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The 64th State School Arts Festival of Kerala, which is deemed to be one of the largest cultural festivals in Asia, to be held for children and youngsters, is likely to be conducted at Thrissur on January 14-18, according to a release issued by the General Education Department of the Kerala State. It will be a five-day long festival to be held at various spots in the Thrissur region of Kerala.

Along with this, the foundation stone of the main venue of the festival has been laid by the General Education Minister V Sivankutty at the Thekkinkadu Maidan. This marks the start of the preparation for the festival. This festival witnessed the presence of Higher Education Minister R Bindu, Revenue Minister K Rajan, and General Education Secretary K Vasuki, which reveals the interest of the government in the smooth function of the festival.

Regarding this, Sivankutty, in a statement, has clarified that there will be competitions in a total of 239 categories, and it will continue for a period of five days in the Kerala State School Arts Festival 2025. Among these, the competitions will be conducted in 96 categories of high schools, 105 categories of higher secondary schools, and 19 categories of both Sanskrit and Arabic categories. Thousands of students will be participating in the festival, including those from government, aided, and unaided schools in Kerala.

The minister further said, "Additionally, there are also plans being arranged in detail regarding the management of the event space, accommodation, food, transportation, and security, in a manner that students, faculty, and visitors experience a seamless journey. The teams for coordination would be formed at each festival location in terms of logistics, crowd management, as well as management of security factors." Adding to the above, Sivankutty mentioned that the presence of the famous Malayalam actor Mohan Lal in the valedictory function of the festival as agreed to by him will definitely create an immense amount of fan frenzy in the event, thereby adding to the cultural importance of the festival. Stressing the importance of the festival, the Minister mentioned that the event has been organized in a way that it keeps into consideration the convenience of the participants as well as the delight of the beholder. It would not be wrong to say that the School Arts Festival, organized by the State of Kerala, is considered to be that platform where the young minds are cultivated through the performance arts, literature, as well as the fine arts, in the form of the presentation of the cultural heritage of the State of Kerala. Considering that the city of Thrissur itself has been referred to as the cultural capital of the State of Kerala, it would not be wrong to state that the 64th edition of the event would be a colorful one.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Sunday dismissed reports that private school administrations put limitations on celebrations of Christmas and returned money to children to celebrate the festival.

The government has warned that schools will also not be allowed to become “communal laboratories.”

“These kinds of incidents are rare in states like Kerala, which display strong democratic awareness and have a longstanding commitment to secularity, they said,”

“Nobody will be allowed to bring the north Indian models which separate people on the basis of their religions or belief into the educational institutions in Kerala,” General Education Minister V Sivankutty told the press here.

In some private schools, the management called off the celebrations upon collecting money from the participants, then refunding it. This act was "cruel" because it amounts to causing harm to children.

All educational institutions, whether aided or unaided, are necessarily governed by the Constitution of India and the education rules and laws of the country and are also obliged to maintain the spirit of secularism, according to Sivankutty.

Threatening tough action against those practices, the minister stated that schools would not be allowed to become places for serving political or communal purposes.

"Marking restrictions selectively on the celebrations of any one section of people amount to discrimination, and it will not be accepted," he stated.

Sivankutty further emphasized that the initiation of anything that would weaken the dignity and tradition of the public educational system of Kerala would never be allowed.

According to the minister, guidelines have also been given to officials on investigating this issue and submitting a report on it. This is what the minister said, "The minister further said," The minister of General Education has also said that there have been complaints filed by students, as well as their parents, about the process of mandatory special classes conducted at schools during this Christmas holiday season. Special classes should not be conducted during holiday periods, according to this minister.

More than 5,000 governmental schools are lying vacant because they have no students whatsoever, and it is reported that 70 percent of these are located. Also, more than 70 per cent of empty government schools in the 2024-25 academic year are in Telangana and West Bengal.

"With less than 10 or zero enrollment" is another category of schools that has witnessed a sudden spike, as shown in the latest data released in Parliament by the education ministry.

The number of such government schools has registered a 24% increase over the past two years, rising from 52,309 schools in 2022-23 to 65,054 in 2024-25. The government, replying to a question posed by MPs Karti P Chidambaram and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring in Lok Sabha, further stated that such government schools currently constitute 6.42% of all government schools in the country.

Though there are around 2,081 zero enrolment schools in Telangana, in West Bengal, there are 1,571 such

A total of 315 empty schools are found in the Nalgonda district of Telangana; this is the highest number in the state and indeed in the whole of India. Maharashtra’s Mahabubabad and Warangal stand as the second and third highest with 167 and 135 empty institutions respectively, as per the information gathered from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus.

In West Bengal, the state capital Kolkata has 211 government schools with Zero enrolment – the second highest in the state. Purba Medinipur with 177 and Dakshin Dinajpur with 147 stand next in the state with highest number of Zero enrolment in government schools.

Even in these organizations that lack students, a considerably large workforce is employed.

There are 1.44 lakh teachers in Indian government schools with less than 10 students or no school at all as compared to 1.26 lakh in 2022-23.

In West Bengal, a total of 27,348 teachers are allocated to 6,703 governmental schools in the low enrollment category. This makes it an average of four teachers in a school, according to official reports.

Likewise, Bihar has earmarked 3,600 teachers to handle just 730 schools, which averages close to five teachers for each school. This surpasses the national average of 2.2 teachers.

According to the ministry, recruitment and rational deployment of teachers come within the domain of state governments. According to the data, there has been a decrease in the cases of government schools as well since 2019-20 from 10.32 lakh to 10.13 lakh in 2024-25.

In a major plus point for the state's education department, the selection process among teachers for promotions, starting from primary, secondary, and then higher secondary schools, is all set to begin from January. The Education Department has also dispatched strict directives regarding the smooth execution of these promotions, rationalization, as well as arrears clearing.

The Directorate of Primary Education and the Directorate of Secondary Education have started the administrative process regarding promotion. A timeline has already been set up to deal with all aspects of the promotion of teachers. The guidelines regarding the continuity of service by teachers, which is an essential criteria for promotion, have also been sent to the districts. The department has also directed that all necessary facilities should be made available to the teaching staff in this regard.

Factors Contributing to a Teacher

To balance the workforce, the department is set to launch a rationalization program following the student-teacher ratio.

• Surplus Staff: Teachers termed surplus in some schools will be moved to schools experiencing a shortage of staff.
• Priority: The district authorities have been directed to work on this task on a priority basis so that the academic functions are not hampered.

Payment Of Arrears and Pay Protection

The Education Ministry has been tough on financial arrears. Where teachers in some districts had yet to receive their arrears even though they had been placed on salary protection, payment has been directed to be made immediately.

Special Teachers (Vishisht Shikshak):

It shall be ensured that the Special Teachers availing the benefit of pay protection also received the Arrears calculated from the date of joining. Skill Development And Training

People often underestimate The department has also introduced training and skill development courses for non-academic staff: Attendants (Parichari): Training of attendants should be arranged at the district level on all working days. Clerks: The clerks in the schools have also been asked to practice their skills in using the computers and typing. Moreover, they have also been asked to write a minimum of five pages by hand to enhance efficiency.

The leader of the National Citizen Party (NCP) in Manipur, Hasnat Abdullah, has escalated his provocative comments targeting India, threatening to isolate the Seven Sister states and provide refuge for Northeast separatists in the case of a destabilization of Bangladesh.

“If Bangladesh is unsettled, then the fire of resistance will spread across boundaries. Since you are sheltering those who are unsettling us, we shall also take in the separatists of seven sisters,” Hasnat told an all-party rally against uneasiness organized by a political organization called Inqilab Mancha at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka on Monday.

“What I want to say clearly to India: If you give haven to forces that do not respect Bangladesh’s sovereignty, rights to vote, rights to human rights, Bangladesh will retaliate,” he told reporters.

“This is happening in a country which has achieved 54 years of independence, and vultures are waiting there to control that country,” he said, referring to Bangladesh without mentioning India, which he accuses of interference in Bangladesh's matters.

But his colleague and NCP Convener Nahid Islam demanded nationwide rallies for Victory Day against “Indian interference,” as Victory Day is celebrated to mark sovereignty over Pakistan in 1971.

“On the Victory Day tomorrow, we will not go to the streets to mark the celebration. Rather, we will go to the streets to resist. We will stage rallies of resistance in Dhaka and other parts of Bangladesh against the Indian hegemony and all the anti-Bangladesh conspiracy theories," NCP Convener Nadim Aziz told the media on Monday.

The rally was called by the Inqilab Mancha, which came out of the protest movements among students that originated in the July uprising, following the attempted assassination of their spokesperson, Sharif Osman Hadi, who was then a parliamentary candidate as well.

It brought together supporters from a broad ideological platform ranging from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami, Gano Odhikar Parishad, AB Party, toIslami Andolan Bangladesh, according to local media.

Islam: “The attack is proof of a larger political attack.” “With the bullet hitting Osman Hadi, the July Revolution has been attacked.”

In a speech given to the media two days prior, Islam accused India and the Awami League of a possible connection to the attack, but he did not give any evidence. He stated the Awami League was operating from exile in New Delhi with the help of India and intended to regain power in the government, police, universities, and media of Bangladesh.

“Unless the Awami League problem can be completely settled in society and in politics, none of us will be safe,” he said after a meeting with Bangladesh’s interim Chief Muhammad Yunus, which was attended by opposition party leaders as well as Hadi’s family members.

After that, a statement was made by the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh, requesting that New Delhi should not let suspects trying to kill him enter Indian territory and that they should be arrested and extradited if they manage to enter Indian territory. In fact, India’s MEA on Sunday stated, “India has never allowed its territory to be used for activities inimical to the interests of the friendly people of Bangladesh.

The Congress MP from the region, Gaurav Gogoi, also expressed grave concerns regarding the “systematic capture and neglect of universities” in the region regarding the resignation of the pro vice-chancellor of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in the state of Meghalaya. This recent turn of events seems to open old wounds regarding political intervention, governance, and autonomy in India's central universities.

However, in reaction to the resignation, Gogoi alleged that the Modi Government is allowing an institutional crisis to develop in the central universities in the region. "This resignation reveals grave governance distress,” asserted the Assam Member of Parliament, "Students, teachers, and non-academics are suffering from the costs of absent leadership."

Professor S Umdor, pro vice-chancellor at NEHU, had to step down on the 15th of December 2025 due to the “untenable administrative environment.” This resignation comes after several months of handling the responsibilities at the university while the vice-chancellor is away not only on campus but even in the state of Meghalaya. Reliable sources inside the university have confirmed that several key members have put in their resignation recently due to the unrest inside the campus.

Prof Umdor made the formal announcement of his resignation during a meeting with deans and senior administration officials on December 12, with the resignation to take effect on the afternoon of the following Sunday. There have been reported concerns regarding the consequent paralysis of decision making following the resignation.

Gogoi referred the crisis in NEHU to the larger tendency involving other central universities in the Northeast. He mentioned the earlier warning by Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Congress in the opposition in Parliament, that “politics has crept into the appointment of Vice-Chancellors, and this has brought the autonomy of our institutions to naught. The Vice-Chancellor, instead of serving the institution, has become the institution.”

“This has weakened the edifice of our education system and our democracy. The effect has been to undermine the autonomy of our institutions, and the autonomy of our institutions has

“This is just another case,” added another Congress leader, referring to another crisis at Tezpur University in Assam. “There are administration difficulties at Tezpur University. These are all instances of dysfunction in our institutions,” Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told CNN-News18. “This isn’t an incident in isolation. This has been happening in our central universities,” Congress leader Rana Sodhi told CNN-News18. Education specialists believe that the continuously vacant positions and politically motivated appointments threaten prospective long-term damage to research production, the welfare of students, and global stature. In the face of rising pressures, Gogoi has been urging open appointments, accountable governance, and intervention to maintain stability in central universities in the Northeast to prevent additional damage.