New Delhi Jan 25 PTI The Punjab government and Khan Academy with the support of SBI Foundation will work towards making high-quality educational content in Punjabi accessible to students in the state and accelerate content localisation so that students can learn in their own language This partnership strengthens efforts in content localisation as prescribed in the latest National Education Policy with support from the state governments and public schools to democratise access to high-quality learning resources The focus of the partnership will be on successfully implementing a personalised math learning programme for 100000 learners in Punjab SBI Foundation and SBI Funds Management Pvt Ltd are providing funding support for math content localisation in Punjabi and teacher training programmes for over 5000 teachers across 3000 schools in Punjab according to a statement With SBI Foundations support Khan Academy and the Punjab government will create new math lessons consisting of videos articles and practice exercises in Punjabi aiming at all learners in Punjabs public schools it said This content will also be available on Khan Academys platform for free for all students This will help students from Classes 6-12 build a solid foundational understanding in math and learn at their own pace while enabling teachers to identify learning gaps and address them individually it said As a part of this initiative the team at Khan Academy will work closely with the Punjab government to educate over 5000 teachers on how to use its learning content and effectively implement personalised math learning in the classroom PTI GJS SMN

New Delhi Jan 25 PTI An IIT Delhi startup has designed several advanced fabrics for monumental national flags to suit Indias diverse climatic and geographical conditions According to officials the researchers at the startup called SWATRIC have successfully improved the strength of the fabric by 100 per cent Last year SWATRIC and the Flag Foundation of India FFI had joined hands with an aim to filter the best possible fabric design and structure for the monumental national flags to suit Indias diverse climatic and geographical conditions Using the advanced fabric being developed by SWATRIC the FFI has already installed two different prototypes of the monumental national flag in Delhi and Ladakh The aim is to make the monumental flag material durable for extreme weather conditions without being too heavy Next month we are also sending 10 different prototypes to different locations in the country for installation So far our research is at prototyping stage the exact durability of the flag will be known in the next few months said Bipin Kumar Professor Textile and Fibre Engineering Department IIT Delhi and the mentor of the startupIIT Delhi is also in the process of installing a monumental national flag on its campus The project is expected to be completed by March Our faculty members have been closely interacting with the Flag Foundation of India a non-profit organisation founded by Naveen Jindal They are looking at multiple aspects related to the national flag They are working closely to develop material standards for monumental flags and a lot of field trials are currently on I am glad to know that the initial results are encouraging IIT Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao said The Flag Foundation of Indias primary vision to popularise the display of the national tricolour by more and more Indians with a great sense of pride PTI GJS SMN

New Delhi Dec 20 PTI A total of 122 students of IITs IIMs central universities and other centrally funded higher educational institutions committed suicide during 2014-21 the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday In written response to a question in Lok Sabha Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that of the 122 students who committed suicide 24 belonged to Scheduled Caste SC 41 to Other Backward Classes OBC three to Scheduled Tribe ST Three such students were from Minority category According to data shared by the minister 121 incidents of suicides by the students of Indian Institutes of Technology IITs Indian Institutes of Management IIMs Indian Institute of Science IISc central universities and other higher educational institutions were reported during the period The number of suicide incidents by students of various IITs during the period was 34 while four students from different IIMs had committed suicide Nine students from IISc Bangalore and Indian Institutes of Science Education Research IISERs had committed suicide during 2014-21 while four such students were from Indian Institutes of Information Technology IIITs The highest number of student suicides were from central universities 37 followed by National Institutes of Technology NITs which reported 30 incidents of student suicides The government and University Grants Commission UGC have taken several initiatives to check the incidents of harassment and discrimination of students UGC Redressal of Grievances of Students Regulations 2019 have been formulated to safeguard the interests of the students Further the ministry has undertaken various steps such as peer assisted learning introduction of technical education in regional languages for students in order to ease the academic stress Pradhan said The government initiative named MANODARPAN covers a wide range of activities to provide psychological support to students teachers and families for mental and emotional wellbeing during the Covid outbreak and beyond In addition institutions conduct workshopsseminars on happiness and wellness regular sessions on yoga induction programmes extracurricular activities including sports and cultural activities and appointment of student counsellors for overall personality development and de-stressing students Further students wardens and caretakers are sensitised to bring to notice the signs of depression in fellow students to the authorities so that timely clinical consultation may be provided he added PTI GJS SMN

New Delhi Nov 29 PTI Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore to the husband of a municipal sanitation worker who died of COVID-19 Sunita Ji was a frontline warrior working as a Swachhata Karamchari with the East MCD Municipal Corporation of Delhi She succumbed to death after being infected while on COVID-19 duty She was a courageous woman who served the people of Delhi during the toughest times She put her life on stake to protect us Kejriwal said after he met her family and handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore to her husband One cannot quantify the value of life in terms of money but I hope this assistance from our end can bring some strength to the family the chief minister added The Delhi government has so far extended an amount of Rs 1 crore to 18 corona warriors PTI GJS SMN

New Delhi Sep 29 PTI Unvaccinated teachers and non-teaching staffers of Delhi government schools will not be allowed to attend school from October 15 and they will be considered as being on leave the Directorate of Education DoE said on Wednesday We all are aware that the country is threatened with the COVID-19 pandemic it is necessary to take all effective measures to prevent the spread of the same The schools under DoE have been reopened in a phased manner so it is the prime concern of the Delhi government that the environment of the schools remain safe with the appropriate implementation of SoPs and measures DoE Director Udit Raj said in an official order The DoE has directed education officers in all districts and school principals to ensure that all teachers and school staffers should be vaccinated by October 15 All such teachers and school staff who have not got themselves vaccinated by October 15 should not be allowed to attend the school and their absence would be treated as on leave he addedThe DoE had earlier directed all government schools to ensure their teaching and non-teaching staffers are vaccinated at the earliest PTI GJS SMN