Himachal to open schools from Class 10 to 12 on Aug 2

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Himachal to open schools from Class 10 to 12 on Aug 2

The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Thursday decided to open schools, comprising residential and partially residential schools, from Class 10 to 12 from August 2, while adhering to the Covid- 19 precautions.

Students of Class 5 and 8 would be allowed to visit schools to clear doubts from the same date.

It was decided that the coaching, tuition and training institutions would also be allowed to function from July 26, while research scholars would be allowed to attend universities as per the dates to be notified by the authorities.

The Cabinet also decided to open three sub-divisional offices (Civil) at Nirmand in Kullu district and at Jubbal and Kotkhai in Shimla district to facilitate the locals.

It also gave its nod to open new development block at Tirlodhar in Sirmaur district by reorganisation of the development block of Paonta Sahib to facilitate the people of the area.

It gave consent to open new development block at Shegli in Mandi district by reorganizing the Sundernagar and Balh development blocks.

It approved 100 posts of junior office assistant (information technology) in the state Secretariat here through direct recruitment.

Amid Covid fears SSLC exams began in Karnataka today

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Amid Covid fears SSLC exams began in Karnataka today

Amidst Covid fears, the two-day Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) or Class 10 examinations began across the state on Monday.

This is for the second consecutive year that the Karnataka State Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) is conducting the SSLC examinations amid the pandemic.

As many as 8.76 lakh candidates have registered for the SSLC examination. The examination has been cut short this year due to the second wave of the pandemic.

Students will have to attempt a multiple choice question (MCQ) paper and have to shade the right option on the OMR (Optical Mark recognition or Optical Mark Reading) sheets.

The OMR sheets are of different colours so that there is no confusion among students while appearing for class 10 examinations. The evaluation process is expected to be faster this year as there is no conventional method involved in finalizing the marks of the students.

On Monday (July 19), the examination for core subjects – science, social science and mathematics are being conducted. On Wednesday (July 22), students will have to write three of their language papers. Each of the subjects will be of 40 marks each.

Owing to Covid concerns, the KSEEB this year has increased the number of examination centres and teachers on duty, with as many as 1.19 lakh staff have been deployed for 73,064 exam halls in 4,885 centres across the state.

Special arrangements have been made for 33 students who have tested positive for Covid, to write the exams at the Covid Care Centres (CCC) in their respective districts.

Apart from having a health screening centre at all examination centres, heads of the centres ensured that physical distance was maintained and only 12 students were seated in a classroom and one student was seated on a bench, as a result of this, there is a substantial rise in the number of examination centres and staff deployed on examination duty this year.

As per the Covid safety protocols, the education department has ensured that all the staff involved in examination duty have received at least one dose of vaccination.

Considering the ongoing Covid situation, the state government has also arranged transportation for children to reach the examination centres.

Wishing all the students appearing for SSLC exams good luck, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in a tweet said, “I urge my young friends to relax and focus on exams. I assure parents that our government has made all arrangements to ensure exams are held safely.”

Karnataka Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar too in a tweet assured parents that the exam centres are safe for students and the government has taken all necessary measures to conduct the exams in a safe environment.

Allow regional languages’ use in competitive exams, KTR to Centre

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Allow regional languages’ use in competitive exams, KTR to Centre

The Telangana government has urged the Centre to allow students appearing in competitive exams to write the exams in regional languages.

In a letter to Union Minister Jitendra Singh who holds charge of the Personnel Ministry, state Industry and Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao said that every year, many candidates from different states appear for competitive exams for recruitment in central services, departments and undertakings through the Union Public Service Commission and other recruitment agencies.

However, these competitive exams are held in only English and Hindi, which was a serious disadvantage to students who did not study in English medium or not from Hindi speaking states, he said.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had earlier written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting to permit candidates taking all competitive exams of the Centre to write in regional languages also.

Rama Rao pointed out that the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to set up the National Recruitment Agency which has decided to facilitate a Common Eligibility Test (NRA-CET) to replace multiple examinations for recruitment to Central government jobs and conduct these examinations in 12 Indian languages. He wrote that while he wholeheartedly welcomed the move, it was very unfortunate to note that these changes are not being implemented properly.

“For instance, in a recent job notification i.e. Constables (GD) in Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), NIA, SSF and Rifleman (GD) in Assam Rifles Examination, 2021- candidates are allowed to write the exam only in Hindi or English. Same is the case with a few other employment notifications in the recent past. This comes as a rude shock to applicants belonging to regional languages, who are forced to lose great opportunities,” he wrote.

He urged Jitendra Singha to look into this issue and permit candidates taking all competitive exams of the Centre, its departments and undertakings held through the UPSC, the RRB, the PSBs, the RBI, the SSC, etc. to write in regional languages also.

He also demanded that until a proper implementation policy is decided on this regional languages issue, the Centre withhold the recruitment process for the notifications already issued and refrain from issuing new job notifications.

Allowing applicants to write competitive exams in their respective languages will provide equal and fair opportunity to the candidates from all the states, he added.

K’taka: 8.76L students to appear for Class 10 exams from Monday

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K’taka: 8.76L students to appear for Class 10 exams from Monday

A total of 8.76 lakh students across Karnataka will take the Class 10 or Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations for the current academic year on Monday and July 22.

As per the two-day scheduled timetable set by the Karnataka State Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB), on July 19, the core subject exam — Science, Mathematics and Social Science will be held. On July 22, the examinations for languages would take place.

The duration of the Class 10 examinations will be for three hours and the examinations will be held on the OMR (Optical Mark recognition or Optical Mark Reading) sheets, where students will be asked simple and direct questions.

The OMR sheets will be of different colours so that there is no confusion among students while appearing for the examinations. The evaluation process is expected to be faster this year as there is no conventional method involved in finalizing the marks of the students.

During this academic year, a total of 8.76 lakh students have registered for the Class 10 examinations. Even though various state boards across the country have already cancelled their board examinations owing to the pandemic situation. But, Karnataka is among the few states which have agreed to conduct board examinations this year as incumbent batch SSLC students were promoted from Class 9 to Class 10 owing to the pandemic situation last academic year.

As a result of this, Karnataka Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar claimed that in absence of proper yardstick to assess the abilities of students, the state is forced to conduct this year’s annual examination.

Considering the ongoing Covid situation, the state government has also arranged transportation for children to reach the examination centres.

85% university students faced learning loss last year: Report

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85% university students faced learning loss last year: Report

A whopping 85 per cent of the higher education students in India believe they had a learning loss, according to a survey by TeamLease EdTech.

The survey, titled “Covid 19 Learning Loss in Higher Education”, showed that while students feel that the loss is between 40 per cent and 60 per cent, university leaders state that the loss has been 30 per cent to 40 per cent.

The loss is twice the estimated learning loss in G7 countries and it may take three years to repair.

Further, this learning loss has five sources; the digital divide, slow governance at government institutions, pre-existing capacity deficits, longer lockdowns than most countries, and weak online teaching/learning content, the survey revealed.

“India has 35 million out of the world’s 222 million university students. Learning is a perennial pandemic for many Indian learners but Covid has been catastrophic because of our many pre-existing challenges,” Teamlease CEO Edtech Shantanu Rooj said in a statement.

“The immediate policy response should be opening all universities for physical learning and the most impactful response is bringing forward the 15-year implementation timetable for the New Education Policy (NEP) to 5 years. The University system is in shock and accelerating the timetable will bring innovation, financing, and diversity to overcome the challenges for teachers and students,” he added.

The survey was conducted with more than 700 students and 75 university leaders across the country.

It suggested that the learning loss must be blunted by immediately allowing all universities and colleges to open with necessary precautions. All universities must be immediately and automatically licensed for online learning.

Further, there is a need for accelerating Digital India to blunt the digital divide among the poor, rural areas, and disadvantaged communities. The higher education sector must also be financially supported by government funds and banks (like healthcare has been) for a one-time Covid driven capital expenditure in digital infrastructure, training, and transition.

Panel to look into PSB clerical cadre exams in regional languages

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Panel to look into PSB clerical cadre exams in regional languages

The Centre has set up a committee to look into the demand for holding examination for clerical cadre in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in local and regional languages, an official statement said on Tuesday.

A Finance Ministry statement said that the Committee will give its recommendations within 15 days, and only after that the ongoing process of holding the examination initiated by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection will be restarted.

The ministry is looking at conducting bank examination even in regional languages as is being done in case of recruitment examinations conducted for regional rural banks (RRBs). This comes in wake of controversy surfacing recently that the IBPS is conducting examinations for selection of clerical cadre staff in PSBs only in two languages – English and Hindi – even though 22 languages are recognised by the Constitution.

It also sought to clarify a statement made by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in 2019 when she had assured holding banking exams in local languages, while linking the IBPS’ latest advertisement offering choice of just two languages.

“It may be clarified that the Finance Minister’s statement referred to above was made in the context of regional rural banks (RRBs) only. With a view to provide a level playing field to the local youths for availing employment opportunities, the government in 2019 decided that for recruitment of Office Assistant and Officer Scale I in RRBs, examination will be held in 13 regional languages including Konakani and Kannada, besides Hindi and English. Since then, examination for these recruitments are being conducted in regional languages also,” the statement said.

‘38% Australians who lost jobs during pandemic were younger than 25’

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‘38% Australians who lost jobs during pandemic were younger than 25’

More than one-third of 38 per cent of Australians who lost their jobs during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic were younger than 25, a government study has found.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on Friday published a report on the psychological distress experienced by young Australians in the early stages of the pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.

It revealed that 38 percent of the 592,000 Australians who lost employment in April 2020 amid a nationwide lockdown were aged 15-24 and that the proportion of people aged 18-24 experiencing severe psychological distress increased from 14 percent in 2017 to 22 percent.

The proportion of Australians aged 15-24 who were not in education, employment or training rose from 8.7 percent in May 2019 to 12 percent in May 2020.

“Adolescence and young adulthood is a critical period in a person’s life. Young people often experience rapid physical, social and emotional changes in a time where they are transitioning from dependence to independence,” AIHW spokesperson Sally Mills said in a statement.

“This is a time when young people are finishing school, pursuing further training and education, entering the workforce, moving out of the family home, and forming relationships.

“Ongoing monitoring is needed to fully understand the longer-term impact of the pandemic,” Mills added.

Despite the significant increase in unemployment and distress, the report found young Australians were faring well in some areas, with 59 percent of people aged 15-19 saying they were happy or very happy with their lives in April 2020.

Over 1100 students move SC, seek cancellation of pvt, compartment exams by CBSE

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Over 1100 students move SC, seek cancellation of pvt, compartment exams by CBSE

Hundreds of students have moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the CBSE to cancel Class XII private/compartment examinations in physical mode and urged for the adoption of a performance evaluation formula similar to the CBSE assessment formula for the regular students. The results should be released in a time-bound manner, said the plea by the 1152 students.

The plea filed through advocate Abhishek Choudhary said, “Owing to the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the country, it cannot be conclusively said, as to when exactly we will be able to have such conducive environment necessary for the conduct of physical mode examinations.”

The top court had already accepted the formula proposed by the CBSE and ICSE for evaluating students after the cancellation of Class XII examinations.

The petitioner contended that the decision to conduct private/ compartment/repeaters examination of Class XII CBSE Board candidates would endanger the life of lakhs of students. The plea argued that if candidates were forced to appear in a physical mode board examination, it would violate their ‘right to life and health’ as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. The students filed the intervention application in a pending case in connection with the CBSE’s board examination.

The top court is likely to take up their plea on Monday.

The applicants submitted, “if their examinations are delayed beyond reasonable time till a conducive environment is achieved in order to conduct the examination, they will not only lose the opportunity to apply and seek admission in these Universities/ Colleges but they will also be denied their fundamental right to education.”

The counsel for the applicants said the present situation is not conducive for conducting any type of physical mode examination, for any class of students.

UP schools to reopen on July 1 sans students

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UP schools to reopen on July 1 sans students

Over 1.5 lakh schools, recognized by the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board (UPBEB), which were closed till June 30 due to the pandemic, will now reopen on July 1 for teachers and academic staff.

According to an order issued on Tuesday night by the secretary, UPBEB, Pratap Singh Baghel, students will not attend schools till further orders. “Schools may call teachers and employees based on the requirement,” the order said.

For schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the respective school management committees (SMCs) will decide on calling teachers and administrative staff from July 1.

“SMCs will be authorized to take any decision for schools other than UPBEB,” said Baghel.

After reopening, government schools will undertake activities to ensure 100 percent enrolment of students, distribution of food security allowance (for mid-day meal), and free books to students in a time-bound manner.

Schools have also been asked to finish the tasks under ‘Operation Kayakalp’, which aims at providing basic facilities like toilets, boundary walls, drinking water, and other amenities.

Schools have also been instructed to continue e-pathshala under Mission Prerna till the children begin to return to the campus.

Yogi cancels class 12 UP Board exams in view of pandemic

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Yogi cancels class 12 UP Board exams in view of pandemic

The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP) has cancelled the UP Class 12 board exams 2021, due to the Covid pandemic.

Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, who also holds the secondary education portfolio, made this announcement here on Thursday.

He said that the decision to cancel UPMSP class 12 board examination was taken at a crucial meeting chaired by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

As many as 26 lakh students were to take the class 12 examinations this year.

Last week, the Uttar Pradesh government had cancelled the Class 10 Board examinations.

Sharma said that students will be promoted on a formula that has been set up on the internal assessment.

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