Tag Archive for: Students

New IT university on the anvil for underprivileged students- The New Indian Express

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By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Aiming to bridge the worldwide supply-demand gap of computer science professionals, Sitare Foundation, a bootstrapped pan-India educational NGO, has announced the setting up of Sitare University, which will provide underprivileged students free world-class computer science undergraduate education.

The university has been envisioned by some of the most prominent leaders from the Silicon Valley, top American and European universities, industry leaders, and venture capitalists in an attempt to ensure that the brightest minds in India get an opportunity to study computer science, and become global technology leaders, a statement issued by the NGO said.

The University’s curriculum will be spearheaded by renowned names from the academia and industry stalwarts, including Vishal Sikka, Founder Vianai and Former CEO of Infosys; Mehran Sahami, James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor, Stanford University; Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO of Paytm; Joseph C. Ford Professor of Engineering, Department of Computer Science, Cornell University; and many other. 

The university will initially start operations from Bhopal-based Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV) premises in the current academic year. 

As part of this MoU, RGVP will provide the required infrastructure and the curriculum, academics, and faculty will be taken care of by the foundation. 

The university will offer a four-year Bachelor of Technology in computer science alongside five specialised majors, covering multiple new-age technologies such as AI, Human-Computer Interactions, Blockchain Technologies, Computer Security etc. 

“The world is facing a severe shortage of high-quality computer scientists. India has a large population of very bright underprivileged children who do not reach their full potential due to lack of educational resources,” said Amit Singhal, Founder of Sitare Foundation and Sitare University.
 

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Students in Israel Don’t Carry Guns to Class, Contrary to Social Media Posts

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Quick Take

Israel has established strict measures in response to armed attacks on its schoolchildren. But social media posts falsely claim there have been “no school shootings in Israel” and use a photo to misleadingly suggest students carry weapons to class. Only guards and other specific personnel — not students — can carry arms in Israeli schools. 

Full Story 

A mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 24 was the deadliest at a U.S. school in a decade, and has once again sparked debate about gun laws and how to protect children in the classroom.

Legislators, educators and others are proposing a variety of measures to curb the violence, including arming teachers or placing armed guards in schools. 

Comparisons also are being made to gun laws or regulatory measures taken in other countries, such as Israel, a nation that has a low number of school shootings as compared to the U.S. But as we’ve written before, some social media posts have spread misinformation about school security measures and gun control laws in Israel.

On May 29, the Independent Firearm Owners Association — which describes itself as “a gun rights, pro-privacy, pro-freedom organization” — shared a photo on Facebook showing young women walking with military-style guns. The caption reads, “No school shootings in Israel. Must be great gun control? What, they carry guns to class – oh no, not that!” The post received over 13,000 likes and 8,000 shares.

The photo has appeared in similar tweets, also claiming there are “no school shootings in Israel.”

But the Facebook post and the tweets misrepresent the individuals in the photo. And it is not true that there have been no school shootings in Israel.

We don’t know when the photo was taken. But through a reverse image search, we found the photo had been posted in 2011 on Defence.pk — a self-described “one stop resource for Pakistan defence, strategic affairs, security issues, world defence and military affairs” — with the heading, “Pictures of Women in the Armed Forces.” 

We also found the image used in an article from 2020 published by SHTF Blog, a survival blog website, titled “Israeli…

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Ransomware attack exposed data of half-million Chicago students, staff

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The personal information of more than half a million Chicago Public Schools students and staff was compromised in a ransomware attack last December, but the vendor didn’t report it to the district until last month, officials said.


The data breach occurred December 1 and technology vendor Battelle for Kids notified CPS April on 26, the district said Friday.


A server used to store student and staff information was breached and four years’ worth of records were accessed, CPS said.


In total, 495,448 student and 56,138 employee records were accessed from 2015-16 through 2018-2019 school years, CPS said.


The data included students’ names, schools, dates of birth, gender, CPS identification numbers, state student identification numbers, class schedule information and scores on course-specific assessments used for teacher evaluations.


Employee data accessed for those years included names, employee identification numbers, school and course information and emails and usernames.


CPS said the breached server did not store any other records.


There were no Social Security numbers, no financial information, no health data, no current course or schedule information, no home addresses and no course grades, standardized test scores, or teacher evaluation scores exposed in this incident, the district said in a statement.


CPS said there is no evidence the data has been misused, posted or distributed, but offered affected families a year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection.


CPS representatives said the district has been informing affected families and staff and would also notify those whose records weren’t accessed to provide them with peace of mind.


The FBI and Department of Homeland Security both investigated the breach and the vendor is monitoring and will continue to monitor the internet in case the data is posted or distributed,” CPS said.


Battelle for Kids was hired to help district leaders conduct CPS’ REACH teacher evaluation program.


Those evaluations take into account the growth in students’ academic performance each year.


CPS said it was notified of the breach by Battelle for…

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Ransomware attack exposes data of 500,000 Chicago students

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School system ransomware attack

The Chicago Public Schools has suffered a massive data breach that exposed the data of almost 500,000 students and 60,000 employee after their vendor, Battelle for Kids, suffered a ransomware attack in December.

Ohio-based Battelle for Kids is a not-for-profit educational organization that analyzes student data shared by public school systems to design instructional models and evaluate teacher performance.

Battelle for Kid says they work with 267 school systems, and its programs have reached over 2.8 million students.

Massive data breach for Chicago Public Schools

Yesterday, the Chicago Public School (CPS) district disclosed that a December 1st ransomware attack on Battelle for Kids exposed the stored data of 495,448 students and 56,138 employees in its school system.

According to a CPS, the school system partners with Battelle for Kids to upload student course information and assessment data for teacher evaluations.

CPS says that the data stored on Battelle for Kids’ servers was for school years 2015 through 2019 and exposed students’ personal information and assessment scores.

“Specifically, an unauthorized party gained access to your child’s name, date of birth, gender, grade level, school, Chicago Public Schools student ID number, State Student ID number, information about the courses your student took, and scores from performance tasks used for teacher evaluations during school years 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and/or 2018-2019,” explains the CPS student data breach notification.

For staff, the threat actors potentially accessed their name, school, employee ID number, CPS email address, and Battelle for Kids username during school years 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and/or 2018-2019.

CPS says that no Social Security Numbers, home addresses, health data, or financial information was exposed in the attack.

CPS is providing free credit monitoring, and identity theft protection to any students or staff members impacted. Instructions on how to access this free credit reporting can be found on the CPS data breach page created by the school system.

Over four months to disclose breach

In April, Ohio school districts began issuing data breach notifications warning…

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