CCS Top 8 Think Tank in Asia

CCS’s work in the past eleven years has manifested in several recognitions and awards. It gives us great pleasure to share with you that CCS ranks No 8 in the Top 25 Think Tanks in Asia in 2008, according to a report released by the International Relations Program, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia.
SCHOOL CHOICE CAMPAIGN: RIGHT TO EDUCATION OF CHOICE

Delhi Voucher Project: First Assessment Report

SCC organized The Case for Right to Education of Choice: Key Findings from the Delhi Voucher Project to officially release the Delhi Voucher Project: First Assessment Report at the India Islamic Cultural Centre on 19 February 2009. The report was released by Hon’ble Education Minister of Delhi, Mr Arvinder Singh Lovely in the presence of the media, voucher school principals, noted academicians, SCC supporters and relevant members of the Delhi state government.

(L-R) Baladevan R, Dr. Parth J Shah,

Arvinder Singh Lovely, Prof. PV Indiresan

“The improvement experienced by government schools is largely because of good officials, we don’t know how long this will last. The Voucher idea is very good. In the future, students will have to be funded instead of schools. The Delhi government will use the voucher idea soon to help poor parents to cope with increase in fees as a result of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.” said Hon’ble Minister Lovely.

 

Dr Parth J Shah, President, CCS made a presentation on the School Choice Campaign and the Delhi Voucher Project, Mr Alok Srivastava, Research Director of CMS Social at Centre for Media Studies made a presentation on the key findings of the Delhi Voucher Project and Former Director of IIT Madras and School Choice Ambassador Prof P V Indiresan spoke about the great potential of vouchers in ensuring accountability. Presenting the voucher school principals perspective on School Choice were Mr V K Puri, Principal, Shishu Mangal Public School and Mr Ramswaroop Sharma, Principal, Sharda Vidya Kendra.

As part of our Delhi campaign, SCC and Shiksha, a renowned NGO, collected 2, 80, 000 signature petitions from parents demanding school choice from 68 wards of Delhi in 2007. These petitions were also presented to the Hon’ble Minister requesting him to act upon the demand from the people.

 

The report is available at http://www.schoolchoice.in/events/DVPFirstAssessmentReport.pdf

Delhi School Voucher Principals Forums organized

Two ‘Delhi School Voucher Principals Forums’ were organized on 5 and 10 February 2009 to bring school principals under the umbrella of the School Choice Alliance. The events saw participation from nearly twenty school principals across Central, West and East Delhi. All participating principals expressed a desire to come together in order to present a collective voice that will bring the concerns of private budget schools to the attention of the Delhi Government. In addition, all principals pledged support for the School Choice Campaign.

 

Other school principals interested in joining the School Choice Alliance may contact Manu at manu@ccs.in

Action for School Admission Reforms (ASAR) Launched

The School Choice Campaign and www.nurseryadmissions.com launched a new initiative, Action for School Admission Reforms (ASAR) to help parents and concerned others tackle the undue stress imposed upon them during the admission season by schools with myopic viewpoints. ASAR is a helpdesk for parents to lodge complaints, even anonymously, against unscrupulous schools through dedicated helpline numbers, email and websites www.schoolchoice.in and www.nurseryadmissions.com. All complaints are forwarded to the DoE at regular intervals to build pressure upon it to take necessary action against the schools.

 

For details on ASAR log on to: http://www.schoolchoice.in/nurseryadmission/

CCS wins PIL on School Admission in Delhi High Court

The government of Delhi issued a circular to the schools, giving guidelines for carrying out the admissions. In the matter of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Centre for Civil Society seeking the Court’s intervention to ensure compliance by schools of the government regulations for nursery admissions, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi has passed an order agreeing with the contentions of the petitioner.

Street Theatre advocacy for School Choice

School Choice Campaign and Art Venture have jointly organized street plays advocating School Choice philosophy to the people in eight districts of Orissa and 13 districts of Rajasthan. Each district has witnessed 15 street theatre performances. These performances have drawn large audiences, thereby taking School Choice ideas closer to the people and local government leaders.

 

For details log on to http://schoolchoice.in/events/200810_artventure.php

Successful meeting with the Delhi Education Minister

Parth J Shah, President, CCS and Baladevan R, Associate Director, SCC met with the Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely to discuss education reform ideas and suggestions mainly for the underprivileged and underserved sections of our society. The minister expressed the desire that School Choice should provide recommendations for reforms in nursery admissions and was supportive of other ideas discussed in the meeting. SCC is planning various projects for the State government as part of our initiative to improve quality educational opportunities for all children in Delhi.

SCC  Media Outreach Programs

The past quarter has seen a huge increase in our media visibility, and publicity through print, electronic, radio and website has become an integral part of our project design and planning. We have had over 25 media coverage in leading national dailies, television channels and radio in the past couple of month in Delhi alone. Parth J Shah, President CCS and Baladevan R, Associate Director, SCC have been invited as guest speakers on various programs on NDTV, Lok Sabha Channel, DD News, CNN IBN, NDTV Metronation, ZEE, and Air Rainbow respectively. Hindustan Times carried an exclusive on the Delhi Voucher Project.

 

For media enquiries contact Baishali at baishali@ccs.in

School Choice Campaign’s Current Initiatives

In the lead up to this year's Lok Sabha elections, the School Choice team has been advocating our ideas to representatives across the political spectrum. Information on School Choice ideas and their implementation has already been sent to over 130 sitting Members of Parliament. In addition, targeted initiatives have been launched to reach out to all potential candidates in Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. The School Choice team has also planned to attend election campaign events in Delhi and Jharkhand to spread awareness of the School Choice Campaign among the electorate.

 

Through direct engagement, media outreach programs and voter insistence, School Choice ideas will be brought to the fore of the electioneering process in April and May 2009.

 

If you want to support our advocacy campaign contact Manu at manu@ccs.in

CCS Suggestions on the RTE Bill 2008

Centre for Civil Society proposed 6 short changes in the current Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2008. The suggestions were circulated widely to the media, development organizations, various ministries including the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Chambers of Commerce and individual activists.

 

For further details http://www.schoolchoice.in/suggestionsforrtebill2008.php

Presentation on SCC in Bhubaneswor

Baladevan R, Associate Director made a presentation on the School Choice Campaign on the occasion of the 5th Odiya Prabasi Diwas on 21 December 08 in the presence of several ministers and experts from the health, education, environment and tourism sectors. School Choice ideas on various ways to develop Orissa’s social infrastructure were presented before the government and the non resident Odiyas.

School Choice Research for Advocacy in Orissa

Our various experts have completed their research papers on Financing Elementary Education in Orissa - Per Child Cost, Increasing Access to Early Schooling for the Underprivileged and Standards for A School Towards Quality Education.
Developing New Leaders by Awakening Youth

I, Society & Public Policy (ISPP) Seminars, Bangalore, Pune and Delhi

ISPP in Bangalore was organised at Fireflies from 27-30 November 2008. 32 participants from 14 colleges and 13 cities attended the seminar. We had five guest speakers in the seminar besides CCS faculties Dr Parth J. Shah, Mr Manoj Mathew and local coordinator Ms Meghna Singh. The various topics discussed during interactive lectures included ‘Governance Reforms in India in the context of Globalisation’ by Prof Chiranjib Sen, IIM Bangalore, ‘Urban Reforms: Need of the progressive India’ by Mr Kersi Wadia, Janaagraha, ‘Youth and Politics’ by Mr Jasmine Shah, Jaagore Campaign, ‘Current Financial Crisis’ by Mr M R Venkatesh, Commentator on International Trade and Economic Affairs and ‘Access to Justice for the Poor and the Disadvantaged’ by Prof Anil Suraj-IIM-Bangalore. The participants also had a chance to watch several top documentaries on livelihood and spent an afternoon interacting with villagers during our research reality visit.

ISPP in Pune was organized in J.P Naik Institute of Education from 18-27 December, 2008. We had 25 participants from 14 colleges and 15 cities representing 10 states. Five guest speakers at the seminar were Retd. Col D V R Rao who spoke on ‘National Security’, Ms Neema Pathak from an NGO Kalpvriksha who shared her ideas on ‘Forest Rights Bill’, Mr Vikas Mathkari, the leader of opposition in Pune Municipal Corporation who conducted a session on ‘Municipal Reform’, Mr. Ranjit Gadgil, Program Director, Janwani and Lead India finalist who spoke on ‘Youth & Politics’, and Mr Kaushik Shekhar, Jaago Re: One Billion Campaign who talked about youth participation in democracy besides CCS faculties Dr Parth J. Shah, Ms Swati Chawla and Mr Amit Chandra.

ISPP in Delhi was organised in Navinta, Jamia Nagar from 29 January-1 February 2009. 34 students representing 26 colleges from Delhi, Aligarh, Kolkata, Noida, Ludhiana, Kathmandu, Ahmedabad and Varanasi participated in the seminar. We had four guest speakers in the seminar apart from CCS faculties Dr Parth J Shah, Ms Swati Chawla, Mr Baladevan R and Ms Anutasha Chakravarti. Mr Pavan Ahluwalia, a fund manager based in Delhi conducted a session on ‘Secularism’, Ms Shonali Aggarwal from Jaago Re gave a presentation about the campaign, Mr Prashant Narang spoke about RTI and Ms Shahana Sheikh, CCS research graduate from Lady Shri Ram College made a brief presentation on ‘Researching Reality’.

Advance Liberty for Change Seminar (ALCS), Delhi

A four-day advanced level residential seminar for graduates of previous CCS programs was organised from 3-6 January 2009 at Don Bosco Specialized Training Centre in Okhla. The seminar attracted 19 participants from 16 colleges across the country. Interactive sessions from guest speakers included: ‘Police Reforms’ by Sachin Shridhar, retired IPS Officer, ‘Judicial Reforms’ by Advocate Prashant Bhushan, ‘Rule of Law, Property Rights and Torts’ by Vikramjit Banerjee, Lawyer, discussion on ‘Hollow Cylinder’ by filmmaker Kavita Bahl, ‘Free Banking’ by Prof Lawrence H White, St. Louis Economics Department in United States, and ‘Friendships and Commercial Societies’ by Prof Neera Badhwar, University of Oklahoma, USA. The participants also attended a seminar on ‘Administrative Reforms and Ethics in Governance’ organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The key success of the seminar was formulation of CCS Café, designed by Mr Manoj Mathew on the model of the World Café, a methodology enabling hosting conversations on thematic areas of education, gender and sexuality, environment, governance and financial crisis.

Communicating Freedom Workshop, Delhi

Communicating Freedom Workshop, a skill based training program for CCS graduates was organized from 19-22 February 2009 at Don Bosco Specialized Training Centre in Okhla, Delhi. We had 25 participants from 18 colleges representing 18 cities and 9 states. For the very first time we had 15 guest speakers on various topics like Public Speaking,  Importance of Volunteers, Art of Writing, Strategic Planning, Advocacy and Lobbying, Fund Raising and New Media. The graduates have created a plan of action, which they will be working on in the coming days.

For further information: www.cfw2009wordpress.com

Initiatives by CCS Graduates

Screening and Lecture on Domestic Worker’s Life

Parveen Kumar organised the screening and discussion on the Jeevika 2008 award winning documentary ‘Lakshmi & Me’ on 12 December 2008 to first and second year BBM students and on 6 February 2009 to third year B.Com students at St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore.

 

Knowledge Partner in Keshav Mahavidyalay's Annual Corporate Event

Nitish Bhardwaj involved CCS as knowledge partners for his college (Keshav Mahavidyalay, Delhi) Annual Corporate Event ‘Cognizance 2009’. CCS faculty members participated as resource person in the seminars and workshops for the two day event held on 5-6 February 2009 which attracted hundred of students.

 

Discussion from a Legal Perspective on the Future of Bamboo

Prashant Narang screened award winning Jeevika documentary ‘Hollow Cylinder’ at a seminar at Campus Law Centre, Delhi on 7 March 2009 which was followed by an open floor discussion facilitated by his professor

 

Thirteen Action Oriented Projects Developed

At the Communicating Freedom Workshop in Delhi, the participants developed 13 projects, of which three projects have been provided immediate funding. This has motivated the students to take their ideas forward and has facilitated the progress of their projects.

For further information: www.cfw2009.wordpress.com

CCS Joins SRCC Annual Economics Magazine

As part of our support to colleges of the Delhi University (DU), CCS sponsored the Annual Economics Magazine of Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) 'Artha' this year. It is one of the top economics programs and its magazine has a great reputation. As part of the sponsorship three articles from CCS scholars, four original CCS papers and articles and a CCS youth planner highlighting our events, programs and opportunities were printed in the magazine. 

Removing barriers to livelihood

Livelihood Regulations Study released

Press conferences were organised to release a study on Livelihood regulations and entry-level barriers in the informal sector in Pune on 22 December 2008, Cochin and Bhubaneshwar on 29 December 08 and in Delhi on 24 February 2009. The study was conducted by CCS in partnership with Centre for Public Policy Research and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust in 63 cities, including Delhi. The purpose of the study aimed at unveiling laws applicable to entry-level professions like cycle-rickshaw pullers, mobile and stationery street vendors, butchers, vegetable-sellers, and to document them with the effort to create public attention to issues faced by common poor citizen of India.

 

For complete data log on to www.livelihoodfreedom.in.

Jeevika at American Centre

On 13 December 2008, Saturday Cinema Film Focus: Sustainable Livelihood at American Center showcased the best of the Jeevika South Asia Livelihood Documentaries along with American films on livelihood freedom.  Jeevika films screened at the Centre included ‘Hollow Cylinder’, ‘Hearts Suspended’, ‘Lakshmi and Me’ and ‘Rainmakers: Victor Gotti Cherry in New York.’

Jeevika Festival in Bangalore

Meghna Singh and Minkul Tekwani in collaboration with the Bangalore Film Society screened 14 Jeevika 08 documentaries on 14 and 15 March 2009 at Aashirwad. It attracted many members of the film society and students in Bangalore.

3rd Annual International Property Rights Index (IPRI) Released

Centre for Civil Society announced the release of the 2009 International Property Rights Index (IPRI) on 24 February 09, which measures 115 countries on the significance of both physical and intellectual property rights and their protection for economic well-being.  Fifty-three organizations from six continents, including Centre for Civil Society, partnered with Property Rights Alliance in Washington, DC and its Hernando de Soto Fellowship program to disseminate the report.

The complete report is available at www.InternationalPropertyRightsIndex.org
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