Anisha Gupta
Senior Communication Associate
School Choice Campaign
http://schoolchoice.in/campaign/campaign_updates.php
School Choice Campaign is directly addressing parents through mass outreach programmes and organising their inherent demand for school choice. We are also taking school choice ideas and ways to implement them to all levels of the government through our political outreach programmes. CCS is also initiating school choice projects to test and demonstrate the scope of school choice.
The latest from our State Campaigns:
Delhi
In Delhi, 2.5 lakh parents have signed the School Choice Campaign petition. Parents from 68 wards across 4 districts met with their local councillor and presented a petition demanding School Choice. We received 1.5 lakh applications from parents for 408 school vouchers. A public lottery led by the local ward councillor was held in 68 wards. CCS then held first-contact meetings with the selected parents in the four districts to reorient them and gather data to facilitate the voucher scheme. The Delhi School Voucher Project assures the selected parents school vouchers up to Rs. 300/- per month for 3 years that can be redeemed at any participating school of the parent’s choice.
Jharkhand
School Choice activists in Jharkhand held public gatherings and public hearings in various villages. They received tremendous response from parents with 76,000 parents signing a petition demanding school choice, which they later submitted to their elected councillors.
Orissa
CCS in association with Kalinga Centre for Social Development (KCSD) held a district consultation meeting with NGO’s and stakeholders in Mayurbhanj, Orissa on 5 June, 07 to discuss the relevance of school choice to Orissa. We launched the Orissa School Choice Campaign on 19 June ’07 in Bhubaneshwar.
Tamil Nadu
In Tamil Nadu we have partnered with Society for the Development of the Depressed. We kicked off the campaign in a Dalit colony in Nambedu, Chetpet block, Thiruvannamalai district. The response was fantastic. After our presentation to the audience, the panchayat leaders went back to Mr Manavalan (head of SDD) and wanted to take the ideas to other panchayats. On 11 June ‘07, we held a consultation workshop on “Education is your right and it is your choice†with East Coast Development Forum (ECDF) and National Advocacy Council for Development of Indigenous People (NAC-DIP) which was attended by over 57 participants.
Uttar Pradesh
We launched the Uttar Pradesh School Choice Campaign in Lucknow on 4 July 2007. The campaign will reach out to more than 1 crore parents across 30 districts including Kaushambi, Bhadohi, Jaunpur and Basraih amongst others. The campaign in UP will be a signature campaign followed by intensive social mobilisation at the village and taluka level. Local NGOs, Self-Help Groups, and volunteers will be the foot soldiers of our Uttar Pradesh campaign. The campaign will spread the message of school choice through cycle rallies, nukkad nataks and puppet shows.
For more information, please contact:
Anisha Gupta
Senior Communication Associate
School Choice Campaign
Phone: 011- 2653-7456 / 011-2652-1882
Fax: 011-2651-2347
Email: anisha@ccs.in