ADMISSION SCHEME FOR GIFTED CHILD

1. Introduction:

Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology is proud to introduce the admission scheme for gifted child.

Many brilliant students go unnoticed as high achievers because they are laid back and uncounted, owing to their poor academic performance, yet they have the potential to be high achievers. The major goal of giving admission to two supernumerary seats is to maximize the natural potentials of students who scored poorly or did not take the entrance exam. The goal is to provide a dynamic learning environment for a high-potential student in order to promote overall well-being and growth.

Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory and subsequent research clearly demonstrate that an individual can have variable levels of intellect in different disciplines. Individuals can be gifted in one or several domains, as seen by gifted personalities throughout history. Our country has a large talent pool, but millions of people go undiscovered and hence unappreciated. There is, nevertheless, a need for such abilities to be identified and nurtured.

The aim of educating the high ability learners is to transform their high abilities into proficiency. In our vision, high-ability learners should be identified as early as possible and they should be provided with opportunities.

2. Difference between Bright and Gifted children

Across cultures, perceptions and interpretations of what defines giftedness and talent differ significantly. Gifted and bright children have been distinguished in studies. Not all gifted students are high achievers, and not all high achievers are gifted. Regardless of their cultural, socioeconomic, or ethnic background, exceptional students can be found in any community.

The below-mentioned table helps to highlight the difference between a gifted and bright child:

Bright Child	Gifted Child
Is sincere and hardworking in studies	Is curious in studies
Gives quick answers to the questions	Discusses answers in detail beyond the scope of the question
Well read on syllabus	Read beyond syllabus
Scores high on well-practiced task	Careless mistakes in repetitive task
Among the high rankers	Beyond the class group
Enjoys classmates	Prefers peers
Absorbs information and ideas	Proposes new ideas
Responsive and alert in the class	Is keen observer in new learning activities
Is compliant to classroom norms	Speaks his/her own mind
Draws meaning	Draws inferences
Enjoys well-structured sequence of knowledge	Enjoys non-structured and non-routine problems

3. Understanding Legacy Issues:

The legacy issues include the challenges of disparities in gifted identification and programming for children from underprivileged backgrounds and those with twice-exceptionality, lack of culturally-relevant identification instruments and programming, and consequences of overly individualistic, needs-oriented approach to gifted education as seen in the Western countries.

Gifted children are sometimes seen to have less developed social skills as a result of their advanced cognitive abilities such as memory, information processing, and use of higher-order thinking skills such as convergent and divergent thinking.

This can lead to difficulties in relating to and forming satisfying bonds with other children in their peer group, social isolation from same-aged peers, identification with adult or elder peers, and frustration in class. Because of the traditional idea that gifted and talented students are smarter than others and require less attention, teachers in large classrooms sometimes overlook the fragility of such youngsters.

Thus, equitable identification and nurturing opportunities for gifted children from all backgrounds are the requirements.

4. Why should giftedness be identified and nurtured?

A general assumption or a myth is that academically talented children will be successful no matter what educational environment they are placed in. The notion that creativity, high ability, and talents are extra endowments for a child and that she/he is already “the lucky one” is prevalent in Indian society which expects such students to excel on their own with minimum additional support. Teachers and parents tend to believe that just because a child is creative or talented, she/he must be capable to continue being the best not just in the talent domain but in all aspects of life.

In a situation where formal identification and recognition of talent and its nurturance is limited to only a small fraction of its population, talents remain untapped due to a classroom environment that does not prioritize the need for enriching and talent facilitating, or providing adequate support to nurture strengths.

Nonetheless, indigenous skills in rural areas are largely unknown, and children with a strong curiosity, fertile imagination, and inquisitive attitude are unable to find a creative outlet in a society where test scores are still the primary sign of ability. Gifted youngsters must therefore be recognized and encouraged.

5. Methodology

5.1 Sensitization and nomination of talented students

Sensitization of the teachers, parents, school administrators, and community who will play a significant role in identifying talent/gifted children is critical as nurturing them under the guidance and supervision of experts on a regular basis is very important. Such students will be nominated/referred/encouraged to apply for the supernumerary seat in AICTE-affiliated colleges.

5.2 Institutions eligible for getting 2 supernumerary seats for admitting gifted students

AICTE will announce the list of institutions eligible for admitting students under this scheme based on pre-determined criteria and the ability of institutions to nurture gifted students e.g.: NIRF/ARIIA Ranking, NBA accreditation, past performance of the institution, intake capacity, etc.

5.3 Eligibility criteria and requirements for the candidate seeking admission for supernumerary seat

a) Candidate must be an Indian citizen.

b) Candidates must have passed the Class XII Board examination with a minimum of 45% marks (40% marks in case of candidates belonging to reserved category) in the science stream. They need not have written any entrance examinations.

c) Candidates interested in getting admitted under gifted children supernumerary quota need to directly apply to the institution by submitting all the relevant documents along with the application form.

d) Students are also required to submit 3 letters of recommendations on a proper letterhead from the appropriate authority clearly stating that he/she is a gifted child and is eligible for the supernumerary seat in AICTE affiliated colleges. Candidates are also required to submit the ‘Statement of Purpose’.

e) All the applications will undergo primary screening at the institution’s level to check the validity of the submitted document as per the prescribed norms of the scheme.

f) Upon document scrutiny, the candidate may need to appear for the interview with a panel of experts appointed by the institutions to ascertain their truly gifted nature and eligibility for admission under this scheme. This will include several parameters (e.g.: winner of renowned international or national level idea/innovation competitions/hackathons/Olympiads, scholarships holder, first author on publications or patents, start-up founder, an App developer with a large number of downloads, etc.) The candidate MUST fulfill AT LEAST ONE of the above mention parameters (Refer to section 7 for details) to become eligible for consideration under the proposed supernumerary quota.

5.4 Detailed Criteria

Candidates must fulfill one or more of the following eligibility criteria:

Candidate must be the prize winner of at least one of national/international level competitions organized by government or prestigious non-governmental institutions (Listed in Annexure I).
Student receiving funding from government agencies for pursuing innovative projects (e.g.: DBT, DST, CSIR, NCERT, Ministry of Education, any Central or State Government agency, DRDO, Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana, Jagadish Bose National Science Talent Search Junior Scholarship, Tribal Mensa Nurturing Programme, DST-INSPIRE, NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Kaveri Gifted Education Center, etc. (Notified by AICTE from time to time).
Student receiving funding from highly reputed global companies/MNCs/NGOs for pursuing innovative projects e.g.: Google, Lockheed Martin STEM, Bell Labs, Intel, TCS, IBM, Tesla, Microsoft, Infosys, etc. will be considered (Notified by AICTE from time to time).
Candidate must have High-quality original research article publications in peer-reviewed journals (listed under UGC-CARE-II) as the first author.
Candidate must be the primary holder of a Patent granted by Indian or International patent office
Candidate must have registered start-up as per DPIIT norms and incubate within any recognized Technology Business Incubator.
Candidate must have conceived and developed an Innovative project/ product recognized and reported by prestigious national or vernacular media (Print/TV/Digital).
Candidate is an owner of Apps on Google/Apple/Windows stores or has launched or is in process of launching a technology-based innovative product in the market (with more than 10,000 downloads).

5.5 Admission Process

Admission for gifted students under the proposed supernumerary quota scheme will follow 2 steps process.

1) Institution Level Scrutiny

Institutions with approved supernumerary quota will be responsible for identifying and selecting gifted students based on the criteria specified by the scheme.
A ‘committee of experts’ needs to be appointed by institutions to thoroughly scrutinize the applications of candidates applying under this quota. If need be felt, the committee may interview the candidates to ascertain their credentials and giftedness.
No applications fees will be charged to the candidates by the institution applying under this quota.
After the primary scrutiny, institutions will submit details of the nominated candidates (under this quota) along with a detailed selection procedure including the names of the selection committee members on the central AICTE portal for final scrutiny and approval.

2) Final Scrutiny and Approval by AICTE

AICTE will appoint a ‘committee of experts to thoroughly evaluate the credentials of candidates nominated/selected by institutions as per the prescribed norms of the scheme.
If need be felt, the committee of experts may interview the candidates to ascertain their credentials and giftedness.
Upon receiving the recommendations from the committee, AICTE will announce the list of selected candidates along with the details of the assigned institution on its official portal.

5.6 Fees Structure

1) Institute will charge an application processing fee of Rs 500 to candidates applying under this scheme.

2) Complete Tuition Fee waiver: Institutions admitting students under this scheme are committed to give complete tuition waiver to the admitted students. However, institutions may charge students fees for examination, hostel, library, transportation, laboratory, and other activity as per the prevailing norms.

Annexure -1

S. No.	Name of the Competition	Organizer
1.	State/National level Hackathons	State or Central Government of India
2.	CSIR Innovation Award for School Children	CSIR, Ministry of Science & Technology
3.	INSPIRE MANAK award	Department of Science and Technology, Government of India
4.	Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards	DST & National Innovation Foundation - India
5.	National Innovation Foundation (NIF)	Department of Science and Technology, Government of India
6.	World Robot Olympiad India	India STEM Foundation
7.	Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY)	Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India
8.	Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme - DHRUV	Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India
9.	Google Science Fair	Google
10.	Atal New India Challenge Atal Innovation	Government of India
11.	Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (IRIS National Science Fair)	Exstemplar Education Linkers Foundation
12.	NASA Rover challenge	NASA
13.	FIRST LEGO League India	India STEM Foundation
14.	Destination Imagination	Destination Imagination
15.	First Tech Challenge	For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST)
16.	First Robotics Competition	For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST)
18.	Indian Robo Cup Junior	India RoboCup Junior Foundation
19.	National Science Concourse	National Science Concourse
20.	NSS & NASA Space Settlement Contest	National Space Society
21.	F3.Space Global Web Design Challenge	F3.Space
22.	Imagine Cup	Microsoft
23.	Maker Faire	Make Magazine
24.	International Robotronics Competition (IRC)	IRC League
25.	International level Olympiads	State /Central govt. of India
26.	Any State / Central Government Innovative Start up award	State /Central govt. of India

AICTE has jurisdiction to further revise the above-mentioned list