-The Times of India   The Madras high court has directed the Tamil Nadu school education department to finalise and publish the rules for the Right to Education Act within six weeks. The first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam delivering its order on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate S Sathia Chandran, who said that though the act has laudable provisions, it could...

-IANS   Under attack from civil society activists, the media and some of his own party members, over perceived communication gap over critical issues, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided on a media outreach plan that kicks off with a meeting with some senior editors Wednesday. The prime minister will meet a group of editors of regional and national dailies Wednesday, government sources said. Manmohan Singh has so far held only three nationally...

-PTI   Faced with teacher shortage and other infrastructural hurdles, the Government has said the ambitious Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act will take at least three more years to show results. "It (RTE Act) is going to take three years at least. This is not something that is going to bear fruit tomorrow," HRD Minister Kapil Sibal told PTI. Many hurdles have to be overcome for effective implementation...

-The Telegraph   The Meghalaya government today approved the rules for implementation of the ambitious Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, or the RTE Act, 2009. According to the “child-centric” and “child-friendly” act, free and compulsory education should be provided to children in the age group of 6-14 years in Classes I to VII; no child should be held back, expelled or required to pass a board examination...

-PTI   A number of issues pertaining to rural development programmes such as Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, National Rural Livelihoods Mission and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act are likely to be discussed in a two-day conference beginning here tomorrow. Besides monitoring and evaluation of the development programmes, issues relating to District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) administration scheme will be discussed in the conference to be inaugurated and chaired by Minister of Rural...