The Indian Science Congress Association has honoured Gauhati University by electing Umesh Chandra Goswami of the university’s department of zoology as president of the section of animal, veterinary and fishery sciences for 2006-07. This is a matter of pride for the university.

Goswami is the first person from the Northeast who has taken on the mantle of this position. He is also the recipient of the prestigious B.C. Guha Memorial Award from the Indian Science Congress Association for 2006.

It is a coveted position, where Goswami will be on a par with personalities selected for 16 different sections of the Congress. Goswami, a fish biologist of international repute, had a brilliant research career in Gauhati University, where he worked under Arun Bhusan Barua, an academician of Iowa State University and an internationally renowned scientist working on vitamin A.

In 1960, the Science Congress had honoured Gauhati University by electing the late Hiten Baruah, a former vice-chancellor and head of the department of botany of Gauhati University, an internationally reputed plant pathologist. Later on, this honour was conferred in 1969 in the anthropology section on the late Madhab C. Goswami, a social anthropologist and former head of the anthropology department of Gauhati University.

Assam commissioner and education secretary Paramesh Dutta recently inaugurated the Smart-Class programme, the newly-digitised classrooms at Sanskriti the Gurukul, the leading day boarding school in Guwahati.

Smart-Class, a revolutionary technology from Educomp Solutions Ltd, the country’s premier e-learning company, has been installed in all classrooms in Sanskriti the Gurukul and Happy Child Junior and Senior Schools.

Introduction of the Smart-Class programme has been a milestone among the many initiatives taken by the school this year to enrich and enhance the way teaching and learning takes place in the study centres. With the introduction of the programme, technology has moved right next to the blackboard, transforming the way educators teach and students learn.

“Smart-Class is a learning guarantee programme, using technology to make classroom experience a totally different one. A knowledge centre set up at the school acts as the nerve-centre for all teaching and learning in school. It is connected through a campus-wide network to the existing classrooms, which are converted to technology-enabled classrooms,” said school chief executive officer (CEO) Asutosh Aggarwal.

In this technology, a teacher uses digital resources such as animation, graphics, images and video clippings while teaching the chosen topic in the technology-enabled smart classrooms. For example, in a geography class on volcanoes, a video on how it erupts and its features will be shown. If the student happens to be in a history class about world wars, he will view some footage of the war. Students from lower kindergarten to Class XII will get to learn the basic curricular concepts effectively in class.

It is all about integrating technology with the classroom and train the educators using it. Multiple 17-inch monitors, encased in tamper-proof custom-designed casings, are installed in each study centre and connected to the dedicated computer for the teacher in each classroom.

“However, Smart-Class does not entirely do away with the conventional teaching methods. Apart from the chalk and the blackboard, the teacher can now use videos, three-dimensional images and animation to teach the chosen topic inside a classroom, resulting in a multi-sensory learning experience for students,” said Aggarwal.

A two-day workshop sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Restructuring of Physics Syllabus of Gauhati University at BSc Level was recently organised by the department of physics of Madhav Choudhury College at its Barpeta campus.

The main purpose of the workshop was to provide a platform for college teachers of physics of Gauhati University to express their views on the existing syllabus and propose suitable additions and alterations to the current syllabus.

Gauhati University vice-chancellor G.N. Talukdar lauded the efforts of the organisers for arranging the workshop and expressed the view that the discussions there would provide useful inputs to the university for updating the syllabus. The V-C formally inaugurated the workshop.

Referring to the excessive importance attached to objective-type questions, S.A.S. Ahmed, head of the university’s department of physics, stressed the importance of conceptual questions. He gave his assurance to participants that due weightage would be given to recommendations of the workshop when the present syllabus is revised.

Delivering the keynote address, former Cotton College principal and distinguished physicist K.D. Krori expressed the view that instead of making the syllabus unnecessarily bulky, the contents should be so selected that the course material can be fully covered in the class. Thereby, a complete picture of the principles involved can be given to the students.

The recommendations of the workshop in the technical sessions are being processed and will be soon submitted to the Gauhati University administration for necessary action.

The 31st Naren Sarmah memorial all Assam inter-college debate was recently held at Dergaon Kamal Dowerah (DKD) College, Dergaon.

The programme began with a welcome address by college principal Sarif Ullah.

The team of Arya Vidyapeeth College, Guwahati, was adjudged the best team. Those of Bahona College and J.B. College were adjudged the second and third teams respectively.

Arguing against the house on the topic ? The Introduction of Upper House in Assam Assembly is the Only Solution to the Ethnic Problems of the State ? Raktim Ranjan Baruah of Cotton College, Guwahati, was adjudged the best debater.

Deepsikha Saikia from Bahona College, Jorhat and Mahasweta Devi from J.B. College, Jorhat were adjudged the second and third best debaters respectively.

The best three teams were awarded running trophies, while the individual debaters received cash prizes.

A workshop on promoting technology development, utilisation and transfer, sponsored by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) under the Union ministry of science and technology, will be held on Friday in Tezpur University.

With an aim of developing close interaction among researchers, academicians, members of industry, entrepreneurs, representatives of NGOs, technicians, grassroots innovators and consultants of the region, the workshop will make an attempt to focus on the domain of technology development, utilisation and transfer.

An exhibition showcasing the technologies developed by the Assam Agricultural University, the Regional Research Laboratory, Jorhat, grassroots innovators, Augmentation Network, GIAN-NE and the hosts, Tezpur University, will also be held on the occasion.

Compiled by Pranab Kumar Nath