ABVP workers booked for attack on professor over pro-peace Facebook post

Bengaluru, May 28: A thousand government schools in Karnataka are set to get Englishmedium sections from this academic year (2020-21). These institutions will function in both English and Kannada medium.

The decision was taken by primary and secondary education minister S Suresh Kumar and officials of the education department at a meeting on Wednesday.

Suresh Kumar said dualmedium will help improve the standard of schools and enable their development. The poorest of the poor spend almost 40% of their income on their children’s education in private schools. With the introduction of dual-medium, the government hopes such families will be able to save their earnings, he said. These schools will impart lessons in both English and Kannada. They will also provide textbooks in both languages.

‘Kannada must for all’

The meeting reviewed implementation of the compulsory Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015. Officials from the Kannada Development Authority were present at the meeting who claimed that some private schools have failed to implement the Act properly.

“Action will be taken against such institutions. Every child studying in schools across the state must learn Kannada,” Kumar said at the meeting.

Mangaluru, May 10: The Yenepoya Medical College Hospital at Deralakatte here has become the first private hospital in Dakshina Kannada district to get coronavirus (COVID-19) testing approval.

The laboratory at the hospital has received the nod from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct tests for COVID-19, a release here said.

Dakshina Kannada will now have two centres for coronavirus tests, the first one being the district Wenlock hospital, the designated hospital for Covid-19.

ICMR has approved 33 testing centres in the state of which 21 are government hospitals and 12 are private hospitals.

Dubai, Apr 14: Around 2,500 Indians have approached Indian missions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) seeking help to be flown home during the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, top diplomats have said.

The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Indian Consulate in Dubai together have received requests from "a little more than 1,000 individuals" while the latter has received an additional request from an employer who has laid-off around 1,000 Indian workers, reports Gulf News on Monday.

According to the Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor, the missions have not been bombarded with mass requests from the people who wish to take an immediate flight home unlike widespread reports on social media.

Most of the individuals who have expressed their interest to return home are visitors and those who lost their jobs, he told Gulf News.

Consul General of India in Dubai, Vipul said his mission had received nearly 1000 requests via email and phone from people who want to return home.

"A majority of them are visit visa holders. On Sunday, we got information about another large group of around 1,000 Indian workers who have lost jobs. The employer has got in touch to know the options to send them back home as early as possible," he told Gulf News.

However, the diplomatic heads refuted unverified reports that claim tens of thousands of Indians were scrambling to fly home during the pandemic.

They added that the missions have been aiding hundreds of workers, who have been left in the lurch by their employers, with provisions.

The Indian government had said that flight services cannot be resumed during the lockdown period, which has now been extended till May 3.