Dummy schools in Ahmedabad? Coaching classes are tying up with regular schools!

By Rajiv Shah

Dummy schools? Well, this is the new term that has been coined -- and they are a "happening" in Ahmedabad, vibrant Gujarat's business capital. An insider who happens to occupy an important position in one such school told me the other day, what are known as many "classes" -- the after-school coaching shops -- have "tied up" with recognised schools.
"The children are helped by enrolling them in regular schools, which for them operate as dummy schools. They don't have to attend classes. Their attendance is marked as present. They appear in regularly in all examinations. Only once a week they are required to go to their dummy schools where they are enrolled, that too if they are science students, as the coaching classes don't have lab facilities", I was told.
I have no idea if the Gujarat government is aware of this development. However, it is highly unlikely that the politicians associated with the ruling BJP don't know about it, as many of them, as also those of the Congress, are known to run regular schools, privatised and government aided. Are dummy schools are just an extension of the privatisation of education, one of the main thrusts of the New Education Policy? Let policy makers take a call.

Beyond the 'silent relocation' narrative in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts

By Dr. Mohammad Asaduzzaman* In recent years, a narrative has emerged from the rugged and forested terrain of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), portraying the region as the site of a “silent relocation” — a mass forced migration of Bangladesh’s non-Muslim ethnic communities into neighboring India and Myanmar.

Ram, Bam and Bengal: Memories of a Left turn toward the Right

By Rajiv Shah The BJP ’s massive electoral win in West Bengal is being interpreted across political persuasions — except, of course, by the BJP itself — as the result of the alleged deletion of around 90 lakh voters from the electoral rolls during the controversial intensive revision process. This may well be true, given my own experience in Gujarat regarding the shoddy manner in which electoral revisions have often been conducted. In West Bengal, there also appeared to be a political angle to the exercise. But I am not interested in discussing that here, as enough has already appeared in the media on the subject.

India's housing boom hits a wall: Prices soar, buyers struggle

By Rajiv Shah India's residential real estate market recorded near-flat growth in the January–March quarter of 2026, with sales volumes dipping year-on-year even as property prices hit a historic milestone — crossing ₹10,000 per square foot for the first time.

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