J&K
Moving direct appeal
Kathua/jammu, april 20. Days after class III student Seerat Naaz in a video message urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure basic facilities at her government school in Kathua district in the remote Lohai-Malhar block, Ravi Shankar Sharma, director of school education (Jammu), initiated action to give the school a facelift.
Elaborating on her school’s pathetic condition, Naaz said students are forced to sit on dirty floors, which often stain their uniforms. She also highlighted the poor condition of toilets and the building’s unfinished construction work. “I request you to build a nice school for us so we can continue our education and not get scolded by our mothers for getting our uniforms dirty,” the girl said in a moving appeal to the prime minister.
“A project worth Rs.91 lakh was sanctioned to upgrade the school but pending administrative approval, the work was stalled. It has now been sorted out and work is underway,” Sharma confirmed after visiting the school.
Delhi
Anganwadis upgradation
New delhi, april 24. All 11,000 anganwadis (government preschools) in the national capital will be provided with a 35-item learning kit to make learning enjoyable and interactive. Moreover, they will observe ‘ECCE Day’ every month together with parents, said Atishi Marlena, Women and Child Development Minister of the AAP state government, after reviewing anganwadi projects with department officials.
Addressing a press conference, the minister said: “Early childhood education is a priority of the AAP government. Anganwadi workers and supervisors will receive training from master trainers. To involve parents in children’s education, the Delhi government will celebrate ECCE Day every month by inviting parents to participate in group activities with their children.”
Parents will also receive counselling to create supportive environments for their children’s education at home, she added.
Uttar Pradesh
Girls outperform boys
Prayagraj, april 25. Girls outperformed boys in the intermediate and high school examinations conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Council this year, said Mahendra Dev, Director of Secondary Education, while announcing board exam results.
The pass percentage of girls in the high school examination was 93.34 percent, against 86.64 percent for boys. In the intermediate examination, the pass percentage of boys was 69.34 percent, against 83 percent for girls.
Congratulating successful students, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted: “May your future be bright with the grace of Maa Saraswati. Students who bagged top 10 positions at the state and district levels in the class X and XII board exams will be honoured.”
Kerala
History deletions ignored
Thiruvananthapuram, april 26. Higher secondary students across the state are likely to be taught portions that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has deleted from its class XI-XII history textbooks, including those pertaining to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and subsequent ban on the RSS, said the state’s general education minister V. Sivankutty, after chairing a curriculum steering committee meeting.
“The curriculum committee unanimously decided to include all portions omitted from the old textbooks in the syllabus,” said Sivankutty.
Maharashtra
Swachh Bharat circular
Mumbai, april 11. The state’s school education and sports department issued a government resolution directing schools statewide to screen Let’s Change, a film on the Central government’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission, to sensitise children about cleanliness.
Schools have been granted permission to screen the Marathi version of the film in the academic year 2023-24 and 2024-25 without disturbing the teaching schedule. A film screening report also needs to be submitted to the education minister, said the resolution.
Odisha
Skilling urgency
Bhubaneswar, april 25. The Centre is deliberating ways and means to integrate skilling into the formal school education system, said Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, ahead of the third G20 Education Working Group Meeting to be held in the city.
Addressing a press conference, the minister said: “The UGC, AICTE and NCERT must come together to create a framework for mapping future skills. There is urgent need to de-link degrees from competency and envision a future where competency will prevail. Towards formalising skilling in school education, we discussed the way forward with some delegates from Singapore for a comprehensive and substantive partnership towards skilling.”
The first meeting of the G20 Education Working Group was held in Chennai earlier this year, followed by the second at Amritsar last month.
Paromita Sengupta with bureau inputs
