Tanushree Bagrodia endorses the Right to Education Bill:

There is also a requirement for private schools to reserve 25% of the class capacity at entry levels for the disadvantaged children from the neighbourhood. Now this makes complete sense as opposed to the caste based reservation that exists at the under and post graduate levels in India. The Right to Education bill seems to be aiming at creating a level playing field by providing an equal opportunity to all children and hopefully the government will supplement this in the coming years with financial aid for the meritorious but financially challenged pupils. The current “quota system” on the other hand is a blatant exploitation of the prevalent illiteracy to gain electoral votes.

But the question remains: will the new ‘quota system’ help reduce illiteracy significantly? Especially, when it isn’t clear that it is economic disadvantages alone that cause lower enrollment and retention and higher drop-outs, in the first place?