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Underprivileged kids get education vouchers

The Asian Age, July 30, 2007

NEW DELHI: With an aim to empower poor children by giving them a right to select their schools, the Centre for Civil Society, a Delhi-based NGO, distributed "education vouchers" to 408 students at the Kamani auditorium in the capital on Thursday.

The voucher distribution ceremony is part of the "School Choice Campaign" which advocates that the right to select the school is a part of achieving quality education by the poor, who have no option, but to go to government schools which cannot match private ones.

Those present at the ceremony included chief minister Sheila Dikshit, social activist and former Miss India Nafisa Ali as well as author of India Unbound Gurcharan Das.

Nafisa, stressed the need for both private and public participation. "We should stop relying on the government for everything. The public and private sector should join hands to achieve developmental goals," she said. She added, "There should be a method to offer something more than academic encouragement. Children who excel in sports and music should be offered scholarships."

The 408 students were selected from 68 poorest wards of Delhi like Narela, Welcome Colony, Jahangirpuri and Dilshad Garden. The process started with 1.3 lakh parents and students filling the initial registration forms. The students were then selected through a public lottery drawn by the ward councillor of the area.

"Parents should have the right to demand quality education for their children. And with this campaign, parents can built genuine pressure on the government to improve the education system. It will further open them to competition," said Gurcharan Das.

Read the story in The Asian Age