-The Times of India While the HRD ministry cries foul over budget cuts an independent report on education points out that despite significant rise in public spending, parents continue to opt for private schools with government educational institutions failing to offer quality education. Central contribution to elementary education increased by 90% from Rs 203 billion in 2007-08 to Rs 383 billion in 2012-13, while secondary school allocation rose by 271% to Rs...

-IANS Minister of State for human resource development Shashi Tharoor Friday said the right to education (RTE) does not apply to nursery admissions. "The RTE doesn't apply to nursery admissions as the law specifies eight years of compulsory Schooling from the age of six to 14. Nursery children are younger than that," Tharoor said at a programme organised by television channel Headlines Today. "As a social mechanism, a school's admission policy...

-The Hindu The Ministry of Human Resource Development recently informed Parliament, that 12 States in the country could not meet the demand for professionally qualified teachers. Moreover, there are more than 8.7 lakh teachers in the country who do not have the necessary training to perform their role. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the independent annual study by theASER Centre into Schooling outcomes in rural India has found a...

-Live Mint The food security Bill could be taken up by Parliament in the first part of the budget session, which is set to start next month The politically sensitive food security Bill could be taken up by Parliament in the first part of the budget session, set to start next month, after the food ministry took a remarkably brief one week to consider and accept almost all the recommendations on the...

-The Hindu One of the most prominent features of India’s middle-class-driven public culture has been an obsession about our GDP growth rate, and a facile equation of that number with a sense of national achievement or impending arrival into affluence. In media headlines, political speeches, and everyday conversations, the GDP growth rate number — whether it is five per cent or eight per cent or whatever — has become a staple...