“How well and quickly we can reform our teacher education, implement high quality four-year integrated teacher education programmes and create institutions of excellence in teacher education will determine the fate of 370 million children who will in a few years join India’s adult population.”
S. Giridhar, chief operating officer, Azim Premji University (Deccan Herald, November 5)
“Indian children are bubbling and bursting with dreams and aspirations. But we are failing them politically, economically, socially and legally... Let’s first be honest about where and how we have failed. Since independence in 1947, we have ignored the future of children by investing very little on public health and education.”
Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel laureate writing on occasion of Children’s Day (Times of India, November 14)
“Most trends are positive, but my biggest disappointment when it comes to India is the education system. It should be far better. I don’t want to be critical, but I do want to create higher expectations about it.”
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation (Times of India, November 17)
“Caligula wanted to make his horse consul. Robert Mugabe wanted his wife, Grace to take over from him as president of Zimbabwe.”
Editorial on the coup in Zimbabwe and ouster of its dictator Robert Mugabe after a reign of 37 years (The Economist, November 18-24)
“If you act, and it is because of your actions that you lose popularity, fine.”
Emmanuel Macron, president of France (Time, November 20)
“It is a known fact that in a large majority of cases, confessions are procured by torture, under duress or by trickery.”
Jawahar Raja, Delhi-based lawyer, on the confession of Ashok Kumar, school bus conductor, in the Ryan International School, Gurgaon murder case (India Today, November 27)