GU for Anti Terrorism Courses
- Kidsfreesouls

Gujarat University has announced a first of its kind Counter-Terrorism Course from April. Starting April 2009, the University will have one year Post Graduation Diploma course called 'Internal Security Management Studies' that will focus mainly on intelligence, internal security and counter terrorism. The course will also deal with anti terror laws across the globe, various modes of information gathering, tactics adopted by the feared intelligence agencies like Mossad of Israel, and case studies of some of the most heinous terror strikes around the world. The course can be taken after class XII which will be conducted by faculty including present and past officers from RAW (Research and Analysis wing), the CBI (Central bureau of Investigation), the State Intelligence Bureau, officers from Gujarat Police and the defense personnel. The course aims for students to have an edge over others when in jobs for police service or Intelligence Agencies.

Car Free Experiment
- Kidsfreesouls

The city saw a Car Free Day at Law garden, a no car concept which was an initiative of panel members of Times of India campaign 'City on the Move.' Hundreds of children enjoyed car free - magician uncle tricks, canvas painting in the middle of the road, singing rhymes, enjoying character shows of Akbar-Birbal and others. The Jt. Commissioner of Police (Traffic) mentioned of this unique car free carnival as a part of an ongoing car free day experiment after assessing alternate routes and flow of traffic. Other parts of the city will have such zones in future as this would work wonders in terms of reducing congestion and pollution.

Rating Schools
- Kidsfreesouls

GCERT (Gujarat Council of Education Research and Training) conducted an exam for over 19 Lakh students across the state on Dec 7, to evaluate the quality of education in primary schools. A test for class IV and class VII had been announced because the education department wanted to identify shortcomings of primary schools. They could better identify how schools were faring in imparting education. 8.68 lakh students have taken the test. If a student secure 85% or more, their school will be given A++ grade. The students who gets 75-84% will be given A+ grade and the schools whose students score 65-74% and 45-64%, these schools will be given B grades respectively.

Daily Dose of Newspaper Info
- Kidsfreesouls

A bunch of St. Xavier's School children feed on a daily dose of newspaper information. The exhibition, hosted and conceptualized by children of XI and VIII of St Xavier's School, Gandhinagar, on Wednesday, combined creativity with information, used for presenting various themes that they read in newspaper in the form of projects. The most interesting aspect was that, not only did they raise issues plaguing our society, but even had a plan to resolve the issue.

Working under the guidance of their teachers, students working in groups, displayed the content of NIE (of Times of India in a manner) which highlighted each edition, not as just another newspaper, but an encyclopedia of information. Be it Save the Girl Child, Jaago India Jaago, Space Odyssey, Nanotechnology, Women Empowerment, Economic Meltdown, Obama's Victory, Olympics and the latest gizmos and gadgets, every theme covered by the newspaper was scrutinized by them. All special pages of the student edition, including Gyan Galli, Kewl Quotient, Editorial, Wassup@school, Life 2 The Max, Lo-down, were analyzed in detail by children for their display. Snippets of news covered on top of every page of the newspaper also hold importance, felt many students. The NIE  is for Age group 9-12 and 13-17 year old.

- Click for Kidsfreesouls NIE TIPS Here - How to use Kidsfreesouls for children online and in classrooms.


Traffic Lessons for school children
- Ahmedabad

City Police has decided to train children with Children's Traffic Programme for proper road use with demonstrations at Traffic Park and handy instructions kit. Traffic menace is considerably increased as schools are finding difficult to cope with the traffic problems. The police will be grooming children to understand the need to follow traffic rules. The Children's Traffic Programme will cover 31 cities to train children from classes VIII to XII. As traffic awareness is will spread, children will be given first hand experience on traffic rules and management at Traffic Park in Lal Darwaja. The training will include road signs, familiarizing with traffic signals, learning to cross safely and maneuvering complex six road junctions. Following the training, teachers will also be made aware of traffic lessons so that they can pass spread awareness to other students.

Kite Heritage Festival celebrated at Sanskar Kendra
- Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad Kite flyers' Association with AMC and Heritage Association celebrated Kite Heritage Festival at Sanskar Kendra Museum place on Sunday, 23rd Nov 2008. A small exhibition of different types of kites was on display as a part of the Kite festival to celebrate Heritage week. The kites on display had 3.7 cm long miniature kite as well as a large embroidered Vibrant Gujarat kite which is one of its kind in the world. Special guest from Canada and over 100 students from a school attended a workshop on kite making organized by the Kite Flyers' Association.

Essay Contest : Government Initiative
- Kidsfreesouls

The State Government of Gujarat is planning to conduct Essay Contest for 'Swarnim Gujarat' to mark 50 years of foundation of Gujarat. The State Information Department has written to all District Education officers to host an essary contest in schools and colleges on the governments' own projects. On 25th November, students of class VIII and X will write essays on Government projects like 'Nirmal Gujarat', Nirogi Balak, Kanya Kelavani, Vanbandhu Yojna and Krushi Mahotsav. These are the pet schemes of the CM dedicated initiatives towards cleanliness, infant helath, increasing enrolment and increasing drop out rate for girls, schemes for tribal upliftment and village to village programme to create awareness among farmers for better agriculture. Children have to write an 800 word essay on one of the five topics. The final essay contest will be held on 6th December where a group of 50 schools each will participate. The best essay will be selected and brought out in a special golden jubilee celebrations publication. The scheme will enhance skills as well as create awareness among not only children but, parents and teachers as well. The Government Project links can be found here.

City celebrates 'World Heritage Week'
- Kidsfreesouls

As the world celebrates 'World Heritage Week', a Heritage week from 19th November to 25th November is celebrated as 'Ahmedabad Heritage Festival.' Organised by AMC, the Heritage week celebrations will include special walks, street theatre, exhibition and workshops and film shows. Around fifteen houses have been identified as house museums and their owners will leave the house open all through the week for visitors. Night walk will be organised from Mangaldas Ni Haveli to Manek Chowk at 8 p.m. daily. Sufi Qawwali festival is held at the backdrop of Sarkhej Roja on 21st November and will include group performance by Rajasthan performers also. The Amdabadi culture of Garba will be performed at Hatkeshwar temple in the city. The festival also has seminars on heritage and communication by communication Institutes and film screenings at various Heritage sites. A gujarati film Bhavni Bhavai at Adalaj ni vav will mark the culmination of the heritage week.

Teachers to check students eyesight
- Kidsfreesouls

With a Training for Teachers in 2006-07, the State Education Department will again train teachers under it's Blindness Control Programme for 2008-09. More than 7500 teachers were trained earlier in primary eye examination and under such programme, a circular by the Ahmedabad District Education Officer was sent to all schools on 10th November 2008. A day long training will be held on 15th November at Scout Bhavan in Paldi area where preferably a lady teacher, wearing glasses will be trained for conducting primary eye examination on a student. According to data with the government, approx.7% of the children in the age group 6-14 suffer from vision problem and around 5% drop out of school due to this. The state is celebrating 'Nirogi Baal Varsh' (Healthy child year) and under this, the Education Department has decided to include school teachers in the campaign to make children aware of their helath.

Carnival at Kankaria to mark new year celebrations
- Kidsfreesouls

To mark the new year celebrations, The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has planned a week long function at the Kankaria Lake front, beginning on 25th December 2008. The carnival will be inaugurated by the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. The festival will have marathon for senior citizens, judo, yoga, horse riding, dance, drawing, karate and other exciting competitions for people of all age groups. People will get to watch a unique 'sky gliding' too. An exhibition of about 300 horses has been planned at the lake front. Equestrian experts will perform some events in front of the crowd. Morning to night activities will entertain people as entire family can partake in the carnival. The toy train imported from the UK is expected to roll and it will be the main attraction.

Science City to screen Educational movies
- Kidsfreesouls

Gujarat Science City marked World Science Day for Peace and Development on Monday, 10th November. It screened scientific movies like Destination Mars, Target Moon and depletion of Ozone Layer among other educational activities and scientific programmes for school children and general public visiting Science City. Programmes focused on access to clean water, sanitation, sufficient food or electricity. Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions from energy and other sources which will further diminish the supply of water and food, threatening many world regions with disasters. The theme was 'Investing in Science: Investing in the Future'. There are series of activities for students, teachers and the general public and will be continued till 15th November. Activities like illustrative Poster Exhibition on science and technology for sustaining development, painting, essay writing, quiz, puzzle and screening of scientific movies, etc. will inspire wonder and stimulate creative exploration through fun interactive science.

Unlocking learning
- Kidsfreesouls

Central Govt may now be moving the Right of Education Bill to secure a child's right to free and compulsory education of equitable quality and right of transition till completion of elementary education. The BPEA Act 1947 which is in force in the state has provisions to penalise a defaulting parent for failing to send the child to school by lodging a case with a magistrate.

Diwali and New Year Festival
- Kidsfreesouls

The Diwali and New Year Festival continues for five days with celebrations going on in Gujarat up to next Sunday (2nd Nov). Most of the shopping is dull due to global melt down. However, the festive spirit continues to linger randomly with people visiting friends and relatives.

Find more on Diwali celebrations and Rangoli here.

Nano find Gujarat as it's home
- Kidsfreesouls

Ratan Tata has shifted to Gujarat to complete his Nano Car Project. The land near Sanand is transferred to Tata Motors and the plant is expected to come up in one year. The Sanand Plant is planned to produce 5 lac cars a year. A proud moment for Gujarat, celebrations are held in political and business circle. The Tata Project will scale Gujarat on higher planes to Industrial revolution as more Business offers has started pouring in.

- More

Teachers learn to save Energy
- kidsfreesouls

Gujarat Energy Development Agency to conduct a two month long workshop on energy conservation for 1820 teachers. Around 135 schools across 25 districts of Gujarat will be trained on Energy Education. The training begins on October 14. 150 Teachers will be participating in each workshop where the programme plans to train teachers on methods to devise intelligent energy saving plan by making them learn how to calculate authentic data on how much each appliance costs in electric units, the rating of watts for each hour, day, week and month. Students will be taught to make energy budget in home and school, take down electrical reading at home and schools by trained teachers. The program will culminate on 14th December, National Energy Conservation Day.

A story teller to inspire children
- kidsfreesouls

Esther David turned storyteller to inspire children and read out passages from her story in City Stories: Tales from here and there at a leading Crossword Store in town. She has nostalgically and passionately written about Ahmedabad in her story 'The worry Box and the Laughing Lady.' It's plot is woven around a girl who possess an ancient Mexican object of faith and comfort known as the Worry box. The girl lose the worry box and and finds back after praying at Hasti Bibi no Gokhlo. This way, the Author has a treasure trove of heritage and culture which she aim to make teenagers aware of the rich heritage that they are surrounded with. On Sunday, along with Reading Rainbow and Make-A-Wish Foundation, Esther David in a unique story telling cum sharing session organized the session where after listening to stories, children even sorted to make beautiful drawings on its theme.

Kids should be made in charge of Traffic Safety
- Kidsfreesouls

Atul Karwal, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic and the first IPS in the country to scale Mt. Everest, has interesting suggestions for the students regarding Traffic Education while he spoke to them at CEPT during Engineer's Day celebrations on monday, 15th sept. 08. He believes, children can convince elders to adhere to rules, suggest 3E formula to tackle traffic problems. He opined that children should be made in charge of traffic safety when they go out with their family as they have amazing power to convince the elders to stick to rules. He also put stress that parking facilities should be charged for and vehicle licensing streamlined.

Onam Festival in Kerela
- Kidsfreesouls

As Kerela celebrates Onam Festival on 12th September, 140 cops make 12,000 sq. ft. floral carpet at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi. which is stated to be the biggest floral carpet ever. The Kochi Policemen are all set to enter into Limca Book of Records. They've workd for 3.5 hours to create this delight which required 5000 kilograms of flowers. The Onam carnival in Kerela lasts for 10 days. 'Thiru Onam' is the most important day of the festival this year.
- More on Onam Festival here

Govt overrules Decision taken by Education Board
- Kidsfreesouls

Open Book Exams now 'shut' for exams as Government overrules Decision taken by Education Board. The state cabinet meeting decided not to have Open Book Exams The Education department was not consulted before making an announcement. Cabinet spokesperson Jay Narayan Vyas informed that a final decision on open Book exams will be taken after consulting experts, educationists, exemplary teachers, teachers' associations and brilliant students.

Open Book Exams from March 09
- Kidsfreesouls

GSHSEB introduces new rule for Secondary exams. St. VII, XI and X will have Open Book exams from March 2009. Under the new examination format, students will be allowed to carry only the textbook of the subject concerned to the examination centre. The exam will have two parts - objective questions worth 60 marks to be assessed in the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) system and 40 marks of subjective questions. Chairman of GSHSEB RK Pathak reported to the Press, "The examinations are for testing students' intelligence and not memory." The paper setters for these exams will also be selected through a test. They will be tested for multiple choice questions for 150 marks and 150 marks of subjective questions. The top scorers will be selected as paper setters and moderators. This system was mentioned by the CM Narendra Modi during his address to students on Teacher's Day.

Chess in school curriculum
- Kidsfreesouls

Earlier mention below of Chess in School curriculum - Now finalised. Schools will add Chess Game in the PT (Physical Training) subject of Std. VII, IX and X. Students will have a practical as well as theory exams for the same. Earlier, the subject had practical and theory of PT in equal 50% marks but now, Chess will be included. Students will be offered Chess coaching to improve problem solving and reasoning skills. Gujarat State Chess Association president and Home Minister Amit Shah said: "The programme of today may be a small affair but our initiative to bring home chess to school children is a giant step."

- Find India's winning the World Youth Olympiad Chess Championship
 

Carrom now 'Word Game'
- Kidsfreesouls

A Primary School Teacher from Daskroi taluka (Guj), Ratilal Mandali has made an innovative educational game for kids. He redesigned common board games into innovative learning tools for primary kids, which taught them the basics of geometry, languages and mathematics. Thus, chess was reinvented as 'Education Chess' and Caroom reintroduced as a study tool and word game. The teacher rechristened the name of Caroom to 'Karom Board' and helps children break up words and remember spellings, perfect their grammar and learn lessons in four languages - gujarati, sanskrit, English and hindi. It also sharpens their skills with numbers too. In typical caroom way, the dice has to be struck and guided to the hole. If it's in, the on the dice has to be tallied with the scrambled letters printed on the board. To win points, children must unscramble the letters and make words out of them. Similarly, Education Chess is divided into two parts. Analytical skills, grasping tricky situations and solving problems have started becoming easier for the children. The new technique of teaching keeps the children occupied and attentive with learning made easier and enjoyable.

Flag on way to Guiness Book of World Records
- Kidsfreesouls

A 415.6 foot long Flag of Mataji, prepared by five devotees is on it's way to Pilgrimage shrine at Ambaji and enter into the Guiness Book of World Records. About 250 devotees has carried the flag and are walking all the way to Ambaji to reach in nine days. The flag is decorated with patchwork and embroidery and is the hard work of three persons namely Pradeep Parmar, Bholabhai Parmar and Prakash Patel who worked over five months to make this flag. A total of around Rs.97,000/ incurred to make the flat sponsored by all the volunteers who paid Rs.5/- each (19,451 persons). The making of the Flag was a show of devotion and as the Guiness team checked the measurements, the devotees are all happy to slogan 'Jai Ambe' as they aim to reach Ambaji.
- Click for Ambe Mata here

Lego Games now Lets you build the 'TAJ'
- Kidsfreesouls

Lego Games now lets you build Models of Taj Mahal with 5922 pieces which will be sold for Rs.12,000/-. The 74 year old, Danish Toy maker Lego is launching the Build yourself models next month. The wonder of the world can be recreated along with the pieces which include the monument's intricate minarets, domes and finials. Designed for experienced builders, the Lego Taj Mahal model features advanced building techniques, rare elements and colours and realistic details of architechture. The model will be around 16 inches tall and more than 20 inches wide. The company is targetting young people above 14 years of age as well as adults. The 17th Century Taj Mahal is the symbol of Love situated in Agra, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jehan, in memory of his wife Mumtaz.

Toy Train for kids at Kankaria
- Kidsfreesouls

Summertime will be fun for kids as Kankaria lake will have its toy train by the end of this year. Named as 'Kankaria Queen', according to Municipal Corporation, will arrive from China, costing of rails around 90,000 pounds while entire set up with four coaches and the engine coming to around 3.1 lac pounds. The train will have a capacity of 150 passengers including 36 adults and can run an average speed of 10 km/hour. The train tracks have arrived and the fish plates will arrive in the coming months from China. The engine and the coaches will be shipped from UK in october, informs AMC commissioner IP Gautam. The name of the train will be embossed on the engine.

Movie for slum kids
- Kidsfreesouls

Around 150 children were taken to the Gandhinagar City Pulse multiplex to watch the movie 'Singh is King' by the intitiative called 'a protagnist in Every child' (eProCh). The slum children from Shahpur and Jamalpur areas enjoyed the movie and danced to the songs and had an unforgettable experience. Many of them were unaware of a theatre or even a multiplex. Neither did they know the name of the movie that they watched.

Kids Painting Exhibition
- Kidsfreesouls

Gujarat State Govt. Education Board had recently held Independence Day celebrations. Around 1500 students participated from 200 Schools for a Painting competition on the street pavement near Gujarat college. Children got Participation Certificate for the same. Gujarat Visual Artist Association has organised the painting exhibition to exhibit the participants' entries at the Karnavati Art Gallery from 7-13 September.

State Govt. distributes Butterfly supplementary readers
- Kidsfreesouls

State Govt. distributes 9 lac copies of Butterfly supplementary readers to improve English skills of standard VII students. The new book comprise of short stories and grammar exercises to increase vocabulary and knowledge of the language. The State govt. is planning to introduce a similar book for students of class IX and X too from the next academic year.

Laptops for school kids
- Kidsfreesouls

Anand in Gujarat takes the pride for an Electronic School Bag (ESB), a laptop hich will be available to Goverment schools in coming next months. Prized at Rs.1200/-, the laptop features two GB flash memory, runs on Linux operating system and has basic features. The unique feature will be that the Laptop can be modified as per the class in which the child is enrolled. Class II won't have to carry books and guides to school as study material will be stored in the ESB. High school students can have their material stored can modify as per the need. The laptop will have the writing facility to complete homework and attached to printer for prints. The ESB will have black and white LCDs. This unique laptop is a small scale unit based in Sojitra, Anand has spent Rs.1.20 crore on R&D and purchase of equipment to develop the ESB model.

City Born Poetess for British Prize
- Kidsfreesouls

Sujata Bhatt, a popular NRI Poetess and five others were short-listed for Britain's most valuable poetry prize recently. The 52 year old Poet has been chosen for 10,000 pound Forward prize for her collection 'Pure Lizard'. The writer whose poem 'Search for my tongue' is familiar to many high secondary students in Britain. Currently Sujata Bhatt stays in Germany with her husband and daughter. She has earlier received Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Asia) and has published 'Monkey Shadows (1991) and Augatora (2000). The other chosen poetry list have writers like Jamie McKendrick, Mick Imlah, Catherine Smith, Jane Griffiths and Jen Hadfield.

- Read Kidsfreesouls Poetries and Inspirational Poets of the Year.

Kids TV Channels promote Outdoor Playing
-Kidsfreesouls

Two competitive TV Channels are engaging their young audience in different ways. Recently, their attempt is to go blank urging its young viewers to get outside the house and play instead. They have taken the initiative to inspire tiny tots to realise their dreams too. Nickelodeon plans to go off air for a couple of hours next month and initiate a new campaign which will promote healthy activities in kids. Last year, the US parent network had initiated a 'Let's Just Play Go Healthy Challenge' where they turned the spotlight on the exercise activities of kids fighting childhood obesity. The idea has caught on to encourage more physical activity among kids.

The other TV channel Disney is eager to engage its audience with its announcement of a new initiative "Talk out Loud' which will give kids an opportunity to join their favorite Disney characters. As a part of a school relationship program, Disney channel will engage 300,000 students aged 8-15 years in 400 schools across India in an interactive programme. They will invite school entries and give students an opportunity to interact with their favorite characters. The Disney fans will get a chance to express themselves.

Sunita Williams receive 'Padma Bhushan'
- Kidsfreesouls

Sunita Williams, the Indian American Astronaut at Nasa, receives "Padma Bhushan" for her feat of completing the longest space flight for a woman. This is India's second highest Civilian Award given away for Outstanding Achievements. The Indian consul general SM Gavai presented this Award to Sunita Williams at a function attended by a large number of Indian Americans. Accompanied by her father, Deepak Pandya, Sunita williams said, "It is a great honour. I am elated" as she recounted her experience in space where she remained for 195 days.

- Click for the Nasa space on Kidsfreesouls | click for Kidsfreesouls Reporters Interviewing Sunita williams

Junk Food & anemia
- Kidsfreesouls

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) revealed the research that 80% children in Gujarat are anaemic. The fast changing food habits with increased eating outs culture in Gujarat and especially, Ahmedabad is playing havoc with the health of children in the city. The junk food and wrong choice of food with inadequate physical activity among children is aggravating the problem. Anaemic among children is found more due to lack of eating vegetables and fruits. Anaemic children behavior is found to be changed in terms of memory loss, attention deficiency with poor performance and other health affects with brain functioning due to deficiency of iron. Junk food should be replaced with more nutritious food and doctor community is alerted to take this issue seriously and also counsel parents with the ill effects to focus on healthy balanced diet.

Gujarat is 5th largest contributor to Global Warming in India
- Ahmedabad

Gujarat is the 5th largest contributor to Global warming in India. The report comes from CGD (Center for Global Development) in Washington whose database confirms the information of cabon emissions of 50000 power plants and 4000 power companies worldwide. The data is a part of Carbon monitoring for action (CARMA) of the CGD. The thermal Power  plant of Wanakbori, Gujarat (Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd.) is one of the top 10 largest generators of carbon dioxide in the country from among 377 power plants responsible for releasing greehouse gases at an alarming rate. CARMA has issued alerts against 53 power plants out of the 164 present in the state. Some of the projects falling in the category are Ukai dam, Gandhinagar, Pandharo, sikka, Dhruvan and kutch projects among the 10 highest green house gas emittors. Projects of Tata chemicals, Mithapur, GIPCL, Mangrol and AEC, Ahmedabad also are found with higher levels of carbon emission. Out of the top CO2 generators, Uttar Pradesh comes first followed by Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and 5th as Gujarat.

Gandhi Ashram to be declared 'Silence Zone'
- Kidsfreesouls

Gandhi Ashram will soon be declared a 'Silence Zone' in Ahmedabad as declared during a meeting held in Gandhinagar attended by State Ministers and senior administrative officers of Guj Govt. Gandhi Ashram and its adjacent areas will be 'Silence zone' and 'No Demonstration zone'. Proper transport facilities will also be provided to visit the Ashram. Gandhi Ashram will be brought to World Tourism Map by providing and creating favourable environment in and around the Ashram. Support by the Government is sorted from those who believed in Gandhian philosophy to also build a Dandi Yatra route.

WED at CEE
- Kidsfreesouls

WED is one of the significant environmental days observed by CEE to spread awareness about the environment on World Environment Day, June 5. CEE observes an Open Day. People, young and old, come to the Centre and spend the day on campus. CEE sets up various activities and events on the campus to spread awareness about environment, nature appreciation, encouraging environment-friendly habits and highlighting the WED theme for the year. The Pick Right theme of CEE spreads the message to save environment with CO2 Pick Right - Towards Sustainability and Growth. This year, the CEE campus has organized an Organic Fest with value eating products and recipes made out of it. The event is open for all on 4th and 5th June.

Workshop on Climatic Changes for Teachers
- Kidsfreesouls

A one-day workshop on ‘Towards a Low Carbon Economy’ focusing on climatic changes and carbon credit will be organized at Gujarat Council of Science City (GCSC), under the aegis of department of science & technology, government of Gujarat on the World Environment Day. The programme aims at increasing understanding and awareness about the present scenario of Climatic change and global warming. About 75 science teachers, community science centre members and science communicators and young students will be participating in the programme.

The World Environment Day, commemorated each year on June 5, is one of the principle vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates world-wide awareness of environment issues.

Global Warming Lessons in school books
- Kidsfreesouls

Gujarat State to introduce global warming in school books in view to create awareness among students. The school books for std. V to X will now have chapters on Global warming beyond the occasional school projects and chart making. The syllabus will be outlined by the Education department for introducing in the next academic year 2009. Being the most serious challenges that the world faces today, efforts to create awareness is the need of the hour as Global Environment chapters are missing in the present syllabus.

Indian boy shines as new US King Bee
- Kidsfreesouls

13 year old Sameer Mishra, an eight grader beat 288 children to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee Trophy. Sameer participated for the fourth time and was trained by his sister who is a spelling bee enthusiast. Besides the Trophy, he gets $30000 in cash and $2500 worth US savings bond from Merriam Webster with a complete reference library. The second place went to another Indian American, 12 year old Siddharth Chand, a seventh grade student. Among all, four Indians were amongh the last 12 in the finalist with Kavya Shivashankar in the fourth place and Janhnavi Iyer was in the 8th place.

World Tobacco Day Initiatives
- Kidsfreesouls

WHO declared 31st May 2008 as World Tobacco Day. No Smoking and No chewing Tobacco. The common hazards for Tobacco are diseases like Cancer, Heart attack, Asthma, cough, mouth ulcers and many other diseases. Initiatives were taken by HCG - Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd., network of Cancer Hospitals, Medi Surge Hospitals in Ahmedabad for No-Tobacco - No - bacc - off. They showed ways to free off from the habit with keeping in mind the hazards and public interest. In Baroda, over 1300 posters were prepared to create awareness for No Tobacco Day. The department of Psychiatry in New Civil Hospital (NCH) launched a 'quit line' campaign to help people in the efforts to counsel and quit die hard habits. The quit line will help diagnose symptoms and then advice appropriate drug theraphy and counselling. The helpline phone nos to avail counselling is 98252-80320, 9426755927.

The Union Health Ministry has also declared No Smoking with strict rules on the prohibition of Smoking in public areas. Smoking will be banned at work place, shopping malls and cinema halls., airport lounges and even pubs and bars from October 2 (birthday of Gandhiji). Initiated efforts by the Health Minister Ramadoss two years ago, the ban will be enforced with Doctors, students and paramedical staff taking the oath to fight the battle against Tobacco. The Ministry is adamant to chase the Manufacturers out of India, it is learnt.

Chess in school curriculum
- Kidsfreesouls

The Gujarat Govt. has introduced Chess as a compulsory subject in schools. Playing chess improves mental health by 7-8 percent and so it will be win win situation for all school going students, said Mayur Patel who plays the biggest role in the implementation of the project. The teachers will be given training, books on the sport, chess kits, the costs for which are being underwritten by the Ahd Dist. co-op Bank Ltd. It is yet not decided whether Chess will be treated as a subject or become a part of the curriculum or be an 'extra-curricular' activity. This will be worked out at a later stage.

Govt. announce Child Scholarship Scheme
- Kidsfreesouls

Government approves Rs.3000 crore Child Scholarship Scheme. In a bid to arrest dropouts among poor and meritorious students, the Government announced at least one lakh scholarships of Rs.6000 per annum would be awarded to students at the class IX level till class XII. Students whose parental income sources is not more than Rs.1.5 lakh would be eligible to avail the scholarship meant for students studying in government, local body and government aided schools.

Science Express - Knowledge on wheels
- Kidsfreesouls

Knowledge of Wheels, the Science Express lands up at Kalupur Railway Station on Thursday (24th April). School kids and Amdabadis gather at the Railway Station Platform to see the video displays and interactive models. There are 13 air-conditioned coaches displaying unique themes including Big Bang, The Erth, bio-technology, the world of sense, genetics, computer applications in medicine and the like. There are number of chemistry experiments for children which show importance of chemistry in life. The Science Express has different aspects of science - from global warming to evolution of man, functions of human brain to the mysteries of science. The Express has 300 pictures, 150 videos and multimedia presentations. There are around 40 Science communicators and technicians team who are present to impart knowledge. The train will remain from 24th to 28th April in Ahmedabad. The CM Narendra Modi is focused on taking the Science Express to the Science City in Ahmedabad and place for Educational study.

Gujarat Foundation day at Amreli
- Kidsfreesouls

The 49th Gujarat Foundation Day celebrations will be held on May 1 at Amreli District in Saurashtra. This Foundation day will be celebrated as Gaurav Divas and several cultural programmes and awareness campaigns will be organised on the occassion. CM Narendra Modi and Governor Naval Kishore Sharma will remain present.

University for Children
- Kidsfreesouls

Raisan village near Gandhinagar to have an exclusive University for Children, the first of its kind in the World. The State Govt of Gujarat has all plans to set up Children Education and has earmarked Rs.1 crore for its development. This is the pet project of the CM Narendra Modi who is aggressively pushing forth the idea. The code named Project 'Bal Gokulam Institute' is in pipeline as top officials are gathering ideas and researching further to set up the world's best Institute. There are 10 children universities across the world but none of these are exclusively devoted to child education. This University will exclusively focus on Children issues and focused on developing techniques, methodologies and tools to make education fun. Teachers will be educated on simplifying teaching methods. With over 85 lakh primary and 15 lakh pre-primary students in the State, this is a great dream project of the Govt.

CEE Mag KidsRgreen in Finals of International Contest
- Kidsfreesouls

KidsRgreen - A CEE initiative for 2008 focused on Climate Change has reached the finals in the Stockholm Challenge Award 2008 in the Environment category. In the year 2007, Over 1000 students, 13 schools, 79 teachers and 20 journalists in five locations of India—Pune, Goa, Lucknow, Alirajpur and Ahmedabad have been oriented about the website and its use as an educational resource - says the reports on Stockholm Challenge data.

The Stockholm Challenge is an information, communication and technology for development programme at the Royal Institute of Technology dating back to 1994. Out of 400 Projects, 145 finalists feature under various categories like culture, economic development, education, environment, health and public administration.

Crucifixion 'Way of the Cross'
- Kidsfreesouls

St. Ignatius Loyola Church organised 'The Way of the Cross', a play portraying the crucifixion and death of Christ at Calvary. The actors included students from the school, colleges and even professionals. The message flow of the play was that instead of weeping over Christ cross, there is lot of evils in this world to weep over. Good Friday was marked to spread the message of humanity and forgiveness.

World Puppetry Day
- Kidsfreesouls

World Puppetry Day was celebrated on March 21, Friday with puppeteers celebrating in town. A puppetry rally was organised by Meher, an NGO who had the theme of 'Save the Girl child' and 'Save the Environment.' The procession entertainment started at Vidhyapith to reach Vastrapur lake carrying posters with slogans and puppets. The rally was organized as to spread awareness about the art of puppetry. Children had a grand time enjoying puppet show.

Tanay Joshi Outshines as Youngest Pianist
- Kidsfreesouls

Tanay Joshi, a 7th std, Rachana School student, outshines as Youngest Pianist and holds a Diploma in music. He is a master Keyboard player who aims high to be a musician as he takes on the courses to Trinity School of London. Tanay is a student of Vibrations Music conducted by Saurin Upadhyay (M-9327028548). Tanay Joshi who has been recently interviewed on 'Killol', a TV show of a Gujarati TV channel says, "Music is my life and like any profession, I chose this one and hope to be a musician one day."  Tanay Joshi is also featured in Limca Book and stand among the first three nominations on Pogo Amazing Kids as Keyboard Player in Music category, the results of which will be announced soon. Tanay has appeared on many shows and performs Piano playing with expertise at a very young age.

CEE Bags India NGO Award
- Kidsfreesouls

The city based Centre for Environment Education (CEE) was awarded the India NGO Award for the western region in the large NGOs Category in New Delhi recently. The award recognize good standards and practices in resource mobilization, accountability and transparency, celebrates excellence in the non profit section, identifies and strengthens successful resource mobilization practices, creates examples and inspiration for others and promote cross regional learning and overall credibility of the non profit sector for long term sustainability. The Award was received by Shyamala Mani on behalf of CEE.

Exam Fever Grip Students
- Ahmedabad

Examination Fever grip students as Board Examination begins on 10th March. Many students and Parents have sorted for counselling help, vaastu guide, astrologers, etc. Around 11 lakh students of Std.X and XII will appear for the exams in over various centers. This year, the students will have strict rules while appearing for exams. They will have to follow rules like, no uniform, remove shoes outside the classroom, carry only transparent water bottles, etc. In case of any questions regarding seat number of examination centres, students can call the Government helpline nos. 26427400-401 between 11-5 p.m.

Pakistan Peace Maker Asma Jehangir Visits Gandhi Ashram
- Kidsfreesouls

Asma Jehangir, a renouned Human rights activist and United Nation's special reporter on freedom of religion and belief, was in town recently. she met Government officials, NGOs and mediapersons apart from meeting younger children in the city. She gathered information and found how healing among communities had taken place after the 2001 communal riots. She visited Gandhi Ashram to see the way of life of one of our greatest leaders and legacy. Gandhi Ashram left an inspirational influence on her. She will be making her report based on her interaction with various people in town.

City gets new Gardens
- Kidsfreesouls

City gets 70 more gardens this year with a total number leading to 201 gardens by AMC in town. The area of these gardens with range from 3-4000 sq. mts. 65 Gardens will be made in the residential areas with no recreational facilities. However, five gardens will have children's play area and facilities for recreation. In the 2008 Budget, the Corporation has allocated Rs.15 Crore for development of gardens in the city. Hence, the project is under pipeline and expected to offer eight new gardens as beginning soon by summer.

Sardar Patel Museum to go Hi-tech
- Kidsfreesouls

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial, a museum which houses the memories of the Iron Man of India, is all set to go Hi-tech with renovations totalling to Rs.18 crore to make the museum up to the national level memorial to exhibit the life and work of Sardar Vallabhbhai. The Memorial will be equipped with Research and resource centre, a Library, Medical Health centre, creativity and child development centre, recreation centre and Hi tech conference Hall. Earlier known as Raj Bhavan, the building was also used as Governor's Official residence for many years. On March 7, 1980, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial was inaugurated by Sardar Vallabhbhai Memorial Society.

Parents seek to Counselling
- Kidsfreesouls

Parents seek not only Educational  Counsellors  and psychologists but also astrologers to vaastu shastra experts as examinations begins soon. Parents are worried and pose various questions to Counsellors, vaastu and feng shui experts. What direction to sit and read, what colors to wear and what to do, what not to do, is all suggested by the Vaastu experts and Feng shui counsellors so as to get success. The Counsellors have been giving guidelines for better results too. Even the Guj Government seems to be worried as students appearing for Board exams are receiving pamphlets with CM Narendra Modi's Photograph along with the hall tickets which specify helpline center set up phone numbers which will be operational for facilities to students till the exams continue.

Kids Zone at Vastrapur Lake
- Kidsfreesouls

Anand Niketan School children joined hands with the Riverside Projects as nearly 600 children from diverse backgrounds gathered as almost 300 kids of Anand Niketan shared their knowledge and showered love to them. The young students stylized their hair, put tattoos and competed with the loud Hindi music. They also painted and had a happy time. Parents were not allowed to remain present at the venue.

Celebrating Hanuman Returns
- Kidsfreesouls

About 400 Municipal school students were showed Hanuman Returns, a mythological movie on a big screen to bring smile on their faces.  The show screened at City Pulse was intiated by AProCh, the project of Riverside School to healp create the first child friendly city in India. The experiment creates opportunity for underprivileged children to watch movie every month, for next two years.

Happy Birthday - A day to Celebrate Infrastructure Boom!
- Kidsfreesouls

No year was celebrated as Ahmedabad's Birthday till today when all Newspapers announced 26th February as Birthday of Ahmedabad! The city was established in 1411 but the exact date of its Birthday remain disputed upto now. The controversy hover that Ahmedabad was founded on ...

- Hijri Samvat 813, 2nd of Zilkad month which is February 26, 1411 as per Islamic calendar
- Vikram Samvat 1468 7th of Vaisakh sud which is April 17, 1412 as per Hindu Anushruti
- March 4, 1411 says Ahmedabad gazetteer
- 1411 says Mirat-e- Sikandari Mirat-e-Ahmadi has three dates: 1411, Vikram Samvat 1393, 1449 Sak
1314, none of which match.
- 1413 Tarikh-e-Farishta 1411 in Aain-e-Akbari
- 1413 Gujarat gazette
- January 26, 1411 says the AMC website

You can find more details here on Toi epaper as the news do not appear in main headlines!

Oscar goes to Gujarati Animator
- Ahmedabad

Apurva Shah, a Gujarati has grabbed the Oscar as Best Animated Feature went to Ratatouille at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. He was overall in-charge of all the special effects and animation as well as involved in defining the look of the film along with the film's Director, Producer and Photography Editor. Ratatouille also grabbed Golden Globe, BAFTA and Germany Awards in different categories along with other 33 awards.

First Children's University in Gujarat
- Kidsfreesouls

The State Government has announced that it will establish Country's first Children's University in the State of Gujarat as a part of 'Nirogi Balak Year'. Initially, an institute called 'Bal Gokulam' will commence which will later convert to Children's University. The aim will be at developing scientific methods for facilitating mental and physical development of a child. It will be a hub for training personnel involved in teaching and other developmental aspects of children. The first ever center where numerous methods of child learning like recreational activities, toys, children songs, movies child nutrition and other aspects will be scientifically tested and studied for implementation of methods that will contribute positive to children's well being and developmental areas. The Nirogi Balak Year 2008-09 is focused on the quality of childrens life and stress would be weighed on bringing down the Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality rate.

Namrata Jaykrishna, Raghav, Simran help riverside for a Sintex Cup FootBall win
- Kidsfreesouls

The Riverside School which recently took up soccer have pride to win the Sintex Cup Football win for Boys and Girls. Raghav Todi bagged all the goals in Riverside boys' victory over Kahaani Tigers in the Under 11 Finals. In Girls, Namrata Jaykrishna scored the only goal of the girls U-14 final against Anand Niketan school. The outstanding player for Riverside turned to be Simran Singh who kept the rival defenders busy and posed a threat for Anand Niketan.
- Namrata Jaykrishna's Blog as Kids Reporter, kidsfreesouls

Run for Life
- Ahmedabad

After Bombay Marathon, it is Amdavadis to run for a Cause in June 2008 with the International Marathon to be held with the theme "Run for Life." In the first ever Marathon here, the event is expected to be participated by 20,000 runners on June 8, 2008. A Gandhinagar based NGO,Udgam Charitable Trust has organized the event. Udgam has been working on issues related to sanitation, livelihood, women's empowerment and rural development. A designer T shirt are put up for sale on a website www.myntra.com with sporting four symbolic icons Mahatma Gandhi, Sidi Saiyyed Jali, wheels depicting Gujarat's Industrial heritage and a runner based on how Gujaratis sportingly accept even mammoth challenges like earthquake and floods. The T shirt captures true spirit of India. A community is also opened in Orkut with title, 'Ahmedabad Marathon 2008.'

Kite Festival "Gujarat in Africa" Theme pavilion
- Kidsfreesouls

World's top Kite flyers in town
- Kidsfreesouls

Kite festival begins in town from 11th Jan as International competitors participate in International Kite festival competition where contestants can match their skills with the best in the world. The tourism and culture department has introduced five competition categories such as miniature kites, painted kites, Indian fight kites, collage kites and the like. A panel of four judges, one each from Netherlands and France and two from India will judge the participants. The even is held on 12th January with winners to be awarded on 13th January. 140 kite lovers from various countries are expected for the International Kite festival. Kite and cultural festival programs will begin from 11-15 in cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and children to perform in cities like Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Secunderabad, Pune and Indore. The workers of Kite making are busy making Kites and manja for Uttarayan.
- Kite festival details

Traffic Rules Awareness
- Ahmedabad

A group of professionals like doctors, share holders and executives have joined hands together to spread Traffic awareness among school children with a noble cause, "Safe Kids, Secure Future." 15 Professionals from various field will impart education on traffic norms. The group has roped in traffic police and school board to pass the message effectively by initiating traffic awareness programmes in corporation run schools. The group has trained around 650 students so far as many other citizens have come forward for this cause.

More News - Past News Archive / News Archive 2007

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