Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has recommended a rethink on the curriculum load so that basic education could be completed in school itself. He said the overload was destroying the purpose of elementary education.

Releasing the Pratichi Education Report II in Kolkata, Amartya Sen called for an overhaul in children's curriculum in Bengal "right here right now".

"Those who are first-generation learners do not get parents' support at home and, if they come from economically weaker sections, they can't afford private tuition. As a result, the children of the illiterate tend to remain illiterate," said Sen.

The report says that parents consider that schools are doing better and teacher absenteeism has reduced compared to 2001-2, when the trust had conducted its first survey, but students' dependence on private tuition is on the rise.

Sen said private tuition did not play any important role when the US or Europe became mass literate in the 19th century. "My son Kabir teaches in a school in Boston. He says kids don't bring any home task," he added.

Parents might want private tuition for their kids to learn something "extra" but that, Sen said, shouldn't mean the curriculum can't be completed within school time.

As the guru made a pitch to make life easier for children, a disciple urged his audience to keep in mind that as they celebrated India's growth story, many were being left behind.

At the reunion of the St Xavier's School Old Boys' association, the chief economic adviser to the Union Finance Ministry, Kaushik Basu, said: "In India, there are about 220 to 280 million people who are poor, not just slightly poor but abysmally poor. Such chronic poverty for a country with 9 per cent growth is unpardonable."

Basu, had completed his PhD thesis under Sen's supervision in 1976.

Poverty, red tape and corruption are the biggest ills plaguing India, he feels. "Getting clearance for a new business in India takes six times more time than in Singapore. In India it takes 1,420 days to get a contract enforced, in Singapore it takes six months."

The need of the hour he said is streamlining the bureaucratic system, cutting down corruption and eradicating poverty.

For that suggested intelligent policy intervention, development of infrastructure, and the government in the role of an enabler.

As the guru made a pitch to make life easier for children, a disciple urged his audience to keep in mind that as they celebrated India's growth story, many were being left behind.