Education is said to be ‘the apprentice of life’. While a philosopher described education as ‘a companion no misfortune can depress’, another called it ‘a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army’. Call it even ‘a chest of tools’ or ‘character development’, but even dreaded criminals among the 12,000-odd prisoners in the 27 jails in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat have understood the importance of education for a bright future.

   No wonder, convicted killers and kidnappers who suffered no qualms of conscience in bending the law are now pounding the books in their prison cells in the land of Mahatma Gandhi.

Bloody violence

   Indeed, the high-security Sabarmati central jail in Ahmedabad, which was once notorious for bloody violence and drug smuggling, has turned into a serious study centre, thanks to a vigorous....