B.S. Karthik’s intricate geometric designs create the illusion of depth. / Photo: special arrangement / The Hindu
There are a few rolls of chart-paper kept carefully wrapped in old newspapers in a locked cupboard in one of the classrooms at the Sree Chitra Poor Home Lower Primary School. On three of them are intricate geometric designs, so flawless that they create the illusion of depth and the impression of whorls and arcs when there are only straight lines. They were drawn by a nine-year-old.
The fact that a young child has drawn such complex patterns may not be remarkable in itself. Every year, at the School Science Mathematics Social Science and IT Fair, there are entries for the ‘geometric pattern’ competition that look professional. But, as with the State School arts fete, where the more privileged participants are able to spend a lot on training, costumes, and equipment, the Mathematics Fair too is populated by many such trained candidates.
This is why the achievements of children from the Sree Chitra Poor Home are significant and celebrated by staff and students alike. B.S Karthik, the artist behind the three patterns that are treasured at the school, qualified for the district-level Mathematics Fair and was awarded an ‘A’ grade in the competition recently. He won first place in the Thiruvananthapuram North sub-district contest.
“It took me two days to get these designs right myself. I showed it to him once, and he got it right in the first attempt,” said N. Reeja, one of the teachers. There are no art teachers at this school, where 32 children of the Poor Home are taught. Karthik retraced the steps he followed to draw the designs with only a ruler, pencil, and sketch pen. The competition allows only three hours for three patterns and so there is very little room for error, especially when it comes to filling in the right blocks with colour, said Ms. Reeja. If one angle or a line is out of place even by a fraction, the picture is spoilt. The 9-year-old’s strength lies in the ability to block out all distractions and devote absolute focus to his work.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Kaavya Pradeep Kumar / November 21st, 2014
Schoolchildren taking out a road safety awareness cycle rally in connection with the fifth anniversary of Kerala’s first campus-based community radio service, ‘Radio Macfast,’ at Thiruvalla. / by Special Arrangement
Radio Macfast Awards to be presented tomorrow
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala will inaugurate the fifth anniversary celebrations of the first campus-based community radio in the State, “Radio Macfast-90.4”, to be held at the St. John’s Cathedral Hall in Thiruvalla on Saturday.
According to Fr. Pradeep Vazhatharamalayil, Radio Macfast chairman, Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash will present this year’s Radio Macfast Awards to Kaviyur Sivaprasad, award-winning film maker; Roy Abraham Kallivayalil, global general secretary of the World Psychiatry Association; and Jacob Joseph, social worker who runs a charity home at Othera in Thiruvalla, on the occasion.
Metropolitan Archbishop of Thiruvalla Thomas Mar Coorilos will preside over the meeting.
To be feted
Fr. Vazhatharamalayil said 15 eminent personalities from different walks of life would also be honoured as part of the anniversary celebrations. Those to be honoured are: Kurien Oommen, renowned Chest Physician who has won World Health Organisation award for his contributions to the anti-Tuberculosis drive in the State; A.C. Rajeevkumar, Ayurvedic physician; B.G. Gokulan, Ayurvedic physician popularising traditional ophthalmology across the country; P.N. Suresh, Vice Chancellor of Kerala Kalamandalam Deemed University; Kailash, film actor; K.V. Alexander, sports personality; M.S. Sunil, social worker; C.P. Monai, writer; N. Rajeev, president of Eraviperoor grama panchayat which won the State Award; T.K. Sajeev, president of Kaviyur grama panchayat that bagged the government’s Best Panchayat Award; C.P. Robert, district coordinator of CARD Krishi Vigyan Kendra; Thomas Koshy (Lalan), social worker; Fr Thomas Payyampallil, Bodhana Social Service Society director; and Shaji Paulose, Homoeopath.
Anto Antony, MP, will inaugurate the Radio Village project and Mathew T. Thomas, MLA, will launch the new Radio Macfast Android Mobile Application on the occasion.
Delsy Sam, municipal chairperson; Blessy, filmmaker; and M. Salim, president of of Thiruvalla Merchants Association, will address the function.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Pathanamthitha – November 14th, 2014
A Kerala girl has made it to the final 12 of Google’s Doodle 4 Google contest — A place in India I wish to visit — for students across India. Reba Philip, a sixth grade student of Pallikoodam School in Kottayam, chose to travel across Bay of Bengal and explore Andaman and Nicobar Islands, when most of her fellow competitors wanted to visit her home state.
This 11-year-old girl used colour pencils and a ball point pen to tell the world of her dream destination. The doodle is one among the 4 selected doodles in the Group 2 category.
When asked as to what was the concept behind her doodle Reba said, “I have always wanted to go to the Andmans. I love beaches. The photographs of the Andamans have always left me mesmerised. So I decided to create a doodle which represented the Andamans.”
Reba Philip
How has Reba defined her doodle? Reba said that the doodle portrays the various elements of the islands. G stands for surfing, O is for Jarawa Tribe playing drum, G is the endemic bird called Andaman wood Pigeon, L is a rough map of the island and E is Dugong – a marine animal found nearby.
Reba’s doodle depicts various aspects of the Andamans. It took Reba an entire day to create the doodle. The doodle showcases everything from fun and frolic on the Island to its tribes and wildlife.
Reba has seen the other doodles in the fray and thinks “it is going to be a tough competition.”
Proud and excited about her daughter’s achievement, Reba’s mother Julie said, “We are very excited about the results. I was not even aware of what she had been up to, until she came up to get the drawing scanned and uploaded on the website.”
The doodle will be open for voting from October 27, 2014 to November 10, 2014.
The contest commenced on August 19, 2014 and was held in three categories. Group 1 consisted of those students studying from Grade 1 to Grade 3, while Group 2 includes those students studying from Grade 4 to Grade 6. Group 3 includes those studying from Grade 7 to Grade 10.
Each of the 12 finalists will be given a ChromeBook Laptop and a certificate. The winner of the contest would be awarded a holiday to any destination he or she would like to go for 3 nights and 4 days along with their parents.
source: http://www.english.manoramaonline.com / On Manorama / Home> News> Sci-Tech / by Gitanjali Diwakar, Assistant Content Producer / Monday – October 27th, 2014
All India Institute of Medical Sciences,New Delhi.(Inset: Dr Athira R)
New Delhi :
Dr Athira R recently won the Sorel Catherine Freymann Book award for the ‘Best Post Graduate Student in Pediatrics’ at the AIIMS.
Lov Verma, the Union Secretary Health and Family Welfare, has presented the award to Dr Athira on the occasion of the 59th institute day of AIIMS, New Delhi commemorated on September 24th, 2014.
Dr Athira, hailing from Palakkad district, has published articles in International journals. She had also secured the best outgoing student medal in MBBS from Govt Kilpauk Medical College, Chennai.
source: http://www.english.manoramaonline.com / OnManorama / Home> My News / by Staff Correspondent , OnManorama / Tuesday – September 30th, 2014
As the College of Engineering, Trivandrum (CET) celebrates its platinum jubilee, the author delves into the history of the college to discover how and when women managed to gain admission to the college
In 1939 when the College of Engineering, Trivandrum (CET) started there were no women either as teachers or as students. Today the Director of Technical Education is a woman and so is the Principal of the college. Many faculty members and B.Tech students in the college are women. The change in the gender picture is in tune with the times. A gender audit of the University of Kerala conducted early this year reveals that except for the higher echelons of power, the University has a huge majority of women as employees and students. Of the 200-plus doctorates awarded last year, more than 50 per cent went to women. In the University Post-Graduates Departments, nearly 75 per cent of students are women.
The entry of women into higher education institutions in the city was achieved much earlier than the establishment of the University of Travancore or CET. The College for Women was established in 1889, and gave women in the city representation in higher education. However, the story of CET was very different. There was nothing in the rules that prevented women from entering the portals of this college. However the decision of admission was entirely left to the Principal of the college. He could, without assigning any reason, accept or reject students in an interview and norms for the conduct of the interview were not codified and the Principal’s decision was final.
An Englishman Professor T.H. Mathewman was the first Principal of CET. His own country’s prestigious University of Cambridge gave entry to women as late as 1948. Women were allowed to study courses, sit for examinations, and have their results recorded from 1881, but they were not “admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts”.
It was only in 1948 that women were made full members of the University of Cambridge, but women had to be in all-women colleges. All-men colleges in Cambridge began to admit women only between 1972 and 1988.
Devi Leela Bai was denied admission to College of Engineering, Trivandrum, because of her gender. / The Hindu
In the first year of the existence of CET, a woman from the city came forward to study engineering. She was Devi Leela Bai, who hailed from Poovalathu Veedu in Arasummoodu, a place close to the present campus of CET. She had completed her B.Sc in Mathematics. Admission to engineering required only an intermediate (current Plus Two) with physics, chemistry, and mathematics as subjects. So Leela Bai was actually over qualified. She walked into the engineering college office in the present PMG buildings to buy an application form for seeking admission. The clerk who sold the application form refused to issue a form to her as she was a woman and he was under instructions that no application forms were to be issued to women. The gates were shut before Leela Bai. She entered the government service and retired as a Deputy Collector in the Treasury Department.
Chellamma Jacob with her daughter Jaya Joseph. Photo: Achuthsankar S. Nair / The Hindu
A couples of decades later, things were not very different, if not worse. Chellamma Jacob who did her intermediate in physics, chemistry, and mathematics dreamt of being an engineer, after hearing about women from Travancore going to Madras [Chennai] and studying engineering and coming back into government service in Travancore.
Chellamma remembers that in school she was asked to write an essay on herself. She articulated her dream to emulate the women engineers of Travancore. In the Fifties, it was not only a meritorious pass in the intermediate alone that was required, but also an entrance examination for admission to engineering had to be passed and this involved questions in drawing and drafting. Even during those days, there were private agencies that coached students for the examination. Chellamma joined one of those private coaching centres and did well in the entrance examination. The interview had to be cleared, but with her good academic records and the pass in the entrance examination, Chellamma was confident of making it to CET. She did attend the interview and recalls that she did well, but in the end it did not make any difference, because the Principal M. V. Kesava Rao ended the interview by saying that everything was fine, but “you cannot be admitted as you are a woman”.
Keshava Rao was also a person who had worked in the United Kingdom but his exposure did not seem to have changed his attitude towards women. Chellamma went to the Government College for Women to study B.Sc. Mathematics and did her masters in English from the same college. She retired as the head of the Department of English in the University College.
K. Gomathi with her husband K. A. Muraleedharan. Photo: Achuthsankar S. Nair / The Hindu
During her stint as a teacher in Women’s College, Chellamma had a student called K. Gomathi who went on to earn the distinction of being the first woman student of CET. Chellamma still recalls her frustration when she was denied admission to CET. But in some way she feels compensated that her student entered the portals of the College. Chellamma’s daughter Jaya Joseph also graduated from CET in 1985.
In 1957, one of the first women students walked into CET (there were two students – K. Gomathi and Sumithra Ram Mohan, but it was Gomathi who graduated first from CET). The local newspapers carried the news that two women were admitted to CET. Around 400 students, all male, waited to receive them. Keshava Rao was still at the helm of affairs in CET.
First day in CET
Gomathi remembers her first day in the college, with almost all the students out on the verandahs in all floors of the building and greeting her with howls and whistles. She was scared, shaken and embarrassed, but braved it all. She sat in a corner of the class, alone on a bench.
She recalls that it was S. Krishnakumar (later an IAS officer and central minister), a senior, who first talked to her, to seek her vote for the student elections. Sumithra was married and did not regularly attend college due to her family commitments.
Gomathi has unpleasant memories of the first year in CET when she was denied a ladies’ waiting room or even a separate toilet. She wanted to do civil engineering, but switched to electrical engineering as the former required survey camp attendance in outstations, which lasted a few weeks, and with the gender insensitivity demonstrated by the college authorities, she feared it would be torturous.
Gomathi graduated in 1961 as the first woman engineering graduate from Kerala University (women from Kerala had earlier graduated from Guindy Engineering College in Chennai).
K.P.P. Pillai, one of her teachers in the final year, remembers that Gomathi was a hardworking student. Dr. Pillai who taught in CET for many years recalls that in the next batches there were seven students and thereafter the numbers started increasing.
K.A. Muraleedharan, a year senior to her in CET, became her life partner. Gomathi went on to become the first woman post-graduate in engineering and took her doctorate from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.
She became a lecturer in her alma matter itself and became head of the department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and retired as joint director of technical education in 1994. She was not only a popular teacher, but a great mentor to her students.
In CET, her name is synonymous with IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering), the largest professional society of engineers in the world. She was the faculty counsellor for IEEE for almost two decades and was honoured by the society more than once, with international awards for her leadership in IEEE’s CET activities. The cash prizes she received were donated to the IEEE branch itself to enable it to buy the costly IEEE journals, which in those days were very difficult for her students to get.
Dr. Gomathi currently enjoys her retired life, running a unique school for tiny tots and is passionate about painting. Of her two daughters, Girija Muraleedharan graduated from CET, while Saradha Muraleedharan is an IAS officer.
Gomathi feels happy that CET is no longer a men’s enclave but a place where women have a just place too.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Society / by Achuthsankar S. Nair / Thursday – October 10th, 2014
Sounding rockets will sear the skies and high altitude balloons will climb new heights at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), coinciding with the observation of the World Space Week (WSW) – 2014 from October 4 to 10 this year.
An array of programmes will be organized for schoolchildren during the week.
The programmes planned include an essay competition for High School Students on the topic ‘Space – Guiding your Way’.
Essays can be in English, Hindi or Malayalam. Handwritten essays not exceeding 2,000 words along with a certificate from the head of institution should reach the WSW office of VSSC on or before September 26.
The envelope should be superscribed WSW-2014 Essay Competition’.
The best essay will win the GSLV gold medal.
During the week, resource persons from VSSC will visit educational institutions in Kerala to organize lecture Programmes at high schools, higher secondary schools, teachers’ training institutions and polytechnics.
Interested institutions can register online on or before September 19.
A ‘Space Quiz’ will be conducted for school students on October 4. Students of class 9 to 12 can register on or before September 24 at wswquiz@vssc.gov.in or by post. Applications shall be certified by the head of educational institution. Only one team consisting of two students from each school can participate.
Following that, an open house will be organised at VSSC space museum, which will be open to public from October 7 to 10 from 9 am to 5 pm. On production of any photo ID card, free entry passes will be issued at the Canal Gate of VSSC upon arrival.
Further information can be had on the web portal http://wsw.vssc.gov.in.
The postal address for registration is WSW-2014 office, TDAD, VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram? 695 022, Phone: 0471-2564271/4272.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Thiruvananthapuram / TNN / September 11th, 2014
Students and faculty of St Thomas Teachers’ Training College holding ‘Mayoorika’
Thiruvananthapuram :
Following Yesudas’s controversial comment on jeans, a college magazine has come out with a survey on whether jeans is a good choice. But that is not the only reason why the magazine put together by the BEd (Social Science) students of St Thomas Teachers’ Training College is making waves. The magazine is a piano-fold which would open into a 2.2-metre-long sheet which needs at least 10 people to hold it.
The magazine, named ‘Mayoorika’, was made by sticking 113 pages, and has 25 articles all written in the hand of its editor, Sunitha Mohan. Work on the magazine continued till the dawn of its release. “We began the groundwork for the magazine around two months ago. But towards September end, we had our viva exams. On November 5 our exams start. The college faculty supported by writing messages the moment we asked them to. Still, finding the time was highly challenging,” says Sunitha.
The ten-women-crew, who worked on the articles, conducted the ‘jeans survey’ just last week. The sample size was 100. The verdict: 83 per cent of the men, 89 per cent of the women and 63 per cent senior citizens are in favour of wearing jeans. They have also provided the views of Usha Uthup against Yesudas’s comment as well as the statement of Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi supporting the singer.
The magazine is vibrant and colourful but not noisy. Some of the headlines have been made of words neatly cut out from various magazines. What might seem like one image could be composed of several photographs taken from numerous sources.
There are poems and opinion pieces by students. One of the students, Latha, has written a travel memoir on Nagaland. In it she says that the climb to Phek district in Nagaland is not easy as the winding roads are sandwiched between enormous mountains and frightening gorges. “However, once you reach there, you don’t feel like coming back,” she says in her memoir.
The idea of the magazine was kept a secret until the last day. Principal Anila Chacko said: “When I saw a long array of benches and desks, I had no clue that it were to hold this long a magazine,” on Wednesday, releasing the book.
The book was received by Helen Hepsy, Social Science faculty at the college. She said: “The name ‘Mayoorika’ means memories. No one in the college is going to forget this magazine, ever. Moreover. ‘mayoor’ means peacock. The magazine with its colourful content is like a dancing peacock.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Archana Ravi / October 09th, 2014
The non-descript library of this government higher secondary school, catering mostly to tribal students, comes alive every week turning the usually hush-hush zone into a bee-hive of activities, where honey-tongued students speak, debate and discuss in English.
In the past one year, the Government Vocational and Higher Secondary School, Paruthipally, located next to the tribal area of Kottoor in Thiruvananthapuram, has given birth to a magazine titled ‘English Rider’ and a weblog. The latest initiative is an English language short-film ‘Facebook’.
The school, which has over 1,000 students, has a good representation of tribal students coming from the nearby forest area. Four teachers were instrumental in honing the English language skills of students which made them as competent as their counterparts in English medium schools.
J Sija, one of the coordinators of the club, said they started off with reciting nursery rhymes to improve pronunciation. “The initial response was feeble, as nobody conversed with students in English. Things changed this academic year and we had to do a screening test to choose members to the club. Now 200 students are members of the club,” she said.
As the club activities progressed they thought of publishing the articles of students. Initially planned as a newsletter, the product took the shape of a magazine. At every meeting, the members, mostly tenth graders, are shown a film version of the chapters of their English textbooks.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / Th New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Meera Nanu / October 08th, 2014
The number of engineering colleges in the State has grown so much and so fast that it has even become the stuff of jokes such as, ‘If you throw a stone in the streets of Kerala, you’re bound to hit an engineer.’ Now, it seems the statement can be applied to the field of entrepreneurship with more and more youngsters rejecting the prospect of a desk job in a large corporation and choosing to follow their own creative and innovative spirit.
A recent entrant into this fold here strikes as a little different from most others that are being incubated in institutions such as the Technopark-TBI in the capital and Start-up Village at Kochi. For one, it has two women at the helm.
For Aardra Chandra Mouli and Gayathri Thankachi, the inauguration of Aeka Biochemicals Pvt. Ltd. here on Friday is the first step towards the dream they have nurtured since college. Both of them graduated from the Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering in 2011.
Another feature that sets this start-up apart is their specialisation in biotechnology and biochemicals – a vast area that is yet to receive a level of interest by new start-ups in the State that matches its immense potential. In Kerala, biotechnology is still viewed as ‘the next big thing,’ when the truth is it has already arrived, said Aardra. She pointed out how in Hyderabad and Bangalore, the concept of ‘bioparks’ has long been established but Kerala is still a step behind.
Aeka seeks to apply its expertise on a wider basis, covering food and agriculture, health care, waste management and environment conservation. “Research for biochemical products is a capital intensive affair which is why we are prioritising small-scale production of high-value, low-volume products to begin with,” said Aardra. Their first product may be brought out as soon as next month and Aeka has the support of the Cashew Export Promotion Council at Kollam in this venture.
Afterwards, Aardra says they hope to work on biopesticides and products that will provide some solution to the waste management issue in the capital. “We were born and brought up here and we know what the city can be at its best. But pollution, accumulation of plastic waste are major civic issues here that need to be addressed,” she said. Their classmate from college Nidhin Sreekumar is another member of the start-up.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Kaaya Pradeep Kumar / Thiruvananthapuram – October 05th, 2014
The five winners of the Toonz- Disney ‘Kahaani Masters’ contest in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. Photo: Special arrangement / The Hindu
The organisers said the idea was to make the children believe in themselves and instil confidence in them.
Five young minds, all aged below 12 years and whose creativity took them past 14,000-plus others from across the country in ‘Kahaani Masters,’ a story-writing contest held by the Technopark-based Toonz Animation India and Disney India, are putting their brains together to make their stories come alive on screen.
Suhani Shrikande, 10, from Nagpur; Animesh Nigham, 7, from Bhopal; Atri Garg, 11, from New Delhi; Mayul Verma, 11, from Agra; and Aryan Sharma, 9, also from New Delhi, had won the contest, meant for children aged between six and 14 years, and are in Thiruvananthapuram from Thursday for a three-day workshop at the Toonz Studio. Here, under the mentorship of well-known animation film designer Prosenjit Ganguly, the five young story-tellers will design and colour the characters from their stories, enrich the story background, and enhance the story.
The organisers said the idea was to make the children believe in themselves and instil confidence in them. Each of them would be supported by an animator from Toonz. Once the three-day workshop was over, a three-month process by a Toonz creative team would begin to create five animated short films, strictly keeping in mind the designs and stories of the children. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow would be in the form of these short films being telecast on Disney channel during January 2015.
As for the stories, Aryan’s nine-year-old talent delves into friendship, sacrifice, and celebrating with the family, while 11-year-old Mayul brings to the storyboard a magical toy that makes a big difference in the world. Suhani conveys a message, in a funny manner, that arrogance leads to one’s fall. Animesh lets his imagination run riot while bringing stationary articles to life and letting them take matters into their hands, while Atri narrates the hilarious story of a boy and his mischievous pet.
Toonz CEO P. Jayakumar, in a statement here, said Toonz was ‘spellbound’ at the magnitude of creativity that came to light through the entries for the contest, which was organised in connection with the 15th anniversary of Toonz.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Dennis Marcus Mathew / Thiruvananthapuram – September 20th, 2014
