logo
Top duo attributes success to 2 years' rigorous preparations

Top duo attributes success to 2 years' rigorous preparations

Time of India01-07-2025
1
2
3
4
Kochi: Ernakulam natives John Shinoj and Hari Kishan Baiju, who came first and second respectively in engineering category in the Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical (KEAM) examinations, attributed their success to rigorous preparations they made over the last two years.
Kalloorkad, Muvattupuzha, native Shinoj, who secured 588.58 marks out of 600, has already received admission to IIT Gandhinagar for electrical engineering. "Although I preferred other prominent IITs and campuses within Kerala, I opted for IIT Gandhinagar after some research," said Shinoj.
He said the results brought immense joy to his parents and relatives. "I attended coaching at private centre in Pala. I prioritised KEAM entrance on alternate days to achieve the result," said Shinoj.
Baiju, who came close second, said the results were expected as he had received top marks in the entrance examinations earlier. Hari, along with his family, relocated to India from the UAE to secure admission in an IIT in the country. "I attended entrance examination coaching during weekends while studying at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Irinjalakkuda," he said.
In the IIT advanced examinations, Baiju bagged the 646th rank and received an admission to IIT Bombay for integrated electrical engineering (BTech + MTech) course.
Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with
Doctor's Day 2025
,
messages
and quotes!
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Is nursery admission as competitive as IIT-JEE?
Is nursery admission as competitive as IIT-JEE?

India Today

timea day ago

  • India Today

Is nursery admission as competitive as IIT-JEE?

It's 6 a.m. on an October morning in Delhi. The Sharma household is already in a frenzy. A fat plastic file, stuffed with birth certificate, Aadhaar cards, electricity bills, vaccination slips, and endless photocopies, lies open on the dining table. Ritu flips through the pages nervously for the tenth time while her husband zips it shut. By 6:30, they are rushing out of the door to join a growing queue outside a private school gate. They're not preparing for an engineering exam, not even a college entrance. They are bracing for nursery admissions a battle that now feels as fierce as many urban Indian parents, nursery admission has become the first and most brutal rat race of a child's life. The odds at some elite schools are now lower than IIT-JEE acceptance rates, the costs rival MBA programs, and the emotional toll is NUMBERS: ODDS WORSE THAN IITIIT-JEE (2024–25): 1.8 lakh students appeared for JEE Advanced; ~17,740 IIT seats available, acceptance ~10%.Delhi nursery elite schools: elite international school open ~70–100 general seats. Applications run into thousands. Odds fall below 3–5% , making them tougher than IITs, IIMs, or even Ivy League Vidyalayas: In 2024, KV Balvatika-1 (nursery) seats were filled through a public draw; in some regions, thousands of applicants competed for a few dozen seats.'Getting a seat in a top Delhi school today is like winning a lottery,' says Vivek Mehra, a father who applied to nine schools for his son. 'We weren't celebrating New Year; we were refreshing websites for admission lists.'THE COST: SCHOOLING AS AN INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO Fees vary wildly, but in Tier-1 metros:Delhi top-tier schools: 2.5–6 lakh per year (20,000–50,000 per month) + admission charges up to 1.5 IB schools: 4–10 lakh per year, with 'infrastructure' and 'development' fees premium schools: 2–4 lakh annually, rising sharply in higher top of this come uniforms, books, activity charges, and transport. Parents report first-year bills touching 7–8 lakh in premium setups. One Gurgaon parent summed it up bluntly: 'My MBA cost less than what I will end up paying for my daughter's nursery to Class 5.' Parents complain the 'sibling-alumni advantage' makes elite schools near-impossible for first-time entrants. 'Unless you already have one child inside, it feels like a closed club,' says Neha Kapoor, whose son was rejected from all six schools they applied QUALIFICATIONS: THE PHANTOM FILTERWhile Delhi banned 'unfair criteria' like mother's education or parents' job profiles years ago, many forms still ask for details. Parents fear bias even if it's not officially used.'I was asked about my occupation in three schools,' says Rahul Khanna, an IT professional. 'Even if they claim it doesn't matter, as a parent you're constantly second-guessing: Am I educated enough? "Do I earn enough for them to consider me?'THE STRESS: A FAMILY AFFAIRadvertisementNursery admissions are not just about children they become a family-wide project , parents relocating homes to qualify under the distance criterion. Mothers quitting jobs to 'spend more time' on application postponing or timing second children to take warn of a deeper problem. 'We are transferring competitive anxiety from teenagers to toddlers,' says child counsellor Dr. Anjali Verma. 'Parents come to me with panic attacks because their three-year-old didn't make it into a particular school. This is unhealthy, and it trickles down to the child.'THE ALTERNATIVE: PUBLIC SCHOOLS ON THE RISEInterestingly, government-run 'model schools' (Delhi SoSE, PM SHRI, etc.) are seeing record applications—tens of thousands for a few thousand seats. For middle-class families priced out of private options, these are becoming TAKEAWAY FOR PARENTSadvertisementDo the math early: Check point systems and distance before wide: Most parents apply to 8–12 schools; don't pin hopes on realistically: Tuition is just the start—add 30–40% for panic over rejection: Lottery-driven systems are unpredictable.- Ends

Workshop for teachers in ‘modern Sanskrit teaching methods' at IIT Roorkee
Workshop for teachers in ‘modern Sanskrit teaching methods' at IIT Roorkee

Time of India

time2 days ago

  • Time of India

Workshop for teachers in ‘modern Sanskrit teaching methods' at IIT Roorkee

Roorkee: To promote Sanskrit at the school level, a 12-day workshop aimed at training teachers in innovative and communicative methods of teaching the ancient language is underway at IIT Roorkee. Over 70 teachers from schools across the Roorkee block are participating in the workshop, which is designed to make Sanskrit instruction simpler, more engaging, and practical for students. The programme, which began earlier this week, will continue until Aug 29. The 'Training of Teachers' (TOT) workshop is a collaborative effort between the NGO Samskrita Bharati and the IIT-Roorkee Sanskrit Club. Organisers emphasised that the goal is to help learners connect with Sanskrit beyond traditional rote learning, fostering a deeper appreciation of the language. The event was inaugurated on Monday by IIT-R director prof KK Pant and Dr Anand Bhardwaj, director of Uttarakhand Sanskrit Education, at the Department of Management Studies (DoMS) of the institute. In addition to Sanskrit educators, the workshop includes teachers from Hindi, mathematics, and science disciplines, as well as BEd students and research scholars from the region. "The aim of this workshop is to equip in-service teachers with a simple, communicative, and practical approach to Sanskrit teaching, thereby inspiring students and instilling a sense of pride in India's rich linguistic and knowledge traditions," said Dr Bharti Sharma, faculty member at the local girls' degree college and president of the Roorkee unit of Samskrita Bharati. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.

IIT-KGP plan in works for accessible Pujo
IIT-KGP plan in works for accessible Pujo

Economic Times

time3 days ago

  • Economic Times

IIT-KGP plan in works for accessible Pujo

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) to help design a programme to make Durga Puja more accessible for senior citizens, people with disability and pregnant women and children. A draft plan in this regard will be submitted by IIT-KGP next week. The West Bengal government is also part of the project. Junhi Han, chief of culture sector, UNESCO South Asia Regional Office-New Delhi, said that in 2024, more than 185 million people, including 17,000 foreigners, visited West Bengal during Durga Puja, making it one of the largest cultural gatherings globally. "The festival's economic contribution is $10.2 billion... Despite global appeal, its benefit was not accessible to elderly persons, disabled, women and children... To address this gap, UNESCO, UN, West Bengal government, massArt and IIT-KGP have come up with this Accessibility Programme," Han said. Haimanti Banerji, professor, Department of Architecture & Regional Planning, IIT-KGP, said, "The draft plan will be ready within one week. We started the work around two months back. We have consulted domain experts and visited the puja pandals."The plan will include specific guidelines, she said, adding, "We will follow specific zones - pickup and drop zones, pickup to pandal, usage of ramps, food zone, resting area, parking. There will be specific guidelines which puja committees will be customising. Proper signage would be used."The accessibility programme will be first implemented from September 18-22 by massArt, a Kolkata based non-governmental organisation. "The accessibility programme will have common guidelines which will be implemented across Bengal," Dhrubojyoti Banerjee, secretary, massArt.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store