I mproving Access to Quality Education 

CCS' tribute to Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist whose passion for individual liberty has influenced numerous lives, died on November 16, at age of 94. Friedman's reasoned case for unfettered free market has transformed the minds of leaders, entrepreneurs and students across the world. CCS president Parth J Shah writes in honour of the great visionary.

School choice for the poor through education vouchers is one of the most radical and original ideas of Friedman. As a tribute, CCS will run a year long Campaign for School Choice to achieve 5 goals.

Milton Friedman

Goals for the Campaign for School Choice:  

• At least 50% of parents with children in state schools should know the ideas of school choice.

• All state education ministers and secretaries should be briefed about school choice individually or in groups.  

• All elected representatives across all levels of the government (Members of Parliament, Legislative Assemblies, Corporations, and Village Panchayats) should receive persuasive material on the ideas of school choice and specific ways to implement them.  

• At least 1912 of the elected representatives should receive a delegation of citizens demanding school choice.  

• Establish or help establish at least 5 projects (including changes in education policies) that demonstrate the power of choice in school education. One of the projects would be a private school choice fund that would support at least 9400 students until they graduate from school.

The poor willing to pay more for private education: CCS-AC Nielsen Survey  

The Education for the Poor survey conducted by CCS with AC Nielsen ORG MARG has revealed that Government school education is valued at less than 1/8th of what it costs the exchequer. According to the survey, 28% of poor consumers expressed lack of confidence in government school education, choosing to pay for private education rather than avail of free government education, thus signifying the relevance of education vouchers, which the Centre has long been advocating.

Policy-makers attempt to demystify government budget

Continuing with its endeavor for simplifying governments, the centre held a policy meet on  "demystifying government budgets " on Dec 11. The aim was to present a practical guide for  interpreting budget and data contained in it, so that information of relevance to MPs and  voters could be extracted easily and budgets allocations and utilization could  be effectively influenced. Parliamentarians who participated included Deepender Hooda, Sharad Joshi, Tapir Gao and  Dharmendra Pradhan. The meet was chaired by  Gurcharan Das (Author),  RMS Liberhan (Director, IHC) and Prof. Vinod Vyasulu (Director, Centre for Budget & Policy Studies, Bangalore). The event was held in partnership with Resource Centre for Legislators at the India Habitat Centre.

Spreading libertarianism among Hindi-speaking youth

In an effort  to reach out to the Hindi speaking youth, the award-wining Liberty and Society Seminar was organized in Hindi in Jaipur. Over 35  youth took part in the seminar which is aimed at introducing new public policy ideas to the Indian youth. The seminar which traveled to six cities this year including Kolkotta, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi and Panji, has so far impacted lives of over 1500 students across the country.

Participants at LSS Jaipur

CCS graduates leading social change

New Friends of Freedom groups have sprung up in Pathanamthitta (Kerala), Varanasi (UP) and Chandigarh and have begun with various educational programmes to spread the message of freedom. LSS graduate Rommani Sen's film on the legalization of Pornography titled - The Right to be Me has been receiving rave reviews in film circles. Rommani has also made a radio documentary on the Right to Information .

Careers at CCS

CCS is expanding and seeks new team members . Come, join the CCS adventure!

South Asia Livelihood documentary festival Jeevika: coming now in July 2007 (re-scheduled from Feb 2007).

Revisiting Jeevika: Curtain-raiser to Jeevika reaching your city in January.

Internships 2007 : New applications available and downloadable from 25 December 2006.

The Liberal : Watch out for the new CCS e-magazine!