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National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) published new textbooks for Class 5 and 8, brimming with the revolutionary vision of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023.

These books are a giant leap towards more questioning and inquiry-based learning. With conceptual understanding, creativity, and skill development at the forefront of their new books, they try to go beyond mugging and try to spark curiosity in young minds — the kind where a good book does not tell you what has happened but makes you go on reading and find out why and how.

For Class 8, the following titles have been introduced:

Curiosity – A Science textbook that fosters scientific curiosity and discovery.

Kaushal Bodh – A Vocational Education textbook, the first one for this grade.

Malhar – A Hindi textbook with literary and language exercises.

Poorvi – An English textbook with a focus on comprehension and communication.

Kriti – An art textbook that cultivates creativity through visual expression.

For Class 5, the newly introduced textbooks are:

Veena – Hindi textbook

Santoor – English textbook

These publications arrive after previous releases of NEP-compatible textbooks for Classes 1, 2, 3, and 6, step by step paving the way for the new school education system.

But although they have been published, the new books are not yet available widely or downloadable in print or PDF. Although NCERT has already placed them on sale at Amazon, they are not yet available supplied or stocked and hence the expectations among teachers and parents are rising.

With rollout currently the priority, schools and students wait not only for bound books, but also for supporting teacher materials and resources to be able to make these textbooks come alive in classrooms nationwide.

A big shot in the arm for rural education, students of two govt schools in Sircilla are ready to participate in an eight-week online course by the prestigious IIT Madras from this August. As a part of the school connect programme by the institute, students will learn about advanced subjects including AI to law while remaining in their classrooms.

The courses, which are developed and provided by the outreach and digital education center at IIT Madras, range from a wide variety of topics like data science and AI, aerospace, architecture and design, engineering biological systems, environmental studies, law, electronic systems, humanities, and recreational modules such as 'maths unplugged' and 'fun with maths and computer'.

Government High School, Sircilla and Zilla Parishad Girls High School, Sircilla Class X students will be participating in the programme. The students will view video lessons during the week and participate in live interactive sessions with IIT professors on every Saturday.

"This is a good chance for students to be exposed to these topics and learn directly from IIT Madras. We have all the facilities required, such as big television screens, projectors, and computers to make it an interactive experience," said Dr Chakinala Srinivas, gazetted headmaster of Government High School, Sircilla.

Describing how this came about, he further said, "We grasped the opportunity and made an application for the school connect programme of IIT Madras and received word that the tie-up had been confirmed. This morning, I told the students in assembly, and they were all visibly excited."

Students who successfully undergo the programme will be awarded certificates from IIT Madras, which is an important incentive for a number of students in these schools.

"When students are exposed to multiple subjects at the school level itself, they can make an informed choice about their future profession," Dr Srinivas observed.

The move is viewed as a step towards narrowing the gap between rural students and premier educational institutions, providing them with an early push into future-oriented courses.

Turning a new page in his divide with the state government, Governor Rajendra Arlekar welcomed the Guru Purnima celebration in schools, where part of it included students washing the feet of elderly teachers. General Education Minister V Sivankutty and CPM state secretary M V Govindan criticized the practice.

Guru pooja is our culture. I don't know from which culture these individuals belong," the governor added while opening the golden jubilee celebration of Balagokulam in Balaramapuram, Thiruvananthapuram. Referring to the fact that he has received some complaints on this front, Arlekar stated that an attempt to forget our culture would result in our forgetting ourselves.

Yet, Sivankutty denied the claims of the governor. "Kerala does not have that kind of culture, and such a practice will not fare well here either," he said, calling the practice cruel. "It is unfortunate to witness individuals holding important roles like the governor making such a statement," he said.

I do not know of any Indian scripture that requests school children to wash the feet of BJP leaders," the minister stated, saying that such an activity could be considered "mental harassment" under Section 17(1) of the Right to Education Act.

Denouncing the practice, Govindan stated that the RSS is attempting to introduce activities that were a part of the traditional chaturvarnya system.

The row was initiated when pictures and videos of children washing the feet of elderly teachers as a part of Guru Purnima celebrations emerged from schools in the state. Sivankutty has directed the director of general education to ask schools for an explanation.

The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also filed a suo motu case in the matter, informing that all such incidents will be covered under the same case.

In a very shocking twist of events, a Class 6 boy died under mysterious circumstances within his school hostel in the Kasganj district of the Uttar Pradesh state, sending a red alert over campus security and student health.

Anurag, a 13-year-old boy of Gurukul School, who resided within the school hostel. In the morning of Tuesday when the school was all set to begin another ordinary day, tragedy struck the school. When the class monitor went to wake up Anurag, he was confronted with a ghastly sight—blood was oozing from the boy's nose and ears. The hostel staff carried the dead body to the nearest hospital, where upon arrival, he was declared dead.

Superintendent of Police Rajesh Dwivedi, who had himself undertaken the case, said an inquiry was underway despite no complaint having been lodged by the family. "Six police teams have been formed to inquire into the incident in detail," he told the media.

Accompanied by the Additional Superintendent of Police Diksha Bhawre, SP Dwivedi visited the school campus, met hostel staff and students, and recorded their statements. The authorities are not leaving any stone unturned, and the last hours of Anurag's life on earth are being tried to be reconstructed.

The premature death of the young boy stunned and enraged people. Questions haunt the cause—medical emergency, negligence, or something else?

The school administration has remained tight-lipped until now, but in the coming days, the school authorities will certainly face interrogation.

Like in all such ongoing investigations, Anurag's family is left with questions and despair. The mishap has once again highlighted safety provisions in boarding schools, especially in the case of children outside home and institutional care.

The Azim Premji Foundation has expressed concerns over the improper operationalisation of the six-day-a-week egg distribution programme in many government schools in Karnataka. The irregularities, the Foundation said, were caused by one-sided decisions by School Development and Monitoring Committees (SDMCs).

Eggs substituted with bananas in most schools

In spite of the scheme of eggs being made compulsory for being served six days a week, the Foundation reported eggs are being served only two or three days of the week in most of the schools. Banana is served on the rest of the days. The discrepancy was found by Azim Premji Foundation during school inspections and the foundation has helped out ₹1,500 crore under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to implement this scheme.

Key observations from school inspections

After inspecting 762 schools, the Foundation observed that 568 schools were not serving eggs as directed by the scheme. In a few schools, SDMCs, sometimes with the agreement of parents, have opted to give bananas on Mondays and Saturdays. In others, the routine has been changed to three days' eggs and three days' bananas. But children are said to like getting eggs.

Memorandum released; warning of disciplinary action

The Foundation had filed a report with the state education department, which has now released a memorandum directing SDMCs to get back on track. The department clarified that SDMCs are not entitled to make changes to the approved nutrition plan independently.

The Director of PM Poshan Shakti Nirman cautioned that lapses if repeated would result in disciplinary action against school-level supervisors like headmasters, cluster heads, taluk, and district education officers who did not immediately stop or correct the breaches.

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and visual communications platform Canva have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the launch of three self-paced, digital certification and training courses for teachers in India. These courses are to be offered for free and are aimed at building digital, creative, and collaborative classroom teaching skills among teachers in schools.

Canva teacher training module will be provided on DIKSHA, the Ministry of Education school education digital platform. It will also be aired through DTH TV channels of PM eVidya to provide reach to teachers in rural and inaccessible areas where internet is not available. The courses will also be provided in some Indian languages to ensure wide outreach.

The educators will be trained to create engaging lesson plans, presentations, infographics, and other educational materials using Canva Education. The educators will learn collaborative pedagogy and classroom applications of AI tools. The educators will be jointly certified by NCERT and Canva upon completion.

Under the MoU, Canva would make its education platform and tools accessible for free, as well as help prepare instructional materials. NCERT would adapt the content to India's national curriculum and customize it for local use.

The training programme is as per National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and emphasizes developing visual learning, critical thinking, and design-based pedagogy. AI functionalities would also be utilized by educators in order to enhance the participation and performance of students.

Through this initiative, Indian teachers will be certified to utilize Canva Education's vast library that has over 500 tools and apps with in-built capabilities like games, translation, worksheets, and infographics for subjects and classes. The platform's AI-based tools will help teachers make it easy to create content while facilitating efficient planning and delivery in terms of time.

In a statement, Canva announced that its education platform has welcomed more than 25 million teachers and students in 2024 alone, taking its global learning base to more than 100 million users. The platform saw a 50% increase in the use of teachers and a 107% increase in student usage over the previous year. Canva's AI-powered tools like Dream Lab are becoming ever-more popular among educators for creating personalized visuals, enhancing online learning environments worldwide even further.