Goa
Medium of instruction divide
The election manifesto of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) — Goa’s oldest regional political party — released on February 24, promises to retain Konkani and Marathi as media of instruction in primary schools, if it is elected to office in the state assembly elections scheduled for March 3. “The mediums of instruction for primary education will either be Konkani or Marathi or any other Indian language (but not English),” MGP working president Narayan Sawant told reporters in Panaji.
The party has also said it will enforce use of local languages in the day-to-day official communications of the government. MGP is contesting next month’s Goa assembly polls — in which medium of instruction in primary education is a major election issue — in alliance with the BJP. Last year, the incumbent Congress-led coalition government of the state extended government grants to English-medium in addition to Konkani/Marathi schools, a policy decision fiercely opposed by MGP.
MGP which ruled Goa for 18 years after liberation from the Portuguese in 1961, has also promised it will promote agriculture and horticulture. Its mani-festo promises “deserving rates and markets for agricultural products”, and transport subsidies for agriculture.
Rajasthan
Court raps multiple supervisory authorities
The Rajasthan high court has strongly criticised the multiplicity of adminis-trative councils whose clearance is required to introduce educational programmes approved by the Central and state governments.
“It is seen by this court that at times, various councils of the government of India are granting approval to courses, over which they have no power,” Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari observed in his order passed on a petition filed by a group of students studying pharmacy. “When the Pharmacy Council of India exists, we fail to understand what AICTE has to do with the pharmacy course and is granting permission to run the course,” he said. The court also enquired about the reasoning behind approval for each course being neces-sary from several councils and bodies.
Expressing disapproval of multiple supervisory councils for professional education study programmes, the court issued notice to the Centre and state authorities, including the vice chancellor of the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences to explain the need of multiple permissions for introduction of every study programme. “We cannot allow such types of irregularities in the name of recognition,” opined the judge.
Bihar
Universities restructuring programme
The Bihar state government has resolved to restructure universities in the state according to new guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC). The state’s human resources development minister P.K. Shahi said a proposal advanced by the director of higher education to this effect has been approved by him and the ministry’s principal secretary, Anjani Kumar Singh. Currently there are 12 universities in the state.
A detailed proposal will soon be prepared to bifurcate Magadh Univ-ersity and create a new university comprising two Patna-based colleges. Smaller universities will be carved out of B.R.A. Bihar University, Muzaffarpur; L.N. Mithila University, Darbhanga and T.M. Bhagalpur University, say ministry sources.
The proposal to bifurcate universities has been mooted in keeping with UGC’s guidelines for a larger number of disp-ersed universities to boost the gross enrolment ratio in higher education.
Haryana
Private Schools Association protest
About 10,000 private schools in Haryana observed a token shutdown on February 24 in protest against the state government’s directive to provide free nursery and class I education to children from BPL (below poverty line) households in their neighbourhood as per provisions of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, enacted by Parliament.
“The government’s order is imprac-tical, illogical and unjustifiable. Why should the other 75 percent bear the burden of 25 percent admitted free-of-charge?” asked Jitendar Singh Lathar, president of the Haryana Private Schools Association, at a press conference in Hisar on February 20.
Lathar advised the state government to resolve the issue by paying the full tuition fees of children admitted from BPL households. “Instead of providing assistance to private schools, the government is burdening them to the extent that many of them will have to close down,” he said.
Andhra Pradesh
NKN’s ambitious connectivity plan
The National Knowledge Network (NKN) intends to connect over 1,500 higher education institutions across the country this year, a senior Central government official informed the media in Hyderabad on February 15.
According to R.S. Mani, senior technical director of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), NKN has already connected 670 institutions including universities, NITs, IITs, IIMs, CSIR and agriculture labs. The objective of the NKN project is to establish connectivity between all stakeholders of science, technology, higher educa-tion, healthcare, agriculture and gover-nance on a common digital platform. The estimated cost of the project — of which NIC is the implementing agency — is Rs.5,990 crore over ten years, of which Rs.1,500 crore has already been expended, he said.
“Once these institutions are connected, information and knowledge exchanges will be accelerated and research and development will receive a huge boost. Ultimately, this will result in cheaper goods and services and perhaps a narrowing of the digital divide in Indian society,” said Mani.
R. Chidambaram, principal scientific advisor to the government, who addressed the NIC-NKM workshop via video conference, said NKN will facilitate distance education and research. “NKN is becoming an important part of the huge science infrastructure of India,” he said.