05.11.22

Mizoram second in pupil-teacher ratio in country, says govt report

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Mizoramhas the second best pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) in the country (one teacher for every 13 students) after(one teacher for every 10 students) according to the unified district information system for Education (UDISE) plus 2021-22 report released by the Union education ministry.

The high PTR in the two states can be attributed to low enrolment. While Sikkim has the lowest enrolment among all states (1.35 lakh), the enrolment in Mizoram is 3.09 lakh, which is the third lowest in the country.

The report states that Sikkim has 13,613 teachers in 1,259 schools, which implies that on an Average there are 11 teachers and 108 students in each school. In Mizoram, 3,911 schools have 23,366 teachers, which on average means there are six teachers and 79 students per school.

According to the report, nationally on an average, there is one teacher for 28 students while the enrolment is 26.52 crore.

Among the other northeastern states, Assam has 60,859 schools, which is the highest in the region. The states enrolment is 75.44 lakh students. With 3.52 lakh teachers the PTR stands at 21. The number of teachers in each school in Assam is on a par with the national average of six while the enrollment per school is a modest 124.

The PTR in all the northeastern states has been recorded to be better than the national average of 28Arunachal (15),Meghalaya(21), Manipur (16), Nagaland (14), Tripura (20).

Incidentally, Nagaland has double the number of teachers in a school compared to the scenario in Assam or the national average.

All NE states have a better PTR compared to Delhis figure of 30, but educationists said the northeastern states need more teachers in a school to pay more attention to the students. Barring Nagaland, all NE states have less than 10 teachers, while Meghalaya is at the bottom of the category with only four teachers per school.

‘More than 4,000 schools shut in Assam during Covid’

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More than 4,000 schools, from primary to secondary levels, mostly under private management, shut down inAssambetween April 2021 and March 2022. The Education ministry has attributed this to the impact of Covid-19.

The Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) report by the ministry published earlier this week shows that the impact of the pandemic forced 20,000 schools to close down across the country during the same period.

Sources in the state education department pointed out that the ‘s policy of amalgamation of government schools has also contributed to a noticeable decline in the number of schools in the state.
A decline in the number of schools has been reported from all the northeastern states.

The closure of the schools has also reduced the teacher strength both nationally and at the state level.

The teacher strength in the country from the primary to the higher secondary level, reduced from 96.96 lakh in 2020-2021 to 95.07 lakh in 2021-2022.
The number of teachers in Assam declined to 3.52 lakh in the latest report from 3.7 lakh, which accounts for nearly a 10% reduction in teacher strength in the country.

Secure Fishing App to empower fishers

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The Odisha Government and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in India on Friday launched a mobile application, Secure Fishing App here.

The Department of and Animal Resources Development with the support of WFP has taken the initiative to empower fisher folks by providing real-time information, insights and analytics that directly contribute to their livelihood.

The Secure Fishing application is being implemented as a pilot in Paradip and will subsequently be extended to the marine fishers in the State.

The State Government has placed the fisheries and aquaculture sector as one of the Growth propellers for over 15.89 lakh fishermen, including farmers, SHG Women, youths and entrepreneurs.

AWB allocates 20 crore to take care of strays

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TheTamil Nadu Animal Welfare Boardhas allocated 20 crore to various animal welfare organisations including theSociety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals(SPCA) and other NGOs to help them take care of abandoned , pet animals, and strays.

They can use this fund to buy ambulances, create Infrastructure facilities and buy feed and medical kits to treat injured animals.

In order to mitigate the sufferings of abandoned and stray animals on a permanent basis and in order to commemorate the 200th birth anniversary ofSaint Vallalar, the government is implementing the “Vallalar Palluyir Kaapagangal” scheme to support the efforts for animal welfare.

Capitulating to the persistent demand from the Kerala government, the Union Rural Development Ministry has lifted the restriction on number of simultaneous work in a gram panchayat for the State. In a written letter to the State government on Friday, the Ministry has said that instead of existing cap of 20 simultaneous works per gram panchayat, the State can have up to 50.

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The Centre had directed the States, by an order in July this year, that the muster roll for new work may not be issued if 20 number of works are available in a gram panchayat. The only exception, which were not counted in this 20 were works under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin (PMAYG).

The State has been warring with the Centre on the issue since the directions were issued July. M.B. Rajesh, Minister for Local Self-government, wrote a letter to the Union Rural Development Minister on October 31,urging the Ministry to consider the restrictions for panchayat wards instead of Panchayats in States like Kerala, where the panchayats are quite big in terms of geographical area and Population.

Karnataka urges Centre to pass law banning online gaming

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Several states includingKarnatakahave urged the Centre to enact a law to ban online gaming with stakes, alleging that the practice was ruining lives of people, especially youngsters. The demand was made during the two-day conference of law ministers and secretaries of all states in October.

In February this year, the Karnataka struck down the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act 2021 that prohibited and criminalised online games with stakes. The court held that although poles apart in nature, the law puts games of skill on par with games of chance. The court also observed that the government enacted the law without the support of any study to understand the ill effects of online gaming.

Joint survey to address Telangana’s fears on Polavaram flooding

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ThePolavaram Project Authority(PPA) has launched a joint survey to clear the apprehensions ofTelanganagovernment with regard to the submergence of villages under the backwaters of Polavaraam project.

The Centre has turned down ‘s claims but the PPA agreed to take up the survey to put the project works on fast track.

Citing the recent floods to the Godavari, Telangana lodged a complaint with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Cwc and the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti seeking to halt thePolavaramproject.

Telangana alleged that many of its villages in Bhadrachalam and Kothagudem mandals were inundated for several days due to floods after the construction of the Polavaram project.

MSME internships to boost employability

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In a move to make the students pursuing different technical courses at polytechnic colleges employable soon after finishing their courses, the technical Education department has roped in Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSME) industries to provide internship to students.
The MSME association has also agreed to pay 6,000 monthly stipend to all the students during the training period.

The diploma students were struggling due to lack of industry exposure resulting in Unemployment or underpayment soon after assuming charge as technical education commissioner about six months ago and held several rounds of discussions with the industry representatives.

At cost of Rs 1.7 crore, Goa tourism to head to Europe to get more responsible tourists

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GoasBhaktiKulkarni has been recommended for theArjuna Awardby the selection panel headed by retired SC AM Khanwilkar.
Should, as expected, the Sports ministry accepts the recommendation of the selection committee, the chess queen will be the first Goan woman to receive the top sporting honour, and the first non-footballer from the state.
Two Goans,Padma Shri Brahmanand Shankhwalkar(1998) and Bruno Coutinho (2001), both footballers, have won theArjunaAward in the past.

Bhakti said the last five years performances were considered for the award.
Bhakti also won the team gold medal in the online chess Olympiad in August 2020 and Asian Nations Cup online in October the same year.

Six years on, MahaRERA yet to clear over 6,000 complaints

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MahaRERA is yet to clear 6,191 complaints despite the passage of six years since the implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act in the state.

Though MahaRERA has been working on identifying the lapsed projects, consumers feel the complaints need to be addressed at the earliest by setting up more benches across the state and ensuring more hearings.

Data available on the MahaRERA website showed that the total number of complaints registered was over 19,000 and 12,961 have so far been disposed of.