Maharajganj Lok Sabha by-poll result: JD(U) loses, RJD revives

Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United’s (JD-U) PK Shahi on Wednesday faced defeat at the hands of opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Prabhunath Singh in the first three rounds of counting for the by-election to the Maharajganj Lok Sabha seat, a report said. 

Singh was leading Shahi by over 31,000 votes. The counting is likely to be rounded off at around 3 pm.

There was jubilation in the RJD camp as this was the first time in seven and half years that it had stolen a march over the JD-U in a by-election. 

Taking a potshot, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said the by-poll result underlined the defeat of Nitish Kumar’s arrogance.

Blaming the misrule of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA and “the corruption that has overtaken Bihar in every sphere”, Yadav said: “This is the beginning of the end of the Nitish-led regime”. 

Voting took place on Sunday with 47 percent polling. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of RJD MP Umashankar Singh.

The JD-U was backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party while the Lalu Prasad-led RJD had the support of the Lok Janshakti Party. The Congress had fielded Jitendra Swami.

Source: Zee News

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British Council aims to improve English in all Bihar schools

British Council has started working with the department of education, government of Bihar on a teacher education project which aims to improve the teaching of English at secondary level in all government schools in Bihar.

The project, Bihar Language Initiative for Secondary Schools, (BLISS) funded by the Department for International Development of the UK (DFID) was initiated in January 2012 and runs till March 2014.

“As part of the BLISS project, we have commissioned ‘Pratham – Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) ‘ Centre to assist us in the production of a Bihar English Profile. The profile is an attempt to address research and information gaps that exist in English language teaching sector in Bihar”, said Debanjan Chakrabarti (head) English partnership (East India).

It aims to produce a comprehensive but accessible profile of the state which will be a core reference document for educational product development, project interventions, and reform. It will be of use to state planners, administrators, professionals and educationalists, as well as external agencies such as educational NGOs and businesses.

The profile will primarily be utilised as a digital resource which would be made freely available on British Council India and global websites. A limited number of print editions will also be provided for key stakeholders, Chakrabarti said.

“We are creating an English Language Profile for Bihar, which includes elements like english teaching, teacher training, english learning levels in both government and private schools (including private English teaching institutes like British Lingua). This project is concerned more with figures as this is more quantitative in nature”, says Anindya Dutta Gupta education consultant Pratham Education Foundation, New Delhi.

“We hope the profile will be a useful reierence document as well as a convenient aid for planning purposes for the department of education, government of Bihar”, Gupta said.

Source: TOI, YouTube