GUJARAT

Stringent punishment

Vadodara. Service contracts of two junior resident doctors of the Gujarat Medical Educa­tion & Research Society’s Gotri Medical College were terminated, and five third-year medical students expelled from the hostel for allegedly ragging 60 second-year students who were forced to do 100 sit-up exercises.

“We have taken a seri­ous view of the matter and ordered an investigation. Strict action will be taken against those involved in this ragging incident,” said the state’s additional chief secretary (health) Manoj Aggarwal, addressing a press conference.

RAJASTHAN

English medium surge

Jaipur. The sec­ondary education depart­ment of the education ministry has received 60,000 applications for admission into the state’s newly established English-medium Mahatma Gandhi Government Schools (MGGS) across Rajasthan. Against this, the available capacity is 18,093 seats.

“In 2019, there were only 33 MGGS schools in the districts. Since then, the number has increased to over 200 cur­rently. About 330 existing government schools are also being considered for upgradation into MGGS. Wherever the number of applicants is higher than available seats, the lottery system is adopted for selection,” said Saurabh Swami, the state’s director (secondary education) ad­dressing a media confer­ence.

MAHARASHTRA

BMC’s upscale plans

Mumbai, July 2. Tourism and environment min­ister Aditya Thackeray announced plans of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — India’s wealthiest local government with an an­nual budget of Rs.39,000 crore — to establish free-of-charge municipal schools affiliated with the International Baccalaure­ate (Geneva) in the near future. BMC will also es­tablish one CBSE and one CISCE-affiliated school in all 24 administrative wards under it, said the minister.

Thackeray made the an­nouncement at a function to mark the inauguration of a new CBSE school with capacity to admit 400 students, in eastern Mumbai. “Over 2,000 applications were received for the school’s 400 seats,” he said.

ODISHA

Ambitious initiative

Bhubaneswar. The Odisha government has given the green light to upgrade the state government-run College of Engineering, Keonjhar into a research centre of excellence for earth sci­ences and technology at an estimated cost of Rs.42.50 crore.

“We intend to develop a high-class research and academic ecosystem with smart human resource strategies to attract tal­ent from different parts of the world, especially Odia emigrants who have achieved acclaim in the fields of mining, engineer­ing and geophysics in for­eign countries,” said chief secretary S.C. Mohapatra addressing the media.

UTTARAKHAND

Excess admissions enquiry

Dehradun. The state government has ordered an inquiry into allegations that 14 private colleges in Haridwar and Dehradun affiliated with the Sridev Suman Univer­sity admitted 700 students in excess of licensed capacity. “The default­ing colleges have been served show-cause notices and the admission of all unqualified students has been cancelled,” said the varsity’s vice chancellor P.P. Dhyani.

Added state higher education minister Dhan Singh Rawat: “An inquiry into the allegations has been ordered and the committee looking into the matter has been asked to submit its report within two weeks.”

ASSAM

Empowerment Committee

Guwahati. A three-member committee has been constituted to recom­mend ways and means to empower autonomous col­leges in the state. Chaired by the government’s education adviser Prof. Mihir Kanti Chaudhuri, members of the committee are B. Kalyan Chakravar­thy, principal secretary, higher education and Dr. Bimal Barah, principal, Jagannath Barooh College, Jorhat.

The committee, which will submit its report within 30 days from the date of notification, has been constituted to draw up a blueprint to empower autonomous colleges in Assam as per provisions of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The panel will also assess the monetary, manpower, material and academic resources required for the purpose.

PUNJAB

Reopen schools order

Chandigarh. Fol­lowing chief minister Am­arinder Singh’s approval, all schools statewide will reopen from August 2 to provide in-person classes for pre-primary to class XII students, said the state’s school educa­tion minister Vijay Inder Singla.

“While traditional school timings will remain the same (8 a.m-2 p.m), parents are requested to write consent letters per­mitting their children to attend in-school classes,” said Singh. Early reopen­ing of schools will enable teachers to assess the learning loss of students during the pandemic lock­down, he added.

Paromita Sengupta with bureau inputs