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Taking a big leap in improving the safety of students, the Uttar Pradesh government has introduced an ₹80 crore program to de-string high-tension (HT) and low-tension (LT) power cables passing over government schools in the state.

The ambitious scheme will include all primary, upper primary, and secondary schools that fall under the Basic and Secondary Education departments. The Power Department has already given instructions to facilitate quick and orderly implementation of the scheme.

Dr Ashish Kumar Goel, the Chairman of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL), has directed regional managing directors of the state's four key power distribution zones of Purvanchal, Madhyanchal, Paschimanchal, and Dakshinanchal to get in touch with local government officials for implementing the move forthwith.

District-level committees consisting of District Magistrates (DMs), Chief Development Officers (CDOs), Basic Shiksha Adhikaris (BSAs), and District Inspectors of Schools (DIOS) shall spot the affected school buildings and monitor line-removal activities. The committees have been asked to conduct their first meeting within three days to initiate the process.

To minimize disruption to learning by students, officials have been directed to plan the removal of the line during school breaks whenever possible. Short-term closures might be considered in situations where urgent work cannot be avoided.

This step comes in the wake of increasing concerns regarding the safety of children at school, particularly in rural and semi-urban belts where overhead cables tend to pass close to schools. The move is a part of the overall effort by the state to make school infrastructure child-safe and resilient.

The project will not only remove an overlooked hazard but also mark a serious turn to put child safety high on the agenda in schools, officials stated.

The Haryana School Education Board has instructed all schools under the state to make recitation of lines from Shrimad Bhagavad Gita a part of their daily prayer sessions.

In a letter to school principals, the Board's Chairman wrote that recitation of these lines will help in students' all-around development.

The HSEB is of the view that Gita teachings have moral and spiritual lessons that can inspire young minds positively. The action aims to instill in schoolchildren values of discipline, responsibility, and concentration.

"The reason for introducing recitation of Bhagavad Gita verses in school prayer meetings is that children must learn from the spirituality and the wisdom that the scripture contains in abundance and implement them in their life for the welfare of society," Pawan Kumar, Chairman HSEB, said.

"We wish to observe the change in the coming generations so that they can become an example to the world and make India the Vishwaguru, as PM Modi has also stated. In the past, people from across the globe used to visit India for spiritual knowledge. India's spiritual knowledge is world-class," he further stated.

The ruling is applicable to government and private schools associated with the HSEB. Principals have been requested to make certain verses read on a regular basis in morning assemblies.

This comes against the backdrop of continued attempts by the state to incorporate value- and culture-based learning into the school curriculum. The move has been welcomed by some educators for its moral teachings but could generate arguments regarding the place of religious texts in public schools.

The officials have explained that the verses will be taught in a manner that highlights their philosophical and educational content, rather than religious education.

The roll-out is set to take place in the next academic session in Haryana schools.

Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Sunday requested Centre to take immediate action to address the textbook shortage in Kendriya Vidyalayas in the state.

He pointed out that students of Class 5 and 8 in PM Sri Kendriya Vidyalayas are still lacking necessary books, four months after the onset of classes.

With only days remaining for the first quarterly tests, the default on the part of NCERT authorities to provide books, which should have been distributed, is highly serious, the minister observed in a press statement.

Kendriya Vidyalayas classes commenced from April 1. Even after four months, however, teachers were offered study material only through websites.

The minister explained that students cannot sit for the exams without books, which will greatly impact their studies.

Making a comparison between the state government schools, Sivankutty declared that textbooks have been made available in them even prior to the start of the academic year.

"In this situation, the negligence of NCERT is unacceptable. The action is to sell the books online and private book kiosks rather than providing them in schools," Sivankutty claimed.

It would compel children to purchase books at a monstrous price than the initial rate.

The union government should step into this immediately to provide textbooks to the students with regard to their future, the state minister said.

Acting on a media report, the District Magistrate of Surguja in Chhattisgarh conducted an inspection of a ruined school in a far-flung village and took immediate action, including sanctioning a new school building and suspending the village secretary.

The visit was made a day after India Today reported that village kids had to learn in a dilapidated Anganwadi kitchen because there was no working school building, which existed only on paper, it was reported.

Shaken by the grim situation, the DM visited the premises himself and raised serious concern over the lack of basic educational infrastructure. "Children cannot be taught in such unsafe surroundings," said the DM during the visit. He sanctioned the building of a proper school building for the village on the spot.

Taking administrative action, the DM suspended the village secretary for dereliction of duty and served a show-cause notice to the block education officer for not taking action earlier against the long-pending issue.

The incident has again brought to light the disconnect between records and ground realities in rural education. It also highlights the important role played by the media in bringing spotlight to the forgotten corners of the system.

The authorities have been directed to start the process of building without any delay, and ad-hoc measures for safe learning environments are being made for the affected kids.

With administrative accountability now underway, residents are optimistic that the children will finally receive the classroom they deserve.

General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Tuesday ruled out the prospect of the government changing its stance in revising the school timing. The revision is done only for classes 8 to 10, the minister claimed, while very few students used to attend the religious studies in these classes.

The priority is to protect the education rights of the students, Sivankutty reiterated. "The government does not object to religious education, but the academics of the students are paramount," he added.

Saying he had spoken to Jifri Thangal (Samastha Kerala Jem-Iyyathul Ulama president Syed Mohammed Jifri Muthukoya Thangal), Sivankutty clarified that the recent meetings had no connection with school-hour change but to dispel doubts. "They have been misguided. The meeting was to clarify, not to alter," he explained.

Classes in Malappuram and Kozhikode unaided schools start at 9am, Sivankutty added.

"We have 10 schools in Gulf countries. Those schools run by the authorities there start at 9am," he said, and claimed that the government was interested in guarding the interests of all 47 lakh students in Kerala. He also clarified that there is no opposition by the government regarding the opinions of any religious group. "We are ready to discuss with anyone on extending the school hours," he said.

Regarding the padapooja matter, Sivankutty said that washing teachers', retired teachers', or any other distinguished personality's feet by students as part of customary practice will be prohibited in state schools.

"The education department has directed the director of general education to ask questions about schools where such incidents occurred. These are similar to old customs in the modern world. School officials at the helm of RSS ruled that they would provide protection to the institution for the (padapooja) ceremony.

But such schools will struggle to run the institution legally," Sivankutty said.

Community groups have to take up matters relating to their own communities or religion; education is the sphere of the democratically-elected government, according to the minister, while simultaneously indicating that religion and education should never be combined and will not be allowed to mingle under any circumstances.

Within hours of Tamil Nadu's Director of School Education releasing a circular that ordered that seating in classrooms can take the shape of a semi-circle, similar to the Tamil letter Pa ( ), the directive was suspended after it caused a tidal wave of criticism, particularly on social media, by educationists, health professionals, and political parties.

The seating arrangement was intended to eliminate the stigma of ‘backbenchers’ and promote equality among students.

The circular issued by S Kannappan, Director of School Education, stated, "Engagement begins with arrangement, the 'Pa' shape opens the floor for open minds." It stated the arrangement would improve interaction, provide all students with a clear vision of blackboard and teacher, and enable teachers to observe all the students effectively, apart from ensuring students' comfort.

But the plan sent shockwaves immediately regarding its feasibility and impact on health with most wondering if there were any consultations with the stakeholders involved before the issuance of the guidelines.

New arrangement may impact children's health

"Students on the sides will have to rotate their necks for hours, five days a week. It can cause 50% of students to suffer from serious neck-related problems, and 15% could have very serious problems," a neurosurgeon wrote on X.

He also alerted us to visual stress, particularly for glasses-wearing students who would be asked to peer through the periphery of their lenses instead of the optic center, resulting in additional eye strain and headaches. The Director of School Education circular had instructed all Chief Educational Officers in all the districts to provide the new seating configuration in all the classrooms, considering the student strength and class sizes.

While the new arrangement was to be put in place based on the size of each class according to the circular, most noted that government schools and government-aided schools have longer rooms, as opposed to broad rooms that would be required to support seating structures in 'Pa' shape. Furthermore, a class with a large number of students will experience hardship even with the new arrangement.

The idea of the move was inspired after a few schools in Kerala voluntarily followed such seating patterns on their own, following the Malayalam film Sthanarthi Sreekuttan.

Responding to the move, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami criticized the state government for pinching ideas from movies without any scientific study. "Stop playing with students' health for publicity," he tweeted on X. BJP state secretary SG Suryah also criticized the move. The director told TNIE that the circular has been suspended. "Following health issues raised, we are debating whether to apply it or not. A decision will be made after thorough discussions next week," he added.