Introduce edu vouchers in India, World Bank urged

Nitish Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ambala, November 29

The National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA) has requested the World Bank (WB) to introduce education vouchers in the country. The NISA has requested the WB authorities to start the scheme from Haryana as a pilot project.

Alliance president Kulbhushan Sharma told The Tribune here today: “NISA is a pan-India organisation representing over 50,000 private budget schools. The WB has been playing an important role in eradicating illiteracy and India has gained a lot from it. Hence, we have requested the World Bank authorities in India to introduce voucher scheme for students on pilot basis in Haryana.”

Private schools operators in Haryana had kept their schools closed for three days in May this year to protest against imposition of Rule 134 A of the Haryana School Education Rules-2003 and in support of their demand of education vouchers.

In a letter to the WB authorities in India, NISA stated that to provide quality education to children, the government implemented the Right to Education (RTE) Act. However, even after six years of its implementation, a large number of children still do not have access to education. It is perhaps due to loopholes in different government schemes. Also, students don’t have the option to choose a school while the quality of education was low in government schools.

Sharma claimed, “Education voucher to all children is the only solution to the problem as it will provide students with a choice of school. This will also lead to a healthy competition among schools to raise their education standard to attract more students. Several states of the country are in the favour of voucher system.”