The Bangalore-based Sun Microsystems India announced the roll out of its second edition of the Sun Matching Grant Program, on April 26. Under this initiative, Sun will provide a series of hardware, software and web-based training materials, which will allow an unlimited number of Indian educational institutions and students to benefit from Sun’s technology. The initial Sun Matching Grant Program conducted last year enabled a record 45 educational institutions to build and upgrade their education and learning infrastructure to global standards.

According to Mohan Doss, regional director (education & research) South Asia of Sun Microsystems India, “The roll out of this program will deliver valuable benefits to the Indian student community as a whole by creating skilled technical professionals who contribute to the economy of the country.”

The Sun Matching Grant Program is a co-investment programme under which Sun donates equipment subject to a matching investment from the educational institution or partnering aid organisation. This allows education institutions to purchase selected items at special institutional prices and qualify for a second identical unit free of charge.

The Sun Matching Grant Program complements the company’s Edusoft and Sun Academic Initiative (SAI) programmes. Through Edusoft, Sun offers selected educational institutes software at virtually no cost for teaching purposes. SAI Sun extends approved institutes free access to course content on Java and Solaris.

All Saints International open for admisson

The All Saints International Residential School, Thana (a suburb of Mumbai) — a day-cum-residential institution promoted by the Shilpakar Education Society in 2002, invites applications for kindergarten to class X admissions for the academic year commencing July.

“Our mission is to make the school a learning community of motivated, buoyant, energetic and confident students for global needs. We offer to realise the immense inner potential of children, to foster academic excellence, physical fitness, psychological and spiritual health and social consciousness among our students through a dedicated, enthusiastic and highly qualified faculty,” says a school spokesperson.

Set in a sprawling 25-acre campus within an hour’s driving distance from Mumbai, All Saints International is a CBSE affiliated co-educational school with cricket and football grounds, tennis courts, swimming and other sports facilities. An audio visual theatre, dance and music halls, and a large library create a suitable environment for the well-being and all-round development of students.

For further information write to: All Saints International Residental School, Near Kalyan, Off Kalyan-Nasik Highway, Bhawale Village, Pisa Dam Cross Road; Tel: 02522-283079, 283077, 283078; Website: www.shilpakar.com; e-mail: allsaints@shilpakar.com.

First ever online entrance exams

The Manipal (Karnataka)-based Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) has set a new benchmark in the field of education. MAHE recently conducted online entrance exams for admission into its medical and dental postgraduate study programmes — the first by any education institution in India. Around 7,000 students across India wrote the online examination in MAHE test / learning centres in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Manipal and Ernakulam.

“We are very glad to be the first in India to introduce online entrance exams. The response to this initiative has been excellent and we plan to extend it to 25 centres next year. Moreover we plan to introduce counselling and admissions through video conferencing,” says Dr. H.S. Ballal vice chancellor of MAHE, a deemed university.

India’s first online university entrance examinations were conducted between March 28-April 10 at MAHE’s ergonomically designed centres with the latest computers for every student, a high security communication network for electronic delivery of the test, and use of bio-metric and hi-tech monitoring systems to eliminate impersonation.

Students who top the online exam are eligible for admission into the medical and dental postgrad programmes of MAHE, India’s first private sector deemed university whose aggregate enrollment of 15,000 includes students from 51 countries around the world.

Merlyn Vaz annual teaching scholarship

The Merlyn Vaz scholarship for Goan teachers instituted in memory of Merlyn Verona Vaz, mother of British Asian MP Keith Vaz, was formally announced in Panjim (Goa) on April 8 by chief minister Pratapsing Rane. The scholarship award provides Goan teachers an opportunity to teach in a primary school in Leicester with gratis accommodation and a stipend to cover the cost of food and travel expenses including sight-seeing in the United Kingdom. Members of the public in Goa will vote online to select the state’s most popular primary school teacher.

“The scholarship offers one Goan teacher per year the opportunity to gain rich experience not just in education, but in social and cultural fields as well,” said Keith Vaz, MP on the occasion, adding that Merlyn Vaz who taught school in India and Britain was the UK’s first Asian woman municipal councillor and champion of pensioners’ rights.

IMC Platinum Jubilee Award

The Pragat Shikshan Sansthan Trust promoted by Dr. Maxine Berntsen in 1984 for the education of Dalit (scheduled caste and scheduled tribe) children was awarded the Indian Merchants Chamber Platinum Jubilee Award on April 22. The award which includes a cash prize of Rs.100,000, was formally presented to Dr. Bernsten by Dr. Jagdish Seth, professor of marketing, Emory University, Atlanta.

Born in Escanaba, Michigan, USA in 1935, Bernsten is an English postgrad of Columbia University, New York who first came to India in 1961 as a lecturer in English in Vivek Vardhini College, Hyderabad. In 1978 she began informally teaching out-of-school children in the Dalit area of Phaltan, Maharashtra. This work gradually evolved into the full-scale programme of the Pragat Shikshan Sanstha which runs two balwadis, the Kamla Nimbkar Balbhavan — a fully-fledged, unaided Marathi medium school — and an educational outreach extension programme for village schools.