Parents and educationists are concerned over posting of several primary school teachers in junior high schools, high schools and higher secondary schools in the four valley districts of Manipur. Students have complained that these teachers could not handle any subject. Chief Minister Okram Ibobi, who is in charge of Education, has said the government will soon appoint an additional 1,300 primary and 600 graduate teachers. The selection test for teachers will...

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar recently alleged that Monsanto, the Union environment ministry’s genetic engineering approval committee (GEAC) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) had colluded to start trials of genetically modified maize in Bihar before clearance from the environment ministry and the state government. The charge is significant: Nitish says ICAR’s experimental farms in Bihar did not maintain the stipulated “isolation distance” from normal farmland, meant to...

The chairman of the National Council for Teacher Education, a statutory body monitoring teachers’ education in the country, has been found guilty of corruption by a vigilance inquiry, sources said. M.A. Siddiqui is likely to be issued a chargesheet within a week. A professor from Jamia Millia Islamia University on deputation to NCTE since 2008, Siddiqui is also likely to be repatriated to the university after it wrote to the human...

Confusion prevails here over implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act and activists are accusing private school managements of back-pedalling on flimsy grounds for fear of losing their elitist tags. This has delayed the admission process in various city schools. The Chandigarh administration, the private schools association, social activists and parents are still debating the provisions of the RTE Act. There has been no consensus so far. The RTE Act makes it...

The youth will not take no for an answer. Five years on, the RTI comes of age. At four feet something, Santosh’s energy belies her petite frame. The school dropout was introduced to RTI through activist Arvind Kejriwal, and now, at Parivartan’s Sundar Nagri office, she holds fort, helping others acquire everything from BPL and ration cards to school admissions through RTI. Threats and attacks by local authorities who dubbed her...