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A teacher shaved a student's hair off as punishment for failing to apply oil over it. The teacher was fired after the complaint was filed.

The incident occurred at the Swaminarayan Gurukul School of Jamnagar on Tuesday morning when the accused teacher used a blade to shave off the girl student's hair. The accused mentioned that she did not use hair oil.

After the incident, her parents registered a written complaint to the District Education Officer, and it led to official action from the Education Department.

The institution has a history of being in the news, and the most recent incident brought back to center stage campus disciplinary action.

The mother of the student, Anjaliben Gandha, accused the entire school culture of punishment. "The children get punished at school for such small things. Even if the child has forgotten a book, 100 sit-ups is what they give them as punishment. Our children are so afraid that they recall the school by name alone," she complained.

A comparable complaint was similarly filed from Navanagar Government High School, in which one teacher was reportedly accused of shaving a student's hair for the same reasons.

Shashiben Das, Education Director at Swaminarayan Gurukul, also confirmed the firing. "I was jobless when we dismissed the school. The principal came to notify me of this. We do not permit our kids to have long hair, and if they do not trim their hair, we even warn parents. But this was not so. Shortened the child's hair had the physical education teacher done, and that is why we dismissed him. We called a sit-down meeting with all the other workers and everybody was made aware of this."

District Education Officer Vipul Mehta stated, "Today, two schools in Jamnagar have filed a complaint, both of which are parents of students. In both of them, the complaint is that hair of children has been shaved. Orders have been given so that nothing like this ever happens in other schools, and teachers of both schools have been taken action against."

Both show-cause notices and investigations were launched by the Education Department.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has introduced 14 new Capacity Building Programmes (CBPs) for educators, as suggested in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The programmes intend to enhance continuous professional development in CBSE schools. The training guides respectively were formally introduced during the National Teachers' Conference 2025 in Patna.

The CBPs will boost the conceptual understanding of the teachers and pedagogy. From October 2025, the programs will be conducted by CBSE's Centres of Excellence on Prashikshan Triveni. Schools have been asked to inform the teachers and promote active participation.

Contents discussed

The CBPs discuss a vast range of contents and pedagogic needs at various stages.

For Hindi (Secondary Stage, Class 10), teaching methodology is emphasized, whereas Sanskrit (Secondary Stage) needs to adopt listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Creative methods like folk art, origami, printmaking, and calligraphy are suggested in Painting (Secondary Stage) for teachers.

For Economics (Secondary Stage, Class 12), the syllabus lays emphasis on national income and allied aggregates with competency-based pedagogical and assessment practices. STEM Education (All Stages) offers hands-on methods to inter-disciplinary pedagogy, and Value Education Through Sports (All Stages) assists teachers in employing sports as a means to instill teamwork, grit, and inclusiveness.

Competency-Based Assessment

As part of the CBPs, competency-based modules will concentrate on competency-based assessment in Social Science, Science, and Mathematics at middle and secondary school levels. 

Execution Strategy

CBSE shall implement the programmes between October 2025 to encourage constant learning and new pedagogy in all the affiliated institutions. Schools shall have its schools provide information to the teachers and vast participation ensured, thus encouraging professional development and better class results.

New Education Initiatives to be Launched Tomorrow

The Delhi government will launch three new education initiatives at its schools at a special function tomorrow at 1 PM at Bharat Mandapam. This is coinciding with the second day of Seva Pakhwada, a two-week public service and people-oriented activity to mark the birthday of the Prime Minister.

Rashtraneeti: Empowering Student Leadership

According to the Education Department, the flagship program shall be called Rashtraneeti. This scheme will set up at least seven student-run committees within the schools to tackle serious concerns like environmental issues, anti-bullying strategies, and canteen affairs.

Students will get the chance to vote for their representatives at school level, with the support of teachers. Authorities expect the initiative to allow students to develop useful experience in decision-making, team work, and leadership.

NEEEV: Developing Entrepreneurial Skills

Another program, NEEEV (New Era of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Vision), will target students in grades 8 to 12, aiming to cultivate entrepreneurial mindsets. This initiative will feature startup competitions, motivational talks from industry leaders, and the establishment of innovation councils at both school and district levels.

Selected student projects may receive financial backing of up to ₹20,000.

The Science of Living promotes Mental Well-being

Lessons on cybersecurity and digital detox will also be introduced. The students will have hands-on activities, including cleaning the Yamuna River, role-plays, and puppet shows.

In addition, the Delhi government is set to organize a tree-planting function with diplomats and open 500 new Anganwadis.

In a partial relief to 72 Class XII students of two schools in Bargarh and Padampur, whose results were withheld for having allegedly employed "unfair means" during the board exam, Orissa high court on Monday criticized the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for acting against the letter and spirit of its own rules and principles of natural justice.

Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad, who was hearing a group of petitions filed by the students, held that CBSE's action in withholding their Class XII board exam results without considering the students' side was arbitrary, stigmatic and legally untenable.

The court did not go in for any order for immediate declaration of results, but instead ordered CBSE to hold a fresh inquiry into the allegations of malpractice.

The petitioners' counsel approached the court, requesting the impugned orders to be invalidated along with the issuance of a direction to declare the results. The counsel for CBSE, on the other hand, requested the petitions to be dismissed and commanded the students to appear for the next examination, either supplementary or afresh.

But in the Sept 15 ruling, Justice Shripad decreed: "Justice of the case deserves the pendulum to halt somewhere in between. A mandate for new inquiry would achieve the golden mean between these two poles for the sake of upholding purity in examination process and justice to the students."

Pleading in court, the students' counsel argued that CBSE had acted in an arbitrary manner without providing them with any hearing or evidence of their wrongdoing. The counsel accused gross procedural impropriety, such as violation of the exam regulations and deprivation of a hearing — a fundamental principle of natural justice.

CBSE, in its defense, charged mass copying at the respective centres and stated that CCTV records — the key to the investigation — were not entirely accessible. It contended that given the "exceptional" circumstance of the case, it was within its rights to withhold results.

Justice Shripad dismissed this logic, noting: "After all, an exception to the rule does not drop from the sky. It must emanate at least by a reasonable interpretative process and in this case it has not emanated even by inference." He further noted that CBSE had not provided how it concluded culpability.

The court, while tugging at the schools' failure to retain CCTV footage after inspection in spite of explicit CBSE guidelines, noted, "There is a lot of scope for arguing that without the complicity of school officials, such lapses would not have occurred," showing distress over the fact that there has been no criminal action taken against the institutions concerned.

The 13th annual High School Benchmarks report's findings indicated that these socioeconomic disparities even appear immediately after high school graduation.

"For instance, the nonprofit research institution found 51 percent of students from high-poverty schools went to college in the fall after high school graduation compared with 74 percent of low-poverty school students.".

"Extensive differences in access to college and degree attainment mean that a lot of students are deprived of the benefits of higher education opportunity, particularly low-income students," National Student Clearinghouse Research Center executive director Doug Shapiro said in a Wednesday statement. "Even with consistent enrollment outcomes, the socioeconomic gaps remain firm."

The findings are concurrent with other studies this year that have indicated most high school students aren't ready to choose a postsecondary path after graduation. That includes a traditional four-year college degree, work or otherwise, according to a June report released by Jobs for the Future, Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation. Over one-third of students in high school said they've never set foot on a college campus, the same report determined.

Both middle and high school students also appear to be considering alternative postsecondary routes more seriously beyond the acquisition of a college degree. A 2024 survey published by national nonprofit American Student Assistance found just 45% of grades 7-12 students reported that they view a two- or four-year college as the most likely next step. That is a significant decline from 73% in 2018.

Meanwhile, ASA discovered that student enthusiasm for nondegree education options increased more than threefold from 12% in 2018 to 38% in 2024. These alternative options are vocational schools, apprenticeships and technical boot camps.

The cost of higher education is generally believed to be too expensive, as the majority of U.S. adults perceive that it costs more to get a college degree than it actually does, a report published in May by Strada stated. Such a misconception may also be leading some to forego higher education, the report further stated.

But the reality is that even though sticker prices for tuition have been going up at private nonprofit colleges, for instance, increasingly more students are still receiving sizable financial aid packages from them.

Punjab government has modified its education service rules, a decision that will help free the way for school principals' promotions and direct recruitment. The revisions, made through the fourth amendment to the Punjab Educational Services (School and Inspection) Group-A Service Rules, 2018, change the promotion-to-recruitment ratio and relax experience conditions.

The amendment changes the promotion quota from 50 to 75%, and direct recruitment will now take up 25% of the appointments. It also lowers the experience needed for lecturers and vocational lecturers to five years and headmasters from five to four years.

Teachers' demands

Though the changes were appreciated as a move to solve an old problem, the Democratic Teachers' Front (DTF) faulted the govt for retaining the compulsory departmental test for promotions. The leaders of the group, including its state president Vikramdev Singh, described the earlier rules as "undemocratic" and having led to resentment among teachers.

The DTF stated that they expected the govt to honor its commitment to carrying out all major promotions by Sept 30. They also demanded notification for the 25% direct recruitment quota, which would assist in filling over 900 principal posts lying vacant in the state. They also pressed for the abolition of the departmental examination requirement.