Newsroom

National Advisory Council approves monitoring mechanism for RTE

The Times of India
Jan 29, 2013

The National Advisory Council has given in principle approval for a monitoring and grievance redress architecture from local to national level for effective implementation of Right to Education (RTE).

The recommendation submitted by a working group to the NAC had suggested HRD Ministry to take steps in this direction.

The group also suggested that the Ministry and states institutionalise mechanisms for dialogue and mediation that ensure participation of all stakeholders in resolving grievances.

Let schools be!

One India One People, January 2013

Present education policy to steer the nation towards progress: PM

The Daily Star, January 19th, 2013
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday expressed her firm confidence that the policy and measures undertaken by the present government for development of education sector would steer the nation towards progress.

“The measures taken for imparting qualitative education to students, expansion of science-based education and supporting the talents would bring qualitative changes in the society as well as take the society towards a new height in knowledge, science and technology,” she said.

Obama’s Education Policy: What Will Be the Legacy of His Second Term?

Huffington Post, January 18th, 2013
In 2002, when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was amended as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) under then-President George W. Bush, few would have predicted that in the 10 years to follow, NCLB would become a household name, both vilified and praised.

Enrolment in schools rises 14% to 23 crore

Times of India, January 22nd, 2013
In a significant leg up to the government’s literacy initiative, a national survey has revealed that almost 23 crore children are studying in 13 lakh schools across the country.

There were 228,994,454 students enrolled in different recognized schools of the country with a 13.67% growth in student’s enrolment from Class I to XII. This is an increase from 20.30 crore students enrolled in 2002. Encouragingly, there is a 19.12 % increase in girl’s enrolment.

Edu dept dismisses 206 absentee teachers: Maluka

Hindustan Times, January 20th, 2013
Punjab government has dismissed 206 teachers and employees in the education department who have been absent from their duties against the service norms.

Kids in rural India learn more from tuitions than schools: Annual status of education report

Times of India, January 20th, 2013
Reflecting the dwindling standard of education across schools in rural India, a report has claimed that students required additional help of tuitions to achieve better learning outcomes.

‘Focus on learning outcomes’

Times of India, January 21st, 2013
MM Pallam Raju, Union minister of human resource development, in an exclusive interview, talks to vatsala shrangi on the future vision and challenges for higher education in INDIA

As a new minister, what is your vision for higher education in India?

Private school enrolment in rural India is increasing

Times of India, January 21st, 2013
For a country that is undergoing huge economic , social and demographic changes, education needs a more resolute direction. Nationally, private school enrolment in rural India is increasing at about 10% every year. In the next five years, India may have half of the children attending private schools even in rural areas.

Karnataka schools misguide naive parents seeking RTE quota

The Hindu, January 16th, 2013
When Chand Pasha, a cook in a hotel in Kottur (Bellary district), tried to admit his daughter in a private school under the 25 per cent quota for underprivileged children under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, the office staff at the school told him that he has to choose between a seat in a private school and benefits under the Bhagyalakshmi scheme.

RTE deadline: Unrecognised schools to shut down, not erring govt schools?

First Post, January 20th, 2013
The president of an association of private schools in Delhi offers to tell a joke when asked why he believed the government wasn’t justified in shutting down schools that don’t meet the minimum quality standards that have been prescribed by the Right to Education Act.

What Is Learning and Where Is It Happening?

Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLVII No. 32
“Learning Levels and Gaps in Pakistan: A Comparison with Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh” (EPW, 30 June 2012) overgeneralises the fi ndings of the study on which it is based without bothering to analyse them to throw light on why children learn the way they do, or why children do not learn enough, leave alone contemplating what constitutes meaningful learning.

Private Delhi schools can now run second shift

Times of India, December 20th, 2012
Private unaided schools can now run a second shift after regular school hours. This shift, however, would have to be run as a separate entity with no common teachers or other school staff, according to a decision taken by the Delhi School Education Advisory Board on Wednesday.

Hungarian students continue protests despite some government concessions on education reforms

Washington Post, December 20th, 2012
Hungarian high school and university students went ahead Wednesday with protests against changes in the education system despite the government’s acceptance of some of their demands.

India’s education-for-all dream comes to a halt as cash-strapped government slashes RTE budget

India Today, December 17th, 2012
The government’s attempt at nursing the Indian economy back to health could temporarily hurt UPA’s initiative to make education a justiciable right.

Concerned over the country’s fiscal health, the finance ministry is set to shave Rs.2,000 crore off the allocated budget for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) run by the department of school education under the ministry of human resource development (HRD).

For the uninitiated, SSA is the primary vehicle for delivering the Right to Education (RTE) Act.