News / Author / Kainat Sarfaraz

Kainat Sarfaraz

Kainat Sarfaraz covers education for Hindustan Times in Delhi. She also takes keen interest in reading and writing on the intersections of gender and other identities.

Articles by Kainat Sarfaraz

Teachers point flaws in CBSE Class 10 pattern, say can’t be applied to Class 12

New Delhi: Teachers and students have begun voicing concerns over what could be the alternative evaluation mechanism for students of the Class 12, after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decided to scrap the annual school-graduating test due to the Covid-19 outbreak

Several teachers and students called these policies flawed, saying that they are unfair to meritorious high scorers whose marks will likely be standardised downwards based on the average performance of their school.(HT Photos)

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Updated on Jun 03, 2021 04:43 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Exam cancellation leads to debate on scoring method

After a high-level review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government on Tuesday announced that Class 12 board exams will not be held this year and CBSE will compile the results as per a well-defined objective criteria that will be announced later.

The government has also directed the national board to provide an option for students to take the exams if they wish to do so but only when the situation becomes conducive.(Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)

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Updated on Jun 02, 2021 06:22 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Grief, suffering, financial distress—how the second wave devastated households

Amid the second wave of the pandemic in the country — the fourth in Delhi — between the end of April and middle of May, patients and their families struggled with shortages — of beds, oxygen support, medicines. And at each step, costs escalated

A relative of a patient who died due to Covid-19 grieves. (Representational image/HT PHOTO)

india news

Updated on Jun 01, 2021 04:21 PM IST

ByFareeha Iftikhar & Kainat Sarfaraz

HC lets schools charge last year’s dues at concessional rate; parents unhappy

Officials privy to the matter said the state government will ‘immediately appeal against the order’.

The ruling came on a plea by umbrella of 450 pvt schools.(Sanchit Khanna/ HT Photo)

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Updated on Jun 01, 2021 05:45 AM IST

ByRicha Banka, Kainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

Test or Class 12 scores? DU gets ready for both

If Class 12 board exams are not conducted, we will have to conduct the CUCET to ensure that admissions are made without compromising on quality and merit, said Pc Joshi, acting V-C, DU.

DU is awaiting a final decision from the ministry on the common entrance test, which will also be dependent on how Class 12 students are being evaluated this year. (Photo: Amal KS/HT (For representational purposes only))

india news

Updated on May 31, 2021 09:37 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Common entrance test or board exam results? DU prepares for all outcomes

Even as a decision on the conduct of a common entrance test for all central universities remains pending, Delhi University’s computer centre (DUCC) officials said their team would require two to three months to develop a new admissions portal, in case the entrance test is introduced this year

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Published on May 28, 2021 11:46 PM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

Covid-induced recruiting slump likely to affect skills, employability

In the last 14 months, while colleges and universities have switched to the online mode for classes and exams, they were hard-pressed to find a digital alternative for research work, hands-on skill training and laboratory work, and compulsory internship components of some courses

india news

Updated on May 28, 2021 05:39 PM IST

ByFareeha Iftikhar and Kainat Sarfaraz

‘Black day’ protest to mark 6 months of stir

Experts have warned that any such gathering could turn into a superspreader event, particularly at a time when cases have been receding in the Capital after a devastating few weeks and a hard lockdown.

BKU leader Rakesh Tikait with others during ongoing farmers' protest against three farm reform laws, at Ghazipur border in New Delhi, Tuesday, May 25, 2021. (PTI)

india news

Updated on May 26, 2021 09:13 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

‘MCQs second option; first choice would be to cancel CBSE exams’

CBSE board exams update: School principals said that, if the exams were held, they would prefer the second option, but cautioned that it was going to be a major challenge during the pandemic.

An English teacher takes online class from school, in New Delhi, Thursday, July 23, 2020.(File photo/ PTI)

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Updated on May 25, 2021 10:17 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Fareeha Iftikhar, New Delhi

Meet on Class 12 exams may discuss proposal for tests in major subjects

Nearly 20 of the 174 subjects offered to Class 12 students are considered major subjects by CBSE. Board students take a minimum of five and a maximum of six subjects out of which four are considered major subjects.

According to the proposal documents, examination for the major subjects can be conducted in two ways. (Photo: Raj K Raj/HT)

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Published on May 23, 2021 03:05 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

Demand for cancelling exams grows as students process grief

On April 14, the Centre cancelled the Class 10 exams and postponed the Class 12 tests, and said it will review the situation on June 1 before deciding on the fate of the exams.

Relatives of a Covid-19 victim seen outside the mortuary at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital in New Delhi.(Hindustan Times)

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Updated on May 17, 2021 04:32 AM IST

ByFareeha Iftikhar, Kainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Hobby classes in schools to utilise summer break

Taking lessons from her entrepreneurship classes, Nisha Yadav (15), a Class 11 student of a government school in Shakarpur, is now working on her own website by following YouTube tutorials.

The vacation started on April 20 and will continue till June 6, during which period there will be no online classes, except activity lessons.(Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

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Published on May 15, 2021 03:06 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

As kids process grief, Delhi schools lend a hand

Tania Joshi, principal of The Indian School, said at least six students in her school have lost one of their parents this month.

The Central Board of Secondary Education also launched a mobile application for students of classes 9 to 12 on Monday to look at the psychosocial wellness of students.(HT photo)

cities

Updated on May 14, 2021 04:40 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Delhi schools go the extra mile for students who lost parents to Covid

The surge in Covid fatalities is reflected in official figures shared by the Delhi government which show that 5,120 people died in April while the number has reached 3,197 between May 1 and 9 this year

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Updated on May 13, 2021 05:54 PM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz

Delhi govt schools get nod to upload Class 10 marks by June 20

The education department’s decision comes a week after the Delhi government schools asked the CBSE to review its timeline for the declaration of Class 10 results.

Last week, the Delhi government had written to the national board asking them to review the timeline.(HT Archive)

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Updated on May 13, 2021 05:45 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Delhi burial grounds out of space with Covid death toll high

The second wave of Covid-19 across the country -- and the fourth in Delhi -- has turned out to be the deadliest one yet in terms of cases and deaths. Delhi is currently recording an average of 23,000 new Covid cases and 375 deaths over the past six days

cities

Published on May 07, 2021 02:19 PM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

Delhi govt asks CBSE to review class 10 results timeline

On May 4, HT reported how teachers and principals of various Delhi government schools raised concerns, saying it may be difficult to submit the result sheets to the CBSE within the June 5 deadline. The board plans to declare the results on June 20.

Last week, CBSE issued a notification asking schools to evaluate Class 10 students on the basis of their internal assessments and tests(Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

education

Updated on May 06, 2021 05:13 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

DU suspends online classes till May 16 due to Covid surge

“In view of sudden surge in Covid-19 cases, online teaching shall remain suspended till May 16, 2021,” read the order signed by DU registrar Vikas Gupta.

HT on April 29 reported that first-year undergraduate students of several DU colleges asked their principals to suspend all online learning activities for at least two weeks. (HT file photo)

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Published on May 05, 2021 04:17 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

Delhi govt schools request CBSE to extend date for class 10 results

Two days after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced the guidelines for the revised assessment scheme for class 10 students, in the wake of board exams being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, principals of Delhi government schools have expressed concerns over the timeline given by the board and said it may be difficult to submit the result sheets to the CBSE by June 5, as directed

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Published on May 04, 2021 01:20 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

CBSE releases marking scheme for Class 10 students, results likely on June 20

Usually, out of 100 marks for each subject, 20 marks are for internal assessments, which have already been tabulated by schools as per the existing policy, and the remaining 80 are for the year-end board examinations.

CBSE Controller of Examination Sanyam Bhardwaj also directed composition of a ‘Result Committee’ in each school comprising of the school principal, five teachers from the school, and two external teachers from a neighbouring school.(Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

india news

Updated on May 02, 2021 09:49 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

DU students want online classes suspended for at least two weeks

After losing his aunt to Covid-19 this week, Sashwat Pandey, 17, a first-year undergraduate student of history at Delhi University, is now worried about his 20-year-old cousin who is also battling the infection

cities

Published on Apr 29, 2021 11:56 PM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

ITO graveyard to stop Covid burials

Though there are other burial grounds in Mangolpuri, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla and Shastri Park, which are also being used for burying Covid-19 victims, the Ahle-Islam Qabristan at ITO takes in the maximum load of Covid and non-Covid deaths.

Relatives of a person who died of Covid-19 waiting their turn to cremate the body at Nigambodh Ghat crematorium, in New Delhi.(Sanjeev Verma / HT Photo)

cities

Updated on Apr 25, 2021 05:37 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Can allot space if any organisation willing to set up Covid care centre on campus: DU

Amid a surge in cases of coronavirus in the capital, Delhi University officials on Friday said the varsity is ready to allot space if any organisation is willing to set up a Covid care facility for students and staff on the campus

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Published on Apr 24, 2021 12:52 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

Beds replace blackboards as 4 schools turn hospitals

The premises has been divided into two zones. Patients will be in the red zone, and the administrative work by medical staff and school authorities will be done in the green zone.

Representational: The makeshift hospitals will have separate zones for men, women, and children.(Photo by Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)

cities

Updated on Apr 20, 2021 06:27 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, New Delhi

100 private schools to shut, most staff to WFH

In an advisory issued on Sunday, the committee advised work from home for all school administrations and deploying only the bare minimum staff inside schools to run the institutions.

Representational: Sisodia had said that school principals and the staff can decide among themselves on how many teachers will come to school and how many will give lessons online.(HT Photo)

cities

Published on Apr 19, 2021 07:47 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

College students in Delhi reluctant to go home

While JNU had 64 active Covid-19 cases on campus till Friday, IIT-D recorded 30 cases in the past month.

Last week, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi (IIT-D) advised students to return home in the wake of rising cases on campus.(Agency file photo)

cities

Updated on Apr 19, 2021 06:27 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Funeral homes struggle to keep up with rising deaths

The most deaths in Delhi before this were reported on November 18 last year, when 131 died of the infection.

Funeral pyres at Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Friday(PTI)

cities

Published on Apr 17, 2021 04:31 AM IST

ByAnonna Dutt, Ashish Mishra, Kainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Higher education a distant dream for students from outer Delhi

New Delhi: Vikram Dagar, 24, a resident of Najafgarh’s Issapur village, had to travel at least a 100 kilometres every day for three years to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree from Delhi University’s Deshbandhu College

cities

Published on Apr 13, 2021 05:16 PM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz

Delhi schools shut, but no word yet on teachers’ attendance

A senior education department official said, “Schools will be informed on what percentage of staff have to come in due course of time. Till then, all of them have to come.”

A teacher takes a class in a Delhi school in January. (File photo)(PTI)

cities

Published on Apr 11, 2021 11:55 PM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

After Covid-19 surge, all schools in Delhi closed

It was, however, not immediately clear if the order will affect the CBSE board examinations for Class 10 and 12 students that are scheduled to be held next month.

Most of Delhi’s 2,168 schools are affiliated to the CBSE, which had announced last year that it will conduct practical exams from March till the last theory paper in June.(HT Photo)

cities

Published on Apr 10, 2021 02:00 AM IST

ByKainat Sarfaraz, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

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Kainat Sarfaraz

Kainat Sarfaraz covers education for Hindustan Times in Delhi. She also takes keen interest in reading and writing on the intersections of gender and other identities.

New Delhi: Teachers and students have begun voicing concerns over what could be the alternative evaluation mechanism for students of the Class 12, after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) decided to scrap the annual school-graduating test due to the Covid-19 outbreak

After a high-level review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government on Tuesday announced that Class 12 board exams will not be held this year and CBSE will compile the results as per a well-defined objective criteria that will be announced later.

Amid the second wave of the pandemic in the country — the fourth in Delhi — between the end of April and middle of May, patients and their families struggled with shortages — of beds, oxygen support, medicines. And at each step, costs escalated

Officials privy to the matter said the state government will ‘immediately appeal against the order’.

If Class 12 board exams are not conducted, we will have to conduct the CUCET to ensure that admissions are made without compromising on quality and merit, said Pc Joshi, acting V-C, DU.

Even as a decision on the conduct of a common entrance test for all central universities remains pending, Delhi University’s computer centre (DUCC) officials said their team would require two to three months to develop a new admissions portal, in case the entrance test is introduced this year

In the last 14 months, while colleges and universities have switched to the online mode for classes and exams, they were hard-pressed to find a digital alternative for research work, hands-on skill training and laboratory work, and compulsory internship components of some courses

Experts have warned that any such gathering could turn into a superspreader event, particularly at a time when cases have been receding in the Capital after a devastating few weeks and a hard lockdown.

CBSE board exams update: School principals said that, if the exams were held, they would prefer the second option, but cautioned that it was going to be a major challenge during the pandemic.

Nearly 20 of the 174 subjects offered to Class 12 students are considered major subjects by CBSE. Board students take a minimum of five and a maximum of six subjects out of which four are considered major subjects.

On April 14, the Centre cancelled the Class 10 exams and postponed the Class 12 tests, and said it will review the situation on June 1 before deciding on the fate of the exams.

Taking lessons from her entrepreneurship classes, Nisha Yadav (15), a Class 11 student of a government school in Shakarpur, is now working on her own website by following YouTube tutorials.

Tania Joshi, principal of The Indian School, said at least six students in her school have lost one of their parents this month.

The surge in Covid fatalities is reflected in official figures shared by the Delhi government which show that 5,120 people died in April while the number has reached 3,197 between May 1 and 9 this year

The education department’s decision comes a week after the Delhi government schools asked the CBSE to review its timeline for the declaration of Class 10 results.

The second wave of Covid-19 across the country -- and the fourth in Delhi -- has turned out to be the deadliest one yet in terms of cases and deaths. Delhi is currently recording an average of 23,000 new Covid cases and 375 deaths over the past six days

On May 4, HT reported how teachers and principals of various Delhi government schools raised concerns, saying it may be difficult to submit the result sheets to the CBSE within the June 5 deadline. The board plans to declare the results on June 20.

“In view of sudden surge in Covid-19 cases, online teaching shall remain suspended till May 16, 2021,” read the order signed by DU registrar Vikas Gupta.

Usually, out of 100 marks for each subject, 20 marks are for internal assessments, which have already been tabulated by schools as per the existing policy, and the remaining 80 are for the year-end board examinations.

After losing his aunt to Covid-19 this week, Sashwat Pandey, 17, a first-year undergraduate student of history at Delhi University, is now worried about his 20-year-old cousin who is also battling the infection

Though there are other burial grounds in Mangolpuri, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla and Shastri Park, which are also being used for burying Covid-19 victims, the Ahle-Islam Qabristan at ITO takes in the maximum load of Covid and non-Covid deaths.

Amid a surge in cases of coronavirus in the capital, Delhi University officials on Friday said the varsity is ready to allot space if any organisation is willing to set up a Covid care facility for students and staff on the campus

The premises has been divided into two zones. Patients will be in the red zone, and the administrative work by medical staff and school authorities will be done in the green zone.

In an advisory issued on Sunday, the committee advised work from home for all school administrations and deploying only the bare minimum staff inside schools to run the institutions.

While JNU had 64 active Covid-19 cases on campus till Friday, IIT-D recorded 30 cases in the past month.

The most deaths in Delhi before this were reported on November 18 last year, when 131 died of the infection.

New Delhi: Vikram Dagar, 24, a resident of Najafgarh’s Issapur village, had to travel at least a 100 kilometres every day for three years to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree from Delhi University’s Deshbandhu College

A senior education department official said, “Schools will be informed on what percentage of staff have to come in due course of time. Till then, all of them have to come.”

It was, however, not immediately clear if the order will affect the CBSE board examinations for Class 10 and 12 students that are scheduled to be held next month.

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