HK Chaudhry takes over as Vice Chancellor

HK Chaudhry took over as the new Vice Chancellor of CSK HP Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, on Monday evening. While addressing the teaching and non-teaching employees, Chaudhry said he would try to maintain the highest standards and dignity of the institution. He said special efforts would be made to improve the ranking of the university. He said he would ensure that latest research and techniques are adopted in the field. Having around three decades of experience in research and teaching, Chaudhry was working as Professor and Head, Departments of Genetics & Plant Breeding and Agricultural Biotechnology, at the university prior to this new assignment.

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Teachers, parents flag issues

The Himachal Government Teachers’ Union has written to the Education Minister regarding the reservations of teachers and parents over the first and second terminal exams of schoolchildren. The association said the State Project Director had released the datesheet of exams for various classes on the basis of syllabus covered through ‘Har Ghar Pathshala’ programme, a 10-15 minute daily video. The association said since teachers had taught in their own way, keeping the syllabus and time in mind, they should be given a free hand in conducting these exams. The parents, on the other hand, said since they had more than one child, it would be tough to provide smartphones to them simultaneously.

SFI protests fee hike

The Students Federation of India (SFI) on Tuesday staged a demonstration in the Himachal Pradesh University against the fee hike in the University of Technology. SFI activists said it was not justified to hike fees at a time when every section of society had been hit hard by the outbreak of Covid-19. They demanded immediate rollback of the hike, saying students had hardly attended any classes as educational institutions were closed.

ABVP flays govt over fee hike

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Tuesday demanded withdrawal of the fee hike ordered by the Himachal Pradesh University for students of University Institute Legal Studies and University Institute of Information Technology (UIIT). ABVP leader Vishal Verma alleged that the fee hike had exposed the double standards of the state government. “On the one hand, the government is claiming to rein in private educational institutions who are charging more than the tuition fee and on the other hand, it is ordering a fee hike in the HPU-run institutes,” said Verma. He said students of UIIT were already charged the complete fee of Rs 60,000 for the earlier semester and now, the fee hike had been ordered when no regular classes were being held.