When the Right to Education Act was enforced in April 2010, it looked like millions of schoolchildren could dare to dream. The Act guarantees access to schools, a target that has been met, with the enrolment rate at 90% among children in first grade. The Act demands schools to meet certain requirements, including infrastructure (building, libra-ry, kitchen, toilets), teacher-student ratio, teaching hours etc. However, far from helping improve the situation,...
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Soon, ban on blood tests to detect TB by Kounteya Sinha
India will soon ban blood tests to detect tuberculosis (TB) that are widely available across the country. An expert group set up by the Drug Controller General of India has found that blood tests are mostly inaccurate for TB detection. It has recommended to the Union health ministry to immediately ban them. A ministry official said "The DCGI had set up an eight-member committee to look at whether a proposal by the...
More »Reading In Darkness by Neelabh Mishra
How our dismal education scene is linked to our intolerance What’s common to the Salman Rushdie episode, India’s dismal educational scenario—as underlined by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Pratham’s 7th Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER)—and its appalling ranking on the Global Hunger Index (GHI)? It’s clear even on the surface: a deep disconnect between India’s claims on democratic superpower status and its grim reality. If you probe...
More »Higher spending on education is not improving dismal outcomes
-The Economic Times India came 72nd of 73 nations in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) competition, despite fielding students from its best states, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The dismal Quality of Indian education is confirmed by the latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). Throwing money (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) and legislation (Right to Education Act) at education has produced no Quality gains at all. Abhiyan spending is up from...
More »After RTI and RTE, now right to drinking water by Chetan Chauhan
After right to education and information, citizens will soon get right to clean drinking water and sanitation. In a new draft National Water Policy, the water resources ministry has suggested that the access to safe drinking water and sanitation be regarded as a right. Around one-third of the Indians don't have access to clean drinking water and more than half of the country's population to clean sanitation. Only 42.2% people in Jharkhand and...
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