In an attempt to focus attention on child labour, the Indian arm of international nonprofit Save the Children has kickstaRTEd a provocative campaign largely centred on a microsite called childrenforhire.com. The site, which “auctions” off children, offers discounts on older children, and claims to be a “one stop destination for all your child labour needs” was dreamed up as part of Save the Children’s 45-day anti-child labour campaign that began April...

India’s record in providing education to its children has been very poor. Low education levels have an impact on income, productivity, health status and standard of living. As per 2001 Census, the overall literacy rate of India is still only 65.4%, with many states having a literacy rate less than the national average. While the male literacy rate is around 76%, only about 54% females are literate1. What is important...

Barely days after right to education was enforced in the country, the Act was cited in the Delhi high court when it stayed the expulsion of a 12-year-old girl from her school for failing to clear the class VI exams and sought an explanation from the school. Justice Kailash Gambhir issued notice to St Xavier's School in the city seeking an explanation by May 11 on why Suman Bhati and...

Even as the Right to Education came into effect on Thursday, the countdown began for lakhs of unrecognised schools across the country against whom action can be taken under the new law unless they get themselves regularized within the next three years. The task of enforcing this regularization will be humungous if studies indicating the proliferation of unrecognized schools are to be believed. In 2005, in a survey in seven...

One hardly needs a reminder that the Right to Education is different from the others enshrined in the Constitution, in that the beneficiary cannot demand it nor fight a legal battle when the right is denied or violated.  Now that India's children have a right to receive at least eight years of education, the gnawing question is whether it will remain on paper or become a reality. One hardly needs...