New Delhi: Educational institutions across the country celebrate November 11 as the ‘ National Education Day’, to commemorate the birthday of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, an eminent educationist, a great leader of India ‘s freedom struggle and the first Union Minister of Education of independent India.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development, had on September 11, 2008 announced, “The Ministry has decided to commemorate the birthday of this great son of India by recalling his contribution to the cause of education in India. November 11 every year, from 2008 onwards, will be celebrated as the National Education Day, without declaring it a holiday”. Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad is credited with innovative measures in the field of education. As an education minister Azad was involved in the creation of a national education system with free basic education and modern institutions of higher education. He also founded the University Grants Commission (UGC), an institution that monitors and promotes higher education in the country

It is a 45 day campaign built around the topic of paper recycling. Over the next 45 days, this campaign will seek to build a greenhouse of ideas to help build a greener planet. For every idea recieved, Garnier and the Times of India will buy 10 kilograms of used paper.

And on June 5 – World Environment Day – the campaign will culminate with an entirely recycled special edition of the times of India. Think of sustainable solutions to environmental issues under the following broad themes: transport and vehicular pollution; heritage and cultural conservation; and biodiversity and greening.

If you have an idea, share it on www.takecaretakecharge.in Ideas will then be judged on robustness, scalability, ease of implementation and cost. Ten ideas per city will be finalised by the Centre of Environment Education. The shortlisted ideas will not only be published in the Times of India, but also be recommended to the government for implementation.

Like all travels in this glamorous and lucrative world of study skills, we have come to the section where I contradict everything I have said up to this point. While I truly believe that each student needs to individualize his approach to school, there is a time and place for good old uniformity and standardization. There are some good habits, which, if your child chooses to use, will increase his retention and comprehension. They are based on a concept called active reading. This idea is simple: The more of your child’s brain is engaged in the act of reading, the more he learns. The following strategies are good active reading habits that will help any reader:

Use the cover up: For many students, the words on the page run and blur together — especially if you are hard wired like myself. To mitigate this, use a three by five index card to cover everything except the sentence that your child is reading. When they finish a line, they move the card down and repeat the process.

Give the text the finger: Along with the card, have your child follow their reading with their finger, engaging a tactical learning style.

Read out loud or mouth the words: Again, another way to engage verbal processing. Many students don’t need to literally talk out load — mouthing the words serves the same end.

Keep moving: As always, fidgeting is good for the brain. Keep them moving, to keep them on target.

Use three-color highlighting: Highlights are a cheap and easy way to integrate visual memory into the reading process. Buy your child three colors and have them assign a different color to the main points, supporting details, and terms of the reading.

Use bookmarks/flagging: Buy your child some type of “red” flag that they can use to mark important ideas or passages. The coolest ones are made by 3M and are literally plastic flaps that come in all different colors and stick directly on to the pages. Also, have your child record in a notebook the page numbers and any thoughts they had on why they flagged that page.

Take margin notes: Despite what crotchety old librarians say, books are supposed to be written on — have your child write notes, questions, comments, snide remarks, or draw pictures in the margins.

Write or talk out summaries: Having your child take a few minutes to either write up a reading summary or talk it out will help him retain the readings and ultimately help him recall it come test or essay time.

Consider reading notes: I include this one with some hesitation — reading notes are great for some kids, horrible for others. The problem with reading notes is that for some kids, if they take notes, they’ll never finish the reading. The upside of reading notes is that they can obviously help with retention and retrieval of information come test time. So if you decide to work with your child on taking reading notes, make sure you limit them to writing at most one sentence about every other paragraph and summaries at the end of sections or chapters depending on the lengths of the assignments.
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Examinations test a student’s knowledge and understanding of a particular subject. They bring questions from an entire module together in a challenging environment.
Whether you are taking the Board Exams or forthcoming Medical Entrance Test or appearing for any other Entrance Exam, Don’t you worry. Just follow these simple tips to overcome Exam fever.

Don’t get over anxious: It never helps. Think of all the exams you have faced so far and how you have overcome your fears. Visualise the worst that can happen and then think positive.

Talk over your anxieties to your parents, friends etc and get it out of your chest periodically. At the same time, talk about the subjects you are good in and the chapters you are well prepared in.

Gain confidence in subjects you know best: by completing the revision and writing notes, especially to a family member or answering mock tests. Make brief points to refer just before the exams.

Fix time and place: Make sure that your study has no disturbance. Move away from that place when you need to take breaks. Take them frequently by structuring your time schedule. Every time you feel fresh, study the difficult or boring subjects first for a few minutes and then move on to easy ones.

Exercise and recreation: are as important as studies and they help you concentrate better. Don’t reduce your sleep drastically. Your body needs it.

Avoid repetitive reading: If you are unable to remember, break up the chapter into points and sub points and try and remember each sub point.

Do mock tests: periodically, especially in difficult subjects.Rest, eat good food and freshen up: especially on the morning of your exam. It is a better way to face them than last minute cramming.

On the day of the exam: Relax, Remember God is Incharge….Reduce stress, sleep well, eat well and go early. Do discuss with your friends what you have prepared and what you have not.
Have confidence, you will do well. Believe in yourself.

Anurag Chopra is the webmaster of http://www.successcds.net. Successcds.net provides Entrance Exam Information and Indian Entrance Test Preparation Software CDs for Medical Entrance, Engineering Entrance Exams, MBA Entrance, NDA, CDS, SSB and other Competitive Exams in India.