Gujarat

QCI governance code approved

Quality Council of India-approved governance standards will soon be adopted in all 12,000 schools affiliated with the Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) country-wide. “As a pilot project, 20 CBSE affiliated schools in Delhi have been evaluated by our experts, and soon all its 12,000 schools in India shall be adopting them,” Dr. Girdhar G. Gyani, secretary general QCI, informed the media in Ahmedabad on January 25.

According to Gyani, the Gujarat state government has offered to set up an accreditation board affiliated with QCI for implementing these standards in state-run schools as well, a model that can be replicated in other states. By introducing these standards in education, QCI aims to enable the holistic development of children covering academic, physical, social and ethical development, besides other parameters in schools such as infrastructure and hygiene, explained Gyani.

Framework governance standards for schools developed by QCI is part of former President A.P.J Abdul Kalam’s initiative, added Gyani.

Madhya Pradesh

Rahul Gandhi visit storm

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s two-day trip to Madhya Pradesh in mid January has sparked a controversy about the nature and purpose of his visit. Gandhi interacted with students of universities in five cities — Gwalior, Sagar, Jabalpur, Bhopal and Indore.

The greatest controversy was caused by his visiting the Devi Ahilyabai Vishwa Vidyalaya (DAVV), Indore which is under the control of the state government run by BJP. Following Gandhi’s visit, the state’s higher education minister, Laxmikant Sharma issued a notice to the DAVV vice chancellor, Devi Singh Sehrawat, seeking an explanation as to how the Congress leader was invited without the state government’s knowledge and permission.

Congress leaders reacted angrily to the notice to the vice chancellor. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, said that before getting the notice issued, the state’s chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should have thought of the number of programmes of the ABVP (BJP’s youth wing) allowed in the state’s universities.

Sikkim

School dropout dispute

In a statement issued on January 22, the Pawan Kumar Chamling state government of Sikkim has refuted media reports quoting the Union human resource development ministry as saying that school dropout percentages in Sikkim are 85 percent. The statement says that the actual figure is 25.42 percent. Disagreeing with the criteria that “may have been adopted by the HRD ministry” to calculate the school dropout percentages, in its rejoinder the state government says it has a single window management and information system to track each and every student until completion of her education.

According to its ‘cohort analysis methodology’ which the state govern-ment claims is the most scientific process to assess school education systems, the student dropout percen-tage in the state was 25.4 percent in 2007-08, says the statement. “The HRD ministry has obviously included the children of migrant workers who leave the state upon completion of primary education, and students belonging to floating and migrant population of the state,” says a government official.

Orissa

Mid-day meal caste row

Preparation of the mid-day meal (MDM) in a government primary in Orissa’s Kendrapara district was stopped on January 20, after some villagers registered a protest against the food being cooked by Dalit women employees of the school. According to media reports, some members of the Village Education Committee (VEC) forced their way into the school kitchen and instructed cooks to stop preparation of the noon meal at the Sidha Marichani primary school in Sanamarichapalli village, Rajnagar tehsil. Two Dalit cooks were reportedly locked up inside the kitchen for over an hour before the school headmaster rescued them, government spokespersons informed the media in Kendrapara on January 21.

Meanwhile, Maa Ambika of a women’s self-help group running the MDM in the school, expressed unwillin-gness to shoulder the noon meal responsibility. A complaint has been lodged in this regard before Rajnagar block officials.

Rajasthan

Teachers association on warpath

Teachers of Udaipur’s Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University facing derecognition in the wake of the Union HRD ministry’s intent to derecognise 44 deemed varsities, say they will fight “tooth and nail” against the “arbitrary decision”. The teachers association of the university informed a January 20 press conference that it is seeking advice and will take recourse to legal action.

According to Rajendra Singh Bharat, general secretary of the association, the university is a 73-year-old institution and was granted the deemed status on the basis of its work in adult and non-formal education. Describing the ministry’s decision as “arbitrary and thoughtless,” the association’s president H.S. Chandelia said:  “It is ridiculous that a university which gets B++ and A grade in NAAC assessment is stripped of its status overnight.”

Bihar

Teacher education probe order

In an order issued on January 19, the Patna high court directed the National Council of Teachers’ Education (NCTE) to probe whether all the state-run and private B.Ed colleges in Bihar are abiding by the council’s norms. A two-judge bench asked NCTE to submit a report about the status of inquiry, and fixed February 25 as the next date for the council to submit its report.

The order was issued following a PIL (public interest litigation) filed by Vijay Kumar, a resident of Patna. The PIL alleged that private institutions, imparting B.Ed training in Bihar, are operating without proper infrastructure and flouting rules and regulations laid down by NCTE.