-The Hindu When knowledge gained is not acknowledged, and the textbook is considered the sole source of answers, education becomes a foreign language. A critique of rote learning is an educational cliché. Much has been written about it and almost every educator will passionately argue against it. However, the textbook still continues to be the holy grail of learning. You can participate in activities, test yourself, memorise information and learn. But don’t...

-Hindustan Times Soon, colleges across Bengal will have separate toilets for transgender students. Kolkata: As a step towards addressing the concerns of the transgender community and helping them earn social acceptance, the coordination committee for West Bengal Transgender Development Board, formed by the Mamata government, had recommended setting up separate toilets or modifying existing ones for these students at all the state-run and the state-aided colleges. Following the recommendation, the state higher...

-CaravanMagazine.in In January 2016, the non-governmental organisation, Pratham Education Foundation and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), which is headquartered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, launched a scale-up program in Anantapur, a district in Andhra Pradesh that has the lowest learning levels in the state. The test, which was organised in conjunction with the state government, was conducted between January and April. It aimed to assess the efficacy...

-The Indian Express A new initiative attempts to economically empower villagers living near Kanha National Park, and protect its green cover and wildlife. The Kanha–Pench forest corridor is rich in biodiversity and home to a large concentration of tigers, leopards, gaurs, barasingha, and cheetal. But with the population of the villages increasing and land holdings shrinking, conservation efforts were paramount. If the needs of the villagers for improved livelihoods are not...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Schoolchildren from national boards have outperformed those from the state boards in the first-ever standardised countrywide test of Class X pupils, carried out as part of a sample survey by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Students from the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, which conducts the ICSE exam, and the Central Board of Secondary Education have come out tops while Madhya Pradesh,...