The state government plans to introduce career counseling workshops in all secondary and higher secondary schools statewide, technical education minister Charanjit Singh Channi informed the media in Chandigarh on January 28.
After a meeting with senior officials of the Union ministry for skill development and entrepreneurship (MSDE) on January 27, the minister said the National Skill Development Corporation has formally agreed to set up a counselors training centre in the state. This centre will educate and skill trainers across Punjab who will in turn conduct career counseling workshops in educational institutions, he said.

The minister also announced that the state government will run self-employment skills training programmes in agriculture and allied services conducted by Punjab Agricultural University and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University under the Punjab Skill Development Mission.

Delhi
Fulbright scholarship winners

Six government school teachers including Manu Gulati (English), Anju Pathak (Math) and Deepti Chawla (English) among others, were awarded the prestigious Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, a scholarship programme initiated by US Senator J. William Fulbright (1905-1995) in 1946, according to an official communique issued in Delhi on January 22.

These teachers will travel to the US to attend special programmes at various universities. They will receive intensive training in teaching methodologies, lesson planning, teaching strategies for home environments, teacher leadership and use of instructional technologies, the statement said.

Delhis deputy chief and education minister Manish Sisodia invited the teachers to his residence and congratulated them. This is a proud moment for Delhi, since this is the first time all teachers selected from India are from Delhi government schools. It is heartening to see they are receiving international recognition for their service to Delhis children, he said.

Madhya Pradesh
Temporary teachers public protest

Temporary teachers from across the state, some of them with tonsured heads, staged a public protest in Bhopal demanding their services are regularised by the states education department, Shivraj Verma, Azad Adhyapak Sanghs working president, informed the media in Bhopal on January 13.

Four women teachers had planned to gift their tonsured hair to the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhans wife, but were prevented from doing so.

We dont know to which ministry we belong. The education ministry says we are employees of local authorities. The local authorities say we are employees of the state government. Over 288,000 temporary teachers are caught in this situation for the past several years, lamented Verma.

Haryana
New womens colleges plan

Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced a plan to inaugurate 29 new womens science colleges across Haryana at a function to mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, in Panchkula on January 12.

A scheme has been designed to set up one womens college within a radius of 20 km of every township in the state so that our daughters need not travel too far in search of education, the chief minister said. The state government is also taking several measures to promote its WIFY (women, infrastructure and industry, farmers and youth) mission, he added.

Odisha
Zero period proposal

The Ganjam district administration will introduce a weekly ‘zero period in government primary-secondaries to promote the creativity and logical thinking skills of children, district education officer (DEO) Sanatan Panda informed the media in Berhampur on January 3.

In the first phase, the zero period will be introduced in 350 of the 4,000 schools in the district. During the zero period children will be allowed to engage in activities of their choice under the supervision of a teacher, he said.
Headmasters will be asked for their feedback on students response before extending the initiative to other schools in the district, he added.

Maharashtra
New education board proposed

The state government has made plans to establish an education board for non-English medium schools, education minister Vinod Tawde announced in Sindhudurg district on January 4.

The government has decided to constitute an education board to prepare a structured academic curriculum for non-English medium schools. In the first phase, 100 selected Marathi-medium schools will follow the new curriculum, the minister said.

Tawde also gave an assurance to resolve the issue of teachers being burdened with non-teaching tasks such as Census surveys and election duties.

Paromita Sengupta with bureau inputs