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Within hours of Tamil Nadu's Director of School Education releasing a circular that ordered that seating in classrooms can take the shape of a semi-circle, similar to the Tamil letter Pa ( ), the directive was suspended after it caused a tidal wave of criticism, particularly on social media, by educationists, health professionals, and political parties.

The seating arrangement was intended to eliminate the stigma of ‘backbenchers’ and promote equality among students.

The circular issued by S Kannappan, Director of School Education, stated, "Engagement begins with arrangement, the 'Pa' shape opens the floor for open minds." It stated the arrangement would improve interaction, provide all students with a clear vision of blackboard and teacher, and enable teachers to observe all the students effectively, apart from ensuring students' comfort.

But the plan sent shockwaves immediately regarding its feasibility and impact on health with most wondering if there were any consultations with the stakeholders involved before the issuance of the guidelines.

New arrangement may impact children's health

"Students on the sides will have to rotate their necks for hours, five days a week. It can cause 50% of students to suffer from serious neck-related problems, and 15% could have very serious problems," a neurosurgeon wrote on X.

He also alerted us to visual stress, particularly for glasses-wearing students who would be asked to peer through the periphery of their lenses instead of the optic center, resulting in additional eye strain and headaches. The Director of School Education circular had instructed all Chief Educational Officers in all the districts to provide the new seating configuration in all the classrooms, considering the student strength and class sizes.

While the new arrangement was to be put in place based on the size of each class according to the circular, most noted that government schools and government-aided schools have longer rooms, as opposed to broad rooms that would be required to support seating structures in 'Pa' shape. Furthermore, a class with a large number of students will experience hardship even with the new arrangement.

The idea of the move was inspired after a few schools in Kerala voluntarily followed such seating patterns on their own, following the Malayalam film Sthanarthi Sreekuttan.

Responding to the move, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami criticized the state government for pinching ideas from movies without any scientific study. "Stop playing with students' health for publicity," he tweeted on X. BJP state secretary SG Suryah also criticized the move. The director told TNIE that the circular has been suspended. "Following health issues raised, we are debating whether to apply it or not. A decision will be made after thorough discussions next week," he added.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday carried out surprise checks in 10 schools spread over five states and one Union Territory — Assam, Delhi, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Odisha.

For proper inspections of the schools, 10 inspection teams — a CBSE officer leading one and a principal of an affiliated school — carried out the inspections in co-ordination.

The inspections were to check for adherence to CBSE bye-laws, academic and physical infrastructure, and whether schools were not admitting non-attending students.

Assam

International School, Guwahati – Opposite Radiant Motors, Kali Mandir Path, Nalapara Road, Sarusajai

Spring Dale International School – By Lane 3, Sonkuchi Path, Beharbari Charali, NH 37

Delhi

Rajindra Public School – Nihal Vihar, Nangloi

Karnataka

Shri Ram Global School, Whitefield – Sy No. 7 & 8, Samethanahalli Naganayakanakote

Madhya Pradesh

Sanskar Public School – Village & Post Naugaon

Kiddy's Corner Hr Sec School – Shivpuri Road, Gwalior

Maharashtra

Aditya English Medium School – Sr. No. 70, Dhankude Nagar, Baner, Pune – 411045

Delhi World Public School – Plot No. 7A/7B, Sector-12, Opp. Poonam Tower, Nerul (West)

Crimson Anisha Global School – S. No. 13/1/1, Kadnagar Undri, Pune

Odisha

Jupiter Public School – Gangapada, Khurda, Pin Code: 752054

The CBSE, while issuing a statement after the inspections, stated that the inspection committee reports would be examined and action taken as appropriate if the case so required.

"CBSE is dedicated to maintaining the standards of education and will keep taking strong action against any breach of its norms," the Board has stated.

There is tension in Colaba following the closure of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) municipal school at N A Sawant Marg and shifting students to online education, citing substandard infrastructure. Parents, students, and local leaders protested on Monday, calling for an urgent substitute for on-campus learning.

Both the school buildings have been termed unsafe, as per BMC's School Infrastructure Cell. 1,500 of the 2,800 students are still in online mode, but the others have no facilities for classes. Parents complain the decision is unjust, especially for poor children who do not have proper devices, space, and supervision for online learning.

"This is not possible for our children. How can students from humble backgrounds learn at home in the absence of facilities? Several of them are already losing interest and drifting out," said ex-BJP corporator from Colaba, Makarand Narwekar. He further stated that parents would protest outside the BMC headquarters if the alternative space is not arranged in two days' time.\

Parents were also frustrated with the online learning process. "If two kids from the same family are here in this school, do we need to purchase two smartphones? The timing of classes is informed just an hour in advance. We need to keep children under watch at all times so they study, but when will we be able to work? Now, they want to shift us to GT School, which is in poorer condition and could close down anytime. Exams are near, and our kids are left in the lurch," complained parent Kumar Rathod.

Narwekar has written to Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, seeking prompt action. Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MSCPCR) has also been sought out to investigate the issue.

Terming the BMC's inspection as "unjustified," Narwekar asserted that the school building was repaired two years ago and now only needs some minor work. "Closing a working school will damage the students' future. Officers in air-conditioned rooms need to realize the ground reality," he said.

Another parent, Charan Rathod, claimed that the issue has been hanging fire for two months, with student dropouts resulting from this. "If the problem is not resolved in two days, we shall also join the protest at BMC headquarters," he threatened.

Parents and civic leaders claim the deadlock will continue until the civic body arranges for a secure, functional space for the kids to start in-class studies again.

In a vivid example of the infectious staff shortage affecting Assam government schools, the state high school is battling to accommodate just four teachers to instruct nearly 700 students, sending alarm bells ringing about the quality of education being delivered.

Despite serial recruitment drives and the introduction of the TET to make public school personnel more robust, things are far from reality. Students in this over-packed school are said to lack effective academic guidance, and the classes are disorganized between subjects and grades for the teachers.

"It is practically impossible to give the students their due attention," remarked one of the unwilling teachers. "We have to deal with several subjects, perhaps without a break, and still cannot teach the syllabus fully."

The crisis caused shock waves among education activists and parents, who are seeking an immediate response from the state government. "It is not a matter of staff — it's a matter of children's future," said community leader and education activist Ramen Deka. "Since there are no proper teachers, even primary learning objectives are not achieved."

The government has recognized teacher shortfalls in some areas but bureaucratic hitches in appointments and inadequate infrastructure persist to fuel the issue. Although the TET has improved the recruitment of fresh recruits, there are still some which go unpublished or encounter bureaucratic setbacks in their deployment.

Experts note that these variations in teacher-to-student ratios bear long-term consequences, particularly in rural and semi-urban pockets where other facilities like coaching or internet studies are not available.

Parents of the students have approached the state education officials, pleading with them to send more teachers on priority, make occasional visits, and establish support systems for frazzled staff. If no urgent action is taken, they caution, an entire generation of students will be lost.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has sanctioned the open-book examination for Class 9 students from the 2026-27 academic year. The same was sanctioned after the results of the feasibility and acceptance pilot study in schools were encouraging.

As detailed in the reports, the proposal was sanctioned by the CBSE Governing Body, the board's apex decision-making body, in a meeting in June. The program is in line with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2023, aligned on the template of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Structure and design of the assessment

According to the approved plan, open-book tests would be included as part of internal tests carried out by the schools for Class 9. They would be one of the three pen-paper tests administered for every term. The fundamental subjects that would be covered by this model would include language, mathematics, science, and social science.

Although the model will be suggested to schools, it will not be compulsory. Instead, it will be a model for schools to follow if they decide to use this kind of examination. Schools will be directed on how to appropriately administer open-book exams.

Objective and reason behind the change

CBSE's action is aligned with what is suggested in the NCFSE, which is shifting from the rote route to competency-based learning. Open-book examinations are now intended to be a way to assess students' skills to interpret, apply, and analyse information instead of memorization of facts.

The open-book format enables the students to use documents like textbooks, class notes, and library materials in reference to trying questions. This format is designed to examine their capacity to adjust available information presented elsewhere, which remains a key tenet of the NEP 2020.

Pilot study and previous attempts

In December 2023, the CBSE had sanctioned a pilot study to implement open-book examination in Classes 9 to 12. The pilot was conducted to study aspects such as the duration of time taken to finish the tests along with the attitude of stakeholders such as students, teachers, and school administrators. The study, as per the media reports, showed robust support from teachers for open-book modes being brought in.

This is not for the first time when CBSE tested open-book exams. In 2014, the board had launched an Open Text Based Assessment (OTBA) for Class 9 in Hindi, English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science. It was later launched in Class 11 for Economics, Biology, and Geography. There, four months prior to the final exam, the reference material was provided to the students. Still, the OTBA was withdrawn in the 2017-18 year as it was not found to enhance critical thinking among the students to any great extent. Implementation and future directions

The new scheme will try to promote higher-order thinking among the students and will compel schools to have the required capacity and training. CBSE has plans to support the schools with clear guidelines on how to administer these tests within their internal assessment system.

The program will develop a more application-based pattern of assessment in accordance with the overall purposes of the NEP 2020 and the NCFSE 2023

The training was not your run-of-the-mill workshop but an experiential, simulation and highly contextualized one so that teachers didn't merely learn but lived through them

In a major step towards class room change and 21st-century skill building, Telangana State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in partnership with Pi Jam Foundation successfully organized a two-day high-intensity capacity building training for state government school teachers. The focus was on equipping teachers with skills, attitudes, and methods to appropriately embrace and utilize the newly-released Digital Learning Textbooks for Grades one through nine, an innovative effort by the Telangana Education department.

Spread over two days, the training was not the typical workshop. It was immersive, experiential, and deeply grounded in real-life scenarios to ensure that teachers did not just learn concepts, but experience them. The objective was not only the acquisition of skills but also developing an attitude of thinking, problem-solving, and applicability to the lives of students. The sessions were deliberately scaffolded in a way that they were in close proximity with the digital content of the new textbooks so that the same energy, relevance, and depth could be transferred by teachers in classes.

The initiative of Telangana's digital learning textbooks is a milestone moment in the delivery of content and learning by students. To facilitate learning on a continuous basis and ensuring equitable access, the state will use telangana.codemitra.org an expert digital platform where parents, teachers, and students can learn from the same experiential learning modules. "The energy in the room was palpable," said a teacher who was present. "First time I realized how I can educate AI not only from screens, but also from games, stories, and the everyday life of our kids." - Mr. Madhusudan, Model School, Gundala, Yadadri Bhuvanagari

Highlights of the workshop were - simulation of real-world traffic scenarios by utilizing physical computing hardware such as LEDs and sensors to make the educators comprehend how real-world issues can be converted into coding exercises. The AI instruction that defined concepts like machine learning, data categorization, and bias in screen-free, tech-knowledged-free terms. The rest are - role-playing and team games on moral AI decision-making and algorithmic human biases, participating in intensive discussion and contemplation with design thinking sprints, where teachers addressed common school problems, empathized, and prototyped contextual solutions quickly. This project falls in line with Telangana's larger vision of developing curious, competent, and contextually aware learners who would be capable of contributing and succeeding in the world of tomorrow.