-The Times of India Neetu Meena, 16, in a pale blue uniform, wants to become a nurse. She is the first girl in her family to get this far at school. Schooling is not only free, she gets a scholarship and a bike to come in to the senior secondary government school in Jhar village, Bassi, near Jaipur. At the school, a blackboard lists about twenty schemes, from special scholarships for girls,...

-The Hindu Right to Education Task Force completes one year Bangalore: Turning parents into Right to Education (RTE) Act activists is one achievement that Bangalore-based RTE Task Force is proud of. A stellar example is Kumar, a cab driver from Bangalore. He was among the parent-activists who attended an event organised here on Sunday to mark the completion of the one year of the RTE Task Force's functioning. Mr. Kumar, who has procured...

-Tehelka With 65 percent of the population below the age of 35, India boasts of an unparalleled generational dividend, but are we turning this potential into a disaster? Avalok Langer spots a ticking time bomb Nutrition & Health* 40% of children in India are malnourished 43% of children in the age group of 12-23 months receive full immunisation 48%+ of children are underweight 50%+ of all deaths under age 5 are related to malnutrition 45% of children...

The human resource development ministry has asked all states to assess how many additional teachers are required at the secondary level under a new teacher-student ratio worked out for Classes IX and X. The states have also been told to start a mapping exercise to find out the requirement for new secondary schools in every district. Sources said the 1:32 teacher-student formula and the push for new schools were aimed at addressing...

The Right to Education Act, which lacks a transformational vision, is geared to preparing foot soldiers for the global market. THE most encouraging and delightful news regarding school education in India since the pro-market reforms began in 1991 came from Erode district in Tamil Nadu recently. To be sure, it is neither about the World Bank-sponsored District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) of the 1990s nor about the internationally funded and...