Dear All,
Recently I came across a site called Education.com and it looks like a very good site for education. They are giving lots of worksheets on various subjects for the students to learn free. I request everyone to explore the site and reap the benefits.

Good Luck

R. Srinivasan

Growing Education Awareness Across the World

It looks like it is the age of education. Almost everyone is talking about spreading, improving and strengthening education all over the world. The digital age with its gadget-filled world, it has no boundary and only bound to grow. Let us explore the world with more insight and information with education. Open School is determined make difference in this edu-oriented world. Lets start the journey with determination...

Openschool Started

Dear All,
Ever since starting my youtube blog 'srimansrini' my only ambition is to start a full-fledged educational blog. Finally that dream materialised. With the help of like-minded friends and well-wisheres, again i am started making English Grammar Videos. This is totally free to public. Just logon to 'srimansrini' in youtube. Currently i am in the process of making more educational videos.

Srini
Mobile:9551904925

Finland leads the World

The education system in Finland is considered the best in the world. To quote from Washington Post "Finns have one of the world's most generous systems of state-funded educational, medical and welfare services, from pregnancy to the end of life. They pay nothing for education at any level, including medical school or law school. Their medical care, which contributes to an infant mortality rate that is half of ours and a life expectancy greater than ours, costs relatively little. (Finns devote 7 percent of gross domestic product to health care; we spend 15 percent.) Finnish senior citizens are well cared for. Unemployment benefits are good and last, in one form or another, indefinitely."

The Finnish Report Card

Finland has largely remade itself over the last 35 years, revamping its education system, transforming its medical care structure and creating a new high-tech sector that, thanks to cell phone manufacturer Nokia, has become an international player. Today Finland is regularly cited as among the world's best in a variety of indexes and comparisons. For example:


· The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, ranks Finland's the most competitive economy in the world.


· Yale and Columbia universities rank the nations of the world in a "sustainability index" that measures a country's ability to "protect the natural environment over the next several decades." Finland is first in the rankings.


· Statistics kept by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show that Finland invests more of its gross domestic product in research and development than any country but Sweden.


· Finnish 15-year-olds score first in the industrial world on comparative tests of their academic abilities.


· According to a global survey by Transparency International, Finland is perceived as the least corrupt country in the world. (The United States is tied for 17th.)


· Finns read newspapers and take books out of libraries at rates as high or higher than all other countries.


· Finland trains more musicians, per capita, than any other country.

-- Robert G. Kaiser


Source: Washington Post


In spite of its tiny size, the nation achieved a lot and emerged as a quintessential role model for the big countries. I hope, every nation will follow the footsteps of Finland to create a highly literate society, which in turn makes the progressive nation.

Listen this talk....

I like to introduce an inspiring series of talks (organized by TED group)on various subjects which is affective our lives. Given by innovators, scientists, achievers and other inspiring personalities, these talks are cherised gems.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

If you click this link you can view and listen the talk given by the Britain's pre-eminent thinker Sir Ken Robinson on "Do Schools Kills Creativity." I hope you enjoy this section.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Nalanda University

In the age of digital education, we can’t forget some of the oldest and finest educational institutions.

Undoutbedly, Nalanda is one such great institution in the ancient India.
Nālandā is the name of an ancient university in Bihar, India.
The site of Nalanda is located in the Indian state of Bihar, about 55 miles south east of Patna, and was a Buddhist center of learning from 427 to 1197 CE, partly under the Pala Empire.


Etymology

The name is a Sanskrit word that means giver of knowledge, (possibly from nalam, lotus, a symbol of knowledge and da, to give).[4] The Chinese pilgrim-monk Xuanzang[5] gives several explanations of the name Nālandā. One is that it was named after the Nāga who lived in a tank in the middle of the mango grove. Another – the one he accepted – is that Shakyamuni Buddha once had his capital here and gave "alms without intermission", hence the name.


Nalanda was one of the world's first residential universities, i.e., it had dormitories for students. It is also one of the most famous universities. In its heyday it accommodated over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. The university was considered an architectural masterpiece, and was marked by a lofty wall and one gate. Nalanda had eight separate compounds and ten temples, along with many other meditation halls and classrooms. On the grounds were lakes and parks. The library was located in a nine storied building where meticulous copies of texts were produced. The subjects taught at Nalanda University covered every field of learning, and it attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey.[2] The Tang Dynasty Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang left detailed accounts of the university in the 7th century.

In an unattributed article of the Dharma Fellowship (2005), the curriculum of Nalanda University at the time of Mañjuśrīmitra contained:
...virtually the entire range of world knowledge then available. Courses were drawn from every field of learning, Buddhist and Hindu, sacred and secular, foreign and native. Students studied science, astronomy, medicine, and logic as diligently as they applied themselves to metaphysics, philosophy, Samkhya, Yoga-shastra, the Veda, and the scriptures of Buddhism. They studied foreign philosophy likewise. Berzin (2002) outlines the "four systems of Buddhist tenets" or "four doxographies" (Tibetan: grub-mtha’) taught at Nalanda, the Vaibhashika (Tibetan: bye-brag smra-ba) and Sautrantika (Tibetan: mdo-sde-pa) of the Sarvastivada (Tibetan: thams-cad yod-par smra-ba); and the Chittamatra (Sanskrit: sems-tsam-pa) and Madhyamaka (Tibetan: dbu-ma-pa) of the Mahayana:

Thought for the day

20th December 2008, Saturday

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent remarks about our higher education is worth mentioning here.


CHENNAI: Expressing concern over the constraints in the intake capacity of the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) that were denying opportunity to talented students, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday called for establishing more such institutions."There is enough evidence from the Joint Entrance Examination that for every student who got an opportunity to study in IITs, there are at least 3 to 4 who are as bright but are denied the opportunity because of the intake capacity constraints. This is highly regrettable because it denies opportunity to thousands of deserving young men and women. If India is to become a global leader in science and technology as well as an economic superpower, such talent must not go unutilized. Many more such institutes are needed," Singh said while inaugurating the PanIIT 2008 global conference at IIT Madras through videoconferencing from New Delhi. Access to quality education must also be provided to the poor and the disadvantaged, he said.