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If you wish to study two degrees simultaneously, one online and the other offline then now it is achievable at Lucknow University. LU has opened up a window of opportunity for admission in its online courses. Existing students of any undergraduate or postgraduate courses can apply for admission in these online courses along with work executives and other applicants who wish to study online as they have time limitations.

LU is providing nine online undergraduate and postgraduate courses that can be undertaken along with on campus courses. Courses provided are BCom, MCom, MA in English, economics, Sanskrit, political science, master of social work, BBA and MBA.

"Our online programs are dual degree compliant meaning they can be taken in parallel with continuous degrees. This provides a flexible learning program whereby an enrolled candidate can study in one's own time and convenience, wherever located. Besides, we designed its curriculum industry focused where emphasis is given to the acquisition of practical skills that prove critical in achieving professional success," said dean, academics, Prof Geetanjali Mishra.

She informed that LU's online courses are comparable to offline, on campus, normal UG and PG courses. The only distinction is that in online courses students are not required to visit the campus. This provides a strong learning platform since all course content and evaluation are provided through a centralized Learning Management System (LMS), she added.

"We have created a four-quadrant multimedia content, i.e., these courses adhere to UGC's recommended four-quadrant approach (video tutorials, e-text materials, discussion forums and regular assessments)," she explained, adding that the courses provide a solid placement support that entails receiving guidance in navigating career opportunities. This course is made accessible and affordable, she added.

India's first privately funded mathematics research centre has been established in Mumbai. The Lodha Mathematical Sciences Institute (LMSI) has been opened with Dr Manjul Bhargava, the very first Fields Medalist of Indian descent, among the world's elite of the maths fraternity.

Dr Bhargava, professor at Princeton University, also sits on the advisory council of LMSI. He will head the institute's first programme, a seminar course in number theory and arithmetic statistics.

The four-month course will start later this month and continue until mid-December, and there are several more such programmes in the pipeline.

The philanthropic arm of Lodha Group, the Lodha Foundation, has also supported the initiative with a sizeable endowment. The Lodha family donated approximately Rs 20,000 crore to the foundation last year for education and research initiatives. The LMSI is the first initiative that has been established from this donation.

GLOBAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

The institute's advisory board includes some of the most influential mathematicians in the world.

Besides Dr Bhargava, members of the faculty are Dr Vikraman Balaji from Chennai Mathematical Institute, Dr Sourav Chatterjee, Dr Ravi Vakil, and Dr Yakov Eliashberg from Stanford University, Dr Alexander Lubotzky from Weizmann Institute of Science, and Dr Kavita Ramanan from Brown University.

Other Indian mathematicians of repute such as Dr Mahan Mj of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and Dr Parimala Raman of Emory University will also be imparting future courses.

LEAD BY DR V KUMAR MURTY

Dr. V Kumar Murty, a number theorist and an arithmetic geometer with excellent work in the field, will head the institute. He was a former director at the Fields Institute and a professor at the University of Toronto.

Delivering the first address, Dr Murty also stated, "We know that in the very long history of India there were many great mathematicians who have made elementary contributions which have constructed the world we live today. LMSI intends to solve elementary problems which will make India a developed country and a world leader by 2047."

He also explained where mathematics can be observed in day-to-day technology, from linear algebra powering search engines to computational geometry powering e-commerce websites.

FUTURE PLANS AND IMPACT

Abhishek Lodha, managing director and CEO of Lodha Developers, joined in further, "It is important for us as a firm to make sure that our success somehow comes to the development of India. To that extent, the family as a whole last year decided to donate roughly a fifth of the ownership of the firm to the Lodha Foundation. We have realized that for any country to be strong, we must have innovative ideas and help develop innovation."

Ashish Kumar Singh, the chief mentor of Lodha Foundation, addressed the application of mathematics in contemporary technology. "The foundation of nearly all modern technological advancements is mathematical, be it cryptography, cyber security, war, and most importantly artificial intelligence (AI). At LMSI, our objective is to recruit top-quality researchers to get them to engage and collaborate on edge mathematics research that is newest."

BEYOND PURE MATHEMATICS

LMSI is also keen on employing new mathematical methods such as data science, operations research, machine learning, and optimisation to address health, infrastructure, and economic issues. The faculty will be at liberty to do pure research without having to suffer administration.

The institute also made an announcement for its first symposium on August 17-19 with lectures from its distinguished faculty. In the near future, LMSI is going to organize the Indian Congress of Mathematics in December next year, bringing India's best mathematical brains together under one roof with the vision to make it a yearly affair.

Lodha Group and Foundation believe the project will not just put India on the global map as a center for research in mathematics but also sow seeds of national development, fresh concepts, and innovation.

In a heart-wrenching and shocking incident, an eight year old girl, Jyotsna Dehuri, spent almost 18 hours trapped in her classroom with her head stuck in the iron grill of a window in the Government Upper Primary School at Anjar under Banspal block.

On Thursday afternoon, a Class 2 student fell asleep on a bench after school. Not knowing she was there, the cook, who normally checks classrooms and locks them, was absent because of heavy rain. Two senior students who were tasked with locking up the school did not notice Jyotsna was sleeping peacefully. They closed the classrooms around 4 pm leaving her in the classroom alone.

When Jyotsna woke up, she panicked to find herself locked up. Having run out of options, she attempted to slip through the bars of her classroom window to escape. Remarkably, as her body emerged to be partly out, her head got stuck between the bars forcing her to spend the night helpless and stuck.

Her family, daily-wage earners, returned home by 9 pm and didn’t find her at home, searched the village whole night. But Jyotsana wasn’t found. By morning, the search led them back to the school, where they discovered the little girl still trapped, calling for help from the window.

All the villagers teamed up together to bend the grill, and set her free. Jyotsna was rushed to the Keonjhar district headquarters hospital where she was advised to be okay after a timely medical attention. She had gone through her ordeal alone, but is safe, and recovering.

The incident caused shock waves across the state, evoking outrage. Local residents denounced the primitive verifications prior to locking classrooms and demanded responsibility. The Keonjhar district administration acted promptly:

• School headmaster Gourahari Mahanta was suspended due to negligence.
• The matter is under further investigation by the authorities, including the Block Education Officer.
• The School and Mass Education Department reported that Jyotsna was not in danger and tighter regulations regarding school closure would be implemented.

A viral video of Jyotsna trapped inside the grill created even additional attention, and authorities began to provide assurance that such situations would not occur again.

This accident has shown the acute necessity of school safety improvement. Schools are required to ensure that no child is left behind on closure and should ensure that they have adequate daily checklists which is especially hard in rural areas where it will be left to the students or the non-teaching staff.

What gives Jyotsna and her family strength is that despite spending long hours in fear and agony, she has still managed to survive. Her story is a lesson and reminder to the educational authorities and communities to consider child safety, vigilance and compassion, each and every day.

In a historic move to consolidate and merge school education, the Odisha state government had made an official announcement on 21st August 2025 of merging the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) and the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) into a single, integrated board to develop SCERT on NCERT lines. The decision was approved in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, indicative of sweeping reforms to enhance learning experience and student performance in the state.

Why Is the Merger Happening?

The move is Odisha's attempt to put into place the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which seeks to overhaul the system of educational governance to offer coordination, uniform standards, and integrated development. By bringing the two boards under one umbrella, the government is aiming to streamline administrative procedures, ensure uniformity in the curriculum and examination system, and make education more transparent and student-centric at the secondary (Class 10) and higher secondary (Class 12) levels. 

Key Points of the Reform

• Single Board: BSE and CHSE will become a single board. This will address all phases from curriculum planning to exams and eliminate confusion among parents as well as students. 
• Free Text Books: Free textbooks for all Class 9 and 10 students will now be made available, which was previously only for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in these classes. Additionally, only students of classes 1-8 had free textbooks.
• Health Care in Hostels: Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANM) or multipurpose health workers will be posted in student hostels (one for every 300 students) for basic health care.
• Online Private School Approvals: Approvals of new private schools shall now be done online to improve transparency and efficiency.
• Mother Tongue-Based Education: Special emphasis on tribal children, e.g., setting up a Multilingual Education Centre in Koraput, funded by SC & ST Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI).
• Special Educators: Trained teachers (B.Ed in Special Education) would be deputed as resource persons for inclusive education to assist differently-abled children.
• SCERT Upgradation: The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) will be upgraded on the lines of NCERT for better academic standards and training of teachers.

Who Were Present During the Discussion?

Top government officials and ministers namely, Nityananda Gond (School & Mass Education), Manoj Ahuja (Chief Secretary), Saswat Mishra (Principal Secretary to CM), Shalini Pandit (Secretary, School & Mass Education), and Ananya Das (Director, Odisha School Education Programme), attended the meeting when the proposal was approved.

What Does This Mean for Parents and Students?

1. Streamlined processes, one board facilitating students from Class 10 and 12.
2. Standardized testing and curriculum system, enabling preparation and fairness.
3. Access to free textbooks through Class 10, lowering costs for families and easing study.  
4. Improved health and educational support, especially for hostel students and those with special needs.

In short, the Government of Odisha's decision to integrate BSE and CHSE is a step towards "One Board, One Vision", a single, streamlined school education system that is student-centric and future-oriented. It is a major reform that is being implemented and appreciated; now the wait is on its results. 

Deputy chief minister Pravati Parida on Monday launched Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU's) Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education (DECE) course in Odia. 

It is a one-year diploma course that lays emphasis on early childhood education, child health and nutrition, and students can take up this course after Class XII.

Parida opined bringing the course in Odia is a step in the right direction and it will specifically help anganwadi workers and trainers along with pre-school teachers who may take up the course in Odia. "Providing the curriculum in Odia will make learning easy and accessible," she further said.

Earlier, the course was taught in English, Hindi and Tamil. Describing early education as the foundation of the entire education system, Higher Education minister Suryabanshi Suraj said, "The DECE course by IGNOU will be of interest to educators, trainers and workers working with children in the birth to six years age group in various settings like creches, preschools, pre-primary classes, nursery schools, anganwadis and Bal Vatikas."

The minister also pointed out that the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 focuses on consolidating early education and advancing education to upper levels through the mother tongue. 

The programme saw anganwadi workers who enrolled in the course participating online. Some of the others present included IGNOU vice-chancellor Uma Kanjilal, commissioner-cum-secretary of Higher Education department Aravind Agrawal and director of Women & Child Development department Monisha Banerjee.

Earlier in June this year, IGNOU and the Higher Education department had inked an MoU under which, IGNOU will offer courses like bachelor's and master's degrees, postgraduate diplomas, diplomas, certificates, and specialized programmes in Odia language throughout the state.

Department of Higher Education has requested every college in Madhya Pradesh to provide detailed data for All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for the 2024–25 academic year by September 15.

The exercise is conducted annually since 2010–11 and helps the government make an assessment of the prevailing status and quality of higher education in the country.

According to instructions, institutions are required to provide information for nearly 80 parameters such as student intake, availability of teachers, teacher-student ratio, programs offered, seats, laboratories, computer laboratories, playgrounds, infrastructure, financial endowments, scholarships, gross enrollment ratio and gender parity index.

This year, newly opened colleges such as those that opened in Indore, Dhar, Alirajpur and Jhabua will be requested only to get registered on the portal since admissions have been conducted there for the first time. They will be required to share complete data from the next academic session onwards.

DAVV sends instructions to 190 colleges

Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV), being the nodal institution of its affiliate colleges, sent a letter to 190 colleges falling under it ordering them to display the required data on time.

DCDC director Dr Rajeev Dixit verified that the same instructions have been issued to the other regions of the state encompassing around 1,360 government and private colleges.

Objective of the survey

AISHE survey aims to provide a comprehensive view of higher education in India so that the government is able to identify infrastructure gaps, faculty strength and resources, and monitoring enrollment as well as inclusiveness. The information collected forms the basis for decision-making through policy making as well as improvement in the higher education system