Vouchers Gain Traction Internationally

Vouchers that allow public school students to attend private schools may be stalled in the United States but they are gaining ground internationally.

Both India and Canada have voucher programs. Neither nation has ever been known as a free market bastion. As Donald Alexander Downs, Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said at the Conservative Political Action Conference, “And the country I was born in had no meaningful civil liberty tradition whatsoever: Canada!”

In India, “25 percent of the spaces in private schools must be set aside for the disadvantaged,” Baishali Bomjan reported at a forum on international education in Indianapolis, and “there are 300, 000 low-cost private schools.” Bomjan is the associate director of the CCS Academy & Asia Centre for Enterprise. The forum she spoke at was sponsored by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.

As well, she claims that::

• The Delhi Voucher project has 404 students; and
• The School Vouchers for Girls program has 404 students.

In Canada, vouchers are also picking up steam. Schools are eligible if they meet economic and educational requirements. “A fundamentalist Mormon school that believes in polygamy is eligible for the grants because they meet all the criteria,” Peter Cowley said. Cowley is the executive vice president for development and marketing at The Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank.

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
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