Opinion

In a dramatic relinquishing of duty, a government upper primary school at Kapasa village in Hamirpur district was found to be being operated by an unappointed private tutor and the headmaster's personal driver, prompting instant administrative action and official inquiry.

The incident came to the light on August 8 when a parent had complained to Assistant Basic Shiksha Adhikari (ABSA) Sushil Kumar Kamal, alleging that regular teachers were absent and class was being taught by a private tutor and the headmaster's driver, Veeru Singh.

After the complaint, Kamal made an unexpected visit and confirmed that teacher Madhuri was on authorized leave, whereas headmaster Singh failed to intimate the authorities about his absence. To everyone's surprise, Singh's driver Ram Sahay was found on the school premises allegedly conducting classes.

"The situation is very unusual and unacceptable. The headmaster was absent without prior leave, and unauthorized personnel were engaged in teaching activity," Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Alok Kumar Singh stated in a release on Tuesday.

After verification, Singh was suspended with immediate effect and transferred to the Upper Primary School, Tikri Buzurg, Maudaha, temporarily. ABSA Prabhakar Tomar of Bharua Sumerpur has been mandated by the district administration to investigate the case thoroughly and submit a report in one week.

The occurrence raised a serious concern regarding rural school monitoring procedures and the accountability of government-appointed staff. Education officials have guaranteed severe disciplinary action will be taken based on the findings of the inquiry to prevent repetition of such offenses.

School fees can be going up exponentially year after year, but teachers claim that little to nothing gets translated into their pockets as their salaries are being raised by a meager 1,500.

They complain though the managements request them to give them a notice if they intend to resign from the school by December, intimation regarding the increase in salary is given just two months after re-opening the school, and it's challenging even to search for a new job.

"Though I did my best, this year I was hiking a 1,000. The management did not state any reason. I enjoy teaching, but such a paltry salary is hard to survive on," Asiya Shireen, a high-school teacher at a city-based private school, says.\

Another educator, Sanjeev Reddy, comments, "We were provided with year admission targets. Even though new admissions have risen and fees increased by more than 30%, our pay has been kept more or less constant. Teachers, the pillar of the education system, are being overlooked. We can't even quit the school and go apply for a fresh position as they've made us sign an agreement."

The Telangana Private Teachers Forum (TPTF) members stated that the condition of teachers this year was poor since it was given a meager hike or no hike at all by majority of the schools. "There are schools which provided a hike of 500 as well. In the majority of the schools, no teacher received more than a hike of 1,500 or 2,000. This, keeping in mind the extra classes and administrative duties. Schools simply claim admissions were pathetic this time, giving it as a reason for providing dismal increments," opines Shabir Ali, president of TPTF.

He maintains that unless the govt strictly enforces regulations and makes sure that teachers are compensated adequately, managements will go on milking both teachers, by offering meagre wages, and parents, by extorting huge fees.

Managements, on their part, affirm that it is a reality that the majority of schools suffered admissions this year. "The earning of individuals from the majority of groups has decreased in the past two years because of retrenchment and bad recruitment. Therefore, many are considering govt schools, particularly boarding ones. This is applicable to not only budget schools but also others. That is why many schools were unable to provide good increments to teachers," says Y Shekhar Rao of the Telangana Recognised School Managements Association, noting that the overall school expense has also increased substantially.

The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police on Sunday filed cases against 123 teachers appointed under the last Congress-led Ashok Gehlot government, as they are accused of getting jobs by unfair means in the 2018 and 2022 REET (Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers).

The Education Department presented a list of the accused to the group following an internal audit that raised questions over anomalies in their selection.

The officials said the accused had used impersonators, presented fake documents and committed other malpractices while being recruited.

A staggering majority of more than 95 percent of the teachers who are being investigated hail from Jalore district, which has been accused in paper leak cases earlier.

During Gehlot government's tenure, REET exams were held in 2018 and then in 2021. The 2021 exam was subsequently cancelled following mass complaints of a paper leak. A new test was held in 2022, which is also now being questioned.

FIRs have been lodged against IPC sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery for purpose of use as a valuable security), 471 (the use of forged document), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and provisions of the Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act, 2022.

SOG Additional Director General V K Singh said all state departments were asked to carry out departmental checks of appointments done in the past five years, especially in the wake of mass paper leak cases.

"Under this, the Education Department had brought before us a list of 123 suspicious appointments. We have filed FIRs against them and will probe each case separately," Singh said.

The investigation is ongoing and further action will be taken based on the findings.

Every year on 15th of August the Indian sky fills with the colors of our tricolor flag,reminding us of the courage, sacrifice and vision that built this free nation. It’s a day when we pause , not just to remember history but to reflect on our own role in shaping the future.

Independence day is not only about looking back with pride ,it's also about looking forward with responsibility.

Why this matters for Students-  You are growing up in the time where freedom is not just the right to live in an independent country,but the power to :

• Think Independently -questioning , exploring and innovation.
• Speak Fearlessly- sharing your thoughts and ideas to bring change is freedom.
• Create Without Limits- using technology , media arts and science to solve problems. 

In 1947 our leaders dreamed of a free India. In 2025,and beyond you will decide what that freedom means.

Freedom in the Age of Students- Freedom today is your ability to choose your own career path,to explore knowledge without barriers , to connect with the world through ideas.It is only education that does not discriminate, a freedom to be vocal about your opinion views. Freedom to get a chance to make an impact beyond borders.

At Edinbox Communication,we believe that students are the heartbeat of the nation’s future.The skills you gain ,the choices you make,and the courage you show will define the next chapter of India’s story.

Let’s make a promise to yourself

• I will use my education to bring positive change.
• I will respect diversity and unity.
• I will stand out for truth,faireness and creativity  
• I will build an India that is stronger, smarter and kinder.

As a student,your freedom is powerful. Don’t let it go unused. Use your voice to challenge injustice,your ideas to solve problems and your passion to inspire others.

Edinbox Communication wishes you Happy Independence Day. Let’s keep your tricolor flying high not just in the sky,but in our hearts,our work and our dreams.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is installing a special radio facility for teachers, students and other concerned people. Official has confirmed that the proposal had been cleared in the recent Governing Body meeting of the board.

The CBSE would apply for a community radio license under the scheme. Technical experts and the stakeholders would be met during the next half year of advisory meetings to draft the application and have the content strategy translated. The budgeting for the project is also in progress.

A top CBSE official stated the programme would bring about improvement in board's communication channels. "We would announce the modalities of the programme to be telecast as soon as we get the licence," the official added.

CBSE has already introduced "Shiksha Vani," a podcast platform which was introduced to provide subject-based audio content for class 9 to 12 students. The platform was hosted on the Google Play Store and has released almost 400 episodes based on the NCERT syllabus.

The new radio for the community will operate differently from all the other media. It will be interactive and a live one that is capable of offering information, instruction, and education news in real time to the public. Programs will be particularly tailored for CBSE's huge and extensive group of Indian students.

After public and commercial radio, the low-power radio stations are meant to cater to local communities — by offering individuals a chance to hear and speak for themselves in their local languages and dialects. Therefore, unlike mainstream media, these stations bring to the limelight voices that are otherwise not heard, focusing on local issues like education, health, agriculture, and social awareness. Catering to the needs, there are some 540 licensed Indian radio stations, with most being operated by not-for-profit entities such as community societies, NGOs, and schools. Their mission is not to turn a profit — it is to bring people together. Community radio stations are bridging media with the needs and contexts of ordinary people, making media more contextual and proximate.

The government provides subsidy to such radio stations in rural and far-flung areas under different schemes and views them as a weapon of inclusive communication.

For CBSE, the shift can prove beneficial to its reach, particularly in non-penetration internet zones. With crores of students and teachers to reach out to, an FM channel can fill knowledge gaps and inject participation in education schemes.

And if planning and licensing process is conducted successfully, the CBSE community radio may be broadcasting soon, the first from an Indian national education board.

In a bold prediction which turns the foundations of modern education and white-collar jobs upside down, billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla said college degrees are dead. Talking in recent interviews and panel talks, Khosla argued that artificial intelligence would rapidly surpass excellent human teachers and professionals, and usher in a new world of individualized, AI-driven learning to displace expensive universities—and expert work in law, finance, and medicine being handled by machines increasingly. His vision implies a near-future where curiosity, adaptability, and exposure to AI are more valuable than credentials.

Vinod Khosla predicts that AI tutors will outperform human instructors

Khosla expects tutoring software based on AI to ultimately outdo even the highest-paid private tutors. The software will present unbroken, personalized instruction tailored to the pace and method of each student. To him, a child in a remote village away from a city may soon be better taught by an AI tutor than a child at one of the world's best city schools. He predicts that within five years, every student would have access to a free AI tutor, which would fundamentally transform the way we think about learning and the cost.

"College degrees are dead": Death of credentialism

The era of college degrees and academic qualifications is ending, says Khosla. He is convinced that AI systems that provide up-to-date, real-time data will displace the application of dated degrees and institutional certification. Abilities will take precedence over diplomas, and achievement will more and more be evaluated by how well one can learn and adjust—not by a hanging diploma. Enabling students to change course without taking extensive, costly degree programs, Curiosity-based education can supplant inflexible curricula in this new environment

Democratizing access to education and expertise

Accessibility is at the heart of Khosla's vision. AI will remove geographical and economic barriers to career guidance and education. From legal advice to financial planning and disease diagnosis, AI could make expert-level services available to the fingertips of any smartphone owner. He suggests that this could decongest congested courts, provide quality health care to rural areas, and allow even low-income citizens to receive good financial advice—facilitating upward mobility at scale.

Khosla anticipates AI to deeply reshape white-collar jobs. In law, AI can help clear case backlogs by providing low-cost or free legal services. In finance, smart algorithms will give personalized investment and savings strategies to even lower-income individuals. And in medicine, he foresees AI to offer diagnostic advice and recommendations for treatment, making the previously elite practice of leading experts accessible to the general population. In the next 25 years, he thinks that most of these services will be virtually free.

CK-12 and the future of adaptive education

As an example of today's examples, Khosla often points to CK-12, the nonprofit education website his wife Neeru Khosla co-founded, as an illustration of how AI-based, adaptive learning can serve up to millions. CK-12 is different from traditional textbooks or courses in that it tailors content to individual student performance, and that gives us a glimpse of how future AI tutors might work—scalable, tailored, and available to all regardless of their income or location.

Wider implications: Disruption of employment and creation of new opportunities

While Khosla does concurs that AI can automate up to 80% of current jobs in the coming years, he also sees this shift as an opportunity. As specific tasks are automated, those abilities most prized in human beings will be generalist abilities: critical thinking, creativity, communication, and adaptability. He urges policymakers and educators to prepare for a future where the norm is not career-long credentialism but lifelong learning.

Vinod Khosla's vision isn't only about tech—it's about an absolute reshuffling of opportunity. With AI making obsolete old barriers to knowledge and expertise, no longer do the gatekeepers of education and professionalism hold exclusive sway. The result, Khosla foresees, will be a more level playing field—barring, that is, change on the part of people and institutions. "This is not an upgrade of the old system—it's the end of the old system," he asserts.