Mailbox

Condemnable contempt Your well-designed cover and story ‘Dharmendra Pradhan’s second innings priorities’ (EW July) should serve as a wake-up call to the hon’ble minister who clearly suffers a communication skills deficit. I couldn’t agree more that the second time education minister should speak up forcefully in Union cabinet meetings demanding greater budgetary allocation for education. Time he became aware that he presides over a ministry responsible for the future of the world’s largest child and youth population. The minister’s contempt for the media especially towards EducationWorld, for several decades the country’s #1 education magazine, is condemnable. As member of Parliament and minister, he is obliged to answer to the public through the media. This is fundamental in a democracy. Saisha Chandra Chennai Urgent overhaul needed Your well-researched Special Report ‘Rectifying NTA exams disaster’ (EW July) exposes NTA’s shocking mismanagement of NEET-UG, the common medical entrance examination written by 2.4 million school-leavers. You have uncovered ugly truths about a faulty exams system replete with question paper leaks and marks for money scams. One hopes the newly constituted K. Radhakrishnan committee holds meaningful consultations with students, parents, assessment and cyber experts to quickly establish a tamperproof exams system. If the hon’ble education minister is to be believed, a switch to SAT-like computer-based multiple times a year testing is in the offing. The extreme mental distress our children have had to endure because of the NEET mess calls for urgent overhaul of the exams system. Lopamudra Sen Kolkata Teacher accountability Re Education Notes (EW July) titled ‘Show-cause notices’, my congratulations to Rohit Thakur, Himachal Pradesh’s education minister, for issuing show-cause notices to teachers of 116 schools which reported pass rates below 25 percent and 30 schools recording zero pass percentage. Well-paid government school teachers should be held accountable for poor academic outcomes. Sheela Jabin Bengaluru Appalling negligence I have been keenly following the NEET-UG scam on social media and read your insightful Special Report on this controversy (EW July). I am appalled that in a national entrance examination of this scale, a multiple-choice question in physics had two possible answers. It is shocking that such ambiguous questions — which a committee of IIT-Delhi experts constituted by the Supreme Court had to solve — are presented to students without second revision. What are the qualifications of the so-called experts appointed to set NEET question papers and why are they not held accountable? Dheeraj Krishna Hyderabad Upskilling mantra Your Teacher-to-Teacher essay ‘Successful management of lifelong learning’ (EW July) reflects the sentiment of Union Budget 2024-25 presented in Parliament by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23 . Looks like she had her ear to the ground! I agree with author Nikhil Pingle that with technologies evolving fast, economic landscapes are shifting. Upskilling is the mantra to success as skills — if any — acquired in college and universities no longer guarantee lifetime employment. The rise of ICT and globalization of commerce mandates acquisition of new skill-sets, digital skills in particular. Job seekers can navigate…