New Delhi, May 13 -- Ten years ago, only two or three students from a class of 30 would pass the class 10 board exam at this government school. Today, only two or three from a class of 60 do not.

The class has grown because the school changed. As the class 10 board results were transformed, parents began moving their children here from other schools-mostly private ones. The teachers were thrilled by this resounding acknowledgement of their work and gladly added a second section of 30 students each in classes 9 and 10.

The woman with whom these changes began was born and brought up in that very village. Her father was a stone worker. For reasons she doesn't remember, the father who laboured like everyone else-cutting stones every day-was...