Author Archives: Loknath Das

Forrester forecasts 5 percent growth in global tech market over the next two years

Forrester projects that the global tech market for business and government purchases of technology goods, software, and services will grow by around 5 percent in 2018 and 2019(subscription required) measured in constant currencies. Measured in US dollars, tech market growth will be stronger in 2018 at 6 percent due to a slightly weaker US dollar, then slow to 4.6 percent growth ... Read More »

Science, tech market hastens development

Deputy chairman of HCM City People’s Committee Trần Vĩnh Tuyến (second left) meets with US scientists in order to boost Vietnamese technology. — Photo voh.vn Viet Nam NewsHCM CITY — The HCM City’s Science and Technology Department plans to launch a municipal Science and Technology Development Fund while seeking to focus State science and technology organisations on activities relevant to ... Read More »

Centre wants to merge three school education schemes – but experts say it is not a good idea

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Human Resources Development hosted a national workshop for states on the merger of the three major Central schemes supporting education – the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for elementary school (Classes 1 to 8), the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan for secondary school (Classes 9 and 10) and the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Restructuring and Reorganisation of Teacher ... Read More »

Three milestones in education

“India is in a position right now to think and act differently in the area of education.” School children at the government higher primary school at Doddakallahalli in Malur, Karnataka.Bhagya Prakash K. There is enough data about the learning crisis in India. What is needed is effective decentralised action Every year in January, when the Annual Status of Education Report ... Read More »

What’s the matter with Oklahoma?

Over the course of this past summer, Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s front office pulled off a couple of big trades to add superstars like Paul George and Carmelo Anthony alongside their reigning MVP Russell Westbrook. Despite the deals, they had retained players several role players from last season like Steven Adams, Andre Roberson, Alex Abrines and Kyle Singler. ... Read More »

After no-bid deal falls apart, Texas Education Agency review calls for clearer contracting procedures

Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath testifies before the Texas Commission on Public School Finance about education outcomes on Jan. 23, 2018.  Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune An internal review of the Texas Education Agency’s contracting regulations found this week that the agency needs a more concrete process for determining whether to bypass competitive bidding when it enters into ... Read More »

State of the State 2018: What Gov. Brown said about education

Gov. Jerry Brown delivered his eighth State of the State speech — his final one — on January 25 in Sacramento. He affirmed his belief in “local control” of K-12 schools and defended his record of expanding funding for California’s system of higher education. The following are his complete remarks on education as he delivered them: In addition to infrastructure ... Read More »

The many problems with a market for higher education

In April this year, the Office for Students will become the “regulator and competition authority” for the English higher education sector. The establishment of this authority, complete with its own “chief executive”, captures perfectly the transition of the country’s university sector, where income from tuition fees has gradually supplanted direct government funding over the last few decades. This process of government-encouraged marketisation — one ... Read More »

Microsoft Says Its Speech Recognition System Achieves New Accuracy Milestone

Microsoft’s conversational speech recognition system – designed to accurately recognises the words in a conversation like humans do – has reached a 5.1 percent error rate, its lowest so far. This milestone means that, for the first time, a computer can recognise the words in a conversation as well as a person would. “Our research team reached that 5.1 percent error ... Read More »

Tesla ‘Autopilot’ Crash: US NTSB Board to Vote on Likely Cause

HIGHLIGHTS US National Transportation Safety Board will vote on September 12 A man lost his life in a crash involving Tesla Model S in 2016 Post that, Tesla in September 2016 unveiled improvements in Autopilot The US National Transportation Safety Board will vote at a September 12 hearing on the probable cause of a May 2016 crash that killed a man using ... Read More »