-The Telegraph Bengal leads in dependence on private tuition but bottom of the pack in basics More schoolchildren in Bengal take private tuition than in most other states but they are anything but the best when tested for basic reading and arithmetic Skills, a national survey has revealed. Although the survey by the NGO Pratham focused on schoolchildren going to government institutions in the districts, teachers say students of the top schools...

-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: Even as the state government tom-toms its high enrollment rates in primary government schools in rural areas, it has done little to tackle teachers' deficit or to improve teaching quality in government schools. The poor quality of education - highlighted by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2012, released on Friday - is being squarely blamed on the despairing and overburdened primary school teachers in...

-The Indian Express The dismal picture painted in Pratham’s latest Annual Status of Education Report must provoke policymakers to urgently assess and tackle the crisis in India’s primary school education. Pratham, an NGO, has done stellar work these past years in surveying the learning outcomes in schools countrywide. Its 2012 report details a rapid decline in students’ ability to keep up with the syllabus. It has found, for example, that only...

-The Indian Express One of the earliest campaigners against genetically modified crops in Europe has publicly embraced the technology. Tendering an unconditional apology for his anti-GM activism, Mark Lynas has also come out in the open and criticised Indian activists and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh for their approach on the issue, asserting that the debate against GM crops was “over”. As environment minister, Jairam put the release of Bt Brinjal in...

-Pratirodh.com If Year 2012 earned the sobriquet of “Year of Scams’ due to serial expose of “super social cop” Arvind Kejeriwal, and the year-end tragic death of girl in Delhi gang rape case reminded us about the most ugly manifestation of ‘Republic of Patriarchy’ in India, Year 2013 promises to be a game changer for the fortunes of welfare state in India as well as political fortunes of UPA-2.   If Narendra Modi,...