-The Hindu On Monday, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, completes three years of its existence - the time frame within which authorities were to ensure that its provisions were fully implemented - to make basic education a legal entitlement to all children aged 6-14. However, official statistics and reports from the field paint a far-from satisfactory picture, with citizens moving court against the competent authority...

-Live Mint HRD minister Pallam Raju says focus should be on helping students access content, not on hardware The government seems to have virtually given up onAakash, the $35 tablet computer that was once billed as India's low-cost solution for bridging the divide between digital haves and have-nots. "Let's not get obsessed with hardware," human resource development (HRD) minister M.M. Pallam Raju said on Friday. "The overall (issue) is how we enable students....

-The Hindu In a small town in Karnataka, government-school students are working to ensure that their schools meet the infrastructure norms of the RTE Act. Can this model be replicated elsewhere in the country? Kishore Mahadevaiah, a Std VII student, is describing his ideal school. “The school should be very clean and neat. In every class, there should be teaching and learning materials and sports materials and qualified teachers. And there should...

-The United Nations There will soon be as many mobile cellular subscriptions as the 7 billion people inhabiting the planet, according to figures released today by the United Nations, which show that strong sustained demand for information and communication technology services is being encouraged by falling prices for broadband Internet. “The World in 2013: ICT Facts and Figures,” produced by the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), also shows that despite a positive...

-Outlook Out in our streets, disabled people feel the pain everyday The Gaping Holes     India yet to get a cohesive, standardised sign language     Barrier-free infrastructure yet to be implemented in public areas like bus stations, railway stations, schools, cinema halls     Lack of basic, inclusive civic facilities: no audio-enabled traffic signals, pavements with ramps, few disability-friendly toilets, negligible penalties     Poor functional entertainment accessibility, like no subtitling on local language TV channels     Reservation...