Last week, I was privileged to participate in an event at the Harvard Club up in NYC. Atlas was a co-sponsor for this reception and panel discussion, which was hosted by Centre for Civil Society, founded in 1997 by Parth Shah in New Delhi, India. CCS is one of my favorite think tanks. Its chairman, Gucharan Das, authored the international best-sellar India Unbound, and gave remarks about the relevance of school choice to the challenge of sustaining the growth of India’s economy, which is so dependent on educated labors that are in short supply. Other experts affiliated with CCS talked about the sad state of government schools in India, where something like 25% of teachers simply fail to show up and an even higher percentage fail to teach. (Another Atlas friend, James Tooley of the EG West Centre, has done remarkable work in documenting the popularity – in India and elsewhere – of low-budget private-sector alternatives to these incompetent government schools.) And they explained the early results of their school choice campaign, which has demonstrated the high demand for school choice reforms in different localities within India.
It was an impressive event with great turnout. We had forecasted an audience of 30-40, so the room was a little hot and crowded when the actual numbers hit 85. But that is a wonderful tribute to the CCS team that promoted the event. The Centre is obviously doing important work, and we’re hopeful that friends of Atlas will pitch in to help them expand their school choice programs.
The photo comes courtesy of Atlas’s ever-talented Deroy Murdock.That’s Gucharan Das in the middle speaking, and me on the end, obviously trying to fit in with the 75% ‚ remaining panelists by following their lead and touching my face. 
Copyright © 2010 The Atlas Network.
Developed by The Liberty Lab