TO help Gujarati youths join the English-speaking world with élan, the State Government has decided to launch a state-wide programme to build English language proficiency in Gujarati youths. For this, the Government has set up the Society for Creation of Opportunity through Proficiency in English (SCOPE).

Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has conceived this project, will inaugurate the programme in Ahmedabad on June 28, where he will announce its launch simultaneously at as many as 200 training centres across the State through tele-conferencing. The centres for conducting coaching classes will be set up in schools/colleges at taluka as well as district places in the State.

Initially, the Government plans to train about 1 lakh youths in English language proficiency through 200 centres in the first year, and has set a target of covering over 5 lakh youth in a period of 5 years through 1,000 training centres. For this, the State has been divided into three zones.

Giving details of the SCOPE project, Gujarat Education Minister Anandiben Patel told the Express Newsline on Tuesday that the Government had roped in three private project partners: Academy for Computer Training (Guj) Pvt Ltd, Tripada Multicourse Pvt Ltd and Inter Human Education and Charitable Trust. The first two companies will look after training programme in Central and North Gujarat and also Saurashtra, the third one will oversee it in South Gujarat and Anand.

Patel said the assessee or examination partner in this programme would be Cambridge ESOL that would issue certificates to candidates after successfully taking examinations in English language proficiency. These certificates to be issued by the world famous Cambridge ESOL will help youths gain entrance to a university or college, improve their job prospects, as also measure their progress in English language.

Asked, the minister said the English language programme was developed on the Common European Framework (CEF) which would cover Level 1 to V mapping to the Level AI to CI. Of these, the Levels I, II and III will be available at all centres, while Levels IV and V will be available at select centres. Levels IV and V will be launched six months after the other levels are launched, she said.

Each level covers learning areas like listening, reading, speaking and grammar, and within each area, there is a range of online tools designed to provide students with pedagogical support needed to effectively and independently work in that learning area; for instance, the audio version of written texts, the translation option, the dictionary and visual aids. She said that duration of each level would be 90 hours, and fees for each of Level I, II and III was fixed at Rs 1,200 plus 10 pc service tax, while the fees of Rs 2,000 plus taxes would be charged for advanced Level IV and V.

“The fee structure worked out by the Government is much lower as compared to private coaching institutes which charge students anything between Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000,” says Patel, adding that the certificates to be issued by Cambridge ESOL to learners will carry more importance than ones issued by private agencies. The minister conceded that since Gujarati youths were lacking in English language proficiency, they were not able to perform well in competitive examinations and interviews for jobs in corporate sector.

“Their poor knowledge of English deprives them of good employment opportunities in leading industries, especially the Information Technology (IT) sector. Hopefully, the SCOPE project will help Gujarati youths overcome this difficulty”, she said.

A SCOPE official said the programme was mainly aimed at preparing youths in the age group of 15-35 years in “business English” and help them communicate effectively in this foreign language.

“We propose to engage private agencies to provide teaching faculty for programme, and besides other infrastructure facilities, Government will provide a computer and LCD projector at each of the training centres. At least 10 to 15 such centres will be set up in each municipal corporation areas, while one centre will be allotted in each of the municipality areas at taluka-level”, said the official.

Courtesy: Expressindia.com

Apple Inc is introducing a version of its Safari Internet browser for Windows, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said on Monday, taking on Microsoft Corp in its key stronghold of Web access software.

The move by Apple, which has expanded beyond its Macintosh computer core with iPod media players and the upcoming iPhone, could let the company control how large numbers of people use the Web at a time when services and programs are increasingly Internet-based.

Jobs also said Apple would let outside developers create applications for the iPhone by tapping Safari, softening the company's previous position that the device would not support other software due to security concerns. But investors were disappointed that Jobs--known for his surprise announcements--did not have bigger news to unveil--and Apple shares sank nearly 3.5 per cent, their biggest one-day fall in about four months.

"Apple always hits a home run, and when they hit a triple, it's a disappointment," said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co who has an 'outperform' rating on Apple stock. Consumers and investors have been particularly hungry for any iPhone news ahead of the product's June 29 launch for use on AT&T's wireless network.

Apple shares fell $4.30 to close at $120.19 on Nasdaq. The stock has doubled over the past year and has risen 10 per cent in the last month. Speaking at Apple's annual developers' conference in San Francisco, Jobs put Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer browser squarely in his sights, saying that test versions of the new Safari 3 were twice as fast at loading Web pages.

"We would love for Safari's market share to grow substantially," Jobs said. Safari has 5 per cent of the browser market compared to 78 per cent for Internet Explorer.

A free test version of Safari 3 is available to the public now as a download and the final version will be available as a free download to users of both Mac OS X and Windows in October, the company said. The focus on Safari sets the stage for a new browser war nearly a decade after Microsoft knocked off pioneering rival Netscape by including Internet Explorer for free in Windows.

Analysts said Apple clearly hopes to replicate its success in making a Windows version of its iTunes media program, a move that helped drive sales of its iPod media players as well as Mac computers.

Soleil Equity Research analyst Shannon Cross said the availability of Safari on Windows would boost popularity of the software and encourage Web site creators to make their sites compatible with the browser.

"It should also help increase Apple's exposure to the Windows community and potentially attract a larger audience of switchers," Cross wrote in a research note.

Addressing concerns that the iPhone would not support programs not created by Apple, Jobs said independent developers could write application software for Safari, which is included in the multimedia device.

"It's an innovative new way to create apps for mobile devices and it gives us tremendous capability, more than has ever been in a mobile device," Jobs said.

ThinkEquity analyst Jonathan Hoopes said developers writing applications to run on Safari could have their software run on either a Mac or Windows-based computer. "That same app should be able to run on the iPhone," he said. The bulk of Jobs' speech was dedicated to showing off new bells and whistles in the updated operating system, such as the inclusion of a program to let Mac users run Windows.

"It helps with market share and helps with customers that are on the fence trying to move to the Mac," Phil Schiller, head of Apple's product marketing, said in an interview.

After the event, Goldman Sachs raised its 12-month price target on Apple stock to $135 from $120, saying the company was poised to outperform expectations.

"Software remains Apple's biggest competitive advantage," analyst David Bailey said in a report.

Courtesy: Expressindia.com