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Latest News & Events
2nd April ‘ 2010 : Release of Revision 03 (Rev 03) of " The Indian Primary and Secondary Education Megaproject "
Rev 03 of the Education Megaproject was sent to Shri Kapil Sibal ( Minister of HRD ) and the National Knowledge Commission.
The current revision is a generation ahead of Rev 02 on account of it’s very different financial structuring and it’s 25 design criteria. It has already evoked a huge response from the media and from educational institutions and think tanks around the country. It is expected that this project will set a new benchmark in project design for education projects around the world.
The project’s principal objective is to create adequate human resources to sustain a US $ 4.3 Trillion economy in India by 2025 ( assuming an 8 % GDP growth rate ) , based on a “ Teacher Centric “ model. In Rev 03, project size has been increased to cover a total of 420,000 schools ( double the size of Rev 02 ) under a teacher sharing programme . Current project capital cost therefore stands at US $ 131.38 Billion. Yearly operational costs from 2025 onwards would be US $ 42.57 Billion. The financing plan however provides for the raising of this money with minimal financial support from the government of India and without any need for diversion of funds from currently planned education budgets. Construction of the first phase will start in 2012 and all the 30,000 new schools are expected to be commissioned by 2023.
Visitors are encouraged to download the project concept document and all other project related files including detailed calculations which are available for free download from the “ Mass Education Project ” page.
15th November‘ 2009: Amar Chitra Katha distribution experiment at the Vatsalya Trust ( institution for girls )
The foundation made a beginning with its “ Amar Chitra Katha distribution project “ at Sanpada in Navi Mumbai with the distribution of just 38 Amar Chitra Katha comics to the children at the Vatsalya Foundation institution for destitute girls.
The project seeks to create a love for history and pride in Indian culture and values in young minds. The Nataraja Foundation believes that by putting children in touch with their rich heritage we can bring about a renaissance which will be a source of infinite strength in young children especially girls. Stories of Panna and Hadi Rani , Mira Bai , Ahilyabai Holkar and Jhansi Ki Rani , we believe, will go a long way in making Indian girls more self-reliant and strong.
Over the next few weeks we will be visiting the institution again to interact with the children and to see to what extent they have taken to the concept. The rest of the set of over a hundred books will then be distributed and the results will be analysed . If the project is successful we will continue the experiment at hundreds of institutions across India over the coming months.
02nd October‘ 2009: Launch of the Indian Education Megaproject within the Ministry of HRD
Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister of HRD, Govt of India, was formally contacted 5 months after the project was first submitted to the National knowledge commission.
Between 24th April and 02nd October ‘ 2009 , some 8000 senior people in government and academia had visited the project website . The entire project along with its financials and executive summary were also made available for free download from the Nataraja website. Over 800 Indian journalists and 80 foreign journalists were also contacted.
24th April‘ 2009: Initial Launch of the Indian Education Megaproject within the National Knowledge commission / Planning Commission
India’s largest Primary and Secondary Education Project was first proposed as a Public Private Partnership ( PPP ) initiative to the National Knowledge Commission on the 24th of April ‘ 2009.
The project when fully commissioned in 2020 would be the worlds largest education project which would make it possible to provide high quality, basic education, free of cost to 126 million children without any long term financial commitments from government of India. A total of 30,000 new , “ Teacher Centric Schools “ would be set up in 6 phases under the project documents. 24,500 of these new schools would be day schools and 4500 schools would be fully residential schools. 80 % of these schools will be in rural areas.
The project would, in addition, also be the world’s largest environmental project as it would deploy ideas in sustainable architecture from the Auroville and Laurie Baker Schools. The net GDP money multiplier effect of this US $ 93 Billion project within the Indian Economy would be US $ 500 Billion by 2020.
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