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Teachers and non-teaching employees of Thambal Marik Oinam College in Bishnupur district staged a sit-in protest on Monday against reported extortion threats from masked organisations, terming the monetary demands as "unbearable" and threatening academic stability.

Organized by the Employees Association of the college, the protest was staged during working hours, de facto suspended regular classes for the day. Employees gathered within the college campus with placards inscribed with slogans such as "We condemn unbearable monetary demand" and "Do not disturb peaceful academic atmosphere."

Employees Association general secretary Dr. L. Baleshwar stated the protest was organized due to some incidents over the past few days where anonymous groups of people served financial demand notices to college employees personally. "The demands were served within the campus, and they have upset teachers and staff members," he informed journalists.

Dr. Baleshwar informed that the college community has all along reached out to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) since ethnic violence erupted in 2023 and continues to do so as best as possible. "It is saddening that despite our having assisted humanitarian efforts all along, we are now facing unacceptable pressure from unseen quarters," he further added.

The college has called for peace and protection of schools from intruders. Dr. Baleshwar has requested the parties involved to reconsider their action and be mindful of the fiscal constraints and obligations of educational institutions. "We are educators, not accountants. Such coercion only agitates the academic environment we are trying to provide," he said.

While Manipur continues to struggle with the impacts of civil unrest, this incident underscores the precariousness of public institutions and the rising challenges for teachers in striving to give normalcy amidst ongoing uncertainty.

A law student of Rohtak's Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) has moved a contempt petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court urging it to initiate contempt proceedings against varsity vice-chancellor Rajbir Singh for failing to obey its direction (dated February 11). The court on February 11, ordered the varsity authorities to confer a PhD degree on a student Pradeep Kumar Deswal within eight weeks. The contempt petition has been put up for hearing on April 29.

On February 11, the single bench led by Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi noted and directed Maharshi Dayanand University to grant the petitioner the Doctorate Degree in Laws, which the petitioner has already acquired, without insisting on refunding the Scholarship amount.

"Let the order be complied with within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this order," the order stated.

Petitioner's advocate Ravinder Singh Dhull said that the MDU had not granted PhD degree to his petitioner Pradeep Kumar despite issuing a non-objection certificate and a good conduct certificate during the submission of the thesis.

"The Punjab and Haryana high court on February 11 instructed the Maharshi Dayanand University to grant degree to Pradeep Kumar Deswal in a span of eight weeks from the receipt of copy of order. Since the varsity did nothing in this regard, a contempt petition has been moved against the varsity vice-chancellor Rajbir Singh. The case stands posted for hearing on April 29," Dhull stated.

Dhull informed that his petitioner's degree was withheld as he had taken admission in the music department for a diploma in tabla while studying PhD in Law. Dhull pleaded that his petitioner's degree has been pending since 2021.

Justice Sethi in the order noted that the petitioner completed the diploma in 'tabla as part -time course and that too during evening. The justice had asked the varsity to grant the degree within 8 weeks and without insisting upon refunding the scholarship amount.

On contact, Ashish Dahiya, Public relations Director at MDU, informed that he is out of station and does not know about the contempt petition presented by Pradeep Kumar Deswal against vice-chancellor Rajbir Singh.

The Primary Teachers Association held a protest against the formation of a single Directorate of School Education and asked the state government to withdraw the decision on Saturday.

The teachers held slogans against the secretary (education) Rakesh Kanwar and the state government.

Pramod Chauhan, president of Primary Teachers' Association in Shimla, said that while the government is bringing reforms in the education sector — something the teachers are also welcoming — the amalgamation of the Directorate of Elementary Education with the Directorate of Higher Education into one organization can harm the basic framework of education instead of introducing qualitative change.

Chauhan stated that the Directorate of Elementary Education was formed post-1984 specifically for the purpose of bringing qualitative improvement in education, and since then, Himachal Pradesh has made big strides in that sector.

He threatened that if the state government keeps on "intimidating" the teachers, then they would halt administrative work from tomorrow and would only do teaching.

Action against protesting teachers

Even as the government warned teachers who organized a sit-in protest against the reorganization of the Directorate of Education to face action, Education Secretary Rakesh Kanwar in orders issued on Saturday stated that those teachers who participated in the agitation and protested "should be identified and disciplinary action be initiated".

The education department has suspended four office-bearers of teachers association, including president Jagdish Sharma, secretary Sanjay, Pratap Thakur and Ram Singh Rao.Teacher office-bearers and some teachers have stated that they will not undertake online work (online attendance, mid-day meal work). The education secretary has referred to this as "flagrant violation" of government directions.

Two teachers suspended as school found closed

Two teachers were suspended when Block Elementary Education Officer ( BEEO) Kupvi district Shimla found the school locked on inspection. The BEEO had visited GPS Shilal on April 25 and discovered JBT Ranveer Chauhan and Dalveer Singh JBT and other staff members and students of GPS Shilal education block Kupvi out of school without notice. During inspection, all the rooms were found to be locked. Taking a strict note, both the JBTs were suspended with immediate effect.

The Zee Education Conclave started in Delhi on Monday, where Uttarakhand Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat made his statements on education. He pointed out that Uttarakhand is the third most literate state, next only to Kerala and Delhi, and boasts of several top-rated schools and universities. He also spoke about the issue of madrasas, and said that illegal ones will be dealt with, while government-sponsored madrasas are encouraged. Rawat clarified that students can learn in any language they choose, without any restrictions, and that children must also learn about their mountain state.

When it comes to teaching Mughal history in the New Education Policy, he opined that Uttarakhand is the abode of four sacred shrines, and children need to learn about the history of this place. We want the students to learn about the history of Uttarakhand, its fairs, and its great people. They can also learn about NCERT characters and SCR T. Our goal is to teach the history of India. Prime Minister Modi has made a positive move, and we have implemented it.

We are working on helping poor children by giving them sufficient study opportunities. The problem of studies being disrupted due to insufficient books will no longer be there. We have hostels for the children so that there is no gap in their education. The study in these hostels is totally free for poor children, and at present, 1,300 children are studying there.

Dhan Singh Rawat said that if a hostel child is chosen for NDA, they get Rs 1 lakh. Apart from that, free coaching and entry to Super 30 are given by the government for free. Till now, 25 children out of 30 have been chosen for NDA. Concerning the Agniveer Yojana, the Education Minister said that the people in the area are content with the scheme.

Dhan Singh Rawat mentioned that 40 lakh children are studying in schools, with nearly every village having a school. Uttarakhand has 12,000 primary and 17,000 government schools, and the teacher-student ratio is excellent – one teacher for every 11 students, compared to the national average of one teacher for 30 students.

He further mentioned that there are 38.5 lakh intermediate students in the state, and basic items such as bags, shoes, and books are being distributed. Notebooks, which have been in demand for years, are now being provided to everyone. The Education Minister further said that even if a village has just one child, they will provide all the required resources. Uttarakhand plans for 100% education coverage by 2025

Renowned for registering the highest number of farmer suicides, the dry and barren Yawatmal district of Vidarbha in Maharashtra has reason to celebrate now. It has produced the state's first Muslim lady IAS officer. Adiba Anam, daughter of an auto driver, is the state's first Muslim woman IAS officer to join the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) ranks after securing the 142 All India Rank in the Union Public Service Commission this year.

Although Ashfaq Sheikh (Adiba's father) was not fortunate enough to carry on his studies further due to circumstances, which forced him to leave in tenth standard, he made a resolve that his daughter would not go through the same thing. He provided Adiba with every kind of facility and assistance, an intelligent student since childhood.

Two of Adiba's younger brothers are also on her footsteps. After scoring 98% in 10th standard and 97% in science stream in 12th standard, Adiba left Yawatmal and shifted to Pune, where she graduated in Mathematics.

Most of the students are not sure of their future after graduation. But my mind was set on civil service exams from Class 12 onwards. I knew what I desired and did whatever I had to become it. My maternal uncle, secretary to Seva NGO, introduced me to IAS officers, and out of curiosity, an interest was born. I made IAS a target and worked night and day towards it," she said.".

She enlightened that the route to success wasn't simple; it contained plenty of obstacles as well as roadblocks, yet she was well prepared to move forward towards fulfilling her IAS dream.

Once I had graduated, I started studying for civil service exams. My first two attempts were unsuccessful, but I never lost hope. In the second attempt, I reached the interview stage but did not make it to UPSC's final select list. I considered it a challenge and pledged to study harder," explained Adiba.

"Studying is difficult to study, especially for girls in societies dominated by men like Muslim, but my parents encouraged me. I owe a great debt to my mother, who was an immense source of strength and support to me. The society was against girls going for higher studies, but my father told me not to worry about society, and focus on the destination. My parents never let the pressure of society even approach me," she said.

Adiba said she has an extremely modest economic background. "As a auto driver, it was a problem for my father to fund my education expenses. But he would not let the resource constraint hold back his children. It was a long-drawn fight, but the parental pressure constantly overcame obstacles," she stated.

IAS is the stepping stone to serving society. "My area of interest will be to work among the underprivileged, especially girls. I want to work in the education and health sector," Adiba said.

Leading civil service aspirants never to give up, she states that failures in life occur but one must learn from them and emerge stronger. "Failures are part of life. We have to learn from our mistakes and make fresh attempts with more corrective measures," she further added.

Following the leak of the Tamil Nadu Teacher Education University (TNTEU) question paper 'Creating an Inclusive School' in August 2024, the higher education department has put restrictions on private B.Ed. colleges this academic year.

These include activities such as conducting examinations in private college centers, establishing an evaluation center and utilizing their teaching faculties as invigilators for examinations.

These decisions to prevent malpractice, were recently taken by the higher officials of the higher education department and not TNTEU. Except for that, recent semester examinations were held under observation of the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE).

Official sources said that until last semester, examinations were held in government, aided and self-financing colleges, and invigilators were deployed from the same type of institution for examination work. But this time, the examinations that were held from March 26 to April 7 across the state, were held only in government and aided colleges. Students from self-financing colleges took their exams in government and aided colleges under invigilators from the same category of institutions, relieving self-financing colleges of all exam hassles.

One of the TNTEU administrative officers told TNIE, "Besides these reforms, evaluation centres were not even allotted to self-financing colleges this time. For instance, an evaluation centre which is allotted in a private college in Salem every year has been allotted to an aided college this time. Evaluation centres this time have been formed only at nine government and aided colleges and at TNTEU."

"Apart from this, another requirement has been added for semester paper evaluation in which evaluating staff must have at least three years of teaching experience. The authorisation letter of the principal and a photocopy of the consent of the staff from TNTEU must be carried. The evaluation will be held from April 25," he stated.

A faculty of one government-aided B.Ed college welcomed this move and told TNIE that previously, TNTEU had received several complaints of malpractice from private colleges.

"Even so, TNTEU authorities were sluggish and did not act in any tight manner. In the wake of the question paper leak, stringent restriction was put on private colleges by the higher education department from participating in exams. Now, DCE officers are keeping tabs on TNTEU's exam duties," he added.