-The Tribune Chandigarh: Keeping in view the palate of students, the UT Education Department has decided not to source mid-day meals from the Akshaya Patra Foundation of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Chandigarh Tribune had earlier reported that students of government schools in the city will get mid-day meals from the Akshaya Patra Foundation of ISKCON from the new academic session, starting in April. However, the Education Department has now taken...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Economic Survey has recommended that biometric tracking of teachers' attendance be introduced in government primary schools and the data monitored by parents and local communities. The Survey has cited the low-learning outcome of children in government schools and linked it to teacher absenteeism and shortage of professionally qualified teachers. According to the UNESCO- EFA (Education For All) Monitoring Report for 2014, teacher absenteeism in India varies between 15...

-Down to Earth Almost 40 per cent of India's population is minor but the budget allocated to them is a meagre four per cent of the Union budget It was a mid-winter morning when we first met her at the anganwadi centre of Mai, a small village by the bank of the River Ganga in Bihar’s Munger district. The breakfast session at the anganwadi centre was just over, though some of the...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's public spending on health is about five times lower than the world average, the Economic Survey released today has said, adding the country lacks good models of health care for replication nationwide. The survey, in a section on social sector expenditure trends, has pointed out that the government's annual expenditure on health was 1.2 per cent of the gross domestic product in 2013-14, 1.1 per cent in...

-Hindustan Times Ranchi: While only 1.9% government schools in rural Jharkhand do not have toilets, students of 35.3% government schools in these areas are debarred from using toilets, which are despite having the facility in their campus, the latest Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) has said, highlighting the lackadaisical approach of the government in maintaining the infrastructure they invest in. In 2016, the state government claimed that almost all 40,000 odd...