Education Notes

Odisha Aiding & abetting teachers arrested Three teachers, including a headmaster, were arrested for allegedly messaging answers through a mobile phone to a student examinee during the recently concluded class X state board examinations in Ganjam district. The teachers have been charged under several sections of Odisha’s Conduct of Examinations Act, 1988, police informed mediapersons in Berhampur on March 6. During a routine check by invigilators, a mobile phone was recovered from the pocket of a class X student, said Ramakanta Mahallick, inspector-in-charge of Ganjam police station. The invigilators also retrieved answers of the maths exam paper from the phone, following which the police registered a first information report. Haryana Women education initiatives rain The (BJP) state government is set to promote 41 greenfield senior secondary schools for girls, education minister Ram Bilas Sharma announced in the legislative assembly in Chandigarh on March 21. He was replying to a question raised by independent MLA Jasbir Deswal on government initiatives to improve women’s education in the state. According to the minister, 34 of the proposed schools will be sited in the backward Mewat district. In addition, a military school for girls will be constructed in Khudana village of Mahendragarh district; two schools in the Morni Hills and one each in Zainabad and Dhokia in Rewari district, Bhiwani and Sonepat. Moreover, 32 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and 36 girls’ hostels are being built in educationally backward blocks of the state. Sharma added that class IX and X girl students of 1,536 government schools are being trained in self-defence and martial arts. “A proposal to open six government colleges for women is also under consideration,” he said. Madhya Pradesh Student suicides investigation committee State legislative assembly speaker Sitasharan Sharma has constituted an expert committee to investigate rising student suicides in MP. On March 4, opposition Congress MLAs raised the issue of rising student suicides in the assembly, prompting chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to urge the speaker to set up a committee to look into the issue. Intervening, Chouhan said: “It’s important for children to receive education that is stress-free. To achieve this, we must change the education system to enable children to realise their potential. Schools, teachers and parents are all to blame for exerting excessive pressure on students to score well in exams.” Chouhan also announced new initiatives to curb the student suicide epidemic. “From class IX onwards, counseling sessions for students, parents and teachers will be conducted, and physical education will be made compulsory together with yoga and meditation,” he added. Assam CID enquiry into school fire The state government has ordered a CID inquiry into a fire at the Sankardev Seminary School, Jorhat, which destroyed over 600 answer-scripts of class X students who wrote the exams conducted recently by the Secondary Education Board of Assam (SEBA). According to an official communique issued by SEBA in Guwahati on March 4, students whose answer-scripts were damaged in the fire will be given the option to re-write the exam on a notified…