41-member rescue team sent to Venezuela New Delhi: Two IAF C-17 Globemaster aircraft carrying humanitarian supplies and a 41-member rescue team departed on Friday for Venezuela to assist the relief and rescue efforts in the earthquake-hit country, where the death toll was close to 600 while thousands of others were missing | PTI | P9 BHUBANESWAR l saturday l june 27, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Relief for lakhs A yr on, govt recognises 6 soldiers killed in Op Sindoor as CBSE eases language policy express news service @ New Delhi Class 7-9 students can keep existing combo of two foreign languages till Class 10: CBSE E x p r e s s n e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi in a major relief to lakhs of CBSE students currently studying in Classes 7-9 and have opted for two foreign languages under the three-language policy they will be allowed to continue with the , same language combination until Class 10, board officials said on Friday . The clarification comes a month after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced that Class 9 students would be required to study three languages, of which two must be native Indian languages, from July 1 as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020. The announcement had prompted concerns among students and parents, with several approaching the courts against the board’s order. Explaining the new position, a senior CBSE official said the requirement to study at least two Indian languages would be implemented prospectively from Class 6 and would not apply retrospectively to students already enrolled in Classes 7 to 9. “An official notification clarifying the same will be issued soon,” the official said. In a circular issued on May 15, the CBSE had stated that until dedicated R3 (third language) textbooks are available, Class 9 students should use the Class 6 R3 textbooks (2026-27 edition) for their chosen language. The language policy forms part of the board’s effort to align its scheme of studies with NEP 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023. Under the May circular, students opting to study a foreign language may do so only as the third language after studying two native Indian languages or as an additional fourth language. New NCERT book hails judiciary Months after a Class 8 NCERT textbook courted controversy for allegedly maligning the judiciary, a new Class 9 book describes it as an ‘impartial & independent institution that safeguards citizens’ rights and upholds the spirit of the Constitution’. The new social science book talks about various functions of the judiciary, stating that it plays a vital role to protect democracy MORE than a year after Operation Sindoor, the government has officially recorded the names of the six military personnel who made the supreme sacrifice during the four-day war by including them in the roll of honour at the National War Memorial. It marked the first official recognition of fa- talities in the conflict. The names have been inscribed on the Tyag Chakra (Circle of Sacrifice) at the War Memorial in New Delhi. The monument comprises 16 concentric granite walls bearing the names, ranks and units of personnel who laid down their lives since Independence. The martyrs are Subedar Major Pawan Kumar of HQ 10 Infantry Brigade, Rifleman Sunil Kumar of 4 JAKLI, Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar of 5 Field Regiment, Agniveer Mood Muralinaik of 851 Light Regiment, Havildar Sunil Kumar The names of the six soldiers on Wall 3D under the 2025 Roll of Honour | PTI Singh of 237 Field Workshop Company and Sergeant Surendra Kumar of No 39 Wing of the Indian Air Force. Two of the six were decorated with gallantry awards. Rifleman Sunil Kumar was posthumously awarded the Vir Chakra, India’s third-highest wartime gallantry award, while Sergeant Surendra Kumar was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal. Mood Muralinaik is the only Agniveer to lose his life during Operation Sindoor. Naik was killed in Pakistani shelling in Poonch on May 9, Ex-SCERT director among four suspended over school textbook errors, action against six more Sudarsan Maharana @Bhubaneswar The state government on Friday suspended the former director of Teachers Training and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and three assistant directors while initiating disciplinary proceedings against six other officers for the massive errors in the school textbooks published for Classes I to VIII under the National Education Policy (NEP) framework. Manoj Padhi, who was the director of SCERT when the textbooks were finalised, is currently serving as a special secretary in the Higher Education department. Three assistant directors of SCERT Pralipta Mishra, Dilip Kumar Sahu SCERT has been directed to publish a master errata register within seven days and distribute printed correction sheets to all students Chief minister’s office and Bharati Tudu were also placed under suspension for the lapses. Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against six other assistant directors - Bandita Pattnaik, Manas Ranjan Rout, Manoranjan Mohapatra, Prashant Kumar Sahu, Manas Kumar Nayak and Sudarshan Santara. The action was taken on the basis of the inquiry report submitted by the committee headed by development commissioner DK Singh to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi earlier in the day Accepting the committee’s . recommendations, Majhi directed stringent action against the officials and also approved a s e r i e s o f c o r re c t ive measures. The government had constituted the threemember committee after a staggering 1,678 factual, typographical and printing errors were detected in school textbooks across subjects, triggering massive outrage in the state. As per the recommendations, the government has decided to implement all 14 recommendations of the committee aimed at strengthening textbook preparation, review and publication mechanisms and preventing recurrence of such errors. Among the immediate measures, SCERT has been directed to publish a master errata register within seven days and distribute printed correction sheets to all students, the chief minister’s office (CMO) said. Replacement pages or reprinted inserts will be provided in cases involving serious errors, while corrected PDF versions of textbooks will serve as the official teaching material until revised editions are printed. The panel also recommended orientation programmes for teachers to familiarise them with the corrections and preparation of a responsibility matrix to fix accountability for every error detected in the CONTINUED ON P7 textbooks. 2025. His death has since become the subject of a legal tussle before the Bombay High Court, where his family has sought parity in pensionary and welfare benefits with the regular soldiers. Operation Sindoor was launched on May 7 last year, in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians. Indian armed forces struck nine terror-linked sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir associated with Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. VHP denies rumour on resignation of Champat Rai N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow Amid intense speculation over the resignation of Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice president and Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra general secretary Champat Rai following the arrest of eight persons over donation theft, VHP spokesperson Vijay Shankar Tiwari on Friday emphatically denied it. Tiwari pointed out that Rai had fully cooperated with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the UP government to probe the matter, adding he did not figure in the police FIR that identified the eight accused CONTINUED ON P7 persons.