Education Community

On September 5, President Droupadi Murmu will bestow 46 chosen awardees the National Awards to Teachers 2022 in recognition of their distinctive contributions to education, according to officials. Three teachers each from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, and Telangana were chosen from the list of candidates. The recipients from these four states are Yudhveer, Virender Kumar, and Amit Kumar (from Himachal Pradesh); Harpreet Singh, Arun Kumar Garg, and Vandana Shahi (from Punjab); Shashikant Sambhajirao Kulthe, Somnath Waman Walke, and Kavita Sanghvi (from Maharashtra); and Kandala Ramaiah, TN Sridhar, and Sunitha Rao (Telangana), are the awardees from these four states. Every year on September 5—Teachers Day—the Ministry of Education hosts a function at Vigyan Bhawan to bestow awards to the nation’s top teachers who have been chosen after a rigorous, transparent, and online three stage selection process. According to a senior official, “The purpose of National Awards to Teachers is to celebrate the unique contribution of teachers in the country and to honour those teachers who through their commitment and industry have not only improved the quality of school education but also enriched the lives of their students.” The selected teachers are Pradeep Negi and Kaustubh Chandra Joshi (Uttarakhand), Sunita and Durga Ram Muwal (Rajasthan), Neeraj Saxena and Om Prakash Patidar (Madhya Pradesh), Saurabh Suman and Nishi Kumari (Bihar), G Ponsankari and Umesh TP (Karnataka), Mala Jigdal Dorjee and Sidharth Yonzone (Sikkim). The other awardees include Anju Dahiya (Haryana), Rajni Sharma (Delhi), Seema Rani (Chandigarh), Maria Murena Miranda (Goa), Umesh Bharatbhai Vala (Gujarat), Mamta Ahar (Chhattisgarh), Iswar Chandra Nayak (Odhisha), Buddhadev Dutta (West Bengal), Javid Ahmed Rather (Jammu and Kashmir), Mohd Jabir (Ladkah), Khursheed Ahmad (Uttar Pradesh), Mimi Yhoshii (Nagaland), Nongmaithem Gautam Singh (Manipur), Gamchi Timre R Marak (Meghalaya), Santosh Nath (Tripura), Meenakshi Goswami (Assam), Shipra (Jharkhand), Ranjan Kumar Biswas (Andaman and Nicobar), Aravindaraja (Puducherry), Ramachandran (Tamil Nadu), Ravi Aruna (Andhra Pradesh). “Among the selected teachers one is from CISCE board, two from Kendriya Vidyalayas, one each from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and Eklavya Residential School, while two teachers are from CBSE board,” the official said.

Tarun Bajaj, a 1988 batch IAS officer from the Haryana cadre who currently serves as the revenue secretary, was assigned the additional charge of secretary in the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA). According to the ministry of personnel, public grievances, and pensions, he will succeed Rajesh Verma, who was appointed secretary to President Droupadi Murmu on August 18. According to official records, Bajaj, who has been the revenue secretary since April 6, 2021, also served as the secretary of economic affairs from April 30, 2020, to April 5, 2021. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, or ACC, approved assigning Shri Tarun Bajaj, lAS (1988 batch, Haryana cadre), Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, with additional charge of the post of Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, with immediate effect and until the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier, the ACC secretariat said in a statement on Monday. The ACC is comprised of the home minister Amit Shah and the prime minister Narendra Modi. Unless he receives an extension before the Union Budget 2023–24, Bajaj is anticipated to retire on November 30.

The government has finalised a proposal to name each AIIMS, including the one in Delhi, based on local heroes, freedom fighters, significant local historical occurrences or landmarks, or their unique geographic identity. After being asked for proposals by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the majority of the 23 All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have provided a list of names, according to official sources quoted by PTI. The Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) is a government initiative that aims to establish new AIIMS, some of which are already functioning. According to an official, AIIMS are all known by the same name and are only differentiated by location. In order to offer distinct names to all 23 AIIMS, including those that are fully functional, partially operating, or under construction, the Union Health Ministry has created a plan, the source added. In this regard, suggestions for giving specific names to various AIIMS were requested, the source said. These names could be connected to notable local or regional heroes, freedom fighters, the distinctive geographical identity of the area where the institute is located, and important historical events or monuments of the region. Reports state that the most of these esteemed health institutions have offered three to four names, each with an explanation. In Phase 1 of PMSSY, six new AIIMS were approved and are now operational in Bihar (Patna), Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal), Odisha (Bhubaneswar), Rajasthan (Jodhpur), and Uttarakhand (Rishikesh). Ten of the 16 AIIMS established between 2015 and 2022 have started providing both MBBS programmes and outpatient department services, while the other two have only recently started providing MBBS classes. The other four institutes are in various stages of development. Source: PTI

A gender equity curriculum will be incorporated into the curriculum for students in all government schools in Odisha in order to change their views, aspirations, and behaviour. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal), South Asia, and the women’s rights organisation Breakthrough inked a memorandum of understanding with the School Education Department on Monday in Bhubaneswar. According to a formal statement, the curriculum includes interactive class discussions to educate adolescent boys and girls to consider the culturally embedded gender norms, roles, and discriminatory practises. By August, it will be included in the social studies curriculum for both boys and girls in classes 6 – 10 at more than 18,000 elementary and 5,000 secondary schools. J-Pal South Asia executive director Shobhini Mukerji said, “Adolescence presents a crucial window of opportunity to change even deeply-rooted norms and instil more progressive gender attitudes.” Breakthrough will collaborate with the department to integrate the curriculum into the syllabus, contextualise it, educate teachers, gather teacher feedback, hold workshops, and involve parents in the process. To make sure the programme is meeting its goals to produce insights for long-term, high-quality government implementation of the curriculum, J-Pal will carry out independent monitoring activities. “Gender equality is very important. We are working on it.” School Education Minister Samir Dash said. Positive gender attitudes, parental support for daughters’ education, an improvement in the sex ratio, and higher rates of female labour force participation are all anticipated outcomes of the programme. The project intends to offer girls options for their education and employment, keep them in school for a greater number of years, reduce dropout rates, and raise the age of marriage and first childbirth. Sohini Bhattacharya, the chief executive officer of Breakthrough, emphasised that gender perceptions are developed at a young age. “Therefore, we need to ensure that children, especially those between the 10-15 years, have access to the right information related to gender equality, legal rights, and healthy gender behaviours,” Bhattacharya stated. The state’s sustainable development goals (SDG) of gender equality and high-quality education would be more easily attained with the support of the Gender Equity Programme. Principal secretary, school education secretary department, Bishnupada Sethi said, “We’ll have wide-ranging topics that will be covered in schools as part of this programme in our continued efforts to build a gender-equal world.” Source: PTI