IndiaEducationDiary.in   With a number of States facing constraints in implementing the historic Right to Education (RTE) Act, various stakeholders, including academics, policy makers and education experts, will share a podium here on December 21 to deliberate on innovative policy ideas aimed at universalizing quality education for all children. The experts, coming together at a national conference, will also discuss in detail the critical issues plaguing the Indian education sector, especially for children...

Notification of rules is a step forward, but a lot more needs to be done A bunch of children selling toys at a traffic signal, small boys cleaning tables at restaurants or washing glasses at tea shops or little girls engaged as baby sitters – the effective implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, will possibly make such instances a thing of the past. However, for...

The anti-corruption movement has enabled the Indian middle class to feel smug about itself. Its members have gone through a vast range of emotions during the last two decades, from self-hatred to self-righteousness. Liberalisation of the economy has created for this class an excitement of many kinds. It has meant the freedom to pursue the quest for wealth without guilt and, at the same time, it has meant feeling set...

On November 11, 2011, a big campaign was launched to make citizens of India aware of the Right to Education Act. The campaign has the potential to engage citizens in demanding their rights. Hopefully, the effort will also push the government at different levels to prepare to provide the “rights” as envisaged by the law.   At the core of the law is a “guarantee” — a guarantee for quality, free and...

Come November 11, the students at India’s 13 lakh government schools will receive a message from the Prime Minister. “Education gave me a new life,” it will say. “Education is the magic wand that can help us meet any challenge.” The written piece will be read out in the assembly at each school on that day, observed as National Education Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of India’s first education minister, Maulana...