Will RTE Act fall flat for half of Andhra Pradesh children?
The Times of India, 01 May 2012

HYDERABAD: The implementation of Right to Education Act may have got a shot in the arm with the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the 25% reservation in unaided private schools for children from lower income group families but in Andhra Pradesh (and possibly other states in the country), the Act might soon figure among the many well-intentioned government schemes that do not impact, leave alone benefit, its target group.

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Schools pitching for review plea
The Times of India, 01 May 2012

BANGALORE: The Karnataka Unaided Schools' Managements Association (KUSMA), which has 1,800 members, will file a review petition in the Supreme Court over the next few weeks, challenging 25% reservation in private unaided schools under the Right to Education Act.

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Over 50,000 kids from south Tamil Nadu deployed as child labour
The Times of India, 01 May 2012

MADURAI: Over 50,000 children from Madurai, Theni and Dindigul continue to be sent to the northern states to work in factories run by local merchants in violation of the Right To Education (RTE) Act and need to be identified and brought back, members of the Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL), Tamil Nadu and Puducherry said at the state-level conference on child labour held in Madurai on Monday.

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Formula for calculating fee is unscientific
Deccan Herald, 01 May 2012

The district administration held a meeting with the representatives of aided and unaided schools with regard to implementation of Right to Education Act and to ensure adherence of admission rules laid down by the Department of Public Instruction, on Monday. Presiding over the meeting Deputy Commissioner Dr N S Channappa Gowda said that the schools have been given circular with regard to schedule of admission, fees collection etc, on December 8, 2011, which should be followed strictly without fail.

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Indian parents protest 'B is for Bomb' books
Fox News, 29 April 2012

LUCKNOW, India – Angry parents are demanding to know why their kids are being taught about bombs and knives at nursery schools in a northern Indian state. They complain that a book on Hindi language alphabets for children aged 4 to 5 says that "B" stands for bomb and "Ch" for "Chaku" or knife. Pictures accompany the words. Ram Authar Dixit, president of the Parents-Student Welfare Association of Gurukul Academy in Uttar Pradesh state, said Sunday that the national education board was investigating how such a book was cleared for private nursery schools.

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RTE extended reach of primary education; absenteeism still high
The Indian Express, 30 April 2012

Post- independence the need for quality education in the country struck my father. Education, which was global in its dimension, inculcated scientific temper and yet, was founded on Indian culture and human values. This is what we sought to create. Wherein, there opportunities for every child’s personality to be actualised. In those days, particularly in northern India, there was a lack of schools. That is how the first Apeejay School came up in Jalandhar and we then took it forward with like-minded people.

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Bihar education minister not in favour of community college
The Times of India, 28 April 2012

PATNA: Bihar education minister P K Shahi has said that copying US experiment of community colleges in India was not practical. "It is not possible to open community colleges in India or make that provision in existing colleges which had been experimented in America," he said.

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Pratham Gala Raises $1.2 Million for Literacy in India
Indo American News, 26 April 2012

HOUSTON: Elegance and philanthropy were the hallmarks of the Pratham-Houston Gala 2012 when over 800 from this city’s diverse communities gathered at the Hilton Americas Hotel on April 21, to support the non-profit grass-roots organization’s literacy programs in India. The event themed We Are One World, chaired by Dr. Marie Goradia and Medha Karve, raised an unprecedented $1.2 million that will help educate over 60,000 underprivileged children and further Pratham’s vision of Every Child in School and Learning Well.

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On The Political Economy of Educational Vouchers
Authors: Epple, D. N and Romano, R

Abstract: Two significant challenges hamper analyses of collective choice of educational vouchers. One is the multi-dimensional choice set arising from the interdependence of the voucher, public education spending, and taxation. The other is that household preferences between public and private schooling vary with the policy chosen. Even absent a voucher, preferences over public spending are not single-peaked; a middling level of public school spending may be less attractive to a household than either high public school spending or private education coupled with low public spending. We show that Besley and Coate’s (1997) representative democracy provides a viable approach to overcome these hurdles. We provide a complete characterization of equilibrium with an endogenous voucher.

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Mumbai schools fail to give RTE data since 2010
It has been over two years since the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) was implemented by the state, but none of the city schools have submitted mandatory information to the education department to date. Click here to read more

The Recipe for a Failed Right to Education
Quality and quantity of education – starting from primary level to higher levels – have remained a challenging area in a nation like India. Click here to read more

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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