New Delhi Apr 26 PTI The government has scrapped several discretionary quotas including that of Members of Parliament MP for admissions to Kendriya Vidyalayas a decision which will help free over 40000 seats in the centrally funded schools The move comes weeks after the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan KVS put on hold all discretionary quotas for admissions to various central schools across the country following a reviewThere are over 1200 KVs in the country with over 1435 lakh students The MPs -- 543 in Lok Sabha and 245 in Rajya Sabha -- could collectively recommend up to 7880 admissions a year under the quotaAccording to the revised admission guidelines issued by KVS the government has also decided that children orphaned due to COVID-19 will be considered for admission over and above the class strength in Kendriya Vidyalayas KVs under the PM CARES for Children SchemeThe admission will be done on the basis of a list given by the district magistrate subject to 10 children per Kendriya Vidyalaya The admissions for the 2022-23 academic session is underway and will continue till JuneUnder special provisions MPs had discretionary power to recommend the admission of 10 children to a Kendriya Vidyalaya Even a district magistrate had powers to recommend 17 students under the sponsoring authority quota in KVsAccording to officials doing away with this special privilege will also help stop crowding of classroomsThe quotas have also distorted the overall percentage of SC ST and OBC reservations in schools A review of the functioning of KVS was carried out by the Education Minister and Chairman It was observed that these quotas crowd the classrooms adversely affecting Pupil-Teacher Ratio and quality of teaching and learning a senior official said On the other hand wards of transferable central government employees who should be given priority in admissions were not able to find their rightful places in KVs hence the decision was taken to discontinue the quota the official added Other than the MP quota the KVS has also removed other quotas including that of 100 children of education ministry employees children and dependent grandchildren of MPs and retired KV employees and the discretionary quota of school management committee chairmanThe special provisions that have been retained include admissions for children of recipients of Param Vir Chakra Maha Vir Chakra Vir Chakra Ashok Chakra Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra recipients of the national bravery award 15 children of Research and Analysis Wing RAW employees children of central government employees who died in harness and children who have shown special talent in fine artsThe Central government had last year scrapped the Union education ministers discretionary quota for admissions from the 2021-22 academic sessionRecommendations made by Union ministers for admission to KVs were also done away with According to the fresh guidelines 60 admissions in KVs located anywhere in the country can be utilised exclusively for children returning from abroad along with their parents after their posting in current or previous years and they would be considered for admission up to November 30All these admissions will be subject to the condition that not more than five children would be admitted in one school in a year and that the children would be submitting a transfer certificate of a school abroad in which they had been studying prior to seeking admission in a Kendriya Vidyalaya stated the guidelines As per the revised guidelines for the 2022-23 academic year reservations in admission will be extended only to SC ST OBC and children with disabilities The three per cent reservations for persons with disabilities is supernumerary PTI GJS GJS TIR TIR

New Delhi Apr 20 PTI Schools in Delhi will continue in offline mode but they will have to ensure that Covid protocols are strictly followed failing which a penalty may be imposed for creating a deterrent effect the Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA said on WednesdayThe DDMA also decided that a separate Standard Operating Procedure SOP will be developed for schools in consultation with the expertsReports of infections from schools have triggered concerns weeks after they opened for offline classes following a two-year gap due to the pandemic Experts have been warning against closure of schools yet again citing learning lossesIt was emphasised that in consultation with experts standard operating procedures for prevention and management of COVID-19 should be laid down for schools and their strict enforcement by school management should be ensured Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal who chaired the DDMA meeting said in a series of tweetsIn the larger interest of students in case of non-compliance or violation of SOPs penalty as deemed appropriate should be imposed for creating a deterrent effect Advised all the agencies to remain vigilant and work in coordination to tackle the situation as it emerges he addedThe DDMA also decided to make wearing of masks mandatory in public places and impose a fine of Rs 500 on violatorsSchools will not be closed and will continue with offline classes Schools have been asked to report all cases to the education department and ensure that Covid protocols are followed strictly Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is constantly monitoring the situation in schools a senior official saidSchools across Delhi-NCR have sprung into action following a spike in Covid cases and are taking various measures including frequent sanitisation to restrict the spread of the virus to a minimum and thus avoid shutdown of the campusThe Haryana education department has directed schools in the state not to make it mandatory for students to attend physical classes at a time when scores of students and staff in institutes across NCR cities have been diagnosed with COVID-19The Delhi government had last week issued guidelines for schools asking them to close specific wings or classrooms wherever any student or teacher is found infectedDelhi has recorded a nearly 26 per cent jump in fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours but the positivity rate has dropped to 442 per cent according to data shared by the city health department on TuesdayNo death has been reported in the city due to the coronavirus in this time period it said PTI GJS GJS TDS TDS

New Delhi Apr 20 PTI Schools in Delhi will continue in offline mode but they will have to ensure that Covid protocols are strictly followed officials said on WednesdayReports of infections from schools have triggered concerns weeks after they opened for offline classes following a two-year gap due to the pandemicExperts have been warning against closure of schools yet again citing learning lossesSchools will not be closed and will continue with offline classes Schools have been asked to report all cases to the education department and ensure that Covid protocols are followed strictly Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is constantly monitoring the situation in schools a senior official saidThe Delhi Disaster Management AuthorityDDMA in its meeting on Wednesday decided to come up with a separate Standard Operating Procedure SOP for schools in consultation with expertsDuring the crucial meeting chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal the Covid situation in Delhi was reviewed The DDMA decided to make wearing of masks mandatory in public places and impose a fine of Rs 500 on violatorsSchools across Delhi-NCR have sprung into action following a spike in Covid cases and are taking various measures including frequent sanitisation to restrict the spread of the virus to a minimum and thus avoid shutdown of the campusThe Haryana education department has directed schools in the state not to make it mandatory for students to attend physical classes at a time when scores of students and staff in institutes across NCR cities have been diagnosed with COVID-19The Delhi government had last week issued guidelines for schools asking them to close specific wings or classrooms wherever any student or teacher is found infected PTI GJS GJS TDS TDS

New Delhi Apr 18 PTI The Delhi Development Authority successfully conducted draw of lots for the DDA Special Housing Scheme 2021 on Monday officials said The draw for the allotment of flats which was live streamed for general public was done based on Random Number Generation System and held under the supervision of three independent observers headed by a retired judge of high court and senior officers of DDADDA initially placed 18335 flats located in 28 localities under the scheme In response to it only 12387 applicants have deposited requisite registration fee although around 22100 got themselves registeredThe applicants were allowed to give maximum seven preferences in terms of localities but no preference in terms of block or floor is allowed a senior DDA official saidOut of the applicants paid registration money preference for certain localities like Vasant Kunj Jasola Dwarka is overwhelming but the preferences for Narela sub-city have not been as expected the official addedCumulative preferences of the applicants for LIG flats at Sector G7 and EWS flats at Sector A1 to A4 Narela have been 687 and 2234 respectively against the offered 6546 and 5033 flats in the above localitiesTherefore it was decided to put only 687 and 2346 flats of the above localities in the final draw so as to avoid possibility of scattered allotment of flats to the applicants among various blocks or tower in these localitiesGiven the above facts 9790 flats have been put in the final draw and 5227 flats have been allotted to successful applicants the official added PTI GJS GJS TDS TDS

New Delhi Mar 30 PTI Secure internet browsing closing webcam and computer audio when not in use not downloading content while using public wifi and using a password manager are among the recommendations made by University Grants Commission in its draft handbook on Digital HygieneThe UGC has drafted a handbook for Higher Educational Institutions HEIs to enable students and teachers to stay safe in Cyber SpaceThe handbook which also details Redefined behaviour protocols for students and objectives of teachers in virtual classes comes against the backdrop of the shift to online learning prompted by the COVID-19 pandemicIn the emerging era of digitalization education requires tech-assisted teaching learning solutions and fast-paced innovations Students and teachers now have access to smart mobile devices as well as a variety of remote e-learning and evaluation options Virtual classrooms have brought a distinct perspective on the teaching-learning process as we move to teach online the draft statedThere are numerous crucial characteristics of remote teaching that might be detrimental to the entire school community Teachers on the other hand should be concerned about attacks that occur during virtual classroom lectures while the discussion is in progress it readThe commission noted that it is abundantly clear that we live in the Big Data world where Right to be Forgotten or Right to be Erased is not that easy as the identity of an individual is disclosed not only privately but on public platforms tooThe metadata plays an important role due to which digital footprints are always left behind in one form or another to find the digital trail towards an individual Your likes on social media posts the content that you watch web cookies on the websites you visit etc can make up your digital footprints it saidTrusting strangers unawareness and underestimating the risk are among the major reasons listed by the commission which makes the users vulnerable in cyberspaceSocial engineering assaults misinformation and propaganda deep fakes impersonation spoofing morphing identity theft cyber espionage phishing UPI fraud are among the major cyber crimes that users need to be aware of the handbook stated adding a list of dos and donts for each of the crimesKeeping social media profiles privacy settings as strict as possible especially for the public and others remembering that anything shared online will remain in cyberspace and can be misused anytime not downloading books and apps from unreliable resources not sharing financial information installing a reliable anti-virus software using a fire wall and clearing browsing history and browser cache from time to time to prevent the use of old forms protect personal information and help applications run better are among the recommendations made in the handbookAnother form of fraud is employment-related fraud as people have started looking for job opportunities online It has allowed scammers to trick people into scams Scammers offer fake job opportunities to job seekers through various online services claiming to hold positions in recognized companies and this makes it difficult for people to find out if the offer is legitimate or no it saidThe UGC has also prepared a draft syllabus of Cybersecurity Course for undergraduate and post-graduation along with credit schemeThe two documents will soon be put in public domain to seek feedback from stakeholders The HEIs should designate a faculty member as Cyber Security Officer and also strive for ISO certification The institutions should focus on having cyber security protocols in place a senior official saidHEIs may consider offering a course on cybersecurity to all the students to create awareness and capacity building for teaching of cybersecurity course should be done he added PTI GJS GJS TDS TDS

New Delhi Jan 26 PTI The Republic Day parade at the Rajpath this year saw the grandest and largest flypast ever with the participation of 75 aircraft to mark the Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav celebrations The flypast concluded with 17 Jaguar fighter aircraft flying in the Amrit formation to commemorate the 75 years of Independence This year the viewers could also see the cockpit of the aircraft on the screens at the parade venue as well as during the broadcast The flypast included Tangail formation which saw one Dakota and two Dornier flying in Vic formation This was a tribute to the Tangail airdrop operations of the 1971 War There was also a Meghna formation of 1 Chinook and four Mi-17s The flypast began with the Dhwaj formation with four Mi-17 aircraft followed by Rudra and Rahat formations with four and five Advanced Light Helicopters ALH respectively Among the other aircraft that displayed their might at the parade are Rafale Indian Navys MiG29K P-8I surveillance aircraft and Jaguar fighter jets PTI GJS GJS DV DV