stunningly
>>>> stress-free, and stunningly good, school system. Finland has a history of
>>>> producing the highest global test scores in the Western world, as well as a
>>>> trophy case full of other recent No. 1 global rankings, including most
>>>> literate nation.
>>>>
>>>> In Finland, children don't receive formal academic training until the
>>>> age of 7. Until then, many are in day care and learn through play, songs,
>>>> games and conversation. Most children walk or bike to school, even the
>>>> youngest. School hours are short and homework is generally light.
>>>>
>>>> Unlike in the United States, where many schools are slashing recess,
>>>> schoolchildren in Finland have a mandatory 15-minute outdoor free-play
>>>> break every hour of every day. Fresh air, nature and regular physical
>>>> activity breaks are considered engines of learning. According to one
>>>> Finnish maxim, “There is no bad weather. Only inadequate clothing.”
>>>>
>>>> One evening, I asked my son what he did for gym that day. “They sent us
>>>> into the woods with a map and compass and we had to find our way out,” he
>>>> said.
>>>>
>>>> Finland doesn't waste time or money on low-quality mass standardized
>>>> testing. Instead, children are assessed every day, through direct
>>>> observation, check-ins and quizzes by the highest-quality “personalized
>>>> learning device” ever created — flesh-and-blood teachers.
>>>>
>>>> In class, children are allowed to have fun, giggle and daydream from
>>>> time to time. Finns put into practice the cultural mantras I heard over and
>>>> over: “Let children be children,” “The work of a child is to play,” and
>>>> “Children learn best through play.”
>>>> The emotional climate of the typical classroom is warm, safe,
>>>> respectful and highly supportive.
>>>>
>>>> The emotional climate of the typical classroom is warm, safe,
>>>> respectful and highly supportive. There are no scripted lessons and no
>>>> quasi-martial requirements to walk in straight 

[EnglishSTF-6810] Lets all stop buying bottled water ....

[Gurumurthy K]

small half and one litre water bottles - bisleri, acqua fina and many
brands are common to see in all our meetings and events. The bottled water
industry is a big threat to both water supply and plastic pollution. Let us
carry water in (steel/metal) bottles with us and avoid buying bottled water

pl read article below...

regards
Guru

source -
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35780-nestle-is-trying-to-break-us-a-pennsylvania-town-fights-predatory-water-extraction
Monday, 25 April 2016 00:00 By Alexis Bonogofsky, Truthout | Report

Donna Diehl, a 55-year-old school bus driver from Kunkeltown, Pennsylvania,
a small historic town located on the edge of the Poconos, wanted to do
three things this year: drive the bus, paint her bathroom and learn to
crochet. Instead, Diehl, along with dozens of her neighbors, is spending
her time trying to stop the largest food and beverage corporation in the
world from taking her community's water, putting it in bottles and selling
it for a massive profit.

Kunkeltown, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Shaun Mullins)Kunkeltown, Pennsylvania.
(Photo: Shaun Mullins)

Nestlé Waters, the North American subsidiary of the Swiss-owned Nestlé
Corporation, had been active in Kunkeltown for years, conducting well
testing on a privately owned property adjacent to Diehl's home. Last
summer, residents noticed Nestlé had rented an office in the local
community center. Word spread, and with some investigation, Diehl and her
neighbors found out that the transnational corporation had been active in
the community as early as 2012, testing water quality and quantity with the
ultimate goal of constructing and operating a bulk water extraction
facility.
"One of the things that opened my eyes was the amount of profit for Nestlé.
It's unreal."

In the permit application that Nestlé Waters filed with the Township, it
states the company is proposing to drill two large wells, pump 200,000
gallons of water per day from the aquifer, put it in trucks and transfer it
to an existing bottling facility near Allentown, about 20 miles away. It
expects 60 truck trips through the town per day. And Nestlé isn't going
away anytime soon: It plans to pump for 10 years with an option to continue
pumping for an additional 15 years, leading to the removal of 73 million
gallons of water from the aquifer over the life of the wells.

Concerned residents dove into their local township files and found out that
in May 2014, an ordinance was surreptitiously changed in the Eldred
Township zoning rules to allow bulk water extraction to occur in a
commercial zone. That small, but important rule change opened the gate for
Nestlé to submit a permit application for bulk water extraction, which,
before May 2014, was explicitly illegal in places zoned for commercial use.

Don Moore, an engineer who maintains a blog where he documents, in great
detail, the fight to keep Nestlé out of Kunkeltown, couldn't believe what
he was reading.

"One of the things that opened my eyes was the amount of profit for Nestlé.
To take all this water and hardly any cost. It's unreal," he said.

Diehl organized a community meeting, which took place in her backyard, with
about 25 people.

"We knew we had to stop it, but at the time, we didn't know how," Diehl
told Truthout.

Global Water Scarcity on the Rise

Kunkeltown residents' effort to keep Nestlé out of their community is not
an isolated or parochial fight. Nestlé, which has the largest share of the
bottled water market in the United States, is looking to secure and
privatize water resources in the US and around the world.

According to data from the United Nations, around 1.2 billion people, or
almost one-fifth of the world's population, live in areas of physical water
scarcity, and 500 million people are approaching this situation. Another
1.6 billion people, or almost one-quarter of the world's population, face
economic water shortages.
"Companies like Nestlé don't see this situation as a public health crisis.
They see it as a business opportunity."

Exacerbating this scarcity are the real and devastating impacts of climate
change. The number and severity of droughts caused by climate change are
intensifying across the globe and the United States. As of April 7, 37
percent of the United States was experiencing at least moderate drought.
These droughts are causing people to draw more and more from groundwater,
which the US Geological Survey has found to be declining nationwide.

To make matters worse, governments are not investing enough in public water
infrastructure. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the
nation's drinking water utilities need $384.2 billion in infrastructure
investments over the next 20 years for thousands of miles of pipe as well
as thousands of treatment plants and storage tanks to ensure the public
health. Consequences of this inadequate investment have been seen in recent
high-profile public health crises in Flint, Michigan, and the New Jersey
public schools. 

[EnglishSTF-6871] Making learning meaningful, in government schools

[Gurumurthy K]

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/no-more-english-vinglish-in-government-schools/article8602167.ece

Very good approach to learning

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[EnglishSTF-6865] Maharashtra schools raised Rs 75 cr through public participation in 1 yr

[Gurumurthy K]

Article in Indian Express discusses how Maharashtra Government schools put
in effort to get support and funding from local community. Apart from
supplementing government school grants, this can also help build the school
community relationship

regards
Guru, IT for Change

Ten new computers, a new toilet block for girls, a new water filtration
system and a brand new science laboratory are just some of the recent
additions to a small Marathi-medium school — Hutatma Umaji Naik High School
in Bhivadi village of Purandar taluka. Headmaster Sudhakar Babanrao Jagdale
is proud to say that not a single penny for these services came from the
government funds.

“In the last two years, we raised over Rs 11 lakh through public
participation. Some of it came from corporates who wanted to do social
service but the majority of funds came from villagers. We had recently
issued an appeal to the village folk to help us upgrade our school so that
children don’t get attracted to English medium schools which offer better
facilities,” he said.
Public participation towards the cause of education is evident in a report
available with Maharashtra State Council of Education Research and
Training, which shows that from June 2015 to March 2016, 18,000 government
schools in Maharashtra raised over Rs 75 crore through public participation
alone. These funds have gone towards improvement of basic services in
schools from new school buildings to toilets, playgrounds and computer
rooms.

According to the data shared by the MSCERT, schools in Solapur got maximum
public participation where over 2,800 schools raised above Rs 10,000 each,
while Ahmednagar (1,700) and Ratnagiri (1,500) came next. Of the 18,215
schools in Maharashtra that raised a total of Rs 75 crore collectively, the
maximum funds were raised in Solapur (Rs 6.55crore) followed by Nashik (Rs
5.69crore) and Ratnagiri (Rs 5.5 crore), amongst others. In Pune district,
1,157 schools managed to raise Rs 3.82 crore collectively. The worst
performance was seen in Latur municipal corporation limits where only one
school reported having received Rs 15,000 from public participation.

“While the government does provide for teacher salaries and basic services
at schools and has now introduced several welfare schemes, quality
education must eventually be a community initiative. Recently, the state
government had asked for the data on schools that brought improvement in
infrastructure by raising funds through public participation and we
calculated it to Rs 75 crore. It is heartening to see many individuals and
corporates come forward this year,” said Govind Nandede, director, MSCERT.

Principals of rural schools that have managed to raise funds underline the
importance of this process. “Before we had appealed for public
participation, our school building was in shambles and we had only six
divisions. Today, we run 15 divisions, thanks to a new school building
which we built completely through public participation. We didn’t accept a
single rupee in cash but told people what we need and to pay the
contractors directly. Two of our former students recently levelled our
entire playground which was not maintained properly and made pitches on it.
I think if we had to pay, it would have cost us Rs 11 lakh. We would have
to wait for years if we wanted government to provide us these funds. Today,
people look at it as just a new building, we see it as lesser school
students dropping out to go to fancier schools,” said Dattatreya Jadhav,
headmaster of Shree Chattrapati Shivaji Shala in Maval taluka’s Shivali
village

source
http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/maharashtra-schools-raised-rs-75-cr-through-public-participation-in-1-yr-2789863/#sthash.5sHVTiZG.dpuf

regards,
Guru, IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-6837] Karnataka ICT program redesigned, will adapt the successful Kerala model

[Gurumurthy K]

source -
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/computer-learning-programme-approved-in-new-format/article8558288.ece#comments

Students in 1,000 government high schools across the State will finally get
access to computer aided learning. The project, called Technology Assisted
Learning Programme, is a modified version of the Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) Phase 3 project, which was approved in May
2011.

The project has been revived with the State Cabinet on Wednesday giving a
nod for it to be implemented in a new format. The ICT Phase 3 project would
have benefited at least 50 lakh children in 4,396 government and aided high
schools, if it was implemented during the 2011-12 academic year. Sources in
the State government said that with the Cabinet nod, the project will be
for the first time a “pragmatic” approach to bring IT-enabled learning into
classrooms and there would be no outsourcing. The focus will be to re-skill
teachers to move beyond blackboard teaching.

The Cabinet approved a five-year project that would cover all government
high school and PU colleges. In the first phase, Rs. 85 crore has been
allotted to cover 1,000 government high schools under this project.

The budget would be used to repair and upgrade the existing hardware,
create e-content and train teachers.

An Education Department official pointed out that computer learning in
schools covered under the ICT was poor as they lacked teachers. The schools
were also unable to gather funds to repair the computers.

(For more information on the Kerala model of ICT@schools, read
http://www.itforchange.net/sites/default/files/ITfC/Policy_Brief_on_ICTs_in_School_Education_from_IT_for_Change_August_2009.pdf),
Kannada version attached)

regards
Guru

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Policy Brief - Kannada - Gopinath.odt
Description: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text

[EnglishSTF-6788] failure of charter schools (school privatisation) in USA

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Sometimes we hear of 'charter schools' as ways of reforming the public
education system.  charter schools are being used in some states in USA to
privatise public education, and they are failing for obvious reasons -
pushing out children with marginalised backgrounds, taking out funds for
profit distribution to owners, focusing on failed/poor teaching methods
based on standardised assessments... read article on the Detroit schools
... it is clear that privatising education is no solution to reforming the
public education system, privatisation is a remedy worse than the disease!

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35585-stop-oppressing-us-detroit-teachers-speak


"Stop Oppressing Us": Detroit Teachers Speak
Monday, 11 April 2016 00:00 By Eliza A. Webb, Truthout | News Analysis

A new investigation by the US Attorney's Office has uncovered evidence of
long-lasting corruption within the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) system and
has charged 12 current and former Detroit principals with fabricating
invoices, evading taxes and taking $1 million in bribes and kickbacks from
the district's vendors.

This newly unearthed scandal is wholly unsurprising to the teachers of
Detroit, who have seen corruption and injustice dominate the city's
education system since 1999, when state-appointed emergency managers were
first given the power to override Detroit's elected school board.

"I've seen DPS decline. Each year it has gotten worse," said fourth-grade
teacher Yolanda Harris, who has worked in the district for 15 years. "It's
corruption."
"The governor [is] trying to silence any opposition. It's a scare tactic to
try and prevent any further teacher action."

Beginning in mid-January 2016, an ongoing series of teacher sick-outs,
marches and protests have brought national attention to this corruption,
arguably leading to the investigation that uncovered the citywide bribery
scheme, as well as to the resignation of emergency manager Darnell Earley
-- but, teachers say, it is too little, too late.

"We've already made our kids suffer and be at fault," said Jacob Robinson,
a primary school teacher. "It's such a sad and angering situation."

Further stoking the teachers' anger is the fact that Earley has simply been
replaced by a new state-selected "transition manager," Steven Rhodes, who
holds virtually the exact same duties and high salary ($225,000) of an
emergency manager.

"[Rhodes has] got to go, now," said Nicole Conaway, a teacher at East
English Village Preparatory Academy. "He's nothing more than the next
emergency manager, and that policy has to end. We need real democracy back
for the people of Detroit with an empowered, elected school board, now."

Additionally, the teachers' actions, while bringing much-needed attention
to the dire straits of Detroit's schools, have also unleashed an
aggressive, statewide backlash.

The Detroit school district has filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the
Detroit Federation of Teachers and its interim president, but is still
continuing to push for a preliminary injunction against Conaway and her
fellow Detroit teacher, Steve Conn.

"The governor [is] trying to silence any opposition," Conaway said. "It's a
scare tactic to try and prevent any further teacher action. We will use the
trial as an opportunity to put [Gov. Rick] Snyder's policies on trial."

Added to the teachers' opposition is the Michigan Legislature, led by State
Sen. Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair), which is currently attempting to pass three
bills aimed at penalizing the city's educators and making such sick-outs
illegal.

"We're talking about strengthening the strike legislation and to make sure
kids get the public education that they deserve," Pavlov said in early
February 2016.

But teachers say this is exactly why they are protesting: Detroit's
children are not receiving the education they deserve underneath the
current state-controlled, financially starved, increasingly charterized
school system.

"I look at each and every one of those kids as if they were one of my own,"
said Mario Inchaustegui, a teacher at Maybury Elementary School. "We just
don't see who is advocating for [them]."
"Emergency management has not produced any measurable positive results in
Detroit Public Schools."

Sixth-grade teacher William Weir concurs. "I was crestfallen when [former
emergency manager] Darnell Earley had a press conference at Martin Luther
King Jr. High School and decried teachers for protesting," Weir said. "How
could you, as an African-American man, stand in a school named after a man
whose civil disobedience was generated by unjust laws, and decry us for
protesting for our kids and our rights? That bothered me more than what
Pavlov proposed."

"The teachers are not doing this without understanding the effect on the
students," said second-grade teacher Emily Simon. "The fact that we're
willing to do this anyway should be evidence of how extreme the issues are."

Those issues include lack of educational 

[EnglishSTF-6791] how low cost private schooling is a cheating of the poor ...

[Gurumurthy K]

 source -
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-lesson-in-hidden-agendas/article8397088.ece


A lesson in hidden agendas

The assault on the Right to Education Act and government schools is
motivated. It is definitely not in the interest of India’s children,
especially those from less privileged households

The public education system (PES) has for long been under fire. It is being
painted as non-functioning, wasteful and un-improvable. The Right to
Education Act (RTE) was designed to improve this system. Therefore, it is
natural that the RTE will also come under fire from the same quarters that
have been attacking the PES. The PES and RTE do have problems, and they
need to be fixed; we need to find a way to make the system deliver in terms
of better learning outcomes.

However, all the attacks which arise from private schools, their supporters
and the privatisation lobby are unjustified; and the solutions that are
being aggressively pushed will lead us further into the morass.

The original fiction
A lie is being perpetrated through sheer force of repetition that learning
is better in so-called low-cost private schools. There are some studies
that claim that private schools outperform public schools; while others
claim that after adjusting for family and socio-economic background of the
children, the difference is not statistically significant. Amita Chudgar
and Elizabeth Quin claim that they “find insufficient evidence to claim
that children in private schools outperform those in public schools in
India… better data are needed” (“Relationship between Private Schooling and
Achievement: Results from Rural and Urban India”, Economics of Education
Review, 2012). In spite of many studies conducted more or less with the
express purpose of establishing that low-fee private schools do better,
there is no reliable evidence to support that claim. However, there is
evidence that students in private “schools are less likely to belong to low
caste groups” (Sangeeta Goyal and Priyanka Pandey, “How do Government and
Private Schools Differ”, EPW, 2012), which means that they are less
inclusive. Therefore, the repeated claims of better learning in private
schools are unfounded.

When it became difficult to empirically prove that children learn better in
private schools, the attack invented a new weapon: per unit cost of
learning outcomes. Most of the learning outcome researches almost always
fail to understand the entire purport of education in any depth and reduce
it to learning of so-called 3Rs for economic purposes. The new claim that
emerged out of misplaced confidence that all that is in education can be
quantified is that the ‘per unit cost of outcome’ is lower in private
schools. Meaning that even if the learning outcomes of private schools are
not better than the public schools, the cost of running private schools is
much lower.

This argument is completely spurious and shows very little understanding of
education. The costs quoted for private schools, one, have no reliable
source of data and, two, they discount two kinds of hidden costs — to the
family and to the nation. Often the cost of education in private schools is
equated with the fee per child. This is obviously wrong as the cost of
school uniform, books and stationery, and transport, which all are under
the monopoly of the school, are not included. Occasionally private schools
want additional money for special occasions like festivals, picnics,
excursions and projects. And they often recommend tuition for the children.
None of this is counted in this cost calculation. However, the family bears
this burden and these items add significantly to the revenue of private
schools.

Teacher status
Second, the low-cost private schools often run in grossly inadequate
infrastructure. The teachers are paid less than minimum unskilled labour
wages legislated by various State governments. This has a devastating
effect on teacher status in the society, on teacher knowledge in the
education system and schools become dens of exploitation. The children see
all this and imbibe attitudes that are self-centred, competition-oriented,
and start thinking that ethics is a hindrance in the success of a business.
Therefore, the nation pays in terms of lowered teacher status and
professional knowledge, abandoning a section of its citizens to
exploitation, and possibly unhealthy attitudes in its future citizens.

Of course, one can argue that the PES is no better in transmitting
attitudes to the children. But PES conceptually can be better if managed
well; while the private system has it in its DNA as it has to make profit
on fees. For low-end private schools to do better on this count is
impossible even in theory. Therefore, lower comparative cost of learning is
also a bogus claim.

Associated fiction: school closure
To add to the force of two spurious argument mentioned above a new
falsehood is being spread: that the low-cost private schools are closing
due to implementation of 

[EnglishSTF-7203] Technological fundamentalism

[Gurumurthy K]

as we increasingly use and become dependant on technology, it is useful to
be sensitive to the danger of Technological fundamentalism

regards

Guru

Technological fundamentalism is a form of magical thinking that promises a
way out of the problems that the extractive/industrial economy has created.

Technological fundamentalists believe that the increasing use of evermore
sophisticated high-energy advanced technology is always a good thing and
that any problems caused by the unintended consequences of previous
high-energy/high-technology “solutions” eventually can be remedied by more
technology. Perhaps the ultimate example of this fundamentalism is
“geo-engineering,” the belief that we can intervene in the climate system
at the planetary level to deal with global warming.


Given massive human failure at much lower levels of intervention, this
approach—for example, what is called “solar radiation management,” which
would inject sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to reflect back
sunlight—is, quite literally, insane.

read rest of the article on
http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/07/19/what-is-the-world-who-are-we-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it/

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7240] NCERT SURVEY - K'taka class 10 students score above national average in four subjects

[Gurumurthy K]

"  

Examinations may be far away but class 10 students seem to be on the right
track. Karnataka students have scored more than the national average in
English, mathematics, science and social science, according to the National
Achievement Survey (NAS)-Class 10. Conducted by the National Council of
Educational Re search and Training (NCERT), the exercise assessed students
from 330 schools in the state 

Yashoda Bopanna, director of Karnataka Secondary Education Examination
Board, told TOI schools in Karnataka conduct more special classes for class
10 students as compared to other states.KSEEB too runs a helpline for one
month every year, where a subject expert clarifies students' doubts. “*We
have a subject teachers' forum where teachers share their skills,“ she
said, explaining the reasons for Karnataka's success" *

read rest of the article on
http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31806=NCERT-SURVEY-Ktaka-class-10-students-score-above-29072016003026

*Sharing of ideas, experiences and resources on the Subject Teacher Forums
 seeking help and feedback  have certainly been of help to the
members of the STF groups ... let us involve more and more teachers ... let
us use these mailing groups for sharing our ideas and materials, take and
give feedback for continuous learning  for life long learning .*

regards,
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7250] Psychological problems faced by school children. Movie haaro hakki.

[Gurumurthy K]

http://m.deccanherald.com/articles.php?name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deccanherald.com%2Fcontent%2F561269%2Fhaaro-hakki-depicts-problems-faced.html

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[EnglishSTF-7252] 136th Birth Anniversary of Munshi Premchand - Hindi 'Upanyas Samrat'

[Gurumurthy K]

Today is the 136th Birth Anniversary of Munshi Premchand. Google Search has
put a doodle of Munshiji!!

Every language teacher (every teacher) MUST read Premchand's short stories,
which are translated into English also.  His stories touch your soul

Access Premchand stories from KOER ...
*Hindi*   -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Hindi_Websites#Munshi_Premchand_stories

*English* translations -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/English_Websites#Munshi_Premchand

I hope our Hindi and Kannada teachers will translate his short stories into
Kannada (if you have any links of Kannada translations, please mail to the
forum, I will upload on KOER)

If you have not read any Premchand story before, then please do read any
one ... *Idgah* is amongst my favourites

   1. Munshi Premchand *Idgah*
   


>From wikipedia-

Premchand (Hindi :
प्रेमचंद, Urdu : پریمچںد), whose
original name was *Dhanpat Rai Srivastava*, was born on 31 July 1880, in
village *Lamahi* near Varanasi ,
where his father was a clerk in the post office. Premchand's parents died
young - his mother when he was seven and his father while he was fourteen
and still a student. Premchand was left responsible for his stepmother and
step-siblings.

Early in life, Premchand faced immense poverty. He earned five rupees a
month tutoring a lawyer's child. He was married at the early age of fifteen
but that marriage failed, later he married again, to Shivrani Devi, a
balavidhava (child widow), and had several children. She supported him
through life struggles.

Premchand passed his matriculation
 exam with great effort
in 1898, and in 1899 he took up school-teaching job, with a monthly salary
of eighteen rupees. In 1919 he passed his B.A. with English, Persian and
History.

Later, Premchand worked as the deputy sub-inspector of schools.

Premchand lived a life of financial struggle. Once he took a loan of
two-and-a-half rupees  to buy some
clothes. He had to struggle for three years to pay it back.

When asked why he does not write anything about himself, he answered: "What
greatness do I have that I have to tell anyone about? I live just like
millions of people in this country; I am ordinary. My life is also
ordinary. I am a poor school teacher
 suffering family travails.
During my whole lifetime, I have been grinding away with the hope that I
could become free of my sufferings. But I have not been able to free myself
from suffering. What is so special about this life that needs to be told to
anybody?".

regards,
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7086] 20,000 govt school teachers in Delhi involved in finding ways to make students learn the right lessons, and have fun

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

How delhi teachers are trying to address the huge gap between the student
contexts and the text books comments welcome

regards
Guru
source -
http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-government-schools-teachers-smart-study-pronunciation-education-fun-2872300/

20,000 govt school teachers in Delhi involved in finding ways to make
students learn the right lessons, and have fun

Grappling with students who barely know their alphabets in order, teachers
find it an uphill task to go beyond the narrative and explain the didactic
tone.

Written by Sweta Dutta | New Delhi | Published:June 24, 2016 2:35 am

“Once upon a time, there lived in Japan a young boy with his parents.
Although he worked hard, day and night cutting wood, he could not earn much
to satisfy need of his parents. It was cold season and his old father was
unable to bear the cold so he wished he could have sake… but a poor man
like Taro could not afford to buy the drink.”

As Kadambari Lohia, a Class VI English teacher of a Delhi government
school, reads out ‘Taro’s Reward’ — a chapter from the NCERT textbook —
students in her class stare blankly at her. Even as the textbook suggests
Kadambari pronounce sake as ‘saake’, she silently debates how the students,
who were taught to pronounce ‘S’ as sa just a few days ago, would tackle a
sudden deviation.

The story of Taro has often come up as a challenge to teachers. Grappling
with students who barely know their alphabets in order, teachers find it an
uphill task to go beyond the narrative and explain the didactic tone.

“There is an yawning gap between the learning level of students and the
difficulty level of the prescribed NCERT textbooks and this makes teaching
a big challenge in government schools,” explains Kadambari, flanked by
seven other English teachers from different government schools,
brainstorming over creating new supplementary material for students and
manuals for teachers to bridge this gap.

The exercise, initiated by Delhi government’s Directorate of Education and
involving 20,000 trained graduate teachers from Class VI to VIII, draws
from their own classroom experiences.

Over the past month, 500 batches of teachers have been brainstorming not
just to simplify textbooks for students, but also to draw up a manual for
teachers to ‘make sense’ of them while teaching. The material will be
printed and used in classrooms across government schools from July. The
initiative comes with the AAP government prioritising education and
allocating a lion’s share of the state budget in revamping infrastructure
and introducing more extra-curricular activities.

“Over the years, we have seen students floundering because their level of
understanding is far below the textbooks imposed on them. Teachers have
repeatedly complained of this and hence we thought we needed to involve
them in the process,” says Shailendra Sharma, principal advisor to director
(education).

Though the workshops have meant more work during the summer break, teachers
are not complaining. “We have to teach in the classroom and we know what
works for students. We should teach them what they understand and not what
the textbook wants us to teach. This is the first time teachers are
involved in the process of drafting study material,” says Deepti Chawla,
another English teacher.

Tarun Bhasin, a Social Studies teacher, and his colleagues draw up riddles
and other play-way methods to explain topics like the solar system and
environment. “Instead of making students learn by rote what environment
means, if we take them out to green areas and ask them to observe and write
down whatever they saw, the impact is much more,” explains Bhasin.

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7148] Good presentation on language learning

[Gurumurthy K]

the attached presentation discusses some of the mistakes of current methods
of language teaching (which are based on behaviourist approach) and newer
methods of language learning based on constructivist thinking..

regards
Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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Dr Anandan - Language education - rethinking textbooks.odp
Description: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation

[EnglishSTF-7167] Re: [HindiSTF-'2658'] It is a much appreciated quality at the workplace. Why not try to develop it in the classroom?

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Rupali Madam,

Very nice to read your mail. What you are doing is a good example for all
of us to follow... IF our students are participating actively in the
learning processes, they will understand (and retain) better.
Teaching-Learning is a collaborative processes involving teachers and
students equally... not something that students only passively receive from
teachers 

thanks once again madam
regards
Guru


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Tue, Jul 5, 2016 at 10:15 PM, Rupali Joshi <rupalijoshi1...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> exactly sir,
>  as per the situation mostly i do encourage
> debating,discussions,translations,descriptions etc in the classrooms. The
> children who are weak in writing actively participate and share their
> opinion. I give freedom to speak in their mother tongue too. such
> activities are helping me and the children for cce. Two days before i wrote
>  " JANASANKHYA HECCHAL" on the board and gave two minutes to think and
> share, i was surprised and happy to listen, assess their ideas and be the
> part of debate. I hope i am on the right path. Sir please encourage us by
> sharing such articles. thank you very much sir.
>
> rupali s joshi
> msw Bed
> g h s marakatti
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Jul 3, 2016 at 10:12 AM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> nice article, useful life skill to develop in students (and in us :-)  )
>>
>> It can be done through actual practice - by encouraging formal debating
>> in the classroom on issues and helping students to acknowledge their errors
>> (as inevitable part of learning) openly ... this will support development
>> of capabilities for self learning and peer learning, two critical aims of
>> school education...
>>
>> regards,
>> Guru
>>
>>
>> The value of intellectual humility
>> Usha Raman
>>
>> source -
>> http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/the-value-of-intellectual-humility/article8772958.ece
>>
>> It is a much appreciated quality at the workplace. Why not try to develop
>> it in the classroom?
>>
>> Every year, dozens of books are written about how to succeed in the
>> workplace or how to get hired by the top corporations, and many of these
>> books race their way into the non-fiction bestseller lists. These books
>> feed our anxieties about our own success, our doubts about which routes to
>> take and what we need to do as we move along a chosen path. Most juggle the
>> same themes and present them in different combinations, and we take the
>> formula that seems to work for us at a particular time. They talk about
>> domain knowledge (a good grasp of our subject), problem-solving and
>> analytical abilities, communication skills, and leadership qualities, among
>> other things. But the book Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock, Google’s head of
>> People Operations (Google-speak for Human Resources), mentions one other
>> factor that makes one a promising candidate — intellectual humility.
>>
>> We all know what humility is — the acceptance of human limitations, the
>> sense that we are not, and can never be, perfect. Intellectual humility,
>> similarly, is about the acceptance of the limitations of one’s own
>> knowledge, and the willingness to learn from others. To paraphrase Bock, it
>> is also about not attributing success solely to one’s own brilliance, and
>> failure to others’ stupidity. Many scholars who have studied this
>> characteristic say that someone who is intellectually humble is a better
>> learner, because she/he is always curious and willing to ask questions and
>> seek further explanation. In other words, being intellectually humble means
>> you are conscious that there is so much more to learn than you may have
>> been exposed to so far.
>>
>> Willingness to change
>> We are generally taught that it is good to be sure about something, to
>> have firm ideas about work, life and ourselves. Intellectual humility, on
>> the other hand, makes us less certain. Drawing from Socrates, scholar
>> Richard Paul suggests that there are two things that make up intellectual
>> humility: the first is the acceptance of the limits of one’s knowledge and
>> the second is the awareness of one’s own biases, prejudices and mental
>> habits. Those who have the trait will be more likely to accept mistakes and
>> learn from them. So, instead of sticking to a particular point or belief,
>> if they are presented with evidence to the contrary, they are willing to
>> change their minds. Those who are intellectually humble will have no
>> problem accepting they were wrong, or t

[EnglishSTF-7168] Re: [ms-stf '60734'] Re: Parents protest replacement of textbooks with tabs

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Siddu sir

you can access KOER for resources
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Main_Page
and
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER


regards
Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Sun, Jun 26, 2016 at 8:26 PM, siddu patil 
wrote:

> Please send me a website name so that I can download many more study
> meterials.
> On 26 Jun 2016 7:04 pm, "aravind navalli" 
> wrote:
>
>> i wonder how all these articles reach guru sir!
>>
>>
>> On Sunday, 26 June 2016 19:00:47 UTC+5:30, aravind navalli wrote:
>>>
>>> really we should appreciate the parents who understood these gadgets can
>>> never replace book and teacher
>>>
>>> On Friday, 24 June 2016 19:19:46 UTC+5:30, itfc.stfkoer wrote:

 Parents protest replacement of textbooks with tabs:
 http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/parents-protest-replacement-of-textbooks-with-tabs/article8766685.ece

 Sometimes parents can be more sensible than the school management ☺
 Gurumurthy Kasinathan, ITfC

>>> --
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[EnglishSTF-7290] " “Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading and Daydreaming.” Reading for ones own pleasure .... one of the most important aims of language teachers / school education...

[Gurumurthy K]

Neil Gaiman on Why We Read and What Books Do for the Human Experience




The question of why we read and what books actually do for us is as old as
the written word itself, and as attractive. Galileo saw reading as a way of
having superhuman powers
.
For Kafka, books were “the axe for the frozen sea within us”
;
Carl Sagan held them as “proof that humans are capable of working magic”
;
James Baldwin found in them a way to change one’s destiny
;
for Polish Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska, they stood as our ultimate
frontier of freedom

.

But one of the finest, most dimensional inquiries into the significance of
books and the role of reading in human life comes from *Neil Gaiman* in a
beautiful piece titled “Why Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading and
Daydreaming.”
Gaiman considers how the act of reading changes us, “what it’s good for”:

*Once in New York, I listened to a talk about the building of private
prisons—a huge growth industry in America. The prison industry needs to
plan its future growth — how many cells are they going to need? How many
prisoners are there going to be, fifteen years from now? And they found
they could predict it very easily, using a pretty simple algorithm, based
about asking what percentage of ten- and eleven-year-olds couldn’t read.
And certainly couldn’t read for pleasure.*

Echoing Madeleine L’Engle’s spirited 1983 lecture on creativity,
censorship, and the duty of children’s books
,
Gaiman considers how otherwise well-intentioned adults might thwart the
seed of that life-enlarging and sometimes even life-saving passion for
reading. In a passage of particular urgency for parents and educators, he
writes:

I don’t think there is such a thing as a bad book for children. Every now
and again it becomes fashionable among some adults to point at a subset of
children’s books, a genre, perhaps, or an author, and to declare them bad
books, books that children should be stopped from reading. I’ve seen it
happen over and over; Enid Blyton was declared a bad author, so was R. L.
Stine, so were dozens of others. Comics have been decried as fostering
illiteracy.

It’s tosh. It’s snobbery and it’s foolishness.

There are no bad authors for children, that children like and want to read
and seek out, because every child is different. They can find the stories
they need to, and they bring themselves to stories. A hackneyed, worn-out
idea isn’t hackneyed and worn out to someone encountering it for the first
time. You don’t discourage children from reading because you feel they are
reading the wrong thing. Fiction you do not like is the gateway drug to
other books you may prefer them to read. And not everyone has the same
taste as you.

Well-meaning adults can easily destroy a child’s love of reading: stop them
reading what they enjoy, or give them worthy-but-dull books that you like,
the twenty- first-century equivalents of Victorian “improving” literature.
You’ll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool and,
worse, unpleasant.

Gaiman then turns to the second key function of literature — its
unparalleled ability to foster empathy. In a sentiment that calls to mind
Rebecca Solnit’s inspired assertion that “a book is a heart that beats in
the chest of another,”

he writes:

When you watch TV or see a film, you are looking at things happening to
other people. Prose fiction is something you build up from twenty-six
letters and a handful of punctuation marks, and you, and you alone, using
your imagination, create a world, and people it and look out through other
eyes. You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never
otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well.
You’re being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you’re
going to be slightly changed.

Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to
function as more than self-obsessed individuals.

In a sentiment reminiscent of Ursula K. Le Guin’s electrifying case for how
imaginative storytelling expands our scope of the 

[EnglishSTF-8010] the Internet (the digital world) ... brief past, present and future ... will it be a space of enslavement or empowerment???

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Happy Republic day ... As we celebrates the  68th Republic Day, we should
think to what extent the goals of 'justice,liberty, equality and
fraternity' that the preamble to the constitution  (
http://www.constitution.org/cons/india/preamble.html) spoke of, are being
promoted or compromised by the advance of the Internet 

The recent focus on digitalization, smart cities, cashless economies etc
should be explored in this light ...

As the mail says in the end, *"Let’s not assume history has any inevitable
direction.  If you want things to move in a particular way, you have to do
things to make it happen.  History is made by people – that’s us."*

Let us all think, discuss and deliberate in what direction we would like
our country to move towards  Some of the digital advances may make our
lives more comfortable and efficient, but, as the mail suggests, some
advances clearly dilute our liberty and increase the inequities and
injustice in our society... Gandhi's ideal of 'antyodaya' meant that our
decisions should be guided by the impact on the most marginalized sections
of our society and our digital society should also be a just and equitable
one

Comments welcome...

regards,
Guru
Guru, IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net


From: InternetPolicy [mailto:internetpolicy-boun...@elists.isoc.org] On
Behalf Of Brandt Dainow
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2017 14:15
To: 'David Sarokin'; 'Kave Salamatian'
Cc: 'ISOC Internet Policy'
Subject: Re: [Internet Policy] WEBCAST Jan 24: Will The Internet Always Be
American?

History shows us that there is nothing inevitable about things getting
either better or worse.  Sometimes people unite to create a better world,
and sometimes powerful elites make things truly horrible for ordinary
people.  And either can continue for centuries.  Historically most of the
human race has been living under the domination of elites who enforced
their power with ideology and physical violence.  Think the Middle Ages in
Europe (1,000 years), monarchical China (2,000 years), the Roman Empire
(1,000 years), etc etc.  Generally, improving things for ordinary people
takes many decades of tough work.

The internet started as both a military system and as an academic
information exchange network.  Trends for both liberation and connection
between people co-existed with trends towards domination and walled
gardens.  IBM’s business model in the 1960’s – 1980’s was based on
innovation which locked customers in and prevented interoperability with
alternative suppliers.  Microsoft, Lotus and others followed this model.  I
was a technical manager in Microsoft in the 1980’s and we were formally
taught this model as the key to success.  We all knew the internet was
coming, and we all thought it would be totally owned by whoever created the
best tech.  I was alerted to the rise of the web in 1992 when Bill Gates
made a speech announcing the web was the next big thing and that “Microsoft
was going to own it.”  The idea of an open platform was heresy.  Tim
Berners-Lee cites this in his autobiography as a key reason why he did not
patent or sell HTML, but gave it to everyone.  In the 1990’s I watched the
same attempts to own the web via control of HTML standards, especially
implementation of new features by people like Netscape and Microsoft before
these features were standardised, on the basis that if everyone used them,
that company would “own” the standard (look at the history of HTML 4.0).

Companies like Google then demonstrated the economic value of owning search
as the gateway to the web, and user-analytics driven advertising.  Facebook
copied this model – own the environment, prevent interoperability, surveil
the user, sell that data.  Both rely for their domination on the fact you
cannot go to a competitor and interoperate with their users.  If these
systems were open, or at least had open API-based interoperability, we
would be seeing an entire competitive market of social networks, search
systems etc.  Those who believe free markets are best for innovation or
economic development should therefore see lack of interoperability and
walled gardens as anti-capitalist.  This lack of choice, when combined with
hidden data analytics, meets the Marxist criteria of coercion and economic
exploitation.  Marxists should therefore see this same situation as
anti-liberatory.  It doesn’t matter what your perspective, as I see it,
there is no justification for domination of entire categories of online
activity by monopolies like this.

There is no historical evidence this situation will improve of its own
accord.  It could get better, or it could get worse.  Perhaps one day not
having a Facebook account will be grounds for police investigation.  Could
someone argue the best way to kill fake news is to ban all search engines
except Google?  In the 1980’s the US government changed the world of email
systems by laying down minimum security standards any supplier had to meet
in order to 

[EnglishSTF-8015] Social stratification in schools ... Bridge gap in school enrolment share (Dr HBC)

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Our colleague, Dr HB Chandrashekar has raised very important issue of
inclusion in schools in his article in DH today.  (article below)

The current school system is seeing a very high level of social
stratification, with the marginalized groups going mostly to Government
schools. Such stratification is not good for the schools and for the
education processes as well...  one way out is the Neighbourhood school
system or common school system, but that will take much more political will
than we have seen.

A second more workable option is to make Government schools strong ... so
that all prefer to send their children to Government schools... this will
require lot of work from all of us, and also much much more investment of
the central and state governments in primary and secondary education.

The Kothari Commission called for at least 6% of GDP to be invested in
education by the Government, but this has never been achieved, which is
quite disappointing... The funding should be doubled from current levels,
to enable filling all vacancies, providing required infrastructure in all
schools, support staff (to reduce administration load on teachers), much
more investment in DIETs-BRCs-CRCs  to enable them to provide required
support to teachers and schools While it may be true that spending
efficiencies need to improve, there is a dire need to increase the
allocation to education in central and state budgets...

regards,
Guru
IT for Change.

Bridge gap in school enrolment share
By H B Chandrashekar, Jan 28, 2017

Enrolment share of Muslim children in govt, aided schools is less when
compared to their counterparts.
School is a perfect place for inclusion where children from different socio
cultural backgrounds get educated under one roof. We acknowledge school as
a means of social inclusion where all categories of children study and
interact. School is also considered as a miniature of society for the
reason that it provides ample opportunities for children to socialise and
grow.

The social development of children will be optimum and healthy if children
from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds are together learning under one
roof. But, if we analyse the patterns of enrolment of children in the
schools functioning under different managements in the state, a contrasting
picture is emerging.

There is no doubt that te enrolment share in government schools is high in
spite of stiff competition posed by private schools. The total enrolment of
children who are studying from 1st Standard to 10th Standard in all
managements in the state during 2015-16 was 101.14 lakh. Out of this, 48.86
lakh (48%) children are in government schools, 15.14 lakh (15%) in aided
schools and 36.15 Lakh (37%) are in un-aided schools.

Since aided schools are funded and supported by the government, the total
enrolment of children in government and aided schools together constitutes
63% (64 lakh children) of total enrolment. But, it is matter of concern to
see the decline in the enrolment share of children in government schools.
This has been established if we see the enrolment of children during
2006-07.

There was a decrease of 15.59 lakh children in government schools in a span
of 10 years and un-aided schools have increased their enrolment to the tune
of 13.97 lakh children. In aided schools, the loss of enrolment of children
was about 0.77 lakh.

It is interesting to analyse the enrolment share of children from SC, ST
and Muslim community. As per the Census 2011 figures, the population share
of SC, ST and Muslim Community at the national level is 16.2%, 8.2% and
12.2%, respectively, where as the population of share of SC, ST and Muslim
Community at Karnataka is 16.2%, 6.6% and 12.2%, respectively.

In comparison with the population figures at both national and state level,
the enrolment share of children studying in 1st to 10th Standard from SC,
ST and Muslim community during 2015-16 was 19% (19.25 lakh children), 7.7%
(7.80 lakh) and 14,57% (7.80 lakh), respectively. The enrolment of children
in these categories is higher when compared to their population share in
the state.

The interesting phenomenon noticed is the enrolment share of children from
SC, ST and Muslim communities are alarmingly high in government and aided
schools when compared with unaided schools. The enrolment of children from
SC community is 64% (12.25 lakh) in government schools and 16% (3.06 lakh)
in aided schools which together amounts to 80% when compared to 20% (3.84
lakh) in un-aided schools.

SC and ST communities

The proportion of children belonging to ST community is more in government
and aided institutions than SC children.

The enrolment share of children from ST community in government and aided
institutions constitutes to 82%; 69% (5.38 lakh) in government schools and
13% (1.02 lakh) in aided schools. Surprisingly, the enrolment share of
children from Muslim community in government and aided schools is less when
compared to their 

[EnglishSTF-8016] FACTS

[Gurumurthy K]

INTERESTING FACTS

No words in the English language rhyme
with “month”, “orange”, “silver” or “purple”.

“Hungry” and “Angry” are the only words in the English language that end in
“-gry.
The number 4 is the only number that has the same number of letters in it
- FOUR
Did you know the word 'Underground' is the only word that begins and ends
with the letters 'und'.
The word 'Uncopyrightable' is the is the only 15 letter word that can be
spelled without repeating any letter.
The word 'Typewriter' is the longest word that can be typed using only the
top row of a keyboard.
Did you know the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
uses every letter in the English alphabet.
The word 'Rhythm' is the longest word without a vowel.
"Dreamt" is the only word that ends in mt.
Did you know there are only 3 sets of letters on a keyboard which are in
alphabetical order - 'F G H', 'J K L', 'O P'

"queue"
The word "queue" is the only word in the English Language that is still
pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.
"Dammit I'm mad" is the same spelt backwards
"Set" of all the words in the English Language, the word "set" has the most
definitions.
"Bookkeeper" & "Bookkeeping" are only words in English language with three
consecutive double letters.
The least used letter in the alphabet is Q.
The most commonly used word in English conversation is 'I'
The dot on top of the letter 'i' is called a tittle.
There are only 4 words in the English language which end in 'dous' (they
are: hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous)
The oldest word in the English language is 'town'.
The word 'Strengths' is the longest word in the English language with just
one vowel.
The past tense for the English word 'dare' is 'durst'.
The first English dictionary was written in 1755.

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[EnglishSTF-8075] History as a good teacher ....

[Gurumurthy K]

I am sharing an article written by a veteran journalist and public interest
activist Roberto Savio.
I think it is useful reading as a historical narrative, for us to
understand the global social, political and economic movements over the
last couple of centuries.

(I am not intending to endorse or criticise any politician or leader
through this sharing, but only to stimulate our thinking about the events
and what the world portends)

Comments, welcome.  As teachers (whether of history or other subjects), we
need to reflect on these events and what our role as educators of young
minds ought to be.

My own comment - These political developments are unfortunate since they
will come in the way of a serious effort by world leaders and citizens and
communities to address the biggest threat facing our world today - Climate
change/ global warming, arising out of excessive and indiscriminate
consumption of natural resources. Addressing climate change will require
very drastic changes to our live styles (simpler living, less consumption,
better distribution of resources across different sections of society,
water, air and bio conservation) but the strong global leadership /
collective leadership that this requires will not be possible in a context
of increasing nationalist feelings 

regards,
Guru


Trump Marks the End of a Cycle



Analysis by Roberto Savio*



 Let us stop debating what newly-elected US President Trump is doing or
might do and look at him in terms of historical importance. Put simply,
Trump marks the end of an American cycle!



Like it or not, for the last two centuries the entire planet has been
living in an Anglophone-dominated world. First there was Pax Britannica
(from the beginning of the 19th century when Britain started building its
colonial empire until the end of the Second World War, followed by the
United States and Pax Americana with the building of the so-called West).



The United States emerged from the Second World War as the main winner and
founder of what became the major international institutions – from the
United Nations to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
– with Europe reduced to the role of follower. In fact, under the Marshall
Plan, the United States became the force behind the post-war reconstruction
of Europe.



As winner, the main interest of the United States was to establish a ‘world
order’ based on its values and acting as guarantor of the ‘order’.



Thus the United Nations was created with a Security Council in which it
could veto any resolution, and the World Bank was created with the US
dollar as the world’s currency, not with a real world currency as British
economist and delegate John Maynard Keynes had proposed. The creation of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) – as a response to any threat
from the Soviet Union – was an entirely American idea.



The lexicon of international relations was largely based on Anglo-Saxon
words, and often difficult to translate into other languages – terms such
as accountability, gender mainstreaming, sustainable development, and so
on. French and German disappeared as international languages, and lifestyle
became the ubiquitous American export – from music to food, films and
clothes. All this helped to reinforce American myths.



The United States thrust itself forward as the “model for democracy”
throughout the world, based on the implied assertion that what was good for
the United States was certainly good for all other countries. The United
States saw itself as having an exceptional destiny based on its history,
its success and its special relationship with God. Only US presidents could
speak on behalf of the interests of humankind and invoke God.



The economic success of the United States was merely confirmation of its
exceptional destiny – but the much touted American dream that anyone could
become rich was unknown elsewhere.



The first phase of US policy after the Second World War was based on
multilateralism, international cooperation and respect for international
law and free trade – a system which assured the centrality and supremacy of
the United States, reinforced by its military might,



The United Nations, which grew from its original 51 countries in 1945 to
nearly 150 in just a few decades, was the forum for establishing
international cooperation based on the values of universal democracy,
social justice and equal participation.



In 1974, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the Charter of
Economic Rights and Duties of States – the first (and only) plan for global
governance – which called for a plan of action to reduce world inequalities
and redistribute wealth and economic production. But this quickly became to
be seen by the United States as a straitjacket.



The arrival of Ronald Reagan at the White House in in1981 marked an abrupt
change in this phase of American policy based on multilateralism and shared
international cooperation. A few months 

[EnglishSTF-8089] Intolerance and violence .....

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Social Science teachers,

It is said that one of the important roles of history teaching-learning is
to examine data/evidence from past events/stories and make judgements of
the past , for the present and the future .

In my opinion, we are seeing quite a bit of intolerance to dissenting /
differing views and that is dangerous for democracy. The recent cold
blooded murder of Srinivas in Kansas by a person who believed Srinivas to
be an illegal immigrant is an example. Many believe this murder was
associated with the larger climate of hate and intolerance being built in
the election campaign in the US.

I can see parallels of this crime with what is happening in India, with
Akhlaq lynched by a mob, his crime being that he had meat in his fridge. I
am not wanting to argue if the meat was beef and if it was a crime to have
it in his fridge. My argument is what right did a group of people have to
take justice in their hands and kill him. Even the state delivers a death
sentence only after lot of due processes. Neither the white man in Kansas,
nor the mob in UP had this right.

I was distressed to read in today's paper the kind of foul language used
against a Delhi University student (Martyr's daughter faces 'rape threat'
on Facebook
).
As the revolutionary Voltaire said "I disapprove of what you say, but I
will defend to the death your right to say it...: In my view, history
teachers have a very very very important role in teaching tolerance and
acceptance (even celebration) of diversity of beliefs, faiths and cultures.
We cannot silence voices through violence but only reason through
arguments...

As sociology teachers, see the challenges of today's environment and
incidents that affect peace and harmony. As teachers of sociology and
political science , bring in examples of diverse views and the
contestations/disagreements and negotiations between diverse ideas and
cultures will help students get a feel of the complexities of contemporary
social and political realities. And of course as young minds what they can
think of and do to make democracy more meaningful to them and to their
fraternity

I shared my views, disturbed by the news from Delhi. Comments, feedback,
thoughts welcome

Sharing below an article from DH yesterday about how Aurangzeb was perhaps
not a bigot as is widely believed and taught 

regards,
Guru

Source -
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/598595/view-aurangzeb-bigot-has-colonial.html

New Delhi, Feb 27, 2017, PTI:
'Aurangzeb: The Man and The Myth', published by Penguin Random House, takes
a fresh look at the controversial Mughal emperor. According to Truschke,
Hindu and Jain temples dotting the landscape of Aurangzeb's kingdom were
entitled to Mughal state protection, and he generally endeavoured to ensure
their well-being. Screengrab

*Historian Audrey Truschke refuses to buy the argument that Aurangzeb razed
temples because he hated Hindus saying it has roots in colonial-era
scholarship, where positing timeless Hindu-Muslim animosity embodied the
British strategy of divide and conquer.*

In her new book, she also says that had Aurangzeb’s reign been 20 years
shorter, he would have been judged differently by modern historians.
Truschke, an assistant professor of South Asian history at Rutgers
University in Newark and an avid follower of Mughal history, New Jersey,
has now come up with a new biography on Aurangzeb.

"Aurangzeb: The Man and The Myth", published by Penguin Random House, takes
a fresh look at the controversial Mughal emperor. According to Truschke,
Hindu and Jain temples dotting the landscape of Aurangzeb's kingdom were
entitled to Mughal state protection, and he generally endeavoured to ensure
their well-being.

"By the same token, from a Mughal perspective, that goodwill could be
revoked when specific temples or their associates acted against imperial
interests. Accordingly, Emperor Aurangzeb authorised targeted temple
destructions and desecrations throughout his rule," she claims.

"Many modern people view Aurangzeb's orders to harm specific temples as
symptomatic of a larger vendetta against Hindus. Such views have roots in
colonial-era scholarship, where positing timeless Hindu-Muslim animosity
embodied the British strategy of divide and conquer," she writes.

She says there are, however, numerous gaping holes in the proposition that
Aurangzeb razed temples because he hated Hindus.

"Most glaringly, Aurangzeb counted thousands of Hindu temples within his
domains and yet destroyed, at most, a few dozen. This incongruity makes
little sense if we cling to a vision of Aurangzeb as a cartoon bigot driven
by a single-minded agenda of ridding India of Hindu places of worship.

"A historically legitimate view of Aurangzeb must explain why he protected
Hindu temples more often than he demolished them." Truschke argues that
Aurangzeb followed Islamic law in granting 

[EnglishSTF-8086] Poison in the air, struggle on the road

[Gurumurthy K]

Air pollution is a serious health threat in most cities in India. Drastic
measures to reduce traffic is needed. This requires a strong public
transport system.
Read
Poison in the air, struggle on the road:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/poison-in-the-air-struggle-on-the-road/article17368518.ece

But governments are reluctant to subsidise public transport . Read
todays-paper
Absence of cabs highlights need for better bus network:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/Absence-of-cabs-highlights-need-for-better-bus-network/article17367731.ece

Comments welcome

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[EnglishSTF-7379] whatsapp settings

[Gurumurthy K]

dear teachers

you will be getting a message from whatsapp that facebook will get
information about your whatsapp messages. this is to help facebook to use
your whatsapp information to show advertisements on facebook

since this violates our privacy and allows facebook to use our personal
data, you could protect your privacy by not ticking (checking) this
question when asked by whatsapp.

see article from Hindu below

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/internet/whatsapp-to-share-your-phone-number-with-facebook/article9031887.ece

WhatsApp users could soon start seeing more targeted ads on Facebook.

Global messaging service WhatsApp says it will start sharing the phone
numbers of its users with Facebook, its parent company. That means WhatsApp
users could soon start seeing more targeted ads on Facebook although not on
the messaging service itself.

The move is a subtle but significant shift for WhatsApp, which has long
promised to safeguard the privacy of more than 1 billion users around the
world. WhatsApp is giving users a limited time to opt out of sharing their
information with Facebook, although they must take the extra step of
unchecking a box to do so. It also says Facebook won’t post phone numbers
online or give them out to anyone.

But the giant social network has been looking for ways to make money from
WhatsApp since it bought the service two years ago, in an eye-popping deal
ultimately worth $21.8 billion. At the same time, Facebook has pledged not
to interfere with a longstanding promise by WhatsApp’s co-founders to
respect users’ privacy and keep ads off its messaging platform.

WhatsApp on Thursday offered a glimpse of its plans for turning on the
money spigot, releasing new documents that describe the company’s privacy
policy and the terms of service that users must agree to follow. The
documents are the first revision of those policies since 2012, before
Facebook acquired WhatsApp.

One change follows through on previous hints by WhatsApp executives, who
have said they’re exploring ways for businesses to communicate with
customers on WhatsApp. That could include using WhatsApp to provide
receipts, confirm a reservation or update the status of a delivery.

Companies could also send marketing offers or messages about sales to
individual customers, according to the new documents, which note that users
will be able to control or block such messages. WhatsApp says it will
continue to bar traditional display ads from its service.

“We do not want you to have a spammy experience,” the company tells users
in a summary of the new policies.

Another change is potentially more controversial- WhatsApp says it will
begin “coordinating” accounts with Facebook by sharing WhatsApp users’
mobile phone numbers and device information, such as the type of operating
system and other smartphone characteristics. The company says Facebook will
employ the phone number internally to better identify WhatsApp users on
Facebook, so it can recommend friends or show targeted advertising.

The ads would come through a Facebook programme called “Custom Audiences,”
which lets a business upload lists of customers and phone numbers or other
contact information the business has collected from warranty cards or other
sources. Facebook matches the list to users with the same information and
shows them ads. Facebook says it doesn’t give out users’ information to
advertisers.

WhatsApp phone numbers are valuable to Facebook. While the social network
already has many phone numbers, it doesn’t require users to provide them,
and doesn’t always have the most current number for everyone on Facebook.
But anyone on WhatsApp must provide a current phone number because that’s
how WhatsApp knows where to deliver messages.

The coordination of accounts may draw fire from privacy advocates. WhatsApp
has long promised not to employ user data for advertising. Its acquisition
by Facebook two years ago sparked complaints from activists who worried the
new owner would start mining WhatsApp accounts. Though both companies
pledged WhatsApp would operate separately from its parent, the Federal
Trade Commission warned them publicly, in a 2014 letter, against changing
how they employ WhatsApp user data without users’ consent.

WhatsApp says current users have up to 30 days to accept the new policy
terms or stop using the service. Once they accept, they have 30 more days
to opt out of sharing with Facebook.

Privacy groups have praised WhatsApp for building powerful encryption into
its services, making it impossible for the company or anyone else to read
users’ messages. WhatsApp promises that encryption will remain, so neither
WhatsApp nor Facebook would be able to use message content for advertising
purposes.



-- 
Guru
IT for Change

In special consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC
www.ITforChange.net  M: 7331140702 | T: 080
2653 6890

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EnglishSTF Link: 

[EnglishSTF-7579] Noam Chomsky on the Evolution of Language: A Bio-linguistic Perspective

[Gurumurthy K]

Perhaps enabling our students to love language and reading is the most
important ability that a school can give to students  


 language permits us (in their words) to construct "from 25 or 30
sounds an infinite variety of expressions, which although not having any
resemblance in themselves to that which passes through our minds,
nevertheless do not fail to reveal all of the secrets of the mind, and to
make intelligible to others who cannot penetrate into the mind all that we
conceive and all of the diverse movements of our souls."...

read more at
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/37725-noam-chomsky-on-the-evolution-of-language-a-biolinguistic-perspective
for  an interview with Noam Chomsky, the scholar who single-handedly
revolutionized the modern field of linguistics, the interview discusses the
evolution of language and lays out the bio-linguist perspective -- the idea
that a human being's language represents a state of some component of the
mind.


regards
Guru




IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7528] lets remove plastic from our lives ..... (France bans plastic cutlery)

[Gurumurthy K]

France, in order to be more environmentally conscious, has become the first
country to implement a new law banning the use of plastic silverware,
plates and cups. Companies who produce these plastic products have until
2020 to make sure their products are biodegradable.

read the article on
http://www.nationofchange.org/2016/09/17/france-bans-plastic-silverware-plates-cups/

same for plastic water bottles, cups, plates   plastic is one of the
biggest dangers to our environment 

regards
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7329] Climate Catastrophe as a key part of our high school syllabus

[Gurumurthy K]

dear teachers,

Climate change... can destroy our world .. our children need to learn about
it, how can we bring it into our classrooms? in theory and practice...

Some teachers have replied to earlier similar mails with their work in tree
plantation, rain water harvesting, bio-diversity conservation etc ... as
teachers perhaps promoting the idea of simple living (which has
traditionally been a part of our way of living/our culture) ... can be an
important step. it would be useful if this were a part of our history,
geography, economics, sociology, physics, chemistry, biology, language
teaching 


regards
Guru
IT for Change


The Climate Catastrophe Cannot Be Reversed Within the Capitalist Culture
Thursday, 18 August 2016 00:00 By Ashley Dawson, OR Books | Book Excerpt

Did you know that the Earth loses about one hundred species every day? In
Extinction: A Radical History, Ashley Dawson ties together history, science
and political theory to explain the impact of humans and capitalism on the
world's ecosystems. Get your copy of this book by making a tax-deductible
donation to Truthout!

The following is the introduction to Extinction: A Radical History.

His face was hacked off. Left prostrate in the red dust, to be preyed on by
vultures, his body remained intact except for the obscene hole where his
magnificent six foot long tusks used to be. Satao was a so-called tusker,
an African elephant with a rare genetic strain that produced tusks so long
that they dangled to the ground, making him a prime attraction in Kenya's
Tsavo East National Park.

These beautiful tusks also made him particularly valuable to ivory
poachers, who felled him with poison arrows, carved off his face to get at
his tusks, and left his carcass for the flies. The grisly death of Satao,
one of Africa's largest elephants, is part of a violent wave of poaching
that is sweeping the continent today. In 2011, twenty-five thousand African
elephants were slaughtered for their ivory. An additional forty-five
thousand have been killed since that time. If the present rate of slaughter
continues, one of the two species of African elephants, the forest
elephant, whose numbers have declined by 60 percent since 2002, is likely
to be gone from Africa within a decade.

The image of Satao lying faceless in the dust is a haunting one. While the
elephant as a species will probably not go extinct (since some individuals
are likely to be kept alive in game reserves and zoos), the decimation of
their numbers in the wild reminds us of a broader tide of extinction, the
sixth mass extinction Earth has witnessed. Only tens of thousands of years
ago, during the Pleistocene epoch, Earth was home to an immense variety of
spectacular, large animals. From wooly mammoths to saber-toothed cats to
lesser-known but equally exotic animals like giant ground sloths and
car-sized glyptodonts, megafauna roamed the world freely. Today, almost all
of these large animals are extinct: killed, most of the evidence suggests,
by human beings. As they spread across the planet, Homo sapiens decimated
populations of megafauna everywhere they went. Humanity essentially ate its
way down the food chain when wiping out biodiversity. Africa, our ancestral
home, is virtually alone in harboring some remnants of the Pleistocene
biodiversity. In the grisly death of Satao and his fellow elephants, we are
witnessing the final destruction of the world's remaining megafauna, the
endgame of an epoch of epic defaunation or animal slaughter.

But it is not just charismatic megafauna like elephants, rhinos, tigers,
and pandas that are being pushed to the brink of extinction. Humanity lives
amid, and is the cause of, a massive decimation of global biodiversity.
>From humble invertebrates like beetles and butterflies to various
terrestrial vertebrate populations like bats and birds, species are going
extinct in record numbers. For example, since 1500, 322 species of
land-based vertebrates have disappeared, and the remaining populations show
an average 25 percent decline in abundance around the world. Invertebrate
populations are similarly threatened. Researchers generally agree that the
current extinction rate is nothing short of catastrophic, clocking in
between one thousand and ten thousand times the rate before human beings
began to exert a significant pressure on the environment. The Earth is
losing about a hundred species a day. In addition to this tidal wave of
extinction, which conservation biologists predict will eliminate up to 50
percent of currently existing animal and plant species, the abundance of
species in local areas is declining precipitously, threatening the
functioning of entire ecosystems. This mass extinction is thus an under
acknowledged form -- and cause -- of the contemporary environmental crisis.

Although this wave of mass extinction is global, the vast majority of
species destruction is concentrated in a small number of geographical
hotspots. This is because biodiversity 

[EnglishSTF-7737] California becomes first U.S. state to ban plastic bags

[Gurumurthy K]

Karnataka Government has banned plastic use in Bengaluru. But not yet fully
enforced :-(
we need to completely stop use of most varieties of plastic items ... must
to save our environment...

Guru
IT for Change


In July of 2015, Hawaii made headlines when it completely banned the use of
plastic bags

at a county level. Now, California in the news because it has accomplished
similar, but at a state level.

The California Plastic Bag Veto Referendum (Proposition 67) was signed into
law by Governor Jerry Brown in 2014, but was put on hold until it was
approved by voters. Though the out-of-state plastic bag industry invested
$6 to campaign against Proposition 67, it narrowly passed with a margin of
51.97% to 48.03% on November 8th. Now, California is the first state in the
union to completely ban the sale of plastic bags

.

It’s worth noting that while the plastic bag ban passed, Proposition 65,
which proposed an environmental fund created with the proceeds from a
10-cent fee on the sale of cloth or other alternative bags
,
was defeated.

read rest of article on
http://www.nationofchange.org/2016/11/13/official-california-becomes-first-u-s-state-ban-plastic-bags/

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7695] School wiki page as school and community knowledge repository

[Gurumurthy K]

http://googleweblight.com/?lite_url=http://english.manoramaonline.com/news/kerala/school-wiki-kerala-wikipedia-education-it-at-school-nov-1.html=udyglbtd=en-IN=1=804=www.google.co.in=1477890409=AF9Nedn7I7OWyV33kINbhoMVw1f_La80Aw

We have a similar school wiki page on koer

http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:School which
schools can use to create their wiki pages.

The Kerala project is ambitious and aims to create local content and
knowledge as a part of the school page, in local language

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[EnglishSTF-7953] ‘Hi School Kuttikoottam’ to promote ICT among students, Kerala IT@Schools next steps....

[Gurumurthy K]

Kerala has begun the next phase of its IT@Schools program... after ensuring
ICT use in all high schools they are moving to structured work with and by
students using ICT 

regards
Guru
source -
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/%E2%80%98Hi-School-Kuttikoottam%E2%80%99-to-promote-ICT-among-students/article16979313.ece

As information and communication technology-enabled learning (ICT) becomes
more widespread, IT@School has come up with ‘Hi School Kuttikoottam’, a
collective of students to ensure their participation and promote interest
in ICT activities.

Modelled as a permanent set-up on the lines of Student Police Cadets, it
aims at bringing one lakh students into the network this year, making it
the largest in the country, IT@School in a statement said.

Education Minister C. Ravindranath said the collective would be
strengthened as part of the General Education Protection Mission, besides
ensuring students’ participation in various activities.

Among its aims is creating an environment to facilitate in-depth learning
of ICT, providing students with the experience of group and collaborative
learning, improving ICT-enabled learning at schools, ensuring students’
participation in resolving technical issues at schools, making students
aware of safe Internet use and ills such as cybercrime, and equipping them
to lead campaigns, a statement from IT@School Executive Director K. Anvar
Sadath said.

Students will also be given an opportunity to undertake various language
computing programmes.

Hi School Kuttikoottam envisions offering training to students from IT
clubs in each school in five areas – animation and multimedia, hardware,
electronics, language computing, and Internet and cybersecurity. The
training will be constantly monitored by the IT@School project.

At schools, a committee with the parent-teacher association (PTA) president
as chairman and headmaster as convener will coordinate the programmes of
the collective. School IT coordinators will lead the daily activities,
which will be taken up without affecting class timings.

IT@School will make arrangements for the students to create awareness and
provide training to fellow students and guardians in ICT, Mr. Anvar Sadath
said.

It aims at increasing the membership to two lakh students next academic
year.

Organisations such as Google, Start-up Mission (Electronics), and
Swathanthra Malayalam Computing have promised their support to the
programme.

IT@School will submit projects for expanding the programme, making use of
the corporate social responsibility funds of various companies, and
availing funds available under the Centre’s Digital India programme to make
hardware available to students.

At least 20 students should be part of the network from each school. The
maximum is 12 per cent of the high school section strength. The first phase
of training will be over before March 31.


IT for Change, Bengaluru
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[EnglishSTF-7805] global warming will make barren our gangetic plains .....

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

for many years, it has been clear that the glaciers on top of the Himalayas
are melting at faster rates, and the cycle of ice-water-ice that has
sustained the water supply to most of North India is under strain. we are
likely to see heavier rainfall, more water during rainy season and drought
during the dry season. This will be a huge danger to life, agriculture in
North India / gangetic plains... unless we act adequately to reverse the
global warming   by reducing our consumption patterns, sharply reducing
fossil fuel use, private transport, bottled water . also raise public
awareness on contentious issues like large dams, deforestation, land/soil
degradation, waste recycling and segregation etc.

Protecting our environment is an important learning that we need to take to
our students now.

This crisis is already happening in Bolivia, which depends on the glaciers
on the Andez mountain ranges 

regards
Guru
IT for Change.

Landlocked Bolivia, located in the Andean mountain heights of central South
America, is heavily reliant upon glaciers for its drinking water. Water
from glaciers also supports agriculture, generates power and nurtures the
country's natural ecosystems. However, those glaciers are now in danger.

Anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) has shrunk many of Bolivia's
glaciers to record-low coverage, forcing the country's government to
recently declare a state of emergency as it struggles to cope with the
worst drought it has seen in more than a quarter of a century
.

*To see more stories like this, visit "Planet or Profit?"
*

President Evo Morales has called on local governments around the country to
steer funds and workers immediately toward drilling water wells and
transporting available water into cities. He also ordered Bolivia's armed
forces to help in these efforts.

*Bolivia's Melting Glaciers*

Recently published research showed that from 1986 to 2014, a time span of
merely one human generation, Bolivia's glaciers shrank by nearly 50 percent
. For many of the country's
residents, that shrinking is a threat to survival. Approximately 2.3
million residents in the cities of La Paz and El Alto rely on glacial
runoff and lakes to feed reservoirs for a significant percentage of their
drinking water, particularly during the dry season.

The aforementioned study stated that nearly all of Bolivia's glaciers will
be either gone or severely diminished by the end of this century.

A recent study by the Stockholm Environment Institute

(SEI) revealed that temperatures in Bolivia have risen by 0.5 C between the
years 1976 and 2006. In recent years, the residents of La Paz and El Alto
have been staring directly at evidence of ACD's impact, in the form of the
rapidly shrinking snowpack in the mountains that rise above their cities.

A glacier on Chacaltaya Mountain, which used to host the world's highest
ski resort above the city of El Alto, has already completely vanished.

The SEI report said that if regional ACD models that predict a 2C
temperature increase by 2050 are correct, many of the small glaciers that
provide the cities with their drinking water will completely disappear.
Those that remain will shrink dramatically.

*"Prepare for the Worst"*

All of these problems are compounded by the fact that, like what is
happening across most of the rest of the world, the populations of major
cities are exploding due to economics.

El Alto, which is now home to more than a million people, grew by one third
between 2001 and 2012. Coinciding with that, the city's area expanded by
more than 140 percent  in
just the last 10 years, due to urban sprawl. By 2050, only 34 years from
now, the population of the city is expected to double
.

When the national state of emergency was declared, more than half of
Bolivia's municipalities had already declared their own states of emergency
due to the drought. The drought had already fomented protests
 across
Bolivia's major cities, as well as conflicts between miners and farmers
over the use of aquifers.

*The three primary lakes that supply the two major cities with water, which
are fed by glacial runoff, are now nearly completely dry, and water
rationing affecting more than 100,000 families has been on-going in La Paz
and El Alto. *President Evo Morales sacked the head of his country's water
company for not warning him earlier of the dangerous situation. At a press
conference earlier this week, Morales stated
, "We have
to 

[EnglishSTF-7823] Dangers from digital technologies

[Gurumurthy K]

Dangers from digital technologies. We must alert our students about the
dangers and risks of using digital camera, Facebook indiscriminately.
Guru

Read todays-paper
http://m.deccanherald.com/articles.php?name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deccanherald.com%2Fcontent%2F584899%2Fdrug-addicts-blackmail-girl-intimate.html

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[EnglishSTF-7923] समय की .. इस अनवरत बहती धारा में .. अपने चंद सालों का .. हिसाब क्या रखें .. !! ..... फिर भी नया साल मुबारक हो !!

[Gurumurthy K]

In this relentless stream of time .. ..
.. why to keep track of your few years .. !! ...

(translation of first two lines of Hindi poem below ...poetry itself is a
sufficient reason to learn as many languages as possible!!)
-

Dear teachers,

still wish you all a happy, healthy, harmonious and scholarly 2017
Lets all continue our sharing and learning with more energy and more
consideration 

regards,
Guru

-
समय की .. इस अनवरत बहती धारा में ..
अपने चंद सालों का .. हिसाब क्या रखें .. !!

जिंदगी ने .. दिया है जब इतना .. बेशुमार यहाँ ..
तो फिर .. जो नहीं मिला उसका हिसाब क्या रखें .. !!

दोस्तों ने .. दिया है .. इतना प्यार यहाँ ..
तो दुश्मनी .. की बातों का .. हिसाब क्या रखें .. !!

दिन हैं .. उजालों से .. इतने भरपूर यहाँ ..
तो रात के अँधेरों का .. हिसाब क्या रखे .. !!

खुशी के दो पल .. काफी हैं .. खिलने के लिये ..
तो फिर .. उदासियों का .. हिसाब क्या रखें .. !!

हसीन यादों के मंजर .. इतने हैं जिंदगानी में ..
तो चंद दुख की बातों का .. हिसाब क्या रखें .. !!

मिले हैं फूल यहाँ .. इतने किन्हीं अपनों से ..
फिर काँटों की .. चुभन का हिसाब क्या रखें .. !!

चाँद की चाँदनी .. जब इतनी दिलकश है ..
तो उसमें भी दाग है .. ये हिसाब क्या रखें .. !!

जब खयालों से .. ही पुलक .. भर जाती हो दिल में ..
तो फिर मिलने .. ना मिलने का .. हिसाब क्या रखें .. !!

कुछ तो जरूर .. बहुत अच्छा है .. सभी में यारों ..
फिर जरा सी .. बुराइयों का .. हिसाब क्या रखें .. !!!

(Poem shared on Hindi Sahitya Whatsapp group by Veeru Charantimath sir)


regards
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7911] "We live in a world of radical ignorance" – Robert Proctor... Must read article ...

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

this article is very thought provoking... for me it highlighted an
important role for teachers ... not to 'give our knowledge' to students to
counter ignorance... but rather to help students develop skills to
discriminate, judge, consult, be slow to judge... so that they can reduce
the risks of falling prey to ignorance all their lives... As the internet
creates the 'information society' , ignorance is even more rampant and
dangerous

(This story is featured in BBC Future’s “Best of 2016” collection, do
read...)...

regards,
Guru, IT for Change.

source --
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160105-the-man-who-studies-the-spread-of-ignorance

The man who studies the spread of ignorance

How do people or companies with vested interests spread ignorance and
obfuscate knowledge? Georgina Kenyon finds there is a term which defines
this phenomenon.
By Georgina Kenyon . 6 January 2016


In 1979, a secret memo from the tobacco industry was revealed to the
public. Called the Smoking and Health Proposal, and written a decade
earlier by the Brown & Williamson tobacco company, it revealed many of the
tactics employed by big tobacco to counter “anti-cigarette forces”.

In one of the paper’s most revealing sections, it looks at how to market
cigarettes to the mass public: “Doubt is our product since it is the best
means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the
general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.”  This
revelation piqued the interest of Robert Proctor, a science historian from
Stanford University, who started delving into the practices of tobacco
firms and how they had spread confusion about whether smoking caused
cancer. Proctor had found that the cigarette industry did not want
consumers to know the harms of its product, and it spent billions obscuring
the facts of the health effects of smoking. This search led him to create a
word for the study of deliberate propagation of ignorance: agnotology.

Agnotology is the study of wilful acts to spread confusion and deceit,
usually to sell a product or win favour.  It comes from agnosis, the
neoclassical Greek word for ignorance or ‘not knowing’, and ontology, the
branch of metaphysics which deals with the nature of being. Agnotology is
the study of wilful acts to spread confusion and deceit, usually to sell a
product or win favour.

“I was exploring how powerful industries could promote ignorance to sell
their wares. Ignorance is power… and agnotology is about the deliberate
creation of ignorance. “In looking into agnotology, I discovered the secret
world of classified science, and thought historians should be giving this
more attention.”

The 1969 memo and the tactics used by the tobacco industry became the
perfect example of agnotology, Proctor says. “Ignorance is not just the
not-yet-known, it’s also a political ploy, a deliberate creation by
powerful agents who want you ‘not to know’.” To help him in his search,
Proctor enlisted the help of UC Berkeley linguist Iain Boal, and together
they came up with the term – the neologism was coined in 1995, although
much of Proctor’s analysis of the phenomenon had occurred in the previous
decades.

Balancing act

Agnotology is as important today as it was back when Proctor studied the
tobacco industry’s obfuscation of facts about cancer and smoking. For
example, politically motivated doubt was sown over US President Barack
Obama’s nationality for many months by opponents until he revealed his
birth certificate in 2011. In another case, some political commentators in
Australia attempted to stoke panic by likening the country’s credit rating
to that of Greece, despite readily available public information from
ratings agencies showing the two economies are very different. The spread
of ignorance is as relevant today as it was when Proctor coined his term

Proctor explains that ignorance can often be propagated under the guise of
balanced debate. For example, the common idea that there will always be two
opposing views does not always result in a rational conclusion. This was
behind how tobacco firms used science to make their products look harmless,
and is used today by climate change deniers to argue against the scientific
evidence. “This ‘balance routine’ has allowed the cigarette men, or climate
deniers today, to claim that there are two sides to every story, that
‘experts disagree’ – creating a false picture of the truth, hence
ignorance.”

We live in a world of radical ignorance – Robert Proctor

For example, says Proctor, many of the studies linking carcinogens in
tobacco were conducted in mice initially, and the tobacco industry
responded by saying that studies into mice did not mean that people were at
risk, despite adverse health outcomes in many smokers.

A new era of ignorance

“We live in a world of radical ignorance, and the marvel is that any kind
of truth cuts through the noise,” says Proctor. Even though knowledge is
‘accessible’, it 

[EnglishSTF-7896] Re: 'population explosion' as a cause of poverty in India

[Gurumurthy K]

The plea to reduce consumerism is  on the same lines of what Jesus Christ
said "... I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Merry Christmas to all 

regards,
Guru


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Sun, Dec 25, 2016 at 1:18 PM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear teachers
>
> I learnt in my school that India's biggest (or one of India's biggest
> problems) was 'population explosion'.  During the emergency, mass
> sterilisation (often forced) was done to 'control population'. Even today,
> we have sterilisation camps (mostly for women), to reduce the population.
> Even now it is popular thinking that our poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy
> are all due to 'population explosion'
>
> However, it is more and more clear to many that an important cause of
> poverty is the rampant consumerism in a minority of the world's population
> .. As Gandhi said..'there is enough for everyone's (and everyone's) need
> but not for everyones greed...' ... we can take care of all the people in
> the world and provide them food, clothing, shelter and meaningful
> work/life but the earth cannot afford current rates of exploitation and
> mindless consumerism / greed ...
>
> " Pope Francis reached the same conclusion; he points out that blaming
> “population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part
> of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.” To blame population
> growth is, he goes on to say, “an attempt to legitimize the present model
> of distribution [of wealth and resources], where a minority believes that
> it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized,
> since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such
> consumption.”
>
> read more at http://www.nationofchange.org/2016/12/21/rapacious-
> consumerism-climate-change
>
> Consumerism is the biggest cause of climate change/environmental
> degradation ... and since it is inherent in the current model of
> capitalism, it is important that we re-look at our 'Economics' and reform
> it ... including what we teach in schools
>
> Comments welcome..
>
> regards
> Guru
> IT for Change, Bengaluru
> www.ITforChange.net
>

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[EnglishSTF-7897] Hindi Literature Whatsapp Group - RULES FOR POSTING

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Most of you will also be members of many whatsapp groups. Sometimes, we
find that the members post irrelevant and meaningless messages which waste
reader's time. Sometimes the messages are offensive and create unnecessary
quarrels in the group.

To avoid such problems, the Hindi Literature Whatsapp Group has prepared its*
- RULES FOR POSTING*

I found them quite useful and I suggest all of you can refer to these and
see if some of these rules you can adopt for your whatsapp groups also. (Of
course it is not necessary that you will agree with all rules, you can take
what makes sense to you).

And yes, I have translated the Hindi rules into English (feedback on the
translation welcome)

See - http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Whatsapp_rules

regards,
Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7895] 'population explosion' as a cause of poverty in India

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

I learnt in my school that India's biggest (or one of India's biggest
problems) was 'population explosion'.  During the emergency, mass
sterilisation (often forced) was done to 'control population'. Even today,
we have sterilisation camps (mostly for women), to reduce the population.
Even now it is popular thinking that our poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy
are all due to 'population explosion'

However, it is more and more clear to many that an important cause of
poverty is the rampant consumerism in a minority of the world's population
.. As Gandhi said..'there is enough for everyone's (and everyone's) need
but not for everyones greed...' ... we can take care of all the people in
the world and provide them food, clothing, shelter and meaningful
work/life but the earth cannot afford current rates of exploitation and
mindless consumerism / greed ...

" Pope Francis reached the same conclusion; he points out that blaming
“population growth instead of extreme and selective consumerism on the part
of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.” To blame population
growth is, he goes on to say, “an attempt to legitimize the present model
of distribution [of wealth and resources], where a minority believes that
it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized,
since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such
consumption.”

read more at
http://www.nationofchange.org/2016/12/21/rapacious-consumerism-climate-change

Consumerism is the biggest cause of climate change/environmental
degradation ... and since it is inherent in the current model of
capitalism, it is important that we re-look at our 'Economics' and reform
it ... including what we teach in schools

Comments welcome..

regards
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7863] the crisis in teaching ....

[Gurumurthy K]

 Indeed, the reasons why teachers are leaving -- or not going into
teaching in the first place -- are not difficult to discern :
Micromanagement of teachers; disorganized school administration; a lack of
voice in matters affecting school functioning; too few chances to teach
collaboratively; excessive attention to test prep; chronic underfunding;
and a perceived lack of respect from parents and the overall community lead
to demoralization and push educators into less emotionally exhausting, and
often better paying, occupations.. We're way behind countries like
Finland and Singapore where teacher salaries are equal to the salaries paid
to engineers, accountants and people in other highly-respected professions."

read rest of the article on
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38665-teacher-shortages-are-looming-but-it-doesn-t-need-to-be-this-way

though it is written in the American context, many of the issues are
relevant here as well.

regards
Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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[EnglishSTF-7858] public health

[Gurumurthy K]

In my previous post,I had shared Prof Krishna Kumar's article on Education
and democracy ... and the dangers of privatised education ...

read
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/38659-why-the-us-should-have-universal-healthcare
for an article on why health too needs to be a public space - universal
health coverage. In India, health has fared worse than education, with less
than 1% of GDP being spent on public health... and focus now on privatised
insurance schemes that are expensive and wont provide universal health care


excerpt

Healthcare shouldn't be a messy political fight to begin with: it's an
issue of basic human rights. And what all too often gets lost in these
scuffles are the people most in need.

Our police forces, fire departments, libraries, and even our military are
all socialist institutions. Few people would argue for the idea of a
private fire department that refuses to rescue people from their home
because the fire itself is a "pre-existing condition." So why would we ever
frame the issue of healthcare differently, when it's exactly the same thing?

I've watched patients die from preventable conditions because they couldn't
afford treatment. In nursing homes, sick people are warehoused into
less-than-adequate conditions, with families forced to pay yearly costs of
$90,000 a year to put their loved one in a shared room where they and the
30+ other patients on their unit will be taken care of by only two aides.
Because of money issues, people lose limbs that they shouldn't need to
lose. Patients decline when they shouldn't have to. An increasing number of
people don't go to the doctor, even when they develop terrifying symptoms
such as mysterious lumps in their throat, because they just can't afford it.

Something has to change. Looking at other countries, the practical solution
is universal healthcare -- preferably a single-payer system.

Though some politicians might argue differently, universal healthcare isn't
a radical idea. The majority of Americans

actually
support the concept. In the rest of the developed world it isn't even an
argument, it's a given. Of the 25 wealthiest nations in the world, the
United States is the only one

that
doesn't have it. The majority of these countries use single-payer. Even
countries like the Netherlands -- with its "managed chaos" form of
healthcare -- are still universal.

The United States has the highest health expenditure per capita
of
any country. With all that money being spent, you'd figure that we're all
super-healthy -- but not really.

In the latest survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development
,
which assessed 13 developed nations including Norway, Australia, and the
U.K., the USA had the lowest life expectancy, the highest rate of infant
mortality, and scarily high rates of heart disease and amputation as a
result of diabetes. Of all the developed countries in the world, the United
States possesses the dubious distinction of having both the most expensive
healthcare system in the world -- and the least effective.

Guru


IT for Change, Bengaluru
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[EnglishSTF-8200] Paper shortage delays textbook printing

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

If the text book supply to the schools gets delayed next year, as the
article below suggests, what options do we have to still plan our classroom
teaching in an effective manner? Any suggestions or comments?

Is collecting text books from current batch students and giving them to
next year's students for a class a useful possibility? Even if the revised
text books are (little or lot) different?

Also wishing all of you and all your students 'All the best' for the 2017
SSLC examinations  (Just a reminder, please do not share copies of the
board question papers in the STF groups or any mobile phone groups, I think
this is prohibited by the department) 

regards,
Guru

Source -
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/603689/paper-shortage-delays-textbook-printing.html

Paper shortage delays textbook printing
Meghana Choukkar Bengaluru, March 29, 2017, DHNS


Students of state board schools in Karnataka may have to wait for at least
two months for their textbooks this year. Printers have run into a shortage
of paper, and complain the government took too long to give them work
orders. In all, 511 titles have to be printed, adding up to nearly six
crore books. Anil Hosakoppa, one of those chosen by the government, has to
print 1.37 crore books. He has managed to print only about 30% of it so far.

“I need 3,300 tonnes of paper to complete the order. I have used up the 400
tonnes I had already procured. For 40 days, work has remained stalled for
want of paper,” he said. The tender document lays down that printers must
use A grade, 60 GSM paper, but water-starved mills in Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh are in no position to meet the demand. Every year, Hosakoppa says,
paper prices go up by at least Rs 10,000 in the printing season, and touch
Rs 50,000 a tonne. “This year, even if we pay Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000, we
are not sure we will get supplies,” he said. He has placed orders at
multiple mills and hopes to get enough supplies in two months, after which
he expects to take 100 to 120 days to print the textbooks. The government
took longer than usual to call for tenders and issue work orders, another
printer said.

“Every year, the tender notification is given in October and by December,
the work orders are issued. But this year, the department called for
tenders several times saying the rates quoted were too high. This delayed
the process by 45 to 60 days, and paper prices went up further,” he
explained.

By his reckoning, the exercise did not save the government any money. The
second printer has to deliver 1.3 crore books. “If the work order had been
issued in December, the textbooks would have been ready in time,” he said.

‘A bit of an issue’
Ajay Seth, Principal Secretary, Primary and Secondary Education, said,
“Paper supply is a bit of an issue and we are trying to help the printers
obtain supply. The Department of Printing, Stationery and Publications has
spoken to a mill in Tamil Nadu and they have agreed to supply 5,000 tonnes
of paper.”

He said the government had given orders for most of the 86 packages by
February. “Only seven or eight were given in March. Retendering was done
three times because printers were quoting prices 30 to 35% more than last
year,” he told DH.

No water to produce paper
A source at Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd, a major supplier of paper
to mills in Karnataka, confirmed the mill had shut down one of its three
machines. “To produce one tonne of paper, we need between 1.3 to 1.4 lakh
litres of water. Because of severe shortage, the water is being diverted
for drinking,” the source said. Though units such as the West Coast Paper
Mills in Dandeli (Karnataka) are not so water-starved, their production
capacity isn’t enough to make up for the Tamil Nadu shortfall, the source
explained.


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

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 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-8191] World Water Day - water conservation structures have been constructed in over a hundred schools in Dakshina Kannada

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Yesterday was World Water Day. World is facing a serious water crisis...
Schools and teachers can do a lot for water conservation... read an article
on DK schools efforts... this can be done by most schools...

regards,
Guru

Source -
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/602336/saving-water-drop-drop.html

Saving water, drop by drop
Shree Padre March 21, 2017
BLUE IS THE COLOUR Various water conservation structures have been
constructed in over a hundred schools in Dakshina Kannada.

BLUE IS THE COLOUR Various water conservation structures have been
constructed in over a hundred schools in Dakshina Kannada.
All the roof water of our school is now used to recharge the open well. As
a result, the well has sufficient water to meet the needs of not only the
school, but also neighbouring houses. Water problem is so acute in our area
that many households depend on tankers for water. Next year, we will visit
all these houses and guide them to recharge their wells,” says
Santhoshkumar T N, headmaster of Montepadavu Government High School, who is
now a rainwater harvesting (RWH) campaigner too. What started as an
awareness activity for students, rainwater harvesting has now been extended
outside the school too.

So far, he has addressed 12 awareness meetings on the issue, reaching over
3,500 people.Similarly, Ramesh Bayaru, headmaster of Government High
School, Kallangala – Kepu, has addressed hundreds of teachers and has held
10 sessions for the public on RWH last year.

Rainwater harvesting
These are some instances that indicate how schools in Dakshina Kannada have
become centres of water awareness programmes, reaching students, teachers
and even parents. Over 200 schools in the district have now become
water-conscious if not water-literate. Students and teachers are leaving no
stone unturned to encourage people to take up simple and low-cost methods
of rainwater harvesting.

Dakshina Kannada is one of the districts that get good rainfall (3500 mm)
in the State. Despite this, it has been facing severe water scarcity in the
last few years. Unfortunately, awareness about rainwater harvesting is very
low here due to the lack of interest in people and the administration.

The situation remained so until K Sudhakar, district adult education
officer, realised that catching rain was the only way to address the water
woes that the district was facing. Jana Shikshana Trust, a local
non-governmental organisation, responded positively to his ideas. In 2016,
efforts were started to create awareness in one gram panchayat. This was
later extended to the entire district. They concentrated on schools as they
felt that the messages turn into action effectively when students
understand their significance. The team works with government and
government-aided high schools.

Initially, awareness meetings were held in schools. The main objective was
to introduce the concept of catching rain to young minds. At a later stage,
programmes were conducted for teachers. The seriousness with which teachers
have pursued the work is heartening. “Oxygen, water and food are the basic
necessities. Proper education about these essentials has to be accorded top
priority,” opines Padmashri Rao, science teacher at Government High School,
Malali.

Padmashri has hung a chart on the walls of all the classrooms. Once a
student reports completion of a rain pit at his or her house, it is
included in this chart. To give practical exposure to students, check dams
have been constructed in the school premises. In the beginning, Padmashri
demonstrated different stages of sandbag check dam construction, and
involved students in different batches. Subsequently, five small check dams
were constructed in a year. “No doubt, their attitude towards water has
changed. They are also given the responsibility of raising plants,” she
says.

Headmaster of Sathya Sai Lokaseva High School Alike, T Y Raghu, has given
high priority to proper water management in daily life. He has replaced
most of the normal taps in the institution with push-cock taps. “As much as
60% of water was being wasted earlier. Now there is a visible change. Once
they have realised the value of water, they are voluntarily shifting to
water-saving mode, even at home,” he says. Construction of a sandbag check
dam in the school premises has improved the water availability in the well.
Hundreds of rain pits dug by students in the adjoining hill have helped not
only the school, but also neighbouring households.

Savithri, a teacher from Urva, Mangaluru, has grown many plants in her
compound. She has also ensured that rainwater doesn’t escape from her
homestead. Water from the terrace is used for recharging the well. Water
shortage in their respective houses has led many teachers to practice what
they are advocating in schools.

Ismail, president of Naringana gram panchayat, is convinced about RWH after
the panchayat’s efforts of diverting the run-off to a nearby quarry
improved the water level 

[EnglishSTF-8236] reducing consumption is essential to combat climate change ....

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

making/keeping our lifestyle simple by avoiding/reducing consumption is a
necessary individual action, to combat the danger of global warming ...
here as teachers we can work with students through teaching and through
personal example to lead a life of 'simple living, high thinking'

Read the article below, source
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40237-mitigating-climate-disaster-will-require-both-systemic-and-lifestyle-changes

This also fits in very well with our Indian spiritual / cultural /
philosophical legacy, for focusing on 'need' instead of 'greed'.  However
it sharply opposes the economics that we teach in our schools and colleges,
where 'growth based on increasing demand/consumption' is seen as the main
or only goal of state and society... Growth that is equitable and
sustainable should be our focus, not growth for sake of GDP... Our
economics text books must change to reflect this  We need to bring in
'Gandhian economics' which removes this foundation of 'increasing
demand/consumption' as the aim of economics.

Comments welcome.

regards

Guru

During the negotiations over the Paris Agreement

on
climate change in December 2015, Sunita Narain
, an environmental
activist from India, argued for a focus on the ties between global
inequality and consumption by the relatively wealthy. "An inconvenient
truth is that we do not want to talk about consumption or lifestyle," she
asserted

.

It may be difficult to recall following Donald Trump's inauguration, but it
was little more than a year ago when delegates representing the world's
governments approved the United Nations accord. They pledged to prevent a
temperature increase "well below" two degrees Celsius, and to strive to
limit it to 1.5 degrees, over the average global temperature before the
Industrial Revolution.

If there was hope that the United States would take the steps needed to
meet its commitments through decisive action by the federal government, it
is now diluted markedly.

It's not that the Obama administration was leading the United States on a
sufficiently low-carbon path. But at least it accepted the scientific
consensus that fossil fuel consumption is warming the planet and
destabilizing the climate; and the need for far-reaching reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions.

Nonetheless, Obama's White House embodied climate denialism of a different
sort than those who characterize climate change as a "hoax." It embraced an
"all-of-the-above
"
energy policy allowing for fracking and offshore oil drilling, as well as
corporate capitalism and endless growth. It also oversaw an obscenely
bloated US military -- the world's biggest

institutional
consumer of fossil fuels. The administration thus helped perpetuate
reliance on carbon energy, high consumption levels, and, hence, an
unsustainable level of greenhouse gas emissions.

This exemplifies a "soft denialism
"
shared by many associated with the broad left and the climate movement in
the United States and the West: a failure to scrutinize lifestyle and
everyday consumption. In this sense, one of the most striking things about
the administration's climate policy was that it asked nothing of
individuals or households regarding how we live. It made it seem like our
salvation lies solely in large-scale transformations achieved by new
technologies and "clean energy."

Many downplay the need for personal changes, characterizing them as empty,
self-satisfying symbolism or a diversion from big-picture transformations
-- ranging from new government regulations to, for the more radical, a
dismantling of capitalism. Writer Dave Roberts, for example, in defending
actor and climate activist Leonardo DiCaprio from charges of hypocrisy due
to his lavish lifestyle

, argues
 that
"no single human can directly generate enough emissions to make a dent"
given the enormity of global emissions. Policy change, Roberts says, needs
to be the focus. And author Tim Wise, responding to those who think that
individuals should forego flying because of its large carbon footprint
,
insists that, unless a boycott "were going to reasonably include millions,"
it would be "less than meaningless" and "self-righteous, 

[EnglishSTF-8139] Please use your cell phone as long as possible .... to reduce environment damage

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

it seems on an average we will buy 29 cell phones during our life time 
which is a huge threat to our environment, in multiple ways ... please read
article below... lets use our current phones as long as possible ... and
try to replace non working parts, dead batteries etc 

This is also a general principle I think - moving from the 'use and throw'
culture to 're-use and conserve' culture India has been in many ways
the 're-use and conserve' culture, but now rapidly moving to the use and
throw culture

regards,
Guru

What 10 Years of Smartphone Use Mean for the Planet
Tuesday, March 07, 2017 By Elizabeth Jardim, Greenpeace | Op-Ed

Smartphones have undeniably changed our lives -- and the world -- in a very
short amount of time. Just ten years ago, we took pictures with cameras,
used maps to plan routes, and kept in touch with friends and family using
T9 text messages.

If you're among the more than 2 billion people in the world that now uses a
smartphone, chances are pretty good you remember your first smartphone. You
remember how your life changed when your phone suddenly became connected to
the internet and became a tool to find your way around almost anywhere
instantaneously, send emails on the go, stay in touch with loved ones 24/7,
and answer all your random curiosities.

But do you remember when you got your second smartphone? Or your third? Do
you remember how many smartphones you've had since 2007?

We wanted to find out how many smartphones had been made since Apple's
first iPhone came on to the market in 2007, and the answer surprised us --
more than 7 billion. That means that if every smartphone ever made was
still operational, there would be roughly enough for every person on the
planet.

Of course, this is not the case. The average phone in the United States is
used for just over 2 years, despite the fact it can function for longer.
Phone users are often lured into prematurely replacing their phones --
either because they are up for a new contract and the new phone appears to
be "free" or because of a single failing part, such as the screen or
battery, that's too complicated or expensive for the average person to
repair.

At this rate, we're all on track to use at least 29 phones in our lifetimes.

This rapid turnover of devices is what leads to record profits for
smartphone manufacturers year after year. It also leads to many damaging
impacts on people and our planet.

Miners in remote landscapes extract tons of metal ore and precious metals
for these devices. From there, these materials pass through a complex
refining, processing, and manufacturing supply chain. Workers in
electronics factories are often unknowingly exposed to hazardous chemicals
that damage their health. These facilities our powered by an energy mix
that is dominated by fossil fuels, which furthers the impacts of climate
change.

In our new report "From Smart to Senseless: The Global Impact of Ten Years
of Smartphones" we unpack the problems with the current smartphone
production model.

Here is some of what we found:











*  7.1 billion smartphones have been produced ​since 2007.More than 60
different elements are commonly used in the manufacturing of smartphones.
While the amount of each element in a single device may seem small, the
combined impacts of mining and processing these precious materials for 7
billion devices is significant.In 2014 alone, e-waste from small IT
products like smartphones was estimated to be 3 million metric tons. Less
than an estimated 16 percent of global e-waste is recycled.Only two
(Fairphone and LG G5) of 13 models reviewed had easily replaceable
batteries. This means consumers are forced to replace their whole devices
when the battery life starts to dwindle.Since 2007, roughly 968 terawatt
hours (TWh) has been used to manufacture smartphones, which is nearly the
same as one year's power supply for India (973 TWh in 2014).At end-of-life,
current design makes disassembly difficult, including the use of
proprietary screws and glued in batteries; therefore, smartphones are often
shredded and sent for smelting when "recycled." Given the small amounts of
a wide diversity of materials and substances in small devices, smelting is
inefficient, or ineffective, at recovering many of the materials.*

The recent recall of Samsung's overheating and explosive Galaxy Note 7
phones is a prime example of the problems with the current production model
-- rushed design and production cycles can lead to costly mistakes. After
investigating, the company attributed the battery flaws in part to
accelerated production efforts to outpace competitors. Recalling the phones
was the right choice. But now Samsung needs to decide what to do with the
4.3 million handsets.

Since November 2016, we've been calling on the company to reuse and recycle
phones. To date, Samsung has not revealed its plan. Join us in calling on
Samsung to recycle these phones and commit to making phones in 

[EnglishSTF-8149] Kerala Becomes 1st Indian State To Declare Internet As Basic Right For Every Citizen; 20 Lakh Citizens To Get Free Internet

[Gurumurthy K]

As more and more parts of our information world get digitized, ensuring
digital access to all citizens becomes important... Kerala is taking an
initiative in this regard

Guru

source-
http://trak.in/tags/business/2017/03/06/kerala-internet-basic-right-free-internet-citizens/?utm_campaign=shareaholic_medium=whatsapp_source=mobile

Kerala, the most literate state in India, has made a very sensible, and
practical decision regarding access of Internet; something which can be
described as a watershed moment for India’s digital policy.

Kerala has just declared access of Internet as a basic right for every
citizen, just like water, food
and
education. Such basic human rights should not be confused with Fundamental
Rights , which
Indian constitution provides for all Indians. However, as per UN, Internet
is counted as a basic human right
,
and they have suggested that every country should include it as a
fundamental human right as well.

Most probably, Kerala has just taken the first step in that direction.

Kerala has understood that if digitisation and e-Governance needs to be
spread, then access to Internet is the most crucial element, because unless
people have access to basic Internet, how will they use the fruits of
technology?

Kerala Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said
,
“It is estimated that by 2017-18, almost all government transactions will
become IT-based. Thus the *right to basic Internet facility* will become a
prerequisite for providing civic services universally through the
electronic medium,”

And, it is not just talks here – some concrete action has been planned as
well, which will ensure that the basic right of all Keralites is met.

Govt. has announced plans to provide free basic Internet facility to 20
lakh citizens across the state, and plans to extend broadband connectivity
to every household in the state.

The project, named as K-Fon, has been announced, which will establish
optical fiber cables across the state and would be laid parallel to Kerala
State Electricity Board towers, all across the state.

M Sivasankar, secretary, department of electronics and information
technology said
,
“The government’s idea will be to deliver internet connectivity with a
limited bandwidth to individual households through an optic fibre network
to be established parallel to the distribution network of the KSEB..”

K-Fon has been planned in a manner which will enable free access to
Internet via WiFi hotspots at ‘Akshaya centres, Janasevana Kendras,
government offices, libraries, and public places’. A sum of Rs 1000 crore
has been allocated for the same, and the project is expected to be
completed in 18 months.

*Some other major announcements from the Kerala Govt. include:*

   - 12 hardware manufacturing parks would be established in the state, to
   make Kerala a hub of IT and ITeS niches
   - Japanese-Korean industrial cluster would be established at Mavoor
   - Rs 549 crore allocated for the creation of IT parks, Technoparks,
   SEZs, Infoparks, Cyberparks and Techno-Lodges
   - Kerala State Govt. will provide financial help and mentorship to 1500
   startups from the state

This year, Kerala Govt. created a new benchmark for other states, when
they saved
Rs
300 crore by using Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) in all schools in the
state.

Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
--- 
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[EnglishSTF-8654] ICT Student Text Book and Teacher Hand Book based on National ICT Curriculum

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Teachers,

The Telangana Department of School Education, has developed, in
collaboration with IT for Change, the student text book and teacher hand
book for ICT integration in school education.  This is perhaps the first
ICT text book based on National ICT Curriculum


It is released as OER, so it can be freely shared by all of us. Read more
about this here


These books can be accessed from the Telangana Repository of OER (TROER
), which has been developed by the
department in collaboration with IT for Change. The TROER
 uses the MediaWiki platform like KOER
.


   - ICT student textbook
   
   - ICT teacher handbook
   
   - Explore an application
   


We look forward to your comments and feedback on the text book and hand
book.

regards,
Guru
IT for Change

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-8701] Article on facts and learning. On anniversary of atomic bombing of Japan

[Gurumurthy K]

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/the-shape-of-a-mushroom-cloud/article19482103.ece



Why acquiring factual knowledge should not be confused with learning

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
--- 
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[EnglishSTF-8591] Re: Let us avoid using plastic water bottles, specially the use and throw bottles (like bisleri, aqua fina etc etc) ....

[Gurumurthy K]

 will look like once plastic dominates the world
even more. Remote islands with little to no beach clean-ups have shown
evidence of extreme pollution along their coast and upwards of 18 tons on
their beaches, revealing what the future of even the nicest beaches will
be. *Consider purchasing a reusable water bottle today and making a huge
difference for the environment.*




IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Fri, Nov 18, 2016 at 12:01 PM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Bottled water is one of the biggest threat to our environment. Let us stop
> using bottled water and let us educate our students also to avoid it
> always. We can carry our own water bottles and fill from water sources.
> read article below, it is for the National Parks in USA but equally
> applicable to us also ... In USA, the bottled water manufacturers are
> lobbying the government to stop any law banning bottled water!!
>
> regards
> Guru
>
> *Why Ban Plastic Water Bottles in National Parks?*
>
> The United States' national parks are popular. So popular, in fact, that
> the National Park Service is having significant challenges dealing with the
> waste generated by the hundreds of millions of people that make their way
> through 85 million acres of national park land every year.
>
> In 2015, more than 305 million people visited
> <https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/news/release.htm?id=1775> national parks,
> easily eclipsing the all-time visitation record that the National Park
> Service recorded in 2014. Around 365 of 409 parks recorded record
> visitation numbers, and park officials see no reason to believe this trend
> will not continue.
>
> Three hundred million people produce a lot of waste: over 100 million
> pounds per year
> <https://www.npca.org/articles/1292-study-reveals-lack-of-awareness-of-waste-challenges-facing-us-national>,
> much of which consists of single-use plastic water bottles. To the
> companies that bottle and sell water, often at over 2,000 times the cost
> of tap water
> <http://www.businessinsider.com/bottled-water-costs-2000x-more-than-tap-2013-7>,
> those three hundred million people represent hundreds of millions of
> opportunities to sell their product and, at an average of $1.50 per bottle,
> billions of dollars in revenue.
>
> In the first half of this decade, national parks started to take proactive
> steps to address the challenges that come along with more visitors, more
> waste and more impact to the landscape and wildlife. Park service officials
> were finding that one of the largest sources of trash in the parks was
> single-use plastic water bottles.
> <http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/park-plastic-bottle-bans-work-but-remain-few-and-far-between.html>
>
> For a decade, Gina Macllwraith lived and worked in many of this country's
> national parks, including Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Grand
> Teton National Park in Wyoming. Her job was to make the parks more
> sustainable for the companies that provide food and lodging and other
> services to park visitors.
>
> a huge part of the waste stream," Macllwraith said. "There are so many
> bottles it's ridiculous. It is a major challenge and it makes me mad that
> [IBWA is] trying to prevent parks from dealing with it."
>
> In the parks where Macllwraith worked, they eliminated single-use plastic
> water bottles and instead provided water stations and extremely affordable
> reusable bottles for visitors.
>
> "We made sure we had a wide variety of price points so it wasn't
> prohibitive to people to buy a reusable container. We made it to be as
> cheap as buying a disposable bottle of water," she said.
>
> Zion National Park in Utah was the first to ban single-use plastic water
> bottles
> <https://www.nps.gov/sustainability/parks/downloads/GPP%20Success_ZION_bottles_4_17_12.pdf>,
> followed shortly by Grand Canyon National Park. Twenty others soon
> followed. And, according to National Park Service data, the bans worked.
> <http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/park-plastic-bottle-bans-work-but-remain-few-and-far-between.html>
>
> In Arches and Canyonlands National Park in Utah officials saw a 15 percent
> reduction in their total waste stream and a 25 percent reduction in the
> amount of material they had to haul to be recycled. In Grand Canyon
> National Park in Arizona they saw a 20 percent reduction in their waste
> stream and a 30 percent reduction in their recycling load and in Saguaro
> National Park they had a 15 percent total waste reduction and a 40 percent
> reduction in their recycling load.
>
> A recent study
> <https://www.npca.org/articles/1292-study-reveals-lack-of-awareness-of-waste-challenges-facing-us-n

[EnglishSTF-8634] Protecting our environment

[Gurumurthy K]

We need such measures in all countries!! In the meantime, strengthen public
transport systems and make them popular...

regards
Guru


http://www.thehindu.com/business/uk-to-ban-diesel-petrol-cars/article19365771.ece

U.K. to ban diesel, petrol cars

Britain will join other European nations in plans to ban diesel and
petrol-fuelled cars in the coming decades, in a move designed to force a
shake up within the auto industry as governments seek to deal with high
levels of air pollution and climate change.

New diesel and petrol cars will be banned by 2040, as part of a package of
measures designed to improve air quality in Britain, and meet tough EU
rules on emissions, particularly around nitrogen dioxide emissions.

‘No alternative’

“There is no alternative…we cannot carry on with diesel and petrol - we
would accelerate climate change and do damage to our planet and the next
generation,” Britain’s environment secretary Michael Gove told BBC Radio
ahead of the announcement.

The plan also includes a £255 million package for local governments to
bring in innovative solutions that would result in shorter-term changes
too. While the government hopes to avoid charges in the short term, it
remains a possibility in high emission areas. The announcement puts flesh
on previous government ambitions. “We want almost every car and van to be
zero emission by 2050,” read the Conservative Party’s 2017 election
manifesto.

Last year, Norway announced plans to phase out new petrol and diesel
vehicles by 2025, via a green tax system, while France will end the sales
of these vehicles by 2040, according to plans unveiled by Emmanuel Macron’s
government earlier this month. Other countries are considering moves too:
Germany’s Bundesrat called for petrol vehicles to be phased out by 2030.

Britain’s high levels of air pollution, estimated to cause 40,000 deaths a
year, has come under close scrutiny in recent years, with London breaching
its annual air pollution limits under EU rules just 117 hours into 2017.

The government says 4% of Britain’s major roads are in breach of air
pollution limits.

Much concern has focused on diesel cars, embraced by Britain alongside the
rest of Europe, thanks to an incentive programme and the belief that it was
more efficient and less polluting — a perspective that has been rapidly
dispelled, particularly in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

“Moving people to cleaner vehicles by 2040 is welcome, but illegal
pollution should be tackled as soon as possible,” tweeted ClientEarth, a
campaign group that had taken the government to court demanding that it
publish its plans to tackle air pollution, arguing that its current
proposals did not meet legal requirements. The government is set to publish
its wider Clean Air Strategy in 2018.



IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
--- 
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[EnglishSTF-8632] Re: Let us avoid using plastic water bottles, specially the use and throw bottles (like bisleri, aqua fina etc etc) ....

[Gurumurthy K]

Plastic is a killer. lets avoid it
(avoid goods packaged in lot of plastic)

regards
Guru


91% of plastic isn’t recycled, new study finds
By  Alexandra Jacobo -
July 24, 2017 | News Report

A team of scientists set out to conduct the first study of how much plastic
has been produced, discarded, burned or put in landfills, and the results
are horrifying.

Mass production of plastics has resulted in 8.3 billion metric tons of
plastic, most of it ending up in the trash and, due to it taking 400 years
to degrade, the environment. Half of that amount has been made since 2004.

The study, published Wednesday in Science Advances, began two years ago,
around the time that scientists began to predict that by 2050 there will be
more plastic in the oceans than fish. It is the first global analysis of
all plastics ever made.

Some quick facts that the study discovered:

Of the 8.3 billion metric tons that have been released, 6.3 billion
metric ons has become plastic water.
Only 9% of the 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste has been
recycled.
79% of plastic waste is accumulating in landfills or is in the
environment as litter.
If current trends continue, by 2050, 12 billion metric tons of plastic
will be in landfills. The is equivalent to 35,000 times heavier than the
Empire State Building.
China alone accounts for 28% of global resin and 68% of polyester
polyamide and acrylic fibers.
*The rate of plastic manufacturing has double roughly every 15 years.*
Half of all plastic manufactured becomes trash in less than a year.
Much of the growth in plastic production is due to plastic packaging,
which accounts for more than 40% of non-fiber plastic.
Recycling in the U.S. hovers around 9%, well below Europe (30%) and
China (25%).
As the study’s lead author, Roland Geyer, states, “You can’t manage
what you don’t measure. It’s not just that we make a lot, it’s that we also
make more, year after year.”

Geyer says in order to gain control of plastic waste, “We as a society need
to consider whether it’s worth trading off some convenience for a clean,
healthy environment. For some products that are very problematic in the
environment, maybe we think about using different materials. Or phasing
them out.”

source -
http://nationofchange.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d8c536d78fef3dd6b12305a66=59b141e1b6=2cb78eb108


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Fri, Nov 18, 2016 at 12:01 PM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Bottled water is one of the biggest threat to our environment. Let us stop
> using bottled water and let us educate our students also to avoid it
> always. We can carry our own water bottles and fill from water sources.
> read article below, it is for the National Parks in USA but equally
> applicable to us also ... In USA, the bottled water manufacturers are
> lobbying the government to stop any law banning bottled water!!
>
> regards
> Guru
>
> *Why Ban Plastic Water Bottles in National Parks?*
>
> The United States' national parks are popular. So popular, in fact, that
> the National Park Service is having significant challenges dealing with the
> waste generated by the hundreds of millions of people that make their way
> through 85 million acres of national park land every year.
>
> In 2015, more than 305 million people visited
> <https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/news/release.htm?id=1775> national parks,
> easily eclipsing the all-time visitation record that the National Park
> Service recorded in 2014. Around 365 of 409 parks recorded record
> visitation numbers, and park officials see no reason to believe this trend
> will not continue.
>
> Three hundred million people produce a lot of waste: over 100 million
> pounds per year
> <https://www.npca.org/articles/1292-study-reveals-lack-of-awareness-of-waste-challenges-facing-us-national>,
> much of which consists of single-use plastic water bottles. To the
> companies that bottle and sell water, often at over 2,000 times the cost
> of tap water
> <http://www.businessinsider.com/bottled-water-costs-2000x-more-than-tap-2013-7>,
> those three hundred million people represent hundreds of millions of
> opportunities to sell their product and, at an average of $1.50 per bottle,
> billions of dollars in revenue.
>
> In the first half of this decade, national parks started to take proactive
> steps to address the challenges that come along with more visitors, more
> waste and more impact to the landscape and wildlife. Park service officials
> were finding that one of the largest sources of trash in the parks was
> single-use plastic water bottles.
> <http://www.peer.org/news/news-releases/park-plastic-bottle-bans-work-but-remain-few-and-far-between.html>
>
> For a decade, Gina Macllwraith lived and worked in many of this country's
> national par

[EnglishSTF-8562] Course on Inclusive Education

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

A* Certificate Course on Inclusive Education* is being offered by RVEC,
Seva-in-Action and NIAS, using their experiences and the diverse range of
field-tested materials and resources developed by them.The course content
and materials draws from the unique synergy among psychologists, subject
pedagogues, special educators, artists and educational researchers with
considerable experience in both the pre-service and in-service teacher
education. The content also takes into consideration the practices and
research on inclusive education and most importantly understanding the
needs of students and teachers in responding to diversity.
*Objectives of the course:*

To enable participants to:

   1. Recognise diversity in the classroom as a resource
   2. Design inclusive, learner friendly classrooms
   3. Prepare diverse resources for the teaching-learning and assessment of
   all subjects
   4. Appreciate the need for inclusion from a social justice perspective.

For more information on the course, and how to enrol, visit
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Certificate_Course_on_Inclusive_Education_for_teachers,_RVEC_SIA_NIAS_2017

regards,
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
--- 
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[EnglishSTF-8668] English fails to capture cultural essence of regional work in translation: Gulzar - The Hindu

[Gurumurthy K]

https://www.google.co.in/amp/www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/english-fails-to-capture-cultural-essence-of-regional-work-in-translation-gulzar/article19441052.ece/amp/


Translation as a powerful method  to expand our cultural resources...

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
--- 
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[EnglishSTF-8254] India’s Silicon Valley Is Dying of Thirst. Your City May Be Next

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Perhaps the most important, certainly one of the most important steps young
citizens need to learn is to conserve water and water sources ... at a
micro level this means rain water harvesting, de-silting and protecting
water bodies, reducing consumption to the essential minimum  at a macro
level this requires policy/structural changes regarding the use of water
and the treatment of rivers, lakes and other water bodies in our country.
Treating nature and natural resources as something to conserve and protect,
instead of 'exploiting' these for 'progress' may need to become a lesson
worth repeating in our education 

Please read the article below on the severe water crisis in Bengaluru and
how it may result in the city becoming un-livable. and to think that the
fate of Bengaluru is better than many other towns and villages of our
country ...


The Hindu newspaper today is carrying  a 7 series write-up on the severe
drought situation in India.. available on
http://www.thehindu.com/specials/dry-days/article18264354.ece ...

These articles are quite thought provoking and chilling  please do read
... and comment on how we can bring in these ideas into our classrooms
.


regards
Guru



source -
https://www.wired.com/2017/05/why-bangalores-water-crisis-is-everyones-crisis/

India’s Silicon Valley Is Dying of Thirst. Your City May Be Next


On the outskirts of Bangalore one morning last summer, a sullen young man
named Manjunath stood high atop a cocoa-colored 1,850-gallon tanker truck,
waiting for its belly to fill with water. The source of the liquid was a
bore well, a cylindrical metal shaft puncturing hundreds of feet down into
the earth. An electric pump pulled the water up from the depths and into a
concrete cistern; from there, a hose snaked across the mud and weeds and
plugged into Manjunath’s truck. As the water gushed into the tanker, a
muffled sound emerged, like rain on a tin-sheet roof.

Once the tank was full, Manjunath disconnected the hose, climbed down, and
settled into the truck’s cab. Then he drove out through a web of newly
tarred back streets in the suburb of Whitefield. He passed rows of
half-finished buildings, still gray from raw cement, and he honked often so
that motorcycles and pedestrians could scurry out of the way. Whitefield’s
roadways are almost always coagulated with traffic. Over the past two
decades, the area has become home to major outposts of Oracle, Dell, IBM,
and GE, as well as countless IT parks—proud, gleaming edifices that Uber
drivers here recognize as major landmarks. When people describe Bangalore
as India’s Silicon Valley, they’re really talking about White­field. From
the altitude of the truck’s cab, though, Whitefield looked somewhat less
impressive—smaller and flimsier, even more starved for space than it
already was.

After a quarter of an hour, Manjunath turned through a back gate of the
campus belonging to Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications firm known for
its sleek, inexpensive smartphones. He made his way to a corner of the
parking lot. By the wall, under some plants, he found a metal water pipe
that poked up out of the soil. A length of rubber tubing had been affixed
shoddily to the pipe’s inlet valve, and Manju­nath spent a few minutes
using a handy rock to hammer the tubing tight over the valve’s mouth. Then
he fastened the other end of the tube over his tanker’s outlet, turned on
the spigot, and sat down near his truck to pick his teeth as his cargo
unloaded.

Water tankers await their turn at a filling station near the Bangalore
suburb of Whitefield.
Water tankers await their turn at a filling station near the Bangalore
suburb of Whitefield.Mahesh Shantaram

Bangalore has a problem: It is running out of water, fast. Cities all over
the world, from those in the American West to nearly every major Indian
metropolis, have been struggling with drought and water deficits in recent
years. But Banga­lore is an extreme case. Last summer, a professor from the
Indian Institute of Science declared that the city will be unlivable by
2020. He later backed off his prediction of the exact time of death—but
even so, says P. N. Ravindra, an official at the Bangalore Water Supply and
Sewerage Board, “the projections are relatively correct. Our groundwater
levels are approaching zero.”

Bangalore, once famous for its hundreds of lakes, now has only 81. The rest
have been filled and paved over.

Every year since 2012, Bangalore has been hit by drought; last year
Karnataka, of which Bangalore is the capital, received its lowest rainfall
level in four decades. But the changing climate is not exclusively to blame
for Bangalore’s water problems. The city’s growth, hustled along by its
tech sector, made it ripe for crisis. Echoing urban patterns around the
world, Bangalore’s population nearly doubled from 5.7 million in 2001 to
10.5 million today. By 2020 more than 2 million IT professionals are
expected to live here.

Through the 2000s, 

[EnglishSTF-8265] Re: computers attacked and 'locked down' for ransom ... millions of computers in 99 countries affected ....

[Gurumurthy K]

Although it doesn't affect gnu/linux machines, in any case, if you are
using wine(windows emulator) on ubuntu please don't use it to open mails or
browse the web without updating it to latest version.

If you are using Windows for any purpose, make sure you have applied
MS17-010 patch released from Microsoft
-https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms17-010.aspx



IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Sat, May 13, 2017 at 1:45 PM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear teachers,
>
> Please keep updating the security updates on your computer. See article
> below.
> On Ubuntu, upgrade to the latest version can also be done freely without
> any license fees  Pls do
> (see http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Kalpavriksha for
> information)
>
> regards,
> Guru
>
> source - http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/12/technology/ransomware-
> attack-nsa-microsoft/
>
> Massive ransomware attack hits 99 countries - May. 12, 2017
> --
> Hospitals, major companies and government offices have been hit by a
> massive wave of cyberattacks across the globe that seize control of
> computers until the victims pay a ransom.
>
> Cybersecurity firm Avast said it tracked
> <https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.avast.com%2Fransomware-that-infected-telefonica-and-nhs-hospitals-is-spreading-aggressively-with-over-5-attacks-so-far-today>
> more than 75,000 ransomware attacks in 99 countries on Friday.
>
> It said the majority of the attacks targeted Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan.
> But hospitals in the U.K., and global firms like Fedex (FDX
> <http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=FDX=story_quote_link>)
> also reported they had come under assault.
>
> *What is it?*
>
> *The ransomware locks down all the files on an infected computer and asks
> the computer's administrator to pay in order to regain control of them. *
>
> *The ransomware, called "WannaCry," is spread by taking advantage of a
> Windows vulnerability* that Microsoft (MSFT
> <http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=MSFT=story_quote_link>,
> Tech30 <http://money.cnn.com/technology/tech30/index.html?iid=EL>)
> released a security patch
> <http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/15/technology/microsoft-patch-shadow-brokers/index.html?iid=EL>
> for in March. But computers and networks that haven't updated their systems
> are at risk. The exploit was leaked last month as part of a trove of NSA
> spy tools
> <http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/14/technology/windows-exploits-shadow-brokers/index.html?iid=EL>.
>
>
> "Affected machines have six hours to pay up and every few hours the ransom
> goes up," said Kurt Baumgartner, the principal security researcher at
> security firm Kaspersky Lab. "Most folks that have paid up appear to have
> paid the initial $300 in the first few hours."
>
> Related: Microsoft quickly fixes 'crazy bad' Windows bug
> <http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/09/technology/microsoft-bug-remote-windows-patch/index.html?iid=EL>
>
> Sixteen National Health Service (NHS) organizations in the UK have been
> hit
> <http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/12/health/uk-nhs-cyber-attack/index.html?iid=EL>,
> and some of thosehospitals have canceled outpatient appointments and told
> people to avoid emergency departments if possible. Spanish telecom company
> Telefónica (TEF
> <http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=TEF=story_quote_link>)
> was also hit with the ransomware.
>
> Spanish authorities confirmed
> <https://www.ccn-cert.cni.es/seguridad-al-dia/comunicados-ccn-cert/4464-ataque-masivo-de-ransomware-que-afecta-a-un-elevado-numero-de-organizaciones-espanolas.html>
> the ransomware is spreading through the vulnerability, called
> "EternalBlue," and advised people to patch.
>
> "It is going to spread far and wide within the internal systems of
> organizations -- this is turning into the biggest cybersecurity incident
> I've ever seen," UK-based security architect Kevin Beaumont said.
>
> Fedex said it was "experiencing interference with some of our
> Windows-based systems caused by malware" and was trying to fix the problems
> as quickly as possible.
>
> Russia's Interior Ministry released a statement acknowledging a ransomware
> attack on its computers, adding that less than 1% of computers were
> affected, and that the virus is now "localized." The statement said
> antivirus systems are working to destroy it.
>
> Related: NSA's powerful Windows hacking tools leaked online
> <http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/14/technology/windows-exploits-shadow-brokers/index.html?iid=EL>
>
> Megafon, a Russian telecommu

[EnglishSTF-8256] ₹2,100 fine on women using mobile phones in public in U.P. village

[Gurumurthy K]

The ruling was issued on Tuesday in Madora, mainly a Muslim hamlet.

A village in Mathura in Uttar Pradesh has banned women from using mobile
phones in public. Any woman found to be talking on a mobile phone in public
will have to pay a fine of ₹2100.  The all-male panchayat of Mandora
village says the decision will prevent girls from eloping with boys.

Only at home
“Every week, there is a story about young boys running away with girls. In
some cases, the elopement leads to violence. So an informal meeting of
villagers decided that girls should use mobile phones only within the
boundaries of their homes,” Mohammad Ghaffar, former head of the village,
told The Hindu. “I want to make it clear that we have not banned mobile
phones for women. All we are saying is that please do not use it outside
your house.”

source -
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/2100-rupees-fine-on-women-using-mobile-phones-in-public-in-up-village/article18377318.ece

Dear teachers,

The above article indicates the power, both good and bad, from mobile
phones.

But banning use, is no substitute for teaching young people safe use of
mobile phones. And that is a job that teachers will need to do, since in
many cases, parents may themselves not be aware of the dangers.

What do you feel?

regards
Guru
-- 
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-8259] computers attacked and 'locked down' for ransom ... millions of computers in 99 countries affected ....

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Please keep updating the security updates on your computer. See article
below.
On Ubuntu, upgrade to the latest version can also be done freely without
any license fees  Pls do
(see http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Kalpavriksha for
information)

regards,
Guru

source -
http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/12/technology/ransomware-attack-nsa-microsoft/

Massive ransomware attack hits 99 countries - May. 12, 2017
--
Hospitals, major companies and government offices have been hit by a
massive wave of cyberattacks across the globe that seize control of
computers until the victims pay a ransom.

Cybersecurity firm Avast said it tracked

more than 75,000 ransomware attacks in 99 countries on Friday.

It said the majority of the attacks targeted Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan.
But hospitals in the U.K., and global firms like Fedex (FDX
)
also reported they had come under assault.

*What is it?*

*The ransomware locks down all the files on an infected computer and asks
the computer's administrator to pay in order to regain control of them. *

*The ransomware, called "WannaCry," is spread by taking advantage of a
Windows vulnerability* that Microsoft (MSFT
,
Tech30 ) released
a security patch

for in March. But computers and networks that haven't updated their systems
are at risk. The exploit was leaked last month as part of a trove of NSA
spy tools
.


"Affected machines have six hours to pay up and every few hours the ransom
goes up," said Kurt Baumgartner, the principal security researcher at
security firm Kaspersky Lab. "Most folks that have paid up appear to have
paid the initial $300 in the first few hours."

Related: Microsoft quickly fixes 'crazy bad' Windows bug


Sixteen National Health Service (NHS) organizations in the UK have been hit
,
and some of thosehospitals have canceled outpatient appointments and told
people to avoid emergency departments if possible. Spanish telecom company
Telefónica (TEF
)
was also hit with the ransomware.

Spanish authorities confirmed

the ransomware is spreading through the vulnerability, called
"EternalBlue," and advised people to patch.

"It is going to spread far and wide within the internal systems of
organizations -- this is turning into the biggest cybersecurity incident
I've ever seen," UK-based security architect Kevin Beaumont said.

Fedex said it was "experiencing interference with some of our Windows-based
systems caused by malware" and was trying to fix the problems as quickly as
possible.

Russia's Interior Ministry released a statement acknowledging a ransomware
attack on its computers, adding that less than 1% of computers were
affected, and that the virus is now "localized." The statement said
antivirus systems are working to destroy it.

Related: NSA's powerful Windows hacking tools leaked online


Megafon, a Russian telecommunications company, was also hit by the attack.
Spokesman Petr Lidov told CNN that it affected call centers but not the
company's networks. He said the situation is now under control.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a statement

late Friday, encouraged people to update their operating systems. "We are
actively sharing information related to this event and stand ready to lend
technical support and assistance as needed to our partners, both in the
United States and internationally," the department said.

Kaspersky Lab says although the WannaCry ransomware can infect computers
even without the vulnerability, EternalBlue is "the most significant
factor" in the global outbreak.

*How to prevent it*

Beaumont examined a sample of the ransomware used to target NHS and
confirmed it was the same used to target Telefónica. He said companies can
apply the patch released in March to all systems to prevent WannaCry
infections. Although it won't do any good for machines 

[EnglishSTF-8495] The Real Threat of Artificial Intelligence

[Gurumurthy K]

 Dear teachers,

Greetings on Eid-Ul-Fitr.

Though the article below is mostly about economics, education will also be
impacted greatly.

In the area of education, AI / Big data will come through 'personal
analytics' in which student assessment data on large scale will be analysed
to 'predict' individual student learning methods/outcomes and based on
that, the 'teacher' will be 'advised' on content and pedagogy.  Like in
many other professions, this will result in de-skiling teaching.

This will need to be challenged by questioning if individual learning
possibilities can ever be predicted... since it hits at the root of learner
agency. If developing abilities for creating new life possibilities is one
of the important aims of education, then relying on the past alone will
restrict this aim

But this is clearly an issue which educationists need to start thinking
about and creating responses/positions, before the school managements /
education systems eagerly welcome such possibilities, that the Google's of
the world will offer  of control of teaching-learning. Overall, a
political response will be required to regulate/direct these technological
trends.

Comments, feedback welcome.

regards,
Guru


Source -
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/opinion/sunday/artificial-intelligence-economic-inequality.html?action=click=Homepage=Moth-Visible=inside-nyt-region-1=inside-nyt-region=inside-nyt-region=inside-nyt-region

By KAI-FU LEEJUNE 24, 2017

BEIJING — What worries you about the coming world of artificial
intelligence?

Too often the answer to this question resembles the plot of a sci-fi
thriller. People worry that developments in A.I. will bring about the
“singularity” — that point in history when A.I. surpasses human
intelligence, leading to an unimaginable revolution in human affairs. Or
they wonder whether instead of our controlling artificial intelligence, it
will control us, turning us, in effect, into cyborgs.

These are interesting issues to contemplate, but they are not pressing.
They concern situations that may not arise for hundreds of years, if ever.
At the moment, there is no known path from our best A.I. tools (like the
Google computer program that recently beat the world’s best player of the
game of Go) to “general” A.I. — self-aware computer programs that can
engage in common-sense reasoning, attain knowledge in multiple domains,
feel, express and understand emotions and so on.

This doesn’t mean we have nothing to worry about. On the contrary, the A.I.
products that now exist are improving faster than most people realize and
promise to radically transform our world, not always for the better. They
are only tools, not a competing form of intelligence. But they will reshape
what work means and how wealth is created, leading to unprecedented
economic inequalities and even altering the global balance of power.

It is imperative that we turn our attention to these imminent challenges.

What is artificial intelligence today? Roughly speaking, it’s technology
that takes in huge amounts of information from a specific domain (say, loan
repayment histories) and uses it to make a decision in a specific case
(whether to give an individual a loan) in the service of a specified goal
(maximizing profits for the lender). Think of a spreadsheet on steroids,
trained on big data. These tools can outperform human beings at a given
task.

This kind of A.I. is spreading to thousands of domains (not just loans),
and as it does, it will eliminate many jobs. Bank tellers, customer service
representatives, telemarketers, stock and bond traders, even paralegals and
radiologists will gradually be replaced by such software. Over time this
technology will come to control semiautonomous and autonomous hardware like
self-driving cars and robots, displacing factory workers, construction
workers, drivers, delivery workers and many others.

Unlike the Industrial Revolution and the computer revolution, the A.I.
revolution is not taking certain jobs (artisans, personal assistants who
use paper and typewriters) and replacing them with other jobs
(assembly-line workers, personal assistants conversant with computers).
Instead, it is poised to bring about a wide-scale decimation of jobs —
mostly lower-paying jobs, but some higher-paying ones, too.

This transformation will result in enormous profits for the companies that
develop A.I., as well as for the companies that adopt it. Imagine how much
money a company like Uber would make if it used only robot drivers. Imagine
the profits if Apple could manufacture its products without human labor.
Imagine the gains to a loan company that could issue 30 million loans a
year with virtually no human involvement. (As it happens, my venture
capital firm has invested in just such a loan company.)

We are thus facing two developments that do not sit easily together:
enormous wealth concentrated in relatively few hands and enormous numbers
of people out of work. What is to be done?

Part 

[EnglishSTF-8489] Economics ... the need for new models ...

[Gurumurthy K]

dear Economics teachers,

Current processes of globalisation and liberalisation are associated with
very high levels of income and wealth inequalities in India and most
countries  how can we think of new economic models where production and
consumption could serve larger social aims, than simply to increase
inequalities and deprivation

For one, the allocation of public funds to education needs to be increased
a lot ... to provide infrastructure, adequate teachers and resources to all
schools  While Kothari commission, 1966 recommended that 6% of GDP
should be invested in education, it is a shame that we have never done this
... and the price for this is paid by the poor and their children!

pl read the interview below of Noam Chomsky, a global intellectual, on
globalisation, its effects, alternatives ... and share your thoughts..


" . The society to which we should aspire, I think, would respect the
concept "jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen": to each according to their needs.
Among the primary needs for most people is a life of dignity and
fulfilment. That translates in particular as work undertaken under their
own control, typically in solidarity and interaction with others, creative
and of value to the society at large. Such work can take many forms:
building a beautiful and needed bridge, the challenging task of
teaching-and-learning with young children, solving an outstanding problem
in number theory, or myriad other options. Providing for such needs is
surely within the realm of possibility."

Read the article on
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/41037-myths-of-globalization-noam-chomsky-and-ha-joon-chang-in-conversation

regards
Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
--- 
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[EnglishSTF-8280] Making learning mother tongue (state language) compulsory

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

Kerala asssembly has passed a bill making learning Malayalam compulsory in
all schools in Kerala (government schools, aided, unaided schools including
state, cbse, icse boards)

Malayalam will need to be learnt as a language (medium of instruction can
be other languages)

Is this a good move? Should Karnataka also do the same? Note RTE mandates
mother tongue for the initial years of schooling while this act requires
Malayalam to be eventually taught from classes 1 - 10.

If such a bill is passed, how can we help students with other home
languages (mother tongues) learn Kannada? What about students who may join
a school in a higher class  (say in class 7) or mid way during a year, from
another state? How will they be able to learn from basics in short time?
What about adequate learning materials/resources required at different
levels?

Please share your thoughts and opinions...

regards,
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net



*source -
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/malayalam-language-bill-passed-by-house/article18572786.ece
*
Malayalam language Bill passed by House - The Hindu

Paving the way for compulsory learning of Malayalam in schools in the
State, the Assembly on Wednesday passed the Malayalam Language (Learning)
Bill, 2017.

Among other things, the Bill provides for compulsory learning of Malayalam
from Class I. From the next academic year, Malayalam will become compulsory
for Class I. The year after that for Class II and so on till standard X.

Education Minister C. Ravindranath told the Assembly that there was no
question of imposing Malayalam on anyone. He was replying to concerns
raised by some MLAs about the impact of the Bill on schools for linguistic
minorities. The medium of instruction in schools for linguistic minorities
would continue to be what it is today. Only thing, such students would also
have to learn Malayalam. A special textbook would be crafted for the use of
such students. Similarly, a special textbook shall be crafted by the SCERT
for use in CBSE and ICSE schools for standards IX to X.

Any deficiency in these schools in the teaching of Malayalam would be made
good. For instance, if there aren’t enough teachers in oriental schools and
schools for linguistic minorities to teach Malayalam, posts would be
created to fill the lacunae. For students in Kerala’s schools, the learning
of Malayalam is not just the learning of another language. It is also
learning about the culture and a doorway to immense possibilities.

MLAs cutting across party lines had criticised the title of the Bill which
originally read Malayalam Language (Compulsory Language) Bill. This, the
members argued could be seen as thrusting Malayalam on students in the
State.

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
--- 
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[EnglishSTF-8281] Inclusive education - 2 articles

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers and teacher educators,

India has modified its copyright law to allow free translation of copyright
texts, without needing any permissions, to cater to learners with
disabilities.

With the free and open source digital tools available today, teachers can
collaborate to design and produce audio books, picture stories, videos to
support inclusive education  SCERTs could take up such programs, and
publish the digital outputs on platforms as OER.

Second article is on SCERT Kerala producing learning resources for
differently abled learners

Pls read articles below and share your views.

regards,
Guru

SOURCE -
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/for-inclusive-publishing/article18573884.ece


For inclusive publishing - OPINION - The Hindu

The challenge of accessibility in the arena of education is formidable.
Expansion of inclusive publishing is a way of overcoming it. The current
predominant practice of conversion from print and other digital formats is
cumbersome. This strong advocacy on behalf of the adoption of the EPUB3
guidelines marked the proceedings of the third annual meeting of the
Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) in Geneva, on May 16-17.

“Born accessible” books was the crux of the argument by the president of
the DAISY Forum of India (DFI), Dipendra Manocha, at the World Intellectual
Property Organisation (WIPO). His audience comprised representatives from
authors’ associations, the publishing industry, entities empowered to give
effect to copyright exemptions, end-user groups and the Marrakesh Treaty
monitoring team at the WIPO. Mr. Manocha’s decades-long hands-on experience
with the nitty-gritty of conversion of printed text to Braille, audiobooks,
large print and various digitally-accessible formats places him in a unique
position among stakeholders. India has under its belt a robust 2013 global
law on copyright limitations and exemptions, besides an equally pioneering
amendment to domestic legislation, enacted a year earlier. But going by the
speaker’s account, the government and the publishing industry were under
obligation to do a great deal more to simplify the process of conversion of
print into appropriate alternative formats.

Need for support

*Following amendments to India’s copyright law, texts may now be freely
transcribed without prior clearances, solely to cater to the interests of
targeted groups. Children with vision impairments, of varying degrees of
severity, in economically backward regions are beneficiaries, enjoying, at
least in theory, unprecedented access to curriculum material.* But reaping
the range of benefits under the law depends on training and technical
support for the conversion of print, and deploying high quality
text-to-speech engines.

Correspondingly, the competencies of students to consult relevant
literature are contingent upon building the requisite capacity among them
to learn the use of dedicated hardware such as daisy players and
smartphones. As it turns out, these onerous tasks are the responsibility of
an umbrella organisation such as the DFI, constrained by financial
capacity, technological know-how and constantly rising demand. An
ABC-backed project enables the production of EPUB3-compatible books in
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. A most notable
2016 initiative is Sugamya Pustakalaya.

But, says Mr. Manocha, these advances could transform the accessibility
landscape more rapidly provided the original publications were made
available in accessible formats. The Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment, besides the National Council of Educational Research and
Training, has issued an advisory, urging State governments to mandate
textbook boards to produce accessible EPUB3 formats using unicode-based
fonts. A formal order from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development
could hasten the process.


-

Source -
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kozhikode/scert-prepares-innovative-textbooks-for-special-children/article18564968.ece


SCERT prepares innovative textbooks for special children - The Hindu

‘Veedum Koodum’, ‘Pom Pom Vandi’, ‘Kakkem Poochem’, ‘Virunnunnam’,
‘Aghoshangal’ ‘Thenthully’, ‘Manchady’ and ‘Kalicheppu’.

They are not titles for literary works written for children, but textbooks
for differently-abled children prepared by the State Council of Educational
Research and Training (SCERT) for the coming academic year.

J. Prasad, Director, SCERT, told The Hindu on Wednesday that these books
had been designed keeping in mind the mental and physical growth of
differently-abled children. “The suggestions of doctors, psychologists, and
experts in the field of children’s education were sought while preparing
these textbooks. Such an exercise is being taken up for the first time in
the country,” he said. The departments of Social Welfare and Health too
were involved in the preparation.

The eight textbooks would focus on 

[EnglishSTF-8317] Re: [apscienceteachers-252] Inclusive education - 2 articles

[Gurumurthy K]

I just shared an article about the US Supreme court decision to disallow
printer manufacture Lexmark from preventing others from refilling its print
cartridges.

This issue is very pertinent to Wannacry ransom virus.

By preventing anyone from 'repairing' their software, Microsoft creates a
situation where we suffer from a virus like Wannacry. Wannacry affected
older Windows systems most like Windows XP, which Microsoft has long
stopped support for, but at the same time prevents anyone else from being
able to 'repair' XP systems, by keeping the software proprietary.  Many
panchayats in Orissa were reported to have stopped using their computers
(Windows XP) affected by Wannacry...

Proprietary software, on same grounds as the Lexmark printer judgement
should be made illegal, since it has the same restriction on others
repairing it, as this case had.


regards
Guru



IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Fri, Jun 2, 2017 at 11:14 AM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Ebenezer sir
>
> 1. Ubuntu GNU/Linux is more secure than Windows. A Windows user can access
> the programme files, while a Linux user cant. Only a Linux administrator
> has to login to access the program files directly. This allows a virus also
> to affect the programme files in Windows while on GNU/Linux, the virus
> cannot access the programme files.
> Secondly, being free and open source software, the source code of
> GNU/Linux is publicly available and many more people can identify and fix
> bugs/vulnerabilities. In case of proprietary software like Windows, only
> the vendor can. In fact that is what allows wannacry to extract ransom for
> us, since we are dependant on only Microsoft to solve the problem. No other
> individual or entity can solve it.
>
> 2. Wannacry affects only Windows computers and not GNU/Linux systetms
>
> 3. Advantages of using Ubuntu (better to generically see benefits of Free
> and Open Source Software) - please read http://karnatakaeducation.org.
> in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software and http://karnatakaeducation.org.
> in/KOER/en/index.php/Why_public_software
>
> regards
> Guru
>
>
>
>
>
> IT for Change, Bengaluru
> www.ITforChange.net
>
> On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 9:20 AM, PHYSICS LESSONS Mixi <cyxy2...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Sir I have already asked u
>> 1. Why UBUNTU not affected by virus?
>> 2. Wanna cry, Ramson
>> ... Affected UBUNTU systems?
>> 3. Advantages by using UBUNTU...
>> PLZ reply...
>> Ebenezer Kadapa AP
>>
>> On May 28, 2017 10:31 PM, "PHYSICS LESSONS Mixi" <cyxy2...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Guru ji
>>> plz tell me why our UBUNTU can not be effected by VIRUS..
>>> are there any UBUNTU system effected by Wanna cry or Ramson
>>> plz reply above three questions
>>> than q sir
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 9:54 AM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear teachers and teacher educators,
>>>>
>>>> India has modified its copyright law to allow free translation of
>>>> copyright texts, without needing any permissions, to cater to learners with
>>>> disabilities.
>>>>
>>>> With the free and open source digital tools available today, teachers
>>>> can collaborate to design and produce audio books, picture stories, videos
>>>> to support inclusive education  SCERTs could take up such programs, and
>>>> publish the digital outputs on platforms as OER.
>>>>
>>>> Second article is on SCERT Kerala producing learning resources for
>>>> differently abled learners
>>>>
>>>> Pls read articles below and share your views.
>>>>
>>>> regards,
>>>> Guru
>>>>
>>>> SOURCE - http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/for-inclusiv
>>>> e-publishing/article18573884.ece
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> For inclusive publishing - OPINION - The Hindu
>>>>
>>>> The challenge of accessibility in the arena of education is formidable.
>>>> Expansion of inclusive publishing is a way of overcoming it. The current
>>>> predominant practice of conversion from print and other digital formats is
>>>> cumbersome. This strong advocacy on behalf of the adoption of the EPUB3
>>>> guidelines marked the proceedings of the third annual meeting of the
>>>> Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) in Geneva, on May 16-17.
>>>>
>>>> “Born accessible” books was the crux of the argument by the president
>>&

[EnglishSTF-8316] How companies try to take away our rights as consumers and citizens .... and recent Supreme court judgement.

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

normally when we pay money to 'buy' something, we should get all the rights
to use it the way we want to. However companies try to restrict our rights
to make more profits. For e.g. though refilling printer cartridges is much
much cheaper than buying new cartridges, printer manufacturers try to
prevent us from doing so, so that they can make more and more profits.
However this is bad for both consumers and the environment.

Of course proprietary software vendors do the same thing for software, by
preventing sharing and re-use, only to maximise their profits

As teachers we should promote a culture of re-use, modification,
customisation by all of us, to make our consumption less harmful to
nature/environment and the economy as well. Public software for the Public
education system!!!

See below an important judgement on this issue (the article is written
quite humorously!), comments welcome.

regards
Guru



How a Supreme Court Ruling on Printer Ink Bolsters Your Digital Rights |
WIRED

There’s a reason everyone hates printers. They break, jam, and always run
out of cyan ink—which, inexplicably, also breaks them. Even when they work,
toner costs so much you have to give up avocado toast for a month to buy
more. As Matthew Inman, one of the great poets of his time, famously said:
“Either printer ink is made from unicorn blood or we’re all getting
screwed.”
WIRED OPINION

About

Kyle Wiens (@kylewiens) is the co-founder and CEO of iFixit, an online
repair community and parts retailer.

Impression Products wanted to make toner a bit cheaper by refilling Lexmark
printer cartridges. Lexmark of course hated that and sued. The fight
dragged on for years, and made it all the way to the US Supreme Court. This
week, the highest court in the land ruled against Lexmark. You may consider
this an insignificant tussle over printer toner, but this important ruling
clears the way for small businesses to fix your stuff—even without the
manufacturer’s permission.

As an added bonus, it should also help bring printer cartridge costs down.
Good news for those of you who still print out Supreme Court decisions.
Impression v. Lexmark

Lexmark sells two kinds of cartridges: an expensive, reusable model; and a
less expensive, single-use one. The only mechanical difference? The cheap
cartridge features a chip that disables the damn thing once you refill it.
Lexmark also made consumers sign a “post-sale restriction” contract
stipulating that only Lexmark could collect, refill, and resell them.

Of course, people found a way around those constraints. Third-party
companies collected cartridges and disabled the chip. Impression Products,
a small, family-run office supply company in West Virginia, started selling
refilled cartridges for less than Lexmark charged. Lexmark sued for patent
infringement in 2013. Impressions CEO Eric Smith was baffled by the letters
he received from Lexmark’s attorneys. The way he saw it, his company was
simply selling refurbished printer cartridges, and Lexmark had no right to
control cartridges after selling them.

“I’m just a little guy who felt I was being bullied in the schoolyard,”
Smith told Ars Technica. “I decided to fight. Someone had to do it.”
Raise the Stakes

Impression Products vs. Lexmark International hinged on two points: Did
Impression infringe upon Lexmark’s patents by (1) reselling cartridges in
the United States when Lexmark explicitly prohibited reuse and resale, and
(2) importing without authorization cartridges Lexmark sold abroad. Various
courts split on these questions, and everyone from the AARP and Huawei to
Costco and the Auto Care Association weighed in when the case finally
reached the Supreme Court.

Why all the fuss? Because this wasn’t really about printer toner. It was
about your ownership rights, and whether a patent holder can dictate how
you repair, modify, or reuse something you’ve purchased. “This case raises
important questions about the reach of American patent law and how much
control a manufacturer can exert after its products have been lawfully
sold,” the editorial board of The New York Times wrote in 2015. “Taken to
their logical conclusion, Lexmark’s arguments would mean that producers
could use patent law to dictate how things like computers, printers, and
other patented goods are used, changed, or resold and place restrictions on
international trade.”

Consider this: Countless people hack their Keurig machines to brew
“unauthorized” coffee brands. Can Keurig sue them? Could Apple or Samsung
stipulate that you can’t resell their products on Craigslist or eBay? Could
John Deere claim that a repair tech is infringing upon its patent rights by
repairing a broken combine without permission? Consumer rights advocates at
the EFF and Public Knowledge worried that a ruling in Lexmark’s favor would
“jeopardize independent product refurbishers and repair services”.
This Time, It’s Personal

The Supreme Court heard arguments in March and considered the 

[EnglishSTF-8338] World Environment day ... two very happy news!!

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

You would have celebrated June 5th as World Environment day in your schools
... hopefully with sapling(s) being planted... or a water conservation
program etc ...
Usually these days, we hear news about environment destruction and sharing
positive news/stories can give us good role models

I am sharing two happy news from our neighbouring state Kerala.Request if
you could share positive stories from your schools/communities as well 

regards,
Guru

source -
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/615554/kerala-plants-one-crore-saplings.html

*Kerala joined the nation in observing World Environment Day today with the
government taking lead by distributing one crore saplings for planting
across the state. *

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his Environment Day message sought the
support and cooperation of all sections of the society in the government's
efforts of tree plantation. Known Malayalam actor Mohanlal participated in
the sapling of plants programme at a college here. Governor P Sathasivam
planted a sapling at the Raja Bhavan compound as part of day's
celebrations. Schools, local self-government bodies and voluntary
associations took part in the plant sapling programmes of the government
under 'Green Kerala Mission'.

Importance of this year's tree plantation is that government has done away
with acacia and eucalyptus that draw a lot of groundwater and distributed
only fruit bearing and environment friendly trees. A campaign titled
'Connecting People to Nature' was also launched besides starting a
programme to cut down trees that were harmful to the environment.
Meanwhile, BJP as part of its green campaign 'Jalswaraj’, distributed more
than 10 lakh saplings across the state for planting.

2
*Kerala govt implements 'green protocol' for weddings*

source -
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/615767/kerala-govt-implements-green-protocol.html

Wedding ceremonies in Kerala are all set to become 'green', with the state
government coming out with a green-protocol to make the auspicious
occasions more nature-friendly.
With the implementation of the protocol, plastic and other non-degradable
articles including disposable glasses and plates and thermocol decorations
will be kept at bay from marriage functions. Instead of this, people would
be persuaded to use tumblers, plates and other utensils made of glass and
environment-friendly metals, officials sources here said. Inspections will
be held at marriage halls, convention centres and hotels and other venues
of the wedding ceremony in this regard and action would be taken if the
protocol is violated, they said.

'Suchitwa Mission', the state nodal agency for sanitation, has already
launched the initiative in Kannur, Ernakulam, Kollam and Alappuzha on a
pilot basis. C V Joy, Director (Operations), Suchitwa Mission, said the
green-protocol was launched as part as part of the government's
anti-plastic drive and Green-Kerala Mission. "The core objective of the
initiative is to reduce the use of plastic in daily life. Plastic articles
including glasses and plates are used in large numbers during functions,
especially marriage ceremonies in the state," he told PTI.

With the effective implementation of green protocol, the amount of plastic
could be reduced in the long run. "We can reuse, recycle and reduce
plastic. But, even if we reuse such non-degradable articles, there will not
be much decline in its presence. So, reducing its use is the more effective
way to achieve our plastic-free society goal," he said. The Mission has
joined hands with district administration, panchayat authorities and
socio-cultural and religious outfit for the green-protocol initiative.

The cooperation of the owners of marriage halls and convention centres has
also been sought, he said."We are planning the protocol as a sort of
awareness drive. Though we have legal backing, we are trying to implement
it with the support of the marriage parties and the owners of wedding
halls. Mutual understanding is essential for its success," he said. Special
squads, comprising officials of Suchitwa Mission and revenue department,
have been formed to carry out inspections in wedding halls and videograph
the ceremony. Action would be taken based on the nature of utensils and
articles used there.

"It is being effectively implemented in Kannur. In Ernakulam, the district
administration is issuing green marriage certificate for those weddings
which abide by the protocol completely," he said. The protocol would be
implemented in the rest of the districts soon, the official added.
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ 

[EnglishSTF-8251] 56,000 teachers High school teachers to be trained in IT

[Gurumurthy K]

Source -
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/high-school-teachers-to-be-trained-in-it/article18314872.ece

High school teachers to be trained in IT
Staff Reporter
MALAPPURAM April 29, 2017 23:37 IST

IT@School is spearheading the training programme for 56,000 teachers during
summer vacation

The government will give subject-specific training in information
technology (IT) to all high school teachers in the State as part of
rejuvenating the general education scene.

The IT@School is spearheading the training programme for 56,000 teachers
during the summer vacation. As many as 38,000 upper primary teachers have
already been given training. “For the first time, we are giving
subject-specific training in ICT (information and communication
technology). We have identified 14 categories, including arts and sports,”
said K. Anvar Sadath, executive director of IT@School.

For the first time, teachers will get hands-on training with special focus
on classroom transactions. During the three-day training, the teachers will
learn preparation of multimedia presentations and collection and use of
various digital contents. Subject experts and ICT experts will join hands
in the training. “We have included all subjects, including languages,” Mr.
Sadath said.

1,100 trainers
The training will begin on May 8. The training for State resource groups
(SRGs) and district resource groups (DRGs) will be over by May 6. More than
1,100 trainers and 550 centres would be involved in the programme.* “The
entire training programme will be based on free software platform,” Mr.
Sadath said.  *

*“The training will have specific sessions on audio and video recording and
editing, presentation software, worksheet preparation, subject-wise
educational software, internet usage and so on.” *Teachers can register
themselves at www.itschool.gov.in. The State government’s General Education
Rejuvenation Mission is planning to convert 45,000 high school and higher
secondary classrooms into high-tech ones.

regards,
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
--- 
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[EnglishSTF-8500] Re: [HindiSTF-'4239'] Re: The Real Threat of Artificial Intelligence

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Aravind sir,

Yes, I agree that AI cannot replace human intelligence in a broad manner.
But there will be specific areas where it will be much superior (as you
know the Google AI computer recently defeated the world champion in the GO
game (http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40042581). "It is considered to be
one of the world's most complex games, and is much more challenging for
computers than chess."

AI will be introduced in all fields ... including in education... In
education, companies will use AI to try and reduce the role of teachers.
The challenge as I mentioned is that education is to enable learners to
decide what their future/life will be ... and this cannot be (practically)
and should not be (normatively) determined by past data/incidents/events
which is the process of AI... So teachers, teacher educators and
educationists should be very critical of and resist AI in education 

warm regards,
Guru

(ITfC also misses you and all the teachers/workshops and fun we had in the
STF-KOER programs!!). Inshallah we will have opportunities some day to
continue the interactions in physical meetings, till which time, we can
keep sharing/learning/interacting virtually on these forums!




IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Mon, Jun 26, 2017 at 2:27 PM, aravind navalli 
wrote:

> As far as I am concerned AI will not overtake the human intelligence for
> many more years to come, Whatever they think cyborgs skynets  or anything
> to come in future will never ever overtake human intelligence. it maybe a
> game which a computer can win but not the humanity. technology trying its
> best to come nearer to Human technology. it can come nearer to human
> technology but will never equal it. it may have sensors but can never have
> a extra sense ability like humans. lastly AI can predict humans bersonality
> but will never ever be perfect because human technology is far far better
> than AI.
>
> with regards,
>
> (Missing ITFC team very much)
>
>
> On Monday, 26 June 2017 11:55:12 UTC+5:30, itfc.stfkoer wrote:
>>
>> Dear teachers,
>>
>> Greetings on Eid-Ul-Fitr.
>>
>> Though the article below is mostly about economics, education will also
>> be impacted greatly.
>>
>> In the area of education, AI / Big data will come through 'personal
>> analytics' in which student assessment data on large scale will be analysed
>> to 'predict' individual student learning methods/outcomes and based on
>> that, the 'teacher' will be 'advised' on content and pedagogy.  Like in
>> many other professions, this will result in de-skiling teaching.
>>
>> This will need to be challenged by questioning if individual learning
>> possibilities can ever be predicted... since it hits at the root of learner
>> agency. If developing abilities for creating new life possibilities is one
>> of the important aims of education, then relying on the past alone will
>> restrict this aim
>>
>> But this is clearly an issue which educationists need to start thinking
>> about and creating responses/positions, before the school managements /
>> education systems eagerly welcome such possibilities, that the Google's of
>> the world will offer  of control of teaching-learning. Overall, a
>> political response will be required to regulate/direct these technological
>> trends.
>>
>> Comments, feedback welcome.
>>
>> regards,
>> Guru
>>
>>
>> Source - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/opinion/sunday/artificial
>> -intelligence-economic-inequality.html?action=click&
>> pgtype=Homepage=Moth-Visible=inside-
>> nyt-region-1=inside-nyt-region=inside-nyt-r
>> egion=inside-nyt-region
>>
>> By KAI-FU LEEJUNE 24, 2017
>>
>> BEIJING — What worries you about the coming world of artificial
>> intelligence?
>>
>> Too often the answer to this question resembles the plot of a sci-fi
>> thriller. People worry that developments in A.I. will bring about the
>> “singularity” — that point in history when A.I. surpasses human
>> intelligence, leading to an unimaginable revolution in human affairs. Or
>> they wonder whether instead of our controlling artificial intelligence, it
>> will control us, turning us, in effect, into cyborgs.
>>
>> These are interesting issues to contemplate, but they are not pressing.
>> They concern situations that may not arise for hundreds of years, if ever.
>> At the moment, there is no known path from our best A.I. tools (like the
>> Google computer program that recently beat the world’s best player of the
>> game of Go) to “general” A.I. — self-aware computer programs that can
>> engage in common-sense reasoning, attain knowledge in multiple domains,
>> feel, express and understand emotions and so on.
>>
>> This doesn’t mean we have nothing to worry about. On the contrary, the
>> A.I. products that now exist are improving faster than most people realize
>> and promise to radically transform our world, not always for the better.
>> They are only tools, not a competing form of intelligence. But they 

[EnglishSTF-8505] Another Ransomware virus hits Microsoft Windows computers across the globe

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Petrwrap/Petya/NotPetya is the latest powerful ransomware hitting Microsoft
Windows computers across the globe -
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/hackers-strike-across-europe/article19156266.ece

In India, operations at India's biggest container port in Mumbai was hit by
this ransomware attack -
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/operations-at-jawaharlal-nehru-port-in-mumbai-hit-by-ransomware/article19159064.ece

Like Wannacry, this ransomware also doesn't affect the GNU/Linux based
operating systems like Ubuntu and is spreading with the help of same
Windows vulnerability used by WannaCry ransomware -
https://thehackernews.com/2017/06/petya-ransomware-attack.html

regards,
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
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[EnglishSTF-8945] Soon, computers will correct your English - Deccan Herald

[Gurumurthy K]

http://m.deccanherald.com/articles.php?name=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deccanherald.com%2Fcontent%2F634140%2Fsoon-computers-correct-your-english.html

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-8979] The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

A provocative article on race, religion with reference to the killings at
Las Vegas yesterday...

In my view, mad men like Paddock do not really belong to any race or
religion ... No religion advocates killing of innocent people...

Please read, think / reflect about it and share your thoughts ...

regards,
Guru

Last night, the United States experienced the deadliest mass shooting in
modern American history. At least 58 people are dead and over 500 more
wounded. No, that’s not a typo: More than 500 were injured in one, single
incident.

As tens of thousands enjoyed a music festival on the streets of Las Vegas,
64-year-old Stephen Paddock, of Mesquite, Nevada, was perched 32 floors
above them in his Mandalay Bay hotel room. Paddock had 19 rifles and
hundreds of rounds of ammo — supplies that are plentiful in a nation that
has more guns than people. A few minutes after 10 p.m., Paddock opened fire
on the unsuspecting crowd. They were sitting ducks.

No expensive wall along the Mexican border would’ve prevented this. No
Muslim ban stopping immigrants and refugees from a few randomly selected
countries from reaching our shores would’ve slowed this down.

Paddock, like the majority of mass shooters in this country, was a white
American. And that simple fact changes absolutely everything about the way
this horrible moment gets discussed in the media and the national
discourse: Whiteness, somehow, protects men from being labeled terrorists.

The privilege here is that the ultimate conclusion about shootings
committed by people from commonly nonwhite groups often leads to
determinations about the corrosive or destructive nature of the group
itself. When an individual claiming to be a Muslim commits a horrible act,
many on the right will tell us Islam itself is the problem. For centuries,
when an act of violence has been committed by an African-American, racist
tropes follow — and eventually, the criminalization and dehumanization of
an entire ethnic group.


Privilege always stands in contrast to how others are treated, and it’s
true in this case, too: White men who resort to mass violence are
consistently characterized primarily as isolated “lone wolves” — in no way
connected to one another — while the most problematic aspects of being
white in America are given a pass that nobody else receives.

Stephen Paddock’s whiteness has already afforded him many outrageous
protections in the media.

While the blood was still congealing on the streets of Las Vegas, USA Today
declared in a headline
 that Paddock was a
“lone wolf.” And yet an investigation into his motivations and background
had only just started. Police were only beginning to move to search his
home and computers. His travel history had not yet been evaluated. No one
had yet thoroughly scrutinized his family, friends, and social networks.

Stephen Paddock was declared a “lone wolf” before analysts even started
their day, not because an exhaustive investigation produced such a
conclusion, but because it is the only available conclusion for a white man
in America who commits a mass shooting.

“Lone wolf” is how Americans designate many white suspects in mass
shootings. James Holmes was called a “lone wolf” when he shot and killed 12
people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. And Dylann Roof, the white
supremacist who walked into a church in Charleston, South Carolina, and
shot and killed the pastor and eight other parishioners, was quickly
declared a “lone wolf.”

For people of color, and especially for Muslims, the treatment is often
different. Muslims often get labeled as “terrorists” before all the facts
have come out.

Just consider President Donald Trump. This morning, Trump tweeted
, “My
warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the
terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!” That’s fine, but Trump doesn’t
even seem angry. It’s peculiar that he didn’t call the shooter a “son of a
bitch,” like he did the NFL players who took a knee during the anthem. He
didn’t create an insulting nickname for Paddock, or make an immediate push
for a policy proposal.

Compare that to how Trump treats incidents where he believes the assailants
are Muslims. After a bomb exploded in the London subway, Trump tweeted that
the attackers were “loser terrorists” — before British authorities had even
named a suspect. He went on to immediately use the attack to push his
Muslim ban.

We must ask ourselves: Why do certain acts of violence absolutely incense
Trump and his base while others only elicit warm thoughts and prayers? This
is the deadliest mass shooting in American history! Where is the outrage?
Where are the policy proposals?

What we are witnessing is the blatant fact that white privilege protects
even Stephen Paddock, an alleged mass murderer, not just 

[EnglishSTF-8875] Re: Blended course on Technology integrated learning”, for student teachers and teacher educators (B.Ed.) at Vijaya Teachers College.

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

Vijaya Teachers College (http://vijayateacherscollege.org) and Centre for
Education and Technology, IT for Change (http://itforchange.net/education)
are launching a certificate course on “*Integrating ICT in teacher
education”* for
*B.Ed / CTE college faculty. *
The course will commence on 22nd September, 2017. Interested teacher
educators, from colleges in Bengaluru which offer the B.Ed program, can
send a mail to teachereduca...@itforchange.net to apply for or get more
information about the course. Request you to share this information with
interested teacher educators.

*About the course*

ICT syllabi in school and teacher education have often focused on the
learning of popular proprietary software applications, with little impact
on learning processes or outcomes. The National ICT Curriculum 2013, issued
by NCERT, has pioneered a new approach to ICT learning and ICT based
learning, with its six pedagogical themes of “Connecting with the World”,
“Connecting with Each Other”, “Creating with ICT”, “Interacting with ICT”,
“ICT and teaching-learning” and “Reaching Out and Bridging Divides”.

The course, developed by IT for Change on a blended learning model, is
perhaps the first pre-service teacher-education course for teacher
educators, based on the National ICT Curriculum.

The curriculum broadly attempts to equip teachers with ICT competencies to
strengthen their own professional capacities and to effectively use ICT
tools and devices in their teaching- learning. It enables students to
acquire digital literacy skills as well as improve their subject learning
and digital vocational skills. More details are available on the course
platform https://karnatakaeducation.org.in/lms

The course will be for a minimum of 25 and maximum of 30 teacher educators.
A nominal fee will be charged for the course participation to part cover
course expenses.

regards,
Guru
--


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

On Mon, Jul 3, 2017 at 10:46 PM, Gurumurthy K <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear teachers,
>
> I am happy to share with you about the blended course on “*Technology
> integrated learning*”, which was launched by IT for Change & Vijaya
> Teachers College today. This is perhaps the  first B.Ed. program course,
> based on National ICT Curriculum of CIET, NCERT.
>
> *About the course*
>
> ICT syllabi in school education and teacher education have in the past
> often focused on the learning of few popular proprietary software
> applications. This has had little impact on learning processes or outcomes.
>
> The National ICT Curriculum, 2013, pioneers a new approach to ICT learning
> and ICT based learning, with the six themes of *“Connecting with the
> World”, “Connecting with Each Other”, “Creating with ICT”, “Interacting
> with ICT”, “ICT and teaching-learning” *and *“Reaching Out and Bridging
> Divides”*. The curriculum broadly attempts to build ICT competencies in
> teachers, to strengthen their professional capacities and to use ICT tools
> in their teaching. It enables students to acquire digital literacy and
> vocational skills and improve their subject learning.
>
> The Centre for Education and Technology, IT for Change has developed the
> syllabus and  content for the *Technology integrated learning*” course,
> for the students of the B.Ed program being offered by the Vijaya Teachers
> College for the 2017-19 batch. *The course for teacher educators will
> also be open to the faculty of other teacher’s colleges in Bengaluru and
> interested teacher educators can contact i...@itforchange.net
> <i...@itforchange.net> for more information.*
>
> Prof. Rajaram Sharma, former Joint Director of CIET delivered the keynote
> address during the inauguration. Prof. Sharma said, “The course has the
> potential to use technology to enable teacher educators re-look at their
> teaching approaches and enable them to develop as competent teachers, as
> well as collaborative learners.’
> The course summary information can be accessed from KOER -
> http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Technology_integrated_
> learning_-_Course_for_B.Ed_student_teachers_and_teacher_educators
>
> The course itself is available on Moodle on https://karnatakaeducation.
> org.in/lms and you can browse the contents using the Guest login.
>
> Please do visit the course and share your comments and suggestions.
>
> regards,
> Guru
> IT for Change, Bengaluru
> www.ITforChange.net
>

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯ

[EnglishSTF-8842] Engaging young minds meaningfully

[Gurumurthy K]

Nice thought provoking article ... please read and share your thoughts

regards
Guru


HANDS-ON, MINDS-ON LEARNING Indira Vijaysimha explains how teachers can
impart knowledge without becoming overly controlling and authoritarian

One of the most frustrating experiences that teachers face in the classroom
is not being able to get children to pay attention to what they are saying.
Many teachers resort to threat and punishment routines in order to
establish their dominance over their children and proceed to teach their
lesson to a silent class. This seems to be an effective way to teach and
traditionally, trainee teachers have been encouraged to establish control
over the children so that they can proceed with their teaching without
interruptions. School inspectors, too, have typically appreciated
classrooms where the children are sitting quietly in orderly rows and the
teacher proceeds with the lesson. The effectiveness of this tradition of
teaching has been under question for several decades now, although it is
still followed.

Let us take a quick look at the reasons why silencing children by threats
and punishment may not be a good teaching strategy. To begin with, it
should be rather obvious that just because children are silent in class
while the teacher is teaching it doesn’t mean that they are focused on what
the teacher is saying. If children are not allowed to speak in class and
are supposed to respond only to the questions asked by the teacher, then
the teacher has little opportunity to evaluate whether they have actually
understood what is being taught. Years of schooling where pupils have to
sit silently in class is likely to result in a population of adults who
unquestioningly accept authority.

Although such an ‘obedient’ population may seem desirable to some, it has
other consequences that should have us deeply worried. Blind obedience to
authority is not the preferred end of education.

Education is meant to develop creativity and critical thinking in order to
make progress and human flourishing possible. We also see that when some
children are coerced into submitting to teachers’ authority they become
rebellious and angry. In many cases, such children effectively dropping out
of learning by tuning out the teacher, being disruptive in class, playing
truant, or by actually dropping out of school itself. In addition to this
set of undesirable consequences, research studies indicate that getting
children to ‘shut up and listen’ is not an effective way to develop
conceptual understanding.

Pointing out to some of the undesirable consequences of classes that
require children to sit quietly and listen does not of course, solve the
teacher’s problem of having to manage children’s attention. Recent
conversations with teachers indicate that the problem of attention may have
become worse due to children’s exposure to mobile phones and tablets. The
process of getting students’ attention without getting frustrated, shouting
or issuing threats is challenging. In fact, a 2014 study reveals that 40%
of teachers leave before completing one year of work. One of the top
reasons cited for quitting is difficulties in “coping with and responding
to student behavioural issues.” What can teachers do to find reasonably
satisfying ways to hold children’s attention? How can they get important
messages and instruction across without becoming overly controlling and
authoritarian?

Build rapport

In order to manage children’s attention, it is helpful to think of the
classroom from the child’s view point. A friendly approach will help
teachers build a rapport with students and this in turn can enable the
teacher to discuss some basic rules about classroom behaviour. Soft
conversation between students should be tolerated and there is no need for
a teacher to put an end to all forms of student talk in the classroom.
However, if on entering a class a teacher finds children talking loudly and
being boisterous it is not advisable to try and talk louder than the
students. Some other way of drawing the students’ attention can be tried —
things like writing or drawing on the blackboard, starting a clapping
rhythm, or simply standing quietly and waiting for children to notice them
are some ways that teachers have successfully tried.

Have a plan

It is important to have a plan about how to proceed once children’s
attention has been gained. After getting the children’s attention, the next
step would be to have an engaging activity, game task or story related to
the lesson that is to be taught. Sometimes an object or experiment can be
used to spark children’s curiosity and they can be encouraged to voice
their thoughts and questions. With a little patience, children can be
helped to understand that it is preferable to take turns while talking and
that it is important to listen to each other.

Social learning theories in psychology indicate that teachers need to model
the behaviour that they expect from children. For example, by 

[EnglishSTF-8977] NCERT Journal - Voices of Teachers and Teacher Educators (Publication of August 17 Volume V Issue II)

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

Voices of Teachers and Teacher Educators (Publication of August 17 Volume V
Issue II) has been recently released, it can be downloaded from
http://ncert.nic.in/publication/journals/vtte.html ( Issue-II - Vol-V,
August, 2017 )



It has many interesting articles. Dr Rajaram Sharma, Joint Director NCERT
(retd) has written about how ICT can pose a danger of further dumbing down
teaching and reducing the role of a teacher to 'show and tell'. He suggests
'professional learning communities' of teachers as a powerful use of ICT to
support teachers ..(our STF is an example!). And of using different free
applications to create and mix resources to supplement / complement text
books. And accessing web for resources for the same as well

Dr Kirti Kapur has discussed the challenges of teaching English and what
language teachers can/should do.
Pooja Keshavan discusses how story telling can be a tool for Maths teachers
to help students connect better to the subject and gives useful examples
for this which we could use.

Dr Disha Nawani's article is about how a text book should be used and not
be used...  There are a couple of articles in Hindi discussing experiences
from Jharkand and Chatisgarh.

There is an article on digital storytelling (DST) in some of our high
schools, by Ranjani and me and how teachers and students have used DST for
making teaching-learning enjoyable and meaningful for themselves, and
created digital resources for use elsewhere. These stories are available on
KOER

.

*VTTE has invited contributions from teachers to the next issue - please
read the 'call' section in this journal issue. Hope many of you will
contribute and share your experiences and learnings with all*

regards,
Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-8747] (the dangerous) world of Chhota Bheem - The Hindu, Meenakshi A.

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

the world of animation/multi-media is a powerful one for students/learners
... but it is only a medium of learning ... and can be as harmful as useful
 read article below from Hindu, today.

Can we make simple animation films which bring life and life's lessons to
our learners? and make these with our students  I think this can be an
important method of learning in the age of ICT. And something that is
perhaps doable, see
http://troer.telangana.gov.in/OER/index.php/Category:Communication_with_graphics
for some ideas/lessons

regards,
Guru

source thehindu.com



Chhota Bheem’ narrates the story of the valorous nine-year-old Bheem, a
persona loosely based on the eponymous character in Hindu mythology known
for strength. Little Bheem lives in the fictional city-state of Dholakpur,
and in each television episode, when faced with various perils, he proceeds
to tackle them with the help of his friends Chutki, Raju and Jaggu Bandar,
the monkey.

Despite the lifeless animation and dim plotlines, the show currently has at
least 40 million viewers, and Chhota Bheem merchandise from toothpaste to
toys flood Indian stores. Though the producers of the show have had
extraordinary success, hardly anyone has ventured beyond the ‘fun’ and
‘excitement’ it offers children to analyse the sexist, racial, linguistic
and other discrimination deeply embedded in the show.

Gender bias

The gender bias is explicit: Chutki has the fairest skin of all the
characters and has two pink spots on her cheeks. She “loves playing with
the boys but also is very feminine and keeps herself busy with all sorts of
arts and household chores”, describes the official website of the show. She
never participates when physically strenuous fighting or other kinds of
movements are involved. The sheer violence displayed by Bheem, masquerading
as “teaching the villains a lesson”, is unnerving and he is an epitome of
the macho male (or as much of a macho male that a nine-year-old can be).

Bheem has a rival in his village, Kalia. It may not come as a surprise that
not only him but most other villains in the show are dark-skinned. In an
episode emulating *Jack and the Beanstalk*, the giant is dark-skinned and
wears tiger skin.

Racial prejudice

There is reason to believe this racial prejudice historically comes from
the antagonism between the expansionist invaders of the ancient times who
lived in agricultural city-states and the dark-skinned tribes, who were
forest-dwellers. Due to this, the *rakshasa*, or the demon, in the
literature of the “civilised” and settled agricultural communities, is
identified with the tribal forest-dweller; and the giant in the story, a
*rakshasa*.

Curiously, even as Bheem saves an elephant from a cruel hunter and is
proclaimed a hero, in other episodes he beats up hyenas, fights tigers and
attaches fireworks to a lion’s tail, simply because the last three were
‘threats’ to his friends. This imposition of values of who is ‘good’ and
who is ‘bad’ on to the animal world no doubt makes the little viewers
internalise certain erroneous notions.

On linguistic lines

An episode of particular interest to me was one where Bheem and his friends
visited Kerala on an adventure. It was interesting to note how linguistic
‘othering’ was an important way of constructing the identity of Malayalis.
In the Hindi version of the episode, the Malayalis spoke Hindi (the
language Bheem and his friends speak) with an accent that sounded odd, and
many of them were caricatures that exclaimed *aiyo* from time to time,
meant to evoke mirth. Kalia wants to learn Kathakali, a performance art
form native to Kerala, and he is ridiculed.

In another episode, *Dancing with the Tribes*, the image of the ‘tribal’
cannot be more stereotypical, and their language is gibberish. Bheem and
his friends make fun of them by attempting to imitate them. Bheem also goes
to meet the Incas, aliens and many other groups in various episodes. But
every visit is necessarily based on some sort of conflict or antagonism,
the message being, ‘what is different is to be fought’.

Way to enmity

>From all this it seems to me that while superficially trying to make other
‘cultures’ familiar to viewers, all it does is essentialise them and
inculcate an intuitive aggression or enmity towards them. Behind the guise
of educational tales about multiple cultures lurks a blatantly sexist,
racist and essentialist show. It claims to teach children values and
morals, but in truth cultivates biases and perpetrates stereotypes. Is this
what we want our children watching, especially in times such as those we
are in today?

meenakshiajayku...@gmail.com


IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform

[EnglishSTF-9558] Karl Marx in five core ideas

[Gurumurthy K]

Karl Marx in five core ideas:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/karl-marx-in-five-core-ideas/article23774957.ece

Remembering Marx on his 200 birth anniversary today Marx was perhaps
the most influential economist in the world... And his thoughts are more
relevant as societies all over the world have become more and more
unequal..

Regards
ಗುರು

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-9568] 50% decrease in project burden for school students (Telangana)

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

will this be relevant to Karnataka also?

regards
Guru


HYDERABAD: In a huge relief to students, the Telangana school education
department

has decided to slash the project burden by 50%. The rule, to come into
force beginning the 2018-19 academic year, will be implemented under the
continuous and comprehensive evaluation ( CCE
) system that was introduced
in 2012.

The decision follows the department’s observation about the main objective
of CCE — which was to “improve learning, based on teacher’s continuous
feedback” — being lost in the existing system with students often copying
from “guides and textbooks in order to complete projects, experiments and
written reports.”

“At present the projects given in schools are mostly downloaded from the
internet and are cut and paste type from other sources,” the department’s
draft report proposing changes to the CCE system (a copy of which is with
the TOI), read. Stressing how these projects should “include observation,
collecting information and analysis” it added that these should not be
submitted merely for assessment.

Apart from halving the project time — to two projects per subject per year
as against the earlier four — the department has also cut down on the time
students spend on subject-related activities/experiments. From four per
subject per year, it has now been revised to two exercises per subject
every year.

These measures, the report stated, will lessen the pressure on students as
many of them, at present, are unable to finish the work on time.

Welcoming the move, teachers said that the reduction in project load would
have far-reaching benefits. “Right now, they spend long hours in finishing
this work (projects and exercises). If reduced, they will find more time to
concentrate on honing other skills,” said Shabbir Sheikh, president of the
Telangana Private Teachers Forum. Further, with the lack of basic literary
skills such as reading, writing and comprehension emerging as major
challenges for effective implementation of the CCE, the department has
decided to enhance the focus on these areas and “prioritise” the
development of these skills.

In order to emphasise on reading, it has also agreed to cut down on the
number of exercises that are found listed at the end of every lesson in the
state government-published textbooks. This is particularly true of subjects
such as science, social studies and EVS. “Appropriate guidelines will be
issued in this regard. This reduces the burden among children and their
time with written works and focus will be shifted towards reading the
textbooks after school hours,” read the draft report. Reiterating that
CCE’s primary aim is to improve learning among children, the department’s
report stated that the revisions suggested, are in line with that ideology
and are expected to fill the gaps in implementation that existing CCE
norms. The school education department has sought suggestions from the
teachers on the draft policy by May 15, 2018.
source -
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/education-goes-easy-50-decrease-in-project-burden-for-school-students/articleshow/64117147.cms

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-9203] Reuse, repair, recycle...... U.K. may impose tax on disposable cups

[Gurumurthy K]

Going back to our native wisdom and protecting our environment

U.K. may impose tax on disposable cups:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/uk-may-impose-tax-on-disposable-cups/article22378627.ece

Hope such measures will be taken up here as well

GGuru

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
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[EnglishSTF-9269] India ranks 177 out of 180 in Environmental Performance Index

[Gurumurthy K]

India ranks 177 out of 180 in Environmental Performance Index:
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/india-ranks-177-out-of-180-in-environmental-performance-index/article22513016.ece

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-9303] Total Lunar eclipse (31.01.2018) recording (using Stellarium + Kazam) on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YUjcsOXc5k

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers,

I am sharing a video of the Total Lunar eclipse (31.01.2018) recording seen
on the Stellarium Free Software application.

The video is around 4 minutes.

1. You can see it to help you if are watching the eclipse now, to identify
the moon in the sky

2. In case you have not been able to see the eclipse, you can see its
simulation in this video.

3. You can also use Stellarium in your class (if you do not know how to use
Stellarium, its very easy, you can learn to, from the video) to demonstrate
the eclipse for  your students in your class.

The video is available on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YUjcsOXc5k

Look forward to your suggestions and feedback for improvement.

regards,
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-9335] Cape Town’s water crisis highlights city’s rich-poor divide

[Gurumurthy K]

Something many  of us may face in the near future 

Water conservation must be an important part of our education...

Regards
Guru

Cape Town’s water crisis highlights city’s rich-poor divide:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/cape-towns-water-crisis-highlights-citys-rich-poor-divide/article22644180.ece

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
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[EnglishSTF-9352] resources from KOER this week ....

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear teachers

Continuous learning and teacher professional development has many more
possibilities today, specially with e-learning courses. We bring to  you
three courses which are available for enrolling today, two for any subject
teacher, and a third one for English teachers. Please refer to
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Courses
From - Future learn

This is a MOOC platform with many interesting courses, offered by British
Council.

Becoming a better teacher
 , a 6 week
course (3 hours per week expected in self study) is worth enrolling
From RIESE

Diploma in English Communication  - 1 year
diploma, which would be useful for all teachers who teach in English medium

Post Graduate Diploma in English Language Teaching
 - - 1 year diploma useful for language
teachers

For Mathematics teachers, question papers from Yakub Sir - model papers and
district papers, visit

http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/%E0%B2%97%E0%B2%A3%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%A4:_%E0%B2%AA%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%B0%E0%B2%B6%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%A8%E0%B3%86_%E0%B2%AA%E0%B2%A4%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%B0%E0%B2%BF%E0%B2%95%E0%B3%86%E0%B2%97%E0%B2%B3%E0%B3%81#.E0.B2.A6.E0.B2.95.E0.B3.8D.E0.B2.B7.E0.B2.BF.E0.B2.A3_.E0.B2.95.E0.B2.A8.E0.B3.8D.E0.B2.A8.E0.B2.A1


As you provide examples for practice by students, do use Geogebra wherever
possible to deepen conceptual understanding as well.


All the best

regards,
Guru
IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
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[EnglishSTF-9143] Life without limits: The delusions of technological fundamentalism - NationofChange

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Teachers

How can we alert our students about the greatest danger to our existence
... the destruction of our environment based on our blind faith in ruthless
exploitation of nature, and in technocratic solutions to problems .
this is something every subject teacher should plan to include in every
lesson 

read the article below

regards,
Guru
IT for Change
source -
https://www.nationofchange.org/2018/01/02/life-without-limits-delusions-technological-fundamentalism/



In a routinely delusional world, what is the most dangerous delusion?

Living in the United States, I’m tempted to focus on the delusion that the
United States is the greatest nation in the history of the world – a claim
repeated robotically by politicians of both parties.

In a mass-consumption capitalist society, there’s the delusion that if we
only buy more, newer, better products we all will be happier – a claim
repeated endlessly in commercial propaganda (commonly known as *advertising*
and *marketing*).

I’m also white, and so it’s understandable to worry about the delusion that
white people are superior to non-white people. And as a man, I reflect on
the delusion that institutionalized male dominance is our fate, whether
asserted to be divinely commanded or evolutionarily inevitable.

But all these delusions that rationalize hierarchies within the human
family, and the resulting injustices that flow from those hierarchies, are
less frightening to me than modern humans’ delusion that we are not bound
by the laws of physics and chemistry, that humans can live beyond the
biophysical limits of the ecosphere.
2018 Peace Calendars are here!

GET YOURS 

This delusion is not limited to one country, one group, or one political
party, but rather is the unstated assumption of everyday life in the
high-energy/high-technology industrial world. This is the delusion that we
are – to borrow from the title of a particularly delusional recent book –
the *god species
*
.

This ideology of human supremacy leads us to believe that our species’
cleverness allows us to ignore the limits placed on all life forms by the
larger living world, of which we are but one component. What we once
quaintly called “environmentalism” – which too often focused on technical
solutions to discrete problems rather than challenging human arrogance and
the quest for endless affluence – is no longer adequate to deal with the
multiple, cascading ecological crises that define our era: climate
destabilization, species extinction, soil erosion, groundwater depletion,
toxic waste accumulation, and on and on.

Playing god got us into this trouble, and more of the same won’t get us out.

This inability to accept the limits that come with being part of “nature” –
a strange term when used to contrast with “human,” as if humans were
somehow not part of the natural world – was on my mind as I read two new
books about controversial topics that typically are thought of as social,
not ecological, issues: *Transgender Children and Young People: Born in
Your Own Body
*,
edited by Heather Brunskell-Evans and Michele Moore, and *Surrogacy: A
Human Rights Violation
*, by Renate Klein.

Both books offer a feminist critique of the ideology and practices of these
movements that herald medical/technological “solutions” to struggles with
gender norms and infertility.

Brunskell-Evans’ and Moore’s book brings together researchers, activists,
mental health practitioners and parents who question such practices as
puberty suppression to block the development of secondary sex
characteristics as treatment for gender dysphoria. Are such disruptions of
a child’s development with powerful drugs warranted, given the lack of
testing and absence of a clear understanding of the etiology of
transgenderism? The authors challenge what has rapidly become the liberal
dogma of embracing medicalized approaches to the very real problem of
patriarchal gender norms (the demand that boys must act one way and girls
another) that constrain our lives.

Klein marshals research and the testimony of surrogates to point out that
another liberal dogma – affluent individuals have a right to “rent a womb”
so they may have a child genetically related to them – involves
considerable risks for the surrogate mother (sometimes referred to as the
“gestational carrier”). The author’s assessment is blunt, but well
supported: modern surrogacy is a form of exploitation of women and
trafficking in babies.

Both books demonstrate the enduring relevance of the radical branch of
feminism that highlights men’s attempts to control and exploit women’s
reproductive power and sexuality as a key feature of men’s dominance in
patriarchal societies. And both 

[EnglishSTF-9691] Why history matters so much

[Gurumurthy K]

Why history matters so much:
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/why-history-matters-so-much/article24763484.ece

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
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[EnglishSTF-9697] Rebuilding Kerala.... With a peoples campaign

[Gurumurthy K]

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-peoples-campaign-to-rebuild-kerala/article24812519.ece

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-9197] A natural stream is back from the dead in Kerala

[Gurumurthy K]

Happy Sankranti...

Let's protect nature. And stop 'exploiting'  it.
Read the happy article from link below

Guru
IT for Change

A natural stream is back from the dead in Kerala:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/a-natural-stream-is-back-from-the-dead-in-kerala/article22437525.ece

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
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[EnglishSTF-9485] A school where students are made

[Gurumurthy K]

A school where students are made:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/a-school-where-students-are-made/article23228457.ece

Regards
Guru

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
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[EnglishSTF-9468] From KOER this week, Study resources for Class X Science, prepared by Shashikumar B.S. sir

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Science teachers

Shashikumar B.S. sir, GHS Yelekyathanahalli Nelamangala has prepared study
materials for Class X Science, you could use / adapt these in  your own
revision program with your students there are two resource books, one
in Kannada and second in English.

Please download it from
*http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Science:_Question_Papers#Study_Resources
*
(Teachers who don't teach science could also read these resources ...
Science is for all of us :-)  to enjoy)

regards,
Guru

-- 

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
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[EnglishSTF-9513] From KOER this week ..... readings for the long weekend

[Gurumurthy K]

Dear Teachers,

To take your mind of the examination pressures, from KOER this week, we
have three readings . for the long weekend, on developing a critical
perspective on ICT

We have been reading about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica misusing our
personal information to manipulate our behaviour!!! this is a great danger
to democracy ... these articles discuss the cause and effects of this
phenomenon ...

Critical understanding of ICT
-- 

on

http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Digital_literacy

Like any new technology, ICT too can be hyped up, and we may see it as a
panacea or silver bullet that can solve all our problems in education.
However, such hype/ perspective can be quite harmful and dangerous. The
more powerful a tool, the more harmful it could be as well. Hence
developing a critical understanding of ICT is essential, especially for
teachers, who need to foster the same in students. A few readings that can
support such critical understanding:

   1. Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change
   
   (Neil Postman)
   2. Filter bubble , how the
   search engine may be damaging us and our society. (Eli Pariser
   )
   3. Internet and capitalism
   

   (John Bellamy Foster
    and Robert W.
   McChesney )


enjoy reading and share your comments

regards
Guru

IT for Change, Bengaluru
www.ITforChange.net

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
---
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[EnglishSTF-9429] This lecturer does not just preach

[Gurumurthy K]

This lecturer does not just preach:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/this-lecturer-does-not-just-preach/article22926069.ece


This needs to be a part of our school curriculum in all subjects, classes
and years ☺

Guru

-- 
---
1.ವಿಷಯ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವೇದಿಕೆಗೆ  ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರನ್ನು ಸೇರಿಸಲು ಈ  ಅರ್ಜಿಯನ್ನು ತುಂಬಿರಿ.
 - 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevqRdFngjbDtOF8YxgeXeL8xF62rdXuLpGJIhK6qzMaJ_Dcw/viewform
2. ಇಮೇಲ್ ಕಳುಹಿಸುವಾಗ ಗಮನಿಸಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲವು ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿ.
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/index.php/ವಿಷಯಶಿಕ್ಷಕರವೇದಿಕೆ_ಸದಸ್ಯರ_ಇಮೇಲ್_ಮಾರ್ಗಸೂಚಿ
3. ಐ.ಸಿ.ಟಿ ಸಾಕ್ಷರತೆ ಬಗೆಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೀತಿಯ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿದ್ದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಪುಟಕ್ಕೆ ಭೇಟಿ ನೀಡಿ -
http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Portal:ICT_Literacy
4.ನೀವು ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ ಬಳಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಾ ? ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಯಲು 
-http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Public_Software
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