Gurcharan Das on the Today Programme

Gurcharan Das appeared on the Today programme concerning his debate on May 12th 2009"The future belongs to India not China" with Sir David Tang. During the interview about the up and coming "Intelligence Squared" debate about which developing economy will develop most quickly Das quoted our work. According to Das, India's development would be more rapid owing to entrepreneurship and free markets, he then went on to say that "the state lets us down so often, when government schools fail people start private schools in the slums and you get slumdog millionaires".

Prince Phillip Meets Sugata Mitra

Sugata Mitra gave a talk attended by Prince Phillip who was eager to meet up with the 'Slumdog Professor' for a drink after the session to find out more about how children are educating themselves in developing countries using computers and technology.

Slumdog Professor

Sugata Mitra's work inspired the book "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup, upon which the Oscar winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" was based. The block buster movie about a boy from the slums of Mumbai who wins a million rupees on a TV quiz show has the overall riding message of hope. Swarup, after seeing how Sugata Mitra's "Hole in the Wall" project gave children new aspirations and visions thought of his idea for his book. Now Sugata is known as the "Slumdog Professor" in the media, after having appeared on BBC radio and in national newspapers concerning the link.

Nobel Peace Prize Winner excited about Private schools for the Poor

In April, 2009, on a recent trip to Bangladesh James Tooley met up with Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Private schools for the poor seem to serve the poor in Bangladesh, just as in any other developing country.

Pauline Dixon's contribution to Twentysixtyeight

Pauline Dixon's chapter "Delivering Better Education: A Market for Schools" has been published in a prestigious book "2068" edited by H.S.H. Prince Michael of Liechtenstein and Kurt Leube of Harvard University. Pauline gave a lecture in Vaduz, Liechtenstein in 2007 and was asked to write a chapter for the publication produced by the Industrie Und Finanzkontor with a forward from the Ruling Prince of Liechtenstein H.S.H. Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein.

James Stanfield talks on Radio 4 about Scottish Education

James Stanfield appeared on Radio 4 "Beyond Westminster" August 2008 talking about the Scottish education system. James held his own and had many phone calls after the programme commending him on his defence of markets and questioning efforts for a curriculum of excellence when a proportion of children leave schools without the ability to read and write.

China Research - English programmes serving the floating population in Beijing

Pauline Dixon's recent trip to Beijing showed how well the teachers and children in the private schools were taking to learning English through phonics and Genki English. Those participating in the programme showed great enthusiasm for the materials and from observations thus far the children are progressing well. A post test will take place later on in the summer in order to provide some measurable data about the impact the programmes have had.