DD to telecast coaching on CET to help rural students

Mangalore, Mar 27: The Karnataka Government has made an arrangement with the Doordarshan to telecast 60 episodes of coaching for the Common Entrance Test (CET) in its Chandana channel to help poor students in rural areas aspiring to join professional courses.

Informing this to reporters here today, Higher Education Minister D H Shankaramurthy said coaching would be provided by experts and its telecast would begin soon.

Referring to the CET issue, he said the Government had already tabled a Bill in this regard in the Assembly and it would be discussed soon. The Bill was prepared within the framework of the directions given by the Supreme Court. A separate clause had also been added to facilitate overall supervision by the government on separate CET conducted by unaided professional institutions and impose a fine of Rs 10 lakh or derecognise those institutions failing to follow the directions, he added.

Mr Shankaramurthy said teaching primary school children using the education satellite, EDUSAT, had already been started in two districts and added that the government would extend the facility to other districts after receiving a feedback.

Stressing the need for changes in both primary and higher education level, the Minister said the government was contemplating providing autonomy to more educational institutions so that it could compete with others institutions in this globalised era.

He lamented that there was no direction in the present education system at the primary and higher level and it had resulted in lack of moral values. ''I have already begun consultations with educational experts and invited suggestions on incorporating moral values in our textbooks,'' he said.

Stating there was an urgent need to amend the Karnataka Universities Act 2002 to suit the present needs, he said efforts would be made in this direction by consulting experts in the field.

Mr Shankaramurthy said the government was keen on starting six new government colleges approved by the previous government. But the main impediment was lack of qualified teachers. To overcome this problem, the government had approached the Indian Space Research Organisation to provide expert coaching through satellite, he added.

To a query, he said his ministry had decided to impose a ban on deputing officials from his department to other departments. It had already called back all those officials/teachers deputed to other departments.

He informed that salaries to teachers would be disbursed through e-banking system in a couple of months to avoid delay.

UNI