National Skill Development Corp picks up stake in Everonn
Business Standard, August 02, 2011

National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), which was formed by the Government of India, has taken an equity investment in Everonn Skill Development Limited (ESDL), a joint venture between Chennai-based Everonn Education and NSDC. The new company is proposing to invest around is planning to invest around Rs 700 crore for setting skill development centres across the country.

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It’s Voluntary, Held After School Hours
The Times of India, July 27, 2011

BANGALORE: Primary and secondary education minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri is under fire for allowing Gita Abhiyan in schools across Kolar. In an interview with TOI, the minister defends the programme , saying it is not a government-funded abhiyan and is purely voluntary.

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Unified school education mooted; PM to take a call
Deccan Chronicle, July 31, 2011

Aiming to bridge the gap between high-and low-quality school education, the government is working to bring in a single system and curriculum to teach students at the secondary and higher-secondary levels.A plan is being worked out to bring education up to Class 12 under the ambit of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

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Hard lessons
Frontline, July 30-August 12, 2011

THE two-month-old All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government in Tamil Nadu suffered a tremendous loss of face when the High Court of Madras struck down, on July 18, an amendment it made to the Uniform System of School Education (USSE) Act of Tamil Nadu, 2010. The amendment aimed at shelving the Samacheer Kalvi (equitable standard education) scheme introduced by the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government. Describing the amendment as a piece of “colourable legislation”, the court said it was “unconstitutional and ultra vires Article 14 of the Constitution”.

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80 more BMC schools to get virtual classes
The Times of India, July 26, 2011

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will on Tuesday launch virtual education system in 80 of its schools. Earlier this year, the BMC introduced virtual classrooms in some of its schools.The decision to extend the facility to 80 more institutions was taken after the civic school in Colaba, one of the few where virtual classrooms were introduced on a pilot basis, managed a 100% result in Std X exams.

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Fears raised over school censors
Taipei Times, August 02, 2011

More than 70 percent of 155 colleges have implemented regulations and mechanisms to screen student publications, a move that the Rights of College Students Investigation team says may infringe on the freedom of speech, composition and publication enshrined in the Constitution.

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Montgomery approves its first charter school
The Washington Post, July 26, 2011

The Montgomery County Board of Education approved its first charter school Monday night, sending a cheer through the crowded board room and signaling a breakthrough for a movement that is pushing to expand beyond struggling inner-city districts.In a 6 to 2 vote, the board authorized a new Montessori-based elementary school and officially handed over the keys to Crossway Community, a nonprofit organization, to run it.

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Will Quinn impose sanctions to stop ‘apartheid’ in schools?
Irish Times, July 26, 2011

WHILE THE judge ruled in favour of the Clonmel school, this case has been groundbreaking. Despite yesterday’s ruling, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn appears determined to press ahead with changes to school admissions policies. It was one of the factors that prompted the Minister to publish a discussion document on school admission policies in June.

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Lobbying for Education in a Two-sector Model

Working Paper
Authors: Debora Di Gioacchino and Paola Profeta

Modern economies devote a relevant share of their resources to education. However, even among industrialised countries, there are differences in the traits of the education system and in its outcome in terms of human capital composition. The question we pose in this paper is why the composition of human capital is so diversied. The answer we propose is that the education system responds to the economy's structure of production. Skills are required by firms according to their needs and are supplied through the education system. We analyse the political economy of education in a two-period model in which heterogeneous firms, specialised in two different sectors, try to induce the government to finance the type of education which is complementary to their production. In the first period, the policy-maker decides the skill composition of new-workers which will determine the supply of skills in the second period. Firms may lobby to obtain their preferred skill composition. We show that in the political equilibrium in which firms in both sectors get organised, the policy-maker chooses the same skill composition that would be chosen by the social planner. Moving to endogenous lobbying, we are able to show that, if there are no costs of lobbying, then both sectors will lobby in equilibrium. However, in the more realistic case in which if lobbying is costly it may be that only one sector will find it profitable to offer monetary contribution; which sector gets organised depends on sectors’ share in total output, relative productivity and prices of the two sectors.

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School Choice in the Media

BOOK YOUR CALENDAR

Next Student First! Dialogue Series on Quality Education for All

August 10, 2011

"Strengthening Teacher Accountability through Right to Education”

For more details 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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