The Impact of Child Labor and School Quality on Academic Achievement in Brazil
Marcio Eduardo G. Bezerra, Ana Lucia Kassouf, Mary Arends-Kuenning, IZA Discussion Paper, March 2009

“We analyze the impact of child labor on school achievement using Brazilian school achievement test data from the 2003 Sistema Nacional de Avaliação da Educação Básica (SAEB). We control for the endogeneity of child labor using instrumental variable techniques, where the instrumental variable is the average wage for unskilled male labor in the state. Using our preferred OLS estimates, we find that child labor causes a loss in students’ school achievement.” More [+]

Beating the Odds
Carol Ascher and Cindy Maguire, Voices in Urban Education, Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Number 19, Spring 2008

“High schools that have “beaten the odds” and succeeded in improving graduation and college-going rates share practices that contribute to their success. Across the nation, urban districts struggle to raise what are often abysmally low high school graduation rates. New York City, with a four-year graduation rate of 57 percent, is no exception. Yet, some high schools in New York, as elsewhere, succeed beyond expectations in bringing ninth-grade students with low academic skills and high needs to graduation in four years, followed by enrollment in college.” More [+]

Teach For India
Indianexpress, 9 April 2009

“There are 2,000 professionals out there who have poured their hearts out into the 19-page application invited by the TFI team for the 100 posts that calls upon the brightest young professionals in the country to give up cushy jobs and high salaries and spend the next two years teaching in low income schools in Pune and Mumbai. An initiative funded by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, amongst others, and modelled after the Teach for America programme, the TFI is actively supported by a host of companies, including McKinsey & Co and Thermax.” More [+]

Pakistan - Learning and Educational Achievements in Punjab Schools (LEAPS): Insights to inform the education policy debate  
LEAPS Project 2008

“In an effort to provide policymakers with the information needed to take full advantage of this potential opportunity, the World Bank, Pomona College and Harvard University in collaboration with the Government of Punjab and highly trained local counterparts launched the Learning and Educational Attainment in Punjab Schools (LEAPS) project in 2001. As its name implies, the goal of the LEAPS project is to better understand how much learning is actually taking place in Pakistani schools, and to identify what factors determine the quality of the education children receive. The Learning and Educational Achievement in Punjab Schools (LEAPS) Report provides an overview of the education sector based on the 2003 LEAPS Survey of schools, teachers, children, and households throughout rural Punjab.” More [+]

Turn fire-proof : SC directs Govt, private schools  
Hindustan Times, 14 April 2009

“The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the installation of fire-extinguishing equipment and implementation of building safety measures in all government and private schools across India to check the recurrence of any mishap like the July 2004 school fire in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, that claimed the lives of 93 children.” More [+]

Can choice promote Education for All? Evidence from growth in private primary
Joanna Harma, Teachers College, Columbia University, March 2009

“This paper examines whether the recent growth in ‘low-fee private’ (LFP) schools is able to promote Education for All by being accessible to the poor. Based primarily on a 13-village survey of 250 households and visits to 26 private and government schools in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, this paper explores who ‘chooses’ private schooling, in the light of the well-documented failure of the government school system. In particular, the paper explores the issue of whether private provision is affordable and accessible to poor rural parents. It finds that LFP school costs are unaffordable for over half of the sampled children, including the majority of low caste and Muslim families. It also finds that while LFPs are greatly preferred under current conditions, what parents actually want is a well functioning government school system.” More [+]

Notice issued to 12 schools in Delhi for arbitrary fee hike
The Economic Times, 8 April 2009

“NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Wednesday issued show cause notices to 12 unaided public schools for taking arbitrary decisions on the issue of fee hike, a statement issued by the state government said." More [+]

Parents come out in open against fee hike
The Times of India, 11 April 2009

“NEW DELHI: Taking their movement against the fee hike in schools to another level, over 1,000 parents held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on Friday. Around 25 parent teacher associations (PTAs) participated in the protest against the schools and Delhi government.” More [+]

The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Children’s School Achievement: Evidence from Colombia
Sandra Garcia and Jennifer Hill, Universidad de los Andes–Facultad de Economia–Cede, 2009

“During the last decade, conditional cash transfer programs have expanded in developing countries as a way to increase school enrollment and deter youth from dropping out of school. However, despite evidence of these programs’ positive impact on school enrollment and attendance, little is known about their impact on school achievement. Thus, using data from the Colombian conditional cash transfer program Familias en Acción, this study estimated the effect of the conditional subsidy on school achievement. It found that the program does have a positive effect on school achievement for children aged 7 to 12 living in rural areas but practically no effect for the same population living in urban areas. Moreover, the program may actually have a negative effect on the school achievement of adolescents, particularly those living in rural areas. Possible mechanisms of these effects are explored and discussed.” More [+]

School Chain Showcase - The Fraser Institute

"The Showcase is intended to profile innovative school chains from around the world and the different ways they educate their students."

Find out more here!

Percentage distribution of Para-Teachers to Total Teachers in Government Schools:

Jahrkhand: 49.44
Uttar Pradesh: 36.89
Orissa: 28.82
Andhra Pradesh: 22.82

DISE 2007-08: Flash Statistics

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