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Weekly Update on Education (Issue No 259) 26 Nov 2013
- Arvind Ilamaran
Associate, Research
Centre for Civil Society
The Future of Skill Development in India

Yesterday I attended, ‘The Future of skill development in India’, a fascinating panel discussion at the VCCircle Education Investment Summit 2013, New Delhi. The interesting part of the session was when the moderator of the panel, Praveen Chakravarty, indicated how we have been talking about the future of skills development for far too long (VCCircle had a similar panel discussion at their 2011 edition of the same event). Many factors are attributed to the sluggish growth of skill development sector in India. But this is not an India-centric phenomenon. Industry experts and policy academicians have been forewarning the world governments for long about an impending skills mismatch epidemic. There are two reasons which are of primary concern. Firstly, the demographic dividend is becoming unfavorable and secondly, there is an employability deficit in terms of what the education institutions provide in the curriculum and what the industry actually requires.

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Research

Parental Valuation of School Attributes in Developing Countries: Evidence from Pakistan
Authors: Pedro Carneiro, University College London, Institute for Fiscal Studies and Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice; Jishnu Das World Bank; Hugo Reisy, University College London

Abstract: This paper studies the demand for school attributes in Pakistan, by estimating a standard model of demand for differentiated products to a dataset with information on school characteristics, school costs, household and child characteristics, and school choices. Parents have strong preferences for school attributes such as school facilities, the gender of the teacher, and most importantly, distance to one's residence. Parents do not appear to value the average test scores of either the students or the teachers in the school, perhaps because they are hard to observe. Our estimates imply that, on average, girls benefited more than boys from the increased trend in private schools.

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Education News
 

Only 1% passed TET, retest ordered
- The Times of India, 23 Nov 2013
Primary TET results were published on Friday with only 1.07% candidates making the cut.

CBSE open book exam plan evokes mixed reactions
- The Indian Express, 23 Nov 2013
While many hailed it as a progressive concept with the potential to revolutionise the country's education system, a section felt the scheme was "another half-baked experiment".

Education department starts drive against unrecognized schools
- The Times of India, 23 Nov 2013
"About three months ago, head masters of government schools were asked to identify schools in their locality. Notices were sent to those schools that were found to be functioning without approval."

From Schooling to Learning in India: How Can We Take Everyone Along?
- Pratham, 18 Nov 2013
Parents, teachers, and governments commonly assume that if children go to school, they must be learning. School systems routinely and frequently measure.

Putting education first
- The Financial Express, 20 Nov 2013
The link between education and economic success makes quality schooling a hugely important issue for business.

Poll
Will an open text-based assessment (OTBA) system move Indian education from rote learning to learning with understanding?

To vote click here

Video
Pass ya Fail - Right to Education in IndiaPass ya Fail - Right to Education
in India

On 14th November 2013, which is celebrated as Children's day across India, Video Volunteers has launched a video audit that documents the ground reality of the functioning of the Right to Education Act. Watch the video.

Publications

RTE ViewpointSkill Vouchers View Point

 

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