Allocation for school education up 40%, far below RTE target
Business Standard, March 4, 2011

The Plan allocation for school education, especially for Right to Education (RTE), has seen a 40 per cent increase over last year. But the actual allocation is only a third of what should have gone for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan under the funds committed under the RTE Act.

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In 25 years, only one prosecuted in Karnataka for child labour
DNA, March 5, 2011

It has been 25 years since child labour was banned under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, across the country. But statistics show that in 25 years, only 446 cases of child labour were registered, and only one personprosecuted in the state.

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UT to empower school management panels
Indian Express, March 7, 2011

After constituting school management committees under the Right to Education Act, the UT education department is all set to empower them with financial and administrative powers. The aim is to check pilferage of facilities like uniforms, school bags, stationery, shoes and other items and to monitor school activities.

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Is IIT entrance a linguistic issue?
DNA, March 7, 2011

Bharatkumar Raut, Shiv Sena leader in the Rajya Sabha, recently said that students from English-medium schools in urban areas have an advantage when it comes to admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The party demanded that the entrance exam should not be conducted in English alone. This led regional parties across India to voice their concerns over the growing gulf between ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’ in the education system.

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Why we need school vouchers
York Daily Record, March 4, 2011

In Akron, Ohio, a black woman has gone to jail, branded by society as a felon, for a crime which, in its defiant nature, has some people invoking the memory of Rosa Parks. While Parks refused to accept second-class status in the back of the bus, Kelley Williams-Bolar refused to accept the fact that her daughters were condemned to attend a dismal, crime-ridden, inner-city public school. So that her daughters could attend a much better school, she falsified documents to indicate that they lived in the suburbs with her father.

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Vocational training to youngsters in Urdu speaking areas: Kapil Sibal
Times of India, March 6,2011

Youngsters in Urdu speaking areas across the country may soon be able to get job-oriented training under the proposed national vocational curriculum framework which will be launched this year. HRD minister Kapil Sibal said linking “rich language” with employment and training will help promotion of the language which is “deeply rooted” to the culture of the country.

US, India working to resolve woes of closed varsity students
Times of India, March 4, 2011

US authorities have agreed to work closely with the Indian embassy here for early resolution of the problems faced by hundreds of Indian students affected by the closure of a fraud US university. The agreement was reached during a meeting here between a group of Indian students of the Tri-Valley University (TVU) with Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar with representatives from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Student Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVP) present.

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India: The next university superpower?
BBC, March 2, 2011

India has ambitious plans to increase graduate numbers in a way which would give it the size and status of an education superpower. The figures are staggering. India’s government speaks of increasing the proportion of young people going to university from 12% at present to 30% by 2025 – approaching the levels of many Western countries. It wants to expand its university system to meet the aspirations of a growing middle class, to widen access, and become a “knowledge powerhouse”.

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Research Paper
Encouraging Teacher Attendance through Monitoring with Cameras in Rural Udaipur, India

ABSTRACT: Over the past decade many developing countries have expanded primary school access, energized by initiatives such as the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which calls for achieving universal primary education by 2015. However, these improvements in school access have not been accompanied by improvements in school quality. Poor learning outcomes may be due, in part, to high absence rates among teachers, who often lack strong incentives to attend work. There have been relatively few rigorous studies evaluating successful interventions to address absenteeism, so little is known about how reduced absenteeism impacts other educational outcomes. If teachers are incentivized to show up to school, is that all they do- or once there do they teach? Do financial incentives undermine their other motivation to teach well?

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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

Interview with Pradeep Sharma

Pradeep Sharma, Country Director - Gray Matters Capital, talks about low cost schools, their role in providing quality education to the poor, and the need to build an ecosystem for low cost schools. The discussion then moves to the school ratings system and innovations that have resulted from the ratings pilot.

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]