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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday stated that the process of appointing 16,347 teachers through the District Selection Committee (DSC) exam will start in the first week of April. Speaking at the third Collectors' Conference at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister said the recruitment process for teachers should start in early April and be completed with their appointment before schools reopen for the next academic year in June.

Further, the CM indicated that teacher recruitment could incorporate Scheduled Castes (SC) sub-categorisation under the A, B, C, and D categories. The state has referred the one-man commission report submitted by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra on SC sub-categorization to the Centre and another important stakeholder, as per Naidu.

Depending on their response, the state will move ahead as pledged in the build-up to the 2024 elections, he added. District collectors were requested by the Chief Minister to see that the DSC examination is held perfectly.

Stressing welfare, development, and good governance as the three main pillars of administration, Naidu urged collectors to be ever vigilant to these priorities. He stressed that poverty elimination and public welfare are a must, particularly when hopes are high.

Further, Naidu pointed out that district collectors will be the Swarna Andhra-2047 Vision execution chairpersons, and MLAs will implement it at the constituency level. He emphasized that preparation for this vision must be done from the state level to the district, constituency, Mandal, and village secretariat levels.

Chief Minister also directed collectors to obtain environmental and other approvals required for Rs 55,000 crore worth of infrastructure projects, including national highways, and asked them to finish these in two years.

Pointing out that the Polavaram project is on track again with the Centre's support, Naidu stated that the mega-irrigation project is "set for completion" by 2027.

Charging the collectors with attaining a 15 percent growth rate, he stated that Andhra Pradesh had achieved a 13.5 percent growth rate between 2014 and 2019 but claimed that it fell to 10.3 percent during the last YSRCP rule.

Additionally, he instructed the collectors to scrutinize and recover GST arrears and take strict action against tax evaders, among other primary objectives.

A Vidya Parishad meeting took place on March 24 at the auditorium of the Kautilya Administrative Building of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University, presided over by Vice Chancellor Prof Pratibha Goyal. In the meeting, the university formally adopted the new guidelines of the National Education Policy-2020 (NEP).

The Vice Chancellor shared details about the new policy, declaring its introduction at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the university campus and affiliated colleges from the 2025-26 academic year, news agency ANI reported.

A four-year undergraduate programme has been brought in under NEP, with a uniform credit system of 20 credits in a semester for UG as well as PG courses, according to the Higher Education Department's updated framework.

This system will apply to departments like Arts, Science, and Commerce, including four-year UG courses like BA, BSc, and BCom, honors and research-based courses, and single-subject PG courses like MA, MSc, and MCom. The current three-year undergraduate courses, however, will remain as they are.

First, students will be enrolled in a three-year graduation program in the campus and affiliated colleges. In the fourth year, they can opt for either a four-year honors degree or a four-year honors research degree. Students have to choose their course—BA, BSc, BCom, etc.—at the time of admission. Students opting for a four-year degree after three years will have to reapply for admission to the PG program in the concerned subject.

Besides, the Vice Chancellor emphasized that there will be multiple exit points, and students may stop their course after the first, second, third, or fourth year after submitting an application.

The Kerala legislature on Tuesday (March 25) cleared a draft bill that will henceforth provide access to private universities in the state. The Kerala State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Bill, 2025, was cleared after two days of legislative debate. It was tabled in the legislature last week and sent to a subject committee for examination.

This marks a significant shift in the stance of the Left which has historically opposed private involvement in education in the state. Currently, Kerala is the only state without private universities. Here is what to know.

GOVERNMENT NOMINEES

The Kerala State Private Universities (Establishment and Regulation) Bill provides for government representatives or nominees in all three key decision-making bodies of private universities – the governing, executive, and academic councils.

The governing council of the university will manage its operations and make its regulations. It will comprise three government nominees among its 12 members – the Secretary of the Higher Education Department, a second Secretary, and a noted academician nominated by the government. Four among the remaining eight members will be nominated by the sponsoring body that establishes the university.

The executive council of the university will manage the university's funds and assets. One of its nine members will be a government nominee. Likewise, the academic council, which will make recommendations to the university on matters of an academic nature, will consist of three government nominees. The government nominees in both councils will be present at all meetings where decisions concerning government policies or instructions are to be made.

MULTIPLE CAMPUSES

The bill provides for the creation of 'multi-campus' universities. It mandates 40% reservation of seats in every course for permanent residents of the state. Of these, reservations for SC/ST/OBC students would be applicable, said the state's Minister for Higher Education, R. Bindu.

STUDENTS' COUNCIL

The bill also makes provision for a students' council with the Pro Vice-Chancellor as its head. It will consist of 10 student members elected by the students, one student from the SC/ST category, and two women students.

REGULATORY BODY

As per the bill, this body would be formed by the government "to promote teaching, research, development, training."

How is it different from legislation in other states?

Based on the University Grants Commission's 2024 figures, there were 471 private universities in the country. Gujarat has the maximum number of private universities (65), followed by 53 each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

There are some states that have general legislation governing private universities, such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. In others, such as Karnataka, there is a specific Act for the establishment of every university.

The level of state representation in the university's bodies and the percentage of seats to be kept for students of the state differ from state to state. According to the Private Universities Act 2019, in Tamil Nadu, 35% of seats in each course will be reserved for state students, while it is 40% in Karnataka. Haryana's 2006 Act reserves at least 25% of the seats in the university for students of the state, of which 10% are for the Scheduled Castes of Haryana.

Haryana and Karnataka have provisions for state governors acting as the Visitor of private universities, but the bill in Kerala does not have any mention of a Visitor. Apart from conducting the convocation, the Acts in Haryana and Karnataka also state that the Visitor can request information on the university and give directions if the university is found not to be following the rules.

TN allows two government representatives in the executive council, whereas in Haryana, the governing council shall have one government representative. The Karnataka Acts allow a government representative and a government nominee on the Board of Governors of the concerned university.

Why did the state decide to introduce private universities?

Bindu informed that the bill was prepared after the Shyam Menon Commission in its 2022 report, recommended the same. The Commission for Reforms in Higher Education, to give it its full title, was established soon after the 2021 assembly election and was led by Shyam B. Menon, ex-vice Chancellor of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Delhi. This, says the minister, is part of a 2021 election campaign pledge to establish Kerala as a center of higher education.

She further stated the report quoted the number of private institutes in the state as being more than government institutes, with some of the private institutes being of substandard quality.

"If you consider state higher education institutions today, there are only 20% that are government, and 80% are private, aided and unaided," she added. "Today, children are mortgaging ancestral land to go abroad, and the education loans are available now. Our kids are also going to private colleges in Bangalore…we can at least get them to stay back here."

She also stated there was a "dogma" of perceiving education in private schools as a status symbol to enhance a feeling of false prestige, rather than going to a public university. "It is not that our public universities are of poor quality. There is good quality, and good instructors, but to go to a government-run institution is shameful," she stated.

How has the Left's position regarding private institutions in Kerala shifted?

Earlier, the CPI(M) and its student organization, the SFI, strongly opposed the entry of the private sector into education. The Left objected to private polytechnics during the 1980s and a medical college in the cooperative sector during the 1990s, objected to the then Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government's move for permitting self-financing engineering and medical colleges in the early 2000s, and awarding autonomy to some colleges during 2014. They claimed that private management would have free reign without the oversight of the government, leading to the "commercialisation" of education.

Bindu explained this shift, stating, "Years ago, the plan was to ruin our public universities and indiscriminately privatise. As part of that, unaided institutions started sprouting up. In that scenario, it privatisation was incorrect. It is not the case today. Today, we are prioritising and consolidating the public sector while opening up the potential for private investment."

UDF Opposition leader VD Satheesan explained that they don't resist private universities within the state but that the bill does not provide answers to key questions plaguing higher education within Kerala. "These are matters of brain drain and a drastic reduction in student intake in government, aided, and unaided colleges," he explained, noting seats falling vacant in the state's colleges.

The Assam Assembly, on March 24, approved a Bill to limit private universities from taking up activities in the area of religious conversion of students, staff, and teachers. The House also cleared the Bills for establishment of three new universities and amendment of Acts of nine existing varsities.

Education Minister Ranoj Peju placed the Bills before the House for adoption and passage, in addition to another one proposing amendment to the Assam Private Universities Act, 2007.

The Assam Private Universities Bill, 2025 had suggested putting restrictions on the varsities from engaging in any activity concerning conversion of students, faculties and other employees. The university will have a secular nature, the amendment Bill stated.

It further suggested that the university should not introduce any new technical, medical, para-medical, nursing and other allied technical courses in relation to agriculture, veterinary, dairy and other allied subjects from April 1, 2025.

The amendment also suggested a security clearance report in respect of the antecedents or precedents of the sponsoring organization from the Home and Political Department, Government of Assam.

It also suggests a provision for the state government's inspection of the university every three years to ensure if the conditions laid down at the time of its establishment have been met. Any lapse in compliance to conditions could result in dissolution of the university, the amended Act stipulated.

The EdTech Skills University Bill, 2025, aimed at setting up a private varsity for promoting learning and evaluation of higher education and research as per New Education Policy, was enacted.

As sponsored by the World Education Mission, the new university would be set up in Tinsukia, Pegu added.

For similar purposes of the promotion of higher education, superior learning, and development of research, The Swami Vivekanand University Bill, 2025 and The Maa Kamakhya University Bill, 2025 have been sanctioned by the Assembly. 

Introduces by Social Action and Research Foundation, proposed Swami Vivekanand University will permanently sit at Odlaguri, Chirang district, with its operation center at Kokrajhar.

The proposed Maa Kamakhya University, which is being sponsored by Gabeshona Eduversity Foundation, will be located in Sipajhar in Darrang district.

The Srimanta Sankardeva University of Health Sciences Bill, 2025 was introduced by Pegu on behalf of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the in-charge of Medical Education and Research Department.

It aims to make sure that "institutes/organisations/ bodies requesting affiliation from the Srimanta Sankardeva University of Health Sciences do not pose any threat to national security, are secular in nature and are making use of legal funding for establishing the institutes.".

The House has also approved eight other Bills to suggest that the initial vice-chancellor of eight varsities be nominated by the state government and that the subsequent VCs are to be appointed by the chancellor based on a recommendation by an advisory board.

A section of MBBS students belonging to the RS 3 batch (whose admissions were done before 2019) were left disappointed when their pleas to alter the valuation pattern of the Aug 2024 exam were turned down by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

The students had organized an indefinite hunger strike on the university campus in Jayanagar last Thursday. When they turned up, cops were already present on campus to make sure nothing amiss occurred. The students proceeded to meet university officials and negotiated their issues.

The Aug 2024 MBBS answer-scripts were assessed by four graders and the average was marked as the final grade. The students, however, complained that the assessments ranged drastically from grader to grader. A paper got just single-digit scores from some graders, but the same one scored well from other graders. Their average was brought down due to a low score of one among the four options and the student got failed.

The existing system has only two assessments per subject, and the highest of the two is used to compute results. The students wished the highest of two marks to be implemented on the exam they sat in August 2024.

Though the university informed them that the assessment in their subsequent exams would be based on the highest of two assessors' marks, the students demanded that their Aug 2024 exam marks be computed the same way. "It is the evaluators' fault. Why do marks fluctuate so much for one paper? We are fed up with paying exam fees over and over again. They have promised the new system for the next exam, but why should we take another one when it can be rectified here?" asked a student.

But university authorities clarified to the students that a retrospective correction is not possible. "These are repeater students. They had some grievances regarding exam fees being levied every time, which we have addressed in the best possible manner. We have addressed their demands. One demand that we could not entertain was that new guidelines should be retrospectively applied. We cannot establish a precedent like this. Any policy is future-oriented. We have assured them that from the next exams, everything will be corrected. A committee constituted to consider this deliberation in detail. It was a unanimous decision that the request cannot be entertained," said an official.

There are 1,040 students impacted by this. They will take the supplementary exams from April 7.

Edinbox Exclusive Story on World TB Day – 24th March 2025

"The aspiration to end tuberculosis by 2025 can look daunting, but together and with determination, we can definitely move in that direction. This World TB Day, let us pledge to come together, commit, invest, and deliver." – Dr. Amit Dias

Why We Celebrate World TB Day

World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is celebrated every year on 24th March to mark Dr. Robert Koch's historic finding in 1882 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium causing TB. His finding led to the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Ever since, we have come a long way in fighting TB, but the battle is not yet won.

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for the elimination of TB are:

80% decrease in TB incidence

90% decrease in TB mortality

Zero TB patients experiencing catastrophic costs because of the disease

Although Dr. Koch was unable to find a cure for TB, we now have effective and cost-free treatment. Nevertheless, early diagnosis is important, and individuals need to identify symptoms and access timely medical care.

TB is Treatable: Remember the TREAT Approach

On this World TB Day, let's utilize the acronym TREAT to highlight the journey towards elimination of TB:

 T – Test for TB• Testing involves sputum testing by CBNAAT, chest X-rays, and other diagnostic equipment.• Early detection is critical to effective treatment.

R – Recognise the Signs• A cough of over two weeks, unexplained weight loss, night sweats, or fever may be an indication of TB.• Delaying diagnosis makes the disease worse and spreads it.

 E – Educate & Eat Well• Having knowledge about transmission and prevention of TB is needed.• A good diet with full nutrients builds one's immunity and helps in quicker recovery.

A – Adhere to Antibiotics• TB is curable, but incomplete treatment leads to drug-resistant TB.• Always follow the doctor’s prescription and never skip doses.

 T – Take the Full Course• TB treatment lasts at least six months, even if symptoms improve earlier.• Stopping medication prematurely can cause severe, drug-resistant TB.

India’s Fight Against TB: A 100-Day Mission

On 7th December 2024, the 100-Day TB Elimination Campaign was launched by the Government of India under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) to speed up progress toward a TB-free India by 2025. 

What Does TB Elimination Mean?

Reducing TB incidence to less than one case per million per year.

The whole world is committed to ending TB by 2030, but India has made it its target for 2025.

Where We Stand: The Current Status of TB in India

Progress in TB Control• India is accelerating decline in TB incidence compared to the global average.• Between 2015 and 2022, TB incidence reduced by 16%, and deaths due to TB decreased by 18%.

TB Burden in India (2022 Data, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)• Estimated Incidence: 2.82 million new TB cases (199 cases per 100,000 population).• Estimated Mortality: 331,000 deaths (23 deaths per 100,000 population).• India has 26% of the world's TB cases (out of 10.6 million global TB cases).

Understanding TB: Causes, Spread, and Drug Resistance

TB is brought about by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis and usually attacks the lungs (Pulmonary TB) but can affect the kidneys, spine, brain, lymph nodes, or intestines (Extrapulmonary TB).

How TB is spread TB germs are released into the air when a person with TB coughs, sneezes, speaks, or sings. Other people breathe in these germs and can become infected.

Why Multiple Drugs are NecessaryMany TB patients question why they need multiple medications. The answer: Each drug works differently to kill the bacteria, shorten treatment duration, and prevent drug resistance. Stopping treatment early creates drug-resistant TB, which is much harder to treat. Fortunately, newer drugs have improved treatment outcomes for resistant TB.

This year's World TB Day theme, "Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver," highlights the importance of:

Commitment – Increasing national and international efforts.

Investment – Diverting resources towards the prevention and treatment of TB.

Delivery – Making TB services available to everyone affected.

Ending TB by 2025 is ambitious, but achievable. Together—governments, health providers, and communities—we can make this dream a reality.

Thank you, Dr. Amit Dias, MD for cooperating with the Edinbox Team and sharing information on TB. Dr. Dias is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine. He is a holder of a DTM&H in Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and at present heads the Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC), St. Cruz. He is engaged in research on extrapulmonary TB in Goa under an Operational Research Project under NTEP