Bihar
New education initiatives
The bihar government proposes to appoint 90,000 teachers, construct 10,000 school buildings with 40,000 new classrooms, and improve the education infrastructure in the state during the current fiscal.
Even after the recent appointment of 200,000 new teachers, the state government proposes to appoint another 90,000 teachers to maintain the basic teacher-pupil ratio, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi informed PTI. “Our priorities continue to be key sectors like health, education, road construction, industry and infrastructure for which we have evolved mechanisms to ensure achievement of the 2008-09 target,” he said.
In the health sector, three medical colleges will be established at Pawapuri, Bettiah and Madhepura and 15 sub-divisional hospitals will be constructed on a priority basis.
Gujarat
School bus tragedy
Forty-four people, mostly children on their way to school, were killed when a bus carrying them fell into the 60-foot deep Narmada canal at Bodeli village, near Vadodara, on April 16. “Forty-four bodies, most of them of children, have so far been fished out from the canal,” DSP Vadodara (rural) Amit Vishwkarama told a press conference. “Four children were rescued,” he added.
The Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation bus was on its way from Targol to Bodeli when the mishap occurred at 6.30 a.m, after the driver reportedly lost control over the vehicle.
The state government has appointed a five-member higher power committee to inquire into the incident. Meanwhile Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi announced ex-gratia payment of Rs.1 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased.
Punjab
Two greenfield varsities
The punjab state government will soon promote a world class multi-disciplinary university in the state to help students compete globally, chief minister Prakash Singh Badal declared on April 15. The state government plans to involve the corporate sector in streamlining, modernising and broad-basing education at the school, college and university levels, said Badal at a function in Ludhiana, adding that the government is already in touch with leading corporate houses to sign public-private partnerships.
This university will be in addition to the Central varsity already announced for the state, Badal said presiding over a function to mark the inauguration of the Satya Bharti School programme of Bharti Foundation.
Jammu & Kashmir
KV blessing
The remote village of Tanghdar in Jammu and Kashmir is all set to inaugurate a Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) secondary school raising hope for hundreds of children, who currently find their education restricted to the primary level. Currently no school in Tanghdar offers beyond primary level education although some offer higher primary schooling up to class VIII. For secondary education, students need to commute 50 km in inclement weather conditions.
However, following the intervention of a voluntary organisation ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy), the KV will become operational by the end of this year. “When snow falls, temperatures can plummet to –10 Ã�º C and this is a great deterrent to those who have to commute long distances for secondary studies,” says Tanveer Hussain who is working with ANHAD in the area.
Kerala
IIM-K’s expansion plan
The indian institute of Management Kozhikode (IIM-K) is working on a plan to expand physical and academic infrastructure to empower the institute to play a major role in post-doctoral business management studies. Comme-nts IIM-K’s director Prof. Krishnakumar: “IIM-K is gearing up to play a major role in post-doctoral management research to transform it into an institute offering world-class research infrastructure”.
Immediate expansion plans of IIM-K include raising student strength from 180 to 240 from the start of the 2008-09 academic year. “Our vision is to gain the leadership position in management education and to become a world-class learning resource centre in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said addressing newsmen on April 12.
Started in 1997 with a first batch of 42 students on the National Institute of Technology campus at Chathaman-galam, about 20 km from Kozhikode, IIM-K has recorded fast growth and expansion in the past decade and has since shifted to its own campus at nearby Kunnamangalam.
Madhya Pradesh
Foreign education selection committee
The Madhya Pradesh state government has constituted a committee to select backward class students for higher education in foreign countries. The additional chief secretary/principal secretary of Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Commission will be the chairman of the committee, says an official release dated April 16.
Principal secretaries of higher technical and medical education have been appointed members of the selection committee, with commissioner of Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare appointed convener.
Five candidates from backward classes will be selected from among applicants after interview.
Puducherry
New oceanarium project
A proposed oceanarium development project has been allotted 5.65 hectares of land at Pudukuppam near Puducherry by the Union territory administration. Modalities for inviting tenders from interested entrepreneurs will be publicised soon, education and fisheries minister of Puducherry M.O.H.F. Shahjahan told the legislative assembly on April 18.
The minister informed the assembly that only one tender has been received thus far, and as per rules of the government a decision cannot be taken on the basis of a single tender. A broad based committee comprising officials of the Central and state governments has been formed to invite entrepreneurs to build the oceanarium. A decision will be taken as soon as a list of interested entrepreneurs is available, he said.