Can a poorer individual who has a particular talent realistically hope to move up in life because they have this particular talent? This proposition is put to the test by interviewing more than 800 young individuals in rural and urban Bihar and Delhi. Findings show that these individuals have had virtually no opportunity to be tested for any hidden talent, be it a talent for athletics, for singing, chess, art or mathematics. Not one of these young people has ever competed at the national, state, or district level. The poverty of their circumstances is made worse by this poverty of opportunity. Millions lose out on alternative careers. Future champions remain unidentified and unrewarded. Something better is necessary to make equality of opportunity less of a slogan and more of a reality.
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.
