-The Times of India While the HRD ministry cries foul over budget cuts an independent report on education points out that despite significant rise in public spending, parents continue to opt for private schools with government educational institutions failing to offer quality education. Central contribution to elementary education increased by 90% from Rs 203 billion in 2007-08 to Rs 383 billion in 2012-13, while secondary school allocation rose by 271% to Rs...

-The Hindu The Ministry of Human Resource Development recently informed Parliament, that 12 States in the country could not meet the demand for professionally qualified teachers. Moreover, there are more than 8.7 lakh teachers in the country who do not have the necessary training to perform their role. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the independent annual study by theASER Centre into schooling outcomes in rural India has found a...

-Live Mint The food security Bill could be taken up by Parliament in the first part of the budget session, which is set to start next month The politically sensitive food security Bill could be taken up by Parliament in the first part of the budget session, set to start next month, after the food ministry took a remarkably brief one week to consider and accept almost all the recommendations on the...

-The Hindu A fifth of all primary schools had no drinking water facility in the period surveyed There was an increase of 26.77 per cent in the total number of schools in the country between 2002 and 2009, according to a national survey. The maximum growth rate was witnessed in upper primary schools (49.15 per cent) followed by higher secondary schools (46.80 per cent), secondary by 28.95 and primary by 16.68 per...

-Pratirodh.com If Year 2012 earned the sobriquet of “Year of Scams’ due to serial expose of “super social cop” Arvind Kejeriwal, and the year-end tragic death of girl in Delhi gang rape case reminded us about the most ugly manifestation of ‘Republic of Patriarchy’ in India, Year 2013 promises to be a game changer for the fortunes of welfare state in India as well as political fortunes of UPA-2.   If Narendra Modi,...