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jilicc NEW DELHI: From the academic year 2026-27, CBSE schools will introduce a 'two-tier' system - standard and basic - for science and social science subjects. This move aligns with the existing dual-level system for mathematics. The Board plans to extend this to other subjects as well, as part of implementation of National Education Policy 2020 . This initiative was recently approved at CBSE's curriculum committee meeting and now awaits final endorsement from governing body. CBSE chairperson Rahul Singh said, "It's part of NEP implementation. NEP envisaged offering the subjects at two levels." He also confirmed that "the offer will available from 2026-27 academic year once NCERT textbooks are out". The system aims to provide flexibility and reduce academic pressure. This structure accommodates varying learning abilities and student interests. Currently, CBSE offers mathematics at two levels - mathematics - standard (advanced) and mathematics - basic (regular). In the 2023-24 Board exams, 15,88,041 students registered for the standard level mathematics, while 6,79,560 opted for the basic level. NCERT has already introduced textbooks aligned with National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE), 2023, for Classes I, II, III and VI. New textbooks for Classes IV, V, VII and VII are under development for implementation in 2025-26 academic session. Students will likely receive a designated period to choose between advanced and standard levels, with flexibility to switch within this timeframe. Singh added, "The exact shape of the framework is yet to be worked out. It will depend on the new textbooks, whether there will be two books of different difficulty level, supplementary content or two sets of question papers from the same content."

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By Benjamin Mullin and Kate Conger, New York Times Service Elon Musk is gunning for public media. In his new role advising President-elect Donald Trump, Musk has floated sweeping cuts to the federal government, including the elimination of entire departments and the firing of agency leaders. One of the most concrete proposals on his list is eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding that the government funnels to PBS and NPR stations, home to cultural touchstones like Elmo, Big Bird and “Fresh Air.” For decades, NPR and PBS have overcome similar threats. But this year, “the attention and intensity” of the calls to defund public media seem greater, said Michael Isip, the president and CEO of KQED, which operates NPR and PBS stations in the San Francisco Bay Area. NPR and PBS stations are bracing for the fight. After the election, leaders of NPR’s biggest member stations circulated a report that warned “it would be unwise to assume that events will play out as they have in the past” with regard to their federal funding. PBS received an update on the situation from political consultants at a board meeting in early December. And station directors in some states are already making their case to legislators. Internally, NPR is preparing for a variety of funding possibilities, including that government money will be clawed back immediately, according to two people briefed on the network’s planning. While many Americans know NPR and PBS by popular programs like “Sesame Street” and “All Things Considered,” those national organizations are merely the most visible part of a network of local stations crisscrossing the United States — a network that depends on public funding for local news, educational programming and emergency alerts. More than 98% of the U.S. population lives within listening range of at least one of the more than 1,000 public radio stations that carry NPR programming, and many stations use government funding to buy shows and pay for their newsrooms. “The most vulnerable stations serving the most vulnerable people are going to be the ones that are hurt the hardest,” said Eric Nuzum, a former NPR executive and a co-founder of Magnificent Noise, an audio consulting and production company. “We’re talking about very rural parts of the United States.” He added that NPR and PBS had a difficult road ahead even without a funding battle, with changing listener and viewer habits putting pressure on their business models. An NPR spokesperson, Isabel Lara, said defunding public radio would result in less money for local journalism, including coverage of sports and culture. She added that the network regularly planned for a variety of different financial outcomes. “Cutting public media funding means cutting funding to local communities,” she said. A PBS spokesperson, Jeremy Gaines, echoed those sentiments in a statement. “Now more than ever, the service PBS provides matters for Americans,” he said. A representative for Trump had no immediate comment. Musk did not respond to a request for comment. In many ways, the stations’ pushback draws from a well-worn playbook. Republicans have called for eliminating federal funding for public media for decades, including during the last Trump administration, though it wasn’t cut then. Many in the party have argued that the networks’ reporting and opinion commentary doesn’t encompass a full range of political views and that taxpayers shouldn’t be required to pay for the programming. Fred Rogers, the kindly TV host behind “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” on PBS, testified in defense of public media during an attempt during the Nixon administration to cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, an entity that received $535 million from the government this year and provides funds to PBS and NPR stations. “For the majority of us who’ve been in public broadcasting for 20 to 30 years, this is not new,” said Ed Ulman, the president and CEO of Alaska Public Media in Anchorage. He recently discussed funding with Dan Sullivan, a senator from Alaska, and the staff of Lisa Murkowski, the state’s other senator. Both are Republicans. “It really comes back down to ensuring that people in D.C. understand the unintended consequences of some of their policy decisions,” Ulman said. But the traditional script may not work as well this time, Nuzum said. “So many of the plays are defensive,” he said. “No real thought is given to playing offense: What is our forward-looking vision that we can say justifies the investment from the American public for the next 10, 20, 30 years?” This funding fight may differ from earlier battles because of the newfound passion and sudden ascent of Musk, who has made plain his deep distaste for traditional media. Although he holds no elected office, his influence over government spending was revealed in stark relief last week when he helped torpedo a bipartisan spending deal, forcing lawmakers to redraft the agreement. Musk has recommended his social platform, X, as a replacement for news media outlets, which he accuses of bias against him. “Legacy media must die,” Musk posted to X on Sunday. NPR and PBS stations have two crucial advantages in the battle to preserve their funding. Many local stations serve as a backbone for emergency alert systems, a function that would be impossible to replace overnight. And the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is funded two years in advance, meaning that efforts to defund public media would most likely lag far behind congressional action. But Republican-sponsored bills that would eliminate government funding for public media are already working their way through Congress. They include the No Propaganda Act, introduced this year by Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana and Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, and the Defund NPR Act, introduced in April by Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana. Banks introduced his bill weeks after a senior editor at NPR, Uri Berliner, published an essay claiming that the network had a liberal bias. (Berliner resigned and now works for The Free Press, a digital startup founded by former New York Times writer Bari Weiss.) Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said in an interview that it was wrong to require conservatives to fund an outlet dismissive of their perspectives. Gonzalez contributed to Project 2025, a policy playbook to overhaul the federal government, writing that the government should defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “This will be one of those things that will make America better,” Gonzalez said. “Not to coerce them into paying something for a media outlet that mocks their views.” Public media organizations are already under serious pressure. NPR grappled with declining listenership and a decrease in sponsorships — public radio speak for advertising — in 2023, the last year for which detailed finances were available. Lara said NPR’s sponsorships held steady this year, adding that listenership grew in major markets beginning this summer. Expecting local NPR and PBS stations to fulfill their obligations to inform and educate Americans across the country without public funding is unreasonable, Nuzum said. “It’s the equivalent of bringing a public radio tote bag to a gunfight,” he said. This article originally appeared in The New York Times . Be civil. Be kind.The U.S. Department of Education this week advised that all schools should work with students, teachers and parents on crafting policies to manage cellphone use. In a 37-page released Tuesday, the department outlined how to form a “co-design” team of youth and adults, and how that team can set policy goals, build understanding, implement the policy, collect feedback and data, and make changes as needed. “Co-design is based on the theory that if a policy works better for those who are ultimately affected, there will be more support for and fidelity to the policy,” the document states. It also presents evidence that smartphones and social media hurt student academic performance and . How schools respond to that evidence must be decided at the state and local level, according to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Different school communities have different needs, and the nuances of this issue demand that local voices — parents, educators and students — inform local decisions around the use of personal devices in school,” Cardona said in a . The guidance comes as a wave of cellphone restriction policies sweep through U.S. schools. Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school district in the nation, will implement a bell-to-bell next year, and countless others have issued their own bans and restrictions. Statewide school cellphone bans have been passed in , , and , and a handful of other states have adopted restrictions that fall short of a ban. At least nine other state departments of education have issued policy recommendations or pilot programs, and 11 more states have introduced legislation to restrict cellphone use, according to the independent policy research company . All told, 29 states have taken political action on the issue. In California, the requires all state public schools to limit or ban smartphones by July 2026. “In this digital age, every elementary, middle and high school should have a clear, consistent, and research-informed policy to guide the use of phones and personal devices in school,” Cardona said in a public statement. “That is why we are issuing a new guide to help support education officials and local communities in developing policies that are understandable and enforceable, and prioritize learning while ensuring student safety.”

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The Congress on Saturday accused the Narendra Modi government of insulting Manmohan Singh, the country's first Sikh prime minister, by carrying out his last rites at the Nigambodh Ghat instead of a designated spot that could later become his memorial. The opposition party had written to the Centre for identifying a designated place for Singh's last rites, where a memorial could be set up for him. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said the great son of Mother India and the first prime minister from the Sikh community has been "totally insulted" by the BJP-led Centre by performing his last rites at the Nigambodh Ghat on Saturday. He said Singh was the prime minister for 10 years, the country became an economic superpower during his tenure and his policies are still the support system for the poor and backward classes. "Till date, respecting the dignity of all former prime ministers, their last rites were performed at authorised burial sites so that every person could have a last darshan and pay homage without any inconvenience. "Dr Manmohan Singh deserves our highest respect and a memorial. The government should have shown respect to this great son of the country and his proud community," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said by not providing an appropriate place for the former prime minister's cremation, the Centre has not done justice to the dignity of the post, his personality, legacy and the self-respecting Sikh community. She said earlier, all former prime ministers were given the highest honour and respect. "Dr Manmohan Singhji deserves this honour and a Samadhi Sthal. Today, the whole world is remembering his contributions. The government should have thought beyond politics and narrow-mindedness in this matter," she said in a post in Hindi on X. "This morning, I felt this when I saw Dr Manmohan Singhji's family members struggling for a place at the funeral site, trying to find a place in the crowd, and the general public getting troubled due to the lack of space and paying tributes from the road outside," Priyanka Gandhi added. Former Indian Youth Congress chief B V Srinivas said when former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away on 16 August 2018, his funeral took place at the National Memorial, the designated place for the cremation of former presidents, vice-presidents and prime ministers. He referred to Vajpayee's memorial, "Sadbhav Atal", which is spread over seven acres and "where memories related to Atalji are present", and shared pictures of the memorial on X. "But during the tenure of the same prime minister, Narendra Modi, the last rites of former prime minister Manmohan Singh were performed at the public Nigambodh Ghat instead of the National Memorial. Because he was a Congress leader, not a BJP leader?" he asked in a post in Hindi on X. As politics over the matter erupted, the Centre said a decision to set up a memorial has already been taken and a trust would be formed to identify the place soon. The central government said that a decision to build one was already conveyed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge by Union Home Minister Amit Shah after cabinet meeting on 27 December. Also Read: Govt to allocate space for Manmohan Singh’s memorial: MHA A government statement also said the funeral could be held as the process of setting up a trust and allotting land for the memorial could take a while. Kharge had written to Modi on Friday seeking a memorial for Singh. Several sections of the society have also urged the government to confer Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour of the country, on the late economist-prime minister. Follow us on: Facebook , Twitter , Google News , Instagram Join our official telegram channel ( @nationalherald ) and stay updated with the latest headlinesPALERMO, Calif. (AP) — Two children were wounded in a shooting Wednesday at a small religious K-8 school in Northern California and the shooter died from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot, sheriff’s officials said. The children’s conditions were not immediately known. The shooting occurred Wednesday afternoon at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists, a private, K-8 school in Palermo, a community of 5,500 people about 65 miles (104 km) north of Sacramento. Related Articles National News | Abandoned mines in the US pose dangers to people and property when land gives way National News | Dog food recalled in 7 states for salmonella risk after puppy litter gets sick, FDA says National News | White House says at least 8 US telecom firms, dozens of nations impacted by China hacking campaign National News | Powell: Fed’s independence from politics is vital to its interest rate decisions National News | United Healthcare CEO kept a low public profile. Then he was shot to death in New York Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said the 911 calls reported “an individual on campus who had fired shots at students,” and said that the shooter did not appear to have a connection to the school. The motive was not immediately known, he continued. One student was flown to a nearby hospital, Honea said. Authorities rushed students to the Oroville Church of the Nazarene to be reunited with their families, the sheriff’s office said. The school has been open since 1965 and caters to fewer than three dozen children, according to its website.

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