Policy Brief on RTE Reservation
AI Policy Briefs, June 2012

The RTE Act mandates a minimum of 25% reservation for disadvantaged groups and economically weaker sections in private unaided schools. This Brief analyses the key provisions for the policy's implementation in the PAISA states.

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Free Bicycles Help Keep Indian Girls in School
ABC News, 21 May 2012

The daily trip to high school was expensive, long and eventually, too much for Indian teenager Nahid Farzana, who decided she was going to drop out. Then, the state government gave her a bicycle. Two years later, she is about to graduate from high school and wants to be a teacher. The eastern state of Bihar has been so successful at keeping teenage girls in school, the bike giveaways have spread to neighboring states. Now the Indian government wants to expand it across the country in hopes it might help improve female literacy. Before starting the program in 2007, officials in Bihar, one of India’s poorest and least developed states, despaired over how to educate the state’s females, whose literacy rate of 53 percent is more than 20 points below that of its males.

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Notice to govt on RTE income limit
The Times of India, 10 Aug 2012

BANGALORE: A division bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen of the Karnataka High Court on Thursday ordered notice to the state government with regard to a PIL challenging income limit fixed with regard to the disadvantaged class and also certain provisions of the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012. K Nagesh and two other students from Mysore challenged the May 8, 2012 notification in which the income limit for parents and guardians was fixed at Rs 3.5 lakh per annum for them to be considered under the disadvantaged group.

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Govt clears air over RTE, says ‘no-fail’ misinterpreted
The Times of India, 01 Aug 2012

MUMBAI: Two years after the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, confusion among schools and parents over its nuances forced the education department to clear the air. "The RTE Act clearly states that no board exams can be conducted till class VIII, school exams were never mentioned in the Act," said Sanjay Deshmukh, director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The SSA held meetings with school principals and at the same time, issued circulars to explain various aspects of the Act.

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HC issues notices to officials over RTE rule on income
DNA India, 10 Aug 2012

The high court, on Thursday, issued notices to the special officer and undersecretary to the education department over the income ceiling for free seats in schools for poor students under Right to Education Act (RTE). Petitioner K Nagesh and two others had challenged the RTE rule of fixing the maximum income ceiling at `30,000 per month for getting free seats for general category students ofeconomically weaker sections.

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RTE helpline connected well with people: Official
DNA India, 09 Aug 2012

The Right to Education (RTE) cell has claimed that the toll-free helpline to answer queries about the Act has been well received by the public. The cell, a part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), was initiated by the state government at the beginning of this academic year to ensure a smooth implementation of the Act. The Act states that 25% of admission at private unaided schools (with the exception of private unaided minority schools) should be given free of cost to children hailing from underprivileged sections of society. However, the Act evoked a lukewarm reception in the state as lots of the free seats, meant for poor students, were not filled.

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RTE-mandated child rights body in a month
The Hindu, 09 Aug 2012

The commission will have a chairperson and six members, of which at least two will be women. After almost four months since the State government constituted a three-member committee to identify members for the Tamil Nadu Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the body will be set up in a month’s time. The setting up of the Commission has been mandated by the Right to Education Act, 2009, and will serve as a crucial link in monitoring and taking up complaints with regard to its implementation.

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RTE covers even partially funded schools
Times of India, 07 Aug 2012

NAGPUR: In a major decision taken on Monday, the local education department has ruled that schools receiving government aid even partially cannot escape the Right to Education (RTE) ambit. The RTE excludes minority schools that do not receive grants from government. Since many minority schools in the city receive grants from Std V onwards, they claimed exemption because RTE admissions have to be done at entry level only (Std I or earlier). This decision was the result of a complaint filed by some parents against JN Tata Parsi Girls School after being refused admission under the 25% free RTE quota. Someshwar Netam, district in charge of RTE, said, "The law clearly says even if the schools receive partial funding, RTE is applicable. I have dispatched a written order to the school with this decision and have asked them to give admission to the complainant."

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RTE in shambles in Lohardaga district
Daily Pioneer, 04 Aug 2012

It seems that the human resource development department is not serious about proper implementation of the Right to Education Act (RTE) in Lohardaga. For one, most of its schools defy RTE norms, with inadequate number of teachers. On top of that, the department has still not provided payment to private schools that follow the RTE norms in free enrolment of 25 per cent poor children. According to RTE guidelines, the Government has to bear the cost of these students.

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The effect of education on migration: evidence from school reform
Authors: Petri Böckerman and Mika Petteri Haapanen

Abstract: In the 1990s polytechnic education reform took place in Finland, which gradually expanded higher education to all Finnish regions; the polytechnics constituted a new non-university sector in higher education. This reform is used to study the causal effect of education on the inter-regional migration. First we consider the impact of the reform on the migration of graduating high school students, followed by an investigation of school-to-work migration. Instrumental variables estimators are implemented that exploit the exogenous variation in the local supply of polytechnic education. Large panel micro-data are used.

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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!

Is Reading a Civil Right?
If want to read something that will make you gasp out loud, check out the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit filed last week against Michigan's Highland Park School District and the state entities that support it. ACLU sued the district and the state for failing to teach kids in the Detroit-area district to read. "The thing I whis this govern could do for my school is fix our bathroom," wrote one unnamed eighth grader who is a plaintiff in the case.Click here to learn more

Jindal’s voucher program called ‘bad for religious freedom’ by Interfaith Alliance
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is getting new pushback on his school voucher program, which is now the biggest in the country. Opposition is coming from the Interfaith Alliance, a national, nonpartisan grassroots and educational organization based in Washington that has 185,000 members nationwide made up of 75 faith traditions as well as those of no faith tradition. Click here to learn more

Religion Ruins Education Again. This Time in Missouri
Last week, Amendment 2 passed the Missouri state legislature. Otherwise known as the “right to pray” amendment, the proponents of the ballot measure claim that it’s necessary to protect the rights of Christians in the state by ensuring that children can express their beliefs in school and permit state-funded schools to display the Bill of Rights. 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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