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Education and its relationship with livelihood, quality of life, increased earning and social mobility are well recognized for developing countries. Education is an important factor for inequality reduction and for overall development. In India many reforms in the field of primary public schools in forms of curriculum, coverage, training and infrastructure have been initiated by the government in the last two decades. Today government provides funds to schools. These schools then provide education to students. The voucher system provides funding to the student who then approaches any of the schools for education. A voucher is only a form of financial assistance. Voucher programs have been implemented in different forms in countries as diverse as Sweden, Chile, Columbia, Holland, USA, UK, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Czech Republic and Cote d'Irovie. There has been an increase in the quantitative indicators like parental satisfaction increase of test scores and learning outcomes of students, improved performance of public schools and increase in enrolment etc. The present attempts to improve quality of Public Schools Via-a Vis Private Schools are not delivering significant result as quality of public schools and for that matter any public service depends, among other factors significantly pressure and effective demand of the people. In this paper, privatization is not discussed directly except in reference to vouchers. Rather it is contended that privatization with poor quality public schools is increasing SES (Socio- Economic Segration). The paper examines the efficacy of vouchers as an instrument to reduce SES and to ensure equitable access to poor. This is the issue, which is applicable to whole country; the analysis is done from national point of view also. First discuss Chile with Argentina to see how SES can occur in any dual system. The paper examines working of selective voucher system in Colombia to see how it was devised to handle SES and to what extent it has succeeded in improving students performance. Lastly, the problem has been discussed at national level to bring out the seriousness of the issue. Gujarat is discussed specifically for contextual application for vouchers. The need to concentrate on the larger issues of removal inequality and poverty need not be reemphasized. Poor deserves better deal and equal partnership in development process. The presented model can be an important step in that direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper presents an overview of the existing indicators of development and positions them within the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainable development. It presents empirical evidence of sustainable livelihood security index (SLSI) at the district level in Gujarat. SLSI is a composite index having three component indices, i.e. the ecological security index (ESI), the economic efficiency index (EEI), and the social equity index (SEI). It finds that the SLSI based on its simplicity and flexibility, is one of the most comprehensive yet simple indices for measuring long-term livelihood security in rural areas. For instance, the eastern districts of the state, dominated by scheduled tribes’ population have very low EEI and SEI rankings, although they have high ESI ranking. These districts also have very low ranks in gender development index, education index, health index and housing index. Thus, the SLSI not only identifies the general priorities for development but also the nature and types of policies to be pursued in each study unit to enhance livelihood security. The SLSI facilitates consensus among different partisan groups like economists, environmentalists, and egalitarians by balancing their mutual concerns, could provide guidelines for achieving sustainable development. It can function as an educational and a policy tool for promoting a holistic perspective among planners, administrators, and development workers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]