Education and health to be made conflict neutral
Zee News, September 6, 2011

Srinagar: Condemning the obstruction of students’ education in the Kashmir Valley during last year’s summer unrest, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has reiterated his government’s resolve to make education and health sectors neutral to conflict. “Losses on development fronts can be retrieved but the gaps occurring in education remain unfilled forever. It is the duty of all of us to keep education away from all conflicts, disturbances and politics to safeguard the future of the state,” Omar said at a function here yesterday.

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Education loan to be based on repayment potential of student
The Hindu, September 8, 2011

Meritorious students intending to pursue higher studies will be sanctioned loans by banks based solely on their assessment of employability and earning potential to repay the loan, and not parental income/family wealth, as per the revised bank-wide ‘model education loan scheme’. Non-merit students, getting admission in technical and professional courses under management quota, will be ineligible to get loans under the model scheme for pursuing higher education in India and abroad. So, banks will have to formulate separate schemes for such students.

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Education sector: fail marks this year
Mint, September 6, 2011

Everonn Education Ltd’s corporate governance troubles have thrown the spotlight on education services stocks. Given the much talked about demographic dividend, the shortage of employable people and the government’s thrust on vocational skills training, it would seem there was easy money for the taking in this sector. But the reality is far different in the listed stock universe. While the recent troubles may have seen the Everonn stock losing some 42% over the past three trading days, the sector as a whole has underperformed the broader markets for quite sometime now. Even before these allegations came to light, the scrip had shed 23.6% since the start of the current fiscal, against the 12.7% fall in the BSE-500 Index of BSE.

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New GRE test: A positive change
The Times of India, September 12, 2011

David Payne, VP & COO, Higher Education Division, Educational Testing Service (ETS), Princeton, talks to Diptiman Dewan on the changes in the GRE pattern and the drivers for the change.

What are the peak test-taking months for the GRE test?

The peak test-taking months are the fall months – September to November – each year.

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House disruption hits education reforms After the end of Parliament’s monsoon session, 13 HRD Bills are still pending
The Tribune, September 11, 2011

The country’s education reform agenda has been hit hard by the continued disruption of parliamentary proceedings. At the end of the monsoon session — the eight session of the 15th Lok Sabha that commenced in June 2009 — as many as 13 Bills of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) were pending at various stages. Among those pending are some very significant ones including the Bill to set up educational tribunals for out-of-court redress of educational disputes; another to amend the 2007 National Institutes of Technology (NIT) Bill to strengthen these premier technical institutions and grant national status to five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) at Mohali, Kolkata, Bhopal, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram.

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Build your own curriculum
The Times of India, September 12, 2011

Higher education in India is slowly breaking stereotypes and becoming more flexible. In a recent trend, universities across the country are allowing students to customise their curriculum. As a matter of fact, students can now tailor their own courses and opt for different combinations according to their personal choice and aptitude. For example, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) is all set to launch a paper-wise registration scheme. This scheme will allow students to opt for any number of ‘add-on’ papers. There will be no bars on age or restrictions as far as qualification or pre-knowledge of subjects is concerned.

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Doubts grow over the success of Sweden’s free schools experiment
The Guardian, September 10, 2011

All over the Swedish port city of Malmö last week there were gaggles of students clutching brand-new laptops given to them on loan for the start of the school year. As schools fight over what, due to a demographic blip, is a declining number of students, the device you get has become a keen area of competition.

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Classroom Grade Composition and Pupil Achievement
Research: Discussion paper
Authors: Leuven, Edwin; Rønning, Marte

Abstract:This paper exploits discontinuous grade mixing rules in Norwegian junior high schools to estimate how classroom grade composition affects pupil achievement. Pupils in mixed grade classrooms are found to outperform pupils in single grade classrooms on high stake central exit tests and teacher set and graded tests. This effect is driven by pupils benefiting from sharing the classroom with more mature peers from higher grades. The presence of lower grade peers is detrimental for achievement.

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Rankings Games
Research: Policy Working Paper
Authors: Bruno S. Frey and Margit Osterloh

Abstract:Research rankings based on publications and citations today dominate governance of academia. Yet they have unintended side effects on individual scholars and academic institutions and can be counterproductive. They induce a substitution of the “taste for science” by a “taste for publication”. We suggest as alternatives careful selection and socialization of scholars, supplemented by periodic self-evaluations and awards.

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Student First! Dialogue tomorrow

14 September 2011
6:30 - 8:30 PM
Casuarina Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India

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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