Teaching vulnerable kids, one voucher at a time
Campaign focus
Fund students not schools
Who’s spearheading it?
Parth Shah, president, Center for Civil Society in Delhi. The government bought into his idea and started the Pahal scheme in Uttarakhand, under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
What are they trying to do?
Get vulnerable students enrolled in private schools.
What’s new about that?
No funds are disbursed to either the schools or the students. Instead the school is given educational vouchers that can be redeemed to cover the cost of students’ education.
Why are they going the supermarket way?
Under the Pahal scheme, per capita spend on a student is Rs. 3,000 a year. In comparison, the government used to spend more than Rs. 10,000 per child in government schools. There is also less chance of funds getting misused.
Is it limited to Uttarakhand?
Orissa, Jharkhand, UP and Rajasthan are adopting similar programmes.
Budget highlight:
Tax exemption to trusts engaged in providing education to the poor.
(This story appears in the 17 July, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)