Events

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Ensuring quality education to all is the key to take India into league of superpower. Improving status of education is further more important to the entire world as every sixth human on planet earth happens to be from India. Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), Government of India is working on developing New Education Policy (NEP). The last NEP was brought out in 1986 and later amended in 1992. MHRD aims to make India a knowledge superpower by equipping our students with the necessary skills and knowledge to eliminate the shortage of manpower. The objective of the upcoming NEP therefore is to meet the changing needs of quality education, innovation and research. In this context, the 2015 School Choice National Conference will be dedicated to debating and merits and proposing improvements to the New Education Policy.

The School Choice is an initiative of Centre for Civil Society to advocate element of competition in education space through policy reform. The goal of the School Choice is to create an environment where every child has the Right to Education of Choice. School Choice National Conference (SCNC) is an annual event that provides a much needed platform to identify critical issues in the education sector, review existing programs, and explore strategies to face the challenges ahead and ideate on ingenious solutions to provide quality education to all children in India. The objectives of SCNC are two-fold:

1. Bring together educationists, planners, policy experts, activists and government officials to discuss and debate various dimensions of education policy in India.
2. Showcase innovative models that foster an enabling education ecosystem.

Various studies and reports present struggling state of education in country. Drafting national level education policy is an exercise that takes place once in two to three decades and would decide the future of educational landscape in country. In this context the theme of this year SCNC will be New Education Policy. The conference will focus on areas of policy reform that need to be streamlined towards achieving choice for students and parents, autonomy for schools and teachers, and accountability of the system.

To know more or register click here.

To read the storify version of chat click here.

Aamir Khan recently expressed his concerns over growing intolerance in India, and how his wife had suggested that they move out of the country for their security. Since then, there have been opinions from all ends pouring in - accusing Aamir Khan of being anti-national, calling it 'trendy' to criticise the government; others insisting that he is free to speak his mind. Both however, point to a fear of dissent. For public discourse to be fruitful, it needs to be guided by a willingness to engage and a modicum of restraint. Read a great blog by Ujwal on this issue here, and join the discussion next week!

Log in to tweetchat.com or Twitter and follow #ccstalks. We look forward to speaking with you! For more information, contact Manasi Bose (pr@ccs.in).

To read the storify version of chat click here.

National Security is usually acknowledged to be a public good. Is it justified for the government to curtail civil liberties in order to ensure security of citizens? Or is a situation like the surveillance of citizens by the NSA in the United States an unacceptable encroachment into an individual's privacy? Join us for #ccstalks on Wednesday, 25 November 2015 from 4-5pm to discuss this issue!. Log in to tweetchat.com or Twitter and follow #ccstalks. We look forward to speaking with you!

For more information, contact Manasi Bose (pr@ccs.in).

To read the storify coverage of the conference click here. The event was covered by First Post, Enadu India and Dainik Jagran.

CCS and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation are hosting a conference on ‘Liberalism in India: Past, Present and Future’ – A tribute to S V Raju, on 20 November 2015 in New Delhi. Raju was one of India’s liberal giants, and his passing earlier this year was a huge loss for the liberty movement in India. To honour his memory, and celebrate his commitment to creating a freer India, key liberal voices in the country will present papers on the past, present and future of Indian Liberalism. Speakers at the event will include Surjit Bhalla, Dr J P Narayan, R Jagannathan, Jaitirth Rao and Lord Alderice.

We have a limited number of seats, so registration is first come, first serve. Early bird registrations (register before 20 October) are INR 1,000 Conference Fee: INR 1,500. Click here for registration. Click here for the schedule and program flow. For more information click here or contact Manasi Bose (programs@ccs.in | +91 9810772964).

It is often believed that ideas of economic freedom and reforms are “not Indian” and have been imported from the West, under circumstances outside our control (such as the balance of payments crisis necessitating the economic reforms of 1991 at the IMF's behest). What prompted our leaders to adopt Central Planning? And who were the ones who stood against ideas of a planned economy and society? Join us at Ashoka University, Delhi on 18 November for a talk on this topic!

For more information, contact Ujwal Batra (programs@ccs.in | +91 99908 81034).