The 25 per cent admission quota for children from poor families in Right to Education Act (RTE) has thr­own up an avoidable headache for budget private schools in underprivileged areas. Managements of such sch­o­ols say the regulation is not required as far as they are conc­erned. Budget private schools are low-cost private schools providing education to children from slums and rural areas. “We welcome the RTE Act; I think it should have happened...

The concept of integrating children from less privileged backgrounds with others in ‘elite schools’, as per the quota for children from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) may have invited debates in the city, but the execution of the idea in some of the schools has already started showing results. There are some students, admitted under the scheme, who have not only done well for themselves but also set benchmarks for others with...

A major sticking point between the Centre and All India Muslim Personal Law Board seemed set for a resolution with Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi leaning towards keeping madrassas out of the Right to Education following a meeting with the board president,Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi, here on Sunday. Maulana Nadvi is also the rector of Nadwatul Ulema, a leading Islamic seminary. This is Congress's second major outreach to Muslims in recent...

The government's decision to set aside a 20 per cent quota for SC/ST vendors in its purchases, if accepted by every sector on a wider scale, has the potential to makegrowth pro-poor and inclusive. The Central government has finally announced a policy reserving 20 per cent of its purchases for micro and small enterprises run by entrepreneurs belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. The new procurement policy will...

Reservation for Muslims in jobs and education — feverishly anticipated over the past two years and expected to be announced ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections — might turn out to be a headache the Congress unthinkingly bought itself. As Muslim groups have been arguing, the route under the United Progressive Alliance government's consideration — a 6 per cent Muslim sub-quota within the 27 per cent OBC quota — would...