Tag: Delhi news

Delhi: Two held for ‘plot to kill head of Sikh group’

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The northern range of special cell has arrested two persons who were allegedly planning to kill the head of one of the largest Sikh Jathebandi in Punjab who is also a witness in a murder case. Police identified the accused as Malkit Singh (27), a resident of Azadpur in Delhi, and Bhupinder Singh (24), a resident of Gurdaspur in Punjab. Two pistols and 20 live cartridges were recovered from their possession.

“On Saturday, police got information regarding the accused and conducted a raid. They were apprehended from near Beri Wala Bagh, Shalimar Bagh,” a senior police officer said.

During investigation, police found that Malkit’s father Baldev Singh was the granthi at Gurdwara Jaimal Singh, Rab da Kutta, Lal Bagh, Azadpur. “In 2007, his father was arrested in a firing incident at Patiala in which four Nihang Sikhs were killed. After that, Lakhbir Singh alias Lakhha was appointed as granthi in the gurdwara. In 2010, Malkit, with his mother and two sewadars, allegedly killed Lakhha,” an officer said. The four accused were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Police said that in 2016, he jumped parole and was arrested in 2017 for allegedly planning another murder. “On August 1, 2020, Malkit got parole due to Covid-19… During questioning, he said he wanted to exact revenge on the head of a faction of Nihang Sikh Buddha Dal as he felt that the chief was responsible for keeping his family in jail,” the officer said.

“He also wanted to kill one of his neighbours, who was a witness in the Lakhha murder case,” said DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Yadav.

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DU mulls mix of boards, entrance for admissions

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With a common entrance test for admissions to central universities on the cards, Delhi University is considering an admission process based 50% on the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET) and 50% on board exam results.

DU acting vice-chancellor P C Joshi said the university will try to move away from looking at board exam percentages to looking at percentile instead.

Joshi is part of the committee set up by the central government “to consider the issue (of) holding common entrance test at undergraduate level only from the next academic year in central universities to provide a single platform for admission”.

“The centre is coming out with the CUCET, for which several committee meetings have been held and it will be finalised shortly. Once that is done, we will be having weightage for both CUCET and board examinations with 50% for each,” he said.

Delhi University admissions are characterised by sky-high cut-offs every year. Last year, Lady Shri Ram College for Women had 100% cut-offs for three programmes, and 30 courses across colleges had cut-offs over 99%. DU officials had said that the record-high soaring cut-offs had been because around 5,500 of the registered candidates had a ‘best-of-four-subjects’ percentage of 100%.

Joshi said the proposal to consider percentile instead of percentage is part of the drive towards a more standardised way to calculate “merit”.

“We get applicants from education boards across India, of which some are conservative, some are liberal, In ‘X’ board, students of a certain competence are given 100%, while in ‘Y’ board students of the same competence are given 97%. We will try to put them on an even ground to give everyone the best chance. We are trying to evolve a mechanism to determine percentiles keeping in mind these variations, and the NTA will help us with this,” he said.

In 2020, the first cut-off list for DU admissions had been released in the month of October.

Shobha Bagai, who was Dean Admissions for 2020-21, said class 12 marks should not be considered if entrances are being held. “Students choose their subjects after class 10, but sometimes after studying in Class 11 and 12, they may feel that some subjects were not to their liking or they want to focus on just one or two subjects. With the entrance test, they have the option to narrow down, but if class 12 marks are also considered they will have to perform well in all subjects.Why have two ways of testing students and put more pressure on them?” she said.

However, Bagai said that if the Committee decides to consider both class 12 marks and entrance exams, considering percentile over percentage would be a better system.

Former Deputy Dean of Students’ Welfare Gurpreet Tuteja said such a move would bring all Boards at par and class 12 board marks cannot be eliminated. “It is the basic qualification, so that is vital. But entrance will make DU admissions a level-playing field since some Boards always give more scores. When the whole country gives the same paper, we will know where everyone stands,” he said.

Tuteja said percentile is a better marker than percentage since it “normalises different standards”. However, he said it would also be a “very difficult task” for the university to calculate the percentile of each student. “The Boards should give the percentile,” he said.

Hindu College principal Anju Srivastava said it would be a good system but only if the weightage of the entrance test was higher. “Considering the class 12 marks is not a bad idea because it keeps alive the seriousness and importance of the Board exam. But there is no uniformity of standards in the Board marking, so the entrance exam is necessary. It should have more weightage,” she said.

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No offline exams up to Class 8 in Delhi govt schools, students to be graded on assignments

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Students from Class 3 to 8 of Delhi government and government-aided schools will not have to sit for offline exams and will instead be graded on the basis of projects and assignments, the Delhi government said Wednesday.

The government has issued guidelines in this regard, which are applicable for the 2020-21 academic session, when schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all teaching and learning activities were conducted online.

Read | Covid lesson for teachers: How teaching-learning methods evolved during pandemic

“Since no classroom teaching and learning has taken place at the primary and middle level, the formal mode of pen-and-paper assessment will be replaced by a subject-wise assessment of projects and assignments for Classes 3 to 8,” said Rita Sharma, Additional Director of Education, Delhi.

Schools were reopened in Delhi for students of Class 9 and Class 11 on February 5. For classes 10 and 12, classes had resumed on January 18 in light of the board exams.

According to the guidelines, for Classes 3 to 5, 30 marks will be for assessment based on worksheets, 30 for the assignments given in winter breaks and 40 marks for the assignments and projects provided from March 1 to 15.

Similarly, for Classes 6 to 8, 20 marks will be for assessment based on worksheets, 30 for the assignments given in winter breaks and 50 marks for the assignments and projects provided from March 1 to 15.

“In case a student does not have access to a digital device or internet, the assignments and projects will be given in hard copies by calling his parents to the school while following the COVID-19 guidelines,” the guidelines state.

In a separate circular Wednesday, the Delhi government said students from classes KG to 2 will be assessed in the month of March based on assignments given during the winter break and “responses to online/ offline worksheets shared with the students during COVID- 19 Pandemic through digital modes/ WhatsApp/ in person by the parents/ guardians”.

“All the currently enrolled students of classes Nursery to II shall be promoted to the next class in the Academic Session 2021-22. However, the purpose of this assessment is to understand the impact of alternate learning approach that needed to be adopted under the prevailing circumstances this year,” DDE (Primary) Harsh Arya said.

(With PTI inputs)

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Focus on stress management for senior students at govt schools

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With senior students feeling the pressure of being back in school after almost a year and with their board exams close by, counselling and stress management have become focus points in their regular programme in Delhi government schools.

While class X and XII students returned to school on January 18, they were joined by class IX and XI students on February 5. All the students are currently engaged in intensive revision of the syllabi which had been taught online through the academic year. Classes X and XII are particularly engaged in testing and assessment ahead of their pre-board and board examinations.

“Every year, we work on career guidance for class X and XII students, and we had been doing that online while schools were shut. Now that the children are back and face-to-face interactions are possible, we are trying to work on the many mental problems that children are facing. They are back to regular, rigorous schooling after so long; many of them are saying that they are finding it hard to focus. There is also a lot of pressure — many feel like nothing had happened in the several months of online learning. They felt like they couldn’t grasp what was being taught. Some children, along with revising everything and preparing for their boards, are also preparing for JEE and NEET and are feeling overwhelmed,” said a counsellor at a government school.

The counsellor said that in general counselling sessions in classrooms, she is speaking to students on stress management, time management, diet and sleeping plans.

The weekly time-table of schools includes periods dedicated to sessions with counsellors. Besides, students who have specific counselling needs are encouraged to meet the counsellor separately for one-on-one interactions.

Ajay Kumar, head of a government school in Chilla Gaon, said apart from regular sessions by the designated school counsellor, he is also regularly speaking to all students.

“I’m going to each section every day to personally interact with them. I’m especially trying to ease the pressure from class IX and XI students since they are in a transition class, and I am telling them not to feel overburdened. Apart from exams and academic pressures, a lot of children are also facing personal pressures. Some of the children had started working while the school was closed and now they’re feeling the need to balance study and work,” he said.

A recent circular issued by the education department directed schools to provide ‘counselling rooms’ to the counsellors to “maintain privacy during counselling and keep relevant records”.

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Delhi nursery admissions start today: Distance key criteria, tighter deadline for parents

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Applications for entry-level admission to nursery, KG or class I in Delhi’s private schools will be available starting today, with a completely online process in most prominent schools.

The upper age limit for admission to nursery is less than four years as on March 31, less than five years for KG and less than six years for class I.

Parents will have a shorter window than usual to submit the forms — on March 4. The first list of selected children will be released on March 20.

Schools have uploaded their respective admission criteria on their websites, and like previous years, proximity to schools carries the greatest weightage to determine a child’s eligibility for admission.

In most prominent schools, the forms are to be downloaded and submitted, and the registration fee is to be paid completely online. Physical submission of forms is otherwise a prevalent norm in most other schools.

In most schools, about 50% of the seats in entry-level classes are open for admission through this system, and 25% of the seats are mandatorily reserved for EWS/DG and disabled children, and many have 20% seats reserved under ‘management quota’, which are filled according to the school’s discretion. In many schools, 5% of seats are reserved for children of staff members.

While the ‘distance criteria’ carries the highest weightage in most schools, it varies both in the way it is measured and in the number of points allotted in different schools.

The Heritage School, Rohini has provided a list of localities that fall within eight kilometres from the school, and applicants residing in these areas will receive 80 points. Applicants residing beyond eight kilometres — any area not mentioned in the school’s list — will receive 70 points.

Mother’s International School has provided five lists of localities — those residing in list 1 areas, closest to the school, receive 40 points; those residing in list 2 receive 30 points; and so on. Residents of areas not in any of the lists will receive zero distance points.

Bal Bharti Public School, Dwarka specifies 60 points for those residing within a two kilometre radius of the school, 40 points for between two to four kilometres, 20 points for between four to six, and 0 points for beyond. It states that Google Maps will be used to calculate the distance from the school.

Almost all schools have additional points for children who have a sibling studying in the school and those who have a parent who is an alumna of the school.

Several other schools have allotted additional points — the junior branches of DPS RK Puram have five points for girl children, while Mother’s International has 10 points for the same. Ahlcon International School has 10 points for children of a single parent, and five for a first child or girl child.

Some schools have many criteria for points — beyond distance and alumni parents. Salwan Public School has 10 points for first-born children, 5 for girl children, 20 for ‘social contribution’, for which the particulars are specified in the website, up to 20 points for achievements by parents in fields such as academia, sports, art and literature, and 15 points for “original research or specialisation in any field/received recognition for the same by a government recognised body”.

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