-Outlook As subsidies for the poor continue to be under attack, a ground-up report from 10-states shows how well welfare schemes have worked over the last 10 years. Ahead of Elections 2014, rights-based welfare schemes are under attack. To those who argue ‘Dolenomics' doesn't work, a survey of five schemes in 10 states shows that the Rs 1,68,478 crore annually the nation spends is making a real and tangible difference on...

-The Hindu The latest ASER report finds once more that our government schools don't necessarily produce students who can read. That's why the work of volunteers becomes vital. Satyavathi studies in Class V in a government school in Hoskote, Karnataka. She was reading an entire page of text, rocking on her feet as she read. At the end, she stopped and looked at me, and when I smiled, she let out a...

-Down to Earth More than a fourth of rural students opt for private schools for better education, says Annual State of Education Report by non-profit Pratham The Union government may have made right to education a fundamental right by bringing into force the Right To Education (RTE) Act of 2009, but government schools are lagging far behind in providing quality education, according to the latest report released by Delhi-based non-profit, Pratham. At...

-Outlook New Delhi: Investing in education of girls, especially the most marginalised, is required to make progress on most social indicators in India, according to UNICEF. To mark the second International Day of the Girl Child, UNICEF today organised a meeting with top Urdu editors in the capital. Speaking at the event, Urmila Sarkar, Chief of Education UNICEF, said, "Innovation in girls education will be instrumental to female empowerment and breaking the cycle...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, who has been critical of Narendra Modi's model of governance, has said there are lessons to be learnt even from Gujarat which had good business performance and infrastructure though it lagged in health, literary and minority rights. Sen, at the same time, pointed that there are bigger things to learn from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and even Himachal Pradesh, a state where he said "transformation...