Punjab
Chadha Report endorsed
Welcoming the union government’s approval of the Chadha Committee’s recommendations for collegiate teachers, the Federation of College Principals of Punjab and Chandigarh (FCPPC) has sought the prime minister’s intervention to approve all recommenda-tions of the committee for strengthening higher education in the country.
Dr. V.K. Tewari, president of the federation, told reporters in Jalandhar on December 25 that the Union government should fund 100 percent of the pay hike as recommended by the Chadha Committee, which should be implemented countrywide.
FCPC strongly denounced the “indifference” of the Central government towards “stark realities prevailing in the states”, even as the prime minister has described the Eleventh Plan (2007-12) as an education plan. According to Tewari, several states, including Punjab, had not implemented pay hikes recommended in 1986 and again in 1996, forcing the federation to petition the high court for release of full pay arrears.
The federation also demanded action following the Chadha Committee highlighting the negative impact on higher education of a large number of teacher vacancies in colleges and universities across the country.
Gujarat
School safety initiatives
To improve disaster preparedness within the 38,472 schools in the state, the Gujarat government is expanding its Gujarat School Safety Initiatives (GSSI) programme to cover all 26 districts of the state. Currently GSSI which was launched on a two-year pilot basis in 2005, covers three districts — Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Jamnagar. The programme prepares students to deal with disasters and promotes safety awareness among teachers, students and stakeholders in school education.
The GSSI programme was designed by the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) after the earthquake of 2001, which disrupted the education of 3 million school children, and destroyed education infrastructure in 18 districts statewide. “Our experience during the past two years, when GSSI was implemented in the three districts, has been very good. We got enthusiastic response from teachers and school authorities,” says Rajesh Kishore, chief executive of GSDMA.
Haryana
Students’ chapter directive
The technical education department of the Haryana state government has made students’ chapters compulsory for all technical and engineering education institutions. The students’ chapters will prescribe service standards expected by students from universities, colleges and institutes of technical education. Announcing this intent in Chandigarh on December 11, a spokesman of the technical education department said that students’ chapters had been recommended on the advice of the state’s fee and admission committee headed by Chief Justice (Retd) N.C. Jain.
The department has issued a government order to institutional managements to change their rules and bylaws to establish students’ chapters, which should be empowered to address issues and make recommendations relating to admission and registration, teaching, learning and academic guidance, tutorial support, students’ academic representation and evaluation and academic services.
Kerala
Kannur U’s new campus
Vice-chancellor dr. p. Chandramohan informed media personnel on December 16 that Kannur University’s Nilesh-waram campus is ready for inauguration. The Nileshwaram campus has been established with the objective of taking higher education to rural Kerala.
Constructed at a cost of Rs.6 crore, the three storey campus building located at Perole, will offer M.Sc (molecular biology), MCA, MBA, MA (Hindi) and MA (Malayalam) study programmes, said Chandramohan. In pursuance of its rural education thrust, the university has drawn up plans to build additional campuses in Madikai, near Kanhangad, and in the Kerala-Karnataka border town of Manjeshwaram.
Thus far, Kannur University has constructed nine campuses located at Kasaragod, Payyanur, Nileshwaram, Mananthawadi, Thallassery, Mangattu-paramba, Dharmasala, Madikai and Manjeshwaram.
Tamil Nadu
Microsoft certified prodigy
An eight-year-old Madurai city school girl has become the youngest certified Microsoft computer professional (MCP) in the world, after being awarded 842 out of the maximum 1,000 top score in the MCP exam. Livina Sri of the city’s Dolphin Matriculation School, was presented a certificate by Microsoft in mid December.
Livina’s top score in the MCP exam was higher than of Hurbahkareem Randhaha, a ten-year-old Pakistani girl, who was awarded the MCP certificate in 2005. The MCP examinations are usually written by graduates worldwide in the age group 20-25.
Karnataka
CISCE’s contempt petition
The Delhi-based CISCE (Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations) filed a writ petition in the Karnataka high court on December 16. The petition prayed for an injunction against the education department of the Karnataka government to desist from granting NOCs (no objection certificates) to CISCE-affiliated schools conditionally upon compliance with the state government’s medium of instruction policy in primary schools.
According to Gerry Arathoon, officiating executive and secretary of CISCE, the state government’s medium of instruction policy is not applicable to private unaided schools, and is in contempt of the Karnataka high court’s July 2 judgement in KAMS vs. State of Karnataka & Ors (Writ Petition No. 14363/1994).
In its July 2 verdict, a three-judge bench of the court ruled that application of the state government’s order of 1994, mandating Kannada or mother tongue as the sole medium of instruction to privately promoted unaided schools is violative of Articles 19(1)(g), 26 and 30 (1) of the Constitution of India.