Following the “Gunotsav–A Quality Initiative” exercise undertaken by the Government of Assam in 2017 and 2018 to assess the quality of its government schools in the state, the views of the external examiners involved in the assessment of various schools are presented. While quality cannot be quantified, reflections of examiners from exercises such as Gunotsav help in situating the education offered by government schools in the particular socio-economic contexts of Assam, apart from underscoring the range of challenges faced by such schools.