The National Advisory Council has asked the Centre to formulate a national policy to stem the declining sex ratio at birth that it believed was “located at the complex interface of the status of women in Indian society, patriarchal social mores and prejudice, spread and misuse of medical technology and the changing aspirations of urban and rural society”. The council’s draft recommendations — prepared by members Farah Naqvi and A.K. Shiva...

-The Deccan Chronicle Unrecognised Schools across the state have to seek “recognition” in order to admit 25 per cent poor students under the RTE quota. The government will reimburse the amount for the RTE quota only in recognised Schools. In Hyderabad alone, the department of secondary education has declared over 300 private Schools as “unrecognised” two mon-ths ago, while as per estimates there are nearly 10,000 unrecognised Schools across the state....

“It is a violation of the child's right to be included in education system” Some non-governmental organisations have opposed the recent amendment to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, which makes home-based education a right for children with multiple and severe disabilities. The clause says: “Provided that a child with ‘multiple disabilities' referred to in Clause (h) and a child with ‘severe disability' referred to in Clause...

-DNA The formation of School Management Committee (SMC) in the primary Schools under the Right to Education Act (RTE) is a good idea but lack of any guidance for selection of the members of the committee has raised curiosity among educationists. Such committees are to be formed in 34,000 Schools. Educationists working in the field of RTE believe that school authorities include poorly educated parents in the SMC that might not serve...

-The Deccan Chronicle Army units are currently undergoing jungle warfare training in naxal-affected Chhattisgarh, even as the Union government’s policy of not deploying the Army for anti-naxal operations anywhere in the country still remains in place. The jungle warfare training is currently on at the Narainpur Manoeuvre Range in South Chhattisgarh. In recent years, the Army has been boosting its presence in Chhattisgarh through plans — approved earlier by the Union...