Minority + RTE = Chaos
Deccan Chronicle, 24 July 2012

BANGALORE: The obstacles in enforcing the Right to Education Act (RTE) seem unending. Just when things were beginning to fall into place a new row has broken out over the state government’s decision to give the minority tag under RTE only to educational institutions which admit 75 per cent of their students from the community concerned. With their hopes of escaping the RTE’s diktat on reserving 25 per cent of seats in elite schools for underprivileged children dashed, several schools have voiced strong opposition to such a definition of minority institutes claiming it is a threat to their constitutional rights.

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Poor response to Right to Education Act in Hubli
The Times of India, 19 July 2012

HUBLI: Education department of Karnataka has failed to take the benefit of Right to Education Act (RTE) to the doorstep of parents as there are no takers for seats under RTE quota in many schools in Hubli. Many schools have received only 2-3 applications from parents seeking seats under RTE quota while some schools did not even get any application for seat under RTE The poor response to the RTE quota worried the education department now.

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Access to education still a distant dream for Didoyis
The Hindu, 24 July 2012

Rangabayalu is one among the 10 homogenous villages in Munchingput mandal in the Eastern Ghats of Visakhapatnam district that are inhabited by a primitive tribal group by name Didoyi. Acute poverty deprives the village children, especially the girl child, of school education as they get involved in supporting the economic activity at home at a very early age. Well, that is only one side of the story. The paintings of M.K. Gandhi, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and B.R. Ambedkar adorn the outer wall of the school and the children have no idea about the personalities and their contribution to the nation, as there is no one to tell them. In every village, there is a primary school building, be it a pucca or a thatched one, which is supposed to cater to the needs of the students up to Standard V, but there are no permanent teachers. The teaching part is left to vidya volunteers who rarely visit the villages. The qualification of the volunteers is barely tenth pass and they lament that the salary comes once in three months. “There is hardly any enrolment or academic activity at the schools and hence there is no point calculating the dropout rate. The implementation of Right to Education Act seems to be a distant affair,” says Satya Pal from the Department of Anthropology, Andhra University.

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State-level advisory panel on RTE to be formed
Deccan Herald, 19 July 2012

A state-level advisory committee will soon be formed to ensure that private schools are not harassed by officials of the Department of Public Instruction in the name of implementation of the Right To Education (RTE) Act. The committee would have representatives of private school managements as well as government officials and educationists, Minister for Primary and Secondary, Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, told reporters here on Thursday evening after holding discussions with managements of private schools. According to Kageri, many issues with regard to RTE are to be clarified.

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Federation wants CCTVs in its schools
The Times of India, 22 July 2012

BANGALORE: After the controversy over alleged discrimination against RTE quota children in a private school in the city, state schools are getting extra cautious on the matter. In its latest meeting, the Karnataka State Private School Management Federation has advised all its member schools to install CCTVs and voice recorders in its entrances and office rooms. "Many schools have had bad experiences of self-proclaimed NGOs and activists barging in and manhandling school authorities. With the installation of CCTVs, one will get to know who is right and who is wrong. In case the school can afford, they can even put it up in classrooms," said Shashi Kumar D, organizing secretary.

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RTE gets overwhelming response in Indore district
The Times of India, 21 July 2012

INDORE: Right To Education ( RTE) has received overwhelming response this academic year. So far, 6,832 students from scheduled caste and tribes have been admitted in various private schools in Indore district. The admission process is open and details of vacant seats and respective schools have been glued at various public places in city including district education officer office.

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Enrolment in private schools better than govt ones: study
The Indian Express, 23 July 2012

While there has been an overall improvement in enrolment at the elementary level in the country during 2010-11, a study has said that enrolment in private schools especially has been better than the government ones. The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) prepared report said as far as composite educational development index (EDI) is concerned, Puducherry and Lakshadweep continued to remain among the top three states with Punjab coming at the third place.

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Government aided private schools in shambles
The Hindu, 22 July 2012

MADURAI: ‘Madurai City Middle School’ reads a name board over a narrow lane flanking a fish stall at Ansari Nagar Fourth Street in Mahaboobpalayam in Madurai. A few steps down the lane lead to a classroom which almost resembles a prison cell. It neither has windows nor furniture. Its occupants, students of Standard IV, squat on the floor jostling for space with their bags and books and they take in light and air through two grilled iron gates of which one is left open during class hours.

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School choice should not be just for special needs students
The Examiner, 23 July 2012

Those who read The Examiner's July 16 cover story, "DCPS forcing special needs kids into unfit public schools," might not realize that approximately the same number of students in D.C. attend private schools using school vouchers as attend private schools through placements due to a severe learning disability. Both programs ostensibly serve the same goals -- allowing private providers to meet the needs of D.C. students whom the public sector cannot educate to the standards of parents or federal law. Yet these two programs could not be treated more differently.

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Moving High-Performing Teachers: Implementation of Transfer Incentives in Seven Districts
Authors: Steven Glazerman, Ali Protik, Bing-ru Teh, Julie Bruch, Neil Seftor

Abstract: There is growing concern that the nation’s most effective teachers are not working in the schools with the most disadvantaged students (Goldhaber 2008; Peske and Haycock 2006; Tennessee Department of Education 2007; Sass et al. 2010; Glazerman and Max 2011). This report describes the implementation and intermediate impacts of an intervention designed to provide incentives for a school district’s highest-performing teachers to work in its lowest-achieving schools.

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SCHOOL CHOICE NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Delivering Education: From Policy to Practice

04 December 2012
The Theatre, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India

Save the Date!

Our teachers need a good education
We need high quality teacher educators. The vicious cycle of poor quality in-service teacher development begins with the absence of high quality teacher educators. Click here to read more

Engineering a change
An industry-institute survey initiated by the AICTE, in collaboration with the CII, aims to showcase the best practices in AICTE-approved institutes. Click here to know more

India's online education market size to be $40 billion by 2017
India's online education market size is set to grow to $ 40 billion by 2017 from the present $ 20 billion. Click here to learn 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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