Now, headmasters in govt schools in MP will also have to teach as 'experts'

The newly-elected government of Madhya Pradesh has found a unique way to address the problem of teacher shortage in government-run schools in the state. It has decided to merge as many as 22,000 public schools, which means almost the same number of headmasters of these schools will now have to teach students as subject experts. For years, these headmasters were busy attending files and doing other official work. Suddenly they are facing a new challenge — that of imparting education. Madhya Pradesh has a shortage of more than 75,000 teachers in government-run schools. 

Rabri versus Ram Vilas

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tej Pratap Yadav finds a way to stay in the news. He took to microblogging site Twitter this week to target Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) supremo Ram Vilas Paswan — depicting him as Mahisasura, the mythological figure who was killed by goddess Durga — in his message. In a picture posted by Yadav, his mother and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi can be seen as goddess Durga while Yadav himself appears as the goddess' mount. Needless to say Paswan appears to have been slayed by Rabri. In his tweet, the former Bihar health minister also waxed eloquent about women power.

Splitting hairs over delegates

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath is slated to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland. But there seems to be some confusion over the list of bureaucrats and industrialists who would go with him. Sources say the first list of probable delegates was rejected because it had names of people considered close to the erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. Now there is a list that has names of people who were close to the previous government but now appear to be swinging towards the new one. That has made the task of picking the "right" candidates difficult, say those in the know. This year’s WEF meeting will open on January 22 and go on till January 25. More than 3,000 global leaders are expected to attend the event.