Thank you for the brilliant bumper 15th anniversary issue of EducationWorld. The cover story ‘Wasted years: An abridged history of Indian education’ is extraordinary, succinctly summing up the landmark education developments between 1999-2014.

The past 15 years were much ado about nothing. Lots of promises were made but achievements were few, if any.

The 15-year history of Indian education highlights persistent government interference which has resulted in steady deterioration of learning outcomes across the spectrum, from primary school to higher education. Whether it’s attempts to interfere with the autonomy of the IIMs and IITs, rewriting of social science textbooks to infiltrate political and sectarian ideologies, or decreeing of quotas in institutions of higher education, the Central, state and local governments have played a destructive role in the growth and development of Indian education.

I sincerely hope with a new decisive government in power, mistakes of the past won’t be repeated. But as you write, unfortunately for India’s 450 million children and youth, the auguries are not good.

Abhishek Saxena
Delhi

Stay the course!

Congratulations to you and your team on EducationWorld’s 15th anniversary. You have remained dedicated to the cause of education for 15 years despite the fact that government has failed to address the crisis in the education sector.

But I am hopeful the next 15 years will be different. Even if the government doesn’t get its act together, quality is likely to improve dramatically in the private sector. So I urge you to stay just as committed till 2030!

Ashish Dhawan
Founder-CEO, Central Square Foundation, Delhi

Equal responsibility

The ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ launched by prime minister Narendra Modi is an excellent idea (Editorial ‘Preconditions for clean India’, EW November). The campaign has got off to a good start but its success is doubtful.

The buzz in Delhi is that the government is likely to introduce fines ranging from Rs.100-500 for spitting, littering, and urinating in public places. However there aren’t enough public toilets in the city and the few that exist are filthy and lack water supply. When the government has failed to provide public sanitation facilities, how can it penalise citizens? Cleanliness is equally the responsibility of government and citizens.

Mahesh Kapasi
Delhi

Inspirational rankings

I’d like to extend my sincere appreciation to the EducationWorld team for publishing the EW India School Rankings 2014 (EW September). I acknowledge the time and effort invested to segregate each and every aspect of school education.

I would also like to thank you for inspiring us with your analyses. You have motivated us by acknowledging our school’s efforts. So much so that we are setting up two international standard tennis courts in our school this year. We plan to do much more to enable all-round development of our students.

Kodali Vijayarani
Principal, Vallurupalli Rattaiah Seethamma & Vignana Jyothi Residential School, Hyderabad

Correction please

Re EW India School Rankings 2014 (EW September), Banyan International School, Jammu has been ranked #11 in the state of Jammu & Kashmir and #9 in Jammu city while Ryan International School, Babliana is ranked #9 in J&K and #8 in Jammu. This is to bring to your attention that Banyan International had originally tied up with Ryan International, but this association has now been terminated. Hence there’s no Ryan International School in Jammu, and the #8 rank refers to Banyan International.

Shounak Lahiri
Principal, Banyan International School, Jammu

Recognition thanks

As I retire after 25 years of teaching in Pine Mount School, Shillong, I want to express my most sincere thanks to EducationWorld for ranking Pine Mount among the great education institutions of the country (EW India School Rankings 2014, September). Sited in the small town of Shillong, we are honoured that after 114 years of existence we have been recognised as the best girls’ day school in Meghalaya and a premier institution of the North-east.

I sincerely hope our national rank will rise next year. We will continue our endeavour to be worthy of this privilege year after year.

Dorothy Rose Phanbuh
Vice principal, Pine Mount School
Shillong