Thank you for publishing the inaugural EW India Budget Private School Rankings 2020 (EW February). I believe rankings are one of the most effective ways to encourage healthy competition in any sector as well as help consumers to make informed decisions. Where there is competition, there is excellence. In the education sector, EducationWorld is doing a great job of encouraging competition and therefore excellence across all categories of schools — from elite to budget — through field-based ranking surveys. Your latest BPS rankings will enable parents of low and middle-income households to make informed choices for their children’s education and also raise the quality of education provided in affordable schools. Nandita Pandit Delhi Wrong focus I am a regular reader of EducationWorld and have been closely following your annual rankings of schools, preschools and higher education institutions. Congratulations for publishing the inaugural EW India Budget Private School Rankings 2020. BPS deserve appreciation and recognition. As you write in your letter from the editor, BPS are working in the public interest by providing children from low-income households an alternative to dysfunctional government schools. State education departments should cease and desist from harassing them and instead focus their attention on improving the poor quality of education provided by government schools. Poonam Baliga Mangalore Commendable effort Congratulations for successfully staging the 10th EW Early Childhood Education National Conference 2020 in Mumbai (Special Report, EW February). It is a commendable effort to bring together nationally renowned education experts and edupreneurs on one platform to discuss and debate early childhood education. The commitment of the award-winning preschools and their promoters, principals and teachers is inspirational. I was also pleased to read that the National Education Policy 2019 draft has given top priority to providing all of India’s children early childhood care and education. Sheela Sapre Pune Outrageous State terror My sincere thanks to Sudheendra Kulkarni for his insightful essay ‘Alarming State violence against universities’ (EW February). Multiple attacks on university students in the span of just one month makes one believe that the State machinery has unleashed a reign of terror on the students community. Reports and images of students being attacked by masked goons armed with rods and sticks in Jawaharlal Nehru University with police turning a blind eye are disturbing and unacceptable. I agree with the author that these attacks have outraged the nation and severely dented India’s reputation globally. It’s the government’s duty to ensure safety of its citizens, especially young students. Bhuvanesh Prasad Delhi Rising public anger I enjoyed reading your Postscript ‘Moving finger writes’ (EW February). The BJP came to power in 2014 promising economic development, jobs and corruption-free governance. Six years on, economic growth has nosedived; unemployment is the highest in four decades, and there are mass agitations across the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act. There is rising public anger against the government for not focusing sufficient attention on reviving the economy and jobs creation. The victory of AAP in Delhi is a sign that people want development,…
