Orissa
Right to education petition
The Orissa State Human Rights Commission (OSHRC) has asked the local administration of Kendrapara district to expeditiously file a report in connection with alleged denial of primary education to over 500 children of sea-erosion hit villages in the district.
This notice to the district administration was issued after several parents residing in the coastal villages of Satabhaya, Rabindrapalli, Magar-kanda, Kanhupur, and Barahipur filed a petition before OSHRC, alleging that their children are being denied their right to primary education consequent upon the flooding of the government primary in remote Kanhupur village. The school was relocated to a private house in Barahipur, but with teachers playing truant, classroom teaching has come to a halt, avers the petition.
The petitioners also alleged that they had drawn the attention of the district administration to the issue, but to no avail. Anxious students had also written to the collector, without any response. Therefore they had petitioned OSHRC.
Punjab
Board exams cancellation
The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) cancelled five state board annual exams of class XII students conducted in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, after flying squads of the education ministry reported mass copying. PSEB chairman Dalbir Singh Dhillon ordered cancellation of answer papers of class XII students in the two districts, according to a press release issued in Mohali on March 4.
The date, time and centres for re-examination will be announced shortly, PSEB secretary Pavittar Pal Kaur told media personnel. A day earlier PSEB declared a class XII maths exam held on February 21 at the Government Senior Secondary School (Block-I), Amritsar, null and void.
Kerala
Minister denies anti-religion charge
Addressing a crowded press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on March 10, Kerala education minister M.A. Baby refuted charges that the Communist Party Marxist-led LDF government of the state is anti-religion. “Such a campaign by the media is improper,” he told assembled media personnel, and demanded a public apology.
According to Baby, a “poisonous editorial” was published by an unnamed daily against the LDF government. “The LDF’s policy is that there should be secular content in textbooks. This policy is being attacked by people who haven’t studied it,” he said.
Jammu & Kashmir
Fees increase warning
The state government of Jammu and Kashmir has directed private schools in the state to accept annual tuition fees payable by students, in advance. However it warned school managements to notify annual/quarterly/monthly fee increases, well before commencement of each academic year.
Moreover at a high-level meeting of education officials called in Jammu on March 9, school education minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed made it clear that school managements should not raise tuition fees, unless they are first cleared by a government committee constituted for the purpose.
Gujarat
Education minister forced to resign
Gujarat’s minister for higher education Maya Kodnani resigned from the Narendra Modi government on March 27, after the Gujarat high court cancelled the anticipatory bail she had obtained several months ago. Kodnani is wanted for interrogation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate the Godhra riots and related cases filed in 2002. Kodnani is alleged to have instigated and led a pogrom in Naroda Patiya (Ahmedabad) which resulted in the massacre of 95 Muslim residents of the locality.
“She will surrender before the SIT after the high court cancelled her anticipatory bail plea,” Jay Narayan Vyas, a state government spokesperson informed the media shortly after her resignation.
Expressing the view that “religious fanatics are no less than terrorists”, the high court cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to Kodnani and VHP leader Jaidip Patel, accused in the 2002 anti-Muslim riot cases. It also rejected the appeal of both accused seeking time for further appeal.
Bihar
Volatile students on a rampage
Agitated students, who were writing the intermediate class XII examination of the Bihar state examinations board on March 19, set ablaze the official vehicle of the Lakhnaur block development officer, damaged furniture and smashed window panes of a college in Madhubani.
Police said students from the Janata Mahavidyalaya, Jhanjharpur went on the rampage in protest against invigilators collecting answer scripts at the notified time on March 18. The students alleged that the college authorities had distributed the history question paper late.
However, none of the students have been arrested or detained, said a police spokesperson.
Uttar Pradesh
Court stays college admissions
In an order passed on March 18, the Allahabad high court restrained the city-based Moti Lal Nehru Medical College from admitting students into study programmes not approved by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
The order was passed by a division bench comprising JJ. Ashok Bhusan and Arun Tandon on a writ petition filed by Vishal Kumar Singh and others alleging that the college has been admitting students into Masters and diploma courses which have not been recognised by MCI. The petitioners prayed that the college be directed to apply for approval of the programmes.
In his reply to the petition, the principal of the college submitted that a letter requesting recognition for the impugned study programmes was sent to MCI on February 2 this year. The court has stipulated March 31 as the next date of hearing.