Prof. Sareen Sheikh awarded Ph.D. by Mangalore University

Kundapur, Mar 2: A 43-year-old man was arrested by the local police in Udupi district after he allegedly raised pro-Pakistan at Mini Vidhana Soudha in Kundapur today morning.

The man has been identified as Raghavendra Ganiga (43), a resident of Kody in Kundapur. He was working as a Hindi teacher in a private school in the town a few years ago.

According to sources, Ganiga arrived at the Mini Vidhana Soudha at around 10 am and scaled the steps to the building raising 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans repeatedly.

He continued to raise slogans on the corridor and after entering a hall.  A few people recorded this drama on their mobile phones and informed the police.

Later, Kundapur tahisldar filed a written complaint against with the local police, who took Ganiga into custody.

According to police, Ganiga was under depression after his wife deserted him and left him with their only child.

The Post Graduate Department of English, St. Agnes College (Autonomous) organized COSMOPOETICA – a Two-Day International Poets Conference, transcending the boundaries of language and bringing together scholars from English, Hindi and Kannada languages. The key-note speaker was Dr Hima Urmila Shetty and the Panel of Experts included Maggie Harris, a Commonwealth short stories award winning poet of Broadstairs, Kent; Dr Kathryn Hummel, a visiting professor at IIT Hyderabad; Prof Raj Rao, acclaimed poet and novelist, former HOD of English, Savithribai Phule University; Lata Chouhan from Bangalore; Vijay Tiwari from Ahmedabad; Dr. Nagaveni Manchi, an acclaimed Poet and Professor, Govt College, Carstreet and Ms. Chandrakala Nandavara, former Principal of Ganapati PU College.

Dr Sr Jeswina A.C., the Principal; Dr Sr Maria Roopa A.C. the Superior and Dr Sr Vinora A.C., graced the occasion.

Dr Geralyn Pinto, the Staff Convenor; Dr Malini Hebbar, the HOD and Ananya Sneha the student Convenor organised the Conference.

The highlight of the Conference was the Poetry Workshop, Slam Poetry Competition in three languages and paper presentations on various aspects of poetry.

Overall the conference drew together poets and academicians to discuss poetry as a genre and practice with ignited minds.

Bengaluru, Jul 8: The expert committee constituted by the Karnataka government to look into imparting online education in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown submitted its report on Tuesday to the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, S Suresh Kumar.

Amid growing pressure by educational institutions to allow them to run online classes for the students, the government set up the committee headed by noted educationist M K Sridhar.

The Minister told reporters that some schools wanted to run online classes, including for LKG and UKG students. It had also come to the government's notice that schools were reportedly charging hefty fees in the name of online teaching, he added.

"To address the concerns of parents, schools, and the future of the children, the committee was formed,"Kumar said. He further said that the government would study the recommendations and hold discussions with officials and various stakeholders before arriving at a decision.

The Education Department said that the committee, in its report, titled "Continuation of Learning in School Education of Karnataka: Guidelines During COVID-19 Pandemic for Technology Enabled Education and Beyond", has recommended teaching online or by using printed material. The committee suggested that children in the age group of three to six be taught online by way of story-telling, rhymes and games strictly in the presence of parents thrice a week just for one session a day For students from class one to three, it advised two periods a day and three days a week for online teaching.

Students from class three to five would have classes five days a week and two classes for 30 minutes a day. For students from class six to eight, there could be three classes a day for a duration of 30 minutes to 45 minutes each, while for students of class nine and 10 there would be four sessions a day between 30 and 45 minutes each.

The committee also suggested usage of Doordarshan and Akashwani for the government school children. Suresh Kumar said there were a few petitions filed in the Karnataka High Court regarding online teaching to the children.