Top News

For her commitment to education and her activism, the Indian teacher Rouble Nagi has been recognised with the GEMS Education Global Teacher Prize 2026, which comes with a million dollar prize.

The Prize is part of the Varkey Foundation's initiative by UNESCO and the award ceremony was held at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, bringing together political leaders and government officials from different parts of the world.

For the past twenty years, Nagi through her Rouble Nagi Art Foundation (RNAF) has set up nearly 800 learning centres in more than 100 highly deprived communities of India.

To children who have not been to school, these centres offer them the opportunity of structured learning. They also help children who are already in the formal education system to catch up with their studies and offer them creative enrichment too.

At the heart of her activities are the "Living Walls of Learning" which are essentially educational murals through which children can learn literacy, numeracy, science, hygiene, history, environmental awareness, and social responsibility.

These works of art are not simply to beautify the wall or house but rather serve as neighborhood classrooms for children and also communicate with parents and members of the community.

Nagi's approach is geared to address the issues of poverty, child labour, early marriage, erratic attendance and lack of facilities in schools, among others, her model is geared towards addressing these issues.

Flexible schedules, learning through experience with recycled materials, and the development of practical skills make education both accessible and relevant. Her programmes have led to a decrease in dropout rates by more than 50 per cent and have positively influenced long, term school retention.

Besides, she has already educated over 600 volunteer and paid teachers, thus generating a scalable model able to serve various needs of children's academic, social, and economic areas.

Rouble is determined to invest her prize money in establishing a training school that will provide vocational and digital literacy courses for free. This initiative is expected to grant an entirely different dimension to the issue of marginalised children and young people.

A GLOBALLY RECOGNISED ARTIST

Along with her educational work, Nagi is an artist of worldwide recognition and leader of urban renewal.She has created over 850 murals and sculptures, exhibited in more than 200 shows worldwide, and was the first artist invited to exhibit at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum, with her work included in the President of India's permanent collection.

Her honours include the Jijamata Award, GR8 Award, MAP Noble Artist Award, and HELLO! Urja Award. Rouble Nagi is the tenth educator to be awarded the Global Teacher Prize since the award was created in 2015, thus becoming a part of an outstanding group of teachers who have influenced individuals' lives all over the world.

Speaking at the presentation of the state assembly budget on Tuesday for the 2026, 27 fiscal year, Finance minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said the govt was working towards improving the standard of higher education in Bihar and had made a decision to develop and upgrade two existing universities into model institutions.

Yadav said that two universities selected for the project were Patna University in Patna and Lalit Narayan Mishra University (LNMU) in Darbhanga. Initially, Rs 100 crore in total has been provided to each university to start the upgradation process, he informed. In line with this initiative, work was also underway for the modernisation and conservation of the Mithila Shodh Sansthan in Darbhanga.

He said the govt had recently constituted a separate higher education department by bifurcating it from the education department to improve quality and governance in the higher education sector.

To facilitate access to higher education for needy students, the govt has also provided for interest-free education loans up to a maximum limit of Rs 4 lakh, which has attracted students towards pursuing higher education.

As much as Rs 1,812 crore was allotted in the 2025-26 fiscal for loan disbursement among 52,616 candidates whose applications were selected. Of this amount, loans worth Rs 1,002 crore have already been disbursed to the selected students, Yadav said.

The budget speech also mentioned the govt’s decision to open an Adarsh Vidyalaya (model school) in each of the 534 blocks under the Saat Nischay-3 programme adopted for the 2025-30 period.

Under the same programme, a degree college would be opened in every block, while old and reputed educational institutions would be developed as centres of excellence. A decision has also been taken to develop an education city in the state under the Saat Nischay-3 programme.

At the school education level, as many as 838 schools have been selected under the PM SHRI Schools scheme. These include 47 middle schools (Classes six to eight) and 789 higher secondary schools. The infrastructure of these schools would be upgraded and modern equipment installed to enable smart classrooms, drone training and language laboratories, among other facilities.

In addition, one higher secondary school in each district, along with 47 others — making a total of 85 schools — would also be developed as model schools. 

Around hundred foreign medical graduate interns at the Government Medical College, Ambernath (GMC), have not been paid their stipend for the last five months. The Ambernath Citizens' Forum has sent a letter to Dr. Ajay Chandanwale, acting vice, chancellor of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), informing him about this and has also warned that if the stipends are not released soon, they will take the matter to the Human Rights Commission and file a lawsuit against the college dean. An FMG or Foreign Medical Graduate is a person who is either a citizen of India or hold Overseas Citizenship of India, has done MBBS or equivalent medical degree abroad and wants to practise medicine in India. Oncoming FMGs are not permitted to work immediately after coming back and have to pass a compulsory licensing exam like the Foreign Medical Graduate Exam. When they pass this exam, they must do a one, year compulsory internship in a hospital recognized by the National Medical Commission. After that, they will be entitled to permanent registration with a State Medical Council.

Satyajit Burman, a member of the Ambernath Citizens’ Forum who raised the issue on social media, said, “These interns have been working day and night in the hospital without being paid a single rupee of their stipend of ₹18,000. They are spending on their daily commute, accommodation and other expenses from their own pocket. Not paying them a stipend for such a long period is inhuman and a violation of their human rights. Despite raising complaints, no one is listening to them.”

The college administration explained the payment of stipends was the authority of the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), Maharashtra that had not yet released the funds. But the college, on humanitarian grounds, has already paid two months stipend to the interns by sourcing funds from other ways.

Dr Jai Ganesh, president of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), Ambernath, told HT, “The non-payment of stipends for five months is not the fault of GMC Ambernath alone. Medical colleges across the state that have foreign medical graduate interns have not received funds from DMER. Despite this, interns at GMC Ambernath were paid stipends for two months, which the college arranged from its own resources. There are also issues related to irregular attendance among some interns.”

Dr Santosh Verma, Dean of GMC Ambernath, told HT, “Our college is less than two years old and currently functioning from rented premises. This is only the second batch at the college, with around 100 foreign medical graduate interns. As we have not received funds from DMER for this batch, we were unable to pay the stipends. On humanitarian grounds, I arranged payments for two months, but beyond that it was not possible. Once the funds are received, the pending stipends will be cleared.”

Dr Verma added that not only interns, but faculty members as well as Class III and Class IV staff of the college had also not been paid their salaries.He also mentioned that faculty members reports on interns attendance were still awaiting to be submitted and that the attendance issues were being sorted out. I have had meetings with the interns' representatives to update them on the situation, he said.

The Union Budget 2026-27 presents a clear focus on building stronger links between education, skills and employment, and the proposed five university townships, and a high-powered 'education-to-employment and enterprise' standing committee have the potential to strengthen the pathways from education to work, the British Council's India head said on Sunday.

Also, the proposal in the Budget to establish a National Destination Digital Knowledge Grid to digitally document cultural, spiritual and heritage sites highlights the growing role of professional skills, storytelling and digital capability in "strengthening India's cultural ecosystem", Alison Barrett, Country Director India, British Council, told PTI.

Presenting the Union Budget 2026-27 on Sunday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to develop 15 archaeological sites, including Lothal and the Leh Palace, into "vibrant cultural destinations" and set up a National Destination Digital Knowledge Grid to digitally document all places of significance across the country, including cultural and spiritual sites.

In her 85-minute Budget speech, Sitharaman also made a slew of announcements related to several sectors, including agriculture, finance, health, employment, eduction, industry and creative economy.

The creative economy – also referred to as the 'Orange Economy' – is an evolving concept, which factors in the potential and contribution of creative assets in economic growth and development.

The British Council, being an organisation working in the intersection of education, culture and international collaboration, "we see strong alignment with our work", Barrett said.

"We look forward to continuing our engagement with the government of India and to deepening the India-UK collaboration for young people -- especially women and girls -- as they develop the skills, cross-cultural understanding and international connections needed to succeed in a competitive global economy," she underlined.

The British Council's India Centre in Delhi hosted the 'Creative Convergence: Growth Reimagined' on January 29-30, which "advanced the objectives" of the India-UK Programme of Cultural Cooperation (2025-2030), signed by the two countries in May 2025.

The creative economy plays a "vital role" in the UK-India relationship, British High Commissioner Lindy Cameron had said at its inaugural ceremony.

In her Budget speech, Sitharaman announced to set up five university townships in the vicinity of the major industrial and logistic corridors and a new National Institute of Design to boost design education and development in the eastern region of India.

She further suggested that the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai, be assisted in establishing AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics) content creator labs in 15, 000 secondary schools and 500 colleges.

Barrett pointed out that the Budget's emphasis on the 'Orange Economy' indicated a significant focus on the cultural and creative industries as engines of inclusive growth, job creation, and international engagement.

"The Union Budget shows definite intent to create stronger links between education, skills, and employment in the context of a fast, changing economy. Its focus on women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), youth in technology, and the investments that support aspiration, research capacity, and innovation demonstrate a continued commitment to equipping young people for future labor markets, " she concluded.

The proposed high-powered education-to-employment and enterprise standing committee, alongside the proposal to set up a new National Institute of Design and five university townships, "have the potential to deepen links between institutions and industry and strengthen pathways from education to work", Barrett said.

In her Budget speech, Sitharaman proposes to set up a high-powered education to employment and enterprise standing committee to recommend measures that focus on the services sector as a core driver of Viksit Bharat.

"This will make us a global leader in services, with a 10 per cent global share by 2047. The committee will prioritise areas to optimise the potential for growth, employment and exports. They will also assess the impact of emerging technologies, including AI, on jobs and skill requirements and propose measures thereof," Sitharaman said.

Barrett said the proposal to set up mega textile parks in challenge mode, alongside the Mahatma Gandhi Gram Swaraj Initiative to strengthen khadi, handloom and handicrafts, "points to a comprehensive approach that links skills, technology upgradation, value addition and global market access".

In order to open up avenues for students to get higher education, the Kerala government has resolved that all the undergraduate courses in arts and science colleges of the state shall be free of cost. Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal, who made this revelation during the budget presentation, termed it as a bold move in the state's free education policy.

The government has explained this measure as a logical extension to its free education policy up to Class 12, thus defining higher education as a right and not a special privilege. Besides putting less financial pressure on the students of middle, and lower, income families, it will also boost the popularity of public colleges.

In order to supply the higher education ecosystem with sufficient resources, the budget has set aside 259.09 crore for the smooth operation of universities under the Higher Education Department. Moreover, 851.46 crore has been allocated to the implementation of the Higher Education Council's recommendation and the introduction of four year undergraduate degree courses as per the national academic reforms.

The education centred budget also gives utmost importance to student welfare. Scholarships for Higher Secondary students belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families have been declared, and a fund of 7.9 crore has been set aside to facilitate uninterrupted schooling of economically deprived students.

150.34 crore has been earmarked for the free uniform scheme of the state, out of which 70 crore has been allocated to Handlooms Directorate for provision of two sets of uniforms to students of government and aided Lower Primary (LP) and Upper Primary (UP) schools. Besides, this move will help the handloom sector of Kerala's tradition.

Moreover, the budget offers 55 crore to Samagra Shiksha Kerala and around 23 crore more to the various education projects coming under the scheme. The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has been given 21.25 crore for educational purposes among which are the creation of textbooks for sports schools and the production of digital textbooks.

The strict focus of the budget on free education and institutional assistance thereby strengthens Kerala's standing as one of the most education, forward states in India.

Breaking news about UGC NEW RULES! The Supreme Court has put a PAUSE on UGC's controversial 2026 regulations. The court found the rules unclear and risky, and ordered that the 2012 rules of UGC remain in force until the next hearing on 19 March 2026.

Why Court Stopped UGC's New Education Rules

Chief Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi were not happy. They said that many rules are not clear and could be misused. Chief Justice Suryakant asked a provocative question, "Are we moving towards a casteless society, or going backward?"

What Will Change After this Ruling? 

• Existing UGC rules still apply (no new UGC rules in force) 2012 UGC rules.
• Next hearing: 19 March 2026
• Centre & UGC should respond with facts.
• Transparency + social balance to be maintained.

How Did This Happen?

The essence of the matter was brought out by petitioner Vineet Jindal. Section 3C is concerned with caste discrimination and does not take the general category students into consideration. Jindal claimed that this erroneously implies that it is only the general category students that are discriminated against SC/ST/OBC. The court felt that this had to be rectified.

Section 18 also drew a lot of criticism because its Equity Committee that it establishes lacks the representation of any general category. Chief Justice Suryakant remarked that it could be solved only through a really inclusive committee.

What Made this Case Get to the Supreme Court?

These rules, which are known as ‘Promotion of Equity,’ were published on 23rd January 2026 by UGC. Students, professors and groups all around India were protesting within days, calling the rules discriminatory, arbitrary and unconstitutional. Mrityunjay Tiwari, Vineet Jindal and Rahul Diwan were the key petitioners.

This eventually led to the court firing notices at the Central Government and UGC demanding detailed answers. They even hinted at forming an expert panel with educationists, sociologists, and social workers to rewrite the confusing language.

What This Means Right Now

Colleges can breathe easy after this hearing. There's no need to scramble to put confusing new rules into place. The halt on UGC new rules by the Supreme Court protects the status quo and demands clarity from UGC

All eyes are on 19 March, when India's top court will settle this explosive education policy battle once and for all.