It was a small gathering, an even dozen of us. We met to listen to a man who helps administer a network of schools run by the Department of Atomic Energy. They cater to children of DAE employees, though they are beginning to take in other children too. There are 30 such schools around the country, educating about 30,000 kids all told. The man told us proudly that they make no distinction between the kids.
Nobody makes a fuss.
So far, so good. However, the good ended there. For the rest of his talk was one long lament about the deteriorating state of the school education system, not excluding the DAE collection. I knew much of what he was saying from the news, or from reading various books. I'm sure you do, too, which is why I won't bombard you in this column with lots of figures about the state of education in India.