Latest news with #AninditaMitra
Hindustan Times
11-07-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Chandigarh: Mandatory entrepreneurship course under PU board review
Even as the Punjab government has written to all vice-chancellors of universities in the state to start a mandatory course on entrepreneurship mindset from the 2025-26 session, Panjab University (PU) will take this up with their board of studies to see how this can be implemented. Punjab government will create a multilingual digital platform for real time monitoring and execution of the course load. (HT photo for representation) An advisory has been sent out by Punjab secretary department of higher education and languages, Anindita Mitra regarding this. A working group on higher education reforms constituted by Punjab has recommended the need for this course. The group was chaired by Karamjit Singh, V-C of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and the government of Punjab has accepted this recommendation. As per the committee, the universities are advised to roll out the Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum as a mandatory course for every undergraduate student in every semester of their degree programme. Each student must work on a business or service idea in every semester, refine and execute it, and demonstrate progress against defined semester-wise benchmarks. These benchmarks include parameters like viability, innovation and revenue generation. The universities will evaluate the students based on real-world performance. As a phased rollout strategy, it has been recommended that this be implemented for BTech, BCom, BBA and BVoc degrees for 2025-26 and for other UG courses in the next academic session. Punjab government will create a multilingual digital platform for real time monitoring and execution of the course load. As per the working group report, a semester wise breakdown on the course includes defining your niche and understanding marketing through content creation for the first semester. Other semesters will include earning from content, ads and collaboration, expanding clientele and using AI for content ideas, writing and posting. The group noted that to understand business, the students will have to actually do the business. In the first semester, they will be expected to generate a revenue of ₹10,000 which will rise upto ₹8 lakh by semester six. PU officials however noted that they will ask for clarity regarding where this money will come from and what the students will do about this. An official present for the Punjab government meeting said that former Delhi minister Manish Sisodia was also present here and had given examples of how Delhi government had tried to start this in schools, encouraging school children to start their own businesses and the innovations that the children came up with. They said that this Delhi model will now be tried on a university level in Punjab. However more clarity is needed regarding the financial aspect of this course. V-C Renu Vig said that they have received the mail and will go through it. 'It might be difficult to implement it now as it is already too late and the new session is about to start. I have asked the board of studies to see what can be done,' she added. Meanwhile, she said that PU already offers courses on entrepreneurship as electives and skill enhancement courses.
Indian Express
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Top students of Classes X and XII exams to spend a day with DC/SSP in Punjab
The Department of School Education has launched a first-of-its-kind initiative, 'Ek Din, DC/SSP de Sang', to celebrate academic excellence and instil leadership aspirations among students of government schools in Punjab. Under the initiative, top-performing students of Classes X and XII examinations from each district would be provided an opportunity to 'spend one full day with their respective Deputy Commissioner (DC) or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP)' to offer them meaningful exposure to real-world governance, discipline, and public service, a government statement said. This initiative, conceptualised under the leadership of Administrative Secretary Anindita Mitra, aims to bridge the gap between merit and opportunity by empowering children from humble and rural backgrounds to envision themselves in positions of leadership. The programme will include participation in the morning routines of officers, which will provide exposure to administrative and policing functions, observation of departmental meetings, and interactive mentoring sessions, the statement said. A total of six meritorious students — three each from Classes X and XII — will be selected from every district, with emphasis on gender balance and rural-urban diversity. The students will be divided into two groups — one to spend the day with the Deputy Commissioner and the other with the Senior Superintendent of Police. During the day, students will observe real-time administrative and policing activities such as grievance redressal sessions, cyber cell operations, planning meetings, field visits to development projects or de-addiction centres, and other relevant engagements. A joint lunch with the officers will also be organised, offering the students an open platform to share their aspirations and receive career guidance. After the programme, students will get a Certificate of Participation, a motivational book or diary, and a group photograph with the officer. A detailed feedback and mentoring session will be held to reflect on their experience. The district administration will facilitate logistical arrangements, including transportation and meals. Female officers or mentors will accompany girl students where required, and prior parental consent will be obtained for all participants. To document the initiative's impact, each district will create a short write-up with student reflections, which will be compiled into a 'District Merit Booklet'. Schools will also invite participating students to share their experiences with peers, thereby fostering a culture of aspiration and ambition across the student body.
Indian Express
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Punjab Sikhya Kranti plaques ‘fiasco': AAP govt corrects course — one plaque for all works
Since its launch on April 7, the 54-day drive has been mired in controversies from day one for different reasons. During this period, the AAP government has to inaugurate at least 25,000 big/small development works in over 12,000 government schools of Punjab and Education Secretary Anindita Mitra ordered a separate plaque for each work. 'Separate inaugural plaques are required to be made for each completed project, i.e. separate for boundary wall, separate for classroom, etc… The size of the plaque shall be 30″*24″ and shall be made of granite. Further, it is required to be ensured that the inaugural plaque is placed/fixed at a place where it is properly visible e.g. plaque of the boundary wall shall be fixed near the gate on the outer side, the plaque of the classroom/laboratory/toilet shall be placed on its wall where it is prominently visible,' reads Mitra's April 3 order. However, as soon as the drive started on April 7, and the photos of plaques crediting Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Education Minister Harjot Bains for repaired toilets went viral, it drew flak from several quarters, including the public, and came a fresh order that teachers should not get plaques installed for toilets. Senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia posted a photo of a plaque and wrote, 'Is the renovation of toilets an educational revolution? Punjabis will always remember this education revolution in the future.' The inauguration functions, inviting MLAs and ministers as chief guests, cost at least Rs 20 crore to the government. Of the total budget, Rs 12 crore was estimated to be for plaques alone. BJP leader and Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu posted on X: 'Where the national home is meant to be written with pride, AAP shamelessly put an inauguration plaque instead. This isn't just disrespect- it's a stain on our national identity. Bhagwant Mann and Kuldeep Dhaliwal must apologise first. The nation comes first.' The government was severely criticised for plaques installed for repaired toilets went viral; in a school in Amritsar district, a plaque was installed covering the national anthem on the wall; in Ludhiana, MLA Madan Lal Bagga inaugurated repaired toilets where curtains were installed to hide incomplete work; and, in Bathinda's Maur, villagers did not allow the local MLA to inaugurate a boundary wall, which they alleged was 'four years old', among others. In Government Primary School, Beed Talaab Basti 4-5 in Bathinda district, an inaugural plaque for a new classroom was plastered on a notice board. Photos of AAP leader Navdeep Singh Jeeda, also the chairman SUGARFED, unveiling a plaque plastered on the school's green notice board, went viral on social media, drawing flak from the Opposition and others. As videos of ministers and MLAs inaugurating even up to five plaques in one school went viral, social media users slammed the AAP government for spending crores on plaques alone, even for repairing toilets, boundary walls, etc. Congress MLA and leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said, 'Punjab's Sikhya Kranti reeks of a plaque scam. Welcome to 'ribbon kranti' where political photo-ops shine brighter than classroom lights… when nameplates outnumber notebooks and inaugurations outshine infrastructure.' Confirming that a fresh order has been received to install just one plaque from now on, a teacher from Ludhiana said, 'Had this been done earlier, the education department would not have become a subject of mockery. The damage has been done, and the effort behind the entire drive goes in vain owing to this plaque fiasco.'
