Cash transfer for school attendance is in works
Economic Times, April 14, 2011

Poor families sending their children to school could get a cash incentive based on the attendance of their child. The Planning Commission has taken note of a report that has suggested the measure to magnify the impact of the Right To Education law. The Chronic Poverty Report report, prepared by six experts and published by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, suggests merging conditional cash transfers with the existing schemes such as the mid day meal as an effective way of incentivising education for the poor.

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Budget Deal Fuels Revival of School Vouchers
New York Times, April 14, 2011

In the 11th-hour compromise to avoid a government shutdown last week, one concession that President Obama made to Republicans drew scant attention: he agreed to finance vouchers for Washington students to attend private schools. The voucher program, whose main beneficiaries are church-affiliated schools, is close to the heart of the House speaker, John A. Boehner, a product of parochial schools, who had repeatedly choked up defending it on the House floor last month.

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‘India has exam system, not education system’
Economic Times, April 14, 2011

Strongly recommending an immediate halt to the system of sitting for a pile of exams, C N R Rao , who heads the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (SACPM), said in a letter sent last week that the American method of holding one national exam before joining university is the way. Putting it bluntly, Rao told the PM that India is said to “have an examination system but not an education system… When will young people stop taking exams and do something worthwhile?”

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Private engineering colleges are real estate rackets, says V Raghunathan
Business Today, April 13 2011

The Act says every child between six and 14 years should have the right to “to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school”. It calls for local bodies to set up the requisite number of schools within three years. Given our birth rate, we add nearly 20 million babies every year. This calls for 60,000 new schools every year. This is assuming 300 to 400 students per school, just to keep with the incremental demand, leave alone the additional schools required to cater to the present deficit of schools. The deficit of schools, in both government and private sector is well known.

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Skills development school is the new killer app for some
DNA, April 19, 2011

At a time when acute talent shortage is staring India Inc in the eye, an increasing number of private players are entering tie ups with government units to narrow the skills divide. Chennai-based Everonn Education has collaborated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), which is a not-for-profit company under the Union Ministry of Finance, to set up an international skills school to provide vocational training that is customised to suit industry requirements across nine sectors.

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Education players spot training opportunity in teacher shortage
DNA, April 16, 2011

India faces a shortage of 1.2 million teachers, according to the estimates by United Nations’ Children Education Fund, while data from the advisory firm Parthenon Group suggests it needs eight million higher education professionals over the next three years to sustain growth. This pressing requirement is making players in the education sector introduce and expand opportunities to create a pool of trained professiona

CBSE to start management programme for senior teachers
DNA, April 15, 2011

As a part of its ongoing reform process, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is all set to start its first management development programme on effective school management, to helpteachers run their schools in the best possible manners. The CBSE has tied up with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi for running the course.

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Stamp of approval for all Punjab schools
Indian Express, April 17, 2011

In a major decision aimed at wooing a section of society ahead of the next Punjab Assembly polls, the Punjab government on Saturday announced it would recognise the unaffiliated and unrecognised private schools and academies across the state.

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Research
Can Informational Campaigns Raise Awareness and Local Participation in Primary Education in India?

Abhijit Banerji, Rukmini Banerji, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster, Stuti Khemani

While primary school enrollment rates have risen sharply in much of the world, the quality of education remains low in many developing countries. Many children who attend school regularly are still unable to read or do basic arithmetic. Community oversight and participation has been advocated to increase education quality. However there is currently little rigorous evidence as to whether this works, and how community participation can be encouraged. Is more direct action by communities to teach their children to read effective?

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ENABLE – ARK & CCS’s School Access and Voucher Programme

ARK’s work in Delhi has identified many communities where children are facing multiple social and economic challenges which put them at great risk of being excluded, dropping out or never attending school. To address this need ARK has partnered with Centre for Civil Society (CCS)
to implement ENABLE (Ensure Access to Better Learning Experiences), a school access and
voucher programme for underprivileged children in Shahdara.Read more

School Choice National Conference Video

Watch this video to catch the highlights of the School Choice National Conference 2010 held at India Habitat Centre.

Click here for the video

To initiate and continue the discussion amongst concerned groups and individuals on the issue of right of education and monitor the implementation of the RTE Act, an RTE Coalition has been formed. Join the coalition to make universal elementary education a reality in India. Log on to www.righttoeducation.in for more information.

Skill Vouchers - Global Experiences and Lessons for India

Leah Verghese and Parth J Shah

A study of the role that skill vouchers can play in catalysing demand for quality skill development services. This study examines global experiences with skill vouchers and draws lessons for India from these experiences.

For more click here

Reservation in Private Schools under the Right to Education Act: Model for Implementation

Shekhar Mittal and Parth J Shah

Through this document the Centre for Civil Society seeks to highlight the lacunae in the current framework for 25% reservation for weaker and disadvantaged groups in unaided private schools and seeks to provide inputs on effective implementation of the same.

For more click here

SCHOOL VOUCHERS FOR GIRLS

For more details on how to support, log on to www.schoolchoice.in or email us at [email protected]