THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) regional office here has announced the schedule to seek direct admission to class X and XII in CBSE-affiliated schools. The last date for the receipt of the request is April 15, 2018, the CBSE regional officer has said.
Students who have done class IX or XI from ICSE, State Board or an equivalent foreign board can take admission in CBSE Board schools in class X or XII.

Parents may approach the CBSE school in which admission is being sought with following documents. a) Reason or ground on which the parents sought the admission with proof (original affidavit) (b) Valid proof of shifting of residence from one place to other place or present residential address proof. (A copy of Aadhaar, ration card, passport, residential certificate etc.) (c) Registration details (if registered online with

CBSE) (d) Progress report card or result of previous class indicating that candidate has passed.
Marks on A4 or school letterhead will not be accepted (e)School transfer order from the previous school (TC).

Schools will forward the application to the CBSE for approval of the regional officer. A monitoring desk is available for the benefit of parents shifting from foreign countries. Contact no is 0471-2987403.
For details, parents can contact the school in which admission is sought.

‘Expats put to much hardship’

T’Puram: The CBSE’s decision to conduct a re-examination for the Class X Mathematics and Class XII Economics paper in the wake of reports of question paper leak reflects the Centre’s  inefficiency and callousness, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has said.

The decision has put students and parents, especially those in the Gulf countries, in distress. Many of the NRKs had reserved air tickets to the home country in accordance with the previous examination schedule. Chennithala asked Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar to conduct a comprehensive probe and initiate strict action against those behind the leak.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Signalling the emergence of a new, secular Kerala, as many as 1.26 lakh school students in the state do not belong to any particular religion or caste. According to the statistics submitted by Education Minister C Raveendranath in the Assembly the other day, a total of 1,24,147 students -  from Class I to higher secondary classes - have sought admissions without specifying religion.

Of this, 1,23,630 are studying in Classes I to X, 278 in first-year higher secondary and 239 in second year higher secondary classes. No student admitted to the vocational higher secondary schools left the religion column blank.

The minister’s revelation was in reply to a question by Vamanapuram MLA D K Murali. “This is a happy news. Our country provides for the freedom to live without joining any religion or caste. I didn’t know that a significant number has utilised that freedom,” he said.

The Left legislator feels a secular young generation is on the rise, who wants to give freedom of religion to their children. “I congratulate these parents who have a positive outlook in grooming children. Let the children select their own religion or remain religion-less after they become mature enough,” he said.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  Having approached the Centre to explore the possibility of an elevated highway at Keezhattur, the state government is now set to hold talks with it. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is most likely to meet Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari to take up the matter.With the Keezhattur agitators strengthening their protest against the proposed bypass through paddy fields, the government has been showing signs of a climb-down. Contrary to their earlier stance, the CPM and Chief Minister have been giving hints about considering an alternative alignment if the Centre agrees to it.

Pinarayi, who is in New Delhi for three days from Wednesday to attend the CPM Central Committee meeting, has sought time to call on Gadkari.“The Chief Minister during his three-day stay in New Delhi has sought time to meet a few Union Ministers including Nitin Gadkari to discuss various issues. However, it hasn’t been finalised till now,” said the CMO.

The growing unrest among working classes, students and cultural figures will spawn an alternative to the BJP-led NDA government, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Monday. He was speaking after inaugurating a public meeting held as part of the CITU’s national general council meet, which concluded at Kozhikode beach.

“The country is witnessing agitations by people from all walks of lives, including farmers, workers, students and cultural figures, against the anti-national and anti-people policies of the Central government. Distressed with the Central rule, people are searching for an alternative. The protest will find the alternative,” he said.

Pinarayi said the RSS-led BJP government is posing a threat to the common man with its communal agenda and neoliberal policy. “The Central government stands for corporates and not for the people,” alleged Pinarayi, adding that his government is presenting an alternative model of government against the BJP’s neoliberal policy.

KOCHI: Buoyed by the increase in domestic air traffic in recent years, the Cochin International Airport on Tuesday touched the magical figure of carrying one crore passengers in a single financial year. The Cochin Airport, the first in the country built under PPP model, has crossed the milestone of 10 million passengers in a single fiscal in its 19th year of operations when the Indigo flight 6E 563 from Chennai docked at its terminal -2 at 12.20 pm.

CIAL Managing Director V J Kurien said it is a unique record in the history of the airport that handled around 5 lakh passengers in its nascent stage and rose to handle 10 million passenger in a year in a matter of a few years. He also said domestic traffic has been registering robust growth as it clocked a 22 per cent increase in domestic passenger volume, touching 4.84 million compared to that of 3.94 million in FY 2016-17. The international sector also witnessed an increase of four per cent with 5.16 million passengers compared to 4.98 million in FY 2016-17.  

Though the passenger figures of international traffic have increased when compared with the figures of previous years, the growth rate is not robust as expected, he said. The slump in the Middle East market might have bearing on the international traffic, he said. However, CIAL is hopeful of coping with the extraordinary growth being witnessed in the domestic aviation sector, he said.  

“We are now renovating the existing terminal-1 for the domestic operation, which will have 6 lakh square feet built up area and will feature all modern amenities. This will be added up to the existing 16 lakh square feet of terminal space. We expect that renovated terminal will become operational in May 2018,” said Kurian.  As a gesture of gratitude, the airport company also gifted one sovereign gold coin to the representative of the passenger who disembarked from the aircraft on Wednesday. A C K Nair, Airport Director, A M Shabeer, Executive Director, Sunil Chacko, Chief  Financial officer were present at the function.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The question paper of Physics subject of Higher Secondary examinations has not been leaked, Crime Branch investigation report said. DGP (Crimes) B S Mohammed Yasin on Monday submitted the report to the government in this regard. Last week, some reports came out saying the question paper was leaked through WhatsApp prior to the day of the examination. Following reports, the government had ordered a Crime Branch investigation.

According to the report, the cyber crime wing of Crime Branch revealed there is no evidence to prove there was a leakage of the question paper. The investigation report said the images of questions in the handwritten format were made by some students for study purpose.

Speaking to Express, the investigating officer Vinod Kumar said the students had shared some questions prepared by them after taking details from certain guides and from some web portals.  “Prima facie, there is no evidence for a question paper leak. It was coincidental some questions shared in WhatsApp came in the examination. It has already been proven,” he said.

Last Thursday, it was alleged the question paper of the Plus Two examinations held on Wednesday was leaked through WhatsApp. According to the report, the Thrissur district coordinator of the examination had allegedly received a set of questions “similar to the ones that appeared in the exam,” prior to the day of examination. The questions, widely circulated through WhatsApp, were in handwritten format.
The probe has begun and they had verified the phones of some students and parents in Thrissur.

The reports also alleged the Physics questions were similar to those of a model exam conducted by some private tuition centres in the Malabar region. After the HSE officers received the reports, they filed a complaint with the state police chief and sought a probe into the issue. HSE examinations began on March 7. Last year, the Mathematics question paper of SSLC examination was leaked and the government had to conduct a re-examination.

KANNUR: One more SDPI worker was arrested by the police in connection with the alleged murder of RSS worker Shyamaprasad. The police said M N Faizal, 26, of Neerveli, Kuthuparamba was arrested on Sunday morning from Sivapuram near Malur by the team led by Peravur CI A Kuttikrishnan. Faizal is the fifth accused in the case. It was Faizal who passed on the information over phone about Shyamaprasad’s whereabouts to the gang who allegedly committed the murder on January 19, said the police. Faizal had also participated in the conspiracy with the other four arrested by the police earlier. Faizal was absconding since the murder.