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Weekly Update on Education

15 February 2011

'Govt must give scholarship vouchers to students’
Times of India, February 9, 2011

The government can make its investments in education more effective by providing students with scholarship vouchers instead of aiding schools, said management guru and author Gurucharan Das during a lecture at the United World Colleges meet .

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Google’s ‘primary’ goal
Times of India, February 7, 2011

The education space in India has been growing in the recent years and several corporates have been eager to be a part of this change. Google is the latest entrant in this field. “We are a 11-year-old company. We did not have any money seven years ago. But, considering the fact that every child in the world needs to be educated, the higher the number of companies that come forward to support the cause, the better it is. The objective is to make sure that every child in the world is educated so that he/she can do something worthwhile,” says Nikesh Arora, senior vice-president and chief business officer, Google.

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Muslim student enrolment goes up in State
Deccan Herald, February 6, 2011

When it comes to participation of Muslims in school education, Karnataka has earned a distinction in the country with the state recording a significant rise in their enrolment right from elementary to upper primary level during 2009-10.

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Now, eligibility test must for schoolteachers
The Tribune, February 12, 2011

In a significant development to make school teaching standards uniform and better across India, the government yesterday notified the guidelines for the state governments to conduct the TET, modelled along the lines of the National Eligibility Test for college and university teachers.

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Kapil Sibal stresses on vocational education in CBSE
DNA, February 9, 2011

Union human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday announced reforms in the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) to develop skill sets of students through vocational education. In an interaction with members of the Rotary Club, he emphasised the need to introduce specialised education which will hone students’ skills.

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NIOS should emerge as a model Distance Learning Institution: Sibal
iCBSE.com , February 13, 2011

Sibal, while endorsing the road map of NIOS expressed his desire that the NIOS should emerge as a model distance learning institution with emphasis on catering to the contemporary needs of the country which has targeted to achieve 500 million skilled people by 2020.

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An ‘English goddess’ for India’s down-trodden
BBC, February 15 2011

A new goddess has recently been born in India. She’s the Dalit Goddess of English. The Dalit (formerly untouchable) community is building a temple in Banka village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to worship the Goddess of the English language, which they believe will help them climb up the social and economic ladder.

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India Steps Forward as Africa Seeks Academic Aid
New York Times, February 13, 2011

ndia’s pledge to help set up a string of higher education and vocational training institutions in Africa — a main part of an initiative to bolster the country’s role there — is finally taking shape, with the first site expected to open its doors in less than a year.

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Research Paper
The relative quality and cost-effectiveness of private and public schools for low-income families: a case study in a developing country 2010
James Tooley;Pauline Dixon;Yarim Shamsan;Ian Schagen

ABSTRACT: The “mushrooming” of private schools for low-income families has been widely noted in the literature; however, very little is known about the quality of these schools. This research explored the relative quality of private unaided (recognised and unrecognised) and government schools in low-income areas of Hyderabad, India. A preliminary census to locate unrecognised private schools – not on official lists – was conducted. Data were collected on achievement and background variables for 3,910 pupils from a stratified random sample of schools. Using multilevel modelling shows that pupils in private unrecognised and recognised schools, when controlled for age, pupil’s IQ, and class average IQ, achieve higher scores in mathematics and English than equivalent pupils in government schools. There is no significant difference between private and government schools in pupil achievement in Urdu. The achievement advantage for private schools did not arise because of greater resources available, at least in terms of per pupil teacher salaries.

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Global Education Statistics

Children out of school, primary, female(2007)

Country
Number
Brazil
440285
India
3781495
Pakistan
4183500
South Africa
219409
USA
797289

Source: World Bank

 

 

Interview with Manish Sabharwal

Manish Sabharwal, Chairman Teamlease Services, talks about the current education system and demands of the job market, about steps to improve employability and the role of private sector in achieving that and then then moves to impact of RTE on employability and amendments to RTE that he would like to propose.

Click here for the video

 

RTE Coalition

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.

 

Student First! Magazine

The second issue of Student First! Magazine is out. The theme for this issue is Public Private Partnerships in Education.

For more click here

 

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

400 girl children from poor families of North East Delhi receive school vouchers for a period of 4 years.
For details visit website

 

Support Children's Right to Education of Choice!
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For more details on how to support, log on to www.schoolchoice.in or email us at [email protected]

 

101 Things You Wanted To Know About The Police But Were Too Afraid To Ask

A Children's Book for Adults to Learn from is an easy guide to knowing your police. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) believes that only when we know that we can speak up with confidence, and it is only when we speak out against wrong, that things will change. The book is brought out in this hope - that people knowing all about their police and their own rights - will use this knowledge to demand the better police service that we all deserve. This has been published in various languages like Hindi, English, Kannada, Telegu, Gujarati and Marathi in India. To know more about these books or for a copy email [email protected].

 

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