Places of worship outnumber educational institutions by two to one in Punjab and hospitals and dispensaries by more than four to one, census data released on Saturday has revealed. The data on houses, household amenities and assets released by Director, Census Operations, Seema Jain, on Saturday, shows the State's 2.77-crore population is served by 63,244 places of worship — but only 31,228 schools and colleges, both private and public.. Similarly, the...

Block the loo and train the child. If a recent report of the National Commission of Child Rights is to be believed, barring students bathroom breaks seems to be teachers’ favourite form of punishment. According to the report, “Eliminating Corporal Punishment in Schools”, released earlier this month, almost 18 per cent students are not allowed to go to the restroom as punishment for bad behaviour in class. This is at the top of...

Sitting and aspiring MCD councillors of Trilokpuri area got a lesson in RTEon Wednesday. At a public meeting organized by JOSH, locals flocked to meet them with lots of suggestions and many complaints about the lack of educational facilities in their east Delhi colony. All that the candidates could muster as a response was a slew of promises most of which were shrouded in ignorance about the provisions of the...

With the decision on 25% reservation for underprivileged students in all schools, including private and unaided ones, pending in the Supreme Court, city schools are finding it difficult to keep seats vacant.  Most schools have completed the admission process. Some have managed to keep 10% seats vacant, in case the order comes out before the session begins. This would be the third consecutive year, when this clause under theRight to Free...

Even as the opposition took the government to task for tweaking consumption data to show that the number of poor in India has declined, as first highlighted on Monday by Mint columnist Himanshu, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia defended the methodology used for the calculation by the plan panel. Ahluwalia said the inclusion of money spent on the mid-day meal scheme in so-called private household expenditure was correct because...