Himachal to shut down schools with less than 10 students
The Indian Express, June 23, 2011

In Himachal Pradesh, schools with less than 10 students will close down. The state has already short-listed 81 schools for closure if the students do not cross the 10 mark.

But the government claims that it is not closing the schools but only drawing up a scheme to rationalise the schools within a radius of 1.5 km in case of primary schools and up to 3 km for middle schools for imparting quality education.

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Republican Challenges Administration on Plans to Override Education Law
The New York Times, June 23, 2011

In a sharp rebuke to the Obama administration, the Republican chairman of the House education committee on Thursday challenged plans by the education secretary to override provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Law, and he said he would use a House rewrite of it this year to rein in the secretary’s influence on America’s schools.

Responding to Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s promise to grant states waivers to the education law’s most onerous provisions if Congress failed to rewrite it, the committee chairman, Representative John Kline of Minnesota, sent Mr. Duncan a letter on Thursday demanding that he explain by July 1 the legal authority that he believed he had to issue the waivers.

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Student can be barred from admission for wasting seat: HC
The Indian Express, June 21, 2011

A student dropping out in the middle of a professional course can be barred from taking admission in the same course again till completion of the programme because it results in wastage of a precious seat and opportunity for another meritorious candidate, the Delhi High Court has said.

A bench of justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and G P Mittal upheld the decision of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University refusing to induct a candidate in Post Graduate in Medicine on the ground that he had dropped out in the previous academic year.

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14 engineering colleges in Karnataka to get Rs 228 cr grants with World Bank aid
The Times of India, June 24, 2011

A World Bank-assisted project to improve quality of technical education, under which 14 engineering colleges in Karnataka would get an assistance of Rs 228 crore to promote research and innovation, was formally launched on Friday.

Under the second phase of Central government’s Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQUIP), assisted by the World Bank, the 14 engineering colleges would receive Rs 12.5 crore each.

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DoE to verify parents’ MoI choice
The Times of India, June 24, 2011

The deadline for primary schools in the state to inform the directorate of education (DoE) if they wish to open new division in English medium alongside Konkani and Marathi medium divisions ended on Thursday. But the DoE is now preparing to issue a new circular asking schools contact details of the parents, undertakings from whom have been submitted asking for a shift in medium, so that the claims can be verified.

Sources in the directorate said that the education minister, Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate, has received complaints from some parents that they are being pressurized by certain schools to sign undertakings stating that they want the school to begin English medium divisions.

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Closing the education gap
The Guardian, June 24, 2011

The facts are that seven out of 10 of the poorest children are still leaving school without five good GCSEs including English and maths.

The achievement gap between the richest and poorest is greater in the UK than in almost any other country in the developed world – but it is not inevitable and it can be closed.

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How street children will get their right to education: HC
The Times of India, June 24, 2011

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday wanted to know from the Maharashtra government how street children will get their right to education. A division bench comprising justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Pramod Kode asked the National Commission of Child Rights and the state government to frame a policy in this regard and file a report within four weeks.

The counsel for the petitioner Firdos Mirza pointed out to the court that despite Right to Education (RTE) Act coming into effect for children between 6 and 14 years of age, the state government has miserably failed to provide elementary education to thousands of such children who wander on the streets. He stressed that after the implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the country, no child is to be deprived of education. The state in its earlier affidavit, had admitted that there are over 31,000 children who are not admitted in any school till date.

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Home dept wants college seats for terror victims’ kin
Hindustan Times, June 25, 2011

Recently a 26/11-terror martyr’s kin failed to secure admission in a college of her choice, despite being promised free education by the state government. This evoked strong reaction from all quarters, especially the state home minister RR Patil, who has now demanded a re-look into the compensation policy for kin of martyrs of terror attacks.

The state higher education department will accordingly write to the central government for reserving a seat for the kin of martyr’s of terror attacks, who have been promised compensation by the state, in government colleges for professional courses.

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Research: The effect of free primary school choice on ethnic groups – Evidence from a policy reform

By: Kerstin Schneider, Claudia Schuchart, Horst Weishaupt, Andrea Riedel

In 2008, school districts were abolished in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federal state. Critics have argued that free school choice will lead to increased segregation and educational disparities. The data used is from Wuppertal, a major city in NRW. Since the Turkish population is the largest minority in Germany, but also one of the least integrated, the focus of this paper is on the effect of the new school law on the school choice of Turkish (Muslim) versus non-Turkish (non-Muslim) families. Free school choice has led, in fact, to increased choice on the part of both advantaged and (to a lesser extent) disadvantaged families. Motives behind choice include proximity, the composition of the school, and the academic quality of the school. The effect of this increased choice on segregation is inconclusive.

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The Joseph P Overton Fellowship for
Education Policy

TWO DAYS LEFT TO APPLY!

Centre for Civil Society and School Choice Campaign launch a year-long program that provides a dynamic platform to track developments within the education sector in India. Working independently at the state-level, Overton Fellows will focus their research and analyses on the implementation of the Right to Education Act in each of the 29 states across the country. The Fellowship program is aimed at motivated young individuals with an interest in policy and advocacy. The Fellows will be selected on the basis of their academic achievements, leadership skills and expressed motivation to work in the
policy sphere.

For more information,
click here.

RTE BLOG: The Indian "incomplete" education - (Part 1)

Read the first of this two-part series on the importance of early childhood care and education on our website. For more, click here

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

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

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

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