-Live Mint National Advisory Council seeks an institutional audit of the implementation of the Right to Education programme In yet another signal that the ruling Congress party is getting ready for the next general election, the National Advisory Council (NAC), which sets the social agenda for the Union government, has sought an institutional audit of the implementation of the government’s marquee Right to Education (RTE) programme. NAC is headed by Congress party...

-DNA The gap between policy and practice and how practice with its detailed knowledge of implementation can enrich policy was discussed at the 60th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) held in New Delhi. The meeting, a first since the change in guard at the ministry of human resource development, was ‘enriching’ according to HRD minister Pallam Raju. Some proposed legislations that might become policies and a review of...

-The Telegraph The Right to Education Act, which makes education a fundamental right of every child, is likely to miss the March 2013 deadline for its implementation and the government is planning to amend the law to get an extension of two years. “The amendment is being planned since the compliance to RTE norms may not be possible by the 2013 deadline,” an HRD ministry official said. However, going by the present backlog,...

-The Telegraph The Planning Commission has proposed that children undergo a year’s pre-schooling at government schools before they are admitted to Class I. If the proposal is accepted, it would virtually make education a right for children between the age of five and 14, rather than six and 14 as laid down by the Right to Education Act, education experts said. Pre-schooling is now a facet only of private schools in India. Nearly...

-The Economic Times The "no-detention" and "comprehensive and continuous evaluation" provisions of the Right to Education came under criticism from some states particularly Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Assam at the 59th meeting of the Central Advisory board of Education on Wednesday.  In the two years that the Right to Education has been implemented there appears to have been a great deal of misconception about the intent of having a "no detention" policy or...