Rajasthan
New teachers test stayed
Issuing a restraining order on April 15, the Rajasthan high court barred the state government from conducting its recently introduced teachers eligibility test until the court’s next order. Simul-taneously Justice G.K. Vyas served notice to the state’s advocate general asking him to apprise the court of the rationale behind conducting the Rajasthan Teachers Eligibility Test (RTET). Notices have also been issued to the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) and the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE).
According to petitioner Ritesh Tripathi and other teachers, they already possess sufficient qualifications to be recruited as teachers in classes II-III. Agreeing with petitioners’ counsel Pushpendra Singh Bhati, Justice Vyas said it is “meaningless” to conduct a plethora of tests, and duly qualified teachers cannot be compelled to write RTET. Earlier, NCTE had issued a notification making it compulsory for all class I-VIII teachers to pass RTET.
Uttar Pradesh
Shiv Nadar University announced
In a statement issued in New Delhi on April 25, the Shiv Nadar Foundation, established by IT industry tycoon and promoter-chairman of HCL Techno-logies Ltd Shiv Nadar, announced an intent to establish the Shiv Nadar University (SNU) in Greater Noida to offer undergraduate, postgrad and professional degree programmes across a number of disciplines. According to the statement, the Uttar Pradesh government has enacted necessary legislation for the purpose.
The foundation has appointed Nikhil Sinha as the first vice chancellor of the university which will commence operations this year with the launch of its school of engineering. In the coming years, SNU will establish schools of business, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences, says the official statement of the foundation.
“While India can be justifiably proud of having a robust education infras-tructure, it has not uniformly kept in tune with current Indian and global needs in higher education. The progressive outlook of Uttar Pradesh has enabled us to promote a university with a multidisciplinary and research-led character to address many of these issues,” said Nadar speaking on the occasion. Last year Nadar and his family sold a 2.5 percent equity stake in HCL Technologies to raise Rs.581 crore which will serve as the corpus of the university.
SNU will be sited on a 286-acre campus in Greater Noida and will accommodate 4,000 students after completion of the first phase of construction. When fully complete, the campus will accommodate 8,000 students, the statement adds.
Manipur
Schools under army occupation
Nearly 200 students in the Bishenpur district of Manipur have not been able to attend classes for the past few years as their schools have been occupied by Indian Army personnel. Interacting with a media team from Imphal on April 21, some teachers at Karang said parts of the Karang Lower Primary School (KLPS) and nearby Khoidum Leihao Junior High School (KLJHS) have been occupied by the 33rd Assam Rifles personnel since April 2004.
Karang hillock is an island in the middle of Loktak lake, and the only means of accessing it is by boat from nearby Thanga. KLPS has an enrolment of 40 students and KLJHS 174.
Officials of the zonal education office in the district headquarters at Bishenpur admitted that security forces have occupied the schools. Emphasising that last April (2010) the Supreme Court had asked all state governments to withdraw security personnel from educational institutions, they said the matter has been reported to the state government.
Official sources in Imphal said the Gorkha Rifles first commandeered the educational institutions and were later replaced by 33rd Assam Rifles.
Haryana
College teachers on warpath
Teachers in haryana’s universities and colleges have threatened to strike if the state government does not immediately implement UGC pay scales in the state’s institutions of higher education.
“We have given enough time and opportunity to the state government. We have met top bureaucrats in the higher education department and also met the chief minister many times, but despite their promises our demand has not been fulfilled,” Pradeep Chauhan, president of the Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Organi-sation informed the media in Kurukshetra on April 14.
Chauhan said that if UGC pay scales are not fully implemented, the state’s teachers community will be left with no alternative but to boycott invigilation duties in the graduate and postgraduate examinations scheduled for May 2.
Madhya Pradesh
Saffronisation row
Madhya pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s directive to introduce gita saar in school curriculums has drawn criticism from the opposition Congress party, which has described it as an attempt to “saffronise” the education system in the state.
While reviewing the progress of the school education department in Bhopal on April 22, Chouhan directed officials to include gita saar from the Bhagavad Gita besides stories highlighting the valour of freedom fighters such as Tantya Bheel, Nayak Shankar Shah and Raghunath Shah in school curriculums.
“The main agenda behind this directive is to saffronise the education system in the state. Schools are not meant for doing havans and gita paath and we will oppose this proposal vociferously,” Ajay Singh, the newly appointed leader of the opposition in Madhya Pradesh, told the media.
The state’s Christian community has also protested the proposal. “The directive to introduce gita saar in school curriculums is unnecessary interference on the part of the state government with the education system. We are a secular country with a mutli-religious culture,” says Fr. Leo Cornelio, archbishop of Bhopal.
“Why just gita saar? Why not teachings of other religions too? This proves the state’s BJP government isn’t secular,” says Congress MLA Arif Aqueel.
Swati Roy with bureau reports