-Scroll.in With smart classrooms, English lessons and more, a government campaign is restoring parents’ confidence in public schools. For the first time in 25 years, public schools in Kerala registered a year-on-year increase in student enrolment this year. It is a significant ahievement given that 5,715 schools were functioning without adequate student strength till 2016. Data released by the education department last week showed that a little over 1.8 lakh students joined...

-The Indian Express Poor quality government schools make higher education out of reach for non-elite . That’s the real problem, not public-funded universities. In his article, ‘Let the elite pay’ (IE, June 23), Surjit Bhalla argues for the continuation of the highly discriminatory school and higher education systems that already provide education to most on the basis of ability to pay. He acknowledges that “children of the poorest of the poor”do not...

  The outcome of a social audit (conducted in April this year) related to the pilot cash transfer programme in the public distribution system (PDS) in Nagri block (Ranchi district) has confirmed that most beneficiaries want back the normal ration system that existed previously. Yet the Jharkhand state government continues with the DBT-based PDS in Nagri block, instead of returning back to the older system, says a press release by the...

-Hindustan Times Citizens are finding innovative ways to protest and are often doing so without the help of political parties, who often arrive ‘late to the party’. Though the recent violence in Shillong began over a minor scuffle and spread through a fabricated story on WhatsApp, it took almost a week to de-escalate tensions between members of the Sikh community, long-time settlers in the Punjabi Lane area of the city, and Khasis,...

-Newsclick.in Electoral bonds are neither 'transparent' nor 'anonymous'. In the latest revelation, file notings of the Election Commission of India (ECI) have showed that it had decided against uploading a letter – which talked about its reservations regarding the Finance Act, 2017 and introduction of the electoral bonds – on their website. The notings have been disclosed through a response to an application under the Right to Information Act (RTI) filed by...