EducationWorld February 09

More than 15,000 civilians in gaza were sheltering in UN schools in early January because they were forced to flee their homes in the face of the Israeli air and ground offensive, or even ordered out by Israeli troops. The UN opened up 27 of its schools as shelters, most in the northern town of […]

On December 18 last year, a group of Israeli young men and women, barely out of school, brought home some important truths about the situation in Israel/Palestine for those who care to listen. The Shministim (Hebrew for class XII students) are Israelis who, called up for compulsory military service, have refused to serve in an […]

The south-western seaboard state of Kerala (pop. 32 million), currently being ruled by a CPM (Communist Party Marxist)-led coalition government, has been displaced from its traditional top position on the podium as Indias most well-educated state.In its latest Educational Development Index (EDI) 2007-08 released on January 17, the Delhi-based National University of Educational Planning and […]

During the presidential election campaign the economy submerged most talk of education. But beneath the surface, a debate churned between self proclaimed education reformers and the teachers unions. By appointing Arne Duncan, Chicagos schools chief and one of his own basketball buddies, as education secretary, Barack Obama has managed to please both sides.School reformers had […]

To the long list of dubious distinctions of the Hindi heartland state of Uttar Pradesh (pop. 166 million), add one more. UP is the most dangerous state in the country to bear children.According to the recently released State of the Worlds Children 2009 report of the United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef), the maternal mortality rate […]

Business schools across Europe are failing to equip business leaders of the future with the skills they need, according to a new report. A report for the European Academy for Business in Society (EABIS) found that 76 percent of senior executives believe future leaders must be able to deal with difficult issues, including the low-carbon […]

The Kolkata-based Rabindra Bharati University (RBU, estb. 1962) has earned the dubious distinction of being chastised for outrageous behaviour by the Calcutta high court. On January 21 Justice Tapan Dutt declared all bachelor of education (B.Ed) degrees awarded by RBU from 1996-2001 illegal and invalid, because the RBU management had failed and neglected to obtain […]

Tough targets, radical reforms and an eye-watering price tag were delivered in Australias most significant review of higher education of recent years. The most controversial recommendation of the independent Bradley review is for a ‘voucher system of funding as part of the deregulation of the sector.Under the proposals, all suitably qualified Australians would be given […]

The impact of recessionary trends in the Indian economy and the global meltdown is increasingly being felt by the estimated 495,000 engineering students graduating annually from the countrys 2,240 technical colleges and institutes. With the information technology (IT) industry, the biggest recruiter from engineering colleges and institutes, having frozen campus recruitments from all but a […]

The number of Nigerians studying in the UK is being forecast to increase tenfold in the next five years. The explosion in student numbers, up from just 2,800 last year to a potential 30,000 by 2015, is predicted in new research published by the British Council. Its calculations are based on a number of factors, […]

One of the most well-kept secrets of the education ministry of successive governments of the southern state of Karnataka (pop. 57 million) is the existence within state borders of 385 Shri Morarji Desai and nine Navodaya fully residential schools, which provide free of charge class VI-X education to scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST) and […]

In the second leg of his journey, Yoginder Sikand reports from northern Laos where evidence of the deep-rooted Hindu influence on Laotian Buddhism is reflected in scenes from the Ramayana on temple walls. Moreover he stumbles across incriminating evidence of Americas secret war of the 1960s in Laos, when it was the worlds most heavily […]

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) hosted his Excellency Paul Kagame, president of the Republic of Rwanda, on January 20. K.T. Chacko, director of IIFT and Dr. R.M. Joshi, chairman of the management development faculty, together with government officials, members of Delhis diplomatic corps, students and faculty of the institute received President Kagame on […]

Judging by the deluge of media coverage the new feature film Slumdog Millionaire released in India on January 23 has received, one could hardly be faulted for concluding that its an Indian production. Newspapers and magazines have gone to town, and dimpling television news anchors have given the film and its director, actors, music director […]

The Kolkata-based Globsyn Business School which also has a campus in Ahmedabad, inaugurated its first business office in downtown Ahmedabad on January 10.Speaking on the occasion, Bikram Dasgupta, chairman and chief executive of the Globsyn Group said: We have drawn up an expansion plan to establish ourselves as the preferred B-school of Ahmedabad. Now, with […]

The horrible living conditions of the peripheral shanties of Shining Indias cities, so gut-wrenchingly depicted in Slumdog Millionaire which is wowing — instead of shaming — the great Indian middle class, is not an act of God, but the outcome of persistent amateurish planning.For a start, municipal governments have no power to tax or enforce […]

The scam in the Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer Services which has imploded this 2 billion dollar company and stained the reputation of Indian industry as a whole, has brought corruption — the blindspot of Indias estimated 1,500 business management schools — into sharp focus. The prime objective of B-school education is to impart land, labour and […]

The eve of Republic Day assault by lumpen foot-soldiers of the Ram Sene — a lunatic fringe Hindu militant group — on a party of young women lunching in a pub in the port city of Mangalore, has been sharply condemned by right thinking people countrywide, including the top leaders of the BJP government which […]

At the mega Bengaluru International Automotive Expo held recently, where 500 established automobile manufacturing companies displayed their creations, it was the cynosure of all eyes. ‘Garuda — the brainchild of Nishant Sarawgi (23), a mechanical engineer who recently graduated from R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore — attracted considerable public and professional attention. Presented as the […]

On January 17, a team comprising Shwetank Choudhary, Harkeerat Singh, Sambit Ghosh and Ujjwal Gupta — all class XI science students of New Delhis Manavbharti India International School (MIIS) — won the ‘Future Cities India 2020 competition for high schools in Delhi and the national capital territory region sponsored by the Union depart-ment of science […]

With cost competitiveness, customer satisfaction and investor protection becoming important issues, cost accountants who render costs control advice are much in demand In industrially developed countries, chartered management accountants or cost and works accountants (as they are known in India), are greatly in demand, and better remunerated than chartered accountants. Similarly, in Indias recently (1991) […]

Thanks to the sustained dedication of its principal Shyamashree Bhosale, Jiddh — a school for physically and mentally challenged children run by the Thane Municipal Corporation — has acquired showpiece status among Maharashtras municipal schools.Housed in an airy two-storey structure, Jiddh imparts free of charge education and skills training to children of daily wage earners […]