Two Australian universities will soon set up campuses at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (Gift City), Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a student engagement program in the presence of the visiting Australian delegation led by Education Minister Jason Clare in New Delhi on March 1, 2023.

The Australian delegation is on a 5-day visit to India to foster India-Australia relations in the field of education. Both sides held discussions to take their partnership in the education sector forward in areas of the school, higher and vocational education, according to an official statement.

Speaking at the event, Pradhan informed “Two Australian universities will soon establish campuses in the Gift City of Gujarat.” He reiterated that India remains committed to partner Australia to make quality education more accessible and affordable, the statement added.

The two universities, Wollongong University and Deakin University will sign an agreement to establish campuses in Gift City during Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s maiden visit to India next week, Pradhan added.

In his address at the programme,  Jason Clare underlined Australia-India education ties by citing  Australian universities’ association with Indian universities. Speaking of the significance of his visit to India, he said, “this is a high-powered delegation of educational policymakers and university administrative stakeholders that shall pave the way for collaborative tie-ups with India.”

The event was attended by Australian High Commissioner to India Barry O’ Farrell and former international cricketer Adam Gilchrist, who is also a Global Brand Ambassador of the University of Wollongong. A delegation of Vice Chancellors/ Provosts of 21 Australian Universities also attended the event.

A federal judge has ordered a dozen Texas public school districts to remove displays of the Ten Commandments from their classrooms by December, saying that a state law requiring such displays violates the U.S. Constitution.

In a win for parents of children who attend school in the 12 Texas districts named as defendants, U.S. District Court Judge Orlando L. Garcia wrote that the law violates a constitutional clause barring the government from passing any "law respecting an establishment of religion."

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Garcia's injunction on Nov. 18 was the latest salvo in a nationwide debate over whether U.S. states can require public schools to prominently feature Christian texts in their classrooms. The fight has pitted parents and students against conservative groups trying to make expressions of faith more prominent in U.S. society.

A federal appeals court in June blocked Louisiana from enforcing a law that similarly required the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all classrooms of the state's public schools and universities. The same appeals court will hear a challenge to the Texas law when it rehears the Louisiana case in January.

In October, Oklahoma's Education Department withdrew a 2024 directive that required teachers to have the Christian Bible in every classroom and incorporate it into their lessons, after challenges that it was unconstitutional prompted the state supreme court to halt the requirement.

Reuters sought comment from each school district that is currently a defendant in the Texas lawsuit. Spokespeople for Conroe and Flour Bluff Independent School Districts in southeast Texas said they would adhere to applicable law, though only Conroe said it would follow Garcia's order. No other school districts responded.

A director at the American Civil Liberties Union, one group representing the plaintiffs who oppose the Texas law, hailed Garcia's injunction as "a victory for religious liberty and a reminder that government officials shouldn’t pay favorites with faith.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued two other state school districts on Nov. 18 for refusing to display the Ten Commandments in their classrooms, accusing them of disregarding "the will of Texas voters who expect the legal and moral heritage of our state to be displayed in accordance with the law."