-The Hindu Hundreds of government schools, especially in tribal-dominated districts, have been shut down over the past year. Elizabeth Kuruvilla reports on the closures, the mushrooming of private schools, and the battles waged by tribal villages to keep state-funded local schools open It’s a little past four in the afternoon, the time when schools ring their closing bells in the Hatsesikhal cluster of Odisha’s tribal-dominated Rayagada district. Just before Sekhal Primary School...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre is examining Finland's school education model, focused on each child learning at her own pace, to see how much of it India can emulate. The Prime Minister's Office sent a note to the human resource development ministry this month asking it to study Finland's system, highlighting the 100 per cent government funding, flexible curriculum and teaching methods, and the high salary of and rigorous training for...

-The Indian Express Study indicates that gender disparities and lack of skills to match aspirations could upset India’s demographic dividend The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), released on Tuesday, is significant for several reasons. In looking at the age group of 14-18, the survey — to begin with — offers insights into the performance of the Right to Education Act, eight years after it made elementary education a fundamental right....

-The Indian Express The 2017 ASER report focuses on 14 to 18-year-olds, interviewing over 30,000 children across 28 rural districts. Uma Vishnu explains some of its findings. 86% of youth in the 14-18 age group are still within the formal education system It has been eight years since the Right to Education (RTE) Act came into force in 2010, making elementary education a fundamental right for those in the 6-14 age group. Therefore,...

-The Indian Express The survey also reveals that almost 40 per cent youth have no role model for the occupation they aspire to pursue. Only a few of them wish to be part of the same profession as their parents. New Delhi: Medicine remains a preferred profession for those in the 14-18 age bracket with 18.1 per cent wanting to be either a doctor or a nurse. It seems the craze for...