Students across India are protesting against teacher shortages, poor school infrastructure, unsafe conditions and educational inequality. Dr Deepti Priya Mehrotra explores the struggles of marginalised students, the legacy of alternative education and the urgent need to rethink India’s school education system. School students today are raising basic issues, calling for sufficient teachers, good teaching, infrastructure,…
In Paikmal block of Odisha’s Bargarh district, a quiet renovation is underway. Anganwadi centres — the community childcare that anchor India’s early childhood system — are being repainted with alphabet murals, fitted with interactive number walls, and stocked with teaching-learning materials, NITI Aayog said in a July 18 update on the initiative. The upgrade sits…
Getting children into school has been the central obsession of education policy for as long as most of us can remember. And honestly, the world has pulled it off in ways that would have seemed impossible a few generations ago. Enrollment numbers have gone up, attendance is tracked, and governments have built schools in places…
India’s largest school education scheme is facing a quiet funding crisis. Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the Union government’s flagship programme covering school education from pre-primary to Class 12, is receiving higher headline allocations on paper. But the real story lies beneath the numbers. Even as Budget 2026-27 increased allocations for Samagra Shiksha, budget cuts have resulted…
In the last week of December 2025, the Andhra Pradesh government rolled out a programme called Mustabu. It was announced without much fanfare. It did not come with a long list of promises. The focus was limited to government schools and to something very basic. Hygiene support for students. According to The Times of India…
