Inspirational story

What an inspiring cover story (‘Ingenious tribal children development model’ EW April)! It defies belief that Dr. Achyuta Samanta has been able to establish the world’s largest residential free school for neglected tribal children in the backward state of Odisha.   I was especially struck by your observation that none of the children in KISS is tall because of early childhood malnutrition. Yet a KISS team won the Under-13 world rugby championship last year! This shows what poor Indians are capable of given opportunity. What a school and what an extraordinary visionary! Rajneesh R. on e-mail   Excellent initiative   Thank you for your inspiring and heart touching cover story on Dr. Achyuta Samanta and his efforts to build the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), a one-of-its-kind education ecosystem reportedly in the entire world (EW April). Has anyone in India before Dr. Samanta ever thought that even while in school, children from poor tribal regions can earn and become self-reliant? But this seemingly impossible task is a reality in KISS. Government and big corporates should come forward to support this excellent initiative.   I was also surprised to read about KISS tribal children winning international championships. It shows that they are talented, hard working and dedicated. With a little support in terms of guidance and infrastructure, they can do wonders.  Rajesh Mankar New Delhi   Dangerous indifference   Your special report ‘Union Budget 2012-13: Middle class India’s public education blindspot’ (EW April) has hit the nail on the head by exposing middle class apathy towards public education. Summiya Yasmeen has made the connection between inadequate provision for public education in the Union budget and middle class indifference. In so-called socialist India, the middle class has created an entire parallel private school education system for their children and hence is unconcerned about the fate of India’s 1.25 million government schools.   Your special report feature is a timely reminder to the educated middle class about the dangerous consequences of ignoring the steadily deteriorating quality of education dispensed in government schools. Public education cannot be a low-priority issue for the middle class or the Union government, because the Indian economy is experiencing a severe shortage of educated and skilled personnel. In its own interest the middle class — which funds government schools — must demand strict accountability and good learning outcomes. Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. Dhananjay Kumar Chennai   Balanced learning call   I read with interest the Sports Education column titled ‘Building communities through sports’ authored by Dr. George Selleck (EW April). I fully agree with Dr. Selleck that sports participation is essential for building students’ character, enhancing academic performance, teaching life skills, improving family life and developing healthy and happy communities. All schools must revise their curriculums and draw up time-tables which allow students to play sports and games, particularly swimming and yoga which must be made compulsory.   Together with school principals, parents must create balanced programmes in which academics and sports are both given time. Marks should be…