The human resource development ministry has asked all states to assess how many additional teachers are required at the secondary level under a new teacher-student ratio worked out for Classes IX and X. The states have also been told to start a mapping exercise to find out the requirement for new secondary schools in every district. Sources said the 1:32 teacher-student formula and the push for new schools were aimed at addressing...

-The Times of India   Forseeing a bleak future for the country's children, an independent report said poverty was leading to malnutrition, stunted growth and high school dropout rates.  The 'Impact of Growth on Childhood Poverty in Andhra Pradesh' was conducted by NGO-Young Lives from 2002 and has collected data on 2,011 children aged between six to 18 months and 1,008 children aged between seven-and-half to eight-and-half years. Findings from its third round...

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance finds the UID project to be “conceptualised with no clarity” and “directionless”. THE Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has dealt a body blow to the Unique Identification (UID) project. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was set up under the Planning Commission by an executive order on January 28, 2009. The scheme involves the collection of demographic and biometric information to issue ID numbers to...

A study questions the efficacy of conditional cash transfer schemes in promoting the girl child. IN an attempt to address some of the serious imbalances in society, specifically the gender imbalance, the Central and State governments have embarked on several short-term conditional cash transfer (CCT) schemes in the past decade and a half. While the Central government is convinced about the efficacy of the schemes aimed at arresting the distorted sex...

-IANS   Breaking the stereotypes associated with madrassas, a 50-year-old Islamic seminary here teaches subjects like personality development and home science, runs an elaborate teacher training programme, has a higher girl enrolment ratio and has students who are no less active on social networking websites than their counterparts in the metros. Welcome to Jamiatul Falah, a madrassa in Bilariyaganj town of Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh's district that has kept pace with modern education. The...