Education News | Latest Updates, Trends, and Insights - Edinbox

Through the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA), the Ministry of Education approved a total of Rs 385.27 crore for the Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN) in Thiruvarur's overall infrastructure development.

 This comes after Tamil Nadu had repeatedly protested that the Central government had not disbursed Rs 2,291.3 crore of funds for the 2024–2025 school education integrated program, which was sponsored by the Central government.

The State had approached the Supreme Court against the Centre in the matter on May 21, 2025.

A ministry release on official lines stated, "The additional amount sanctioned will allow CUTN to build new academic and hostel buildings—among them a state-of-art academic block, more hostels for students and research scholars, and residential quarters for teachers/staff. A Science Instrumentation Centre, with a special provision to have cutting-edge instruments for high-end research, will be set up."

The Ministry's grants will largely pay for the project.

This massive investment will modernize the university's learning environment, greatly enhance residential accommodation for students and research scholars and state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment to fully equip CUTM to respond to the changing needs of its academic fraternity," the release stated.

sanctioned projects and their expense are as follows - New Academic Building construction - Rs 96.4 crore; 300-bed girls hostel – Rs 46.63 crore; boys hostel of 300 beds – Rs 46.91 crore; Scientific Instrumentation Centre - Rs 19.95 crore; Scientific Instrument purchase - Rs 16.84 crore; Administrative building extension – Rs 46.16 crore; Faculty and Staff quarters (all categories) – Rs 62.97 crore and 400-bed research scholar hostel - Rs 42.6 crore.

In a major step towards enhancing the education and holistic development of the early childhood children in the country, the government of India has released new guidelines to co-locate Anganwadi Centres with primary schools in the country. It was announced on September 3, 2025, by Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Annpurna Devi, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

Formal Schooling with Early Childhood Care

The guidelines are meant to integrate the critical services of Anganwadis- psycho-social care and nutrition services in early childhood- and the infrastructure/learning environment of primary schools. The co-location model can guarantee a smoother transition of children between Anganwadi and Grade 1 and possibly reduce the dropout rates and enhance the learning outcomes at the foundational level.

Anganwadi Centres are being established at a rate of more than 14.02 lakh across the country, and 2.9 lakh of those are already co-located in 9.16 lakh government and government-aided schools. The new guidelines offer operational clarity, infrastructure standards and roles and responsibilities in making this integration quicker.

This initiative, as per Minister Annpurna Devi, forms the basis of every child learning experience, helps in an all-round development, and fits into the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of a healthy and empowered young people as part of the Viksit Bharat mission.

Digital Push: AI and Broadband to Change Education

Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan emphasized the importance of using technology in improving education. The government intends to link close to 2 lakh schools in India with broadband connectivity over the next three years. This digital inclusion will expand the amount of online learning materials, narrow the urban-rural gap in education access, and equip Anganwadi workers, the first teachers of the child, with AI devices, particularly teaching Indian languages.

He reported positive results in early literacy and numeracy in rural schools, using current ASER and PARAKH results, as an indicator of the commitment of Anganwadi workers to enhancing the quality of early education. 

Empowerment and Training of Anganwadi Workers

Since the significance of Anganwadi workers (or didis) is immense, the government has proposed a special learning module to all individuals who have passed up to Class 12 but want to go on with their education. This initiative will empower Anganwadi workers to enhance the quality of care provided in early childhood and develop professionally.

Convergence of Nutrition, Health, and Education

These guidelines have been developed in close consultation with the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Education, which demonstrates a whole-of-government approach to combine education, health, and nutrition in an integrated manner. Initiatives such as NIPUN Bharat and Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi are linked to this effort, ensuring children receive comprehensive care and quality education from the very start of their learning journey.

The curriculum will be supported by teaching-learning aids such as Jaadui Pitara, e-Jaadui Pitara, and Adharshila, which are based on the National Curriculum Framework of foundational education and are in line with the vision of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) as envisaged in the National Education Policy 2020.

The significance of Early Childhood Education in National Development

The integration is in line with the NEP 2020 which advocates Early Childhood Care and Education as the basis of a lifetime learning. The move to streamline Anganwadi Centres and schools into a single house will see the government guarantee access to high-quality early education to all children and help achieve the country's goal of becoming a Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047.

This initiative will be of critical importance in providing quality health, nutrition, and education to almost 15 crore children aged 0-6 in India. The co-located Anganwadis in schools will lead to a better use of resources, more involvement of the community, and a supportive, happy environment in which children learn and develop during their early years.

This progressive shift of the government of India  to co-locate Anganwadi Centres with schools, coupled with emphasis on AI tools, broadband connectivity, and worker empowerment opens a new frontier in the foundational education system in India. It will establish better infrastructure in early childhood education and help millions of young children to learn better which will bring the vision of an empowered well-nurtured generation.

Total number of school teachers in the nation reached the one crore figure for the very first time in any given year of schooling in the year 2024-25, as per figures released by the Ministry of Education's UDISE.

Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus is an education department data gathering website to receive school education data from every nook and corner of the country.

"Enhanced recruitment of teachers is a welcome step towards enhanced pupil-teacher ratios, quality education, and removal of regional disparities in teacher availability. The numbers are rising steadily since 2022-23 and the current reporting year.".

"There is a growth of 6.7 pc number of teachers during the current report year in comparison to 2022-23," said the report.

Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) at the foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary levels is 10, 13, 17 and 21 respectively, all much improved ratios compared to National Education Policy's (NEP's) suggested ratio of 1:30, said UDISE Plus.

"This new PTR enables more individualized learning and increased interactions between teachers and students, leading to a better learning experience and enhanced academic performance," the report added further.

Preparatory, middle and secondary level dropouts were drastically down during the 2024-25 academic year compared to 2022-23 and 2023-24.

On the preparatory stage, the rate slowed from 3.7 pc to 2.3 per cent, on the middle stage from 5.2 per cent to 3.5 per cent and on the secondary stage from 10.9 per cent to 8.2 per cent compared to last year.

"The decline indicates better pupil retention and is proof of the effectiveness in retaining children at school. The steady declining across all levels indicates that schools are becoming increasingly responsive and supportive to the needs of the pupils, with fewer early school leavers from the system," commented further the report.

The year 2024-25 has witnessed the trend increasing of holding on to the students at each level of study -- preparatory, middle and secondary. Retentions have actually risen sharply when compared to previous year, rising by 98.0 per cent to 98.9 per cent at the foundation level, 85.4 per cent to 92.4 per cent at the preparatory level, 78.0 to 82.8 per cent at the middle level, and 45.6 per cent to 47.2 per cent at the secondary level.

"One of the principal motivating factors for improvement, especially at Secondary level, is an increase in the number of secondaries. The increase has boosted access and precipitated steady enrolment.

"Combined, increasing retention rates are an encouraging sign of improvement in the schooling system and indicate the effect of interventions of a particular type," the report added.

UDISE and Indian education system have also implemented the concept of zero enrolment, and the single teacher schools.

"All thanks to the willful and deliberate action of the government there has been a consistent fall in the number of zero enrolment schools as well as the single teacher schools. The findings of UDISE + are found to be helpful while planning and reasoning the deployment of teachers in the right proportion in the schools maintaining the cautious PTR in balance.".

"As can be plainly observed from statement single teacher schools decreased by about 6 pc in this reporting year compared to last year. Likewise, number of zero enrollment schools decreased considerably by about 38 pc," it further added.

South Korea has made a difficult decision and prohibited taking smartphones to class. This move will be put into effect nationwide from March next year.

School-going students' increasing smartphone addiction is becoming a cause of concern. Keeping in mind this, Australia had already prohibited social media among teenagers some time back. Now South Korea has also made a similar decision and prohibited carrying mobile phones and electronic devices in classrooms. The decision will be enforced in schools countrywide. The authorities here are saying that social media addiction among youths is turning into a massive crisis.

The rule will be enforced from next year

This rule, which was approved by South Korea's Parliament on Wednesday, will be enforced from next March. South Korean leader Cho Jung-hun added that kids continue running Instagram and TikTok until late evening. Their eyes are always red every morning and they remain on Instagram until 2-3 in the night. Previously, these types of decisions have been taken in Australia and Netherlands too. Since the decision in Netherlands, the attentiveness of the students has become better.

These issues were observed in students

98 percent of South Korea's population own a smartphone and nearly 99 percent of the population here use the Internet. Last year, the Ministry of Education here had done a survey. In this, 37 percent of high school and middle school students reported that social media is influencing their day-to-day life. 22 percent of students who took part in the survey reported that if they do not use social media, they begin to feel anxious. Because of this, mobile phones were already prohibited in most schools and now this directive has been adopted by schools all over the nation. But disabled children have been exempted from this rule. There is also no prohibition on the use of smartphones for academic use.

Jamia Millia Islamia has launched three new courses for the 2025-26 academic session. The varsity has announced the launching of undergraduate courses in German Studies and Japanese Studies under the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP), and an Advanced Diploma in Child Guidance and Counselling.

The online process for admission to all three programmes has started. Candidates are expected to sit for admission test on September 14, 2025 after going through the university's official website before September 6, 2025.

NEW PROGRAMMES BASED ON NEP 2020

The two new undergraduate programmes, BA (Hons) German Studies and BA (Hons) Japanese Studies, are based on the National Education Policy (NEP 2020).

The courses have been structured to blend language skills with culture studies, translation and interpretation, and training related to industry. The university states that the intention is to give students the capabilities and international orientation necessary to thrive in today's globalized world.

Jamia stated in a release that the courses will broaden students' learning beyond conventional language le

Besides these undergraduate programs, Jamia has also introduced an Advanced Diploma in Child Guidance and Counselling. The program is accredited by Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI). Upon obtaining this diploma, students will be able to work as certified counsellors certified by the RCI.

The program opens up careers across a range of industries, such as schools, hospitals, healthcare facilities, government organizations, and non-governmental organizations in India and elsewhere.

The diploma is designed to empower professionals to make effective interventions in the field of child guidance and counselling, says the university.

Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, Professor Mazhar Asif, and Registrar, Jamia, Professor Md Mahtab Alam Rizvi stated: "The rationale behind launching these programs is to widen Jamia's academic scope in foreign language teaching, on the one hand, and make fresh forays and meaningful intervention in the challenging and significant field of Child Guidance & Counselling, on the other."

Through such programs, Jamia has diversified its academic program in the field of language studies and child counselling to produce professionals who will be able to contribute significantly both nationally and globally.

The West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board (WBJEEB) has declared the WBJEE 2025 Round 1 seat allotment result on its official counselling portal wbjeeb.nic.in. Candidates who registered for counselling can now check their seat allotment status for admissions to undergraduate engineering, architecture, and pharmacy courses in West Bengal for the academic session 2025-26.

The seat allotment result shows which institute and course will be assigned to the candidates depending on their rank, preference and availability of seats. The candidates who have been assigned seats during this round must authenticate their admission by paying a refundable 5,000 seat acceptance fee between September 3 and September 7, 2025. The payment may be done online through net banking, debit/credit card, or UPI.

Once payment is successful, candidates are expected to download their seat allotment letter on the official site which is obligatory in the admission process. The inability to pay the fee within the timeframe stipulated will lead to the cancellation of the assigned seat and not being eligible to participate in subsequent upgradation rounds.

How to Check WBJEE Round 1 Seat Allotment Result 2025:

• Go to the official WBJEE counselling site: wbjeeb.nic.in.
• Click on the “WBJEE 2025 Round 1 Seat Allotment Result” link on the homepage
• Use application number, password and security pin to log in. 
• Look through your subscribed institute and course.
• Pay the seat acceptance fee and download the allotment letter.

It is recommended that all the candidates follow the official portal closely to get updated on the next round of counselling and admission procedures. The counselling process assists in streamlining the seat allocation among different participating institutes in West Bengal, and thereby, allows a transparent admission system to be carried on by aspirants.

The WBJEEB administers the exam annually to gain admission to the top government and private colleges in the fields of engineering, pharmacy and architecture. The general procedure guarantees merit-based and equitable selection in accordance with the preferences of the candidates.