Delhi
JMI fees hike
New Delhi, March 19. Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI, estb.1920) announced a 16-41 percent increase in tuition fees for postgrad studies for the academic year 2025-26.
The Department of Persian Studies has raised the tuition fees by 41 percent to Rs.9,475; the Department of Arabic Studies by 37.15 percent to Rs.9,875; foreign language programmes including BA (Hons.) in Turkish and other languages, have also been increased by 37.15 percent.
For social sciences programmes including political science and commerce, tuition fees have been increased by 33 percent to Rs.9,875; for science programmes including geography, mathematics, and physics by 34.29 percent; technology programmes by 16.48 percent to Rs.21,375.
Simultaneously, the university announced the launch of 14 new study programmes including nine undergraduate, five postgraduate, eight diploma, and three advanced diploma courses.
Jharkhand
Teacher-pupil imbalance
Ranchi, March 4. Out of Jharkhand’s 35,795 government primary schools, 7,930 with an aggregate enrolment of 3.81 lakh students have only one teacher each, Jharkhand’s education minister Ramdas Soren said in a written response to the state’s legislative assembly.
Addressing the assembly, the minister said 103 schools with 17 teachers are operating without any students. “We are running a ‘School Chalo Abhiyan’ campaign in several districts to bring children back into mainstream education,” he said, adding that an initiative to recruit 26,000 assistant teachers is also being implemented.
Assam
Exams cancelled
Guwahati, March 23. All class XI examinations comprising 36 subjects of the Assam State School Education Board (ASSEB) scheduled for March 24-29, were cancelled following reports of several paper leaks and breach of protocol, announced education minister Ranoj Pegu in a social media post. Elaborating, the minister said the new schedule for the examination will be decided at ASSEB’s next board meeting.
Earlier, the class XI maths paper scheduled on March 21, was leaked, forcing the authorities to cancel the exam and lodge a police complaint.
“ASSEB has suspended the affiliation of 15 private schools in ten districts for breaking the seal of class XI mathematics question papers before the scheduled time, leading to the leak. The state government will also take action against three other schools for violating the rules in a similar manner,” he added.
Haryana
Drawing teacher convicted
Hisar, March 6. Additional District and Sessions Judge, Hisar, Sunil Jindal awarded ten years’ rigorous imprisonment to a drawing teacher (65) of a government school convicted of rape of a girl child in 2016.
The survivor’s lawyer Rajat Kalsan, informed the media that the court sentenced the teacher to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs.5,000 under section 365 IPC and 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs.30,000 under section 376 (1) IPC for rape. The punishment for all crimes will run concurrently.
According to Kalsan, the girl was in class IX in 2015 when she was “molested” by the teacher. A year later, the convict raped her.
Uttar Pradesh
Tragic suicide
Lucknow, March 16. A class IX student of Kamala Sharan Yadav Inter College in Pratapgarh district was found hanging in her bedroom after she was allegedly denied permission to write her annual exam and humiliated by the college administration over unpaid fees.
According to a complaint filed by the victim’s mother, her daughter Riya was not given an admit card due to outstanding fees of Rs.800. She also alleged that her daughter was humiliated by the college manager and principal when she went to write the exam.
According to Additional Superintendent of Police Durgesh Kumar Singh, hurt by the humiliation, Riya returned home and took the extreme step. The complainant also alleged that the college staff threatened to ruin her daughter’s future, prompting her to take her own life. “A case has been registered, and investigation is underway,” says ASP Singh.
Telangana
UoH students protest ‘bulldozing of trees’
April 4. The University of Hyderabad Students Union (UoHSU) began a relay hunger strike against the Telangana government’s plans to develop a 400-acre land parcel bordering the varsity to set up an IT park there.
The protestors are demanding stop to the ‘bulldozing of trees’ at the Kancha Gachibowli “urban forest” citing ecology conservation fears, removal of earth-moving machinery and withdrawal of policemen from the campus, said UoHSU vice president Akash Kumar.
UoHSU and other unions aligned with it have launched an indefinite protest and announced a boycott of classes from April 1 in support of their demands.
