-Live Mint Skill development in teachers and selection on stringent quality can deliver desired educational outcomes in India While school education is largely a state government subject, the centre can do a lot to create an enabling environment for government and private entities, ensure accountability and shape flagship programmes. Access to and enrolment in school education in India have grown significantly in the last two decades, to over 90% now. This should...

-The Hindu   Since 2004-05, for the first time in the history of India, more workers have left agriculture for productive work in industry and services Higher than normal inflation, high current account deficit, a depreciating rupee and slowing GDP growth might hold true in recent times. However, when it comes to employment, the facts are quite different as between 2009-10 and 2011-12, non-agricultural employment grew rapidly. Between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, National Sample Survey...

-Live Mint   Instead of testing theoretical knowledge, the problem-solving tests examined how students could use their knowledge in practical situations New Delhi: Asian countries led by Singapore took the top seven spots in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) report on problem solving capability among 15-year-old students, released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Tuesday. "Students from Singapore and (South) Korea have performed best in the first...

-The Economic Times     There is a narrative that the UPA's rule at the Centre led to an economic disaster, especially in the second term. In contrast, Gujarat has prospered, thanks to Narendra Modi's good governance. We have several problems with this. First, through UPA's first term and about halfway into its second, many economic indicators critics like to harp on were much better than those during the NDA days. This is true...

-The Indian Express   The Planning Commission numbers show that in the unorganised manufacturing sector, value added per worker has come down by over 5 per cent in the last decade. The Congress and the BJP manifestoes for the general elections talk about the need for raising employment numbers in multipliers but hardly show any understanding of where to maximise those. For both, the Holy Grail is rising of the profile of the...