Orissa

New fees regulation order

In an order issued on June 27, the Orissa high court directed all private schools in the state — including  English-medium schools — to abide by the provisions of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, read together with the Orissa Education Act, 1969.

Delivering his verdict in a writ petition filed by the DAV School, Cuttack, Justice M.M. Das ruled that all private schools in the state fall within the purview of the Orissa Education Act. The judge also directed the state government to constitute a high-level committee under chairmanship of the Director, School and Mass Education, within four months to review the fee structure of all private schools in the state. “Private schools wishing to make any changes in their fee structure shall apply to the committee, which in turn shall dispose the applications within 90 days,” ruled Justice Das.

In April 2009, the state government had permitted English-medium schools to raise tuition fees by 25 percent and development fees by 15 percent. The decision of the state government and subsequent fee-hike notification of the DAV School management was challe-nged in Orissa high court by the parents’ association of the school, which described the tuition-fee increase as “uncalled for, unilateral and arbitrary”.

Meghalaya

MCI recognition fears

Over 200 students of the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGR-IHMS) called a strike and gheraoed the director’s office, protesting that their graduate courses have not been approved by the Medical Council of India (MCI). “Almost all MBBS students are observing an indefinite strike within the institute since yesterday to air their concerns,” said one of the agitating students addressing the media in Shillong on June 28.

Officials of NEIGRIHMS, run by the Union health ministry, said MCI rules allow the institute to run its MBBS programme. “MCI officials are due to conduct a site inspection in 2012 to assess the infrastructure and facilities in NEIGRIHMS before it accords the MBBS course final recognition,” says an institute spokesperson.

However, the spokesperson admitted that the institute is short of faculty, a lacuna which may jeopardise MCI recognition. “While the sanctioned number of faculty is 138, the MBBS course is being managed by a mere 37 teachers,” he said, while claiming that the process of recruitment has been stayed by the high court. NEIGRIHMS director M.E. Yeolekar declined to meet either agitating students or the media.

Designed on the lines of AIIMS, New Delhi, and PGIMER, Chandigarh, with a capex of Rs.550 crore, NEIGRIHMS is the first and sole postgraduate medical institute in the north-eastern region and the third countrywide, established by the Union ministry of health and family welfare. The first batch for the MBBS programme was admitted in 2009.

Punjab

Sweeping reforms pledge

The Punjab state government is set to launch an ambitious scheme from July 1 to provide all girl children free K-12 education. The initiative has been launched to encourage poor families to educate girl children without experi-encing financial anxiety, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal informed the media in Chandigarh on June 27.
According to Badal, the state government has budgeted Rs.26 crore for this scheme. Moreover 1.46 lakh class XI-XII girl students will be gifted bicycles on Independence Day (August 15). “Besides helping girl students to attend school, the bikes will make them feel proud and empowered,” said Badal.

Promising sweeping reforms in Punjab’s public schools, Badal has pledged that more than 4,000 primary schools in the state will slowly be equipped with adequate furniture for which Rs.60 crore has been budgeted with 1.19 million children benefitting.

Uttar Pradesh

IGNOU-UAF concordat

The Delhi-based Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), which offers more than 300 study programmes to over 3.5 million students in India and abroad, and the Manyavar Sri Kanshiram Ji Urdu Arabi-Farsi University, Lucknow (UAF) inked an agreement on June 4 to establish study centres in every district of Uttar Pradesh to promote teaching of the Urdu language at certificate, diploma and degree levels.

UAF was registered by the Uttar Pradesh government in October 2009 to promote the Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages, and enable linguistic mino-rities to become employable by acqui-ring higher and vocational education. Both universities have agreed to offer joint degree, diploma and certificate programmes with special emphasis on the promotion of Urdu, Arabic and Persian as also vocational education and training through the distance learning and online modes.

Under the agreement both universities will support staff training in manage-ment and evaluation techniques, facilitate inter-institutional communication links and conduct applied research.

Kerala

Private colleges quota row

Pro-left student activists and police clashed in Thiruvananthapuram on June 29 following a protest march by students over the issue of self-financing college admissions. Several students and policemen were injured as the march organised by SFI and AISF — the student wings of CPI-M and CPI — took a violent turn before the govern-ment secretariat. Police lobbed tear-gas, grenades, pumped water cannons and lathi-charged the protestors.

Pro-Left student and youth organisations in Kerala have been accusing the Congress-led UDF government of failing to rein in managements of self-financing colleges which have defied the tradition of private colleges allotting half their seats to the state government for distribution at subsidised prices.

The CPI-M politburo condemned police action against the agitating students and said the protest was the outcome of the “UDF government’s policy of handing over the education sector in the state to commercial forces”. In a press release, the CPI-M alleged that the state government has adopted a policy of surrendering professional education to the managements of private self-financing colleges.