K-12 School Education News | Stay Updated with Edinbox

A government school headmaster in Kerala was arrested for beating a Class X student, bursting his eardrum, the police said on Tuesday. The incident was reported at Government Higher Secondary School, Kundamkuzhi, on August 11 when the headmaster Ashokan saw the 16-year-old boy playing with pebbles by his feet during the school assembly.

The accused teacher reportedly summoned the victim to the front of the assembly, pulled him by the collar, and slapped him, bursting his eardrum, police added.

The child complained of a severe ear ache after the occurrence and was transferred to a government hospital, where the doctors authenticated the injury in his ear. He is receiving treatment at a private hospital.

Police authorities at Bedakam police station, Kasaragod, have confirmed a case had been registered against the headmaster on Monday evening.

The case was registered under Section 126(2) (wrongful restraint) and Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (cruelty to a child).

The case was registered after the victim's complaint, whose initial statement was taken by the police on Monday.

Police officials informed that they have opened an investigation into the case, and the headmaster's statement will be taken soon.

In the meantime, officials from the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) met the child and family on Tuesday.

The KSCPCR also registered a case and is investigating.

After the incident, Education Minister V Sivankutty directed the education department to carry out an investigation and submit a report.

A report will be submitted to the minister soon by Kasargod District Education Officer, sources added.

The Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training (GCERT) has initiated state-wide training on using the newly-designed 'Teacher Edition' for all Class 3 to 8 teachers.

The training, commenced on August 18, will be conducted up to September 29, 2025, in blended mode, both online and offline, at taluka-level centres, according to official sources.

The 'Teacher Edition' has been created to apply the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023 in classrooms directly.

With subject-specific versions developed by GCERT, the editions seek to prepare teachers to develop 21st-century skills like problem-solving, team working, communication, and digital literacy in students.

The training focuses on innovative pedagogy, experiential approach, and digital literacy.

The teachers are not only being introduced to the Teacher Edition but are also undergoing classroom simulations through activity-based modules, demonstrations, and group work.

Inaugurating the programme, Principal Secretary Mukesh Kumar and Education Minister Kuber Dindor wished the teachers best of luck.

Minister of State for Education Praful Panseriya, in a video message, appealed to teachers to groom students for 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' and utilize the state's Gunvatta Abhiyan (Quality Campaign) optimally.

GCERT Director P.K. Trivedi, along with senior educational officials, underlined the urgency for teachers to be current with modern practices and utilize the Teacher Edition to help improve quality in the classroom. The editions are posted on GCERT's website and the DIKSHA platform.

Through providing hands-on, student-focused training, the state aims to change classroom practices and bring teaching in line with the larger changes in the curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment imagined by NEP 2020 and NCF 2023.

The Gujarat government included a whopping Rs 59,999 crore for the Education Department in its 2025–26 fiscal budget, the second-largest allocation after finance, indicating high priority to the modernization of education in accordance with the 'Viksit Bharat 2047' vision.

Pivotal investments are Rs 2,914 crore towards upgradation of more than 25,000 classrooms under the Mission Schools of Excellence, Rs 1,250 crore for the Namo Lakshmi Yojana (education of girls), and Rs 782 crore under the RTE Act to assist students enrolled in private schools.

The budget also allocated resources for infrastructure in higher education - such as Rs 175 crore for AI labs and Rs 100 crore for the new Gujarat Institute of Technology - and large scholarship and welfare programs like Gyan Sadhana, Gyan Setu, MYSY, and Namo Saraswati, besides inducting more than 22,000 teachers to enhance quality and access in the system.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education has exhorted the Education Department to recruit the 10 lakh teaching positions vacant in the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)-funded schools of different States.

Close to 7.5 lakh posts are present in the primary and elementary stages of these National Education Mission schools.

The Committee, which is headed by MP Digvijaya Singh and includes 31 Lok Sabha MPs and 10 Rajya Sabha MPs, presented its report to the Lower House on August 8 and to the Upper House on the same day.

This is the 368th report of the committee and is on the subject, "The functioning of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and initiatives taken to support training of teachers in light of NEP 2020's thrust on Capacity Building of Teachers."

There was no enhancement of filling up of vacancy posts in these SSA-financed schools of the state Governments notwithstanding repeated suggestions by the Committee in its 349th and 363rd Reports to fill them within time, the Committee noted.

The vacancy position "is increasing day by day due to retirement of teachers and due to lack of a permanent recruitment policy."

The panel thus advised the Education Department "to take up the issue of teacher vacancies in SSA-funded schools of the State Governments forcefully." The teachers' salary component of SSA funds of the States that fail to implement the directions of the Department to fill up the vacancies may be put in abeyance until the respective States act as per the directives of the Centre, it further added.

Among 14.8 lakh schools, only approximately 3,000 schools are governed by the Government of India. "In this regard, the Committee is forced to observe that the percentage of vacancies in the Government of India-governed schools such as Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) etc., are also critical. There are total 30% to 50% vacancies in KVs and NVs also," it added.

It has set a deadline of March 31, 2026, to fill regular/permanent teachers here and provide information to the committee.

The Committee demanded an end to contractual appointments in the KVs, NVs as well as SSA-financed schools saying they go against Constitutional provision of reservation in Government jobs to SC, ST, OBC, PwD and EWS categories.

A government school teacher has been arrested by the police in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district on charges of ripping and burning photos of Bharat Mata and Hindu gods and goddesses. He is also said to have forced Hindu students to read the Quran and learn how to perform Namaz.

A case was filed under BNS Sections 298 and 351(3) -- relating to desecrating a place of worship or items revered by a specific religious community and criminal intimidation -- at Jharda police station in Ujjain on Wednesday, and the accused teacher Shaqil Mohammad Nagori was arrested by the police.

The case was filed on the complaint of Nagpura village resident Rohit Rathore, whose cousin Anurag Rathore is a Class VI student in the government secondary school in Nagpura, where the accused is a teacher.

The complainant said his cousin informed him in the morning on Wednesday that the said teacher, Shaqil Mohammad Nagori, tore and set ablaze photographs of Bharat Mata and Hindu deities in front of school children on July 11.

"A picture of Bharat Mata was half burnt in front of the school when I reached school on Wednesday," the complaint claimed in the complaint.

The complainant also claimed that his cousin and other Hindu students at the said government school have informed him that the Muslim teacher routinely asks them to read the Quran and learn how to perform Namaz.

The school kids informed the complainant that the teacher had threatened to kill them if they publicized the issue (tearing and setting on fire pictures of Bharat Mata, Hindu deities).

While assuring the development, another SP (ASP-Ujjain) Mayur Khandelwal stated, "A case has been registered on the complaint and the concerned teacher has been taken into custody." 

Meanwhile, according to the latest reports, the concerned teacher has been suspended by the Ujjain district education officer, in the wake of the incident.

The incident first gained public notice, police sources say, when a 14-year-old boy, a ninth-standard student, phoned his parents at 8 pm on July 10 and complained that he and his friend were beaten and stripped by two friends. They became afraid of further torment and escaped the school campus and went to Pune and arrived there at around 1:30 pm.

In a chilling turn of events, a chilling incident of ragging has surfaced at an elite school in Panchgani, near the well-known hill station of Mahabaleshwar in Satara district.

Two minor boys from the same class stand accused of brutally ill-treating and humiliating two younger students, with reports indicating that one of the children was stripped by his classmates against his will.

The police sources informed that the case initially came to light when a 14-year-old student of the ninth standard phoned his parents at 8 pm on July 10, stating that he and his friend were attacked and undressed by two of his classmates. Terrified of being further assaulted, the boys ran out of school and went to Pune, arriving there around 1:30 pm.

Subsequent inquiries found that the same child had also suffered similar episodes on June 23 and July 6, when he was stripped and ridiculed in front of his fellow students. The child explained being threatened and assaulted throughout these incidents, leading his parents to report the incident to Panchgani police.

After the complaint, officials took statements from the parents of the minor students involved and sent the case to the juvenile court in Satara for investigation. The incident caused a shockwave across the educational fraternity, causing serious concern with regard to ragging among minor students in elite educational institutions.

Famous students who studied in Panchgani

Panchgani, a hill town famous for its renowned schools that have children from across India, is now in the limelight for alleged student safety and discipline problems. While incidents in recent times have sent alarm bells ringing, people are now wondering whether legal action will be initiated against the minors. This incident goes on to prove how necessary it is to put an end to ragging and make schools a safe place for all.

Some of the most famous people have attended school in Panchgani. They include Queen legend Freddie Mercury, actresses Kajol, Zeenat Aman, Nutan, Twinkle Khanna, Kim Sharma, Prachi Desai, and Rinke Khanna. Other famous names are Miss World 1966 Reita Faria, Protima Bedi, classically trained dancer, filmmaker Saahil Prem, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker, and Lieutenant General Victory Rana.

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.