Disha Nawani

All textbooks, as a matter of course, should be revised regularly. However, at no point should they become a site for an ideological battle between political parties, and the impact on the students using them should be the main focus.

Despite a few glaring shortcomings, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 proved to be a landmark. It provided a justiciable legal framework that entitled all children (6–14 years) to education and established basic parameters for quality education. Several provisions are, however, still not in place, which brings the efficacy of its features and implementation into question. This article considers the progress and shortcomings of the implementation of the act.

The proposed National Policy on Education 2016 has important implications with respect to school education in India. While acknowledging some of its positive features, attention must be focused on objectives of education as espoused in the policy: key amendments suggested in the Right to Education Act, 2009; position and importance of Early Childhood Care and Education and reforms proposed in the curriculum and assessment practices in schools.

This paper examines the assumptions underlying educational incentive schemes with the help of data collected on the status and implementation of three such schemes for minority communities in Maharashtra. Though the lacunae in the design and implementation of these schemes are highlighted, the objective is not to condemn them. All parents interviewed gave utmost importance to a good learning environment. An incentive only offers temporary and partial relief. Good quality education for all children is the biggest incentive and educational incentives should not be assumed to be a substitute for poor learning environment in schools.

School textbooks play a signifi cant part in perpetuating stereotypes and prejudices about tribals, minority communities and other marginalised groups. The north-east states of the country and their people and cultures are very often not mentioned at all. However, the new NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) social science textbooks, besides being pedagogically superior, attempt to grapple with the real lives of people and sensitise and help children to critically engage with issues of diversity, inequality and discrimination.