The protest was organised by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). A large number of students had gathered and demonstrated outside the Faculty of Law.
According to students, the Faculty of Law, however, admitted that "there have been some lapses", and assured them of taking the correctional steps.
The ABVP claimed that in the result published few days ago, the students were either allotted zero mark or shown "absent".
Meanwhile, the students have submitted that they were told fresh announcement of results would be done soon.
During his childhood, Kalam worked as newspaper hawker and used to travel 3 km to Rameswaram Road Railway station every day to collect newspapers and distribute it in the town. His positive attitude towards life since childhood, made him grow as the figure people of India admire today.
Kalam’s legacy as a scientist is well-known worldwide; he was the spearhead behind the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme which gave India its most powerful missiles and nuclear capabilities. The programme, which was conceived by Kalam, was adopted by the Indian Government in the year 1983 and gave the country its five indigenously types of missiles -- Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Nag and Akash.
He was also a crucial figure behind 1998’s Pokhran II testing, which brought the nation into the worldwide radar as a developed nuclear state.
Apart from his legacy as a scientist, which earned him the title 'Missile Man of India', he was also a passionate educationist and author who has penned many books. Dr Kalam was a regular visiting faculty to the IIMs, and premier institutions in India.
Honoured with the highest civilian awards, which includes all Padma Awards, along with the Bharat Ratna and numerous doctorates from worldwide premier institutions, he was also elected as the President of India (2002-2007) and quickly earned the title 'People’s President' due to his humble behaviour and simple lifestyle.
Dr Kalam’s birthday is celebrated as World Student’s Day as a memoir of his love for students and education. His fondness for students could be understood through his passion for teaching. He passed away while delivering a speech at IIM Shillong back in 2015.
“Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher, that will be the biggest honour for me.” – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
The Ministry of Education in its circular mentioned the recruitment ratio of special educators as well. As per the notification, the schools are supposed to have one special educator for every ten (1:10) students reading in class 1 to 6. Meanwhile, for students reading in class 6 to 8 the ratio of special educators stands at (1:15).
In case of non-availability of a regular special educator, the Government can make an appointment on a contractual basis citing immediacy.
On the other hand, the Odisha Special Educator Federation of Divyang (OSEFD) has staged state-wide protests against the ignorance of the state government. The total number of job aspirants for the post of special educator stands at a staggering 4000 in the state.
In Odisha, more than 82,000 divyang students study at 64,000 schools without any support from special educators due to which students go through massive turmoil.
Debasish Pati, a special educator aspirant said in an interview with OTV said, “The state government should realise the gravity of the situation and make the immediate appointment of special educators as per the ratio of recruitment issued by the Central Government”.
Meanwhile, the Minister for School and Mass Education Samir Rajan Dash said, “The file sent by the concerned department has been approved, and the notification regarding the recruitment of the special educators will be issued soon.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi back in 2015 used the term “Divyang” during his “Maan Ki Baat” programme and urged the citizens not to use words such as viklang or handicapped for the specially-abled people.
(Reported by Sanjay Pati, Konark, and Jagdish Das, Bhubaneswar)
The incident took place on Monday at a government run Scheduled Tribe Residential School under Gopikandar police station area of the district.
As many as 11 students of the school out of 32 got Grade 'DD' (double D), which is considered equivalent to fail, in the class-9 examination, results of which was declared by Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) on Saturday, the police said.
"No FIR has been lodged in the case, as school management did not give any written complaint about the incident. After verification of the incident, I asked the school authority to file a complaint but it refused saying that if might spoil the careers of the students," Gopikandar police station in-charge Nityanand Bhokta told Press Trust of India.
The teacher was identified as Suman Kumar, while the clerk was Soneram Chaure, police said. They also did not give any written complaint to the police, Mr Bhokta said.
Gopikandar block development officer (BDO) Anant Jha, who also went to the school with Mr Bhokta for the investigation said, there are 200 students in the residential school and majority of the students were involved in the incident.
"The victim teacher was earlier headmaster of the school but later he was removed for reasons not known. It might be a case of rivalry among teachers. To maintain law and order of the school, classes for class-9 and class-10 have been suspended for two days and students were sent back to their homes," he said.
The students alleged that the teacher gave low marks to them in practical examinations, for which they failed in the exams. The clerk was allegedly responsible for uploading the marks online in Jharkhand Academic Council's site.
"The school management, however, failed to show the marks of practical examinations and date on which the marks were uploaded online. It is still not clear whether the students failed in theory paper or practical. Prima facie it seems, the students took the action only on a rumour," he said.
At least 53 students of Sogar Government Upper Primary School on Friday were hospitalised after consuming their Mid-Day Meal (MDM) at Kamakhyanagar block in Dhenkanal district.
All the students are currently undergoing treatment at Anlabereni community health centre (CHC). Nine of the students are stated to be critical.
According to sources, the students were served soya beans with rice for the MDM today. Soon, they started vomiting and experienced severe stomach ache. The school principal has accused the local Self-Help Group (SHG) of providing low quality food to the students.
“The soya bean that the SHG served to the students was infested with worms. First 8-10 students experienced vomiting. Soon, other students also experienced the same. Soon, I called a vehicle and admitted the students to the local CHC. Now, the condition of other students is also critical,” informed Headmistress Gitanjali Behera.
“Till now at least 36 students, both boys and girls, have been admitted to the hospital. One of them was critical. However, he is stable after we administered injection. Similarly five to six students were also critical after taking the worm-infested food. However, other 20 students are ill after being terrified due to the incident. They are panicked. But, they will be fine soon,” Chinmaya Samal, doctor at Anlabereni community health centre (CHC).
The incident happened in Ramanuj Gupta College of Silchar, a private-run institute in the state.
The video went viral and netizens criticised the students' behaviour. Some also blamed the college authority.
The videos came to the notice of the college authorities on Wednesday, and seven students were immediately barred from attending college.
Out of seven, four were girls and three were boys.
The college authority has issued notice to the students saying that they were visibly indulged in acts of turpitude. Such types of activities are tantamount to gross violation of discipline of the institution. Therefore, the following erring students were suspended from attending the classes for an indefinite period.
Principal of the college, Purnadeep Chanda told IANS: "The students did this turpitude act in tiffin hours when no teachers were present. We have CCTV cameras on the college premises and mobile phones were also banned on the campus."
He further said the students are from the fresh batch of Class 11 and it has been hardly 15 days since they started to attend the college.
Meanwhile, the college authority has also summoned the guardians of those seven students. It is learned that college may take more strict action and the students may be rusticated from the institution.
Swinging into action, the district administration suspended the accused teacher Kalpatharu Mallick.
According to sources, the school Maths Teacher was teaching the students of Class VIII yesterday. During the class, he asked some geometry questions which the students could not answer.
This infuriated him so much that he beat up the students mercilessly, injuring 14 students. The matter came to the fore after the students brought the matter to the notice of their guardians.
Angry parents stormed into the school premises and created ruckus. The injured students were admitted to Basudevpur Community Health Centre (CHC). While no police complaint was lodged in this connection, police have detained the teacher, reports said.
“He was angry from the beginning. He was so angry that he started asking questions as soon as he entered the classroom. He did not even give up time to answer. Before we could answer, he began beating up everyone. He has broken the head of many students,” a student alleged.
“They were creating nuisance in the classroom without studying. So, I beat them. But, I haven’t beaten them so much. They are just exaggerating,” the Maths teacher alleged.
This matter came to the fore with intellectuals criticising the state government for its failure to construct a bridge in the locality to help students reach school.
According to sources, the panchayat gets disconnected from the outer world during rainy season every year as there is no bridge on Mahendratanaya river over Jamuganda. As a result, they find it hard to cross the river in rainy season in particular. While some skip classes, some risk their lives to reach the school.
On Friday, the steam got flooded due to heavy rain at upper catchment areas. Finding no other go, students asked villagers for help. Villagers rescued the schoolchildren with the help of an electric wire. They tied a rope connecting two ends of the river and rescued them.
The residents of the panchayat had in September last year taken the matter to Patrapur Block Development Officer demanding construction of a bridge, but the latter did not pay heed. Residents including school kids have to risk their lives during rainy season when the rivers receive huge inflows from upstream areas.
Meanwhile, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash, said he is not aware about the incident. "As media brought it to my knowledge, I will talk to local legislator and District Education Officer to address the problem," said Dash.
Binapani Nodal High school in Ishwarpur village under Kendrapara’s Rajnagar block has 170 examinees who had filled up forms for the class 10 exams but in reality, only 139 students have appeared for the exam and 31 students are absent.
Out of the 31, OTV met the parents of two absentees, Chandrasekhar Mallik and Jasobanta Das. Speaking to OTV, the parents of the duo said, “Both of them are working in Kerala since June 2021.”
The Head Master of the school, Khitish Patra said, “Admit cards of both these students have been received by the school. As far as the absentees are concerned, the DEO had ordered us to fill up forms of all the students who had filled up forms to appear in the summative-1 exams earlier.”
This is just a tip of the iceberg. If one takes a peek into some of the data obtained from some District Education Officers (DEOs), the magnitude of absentees this year will baffle a lot for sure.
Mayurbhanj district recorded 36,886 form fill ups, out of which 4549 students are absent from the exam. Similarly, 3316 students are absent out of 27,318 students in Bolangir district. 1450 students are absent in Cuttack district out of 31,536 students.
So many absentees have forced the educationists who are in the know of things to smell rat. Speaking to OTV, Academician Satyakam Mishra said, “If a student is remaining absent for a long period then he should not be allowed to fill up the examination form. This smells of a conspiracy.”
“More students means an increased grant to schools. This is a masterplan by the school management,” Mishra suspected.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), Omicron is more contagious than the Delta variant and may even infect persons who are administered with double dose of vaccine. In view of this, the Odisha government has pulled up its socks and devising ways to tackle the menace and avoid a possible third wave.
The government has said it will monitor people coming from outside the country. On the other hand, the increasing cases among the students have posed a bigger challenge for the administration.
So far, infections have been reported from a medical college and some government aided schools in the state. The institutions where the cases have been detected were immediately shut down and declared micro-containment zones.
The steep rise in cases among students has also left the parents worried as they are concerned whether it is safe to send their wards to school and colleges.
Addressing the issue, the Mass Education Minister Samir Dash said that the district administrations are monitoring the events and appropriate action will be taken when needed.
The college, established in the year 1982, is allegedly running without government funding. Neglect manifests itself in the locked up rooms, empty beds and dust-covered medicine boxes of the hospital.
Students have alleged that in the absence of basic infrastructure, the quality of education has declined. "I am in the 3rd year. The infrastructure is quite bad and standard of education is also very low. Our future is uncertain," a student Anupama Sahoo said.
Another 3rd year student Satyajit Barik said, "Everything was good when I was in the first year, but later things have got worse."
Since 2015, Central Council of Homeopathy has stopped admissions following which development work has come to a halt, informed sources.
Meanwhile, teachers and staff of the college have urged the Health & Family Welfare Department of Odisha government to take over the institution and provide funds.
"We have urged ministers to provide us funds but have not received anything till now. We need financial assistance to buy equipment and ambulance," a teacher said.
"Our college has not been allowed to take admissions in the last 3 years. Because of lack of funds we are not able to buy instruments. We need around Rs 4 crore for the development of the college," Professor P K Satpathy said.
The schools are required to submit only two documents and it has been made mandatory to dispose of the applications in the same year, reported The Times of India.
While the first document will validate aspects like building safety, sanitation, land ownership, the second one will be a self-affidavit of school certifying its adherence to fee norms, infrastructure norms, the report adds.
Union Minister for Human Resource Praksh Javadekar released the revised bye-laws yesterday under which new clauses like punitive action for malpractice in schools and provisions for full-fee disclosure have been introduced.
Under the new assessment rules, affiliation will be dependent on outcome of the schools and the entire process will be now become online, transparent, and will be done within a year, informed Javadekar.
However, teachers from two districts will continue to stage protest in Bhubaneswar.
"Even after 38 days of our protest, the state government is yet to respond. Students are nation's resources, so we don't want their loss in studies. We will go back to work but our agitation will continue by wearing black badges," said convenor of the united forum, Golak Naik.
On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, protests will be carried out in front of all the district collectors' office across the State, Naik added.
Besides, the agitating teachers have decided to organise a rally on October 9 in the State capital. They have also threatened non-cooperation during elections if their demands are not fulfilled.
The Block grant teachers and employees have been demanding removal of affidavit clause in the newly-announced grant-in-aid system, equal salary for equal work, provision of full aid and several other service conditions.
Most of the schools which didn't get the mid-day meal are under Bolangir municipality and Puintala block. Earlier, it was decided that food will be distributed to different schools from Bileisurda central kitchen which was inaugurated yesterday by Bolangir MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo.
"Most of us are not feeling well as we have not eaten anything today during lunch hours," a student Soumya Patnaik said.
According to sources, Krishna Krupa Trust has been given the charge of handling the Bileisurda kitchen and to ensure that food reaches all the schools on time.
The initiative has been started at Budharaja nodal high school where volunteers are teaching students for free.
“We really liked the way student volunteers taught us and we learnt a lot from it,” a student Laxmikant Jena said.
Student-turned-teacher Rinku Meher said,“At my own will I am here to teach students. It was completely a new experience for me as I got a chance to share my knowledge with students.”
While this initiative is being seen as a major step ahead of the matriculation examinations next year, this programme is currently going on in 40 schools of Maneswar and Dhankauda
“We had arranged a special class for 35 students of Class IX and 43 students of X. These classes will be conducted on off days as well,” Headmaster of Budharaja High School Jashobant Sahu said.
On the other hand, Sambalpur collector Samarth Verma said that the program has received a good response till now.
“We have started the programme using 100 volunteers from IIM, GM University, VSSUT and some other colleges. The response has been pretty well till now,” Verma said.
“I am expecting more volunteers to become a part of this programme,” Verma added.
According to sources, the program will be expanded to other blocks of Sambalpur district as well.
As per reports, a group of eight students had left home for their coaching classes yesterday night and midway decided to go to the channel for a bath. Three of them dived into the water body and subsequently got pulled into the deep waters.
After getting information about the incident, the Fire Department personnel reached the spot and launched a rescue operation during which one student was rescued alive. The bodies of two others were fished out subsequently. The rescued student is in a good condition, informed the doctors.
An official of the Fire Department said, "Two students had drowned by the time we reached there. However, we managed to rescue one student after using scuba equipment."
"My son along with his friends had gone to attend coaching classes yesterday night but did not return till morning. Later, I was informed that my son had drowned," father of one of the deceased student said.
According to the protestors, many Plus-III second year students have secured marks as low as zero, one and three in the recently published results.
Meanwhile, university authorities are yet to respond on the matter.
Meena, during his visit to the school went around different classrooms, interacted with the students and also took a class. The bureaucrat was accompanied by Sundergarh sub-divisional officer, district education officer Dhruba Charan Behera and Additional SP Rabinarayan Barik.
"The collector had come to inspect the quality of food being served to the students. It was a rare opportunity for the students and they were left inspired after having the meal along with the district collector. This will also send a message across other schools so that they will be careful while cooking food," Behera said.
Also Read: 6 injured in mishap during ‘Maut Ka Kuan’ stunt show in Odisha
Earlier this month, Collector of Puri, Aravind Agarwal taught school children at Satyavadi Vana Vidyalaya in Sakshigopal. The collector had urged the school authorities to keep the school premises green and clean.
During his visit to the school, Agarwal had entered a classroom and taught ‘Ramayana’ to the students.
"This year 10,333 students have passed and the pass percentage is 41.15%. It includes students from regular supplementary, ex-regular and correspondence course," BSE President, Jahanara Begam said.
In total, 25,198 students had appeared for the supplementary matriculation examination this year.
All the students who passed the examination will get their certificates and mark sheets from July 29 onwards, informed BSE officials.
"Original pass certificate, migration certificate and marks memorandum will be given to schools through zonal offices from July 29," Controller of examinations, Nihar Ranjan Mohanty said.
The annual matric supplementary examination had begun on June 22 and continued till June 29. The examinations were conducted in 100 centres across the State.
“We are only 4 teachers so there is a lot of course for us to complete. At least a few more teachers are needed,” Suprabha Tripathy, a teacher deputed at the school said.
Meanwhile the campus wears a deserted look as most of the seats at this school have remained vacant. There were fewer students than expected due to lack of publicity, rue locals.
Srikant Jena, Kendupur resident, said, “We are happy that an Adarsh Vidyalaya has been opened here but people are not aware of it.” While arrangements have been made to accommodate 82 students in each class, there are hardy 20 students, informed sources.
On the other hand, Aska BEO (Block Educational Officer) in a letter to the Education Department has requested for recruitment of more teachers.
“The department has completed the examination process for recruitment of teachers but in the meantime teachers from high schools have been appointed,” BEO Shantilata Muni said
Earlier today, Vice-Chancellor, Ishan Patro had said that sine die imposed following student unrest will be lifted only after normalcy returns to campus.
"We decided to declare sine die after hundreds of students gheraoed us inside the campus. The students didn't behave properly. I was even pushed by one of them. Later I was escorted by some policemen. We are ready to call off the sine die only after the students stop their protests," Patro had said.
Commenting on the examinations, Patro said "Examinations will be conducted on time and results will be declared according to the scheduled dates."
The University on Tuesday was closed sine die following protests by students over hike in fees.
The varsity authorities took the decision after talks with the students, who had been protesting since Tuesday morning, failed.
Raising slogans against lack of practice grounds, hostel facilities and shortage of teachers, the students rued the delay in construction of their new hostel building.
The protestors comprising students of Bachelor of Physical Education (B.P.Ed) and Masters of Physical Education(M.P.Ed) courses alleged that there are only four teachers for 250 students.
"We do not have proper drinking water facility. The rooms which are meant for ten students are stashed with 30 students," informed a student Smrutirekha Sahu.
"Before the Asian Athletic Championships, our students were using the running track at Kalinga Stadium for practice. Later, when the track was covered with synthetic layout, we were told not to use the track. The authorities allotted us a space near Gate no. 2 of the stadium," informed Debprasad Behera, Principal of GPCE.
The agitating students rued that the alternate “practice ground” provided to them was actually a car parking area. “That ground is often used to fire crackers and is spilled with its metal remains. Many of us have hurt ourselves while practicing there,” rued another student.
Soon after the demonstration, the authorities had talks with the students and assured them of expediting the hostel construction work. “The hostel work will be completed as quickly as possible and students can shift there immediately," informed Manoj Kumar Padhi, Joint Secretary of Sports & Youth Services Department.
Be it rape, murder, criminal assault, eve-teasing or incidents of drug abuse, students are now found involved in several other crimes which has now emerged as a major concern not only for the law enforcement agencies but also for the society on the whole, informed sources.
Taking stern note of the situation, Odisha DGP RP Sharma directed superintendents of police, DCPs of Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and SP Economic Offences Wing (EOW) to undertake special measures and drives to curb such crimes.
An advisory for authorities of educational institutions, police and parents has been issued by Odisha police to ensure that students do not indulge in violence on and outside campuses.
Senior officials at police stations have been asked to intensify patrolling, deploy adequate staff to put a check on entry of outsiders and anti-socials inside campuses and conduct orientation programme on crime-related issues.
The cops have been asked to sensitize students about legal consequences of taking law into hands and its impact on academic and professional career. Besides, stress will be laid on creating a student-friendly environment so that they can easily report incidents on their respective campuses.
The college authorities on the other hand have been asked to keep senior officials informed about any law and order situations and crimes happening in their respective educational institutions.
The college management should create a database of all students; install adequate CCTV cameras in campus, undertake counselling sessions and hold meetings with parents at regular intervals.
As per a complaint lodged with police, the five students forcibly took the lecturer of Philosophy department with them from the college and beat up mercilessly before dropping him near Hulurisingha.
Police later rescued the Angul college faculty member in an injured condition and admitted him to hospital.
Sources said cops have launched a manhunt to nab the accused students as they have gone absconding after the incident.
The deluge has led to undeclared holidays for the students as well as teachers in many parts of the district.
Many approach roads were inundated due to flood in Subarnarekha river. Villages were submerged forcing people to take shelter on high-lying places. The study materials remained under water, said a local guardian.
“Our school has been submerged by the flood. Our school bags and books were swept away as our houses were inundated," student of Gabagaan village Haladhar Dandapata said.
On the other hand, some students have been stranded in a residential school in Bhograi block as the school was marooned.
"As the school and hostel were marooned, we could not allow the students to go to outside" said Anita Giri, a teacher of the residential school.
Not only in Bhograi block, but also schools in Baliapal of the district remain closed during flood time. As many as 15 schools remain closed for months. The teachers generally do extra classes to recover the losses.
"We will have to conduct extra classes to compensate the losses of the students due to flood," said Sapan Kumar Nanda, headmaster of a local school in Baliapal.
The dharna saw thousands of BEd and CT students accusing the government of being callous towards their issues and demands.
The government is engaging retired teacher in schools as 'Guest' faculty while thousands of eligible candidates are still unemployed, said Santosh Sethy, president of Unemployed CT and BEd Degree Holders' Association.
"The government must realize our plight and issue a draft list in this regard within seven days," added Sethy.
Earlier, claiming shortage of trained and eligible candidates in the State, the government had launched the 'teacher-on-call' scheme on August 17, 2016. It is worthwhile to mention that more than 50,000 BEd and CT students are unemployed while 48,000 posts are lying vacant in high schools and elementary schools across Odisha.
Grace marks are usually granted to the students where the students miss the passing mark by a whisker. Though some states have agreed to the proposal, there are many others who apprehend that the mention of grace marks on certificate could be considered a stigma.
CBSE sources have confirmed that the decision will be implemented from this year. ‘’It will award grace marks which will also be reflected in the mark sheet and the website will also clearly mention the mechanism used to give grace marks and to what extent,’’ reported a national daily.
When contact, principals of several CBSE schools in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar refused to comment on it saying that it was an ‘internal’ decision taken by the board for the welfare of the students.
It has also been decided not to include the marks awarded for extracurricular activities (ECA) in the final tally of marks. They would be reflected separately on the marksheet, preferably in the shape of grades, the report further added.
Rourkela: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the family of the four students killed in the tragic road mishap in Sundargarh district today.
Besides, the state government will bear the medical expenses of the students who were also injured in the accident.
Meanwhile, concerns have again been raised on the transportation of students in small vehicles including auto-rickshaws after five including four students were killed in a tragic road mishap at Soaimba in Sundargarh district today.
The autorickshaw was ferrying as many as 13 school students of St John which was much beyond the stipulated capacity.
According to reports, there was a head on collision between the autorickshaw and a dumper. While three students and the driver of the auto rickshaw died on the spot, nine other students were critically injured in the mishap.
The injured are now undergoing treatment at various hospitals including IGH Medical at Rourkela.
The students later withdrew the blockade after police assured them to arrest the accused in three days.
As per the complaint lodged by the victim girl student in Brahmagiri police station, she was on the way to her college on October 8 when one Sambheswar Boral of Gatukhuli village allegedly manhandled her after passing lewd comments. While she tried to escape, he attacked her hand with a blade. The accused later fled the area as the victim shouted for help. The locals later rushed her to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Protesting the inaction of the police in not arresting the accused after 48 hours of the incident, irate students of Brahmeswar College staged road blockade on Dharmakirti bridge by burning tyres demanding immediate arrest of the accused, adequate protection to the girl students and giving justice to the victim.
Following information, Brahmagiri police rushed to the spot and pacified the students with an assurance to arrest the accused within three days to which the students later withdrew the strike at about 3 PM.
“I told the students that the police has registered a case and efforts are on to trace out the accused, who is at large, within three days,” IIC of Brahmagiri police station Biranchi Narayan Das told media persons.
Vehicular traffic had come to a grinding half for about four hours due to the road blockade by the students.
Sources said a heated argument was exchanged between the two groups of students for some unknown reasons. The situation later turned violent and went out of control when the two groups attacked each other. Resulting this, more than seven students from both the groups sustained injuries and were later admitted to hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, some angry students of the groups staged road blockage in front of the college by burning tyres. Though the reason of the group clash is yet to be ascertained, it is suspected that it is the recurrence of a group clash that had occurred between two student groups in the college a year back. The college authorities had declared sine die for a few days.
On the other hand, police forces have been deployed at the college premises to avoid any untoward incidents further. In view of the tense situation, the college authorities declared sine die for an indefinite period and directed students to vacate the hostels immediately.However, no reaction from the college authorities could be obtained in this regard.
Around 70 children fell sick allegedly after consuming sweet 'bundi' during the Independence Day celebration in Lipinda Panchayat in Sambalpur district. The affected students were admitted to the Sadar hospital for treatment. The students complained of nausea, vomiting and dysentry soon after eating the sweet. Sources said the Lipinda Panchayat office had distributed bundi in various schools. However, health condition of most of the children are stated to be stable.
In a similar incident, at least 18 students of the Tumbapadi Nodal ME School Tumbapadi village under Kaipur Panchayat in Bhadrak district fell ill after eating food served at the school on the Independence Day. They have been admitted to the Bhadrak hospital.
The students were served Puri and Ghughuni. It is alleged that the students fell ill after eating stale food prepared at the school the previous night.
Launching the new scheme, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said under the new scheme, the state government has decided to provide Education loan at only 1 percent per annum. This will be a major help for students undergoing higher education, including Management, Law, Engineering, Medicine etc.
The state government will meet the fund requirement of about Rs 500 crore from its own resources.
“I fully understand the financial stress parents, especially of the poor and middle class, undergo in meeting the education cost of their children. This historic and pioneering step of my government will reduce the loan burden of thousands of parents and financially empower poor students to pursue their aspiration in higher education. I dedicate the scheme to the foresight of Biju Babu on his birth centenary who had instituted Kalinga UNESCO award for popularisation of Science when he was only 35 years old,” he added.
A police official said they had received a complaint about some students being beaten and injured and said they were looking into the matter.
"We will talk about the Centre's policies, TMCP's mafia control during college admissions, etc in a joint convention on August 31. While distributing the leaflets outside Surendranath College, some people stopped us and started beating us. I was attacked with a brick," one of the students said.
Another student said that he could not say if the attackers were students "but the way they were making their points, they were clearly the supporters of the ruling party".
The students alleged they were stopped from distributing the leaflets ahead of the foundation day of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad, scheduled on August 28.
"We were told we will have to bear the brunt for protesting against the TMC," another student said.
"Given the limited accessibility of traditional mental health services for children school-based mental health services are a tremendous vehicle for overcoming barriers to mental health care and meaningfully expanding the reach of supports and services for so many children in need," said lead author Amanda Sanchez, from the Florida International University.
"Treating children in schools can powerfully overcome issues of cost, transportation, and stigma that typically restrict broad utilization of mental health services," Sanchez added.
The findings of the study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), are based on a meta-analysis of 43 controlled trials that collectively had almost 50,000 elementary-aged children participate in school-based mental health services.
The researchers examined the overall effectiveness of school-based mental health services, as well as the relative effectiveness of various school-based intervention models that differed according to treatment target, format, and intensity.
In addition to supporting the overall effectiveness of school-based mental health care, follow-up analyses revealed that school-based services targeting child behaviour problems were particularly effective, relative to services targeting child attention problems, mood and anxiety problems.
Moreover, treatments that were implemented multiple times per week were more than twice as effective as treatments that were only implemented on a weekly (or less) basis.
This balanced approach helps students boost their memory and remember what they have studied. Dr. Hariprasad, Ayurveda Expert, The Himalaya Drug Company, recommends the following tips to maintain a healthy lifestyle during the upcoming exams:
Exercise regularly: Physical activity is an effective tool to improve academic performance. Studies conducted at the University of British Columbia have shown that regular aerobic exercise boosts the size of the part of the brain involved in verbal memory and learning. Exercise also helps in improving memory and thinking ability for students by increasing oxygen flow to the brain. It's easy to forget to exercise your body in the midst of all the mental exertion, but this is important as physical exercise boosts brain function in a variety of ways.
Maintain a healthy diet: Eating healthy is a good practice to maintain at all times, but it assumes greater significance in the exam season. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, dairy, fish and poultry is particularly good to adopt at this time. It will enable students to fulfil all their nutritional needs, so their bodies can perform at an optimum level. They require adequate nourishment to fuel brain activity and aid in memory retention. Eating healthy also helps prevents illnesses which can be detrimental while focussing on studies.
Appropriate herbs in daily diet: According to Ayurvedic texts and modern research, Brahmi helps promote memory, intelligence and enhances alertness. It is a potent mental tonic that calms the mind, provides clarity in thinking and boosts memory retention. Taking this herb regularly improves certain brain chemicals that will improve mental agility, helping students to achieve their goals.
Get adequate sleep: While preparing for exams, one of the body's most important needs is sometimes foregone -- sleep. Students preparing for their exams should get at least 6-8 hours of sleep every night to maintain good mental and physical health. Studies conducted by Harvard University have shown that there is a strong relationship between sleep and memory: Students who get adequate sleep usually get better grades than those who do not. Sleep solidifies and boosts short-term memory into long-term memory. Adequate sleep helps students be more receptive to information and, consequently, enables better performance in exams.
Following these simple tips in addition to regular and effective studying will help students retain information more efficiently and provide the much-needed boost for their upcoming examinations.
The findings showed that the children who participated in the run or walk activity reported feeling more awake after taking the break, responded quicker to the attention task, were better at controlling their responses and were also more able to remember words in sentences.
"Ultimately, we found that 15 minutes of self-paced exercise can significantly improve a child's mood, attention and memory, enhancing their ability to learn," Naomi Brooks, from the University of Stirling, said in a statement.
"This suggests that children should be encouraged to exercise at their own pace during short breaks from class. This may help children be more ready to learn when they return to the classroom," added Josie Booth from the University of Edinburgh.
For the study, the team included a total of 11,613 children in the UK -- including 1,536 from Scotland -- to discover the impact of taking a short break from the classroom to complete a physical activity on their mood and cognitive abilities.
The children underwent, an intense running activity, a run or walk activity of intermediate intensity, a control activity, which was least intense.
"Overall, our study concluded that exercising leads to improvements in children's mood and cognition," said Colin Moran from the Stirling University.
"In most tasks, participating in a run/walk activity was more beneficial that doing the run test, where children should be closer to exhaustion," Moran said.
However, they should not be discouraged from doing more vigorous exercise, the researchers noted.
The management of the private school in Payanur near Kannur have also started their own probe into what happened on Sunday.
In the state capital in the Kerala Assembly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan replying to a submission of Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on the incident said he has asked the police to conduct a probe and register a case.
"This arose because of the dress code and we will register our strong protest against the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) to the Centre," said Vijayan.
Cutting across political affiliations, legislators condemned the incident and all sought action be taken against those responsible.
On Monday, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) wrote to the National Human Rights Commission, seeking immediate action against the officials responsible.
KSHRC Acting Chairman P. Mohandas directed that a case be registered and asked the Kannur district police chief and the CBSE Regional Director to submit their report within three weeks.
The incident occurred on Sunday at a National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) centre in Kannur district, where a girl told media persons after attempting the entrance exam that she was asked by the examination centre's officials to remove her top innerwear.
Another candidate, who was wearing a pair of jeans, was asked to remove a pocket as well as metal buttons from the clothing. Other girl candidates also complained that they were asked to cut the sleeves of their tops.
The CBSE organised NEET 2017 -- conducted for admission to undergraduate medical courses in government and private medical colleges in the country -- on Sunday in as many as 104 cities across the country, for which more than 11 lakh aspirants had registered.
The move has drawn flak from opposition parties which said the government should rather work towards improving the "deteriorating quality of education".
As per notifications issued Monday (December 31) by the Directorate of Primary Education and Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), students of class 1-12 of the government, grant-in-aid and self-financed schools will have to respond to attendance call with 'Jai Hind' or 'Jai Bharat', starting January 1.
The objective of the new practice is to "foster patriotism among students right from childhood", the notifications stated.
Defending the move, Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said Tuesday that the government should be open to accepting "good suggestions".
"'Jai Bharat' and 'Jai Hind' are much better than 'Yes Sir'. Saying 'Jai Hind' or 'Jai Bharat' creates a feeling of patriotism, which is why I have decided to make the change," he told reporters.
The minister said schools affiliated to the CBSE and other boards have also been asked to follow the new guidelines.
"Even local private schools have said that this is a good decision of the state government," he claimed.
Criticising the Gujarat government, state Congress unit president Amit Chavda said the new practice "will not change the quality of education" in the government and affiliated schools.
"The BJP government has made several efforts to instill patriotism among school students. Altering a certain practice will not improve the standard of education," he said.
Chavda alleged that the quality of primary education is going down in Gujarat. "The quality is even worse than many other under-developed states," he said.
"The standard of primary eduction in Gujarat has gone down significantly over the last several years. The BJP government engages only in talks and programmes in the name of improving quality," the Congress leader alleged.
He asked the Gujarat government to focus on improving school infrastructure, recruiting teachers to fill huge backlog of vacancies and "not forcing teachers to do non-teaching jobs for the government".
Patidar leader Hardik Patel said the children and youths of Gujarat should not be forced to express their patriotism, "as that feeling runs in their blood".
He said the government should prioritise improving the "significantly deteriorated" quality of education in the state.
"Instead of improving the quality of education, the education minister is talking about teaching patriotism to Gujarat's youth and children. He should know that everybody here is born with the feeling of patriotism," Hardik Patel said.
Nobody has the right to force anybody to say something he/she dislikes, he said.
"This is an attempt to deflect from the right issue. Schools are getting closed. Shortage of teachers is also an important issue," Hardik Patel said.
Santiniketan: Following unruly scenes over lack of drinking water here at the Visva-Bharati premises here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sought apologies from its students during the 49th convocation which he attended as its Chancellor.
"As the Chancellor of Visva Bharati University, I seek your apology. While I was coming here, some students through gestures told me about lack of arrangement for drinking water.
"I seek your apology for the all the inconvenience caused," said Modi amid loud cheers.
Earlier in the day, the university, built by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bolpur sub-division of West Bengal's Birbhum district, witnessed unruly scenes over lack of drinking water.
As per reports, a few of the students fell sick due to the inadequate supply.
Modi's Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were present on the occasion.
New Delhi: A group of students at IIT Roorkee have developed a mobile application -- Dhadkan -- for monitoring the health of people suffering from heart ailments and provide them with medical assistance in case of emergency.
The application developed by Computational Biology group at IIT-Roorkee can automatically send notification to both the doctor and the patient, in case of any drastic changes in patients health data indicating the possibility of an imminent heart attack.
Explaining how the app works, Sharma said it collects patients data (at any desired interval) including blood pressure, heart rate, and weight, and transmits it to the authorised care-giver (a doctor, nurse or paramedic) who is linked to the patient during initial registration.
"It also provides for two-way communication between doctors and patients. In addition, patients can send ECG report(s) to the doctor (if needed). The app not only eliminates the need for manual monitoring of each patient by the doctor but also helps them in proactively recommending precautionary action during the treatment period," he said.
Image source: PTI
As per information, the incident took place at a feast organized during a college seminar at Pulincunnoo on January 25, some of the affected students from Bihar told reporters yesterday.
Angith Kumar and Himashu Kumzar alleged the college authorities told them that it was vegetable cutlets when repeatedly asked whether it was beef or veg. So they ate them.
"Only after consuming it, we came to know that these were beef cutlets," Angith Kumar said.
Students alleged that the incident was done with the knowledge of the college principal. They also said that the experience had been very depressing after they came to know that they ate beef as it was a matter related to their faith and religion.
College authorities could not be reached for their version.
The campus is functioning under the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) headquartered in Kochi.
After completing their Bachelor of Education (B. Ed) many youths are filling the vacant posts at government schools in the district. “We are being taught nicely by the teachers. Our course is also being covered timely,” a student Rajesh Kumar Sahu said.
A volunteer teacher Aishwarya Dhal said, “After completing my Masters, I had decided that I will give my best to teach school students. I am happy that I am teaching them.”
Another volunteer Duryodhan Behera said, “We have covered nearly 70 schools till now in Balasore. The main aim is to fill vacancies.”
In a bid to fill the vacant posts, 'Teach Mayurbhanj' programme was launched on Wednesday in North Orissa University in Baripada. As many as 241 male and female teachers have come forward to voluntarily teach students without any salary.
As per reports, these volunteers are teaching in 29 schools under 6 blocks of the district and are expected to bring major transformation in the education system.
"It is so nice to see them completing the courses on time. It will give students a lot of time to revise," headmaster of Bidyapeeth High School, Saroj Kumar Khuntia, said.
“There are not enough teachers in schools. After finding that lack of teachers is affecting studies in government schools, we took up this initiative,” Head of Education Department at North Orissa University, Sameer Kumar Lenka said.
"ISRO has launched the special programme for school children 'Yuva Vigyani Karyakram' (Young Scientist programme) to impart basic knowledge on space technology, space science and applications to the young ones to arouse their interest in space activities," the city-based space agency said in a statement.
With an aim to spread scientific fervour among the youth in the country, ISRO said it chalked out the programme to "catch them young".
The two-week residential training programme will be held each year during summer holidays for students from across the country who have completed class 8 and are studying in class 9.
"Three students will be selected from each state/union territory to participate in the programme each year covering CBSE, ICSE and state syllabus," the statement said.
The space agency has approached the Chief Secretaries of the states for the selection of three students from each state and Union Territories.
The list of students taking part in the training programme's maiden session during this summer (May-June) is expected by March-end, ISRO said.
"The selection is based on the academic performance and extracurricular activities. Students belonging to rural areas have been given special weightage in the selection criteria," it added.
Published in the journal Sleep, the study analysis involved 110,496 students, out of which 8,462 were athletes.
"It was really surprising to see how strongly insufficient sleep was associated with a wide variety of mental health symptoms among college students," said lead author Thea Ramsey from the University of Arizona in the US.
With every additional night of insufficient sleep, the risk of experiencing mental health symptoms increased on average by more than 20 per cent.
The risk also increased by 21 per cent for depressed mood, 24 per cent for hopelessness, 24 per cent for anger, 25 per cent for anxiety, 25 per cent for desire to self-harm, 28 per cent for functional problems and 28 per cent for suicide ideation.
"The fact that sleep health was so strongly related to mental health is important since the majority of college students don't get the recommended amount of sleep needed for optimal health and functioning," said Michael Grander from the varsity.
The decision was taken to improve the success rate of aspirants from the State which has reportedly declined over the years. The coaching classes will begin from June 24 and in the first year, 100 aspirants will be admitted for the same. Many civil services aspirants have applied for admission into the classes where coaching will be imparted in the run up to preliminary and main examinations.
The Higher Education Department has assigned the task of conducting coaching classes to a private agency.
“Priority will be given to those who have cleared the preliminary examination. Our aim is to increase the success rate of aspirants from Odisha,” Additional Secretary of Higher Education Department, Parthasarathi Mishra said.
As per reports, aspirants, whose parents' annual income is more than Rs 2 lakh will have to pay 25 per cent of the fee, whereas for those under Rs 2 lakh, coaching will be imparted free of cost.
Educationists believe that such a step will help talented students from weaker financial background to get quality coaching. Earlier, coaching centres for civil services examinations were opened at 10 universities and 52 degree colleges across Odisha.
“Many talented students of the State can’t afford to bear the expenses of coaching and travelling to Delhi, so this seems like a very good step. In the long run, we will get to know whether it helped or not,” educationist Pritish Acharya said.
The extension of the vacation was officially announced by School and Mass Education department secretary, Pradipta Mohapatra.
The State government had also declared summer vacation earlier than scheduled from April 18 in view of intense heat wave.
In a letter written to the Director General of Police, School & Mass Education department secretary and Twin City Police Commissioner among others, the Special Secretary of Home Department, Santosh Bala, has directed to take appropriate action against such coaching centres.
The Home department has also sought a detailed report on the steps taken in this regard by the concerned officials.