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In one corner, a teacher teaches students the English alphabet - A for Apple, B for Ball, C for Cat - in another, others are learning the Hindi alphabet, and, in yet another, a blackboard reads "2+2 = 4". With the small classroom, a student raises his hand, confused, "Sir, why did this cat become four?"

This setting, which appears to be plucked from a satirical television program on the school system and infrastructure, is a sad reality in Satna's Uchehra block in Madhya Pradesh, where the Dudha Primary School has set a new standard for what a classroom can be. With a building collapse, 95 students from five grades were packed into one hall, five different blackboards, and five different subjects taught, sometimes at the same time.

This leaves the students hunting for education in the din.

Instructing Teacher Lavkush Kori clarified the reality: "Without classrooms, there was no choice but to merge classes. Boards were required and festivals cut down on the attendance, and when all the children were gathered, the actual challenge was not to teach, but how to keep the students safe from the rain."

Occasionally classes were conducted in a tree shade, and then students would be rushed inside to escape the weather. A student captured the challenge pithily: "It is very difficult to study There is too much noise."

Dudha is not alone. Over 70 schools in Satna are fighting the same conditions. Papers are passed between government departments, as batons in a never-ending relay race, while students wait for classrooms that never materialize. Pushpraj Sharma, headmaster of one of these schools, added that the building had been razed to the ground two years ago and plenty of letters had been sent, but nothing was done.

Approvals Pending

Sunil Saraf, Assistant Engineer at the District Education Centre in Satna, conceded that proposals were submitted and permissions awaited, and work would start only after that.

Even the state capital is not exempt. In a school right behind the Raj Bhavan in Bhopal, classes till the fifth standard have been forced into one room for years now. There is no play area and even the mid-day meal is taken in the same small space.

In Madhya Pradesh government schools, over one crore children were enrolled between Classes 1 and 8 in 2010-11 and the figure has almost reduced to half at 54.58 lakh currently. Hundreds of schools have received zero admissions this year, 7,217 schools are still running single-teacher schools and over 5,600 have no buildings or operate in dilapidated ones.

The government maintains it is acting. School Education Minister Uday Pratap Singh expressed that, under Chief Minister Mohan Yadav's direction, preparations had been made for maintenance and new classrooms with proposals being submitted to the finance department and finance being sanctioned. He admitted shortfalls but asserted the government is making efforts to offer the best possible resources.

CBSE introduced Apaar ID compulsory for board exams in 2026. Now, students without Apaar ID will not be permitted to sit for 10th and 12th exams.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has declared a crucial announcement about 10th and 12th board examinations of 2025-26. Now, it has been made obligatory for the students to possess Apaar ID prior to appearing for the exam. In other words, students without this digital ID will not be able to sit for the board exam.

This is a component of the guidelines released by CBSE to the schools, for which submitting the List of Candidates (LOC) is compulsory. As a matter of fact, annually the schools are compelled to submit the list of their students to CBSE prior to the board exam. In accordance with this, the admit cards are formulated and the exam procedure is arranged.

When and how LOC will be submitted?

The board has instructed all the schools to fill LOC in online mode between 29 August and 30 September 2025. Parallely, late submission between 3 to 11 October 2025 will have to undergo this process with late fee. The board has clearly stated that the date to submit LOC and fee will be the same, i.e., it has to submit both form and fee in time.

Only those students whose name will be included in the LOC will have an opportunity to sit in the 2026 board exam. Therefore, schools have been asked to cross-check the name, date of birth, gender, category and parent's name of the student properly before sending it to the board.

Apaar ID was made mandatory.

This year CBSE has chosen to associate LOC with Apaar ID. Apaar ID is a digital identity of 12 digits that has been initiated by the Government of India, under which the academic record of the students is kept digitally.

Under this, the mark sheets of students, degrees, certificates, scholarships, awards and all other academic achievements are safe. That is, wherever the students study under Apaar ID, their academic history shall be available on the same platform.

The Board believes that the step will not only ensure transparency of identity but would also put an end to examination and result-related malpractices in future.

What information would be required?

Student's complete name

Parent/guardian's name

Date of birth

APAAR ID

Correct subject code and combination

Nature of application (fresh/improvement/compartment)

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will hold a series of offline workshops for parents across five states during September 4 to September 18, 2025. The workshop is a bid to empower school leaders and wellness professionals with resources that will equip parents to aid children's academic success, emotional well-being, and social development.

According to the board, the workshops are being kept exclusively for principals and counsellors or wellness teachers of schools affiliated with CBSE. The session will focus on empowering teachers with tools so that they can help parents in terms of how to cope with issues of modern parenting, like issues of digital exposure, stress, and how to build resilience.

The training modules align with the CBSE Parenting Calendar 2025–26 and will address issues such as positive habits of parenting, fostering digital well-being, and motivating students' emotional and mental resilience.

Workshop schedule

The workshops will be held in some of the CBSE schools at the following venues and dates:

Hyderabad – September 4

Gujarat and Siliguri – September 9

Punjab – September 15

Madhya Pradesh – September 18

All the workshops will be conducted between 10 AM and 2 PM, and the participants need to report by 9:30 AM.

Registration details

The seat for participation is limited and will be given on a first-come, first-served basis. Only school heads and wellness coordinators who are eligible can register online using the link given in CBSE's official notice. Only those who receive email confirmation will be allowed to attend.

Building bridges between families and schools

CBSE officials said workshops are only a part of a larger initiative to involve teaching professionals and parents in close interaction so that kids receive consistent support both at school and at home. The board described the programme as a "participative forum for learning, sharing, and building collective responsibility" towards the development of the next generation.

Through open communication and pragmatic methods, the project hopes to build schools as centers of academic learning as much as for being collaborators in the general development of students.

In a shocking incident, it has come to light that a baby boy was born inside the toilet of a government residential school in Karnataka's Yadgir district by a Class 9 girl. The girl and the infant are in stable condition and being treated at the Shahapur Government Hospital, officials confirmed.

The delivery reportedly took place on Wednesday afternoon, but the matter came to light only the following day, raising questions about the response and accountability of school authorities and local health officials.

Notifying the incident, the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) directed a detailed investigation. Commission member Shashidhar Kosambe, who made the trip to the school on Thursday, raised concern regarding the failure to monitor the health of the student and instructed the filing of a suo motu case against the school's principal and staff.

"More and more such incidents are coming to us in the state, which is unfortunate. The health officials here should have carried out monthly check-ups, but where lapses seem to have taken place. We have instructed the DCP, Yadgir, to go to the school, register a case, and submit a detailed report by tonight evening. Action will be initiated against all concerned," said Kosambe.

The incident has enraged child rights campaigners and observers of education, who insist that it is an indicator of institutional failure in the protection of students in residential institutions. Many contend that even with child protection protocols in place, laxity at the grassroots level makes vulnerable learners susceptible to abuse and neglect.

At the same time, the school administration has been severely criticized for not reporting the incident to the Commission immediately. The KSCPCR has also held health and education officials accountable for not detecting the girl's condition when she was screened in the course of regular medical checks.

The authorities added that a further investigation will ascertain how the pregnancy escaped detection and if the girl had been sexually assaulted. Police and child protection officers have been instructed to counsel the mother and newborn, as well as ensure their safety.

The incident is the latest addition to a mounting list of child protection issues in Karnataka, with issues still raised over the effectiveness of monitoring systems within schools.

At least 21 teachers of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and polytechnics have been chosen for National Teacher Awards, 2025 for their excellent work, the Ministry of Education announced on Tuesday. As per the ministry, in 2023 it was decided to unveil two categories of the awards -- one for HEIs and the other for polytechnics.

21 are selected teachers from polytechnics, state universities

"The 21 selected teachers belong to polytechnics, state universities and Central Higher Education Institutions. The choice has been made on the basis of the performance of the teacher as judged against the parameters like teaching, learning effectiveness, outreach activities, research and innovation, sponsored research, faculty development programmes and consultancy teaching. Of the abovementioned, learning effectiveness and outreach activities have the heavy weightage," the ministry stated in a release.

Here's how these teachers were selected

Procedure for selection of National Awards to Teachers (NAT)-2025 is two-stage process-- scrutiny by preliminary search-cum screening committee for shortlisting of the nominees first and selection of the awardees from the shortlisted nominees by a national jury.

NEP 2020 recognizes that empowered, dynamic and capable teachers are required for the advancement of the students, institution and the profession. It also envisions incentives such as reward and recognitions to enable a culture of excellence in the education ecosystem, the statement said.

View all about selected teachers

Two of the selected teachers each belong to Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Apart from this, one teacher from each of the places of Puducherry, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bengaluru, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and New Delhi have been selected for the awards, the ministry added.

Jharkhand school children from next year, 2026, will study the life and struggle of "Dishom Guru" Shibu Soren through eight books from Classes 1 to 12. The state School Education and Literacy Department has decided to incorporate chapters on the veteran leader in eight textbooks.

The choice, the officials explained, is to enable the young generation to grow up with Jharkhand's own heroes alongside national leaders. Soren's life would be taught through simple anecdotes and stories at the primary level, whereas upper classes would address issues of tribal identity, social reform, contributions to parliament, and the statehood movement for Jharkhand.

The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) have begun working on the material. Subject specialists will develop the content for different age groups, along with project work and activities to inject interactivity into learning.

Education Secretary Umashankar Singh said the programme has been designed to instill values of honesty, struggle, and social commitment.

Dishom Guru Shibu Soren gave a distinctive identity to Jharkhand. His fight, his ideology, and his belief in the rights of people will make the coming generation proud," he added.

The political establishment has also weighed in. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) hailed the move as “historic,” describing it as a recognition of both the leader and the state’s identity. Party leader Mithilesh Thakur wrote on X that the decision would give children not only a textbook chapter but also a moral compass: “Guruji’s struggle and legacy will guide future generations.”

The step has also precipitated bigger controversy regarding the role of local icons within education. As much as they see it as overdue recognition of a giant figure in Jharkhand's historical past, critics are bound to question whether the step clouds the line between education and politicized legacy-holidaymaking.

For Jharkhand students, though, the inclusion provides a more concrete connection to their state's roots, its struggles, and the leadership that shaped its destiny.