-The Telegraph The Right to Education Act, which makes education a fundamental right of every child, is likely to miss the March 2013 deadline for its implementation and the government is planning to amend the law to get an extension of two years. “The amendment is being planned since the compliance to RTE norms may not be possible by the 2013 deadline,” an HRD ministry official said. However, going by the present backlog,...

Universities should not have to bow to research institutes, writes Debashis Gangopadhyay. Basic Sciences versus Applied Sciences Undermining humanities studies in schools will lead to a large number of science graduates in the market. This is a boon for multinational companies as profits will escalate — the cost of labour being lower. However, the danger to profits persist from another aspect. Students who study science out of their love for a subject are...

-The Hindu “Hectic lobbying by private interests in education is responsible for Karnataka being a laggard among Indian States in implementing the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act,” said a senior government official on Thursday. Karnataka and Goa are the only States that are yet to notify rules that will enforce the legislation that guarantees education as a fundamental right to all children aged between six and...

The Supreme Court in its verdict on the constitutionality of the Right to Education Act in relation to the reservation of seats for Economically Weaker Section [EWS] and socially disadvantaged [SD] children has rightly upheld the principle of integration. It is hard to see how it could have been any other way. In fact, the arguments against segregation and in favour of diversity in schools have long been settled in...

It was Jawaharlal Nehru who said that ignorance is always afraid of change. In the light of this, there is no doubt that the Right to Education (RTE) Act is a courageous piece of legislation. But the 25% reservation clause for poor students in unaided private schools in the Act could end up facing serious operational problems. According to the law, the State will pay the private schools that admit...