-Hindustan Times It was a showpiece legislation when it was launched by the UPA government in 2009. The Right to Education, many hoped, would ensure a decent level of primary education to those who cannot afford expensive private education. The scheme started with much fanfare, but in a few years, reports started coming out that while enrolment in schools has shot up (almost 99% now), the quality of education has not...

-The Times of India BENGALURU: A Union government-backed survey has revealed a disturbing trend: in the six years since the Right to Education Act, around 60 lakh children between ages six and 13 years remain unschooled in the country. While children from Scheduled Castes and Tribes form 49% (29.73 lakh) of the deprived kids, those from Other Backward Classes constitute 36%, which shows RTE has brought little change in the lives of...

-Economic and Political Weekly A survey to identify who the poor are and how many are actually poor is necessary if programmes and benefits targeted at the needy are to reach them. The Socio Economic Caste Census, of which partial results have been published, was intended to do this. Yet, even a cursory look at the figures indicates that they call for a willing suspension of disbelief. N C Saxena (naresh.saxena@gmail.com) was...

-The Times of India Two sturdy, grey Metro pillars near the Yamuna Bank station are covered with graffiti of a different kind. The walls under the bridge have alphabets scribbled over them and the place echoes with the murmur of children reciting poems as if trying to compete with the rattling of the metro. This is where Rajesh Kumar Sharma, a shop owner, spends his mornings, teaching the 3Rs and more...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Nine-year-old Priyanka Kumari wants to escape her impoverished childhood but the school she studies in is most unusual – underneath a metro bridge in east Delhi’s Shakarpur area. The pillars serve as the boundary of the school and trains roar past on the bridge above, rattling her as she solves elementary mathematical problems. “The teaching here is good, I like coming to this school. Sir gives work to do...