-The Telegraph A panel of experts has watered down a proposal by the UPA government to set up five minority universities, citing legal hurdles. The committee, headed by Indian Council of Social Science Research chairman Sukhadeo Thorat, has suggested that the institutions be set up as central universities with their focus on minorities, instead of minority institutions as proposed. The committee submitted its report to the minority affairs ministry last month, a senior...

-The Hindu Madurai: No end to doubts raised and clarifications provided with respect to the Act even after three years The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 stipulates that private schools reserve 25 per cent of seats at the entry level for children belonging to ‘disadvantaged groups' and ‘weaker sections'. The Central Act originally defined a ‘child belonging to a disadvantaged group' as one belonging to...

-The Indian Express     Chandigarh: To meet the long-pending demand of private schools, the UT Education Department has finally initiated the process of reimbursing the bills submitted by private schools regarding the expenditure incurred on the economic weaker section (EWS) students and disadvantaged groups admitted under the RTE Act for the past three years. To verify the bills, the department has asked the schools to submit documents containing information regarding the number of...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today filed his nomination papers for the May 30 Rajya Sabha election here but the visit was overshadowed by protests by journalists and the All Assam Students Union. The scribes protested against denial of access to cover the proceedings of the Prime Minister's visit in the Assembly while the AASU said Singh had "failed" Assam despite representing the state since 1991. Such was the intensity of...

-The Times of India GANDHINAGAR: Nitin Patel, state health and family welfare minister said that the state goverment has decided to take a Rs 5 lakh bond from students at government-funded colleges. This is as security to ensure they serve three years in rural areas. Those who do not serve in rural areas after their studies will have to forfeit the amount. Earlier the amount was only Rs 1.5 lakh, so...