Author: Loknath Das

The UP Special Task Force (STF) on Sunday unearthed a fake education board that had been running in Lucknow under the name of Uttar Pradesh State Open School Board (UPSOSB) since 2013 and had study centres in seven states. The STF raided the fake board’s office in Indira Nagar and arrested seven people, including two brothers. Rajman Goud and Jitendra Goud – two brothers from Azamgarh were the masterminds behind the fake board that was being operated from a rented building ‘Raheja House’ in Indira Nagar’s Faridinagar locality, said Triveni Singh, ASP, STF. He said five others arrested along with…

A Department of Education reorganization plan whose broad themes were shared with employees last week would collapse multiple units with higher ed functions into one office whose leader would answer directly to the secretary. The plan also calls for eliminating the office of the under secretary, which has played a key role in shaping higher education policy during the previous two presidential administrations. Those moves would be part of a larger shake-up of the department that officials say is intended to make lines of decision making more clear, improve policy coordination and reduce the total number of political appointees. It…

More “variety” is needed in the price of university education, the secretary of state said ahead of a government review of the system. Damian Hinds also suggested tuition fees should reflect each degree’s value “to our society as a whole”. It comes as a committee of MPs said there was no justification for such “high interest rates” on student loans. Labour said another review would not solve the problems posed by interest rate increases and fee rises. A day of reckoning for tuition fees? 10 charts showing the effect of tuition fees The review, to be launched by Prime Minister…

Theresa May is to press ahead with attempts to force universities to charge less for some courses based on their costs and potential graduate earnings, despite critics within her own party and the higher education sector branding the move incoherent and unworkable. Announcing a long-awaited review of education funding for over-18s in England, the prime minister will say that reserving university for the middle class and vocational training “for other people’s children” is outdated. Her comments come after the new education secretary, Damian Hinds, hinted on Sunday that the review would recommend that some universities cut their fees for social science and humanities…

On the day of the 2016 U.S. election, a popular Twitter account alerted its followers to a potentially serious problem with the voting system. “BREAKING: Machine Refuses to Allow Vote For Trump in Pennsylvania!! RT the hell out of it! #VoterFraud #voted,” tweeted @TEN_GOP to the account’s more than 140,000 followers. That account appeared on Friday as part of an indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice against 13 Russian operatives employed by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency “troll factory.” The social account @TEN_GOP was part of this effort to swing the election and alter U.S. politics — a strategy that has…

If a brand today wants to promote a new product, it would order its social media team to tailor posts that resonate with its audience, buy targeted ads to reach impressionable eyeballs, and closely monitor the performance of its messaging to ensure it reaches, and influences, as many viewers as possible. If a Russian troll farm wanted to disrupt an American election and amplify discord in an open society, it would apparently do the exact same things. That’s one of the key takeaways from an indictment filed Friday by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III against 13 Russians and three…

I’m not a libertarian, but I love debating libertarians. Case in point: Bryan Caplan. Caplan is an economics professor at George Mason University and the author of a new book, The Case Against Education. In that book he makes a bold argument: Public education is waste of time and money and we should stop investing in it. Caplan marshals a ton of evidence in support of this claim, most of which reinforces his view that what we’re doing now isn’t working that well. I agree with him that our current system is broken, but I’m not convinced we should give up…

St Brelade Constable Steve Pallett will become the new assistant minister for Education after Housing Minister Anne Pryke took on the ministerial responsibilities for the department. Mr Pallett is already an Assistant Economic Development Minister. In a ministerial decision confirming the appointment, it said that Mr Pallett had been named Assistant Education Minister to ‘assist with the workload and to provide support if any conflicts of interest might arise’. Deputy Pryke’s daughter is a head teacher at one of the Island’s primary schools. Deputy Bryans stepped aside as Education Minister last week after a formal complaint was made about his…

GraduFund offers AI-based, hassle-free micro-financing and career connect to graduates through web and mobile platforms, and has partnered with financiers, educators, and merchants to provide funding for higher education. At a glance Startup: GraduFund Founder: Abhijit Onkar and Lalit Chawla Year it was founded: 2017 Where is it based: Gurugram Sector: Fintech The problem it solves: Micro-financing options for higher education Funding raised: Angel A report by KPMG and Google highlights that India’s edtech market is expected to touch $1.96 billion by 2021, with close to 9.6 million users, from $247 million and over 1.6 million users in 2016. Keeping the potential exponential growth in mind, several…

HIGHLIGHTS MTV India has blocked Tekken 7 videos on YouTube This comes after it broadcasted UCypher – a gaming reality show MTV India has not commented as to why this has happened MTV India has been blocking Tekken 7 videos on YouTube. Multiple Tekken 7 content creators the world over have had their Tekken 7 videos removed following an overreaching copyright claim by MTV India. “Looks like MTV India is blocking Tekken videos and streams on YouTube. What’s up with this @MTVIndia @TeamYouTube?” tweeted Zoran Mircevic a Tekken 7 player and writer for fighting game-focussed site AvoidingThePuddle. This comes weeks after the TV…