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A ruling by India's Supreme Court that appointments for highly specialised teaching positions in medical colleges cannot be subject to affirmative action caste-based quotas has led to a political uproar that has disrupted the current session of parliament, where a number of higher education bills are pending. The issue of caste reservations is highly political, with elections due in five states and national elections scheduled for 2013.

The reforms impose centralized teacher assessment and seek to end corrupt practices in the education system. Those practices include the buying and selling of teaching positions. However, unions say the reforms could lead to big lay-offs, and critics also suggest they may be paving the way for the privatization of Mexico's education system.

Massive corruption has hit the education sector with district education officials reportedly demanding various amounts of money to interview temporary teachers to fill in vacant posts. The education officials are charging the desperate untrained teachers for application forms which are normally distributed for free.