-The Hindu   Ram Dayal Munda, a key figure in creation of Jharkhand, passes away Musician, linguist, writer, scholar, educationist, institution-builder, tribal activist — and a key figure in creation of Jharkhand — Ram Dayal Munda passed away in Ranchi on September 30 at the age of 72. I saw him last on March 30 at a conference of the All-India Adivasi Mahasabha: as the three-day conclave concluded at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium here,...

-The Times of India About 15 non-profit organizations went around 60 schools in the city only to find that the right to education is still a distant dream for many. Provisions of the Right to education Act notwithstanding, dirty toilets, shortage of books and staff, broken benches, no playground and absenteeism are still the major issues in many Delhi government schools. The visit follows a recent order by the Central Information...

IN preparing the approach paper to the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the Planning Commission engaged “all interested persons” in the country in a wide, web-based consultative exercise and also involved a varied group of “stakeholders”. The resulting document clearly indicates some awareness of the complex problems likely to be faced by the economy in the coming period. But it falls short of expectations because it does not provide a cohesive...

-The United Nations   The United Nations educational agency has embarked on a new partnership to train thousands of school principals, beginning in Kenya, Ghana and India, that has the potential to benefit up to 10 million children in the future. The initiative by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Varkey GEMS Foundation, a not-for-profit education organization, is known as the “10,000 Principals Leadership Programme.” “This partnership is an excellent...

-The Telegraph   The “abduction” of children from a school to feed the supply chain of a rally has shed light on how an “enlightened” Bengal has learnt to live comfortably with the abuse of the moral and legal rights of its children. A day after 45 children were plucked out of their school and made to march through the heart of the city, police split legal hairs, some parties found leaving children...