A penny well spent?

August 16, 2015
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Education
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Better learning outcomes are coming at high costs. Source: Pixabay

India spends almost 2.5 per cent of its GDP on elementary education. This includes 0.71 per cent of private expenditure. Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the flagship government programme on elementary education, got 67 per cent of the total elementary education budget in 2015-16 at Rs 22,000 crore. High expenditure on elementary education per student leads to better learning outcomes but this expenditure is highly inefficient and needs accountability. On the other hand, private expenditure on educaion is rusing even in rural areas where many children are taking private tuitions.


A school to her thoughts

May 14, 2015
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Education
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
The share of girl student declines with each level of education.

Unqualified teachers, low salaries, no free education for poor students and lack of infrastructure mar the implementation of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act in India. Punjab is no different in this respect. A study points out deficiencies in the current system and little effort being made to rectify them. Though private schools of the state have good infrastructure, these lack commitment to poor students and teachers, who remain under-serviced and underpaid respectively


Another brick in the wall?

February 13, 2012
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Education
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By: 
Arvind Rana
RTE Act envisages better infrastructure in schools. Source: Ravleen Kaur

“I beg to place the following resolution before the council for its consideration.…the state should accept in this country the same responsibility in regard to mass education that the government of most civilized countries are already discharging and that a well considered scheme should be drawn up and adhered to till it is carried out..


Bumpy road to school

November 30, 2013
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Education
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Students heading towards school at a village in Rajasthan. Source: GOI Monitor

Working as a domestic help, Sunita spends all her day mopping floors and washing utensils at people's houses in Dwarka subcity of Delhi. Meanwhile, her 10-year-old daughter takes care of the home and the two younger siblings, boys aged 5 and 2. Sunita does not feel like sending the children to school as she says nobody in her neighbourhood does so. The girl will soon start working as domestic help while the boys will be


Covid-19: Digital learning skips villages

July 1, 2020
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Education
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By: 
Soujanya Rangawar
Image: Jasmine Trails/Pixabay

Ever since the nationwide lockdown to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic began on March 25, many educational institutions have resumed learning for their students through online medium and software applications such as WhatsApp and Zoom. Although online schooling is an easy way out, a vast segment of India’s population is unable to access these means. According to a 2018 World Bank survey, 69.57 percent of India’s population lives in rural areas and about 27 percent of this population has access to the internet. In urban areas, the reach is 51 percent.


History, Ideology and Internet

November 7, 2015
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Education
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By: 
GOI Monitor Desk
Internet can be a good medium to deal with ideological bias in history.

Author Chetan Bhagat stirred a debate by questioning the worth of historians' work. But much before his utterances, historians in India have been accused of pandering to leftist ideology at the cost of facts. We talk to Prof Rajiv Lochan of History department, Panjab University, on how politics affects history, what role Internet is playing in this debate and how the discipline can be rescued from bias through scientific collection and presentation of evidence.


Indian men are more educated than their grandfathers but hold same occupations

April 17, 2021
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Education - Governance
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By: 
Shalinee Mishra

Educational levels have increased in India over three generations but people are still holding same occupations. This multigenerational mobility differs in social groups. For instance, for Muslims mobility in education and occupation has decreased in comparison to that of Hindus while SC/ST and OBCs have become more mobile over generations in education (compared to General Castes), but not as much in occupational mobility, putting a question mark over how well affirmative policies like reservations are working


Iraivi: Feminism for all 

June 18, 2016
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Education
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By: 
P V Durga
Iraivi tells us that empowerment is not an exchange between the genders, but something that must come from within each woman.

Apart from brilliance in all the technical departments, Iraivi’s strength lies in the strong characterisation, and situations you can relate to. Except for a couple of songs that seem unnecessary, Iraivi succeeds in telling the stories. Karthik Subbaraj doesn’t resort to any major physical or mental transformation to show the grit of his leading ladies. Instead, their supremacy lies in their ability to “handle” situations they are thrown into. What is also praiseworthy here is the responsible portrayal of the idea of “empowerment”. 


Labouring to learning: Will the RTE Act deliver?

November 10, 2011
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Education
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By: 
Manu Moudgil

Sonu does not look a day older than 12 years but on being asked, he instantly putters out his age as 16. You realise that he has been tutored to add the false years. Sonu is happy working at the dhaba which serves tea and food to nearby corporate offices at Jhandewala in New Delhi. The dhaba owner provides free food while most of the money he makes is sent back to his parents in Uttar Pradesh. The boy does not even feel like he is missing out on anything. “I am able to earn and contribute to the household.


Lockdown Blues: Children with special needs struggle with shrinking space

June 3, 2020
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Education - Health
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By: 
Puja Uchil
Children with special needs play at a school for autism in Yemen. Photo by Dana Smillie World Bank

Children on autism spectrum face a lot of distress due to sudden change in routines. Abrupt closure of schools, playgrounds and other recreational outlets is resulting in more frequent meltdowns. Children unable to go outdoors have a lot of pent up energy which leads to aggression. Their schedules have been altered and they are also unable to visit the intervention centres. It is a tough situation for both the child and the caregiver. Children from poorer families are the most affected by closing in of the space


Mother language 'Sanskrit' needs urgent protection

November 8, 2012
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Education
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By: 
Hemant Goswami
An Indian postage stamp honouring Panini, the great Sanskrit grammarian whose analysis of noun compounds still forms the basis of modern linguistic theories of compounding. Source: Wikimedia Commons

"SANSKRIT," THE mother of all Indo-Aryan languages, which has also helped in development and enrichment of almost all languages across the globe is fighting a tough battle in its own country of origin, India. The language, acknowledged and documented to be the most structured and scientific language in the entire world, and which was the lingua-franca. has now been reduced to a vanishing minority with just about 14,000 speakers left, across a country of over one billion.

Why this plight of Sanskrit?


NEP may make higher education inaccessible to many

November 15, 2020
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Education
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By: 
Satyaki Baidya
Govt Medical College, Haldwani. Image by Dr Deanndamon

Making higher education accessible to all has been a challenge for India due to high drop out rates at school level, lack of infrastructure and funds. The New Education Policy (NEP) proposes an overhaul of the higher education set up. It promises lot of radical changes but experts worry that this may lead to further rise in privatisation, loss of institutional autonomy and higher drop out rates at school level


Responsibility lies on us students to question every policy of the current system

May 16, 2018
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Education
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By: 
Debarati Choudhury
Students protesting at TISS, Hyderabad campus.

This withdrawal of scholarships stems from a general uneasiness, majorly towards Social Science institutions like JNU, TISS, and other higher learning universities and is part of a bigger scheme of plans as implemented by the neo-liberal practitioners in the country. The approach of privatising education and making it a profit-oriented venture is making the whole process of higher education extremely inaccessible to the common public, especially the marginalised.


The most civll uncivil woman

January 12, 2018
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Education
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By: 
Komal Yadav
Chughtai had a feminist approach but was not essentially a feminist writer. Source: Wikimedia Commons

There existed once an outspoken woman who went an extra mile to challenge the “second sex” conception of women with breathtaking honesty. She turned out to be a rebellious and provocative writer with her voluminous writings tracing a successful path towards a very ‘uncommon’ approach. She bravely challenged the “other” image or position of women in the society.