The state seems to have finally woken up to the need for harsh measures to repair our ailing education system. Borrowing a leaf from the corporate world, it has decided to link teachers' appraisals to the students' learning levels across 65,000 government and government-aided schools in the state.

Not that the Maharashtra government had not taken noteworthy steps earlier to fix the system. Back in 2012, it had moved to increase enrolment of girls in schools, offering incentives, in a bid to raise the ratio to 1:1. The state had shut down 2,500 bogus schools that were draining the exchequer of Rs 1,000 crore a year. But, yes, its focus on actual learning process is brand new.