Campus Festivals and the customary welcome parties organized by colleges have come of age. From being held in the confines of the college they have grown into big events with involvement of service providers such as Fashion show choreographers, Dance Instructors, Caterers, Event Management agencies, DJs, etc. Management and students vie with other colleges for one-upmanship in organizing the parties welcoming the newbies with style and splendor. Fashions Shows, Talents Shows, Games, Contests, Mr. & Ms. Fresher Competitions, etc. give the new students their share of fun and glamour. The parties are funded by the students themselves with college managements too chipping in. Sometimes the celebrations continue ever after the Freshers’ Party in the colleges in the form of various talent shows, contests, etc.

Though most the roles are taken up by students, professional help is required as the parties have grown in size and stature. Campus festivals and parties by some institutions have in fact acquired cult status, says Mr. Vishesh Singh of Page3 Events, Hyderabad. Roping in sponsors, managing crowds, security, parking, catering, sound & light, décor, etc. makes organizing college fests an uphill task but the students with their youth and interest make it happen. College festivals have are changing with time… from cultural festival to college festivals to management fests and now technical festivals are gaining popularity. Compared to college festivals, fresher parties are organized on a smaller scale. But they too are witnessing changes.

Freshers’ party as the name suggests is a party offered to the Fresher. It’s an introductory function for the new comers where they get to know about the adopted culture of the institution of which they are a part now after. The introductions happen in a friendly manner and to establish a friendly-cum-respectful relationship between the seniors and juniors, said Prof. B.P. Padala, Chairman of Roots, Hyderabad-based International School of Business and Management which held it Freshers Party at a city hotel recently.

Instead of the management, students involvement is important says Prof. Padala, as they learn to take on a greater role of a senior, learn to arrange and organise things and nurture and nourish their new friendship with the new students. Right from designing the invitation to successfully organizing a good show, our students toiled hard, he added.

Freshers Parties give an opportunity for seniors to know and mingle with the juniors in a jovial atmosphere says D. Rakesh of NRI Junior College, Madhapur who took an active part in organizing their party. I learned many things such as event and crisis management, optimum usage of resources, etc. The experience enhanced my life skills; I improved time management and organizational abilities states D. Rakesh.

Freshers Day parties filled with excitement, joy and music turns the spotlight on the new students giving them an opportunity to showcase their talents and skills says Ms. Nidhi, a student.  Why fuss about money being spent on Freshers’ Parties.  Aren’t we spending on ourselves in many different ways, she questioned.

These parties have become fad with students. They insist on the managements that they should conduct them, said Prof. Rajkumar Pillay, Dean of Academics of a College. Shreya, another student in a city college says it gives us an opportunity to know all well. It is a good practice, she felt. We look forward to these kind of college parties and festivals. They are a happy occasion.  Everyone gets to mingle. We also learn a little bit of management, opined Gaurav Sarkar.

Villa Marie, St. Francis, St. Mary’s are some colleges which take lead in conducting visible students activities, festivals and parties. They are also serving for some institutions as buzz generators for the institutions.

Fresher parties have also become stylish welcome parties. One will be astonished to see the trends in the vogue. Now that Engineering colleges admissions are in full swing, soon Engineering colleges will start welcome parties and talent shows. The styles adapted by some of these colleges are on par with the best of the corporate in the city. Mostly they are organized in five star hotels. Recently, a college in city footed a bill of Rs 1.75 lakhs on freshers party!

These parties have also emerged as fashion statements. These parties have themes. There are website offering and suggesting themes for the Freshers Parties, Youth Festivals, etc. There are guidelines also given on speaking on the occasion etc. Performing artists are also invited from far off places and different cities. Facebook and YouTube are flooded with photographs and videos of these parties. Talent Shows such Ms. Fresher, Mr. Fresher, Ms. Personality, Mr. Personality, Ms. Charming, Mr. Charming, Singer, Actor, etc are also organized.

Characters such as Steve Jobs, Osama Bin Laden made a guest appearance in a Freshers party Aamanthran 2012 recently.

Keesara Karthik who has been adjudged as the Mr. Fresher in a recently organized Roots School of Management Freshers Party argues that these events do more good to students. Take for instance, to win this coveted title I was posed a question: “How are you different from others?”.  My reply was “If life gives me 100 reasons to cry, I will have 1000 reasons to smile. This is how I am different from others” he said.

Fashion Shows, Skits, Group Dances, DJ Shows have become order of the day at these parties.  I have acted in a Mime Cricket Skit and discovered my acting skills. Many colleges with or without grounds, big halls, students hardly concentrate on extracurricular activities. Occasions like these are unique platforms for them to showcase their talent, said Ms. Nivedita, Choreographer who choreographs for Fashions Shows held in Colleges. Extra Curricular activities are very important in the student’s life. But, at the same time, they shouldn’t become lavish affairs, opined Mr. Mahesh Yadav, Corporator from Ameerpet.

Source: Release by Solus Media.

Hyderabad, February: In our continuous effort to support the student community, we have noticed that there is huge requirement for CBSE sample papers and model papers with important questions. As the exams are sitting on head, many students, particularly 10th standard students are eagerly searching for the CBSE Sample Papers.

Here we are trying to provide some useful links. As there is no official resource centre to provide such study material, we have to depend on private bloggers, who are trying to compel the model papers, sample papers and important question bank.

We have come across such good resource in recent times is mycbseguide blog. (can access at http://mycbseguide.com/download/ ) has cbse sample papers for class 7th to 12th standard.

Apart from CBSE Sample papers, the above mentioned site also providing previous years question papers.

For Important questions and short answers questions, CBSE students can also try cbsequestion paper (can access at http://www.cbsequestionpaper.com) blog.

We will update this space with more resources for CBSE Sample Papers, question papers and previous question papers.

Hyderabad, January 10: The students from Andhra Pradesh this time are may not be that cheerful during this Pongal or Sankranti festival season as they were earlier. Due to the pro and anti Telangana protest and bandh hit the holiday calendar in the state and schools and colleges are now not in a mood to declare Pongal holidays not more than three days.

Pongal would be a 10-12 days holiday season for Andhra Pradesh students normally, but this time it will be different. During the Oct-Dec quarter, students lost almost 40 working days due to agitations for separate statehood. This was largely effected the academic sections besides industries in the AP.

Though Pongal was not a main line festival for Telangana region, people of Andhra region celebrates it with big enthusiasm. Pongal greetings, messages and cards are a usual feet in electronics world. The Famous Kodipandalu is a feet to watch for many. However, this time it would be limited to not more than three days as schools and colleges are working except those days.

Hyderabad, December 5: Common Management Admission Test 2012 notification has been issued by AICTE and the test is scheduled for February. AICTE, for that matter, Ministry of Human Resource Development is busy these days to stream line the various professional courses and its tests across the country to bring a uniformity among the states and reduce the number of test for the same kind of education. CMAT is one of the steps taken by AICET after GPAT.

However, CMAT has raised some question at state level. As of now, individual states are conducting state level entrance test. In Andhra Pradesh, ICET is the core test for management education, particularly MBA and along with MCA. Though, approval authority of these courses for each state is AICTE, admission and curriculum rules were governed by states so far.

With CMAT kind of moves AICTE wants to change this and trying to bring in uniformity. But, it seems AICTE failed to bring in consensus between states to go for CMAT instead of ICET or state level management entrance tests. As a results, currently, Andhra Pradesh students are in dilemma, on whether  they have to go for ICET or CMAT…As the preparation time is nearing, many students since two days, once the notification of CMAT is out, trying to locate the actual situation.

The APSCHE likely to clarify on CMAT vs ICET issue shortly.

Android has changed the face of mobile usage. Mobile handset virtually has become a mini computer with high resolution camera and video capabilities. Gadgets like iPhone, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Tab are some of the important Android based mobile sets with high end applications.

When, we are trying to understand about the Android based learning applications, we found something interesting. Evernote, RealCalc, StudyDroid, Thinking Space are four best application we have noticed during our study. There are plenty of reviews available on these four best available options on Android based application search. There are computable versions for these applications to use these on iPhone or any other latest android based phone. So, next time, when you are thinking about imposing a ban on your child and restrict him to use mobile, think twice.

“The Advanced Placement Program is the gold standard in American education, offering high school students the rigor of college-level course work,” said College Board President Gaston Caperton. “The high standards embodied by the AP Program have the power to successfully prepare students for the challenges of the 21st-century global economy, enabling them to achieve their dreams for the future.” The College Board said.

The AP Program evaluates its courses and exams regularly and revises them to deepen the focus on critical thinking skills and to reflect the most recent developments in each discipline. Revised courses in AP French Language and Culture, AP German Language and Culture, and AP World History debuted in classrooms in fall 2011; revisions to AP Biology, AP Latin and AP Spanish Literature and Culture will take effect in the 2012-13 academic year.

Country’s premium educational institutions like IITs, IIMs and top business schools already started teaching via electronic class rooms and using digital content to their students. Usage of laptaps, notebooks or net books is now common in this kind of top educational institutions. The launch of cheapest android-based tab with best available features will definitely helpful to the student community.
Akash tablet is available with 3G option, mobile modem with wi-fi compatibility and expandable memory. This will enable the students to work in high tech classrooms seamlessly and access the web content without any hassle. Students may feel easy by carrying the small gadget instead of 2kg and above notebook in the campus.
The Akash tab was made by using around 35% component from South Korea, 25% from China, 16% from the US, 16% from India and rest from around the world. Apart from student’s version, Data Wind plans to launch a commercial version with higher price.
The company is targeting 220 mln Indian students market initially, before going in to the other world markets.

It is the birthday of the second President of India, academic philosopher and teacher Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan.  Indian schools celebrate Teachers day in completely different way. Many schools on this day, the responsibility of teaching is taken up by the senior students to show appreciation, respect for their teachers. This is an occasion for the students to dress like a teacher and showcase talent as a teacher. Indian school doesn’t take holiday, but celebrate it as a national festival.
You may be curious and want to know, how our neighboring countries like Nepal, Pakistan celebrating this momentous day.  For Nepal, there is no special date to celebrate teacher’s day. They follow Hindu calendar to celebrate teacher day, which they called as Guru Purnima. It will be celebrated on the full moon day, also called as Ashad sukla Purnima and the day usually falls in mid-July. Hindu culture treats Teacher as God, terming in Sanskrit Guru Devo Bhava. In Nepal, Teachers are given highest respect in the society.
In Pakistan, there won’t be any significance for this day, but they celebrate it as normal occasion in their schools. Reminding the importance of the education, schools mark it as a special day.

United States of America will Celebrate Teacher’s Day for full week in the month of May every year. It will be treated as National Teacher Day is on Tuesday during Teacher Appreciation Week.

UNESCO celebrates World Teachers Day on October 5 every year.

Quotes and Gifts

Students always tries to be in good books of teachers and want to learn more from them. Teachers day is one important occasion to honor teachers and communicate them the amount of affection that children have on them. Many students are now searching for important, meaningful quotes, poems, and thoughts to send their teachers. Here are few quotes for you.
“A gifted teacher is as rare as a gifted doctor, and makes far less money”

- Anonymous
“Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions.”

- Anonymous

“A teacher’s purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image.”
- Anonymous

“Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions.”

- Anonymous

Gifting is another way of greeting your teacher. Select best useful gift rather than trying to be glitteriest thing. A good pen will make your teacher happy and it may be useful. Likewise, thing for an innovative gift, which may be part of his or her life, helps to remember you.

Happy Teacher’s Day.

As every body knows, merit students can avail education loans from banks up to four lakh rupees without any collateral security for domestic institutions. Primarily the student’s loans from banks will be for paying tuition fee only. Other expenses like books, hostel fee are not covered under education loan.  For overseas education, the rules are slightly different, which we can discuss separately. As the engineering and other professional colleges admission are over, many students are looking for financial aid. Education loans from banks are the best option for right candidate. But as said earlier, the big challenge is to convince the bank manager to accept your loan application. Basically, loans are depends on the manager-customer relationship rather than talking about rulebook. If you want to get an education loan from any bank, first you check your relation ship how best is with your bank manager.

Relationship plays a key role. Because, the branch manager of the particular bank that you have approached for education loan is the key person to sanction or reject any loan. Once, branch manager convinced, your half of the work is done. The remaining part is documentation. Before planning to approach the branch manager, you must know the list of the required documents to submit to add value to your education loan application. If you are able to submit all the required documents, 80% of the job is over. Remaining part is just a formality. However, first half is not that easy. Branch manager always plays a safe game and no body prefers to get in to bad loan category. So, Bank Manager will see your financial background, though it was not mandatory as per rule. It is always better to give a sense about your future earnings, current assets base to the bank, so that they can treat your application with credibility.

If you have a potential credit history with the bank, don’t hesitate to showcase it. It will add more value to the application. Manager feel safe to sanction loan. Normally, assets like own house, farm lands, plots will be kept as un registered collateral security to get sanction for education loan from banks. In case of employers, their future earnings will be the basis for loan. Despite many flexibilities in laws and norms, banks always prefers to avoid education loans fearing defaults. The success to get the loan purely depends on how best you can convince the manager for loan. Rest is easy. Best of luck.

Please visit main section for more updates on student loans from banks.