-Newsclick.in The draft National Education Policy reinforces outdated ideas about the goals of a foundational literacy programme Many children in elementary classrooms across India cannot read and write proficiently, as demonstrated on an annual basis by the Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER). This affects other school-based learning, as well as functioning in societies and economies that prize literacy. Capabilities of young children It was heartening, therefore, to see a chapter devoted to “Foundational...

-The Indian Express The state government has not cited AES as cause of death and has instead attributed most of them to hypoglycemia — meaning low blood sugar level. Experts, however, say hypoglycemia is one aspect of AES. Muzaffarpur: As many as 43 children below the age of 10 years have died at two hospitals in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district this month after being admitted with Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). The state government...

-The Hindu It is a national tragedy that women unable to find work are dropping out of the labour force If labour force survey data are to be believed, rural India is in the midst of a gender revolution in which nearly half the women who were in the workforce in 2004-5 had dropped out in 2017-18. The 61st round of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) recorded 48.5% rural women above...

-The Hindu High temperature during summer, along with humidity more than the normal, is considered to be an ideal situation for the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome, say doctors. Patna: At least 28 children have died in the last one month in Muzaffarpur district of north Bihar, allegedly due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), which is locally known as Chamki bukhar (brain fever). Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has expressed concern over the rising...

-Livemint.com Fewer women are working now, and those who are work long hours for low pay, data from India’s latest official employment survey show Just nine countries around the world, including Syria and Iraq, now have a fewer proportion of working women than India, new official data confirms. And if Bihar were a country, it would have the lowest share of working women in the world. Among urban women who do work,...