1.The entire expenditure for the implementation of the Right to Education should be borne by the central government. 2.Education of children of 0 to 6 and 14-18 has to be brought into the purview of the Act, thereby universalising both primary and secondary education
3.Required number of government/aided schools should be opened, with hostel facilities particularly [...]

TECHNIQUE
OF CAMOUFLAGE
Kapil Sibal claims that stringent regulations are being put in place in the bill against fly-by-night operators. But the contrary is true. Going by the stipulations in the bill, it is much easier to set up a foreign educational institution than to set up an affiliated college under a state university. The technique [...]

ABYSMALLY LOW
GOVT INVESTMENT
Modernisation of higher education requires huge investment. The requirement of inclusiveness further demands massive public investment. With government expenditure on education as a whole pegged at 3.5 per cent and on higher education alone at 0.4 per cent of the GDP, public expenditure on education by western standards is abysmally low in [...]

QUESTIONABLE
ASSUMPTIONS
Kapil Sibal’s optimism is based on a number of assumptions, the veracity of which is questionable. One of these assumptions is that there are universal yardsticks for assessing the quality of higher education .The other is that Indian higher education is, by and large, inferior to western higher education. It is also presumed that [...]

Recolonising Academic Spaces?
THE economic structures have been liberalised since 1991 but the educational structures are yet to be liberalised — union HRD minister Kapil Sibal is reported to have lamented, while addressing the students of St Stephan’s College in Delhi. He then proposed to do for the education sector what Dr Manmohan Singh had done [...]

Vijender Sharma
THE central government constituted a task force on September 7, 2009, with joint secretary (higher Education) as its convener, to aid and advise the central government in the establishment of a commission for higher education and research as recommended by the Yashpal committee and National Knowledge Commission. On first of February, the ministry of [...]

Unbeknown to many, the system of madrasa education in Kerala is markedly different from the traditional north Indian system. It is well-organised and fully integrated with the secular system of education, thereby enabling Muslim children to receive religious as well as secular education simultaneously. It also enables would-be ulema to gain a basic modicum of [...]

Early pregnancy, nutritional taboos and practices related to child delivery

Early pregnancy can have harmful consequences for both young mothers and their babies. According to UNICEF, no girl should become pregnant before the age of 18 because she is not yet physically ready to bear children. Babies of mothers younger than 18 [...]

THE RIGHT OF CHILDREN TO FREE AND COMPULSORY
EDUCATION BILL, 2008
Recommendation from the Right to Education Campaign Rajasthan
The aspects of the Bill that need to be considered :
1. Effective monitoring and grievance resolution system at local and district level;
2. Adequate penal provisions.
3. Regulation of un-aided schools.
4. Lack of/ unambiguous definition of ‘free’ & ‘compulsory’ [...]