EDUCATION

The residents of Malangam area Tulail in north Kashmir's Gurez Tehsil on Tuesday expressed anguish against authorities for failing to complete the construction of a high school building from the past 10 years. Locals told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that due to the lackadaisical approach of higher authorities the smooth functioning of the school had been suffering badly from a long time as the students have only two rooms for ten classes. The locals said that the secondary school is functioning in an old primary school building which is not in a favourable condition, thus leaving both students and teachers in deteriorated conditions. The condition of the present school is getting worse each passing day, Irshad Ahmad, a local said, adding that they have approached ...

The district administration Anantnag has issued a strict warning to all school heads and management regarding the implementation of government orders related to the regulation of textbooks, school bag weight, homework, and purchasing of books from a specific vendor. The department has expressed concern over the flouting of government orders, especially by private schools. According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the Additional District Magistrate has issued circular instructions to all schools to strictly follow the rules and regulations related to the recommended number of textbooks for each class, school bag weight, and homework. "As per Rule 8A of J&K School Education Act-2002, books should be recommended strictly according to the government's guidelines. No f...

The University of Kashmir said on Sunday that it completely dissociates itself from allegations leveled by some students regarding alleged paper leak of Kashmiri subject in the National Eligibility Test (NET). A KU spokesperson said in a statement that the NET is conducted by the National Testing Agency, and not the University of Kashmir, and hence all the examination-related domains including confidential setting of question papers, conduct of examination and evaluation etc. fall solely within the jurisdiction of the conducting authority. The University strongly condemns that its name is being dragged into the alleged paper leak claim when the University, as an institution, is not even remotely connected with the process. “We inform one and all to refrain from trying to harm the ...

The mention of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has been deleted from a revised political science textbook published by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the Hindu reported. The authors of the revised Class 11 textbook have also deleted the fact that Jammu Kashmir had acceded to India on the basis of a promise that the State would remain autonomous. These are the latest in a spate of controversial deletions from new NCERT textbooks as part of the process of rationalising the syllabus. More glaring is the fact that NCERT failed to declare either of these revisions in the public domain. Azad’s reference appeared in the old Class 11 NCERT political science textbook, Indian Constitution at Work in the first chapter, which is titled “Constitution — Why and How?...

State Council of Education Research and Trainings (SCERT) has declared result of class 8th examination on Monday. According to an official communique, joint director SCERT had been directed to declare the result of class 8th, session 2022-23 after fulfillment of all the codal formalities "A copy of the result details (gazette) of each DIET be shared with this Council for records," it reads. Earlier, School Education Department had decided to declare the results of the class 8th simultaneously for all schools in Jammu and Kashmir. The decision was taken owing to adoption of Uniform Academic Calendar by School Education Department from the current academic session.

The School Education Department Friday said that there shall be no carrying of bag for the students of classes upto the preschool. It also said that the weight of school bags for students of classes I and II shall not have more than 1.5 KGs. According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Director of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) has said, “The weight of the school bags as per the policy should be 1.5Kg for students of Classes I and II, 3Kg for Classes Ill and IV.” The circular issued by the DSEK reads that the weight of school bags for classes VI and VII shall be 4Kgs and 5KGs for classes VIII and IX followed by 5.5 KGs for class X. DSEK said, “In compliance to the directions passed in a Public Interest Litigation, School Education Department had made the amendment...

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has revised its books, including the 12th class History book by removing the chapters on Mughal empire. The change will be applicable for all the schools that follow NCERT across the country. From Class 12, chapters related to ‘Kings and Chronicles; the Mughal Courts (C. 16th and 17th centuries)’ have been removed from the History book ‘Themes of Indian History-Part 2’. Similarly, NCERT will remove some poems and paragraphs from the Hindi textbooks too. As per NCERT, all the changes made will be implemented from the current academic session, i.e. 2023-2024. Along with History and Hindi textbooks, 12th class Civics book has also been revised. Two chapters titled, ‘American Hegemony in World Politics’ and ‘The Cold War...

The Jammu Kashmir admin will soon adopt Kerala's 'Nadakkavu model' of modernizing the government schools in the region. The JK admin has signed an MoU with Kozhikode-based Faizal and Shabana Foundation, which introduced the Nadakkavu model. Over 1,200 government schools, mainly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, have adopted the model within 10 years since its inception. The model has also been introduced in a few schools in West Africa. "It will be first introduced in the Government Higher Secondary School for Girls in Kothibagh, Srinagar. The objective is to establish the school as a centre of educational excellence that can serve as a blueprint for other schools throughout Jammu & Kashmir," the Foundation said in a release on Sunday. Under the agreement, the Foundation will provi...

The School Education Department Wednesday said that it has a dearth of lectures and will try to fill all loopholes by next academic session. According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Director of School Education Kashmir (DSEK), Tassaduq Hussain Mir said this in the sidelines of an event. Mir said that the basic motive of the department is to provide quality education. “We are short of lectures in School Education Department but we are working hard on DPC’s and by the end of April, we will promote the eligible teachers and in next session, we will try to fill the all gaps,” DSEK said. Mir further said that private and government schools are working jointly to provide quality education to students. “Any parent having a capacity to admit their ward in private sc...

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has taken the lid off brazen illegalities and irregularities in recruitment, promotions and allowances in Jammu & Kashmir’s two prestigious agricultural varsities- SKUAST (Kashmir) and SKUAST (Jammu). In its report, which was tabled in the Parliament on Tuesday as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the CAG has exposed wrongdoings by the SKUAST authorities in appointments, promotions and entitlements over the years, raising serious questions over silence on J&K’s successive regimes over their affairs. In the report, the auditor pointed out that both universities violated UGC norms for the direct appointment of teachers and filled these posts through lateral entry. “The mandatory criteria for appointment and career advan...