National Achievement Survey (NAS), 2021

The NAS 2021 revealed that a deep learning crisis has set in during the Covid pandemic, with a largescale Central Government survey capturing a fall of up to nine percentage points between 2017 and 2021 in the performance of students in subjects ranging from maths to social sciences.

Academic performances in schools across the country have slipped below levels recorded in 2017, except in Punjab and Rajasthan, according to National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021, which has captured a widening of learning gaps caused by disruptions triggered by the pandemic.

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While Punjab fared well in these reports, Delhi, ironically, failed to perform well. State-wise reports of NAS 2021 are available at indianexpress.com/education.

Karnataka SSLC paper leak

Days after announcing the SSLC exam results, a police complaint has been filed at the Magadi police station in Ramanagara district, stating that the SSLC science question paper was leaked by the teachers of Kempegowda School, Ramanagar, during the exam on April 11. In connection to that, 10 including teachers and a journalist have been arrested in Ramanagara for this alleged science question paper leak.

According to the police officials, a retired headmaster of a private school took photographs of the science question papers that were stored in one of the examination centres in Ramanagar. “The retired headmaster later circulated it to the clerk and blackmailed him for money. The local journalist, who is a friend of the headmaster, also blackmailed the teachers of Kempegowda school and threatened to expose the leak to the police. On the day of the examination, the teachers who were aware of the question paper helped students in answering the questions in the exam hall,” said a police official.

Karnataka textbook row

The ongoing Karnataka textbook row hit another roadblock this week as two writers, Devanur Mahadeva and G Ramakrishna, have revoked their permission to include their writings as part of the class 10 Kannada textbooks. In two separate letters, the duo have expressed their disappointment by calling the method of reviewing textbooks as ‘undemocratic’ and ‘unethical’. This comes after primary and secondary minister BC Nagesh, on Monday, defended the changes made to some portions of Kannada and Social Science textbooks, including the dropping of Sara Abubacker and other progressive writers.

“Anyone dropping the writings of people like AL Basavaraju, AN Murthy, P Lankesh and Sara Abubaker is not aware of Karnataka and its culture. Rohith Chakrathirtha who headed the textbook review committee, claims that he is not identifying writers by their caste. However, if you don’t be inclusive of caste in a country like India, at least 90% of people would be excluded, thus impacting the participatory model of democracy. Hence, I have withdrawn from giving permission to use my writings in the textbook,” Mahedeva said in his letter.

Lonavala school closure

The management of Cathedral Vidya School in Lonavala (CVSL) announced that CVSL will be shut permanently citing the coronavirus pandemic as the reason. However, the parents are demanding that the school should run at least for a year so that all have enough time to look for alternatives.

The parents said they are still coming out of the shock of the abrupt closure of the school, a day before the new academic year was to start. While most of them are struggling to find alternative schools for their wards at the last moment; several are trying all possible options to make the school stay open.

UGC announcements

— CUET UG 2022

The UGC Chairman announced that the registration process for CUET UG will be reopened and continue till month end. Following that, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has reopened the registration window for Common University Entrance Test (CUET) 2022. Interested candidates can now apply till May 31, 9 pm at the official website — cuet.samarth.ac.in.

While no set exam date has been announced by the NTA yet, it has been announced that the exam will be held in July 2022.

— Tweaking draft regulations

UGC has decided to tweak the draft regulations which, once approved, will define the learning outcomes associated with each level of qualification in higher education and enable the transfer of credits between institutions and courses. UGC chairperson Prof M Jagadesh Kumar told The Indian Express on Sunday that the commission decided to revise the draft regulations, which were put out in the public domain in January, to ensure parity with guidelines that govern technical education in the country.

Put simply, the National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF), which is being revised, defines what a learner is expected to know upon completion of a course, ranging from certificate programmes to PhDs.

— UGC-NET

The UGC Chairman has announced that the deadline for submission of online application form for UGC-NET December 2021 and June 2022 has now been extended. The new deadline for submission of online application and fee payment is now May 30, 2022.

“In pursuant to representations from the candidates, regarding submission of online application form for UGC-NET December 2021 and June 2022 (merged cycles), it has been decided to extend the last date for submission and fee payment to 30 May 2022,” he tweeted.

State board exam results

— Meghalaya

The Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) announced the HSSLC result on May 26 for commerce, science and vocational streams.

This year, Gyanesh Roy Bhowmik has topped in Science stream by securing 469 marks, followed by Rishi Sarkar who scored 460 marks. In totality, the pass percentage for this stream is 73.79 per cent. In the Commerce stream, Riya Kharpran topped by scoring 464 marks, followed by Emerene Kharpran and Keshav Agarwala who scored 462 marks. In totality, the pass percentage for this stream is 85.65 per cent.

— Nagaland

The Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) has announced the Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) or class 12 results release date and time. The result is scheduled to be released in the afternoon of May 31, 2022.

This year, Nagaland HSSLC or class 12 board examination were conducted from March 8 to March 31, 2022. The examination began at 10 am and was held till 1 pm. The provisional result gazettes will be issued to all the registered institutions of the Board along with the Marksheets or Pass Certificates. In addition to this, soft copy will be available on the board portal, i.e. nbsenl.edu.in.