School Choice Campaign: Improving Access to Quality Education

WORKSHOP ON EDUCATION VOUCHERS FOR GYANODAYA AND SHIKSHAK KA APNA SCHOOL FOR THE RAJASTHAN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

CCS conducted a one day interactive workshop on 30 July 2008 for the Rajasthan Education Department on Education Vouchers in the context of the Gyanodaya and Shikshak Ka Apna School schemes launched by the Government of Rajasthan in its 2008-2009 Budget. Amongst the participants were Shri Sudhir Bhargava, Principal Secretary-School Education, Srimati Veenu Gupta, Secretary, School Education, Government of Rajasthan, various District Education Officers (DEOs) and heads of key NGOs working on education like UNICEF.

Centre for Civil Society (CCS), soon to become the Knowledge Partner of the Rajasthan Government in its voucher initiative, will share its research findings with the government and offer technical expertise in the implementation of these two new schemes.

The School Choice Campaign has initiated positive dialogues with the governments of Andra Pradesh and Uttarakhand to introduce School Choice as an innovative and viable solution for the problems we are facing in our attempt to educate all children in India.

The Government of Rajasthan has devised two schemes—Gyanodaya and Shikshak ka Apna Vidyalaya—to tackle the problems of trained teacher unemployment, lack of access to schools for children in tribal and mining belts and increased need for secondary schools. Uttarakhand devised a scheme called Pahal to successfully bring ragpicker children of Dehradun into mainstream education. The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to provide poor children from standards 1-8 with educational vouchers that will cover the cost of their entire schooling. The project will be implemented in those areas where the total population is 300 with no primary schools within a kilometer.

CCS has started the Art Venture Projects in Orissa and Rajasthan. Street theatre groups will perform in 8 districts in Orissa and 13 districts in Rajasthan propagating school choice ideas creating awareness through the medium of street theatre amongst the general masses.

CCS filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court on March 7, 2008 bringing the court's attention to the inequitable funding in the schools of the Delhi government. CCS' counsel argued that there was huge variation across schools when it came to government expenditure on a per pupil basis. The per pupil expenditure in some schools was as low as Rs. 830 per year while in other schools it went up to Rs. 40,000 for the same year. The PIL was backed by data obtained through the Right to Information Act, 2005 from the Education Department of the Delhi government. The court admitted the PIL and issued notices to the Delhi government.

CCS has helped with expertise and resources Mr Napolean, a lawyer from Orissa who is fighting for the right to education of the 9000 out of school children in the Salia Sahi Slum in Buwaneshwar to file a PIL in Bhubaneshwar.

 Developing New Leaders by Awakening Youth

On 17 July, 40 participants composed of Senior Friends of Freedom (FOF) members and newly joined members gathered at the Public Library Hall in Malvinagar, Jaipur to understand about youth, choices and livelihood. Apart from young and enthusiastic students there were other NGO and media people present. Most of the sessions were informative, interactive and appreciated by the participants.The focus of NGOs and Media was more on School Choice Campaign. The program had many resource people which include Dr R. S. Bareth from Rajasthan University, Mr B. L. Bajaj a former civil servant, Mr Baladevan from Centre for Civil Society (CCS) and Dr. Benugopal Mukhopadhay of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Manoj Mathew and Raunak Ahmad from CCS conducted various sessions to identify the key concerns of the students.

A group of 14 Australian Volunteers from Oaktree Foundation on 13th July attended a day program organised by CCS. The major attraction was School Choice Campaign and educational policy and its impact on primary education in India. Screening of Jeevika Documentary 'Bagar Baccha' followed by a discussion was highly appreciated by the participants. One-on-one interaction of participants with beneficiaries of school voucher provided them with a clear picture and valuable information.

The Research Internship Program Researching Reality from 12 May - 12 July 2008 provided 17 interns greatly valued and needed learning experience in real-life application of social and economic principles and in teaching college students the skills of research, analysis, writing and above all critical thinking. 16 interns completed their research papers on various governance and education issues. This year we received 183 applications from India and abroad!

CCS and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) co-organised the book launch on 31 July for the release of consulting editor of The Economic Times Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar's book 'Escape from the Benevolent Zookeepers - The Best of Swaminomics. Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and former Indian Finance Minister Jaswant Singh were the key speakers present.The function was also addressed by Mr. Gurcharan Das, former MD, Procter & Gamble Worldwide & Management Consultant; Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI and Dr. Parth J Shah, President, Centre for Civil Society.

The four-day South Asia Documentary Film Festival – Jeevika 2008 was held at the India Habitat Centre from 28-31 August. The opening ceremony on 28 August was dedicated to a land popularly known as Shangri-La (paradise on earth) – TIBET and was graced by Mr Tempa Tsering, Official representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the Chief Guest. Tribute to Life, a CCS produced documentary by filmmaker Neil Kartik was screened during the event which also showcased an enthralling dance performance by Tibetan school students. This year we received 101 documentaries from over five countries. 17 films were short listed by a screening committee and jury members, comprising of reputed names from various sectors. The 17 short listed films were screened at IHC on 29 and 30 August followed by panel discussions wherein the audience addressed several queries to the filmmakers. The premier event of the festival was the awards ceremony on 31 August 2008. Mr. Tarun J Tejpal Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Tehelka was the Chief Guest at the event. The keynote address was delivered by Padma Shree 2008 Recipient Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). A musical performance by 'EkamSatyam' and a theatre play by Asmita Theatre Group were also showcased during the event.

JEEVIKA WINNERS 2008

· 1st prize: Chilika Bank$ by Akansha Joshi, Prize Money: Rs 50,000

· 2nd prize: Laxmi and Me by Nishtha Jain, Prize Money: Rs 35,000

· 3rd prize: Hollow Cylinder by Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl, Prize Money: 25,000

· Jeevika Rotary Students Award: What is the point of Stories if they aren't even true? By Aditi Banerjee, Prize Money: 10,000

· Special Jury Award: Hearts Suspended by Meghna Damani

A CCS production documentary by filmmaker Kapilas Bhuyan 'Jatra Jeevan Jeevan Yatra' bagged the National Award for best non-fiction film in art/culture category on 2 September 2008.

Dr Parth Shah, President, CCS urged the Nigerian government to de-emphasise the current system of funding education and embrace the voucher system of funding at a roundtable organised by Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA) in Lagos, themed: Qualitative Education: Lessons from India on 25 June 2008. IPPA Executive Director, Thompson Ayodele, while suggesting critical analyses of challenges facing education and exploration of ideas on how to solve them, urged the government to try the new innovation in education funding, as suggested by Dr Shah.

Shahana Sheikh, final year economics student of Lady Sri Ram College was recently in the news for her internship paper for the Centre for Civil Society on "Public toilets in Delhi-with emphasis on facilities for women in slum and resettlement areas". Her paper will now have to be read word for word by the MCD as per a Delhi High Court directive. Shahana was present in court in August 2008 along with the petitioner advocate, Mr. Ashok Agarwal, who filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

 Announcements

• I SOCIETY AND PUBLIC POLICY (ISPP) SEMINAR:
  Kolkata, 25-28 Sept.
  Delhi, 02-05 Oct.
  Ranchi, 17-20 Oct.
  Kottayam, 06-09 Nov.
  Bangalore, 27-30 Nov.
  Pune, 18-21 Dec.
• CULMINATION EVENT FOR THE FIRST PHASE OF SCHOOL CHOICE CAMPAIGN: The culmination event for the first phase of the School Choice mass campaign, which focused primarily on generating awareness and collecting signatures, will be held in September in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh and on 3 October in Ranchi, Jharkhand. These events will also symbolize the launch of the second phase of the campaign, which will focus largely on advocating school choice ideas with policy makers to find suitable solutions for existing problems in the education sector.
• CONSULTATION WORKSHOP IN BHUBANESHWAR, ORISSA: A Consultation Workshop on Innovative Solutions for Schooling Problems in Difficult to Reach Areas will be organized by the Human Development Foundation of Bhubaneshwar in the second week of September. The consultation will be between CCS and SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan), Education Department and other stake holders.
• Student First! Read the latest newsletter with articles and update of the CCS School Choice Campaign.
• Careers at CCS We offer challenging opportunities in a unique and vibrant work environment.

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