-Hindustan Times The human resource development ministry describes the self-help groups and cook-cum-helpers as pillars of the programme. New Delhi: The human resource development (HRD) ministry has asked states to get all midday meal cooks-cum-helpers trained by “master trainers” by the end of this year. In a letter sent to heads of state education departments, the ministry has suggested they can get the cook-cum-helpers in their jurisdiction trained by master chefs of the...

-Hindustan Times The audit also recommended abolishing admission quotas, including those under the discretion of the vice-chancellor; no official reason was given for the audit. New Delhi: The Aligarh Muslim University must abolish separate colleges for male and female undergraduate students, do away with discretionary admission quotas and merge the departments for Sunni and Shia studies, a government-backed audit of the institution has suggested. These are among the top recommendations the audit made...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Tens of thousands of would-be schoolteachers have been left in the lurch with the Central Teacher Eligibility Test, usually held twice a year, not being conducted at all this year because of a pending guidelines revision. Although the states too hold their own Teacher Eligibility Tests, it's the central test alone that facilitates the selection of elementary teachers at central schools such as the Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalayas...

-Ideas for India Soon after Aadhaar was made compulsory for availing midday meals in schools, the government claimed that the move had helped expose several instances of schools siphoning off funds under the scheme by reporting inflated student enrolment. Comparing official data with that from the Indian Human Development Survey, this column shows that corruption in the scheme is less than what is being alleged - and not of the nature...

-Scroll.in Chronic underspending on education has created governance systems that are unable to use the allocated funds. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found that states failed to spend over Rs 10,000 crores made available to them for elementary education every year between 2010-’11 and 2015-’16. The auditor’s report, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha on July 21, reviewed the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and...