Month on, no books, uniforms for many govt school students
Indian Express, 05 May 2012

Chandigarh: Even a month after the beginning of the new academic session, a number of students in city government schools are yet to receive textbooks. Reason: The UT Education Department has failed to provide books at one of the two centers set up for distribution of books. As per the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, all the government school students are entitled to receive free books and uniforms upto Class VIII.

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318 RTE seats still lying unclaimed in 30 pvt schools
The Financial Express, 07 May 2012

Chandigarh: As many as 318 seats reserved under the Right to Education (RTE) Act for children from economically weaker sections (EWS) are still lying vacant across private schools in the city. Last month, the UT Education Department had sought applications for these seats lying unclaimed in 30 private schools. However, not even a single EWS candidate has been admitted to the reserved seats in any of these schools in the last one month.

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Plug loopholes in proposed law on Right to Education, have private partnership model
The Economic Times, 07 May 2012

The last two decades have seen paradigmatic transformations at many levels in India. Rapid growth has unleashed the aspirations of millions who were erstwhile dependent on state handouts. Desirous of a better future for their progeny, even poor parents have started allocating a larger share towards education in their budgets. For many households, the principal motivation of savings is, interestingly, not for medical emergency or old age security as one might have expected, but to be able to afford education for their children.

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Successful education initiative featured
New Straits Times, 07 May 2012

WASHINGTON: Malaysia's successful transnational higher education initiative led by private colleges and universities was featured at the International Education Summit held here on the occasion of the G8 summit, Deputy Director-General of Higher Education Datin Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir said here Sunday.

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Tendentious arguments against Right to Education Act
Business Line, 06 May 2012

It's the strangest of debates. Private schools are up in arms against the Supreme Court order upholding the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009. What are their objections? First, non-minority private unaided schools feel they have got a raw deal. They will have to provide free education to 25 per cent of their students, admitted from economically weaker sections, while unaided minority schools have been exempt from this obligation.

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Queries on quota flood RTE helpline
The Hindu, 07 May 2012

The Right to Education (RTE) Act may address a whole range of issues, including school infrastructure, quality of teachers and teacher pupil ratio, but the spotlight continues to be on the clause on 25 per cent reservation of seats. The RTE Act help desk in Chennai (044 - 28278742) is receiving at least 10 to 15 calls every day, and most of them are to do with the reservation in schools.

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Barefoot: Still under siege
The Hindu, 05 May 2012

For millennia, communities consigned to manual work by India's caste system were relentlessly barred from education. Free India's great experiment with republican democracy was expected to end this age-old educational blockade, by opening the doors of schools for the first time to children from oppressed communities. And yet, educational apartheid endures in stubborn new forms in independent India. Every child has a legal right to schooling, but a child's birth determines what kind of school she can enter.

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Making lemonade from lemons – The RTE edition
Livemint, 02 May 2012

Education consultant Lawrence Uzzell had pointed out that school reformers throughout the world can be broadly grouped into two groups – neo-pluralists and neo-centralists. The neo-pluralists believe in allowing various pedagogies, teacher arrangements, profit- and non-profit governance models, and different social contexts for the children. The neo-centralists, on the other hand, push for the homogenizing of schooling in the name of socio-economic solidarity and prioritize the state’s preferences over that of the parents and the child.

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Positive but also negative effects of ethnic diversity in schools on educational performance? An empirical test using PISA data
Authors: J. Dronkers and Rolf van der Velden

Abstract: We will use the cross-national Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 data for native students and students with an immigrant background, in which both cohorts are 15 years old. A greater ethnic diversity of school populations in secondary education hampers the educational performance of students with an immigrant background but does not significantly affect that of native students. The socio-cultural diversity of schools has no effect on educational performance.

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25% Reservation: A perception study on its implementation and impact
Indian Government has finally acknowledged the role of the private sector in providing Education for All. Click here to read more

More than 60 million pre-primary children waiting for the system to respond
But most children enter grade one with almost no pre-schooling and here lies the learning gap, which is reflected every year in Pratham’s ASER survey. 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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