<b>Mitali Saran:</b> F for effort

India continues to fail its school children

Most parents’ number one priority is to give their kids the best possible chance in life. A basic ‘three Rs’ education—reading, ’riting, and ’rithmatic—is a ticket upward from misery; a reasonable education is a chance to make it to the middle class dream; and an excellent education can turn the world into your oyster. The street-smart and the gifted might still make it with a poor education or none at all. Some of the privileged are born having made it. But for the average kid, the classroom is where temperament, talent and skill are honed into greater empowerment. Educated children