A panel discussion on the recent legislation of the RTE Bill 2009 in Delhi

Education is recognized as an intrinsic vehicle for rapid economic and social development the world over and as a fundamental right cannot be denied in any democratic society. The Indian Government's historic legislation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill has met with many speculations. While some point out the positive implications of the Bill, many still believe that the it lacks essential components of quality education, as has been pointed out by several commentators—lack of focus on learning achievement instead of just inputs, treating schools for the poor (government schools) unequally with the schools of the rich (private schools) in terms of infrastructure requirements and recognition process, and not empowering the School Management Committee to manage school finances and functionaries, to cite just three.

Join Mr Sam Carlson and Ms G Syamala in an interactive open forum discussion on The Right to Education: Will it be enough? on Wednesday, 9 September from 6.30 – 8.00 PM, Casuarina Hall, India Habitat Centre.

Speakers:
Sam Carlson is the Lead Education Specialist with World Bank (New Delhi office). Mr Carlson has worked on improving education systems in developing countries for over fifteen years.

G Syamala is the Executive Director of Action for Ability Development and Inclusion. Ms Syamala has worked with various government agencies, such as the Planning Commission, to lobby for the rights of persons with disabilities.

STUDENT FIRST! Dialogue Series on Quality Education for All is a monthly forum for debate by the nation’s foremost experts on national education policies and solutions to problems of quality in the education sector. The series, a joint initiative of the School Choice Campaign and India Habitat Centre will usher, for the first time in the country, a sustained constructive collaboration of ideas between the policy makers, leading economists, school leaders and other key stakeholders like parents, educationists, civil society bodies, NGOs working on education and the youth.

For details on the previous dialogues please log onto http://schoolchoice.in/sfdialogue/index.php

About the School Choice Campaign
School Choice Campaign seeks to achieve Right to Education of Choice for All. We believe that while the government has a constitutional mandate to educate every child, it cannot accomplish this task by building more government schools. It has to remain a sponsor and facilitator, and let edupreneurs execute the task of delivering the service. This will bring choice of schools even to the poor while improving the quality of education delivered through competition. Thus our slogan “Fund Students, Not Schools”.(EOM)