-The Telegraph 'The existing system of the HRD minister chairing the panel for selecting IIT directors was a bad practice' New Delhi: A panel of educationists set up by the University Grants Commission has found flaws with the existing system of selecting academic heads of institutes of higher learning and called for a review, implying that politicians should not be part of the process. The recommendations came in a report the four-member committee,...

-TheWire.in Despite Indian state’s commitment of 6% GDP on education, the Finance Minister completely ignored right to education for children and strengthening implementation of RTE Act which makes education a fundamental right in her budget speech. The Right to Education (RTE) Forum, which is a collective of different stakeholders in education, condemns this neglect of a legal entitlement, which is unconstitutional and demand for overall increase in the budget to ensure...

-Down to Earth The midday meal scheme for schoolchildren is increasingly getting politicised, as the upper class elite wants to impose its own religious/food beliefs on malnourished children Most countries in the world now have some programme that provides midday meals to schoolchildren. School meals have been widely hailed for their multiple benefits — they increase enrolment and attendance, particularly of children from vulnerable groups; contribute to reduce “classroom hunger” and improve...

-ThePrint.in India needs a National Employment Strategy with ministries made to submit to PMO annual action plans on how they will realise the goals. India’s labour market is ailing, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first term bore the brunt of the debate on the nation’s employment crisis. In the last five years, all efforts to generate a debate on how best to address the crisis have ended up in controversy — be...

-The Indian Express The state has failed to create capacities for a timely, reliable, decentralised data regime. The credibility of India’s data systems is under serious threat with the recent controversy over the employment data of the National Sample Survey. While the Census of India and the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) have a good reputation, when it comes to data related to the social sector — health, education, nutrition —...