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Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Haryana private schools try to bypass fee scrutiny with this ‘0'
Gurgaon: Haryana's directorate of secondary education has warned private schools of action after detecting discrepancies in fee structures declared by them. According to the directorate, most private schools filled '0' in the section for declaring 'under head fees' in Form 6 submitted for the 2025-26 academic year. 'Under head fees' includes amount charged by schools for non-academic purposes such as building funds, library, laboratory, sports and development costs. "Almost each school in the column 'under head fee' for the year 2025-26 filled zero, which the case may not be, because schools are charging fees from students," the directorate's July 17 memorandum noted. You Can Also Check: Gurgaon AQI | Weather in Gurgaon | Bank Holidays in Gurgaon | Public Holidays in Gurgaon It has now asked district education officers (DEOs) to ensure that schools under their jurisdiction correct the entries by July 31, failing which the department can initiate action, including penalties and restrictions. Haryana has 10,701 recognised private schools, which have to mandatorily submit Form 6 to the govt every academic year. The form includes details about the school, registration certificate, breakdown of the fee structure and operational costs. This document makes the business of schooling transparent and helps authorities prevent any arbitrary increase in fees. Norms state that schools must publicly display their Form 6 on campus notice boards or their websites. Inaccurate disclosures can be punished with a ban by the govt on increasing school fees in an academic year. Parents said on Friday that the govt's warning was much-needed, considering most private schools in Gurgaon charge anywhere between Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000 as monthly fees. "If almost all private schools have shown zero under-head fees, then it is clearly not the case. Most schools charge high amounts as fees. This is a cover-up. Schools preach values such as truthfulness, but when it comes to fees, they do the exact opposite," said Pradeep Rawat, head of Gurgaon Parents Association. But private schools' associations pushed back against the notion that all institutes submitted inaccurate data. "We respectfully state that this generalisation is not factually accurate. Many schools have submitted correct data. Any discrepancies may have arisen from technical or format-related confusion — not deliberate non-compliance. We have sought a meeting with the directorate to clarify matters and share ground realities. We remain committed to transparency but urge the department to avoid blanket assumptions," said Suresh Chander, president of Haryana Progressive Schools Conference (HPSC), which represents schools affiliated with CBSE and CISCE Board.
Irish Daily Mirror
10-07-2025
- Health
- Irish Daily Mirror
Signs you may have new Covid variant Stratus that has one 'identifiable symptom'
Another new Covid variant has been confirmed in Ireland, with experts warning it is spreading rapidly across the globe. The Stratus strain, which includes sub-lineages XFG and XFG.3, is now under close watch by Ireland's Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) due to a sharp rise in cases. According to the latest data, Stratus now accounts for 49.9% of all sequenced Covid cases in Ireland, a significant surge from just 16.1% a month ago. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Stratus as a "variant under monitoring" and has urged global health agencies to track its spread and potential impact. While Stratus does not appear to cause more severe illness, experts warn that it may be more contagious, with symptoms that can catch people off guard. One standout symptom has been noted by doctors: a hoarse or raspy voice. Dr Kaywaan Khan, a Harley Street GP and Founder of Hannah London Clinic, shared with Cosmopolitan UK that "one of the most noticeable symptoms of the Stratus variant is hoarseness, which includes a scratchy or raspy voice." Ireland's public health guidelines remain the same: If you have any symptoms of Covid, stay at home until 48 hours after the symptoms are mostly or fully gone. You should also avoid contact with other people, especially people at higher risk from Covid. The HSE is reminding the public of the wide range of Covid symptoms to look out for. These include:
Hindustan Times
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Will be constrained to drag UPSC, central govt to SC if 8 HCS officers are promoted: Ex-minister Karan Singh Dalal
Former Haryana minister Karan Singh Dalal on Wednesday said that he will petition the Supreme Court if eight Haryana Civil Service (HCS) officers facing trial in a corruption case were promoted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Ex-minister Karan Singh Dalal said that the President, after carefully examining the material before her, including a copy of the FIR, investigation and forensic reports and other relevant documents, had concluded that prima facie a case of alleged offence under Sections 7 (offence related to public servant being bribed and 13 (2) (criminal misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and various sections of the IPC was made out against former HPSC functionaries who should be prosecuted in the court of law. (HT File) The Congress leader in a statement said that the Haryana anti-corruption bureau has submitted a chargesheet against these eight HCS officers after concluding investigation in a first information report registered against former HPSC chairperson and members for alleged misuse of their official position in making appointments and illegal gratification in HCS and allied services exam of 2001. The former minister said that the President's sanction to prosecute HPSC functionaries which was communicated by the Central government to Haryana on June 7, 2023 clearly stated the vigilance bureau records showed that these former functionaries had misused their official position and showed undue favour for illegal gratification and committed irregularities resulting in selection of ineligible candidates at the cost of eligible candidates, thereby committing offences punishable under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B IPC and Sections 7 and 13 of PC Act. Dalal said that the President, after carefully examining the material before her, including a copy of the FIR, investigation and forensic reports and other relevant documents, had concluded that prima facie a case of alleged offence under Sections 7 (offence related to public servant being bribed and 13 (2) (criminal misconduct by a public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and various sections of the IPC was made out against former HPSC functionaries who should be prosecuted in the court of law. 'The IAS (appointment by promotion) regulations clearly state that state civil service officers against whom criminal proceedings are pending cannot be considered for promotion to the IAS unless cleared or exonerated by the court,' Dalal said. The former minister said that if the UPSC ignored these facts and rules, he would be constrained to drag the Commission, the central and state government to the Supreme Court.
Indian Express
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Surjewala says HPSC removed 10 questions from ‘revised answer key'
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala on Sunday alleged that the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) has removed 10 questions from its recently released 'revised answer key' for the Assistant Professor (Geography) examination. 'Removing the questions without giving any academic basis is not only injustice to the deserving candidates, but also tarnishes the entire recruitment process,' Surjewala said. The remarks came days after he alleged that 26 out of 100 questions from the recent HSPC exam for the post of Assistant Professor (Geography) were copied verbatim from a test conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) for the same post. Surjewala has further demanded a judicial inquiry into the recruitment process for 2,424 assistant professor positions in the college cadre, for which 1.5 lakh candidates applied. Reacting to this, the HPSC said the recruitment process was 'completely fair and transparent', and the results were finalised by a panel of subject experts. 'A large number of representations or objections were received from candidates on the final answer key. These objections have been examined by a committee of subject experts, and there is no change in the final answer key uploaded by the Commission on its website,' the public announcement stated. According to Surjewala, six of the 10 removed questions — numbers 9, 17, 20, 32, 36 and 63 — were valid, with single correct answers, while the remaining four — numbers 13, 19, 52 and 76 — had two valid answers. 'When both the answers were correct, both of them should be considered valid. If a candidate chose either of the two, it should be accepted as correct or grace marks be awarded. By removing these four (numbers 13, 19, 52 and 76) questions, the validity of the entire exam has been shelved,' he alleged. He further pointed out that in the 'revised answer key', answers to seven questions — numbers 26, 28, 35, 37, 43, 44 and 46 — were changed to 'wrong' from what were shown as 'correct' in the initial key. 'Question number 46 was also included in the 2017 Haryana Teacher Eligibility Test (HTET) exam paper. Back then, the correct answer was considered to be 'Jean Gottman', but 'Patrick Gaddes' is marked correct in the current HPSC answer key,' Surjewala claimed. Questioning the necessity of holding a separate exam in Haryana 'if questions were merely copied from the BPSC paper', Surjewala said candidates who took the Haryana exam had already flagged similar concerns with the Commission. The Congress said Haryana's 100-question multiple-choice exam was conducted on June 8 this year, while the BPSC on April 29. Responding to these concerns, an HPSC official told The Indian Express: 'After candidates raised objections to several questions in the exam paper, the matter was referred to a committee of experts and the result was prepared based on their opinion. Subsequently, candidates approached the Commission again to challenge the given answers. In response, the Commission again constituted a panel of subject experts who looked into objections raised by the students. Thereafter, the Commission issued a public notification on July 3 this year,' the official clarified, requesting anonymity. On allegations of questions being copied from the BPSC exam, the HPSC official defended the Commission and said 'it is humanly impossible to verify whether a question had previously been used by any recruitment agency across India's 28 states, aside from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)'. Emphasising the Commission's priority to ensure 'a fair and transparent' recruitment process, the official further said: 'The HPSC strictly adheres to the syllabus, maintains secrecy, and conducts exams without leaks.'
The Hindu
06-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Congress alleges rigging in Haryana Assistant Professor recruitment exams; seeks re-conduct and judicial probe
Alleging large-scale rigging and irregularities in the recruitment process for Assistant Professors in various subjects in Haryana, Congress Rajya Sabha member Randeep Surjewala has demanded that the exams be conducted again in a transparent manner and judicial probe initiated into the matter. A delegation of candidates also submitted a memorandum to former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at his Delhi residence in this connection. Haryana CM media secretary Praveen Attrey denied the allegations as 'baseless' saying that Mr. Surjewala had made similar accusations over half-a-dozen times since the BJP first came to power in 2014 and was 'frustrated' over the people voting the saffron party to the power for the third time in a row expressing faith in its policies. Mr. Surjewala, at a press conference in Hisar, alleged rigging in the exam for the recruitment of Assistant Professor (Geography) saying that 32 questions for the exam conducted by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) were taken from the question paper for Geography's exam conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). Is it a coincidence or an experiment that HPSC Chairman Alok Verma has also been 'imported' from Bihar, said Mr. Surjewala adding that the recruitment process could be easily manipulated by hinting the candidates to prepare from the BPSC question paper. The HPSC had advertised 2,424 posts for Assistant Professors in 26 subjects in August last year and around 1.5 lakh youth had applied for it. The posts were advertised after a gap of around five years. Mr. Surjewala said seals of envelopes carrying question papers for Assistant Professor (Hindi) exam were found broken at six centres and the HPSC had to cancel the exam two days later following a backlash. The HPSC initially maintained that the process was not compromised, but later cancelled the exam, which was the 'biggest proof of scam', alleged Mr. Surjewala. Addressing the delegation of the candidates appearing for the Assistant Professor exam, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that 'paper leaks, copy-paste exams and scams have become synonymous with the recruitments conducted under the BJP government'. On this occasion, Mr. Hooda said that grave irregularities have come to light in the Assistant Professor recruitment exam conducted by the HPSC. Apart from History, serious discrepancies have also been exposed in subjects like Hindi, Zoology, Chemistry and Physics, he said, adding that the candidates had already submitted detailed written complaints to the Commission, demanding the cancellation of these examinations. The candidates informed Mr. Hooda that 24 questions in the History paper were copied verbatim from a question paper for the recruitment of Assistant Professors by the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission. The HPSC did not even bother to modify the questions, not in language nor in context. Mr. Attrey, however, accused the Congress of arbitrarily distributing jobs to its 'near and dear ones' during its ten-year rule, adding that the party was perturbed over change in system during the rule of the BJP, which had ensured jobs on merit.
