Education ministry urges 7 states to adopt common board for Classes 10, 12
In 2024, over 22.17 lakh students failed the Class 10 exams, while 20.16 lakh failed Class 12. While these figures reflect an improvement from previous years, they remain a significant hurdle in ensuring smooth transition to higher education and reducing dropout rates.advertisementThe analysis revealed that open school boards continue to struggle, with only 54% of Class 10 and 57% of Class 12 students passing. Officials stressed the need for the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to expand its reach, especially in states with high failure rates. Currently, NIOS has a stronger presence in Delhi, Rajasthan, and Haryana — states that also have some of the lowest student failure rates."There is a need to standardise assessments, curriculum design, paper setting, promotion criteria, and exam schedules across all boards. Institutions like NIOS must enhance their outreach to ensure students remain within the education system, supported by initiatives like Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan and active parental engagement," Kumar added.GIRLS OUTPERFORM BOYS IN SCIENCE STREAMA positive trend noted in the report was the increasing success of girls in board exams, particularly in science. More than 28 lakh girls cleared science subjects in 2024, surpassing the 27.2 lakh in the arts stream — a significant shift from 2022 when the number stood at 23.3 lakh.The report also highlighted disparities in performance based on the language of instruction. Students writing exams in Odia and Malayalam consistently outperformed those in Kannada, Telugu, or Assamese. Interestingly, Kerala, Odisha, and Manipur — states that have integrated or centralised board systems — reported exceptional pass percentages, with Kerala achieving a staggering 99.96% success rate.advertisementCENTRAL SCHOOLS LEAD IN COMPETITVE EXAM SUCCESSAdditionally, centrally managed institutions like Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) and Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) continue to deliver strong academic performances. In NEET-UG 2024, 72% of students from NVs qualified, while both KVs and NVs maintained impressive results in engineering entrance exams as well.Navodaya Vidyalayas, known for their residential, co-educational setup, aim to provide quality education to talented students from rural backgrounds. Their consistent success, especially in competitive exams, underscores the value of structured and standardised educational models.Trending Reel
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Time of India
42 minutes ago
- Time of India
A Divine satirist
Basheer's irreverent humour, spiritual depth and unwavering humanist vision remain strikingly relevant—offering a luminous counterpoint to the discord of our polarized world The Sacred, the Silly & the Sublime By: Dr Azeez Tharuvana Vaikom Muhammad Basheer's works form a rich treasure mine—each reading reveals new layers of meaning that resonate with our times. Shabdangal (Voices) exemplifies this, especially relevant amid global wars, refugee crises and the search for human connection. Though short, the novel raises profound questions, like this conversation: 'Everyone has a philosophy for life. I try to live by mine.' 'I don't have a philosophy. Maybe because I don't feel connected to anyone?' 'But you do—you're connected to everyone.' 'What relationship?' 'Do you have a navel? It connects you to your mother—even if you never knew her… In the end, all of us are connected.' Basheer boldly explored themes like gender identity and the struggles of transgender individuals—topics still finding space in public discussion today. At the time, many conservative critics were shocked, but modern readers recognize his intent: To open up unfamiliar, often uncomfortable worlds to the Malayali imagination. His wide travels and deep empathy for the poor gave him a rare sensitivity. For Basheer, experience was everything. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo Living with Sufis and mystics, working various jobs, and meeting people on society's fringes—hijras, male sex workers—he realized that life's truths came from lived realities. Phrases like 'Anal Haq' (I am the Truth) and 'Aham Brahmasmi' (I am the Brahma) shaped his spiritual worldview. He saw that organized religion often demanded blind submission. He believed so-called sinners and criminals were often just people who had lost their way seeking peace, dignity and redemption. From this emerged a new kind of spirituality—one that embraced compassion over dogma and change over obedience. Like in the story Bhoomiyude Avakaashikal (The Inheritors of the Earth), animals and birds appear frequently in Basheer's work. Long before environmental themes became common in Malayalam literature, Basheer was already weaving thoughts about nature and the environment into his stories. These early glimpses of ecological awareness reflect the depth of Basheer's philosophical thinking—a belief in the unity and sacredness of all living things. This is the philosophy of oneness that flows through all of Basheer's writing—a gentle, powerful consciousness that sees the whole universe as connected. His language—simple, direct and full of life—was unlike anything in Malayalam literature. As MN Vijayan said: 'He sang playful tunes to his deepest sorrows… He reminded us, 'I am my language.'' He stretched and reshaped the language, giving it new life. In fact, long before Dalit and feminist writers began questioning the limits of language, Basheer had already done so. He coined Lodkus Akhaya and Palungusan Vyakarana to poke fun at scholars but though some claimed he ignored grammar, Basheer in fact mastered and reshaped language with care and intention. Balyakalasakhi was a 500-page manuscript trimmed into a timeless 80-page classic. His works remain fresh because they can be read through many lenses—social, emotional, political, spiritual. At their core, they celebrate love, compassion, and unity. Basheer's spirituality transcended religion. He believed in a divine spirit that connected all beings. This gave rise to a a certain intensity, a kind of madness. His mind often wandered along the thin line between mysticism and what others might call the abnormal. His creativity flowed from this unique space—where spiritual insight and unconventional thoughts lived side by side. In a letter from a mental hospital, he wrote: 'I tried to understand everything… life, death… Is God a human idea? I believed—God exists. Call Him Allah, Khuda, or Lord—Allah exists…' To truly understand Basheer, we must open our hearts to the wide, tender world he saw so clearly. (The writer is assistant professor and HOD, Malayalam dept, Farook College)
Scroll.in
2 hours ago
- Scroll.in
‘The Hyderabadis': Displacement, broken geographies, and evolving identities in the city's history
In his literary debut, The Hyderabadis: From 1947 to the Present Day, writer and researcher Daneesh Majid curates stories of ten distinctive lives shaped by the cruelties of police action in 1948. Some of his older subjects were witnesses as well as targets of violence and displacement across what is now Maharashtra's Marathwada region and northeast Karnataka. The Nizam state's Telugu-speaking districts had not been spared of the bloodshed before and after Hyderabad's accession to a newly independent India. He chronicles their trajectories with dignity while constructing meaningful identities that evolved as a result of upheavals from Police Action to the present day. The lives are not just casual selections. Rather, they are aggressive assertions about the authentic Hyderabad experience, deliberately challenging stereotypical hedonistic depictions of Deccani Muslims. The book also traces varied migratory patterns. Some subjects travelled to the Gulf for economic opportunity, others resettled in Karachi or Canada, while many sought refuge within Hyderabad city itself, arriving from places like Latur and Gulbarga. Filling the gap When it comes to showcasing these varied histories in an accessible manner, it is often the prodigal and adopted children of Hyderabad who tend to step up. In the vein of Majid's returns from the Middle East and North America, many of us who return to Hyderabad after time away find that distance can paradoxically deepen our attachment, those who migrated from Hyderabad often become its most fervent custodians, perhaps more Hyderabadi in their exile than those who never left, driven by an emigrant's compensatory performance to both explore and preserve what physical separation threatens to dissolve. The book's exploration of displacement resembles partition literature's central themes: broken geographies, reconstructed belonging, and constantly evolving notions of identity. However, while extensive scholarship has focused on Punjab, Bengal, North India, and Sindh, Hyderabad's particular trauma has been largely unexplored until recently. University of Pennsylvania professor Afsar Mohammad's Remaking History examined how Hyderabadi writers processed the 1948 state violence through literary responses. His focus was 'Muslimness' during the 1947–50 era, before and after the Police Action. Where Mohammad's academic approach emphasised memory-keeping through Urdu and Telugu literature, Majid tackles a more compelling question: how did ordinary people actually rebuild their lives after such profound disruption? Through this, Majid doesn't attempt a common minimum definition of what constitutes a Hyderabadi. Instead, his selections implicitly argue: negotiate this difficult version of Hyderabadi identity first, and the rest will follow. Remarkably, it is not the Charminar on the book's cover but the modest literary institution Idara-e-Adabiyat-e-Urdu near the Irrum Manzil station that perfectly illustrates the author's underlying emotional current. During countless commutes, I caught fleeting glimpses of this building, but never investigated its significance. Through Mejid's reverent telling and imagery, we learn of Idara founder Professor Zor's dream to transform this library-cum-learning centre into a premier Urdu university. Zor's persistence and love for Urdu pushed him to manifest a fragment of his vision, while Majid's drove him to document this partial realisation. This pattern echoes Hyderabad's story itself. Conceived as the preeminent city in the modern Islamic world, diminished by historical forces, yet sustained in fragments through successive acts of intellectual commitment. What moved me in this chain of devotion is how an enduring love for abstractions (language, city) becomes concrete through those who refuse to let dreams disappear. Works like this transform readers into chroniclers themselves, ensuring that the real Hyderabad passes forward, with fragments becoming seeds of possibility. Alongside the Idara, the narrative's expanse encompasses overlooked geographies within the erstwhile Hyderabad state, like Latur, Kohir, and Basavakalyan. And this canvas includes localities within the present-day city itself, like Falaknuma, Doodhbowli, Gowliguda, Haribowli, and Mughalpura. Even if they appear as casual name-drops at times, their specificity evokes the same curiosity I feel when riding a bus as the conductor calls out an unfamiliar stop like 'Ghode-ka-khabar!' And that immediate urge to discover the origins behind such intriguing names is exactly what makes Majid's geographic sensibility so endearing! 'Hyderabadis still kept their heads down no matter the exploitation in the Gulf [...] The economic power that came about because of Gulf money has also made it possible for us to take the othering happening in present-day India somewhat in our stride.' — ~ Chapter 3 of the book. The survival lens The prism of survival and breadwinning, however purposeful, creates systematic blind spots. All chapter titles belong to men, an inevitable consequence when examining resistance to Razakar attacks, earning abroad, communist politics, and academic pursuits within historical patriarchal structures. Women appear as supporting characters (Halima Bi, Oudesh Rani Bawa, Amena Begum, Shruthi Apparasu), but their narratives remain peripheral. Given this gap, I recommend readers supplement The Hyderabadis with Professor Nazia Akhtar's Bibi's Room, which centres around three women of 20th-century Hyderabad. The survival framework also obscures the aesthetic dimensions that animate Hyderabadi life. While Majid identifies Hyderabad as the 'humour capital', we encounter neither examples of this wit nor critical examination of the occasionally misogynist mizahiya mushaira programs. Also absent are the entrepreneurial innovations (Zinda Tilismath, the iconic medicinal products magnate), popular cinematic expressions (like The Angrez released in 2005), or matrimonial traditions (Dakhni Dholak Ke Geet or folk wedding songs). These omissions flatten Hyderabad – once considered the apex of the Muslim world – to gritty perseverance devoid of grandeur. Yet, there is much to relish in Majid's research process, revealed through little anecdotes about discovering fascinating primary and secondary sources via fellow Hyderabad enthusiasts. In Chapter 10, a bookstore recommendation leads to an unexpected narrative thread; a family friend connects him to Mr Saxena, whose late wife, Sheela Raj, turned out to be the very author of the material he had been studying. These serendipitous connections situate the academic fervour driving this work. The book also deftly navigates Andhra–Telangana tensions in the 1960s and 70s while examining caste associations, favouritism, water politics, and land disputes. Particularly illuminating is how committed Marxists Chukka Ramaiah (Chapter 7) and Raj Bahadur Gour (Chapter 9) wrestled with Mulki versus Andhra Telugu identities, especially when the centralising communist agenda called for 'Visalandhra', a project originally conceived in opposition to the Nizam. What remains conspicuously absent from the book is the Muslim voice during this tumultuous period. Did survival struggles suppress their assertiveness? Why did MIM maintain such dominance over democratic challengers like MBT (Majlis Bachao Tehreek), which broke away precisely to contest dynastic control and corruption? What wisdom might figures like Bahadur Yar Jung, one of the early MIM ideologues of the 1920s and 30s, offer for today's political calculations? The absence of these perspectives carries added weight given Majid's concluding calls for greater integration. With migration options to the Gulf and North America considerably narrowing, Hyderabad's Muslims must anchor themselves more firmly in soil that belongs as much to them as to anyone else. Perhaps the very resilience documented in these ten lives offers a foundation for more confident Muslim politics today. Surya Teja is a Researcher and Software Engineer at Avanti Fellows, a non-profit developing open-source tech for public schools.
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
Govt conducted DSC 2025 with transparency, says Lokesh
Visakhapatnam: Education minister Nara Lokesh said that DSC 2025 (teacher recruitment test) was conducted smoothly over a period of 23 days to recruit 16,347 teachers. "The DSC was conducted after a gap of seven years. About 3.36 lakh candidates submitted 5.77 lakh applications, with the exam attendance rate of 92.9%. Despite 31 court cases filed at the behest of the YSRCP, the examinations were conducted with fairness and transparency," the minister added in a social media post on Friday. "Provisions such as SC sub-categorisation and a 3% sports quota were implemented to ensure equity and inclusion in the recruitment process. The initial answer keys have been released, and candidates are encouraged to raise any objections or request corrections within the notified timeline," said Lokesh. He extended a note of appreciation to every district and state official involved in making the examinations a "success. " Meanwhile, mega DSC convener MV Krishna Reddy announced that the primary keys and response sheets for various examinations conducted from June 6 to 28 have been released and are now available on the official mega DSC website. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like local network access control Esseps Learn More Undo The subjects for which primary keys have been released include the postgraduate teacher category (commerce, English, Hindi, physical science, Sanskrit, social, Telugu), school assistant category (English and physical science), secondary grade teacher category (SGT general, SGT – special HH for hearing impaired, SGT – special VH for visually impaired), trained graduate teacher category (English, Hindi, physical science, science, social, Telugu), the English proficiency test, and the physical education teacher exams, including PET – HH, PET – VH, and regular PET exams across all mediums. "Candidates can review their personal response sheets and, if they have any objections to the primary keys, they are required to submit them with valid proof through the website on or before July 11. The primary keys and response sheets for the examinations held from June 29 to July 2 will be released soon," added Krishna Reddy.
