Sibal makes it easy for students

The Union human resources development minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, proposed big bang education reforms, envisaging a single school board to be set up at the all-India level, replacing all state-level boards, and to make the board examination at the Class 10 level optional for students.

The minister said it was not possible to do away with the Class 10 board examination altogether for a number of reasons. Those students who do not intend to leave school or change schools after Class 10 should not have to sit for Class 10 board exams. For them internal assessments should be enough to move up to Class 11, he said.

Later, he cautioned students hopeful of immediate reforms that it was not going to happen this year, or even next year. Study hard, he urged them.

There was an urgent need to reform the entire process, he said, adding that this would be done after a consensus was arrived at with the state governments.

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Andhra Pradesh to exclude creamy layer from quota for OBCs

The state government has decided to exclude the creamy layer among the backward classes from the ambit of 29 per cent quota in all higher educational institutions.

This decision would have major implications on the admission to professional colleges and other institutions of higher education in the coming academic year.

However, the annual income limit to determine the creamy layer has been raised from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh as per the recommendations of a cabinet sub-committee.

A unanimous resolution to exclude the creamy layer from the ambit of reservations was passed at an executive council meeting of the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education held here on Thursday. Mr D. Christopher, secretary of APSCHE, said that the creamy layer decision would come to play in admissions to 2.5 lakh seats in engineering, medical, MBA, MCA and other professional courses apart from PG courses in various universities.

“In our state, there are 25 per cent reservations for BCs apart from 4 per cent reservations category,” said Mr Christopher. Officials of APSCHE and higher education department and vice-chancellors of all the universities in the state took part in the executive council meeting.

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