EducationWorld February 09

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 and slum dwellers, while also providing transport, uniforms and a mid-day meal. In sharp contrast with the average municipal school, Jiddh has a cheerful and enabling ambience on a 33,000 sq.ft garden campus, blooming with champa, jasmine and bakul trees, known for their aromatherapy value. A team of 11 teachers tutor and mentor 140 children from classes I-IV, after which they are mainstreamed into regular schools. Jiddh is the embodiment of Bhosales life work. Fresh out of Mumbais all-women SNDT University with a B.Ed degree in special education and a diploma in education management, she joined Jiddh in 1985, when this municipal school was a makeshift facility of four rooms. Appointed principal in 1992, Bhosale has transformed it into a model government school for physically and mentally handicapped children. One of her first challenges was to change entrenched parental mindsets and attitudes. Too often parents of challenged children are in denial about their condition, and express frustration that they dont keep up with other children. Our first initiative was to get them to accept the special needs of their children, and provide them moral support, she recalls. To this end Bhosale arranged the sponsorship of a 20-minute video film on special education, which explained how fine and gross motor skills can be honed, and how autistic children are drawn out of their shells with the aid of special pedagogies. This video film is aired in counselling and sensitisation sessions that Jiddh regularly holds for parents. And though it is de rigueur for state and local government schools to bemoan lack of government support, Bhosale acknowledges that the erstwhile commissioner of Thane, T. Chandshekhar, allotted the school generous funds and a plot in Vasant Vihar (a housing complex in Thane), to build the present structure, into which Jiddh moved in 2000. The credit for our success is not mine alone, says Bhosale. Our teachers and staff must also be given their due, and the municipal corporation has been very supportive. With her mandatory retirement age three years away, Bhosale plans to promote an early intervention centre to help identify childrens disabilities in the initial stages. The infrastructure is almost ready, and currently Bhosale is lobbying hard with the corporation to sanction the posts of physiotherapist and other medical staff. I will leave with the satisfaction of a job done well. I hope my successors will take Jiddh to even greater heights, she says modestly. Smita Deodhar (Mumbai)

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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 rules the southern state of Karnataka. There is virtual societal unanimity that the rioting and affray committed by vigilante groups claiming cultural/religious sanction for proscribing wining, dining and socialising between the sexes — talibanisation of Indian society — needs exemplary reaction from the police and law and order authorities.Yet the mystery of the January 25 incident in Mangalore, is that none of the victims of the violence graphically depicted on national television, has stepped forward to lodge a formal complaint against the Ram Sene goons. Moreover all press reports describing the incident carry a tag line — the names of the victims have been changed at their request to protect their identities or words to that effect, while television channels deliberately pixellate their images to prevent identification. Behind this curious phenomenon of even educated middle class victims of criminal activity being afraid to speak up, is Indias worst kept secret: that assault, oppression, and blackmail of the contemporary worlds largest youth population (550 million Indians are below 24 years of age) begins at home. The most elementary rights of children and youth to free speech, assembly and equality guaranteed by the Constitution are routinely denied to them, even within middle class households countrywide. And its quite likely that if women victims of hooliganism and atrocities insist upon freely exercising their constitutional rights of freedom of speech, assembly and trivial pursuits, they will be assaulted and humiliated at home as well. Unsolicited advice to Indias hypocritical middle class: Look inward, respect childrens rights and practice democracy at home!

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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 their writ. The 74th amendment to the Constitution, which promotes decentralisation, and has conferred power on municipal governments and ward committees to administer the chaos which typifies Indias urban habitats, has been sabotaged by venal state governments unwilling to let go bribes-generating civic planning and administration privileges. The consequence is the functioning anarchy, characteristic of the countrys collapsing cities. Yet its not only state governments who are to blame. Ministers, top bureaucrats, judges and notables who occupy sprawling bungalows and offices apart, even the much admired defence services are complicit in the great land-grab which has spiralled urban real estate prices to dizzy heights. A case in point is the once-upon-a-time garden city of Bangalore, recently conferred the new nomenclature of Bengaluru. Currently the armed forces — Indian Army and Indian Air Force in particular — are in possession of thousands of acres of prime real estate sited in the heart of the city. Vast tracts of valuable real estate are utilised not only for housing defence personnel, but also for field and combat training. Yet such is the sacred cow status of the defence forces, that the question of why they need to live and train on thousands of acres in the city centre, causing overcrowding and inconvenience to millions of civilian citizens, is neither posed nor answered. Yet the public interest requires this question to be asked. The world over, and particularly in western democracies, defence training and residential facilities are far removed from urban habitations and tend to be sited deep in the country, where they have more room, fresh air, and space for training. In the circumstances, why are there large army and defence establishments in the heart of Indias major cities? And to what extent is this curious phenomenon connected with artificially boosted real estate prices in Indias metros? Even at the risk of a coup detat, this question needs to be posed.

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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 and all others associated, saturation coverage which must have saved the producers a bundle by way of advertising expenditure.But while the Indian media has assumed ownership of this hit movie which has been nominated for ten Hollywood Oscar awards, the truth is its a British production with the major functions of producer, director, screenplay etc discharged by Brits, and Indians performing under their supervision — an inconvenient truth which has been gratuitously overlooked. And even as its being celebrated as a huge Indian triumph by the great Indian middle class living in the illusory Shining India bubble, Slumdog rubbishes post-independence Indias national development effort and super-power aspirations. In particular this film is a clever put-down of the countrys self-serving establishment, which has done precious little to improve the pathetic living conditions of the poor majority ekeing out slumdog lives within spitting distance of the countrys five-star islands of affluence. Coterminously Slumdog is also a subtle put-down of the great Indian middle class. It serves as an overdue reminder to this countrys greedy, uncaring and me-first middle class that its in breach of independent Indias implicit social contract under which in exchange for the plethora of subsidies the poor provide to the middle class (electricity, water, higher education), the latter is obliged to ameliorate their living conditions. Yet ironically instead of acknowledging this indictment, the countrys lumpen bourgeoisie is celebrating this slap in the face as a great Shining India triumph. We are like that only.

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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 bombed country The narrow road from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang in northern Laos winds through high altitude and densely forested mountains, whose summits are hidden in thick blankets of cloud. Much of this area is virgin forest, occasionally interrupted by emerald paddy fields neatly laid out in narrow valleys, bordered with rows of banana, papaya and ancient teaks, from whose trunks orchids bloom in dazzling hues. In terms of visitor footfalls, Luang Prabang is Laos premier tourist destination and one of the countrys oldest living cities. Formerly known as Muang Sa, its history goes back almost 1,500 years, and for some centuries it was the administrative capital of ancient Lao kings. When the French conquered Laos in the 19th century, the towns mayor was appointed the nominal ruler of the entire country, although actual power shifted to Vientiane, which is currently the countrys capital. Luang Prabang (pop. 100,000) retains much of its unhurried, old-world charm. In the town centre is the former colonial quarter, with cobbled streets and French-style bungalows strung out on the banks of the meandering River Mekong. Many of the houses here have been converted into chic handicrafts boutiques and restaurants, which cater to a growing stream of foreign tourists as this hitherto hermetically-sealed communist-ruled country begins to open up to the outside world. Every evening, this quarter morphs into a colourful, chaotic, street market. Village women from the mountains, dressed in conical straw hats and hand-woven sarongs, set up makeshift stalls on pavements selling touristy bric-a-brac — Buddhist icons and water colour paintings, Chinese porcelain urns and giant paper lanterns, buffalo horn opium pipes, turtle shell ashtrays and jewellery boxes, bamboo baskets, medicinal herbs and ferns, fierce clay masks, and bottles containing preserved snakes and scorpions. Vigorous bargaining is expected, and is usually a friendly affair that ends with the price being reduced to a fourth or even less of the first quote. Wheel carts display amazing local food: fish fresh from the Mekong, glass noodles served with crunchy, spiced vegetables, and for the more adventurous, live turtles and frogs, fermented swallows and deep-fried hornets and termites coated in honey are on offer. As with the rest of this tiny country (pop. 6.5 million) wedged between Thailand and Vietnam in the Indo-China peninsula, the major tourist attractions of Luang Prabang are the wats or Buddhist monasteries. The town boasts almost two dozen wats, each a meticulous work of art. The pick of them all are the Wat Visoun and the Wat Mai, whose inner walls are generously embellished with finely executed frescoes depicting scenes from the Jataka Tales, recounting the many lives of Gautam Siddharth until he attained enlightenment in…

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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, including the poor quality of Nigerian universities and the rapid growth in the number of families that can afford to send a child overseas to study.According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, which conducted the research, Nigeria has seen massive expansion of its higher education sector. Whereas in 1960 the country had just one university, it now has more than 90, as well as 100 polytechnics and 150 technical colleges. But despite this growth, demand for university education far exceeds supply, with 1.2 million prospective students competing for just 148,000 places domestically. The expansion has also damaged quality, the report says, while students job prospects are poor, with graduate unemployment of about 60 percent. With the quality of Nigerian degrees likely to remain sub-standard, students who can afford to study abroad will continue to do so. Alongside the problems facing its universities, the report highlights the growing wealth of the middle class in Nigeria, where the number of households earning more than $25,000 (Rs.12 lakh) per year is expected to increase fivefold by 2015. As a result, the total number of international student enrollments will continue to rise, with Britain, which has historic links and a shared language, well placed to benefit. The report predicts that the UKs market share of Nigerian students studying overseas will increase from 51 percent last year, to 67 percent by 2015. Pat Killingly, director of educational services at the British Council, says the Nigerian government is considering whether to allow transnational provision of higher education. If it is approved, she says, the UK will stand to benefit as one of a few high quality providers that would be allowed to operate in the country. There are absolutely enormous capacity-building needs within the Nigerian system, and because of the ties between Nigeria and the UK, Nigerians could be expected to look to the UK for that, and we need to respond, says Killingly. (Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)

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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 learning entitlements. These would allow more people greater scope to choose where and what they study. Under the scheme, funding would follow the student rather than being allocated to institutions. Large universities, however, expressed concerns that students would flock to a tiny number of prestigious institutions and to the most popular courses. Angus McFarland, president of the National Union of Students, shared the unease. He suggested that there could be a massive increase in some courses at the expense of others, resulting in, say, too many lawyers and not enough teachers. Among other proposals in the review, which was led by Denise Bradley, the former vice-chancellor of the University of South Australia, is an ambitious target to increase participation. The aim is for 40 percent of 25 to 34-year-olds to have at least a bachelor-level qualification by 2020 — a significant increase on the current level of 29 percent. This would deliver some 330,000 more skilled graduates, which the review says, are needed for Australia to remain competitive globally. Prof. Bradley insists that her reviews recommendations are not just about universities but also about absolutely critical economic and social issues for this country. The review also assessed the provision of higher education in the regions and remote areas, which need serious attention. It recommends additional funding of A$ 80 million (Rs.256 crore) a year to improve provision in remote areas, and moots the idea of a new institution that would specialise in delivering higher education to remote regions. Other proposed new bodies include a super-regulator for higher and vocational education, which the review suggests should be running by 2010, to oversee accreditation and quality assurance nationally. A national system for accreditation of all higher education providers, both public and private, on a regular cycle is necessary to assure the quality of the deregulated system, says the report. On funding, it says there is no case for increasing students financial contribution through higher tuition fees, and calls for an overhaul of the student-support system. Teaching grants should be boosted by 10 percent in a bid to tackle high student-to-staff ratios and the increasing casualisation of the workforce, the report says, and an extra A$ 300 million a year should be found to increase research infrastructure grants. Prof. Bradley is unequivocal about the importance of acting to shore up Australian higher education, which she says is falling behind its competitors. And she warns that, even if all the reviews 46 recommendations are adopted, it will do no more than maintain Australias position and performance internationally. (Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)

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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 economy and trends in emerging markets. But less than 8 percent said these skills were being effectively taught by business schools.Senior executives believe there is a real performance gap, the report says. There is a clear demand for more and better management education and leadership development. The report, written by academics at Ashridge Business School on behalf of EABIS, also criticises traditional lecture-based teaching. Learning programmes that rely heavily on a lecture-based format are not fit for purpose, it says. The most effective learning and skills development comes through practical experience, whether on-the-job learning, project-based learning or some other form of experiential learning. Matthew Gitsham, co-author of the report, says the report has profound implications both for in-house leadership development and business schools. Adds Jonathan Slack, chief executive of the Association of Business Schools: It is a serious wake-up call to business leaders, business schools and professional bodies in addressing the hugely important issues of environmental, economic and social sustainability. Many businesses are now responding strategically to the challenges of sustainability, and are looking to partner with business schools for their management and leadership development needs which are on the same learning journey. Both are interested in research, adaptation, innovation and the creation of new business opportunities and models. They need to talk the talk and walk the walk together. (Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)

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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 been edgy for weeks, noting that Obamas transition team included Linda Darling-Hammond, an education professor at Stanford University. Ms. Darling-Hammond is a vocal critic of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the federal law that promotes testing and accountability. Many feared that she would nudge Obama towards the unions (which favour easy-going government dispensed school education) or even become education secretary herself. If Darling-Hammond represents one end of the debate, at the other extreme are Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, chancellors of the school systems of New York and Washington D.C, respectively. Both have supported charter (independently-run but government-funded) schools and paying teachers by results. Both have championed tough accountability. But both have infuriated unions, and Obama has opted not to pick a fight. Chester Finn of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute calls Duncan a terrific pick, and Margaret Spellings, George Bushs education secretary, calls him a kindred spirit. Even Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, declared herself pleased by the choice. The worry is that the effort to reach consensus may hinder bold change. But at least Duncan may restore the spirit of co-operation that helped pass NCLB in 2001. Obama, in his announcement, criticised advocates who fail to realise that both sides have good ideas and good intentions. The president-elect is a master at charting the middle road. Time will tell whether that path leads to meaningful reform or to messy drift. Agents coming in from the cold Although the united states takes a bigger share of the international student market than any other country, with 22 percent of the total, it under-performs in relation to its size. Just 3.5 percent of students on its campuses are from abroad. What explains this? Certainly not the quality of education on offer, which is often superb. One huge factor is the way American universities shun intermediaries whose services are used by most students wanting to study abroad. Markus Badde, chief executive of ICEF, a student recruitment consultancy, says two-thirds of the worlds border-crossing students, and almost all of those from Asia, turn to ‘agents to find a university place. But hardly any important American institution will pay intermediaries. There is a real hostility in this country to the use of agents, says Mitch Leventhal, vice-provost for international affairs at the University of Cincinnati. Some universities think it is illegal — its not; whats illegal is recruiting American students via agents. Some think its unethical — but its only unethical when done unethically. We know that many students, perhaps half of all undergraduate Chinese students, for example, have paid advisers at home to help them. We have no idea what that help consists…

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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 occupying army and consequently are sent to prison for refusing the draft.December 18 was called as a day of action for the Shministim. It raised the profile of Israels conscientious objectors, protested their repeated imprisonment, and highlighted exactly why these Israeli youth have decided it is better to go to jail or risk isolation and ridicule from family and friends, rather than enforce the occupation of the Palestinian territories. A Shministim refusenik faces the prospect of repeat sentences of up to four weeks at a time, as the cycle of draft-refusal-punishment can continue until they are 21 years old or be discharged for some other reason (medical). Tamar Katz, because of her refusal to wear a military uniform in prison, was placed in solitary confinement. This group of Shministim follow in a long-standing tradition of Israeli refuseniks who have either quietly, or very publicly, made a stand against their governments policies. Dozens of youngsters have signed the 2008 letter of refusal, some of whom have already spent time in jail. According to Shministim, Sahar Vardi, the majority of Israelis her age do not question the ethics of serving in the IDF for two main reasons. Firstly, the lack of knowledge about what is going on in the territories on the other side of the wall. Secondly, education, where from kindergarten we are told heroic stories about the people who fought for this country and died for our freedom and taught that we will be granted the ‘privilege of doing so ourselves. Within Israel, an end to the occupation requires that extremists (in her own words) like Vardi and the others will continue to be hated and ignored for a long time until their ideas tip-toe into the heart of the consensus. (Excerpted and adapted from The Guardian)

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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 Jabaliya, where food, blankets and counselling are being provided.The UN has stepped in to help because it is by far the largest humanitarian resource in Gaza, particularly the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), which supports Palestinian refugees across the Arab world. More than 1 million Gazans are refugees: either they or their families were forced from their homes or fled in the 1948 war that resulted in the creation of Israel. Presented with reports of the heavy civilian death toll after the Israeli bombing of two UN schools serving as shelters in Gaza on January 6, some Israeli officials argued that militants had used UN property to launch rockets in the past. But the UN underlined the fact that it had passed on the coordinates of the schools to the Israeli military to prevent such killings, and called for an inquiry. These tragic incidents need to be investigated and if international humanitarian law has been contravened, those responsible must be held accountable, says Max Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Palestinians. While Israel says that its war in Gaza is unavoidable, it also argues there is no humanitarian crisis and that it is allowing in sufficient aid. Unrwa has been critical of Israels blockade of Gaza in recent years, presenting evidence of a mounting humanitarian crisis, particularly in the last 11 days of conflict. John Ging, Unrwas director of operations in Gaza, describes Israels war as a completely unjustified and unnecessary conflict. More often their disagreements have a strong political dimension. Last month (December), Israel refused entry to, and then deported, Richard Falk, a Jewish American academic who is the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories. Israel said he was being denied entry because in 2007 he described the Israeli blockade of Gaza as a holocaust in the making. More broadly, Israel objects to the UN special rapporteur position because it does not document what Israel sees as the other side of the story: Palestinian abuses of Israeli human rights. Israel also opposes the UN Human Rights Council, which it says focuses unfairly on Israels behaviour in the occupied Palestinian territories. So in 2007 Israel declined several times to give an entry visa to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African Nobel laureate, because he had been sent by the UN council to investigate the Israeli shelling of a house in Gaza in which 18 civilians, members of the same family, were killed. Israel blamed a technical error in the artillery gun. Undeterred, Tutu made a rare crossing into Gaza from Egypt last year. He emerged from his interviews in what he described as a state of shock and called for an end to…

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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) liberalised and deregulated economy in which cost competitiveness, customer satisfaction and investor protection are becoming important issues, the demand for cost accountants, who aid and advise corporate managements on ways to control costs, is on the upswing. The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) with its headquarters at 12 Sudder Street, Kolkata 700016, four regional councils in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi and a chain of chapters throughout the country and abroad, is the sole institution authorised to train and license cost and works accountants in India. ICWAI was registered as a company prior to independence in 1944 at the instance of the then government of India, with the objective of conserving national resources through advanced cost management practices. In 1959, Parliament passed the Cost and Works Accounts Act conferring statutory recognition to this profession. In 1964, the government of India amended the Companies Act, 1956 by statutorily mandating maintenance of costs accounting records in 40 select core industries and audit of the same by qualified cost and management accountants. Further acknowledging the importance of the profession for industrial development, in 1982 the Central government legislated the Indian Cost Accounts Service, to advise the government on fiscal management. Admission into the ICWAI study programme is through a preliminary English language examination, which tests the elementary maths and general knowledge skills of students who have completed Plus Two or equivalent. Graduates of any recognised university may be admitted directly if they have averaged a minimum of 50 percent. The institute conducts half-yearly exams at 90 examination centres in India and six abroad. Like the chartered accountants study programme, the ICWAI course is divided into two components — intermediate and final. The duration of the study programme through the postal tuition scheme is 18 months. Moreover ICWAI maintains 106 brick and mortar education centres delivering conventional teaching and training, and regional councils provide distance learning for students with commuting constraints. Those who pass the cost accoun-tancy final exam have to acquire three years work experience to qualify for membership of the institute. Currently ICWAI has a membership of over 26,000 and 33,000 students are enrolled for its preliminary, intermediate and final exams. The importance of ICWAI membership can be gauged from the fact that 29 Indian universities have recognised it as a sufficient qualification for pursuing Ph D programmes. Moreover fellow members of the institute are placed on a par with those with Ph D qualifications when professors, assistant professors and lecturers in professional/management institutes are recruited. Entry point salaries are between Rs.2.5-3 lakh per annum depending on the size of the employer organisation. Career progression tends to be fast, offering the inviting…

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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 & technology (DST) and the US-based infrastructure software development company Bentley Systems Inc. (annual revenue $500 million or Rs.2,400 crore). The Future Cities India competition attracted entries from 50 schools in Delhi NCR, of whom 15 qualified for the final round in August last.The theme of the competition was centred around a reported Indian Railways plan to remodel and refurbish 22 aged railway stations countrywide into world class facilities, with New Delhi station being the first. The competing teams were assigned the task of redesigning the station utilising existing land, infrastructure and access zones with eco-friendly building materials. The reports were adjudged by a team of 15 professionals from railway engineering companies, DDA, DMRC, architects etc. It was the experience of a life time. We learnt the importance of teamwork, says Shwetank Choudhary, leader of the MIIS team. Bentleys BE Careers Network global director Scott Lofgren, who had specially flown to India for the final round, told EducationWorld: The Future Cities India 2020 competition is our attempt to sustain the profession of engineering and attract young people to science and maths study progra-mmes. Currently the competition is staged only in the US and India. I hope with DST and other partners this competition will reach the rest of the country as well. The prize winning MIIS model incorporates a railway museum, a 400- metre tall observatory-cum-revolving restaurant, security and trauma centres, police block, budget and luxury hotels, underground parking, separate passages for segregation of passenger inflow, a four-storey commercial complex, an aquarium-cum-botanical garden, underground traffic stretches from the Paharganj side to make the station pedestrian friendly, and automated ticketing counters. Autar Nehru (Delhi)

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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 ‘Super mileage car, Sarawgi claims that Garuda can run 180 km on one litre of petrol.The impulse to design the single-seater Garuda was born in end 2005 when Sarawgi, then a second-year engineering student, decided to put classroom theory into practice and create awareness about global warming. Fortunately his concept of a super mileage car sparked the interest of seven fellow students who agreed to work under his leadership. Thus was born Project Garuda. When we started we didnt have finance or expertise. But we were confident that the super mileage automobile was a feasible proposition. We deeply researched aerodynamics and automobile engineering in the college library, on the internet, and interacted with industry experts. Finally we managed to convince our college trust to give us seed money. One year later and many long hours in the workshop, we built a ultra-light, single-seat aerodynamically streamlined prototype model using a Honda 97 cc air cooled, lawn-mower engine. We successfully tested Garuda on the NICE corridor in July last year, recalls Sarawgi, while revealing that project Garuda was initially funded by his father, Narendra Kumar Sarawgi who runs a management consultancy firm. Built at a cost of Rs.4 lakh, the prototype of Garuda was formally presented to the public in August last year, by internationally acclaimed automobile designer Dilip Chhabria. Subsequently with wide acclaim and Sarawgis strong PR skills, the further development of Garuda has been sponsored by Tantra Info-solutions, CD-adapco, Chameleon and GE. An avid student of the automobile industry who devours books, magazines and internet websites on the subject, Sarawgi has useful advice for parents of school and college students. Classroom learning alone cannot prepare students for life. It has to be supplemented with hands-on extra-curricular education. Project Garuda gave me the opportunity to translate engineering theory into practice and schooled me in leadership, management and finance, says Sarawgi who is getting set for entrepreneurship. No prizes for guessing his preferred industry. Debolina Sengupta (Bangalore)

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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 capital management knowledge and skills salted with entrepreneurial capability, to make students productive in various specialisations required by society for material progress. The other important but usually ignored component of business management or any other education, is character building and ‘man-making to develop graduates entering industry and the professions into honest, upright and cultured citizens, working to build prosperity and harmony in society.Unfortunately not even 1 percent of study time in Indian B-schools is devoted to this vital component. Historically, values-education has been connected with religious faiths and beliefs and was excluded from post-independence Indias secular education system. But mere preaching and prayer cannot trans-form people into ethical, values-conscious citizens. Over 100 million Hindus visit temples every day and listen to learned discourses on ethics. Despite this, according to Geneva-based NGO Transparency Inter-national, India is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. In Denmark and other Nordic countries, people rarely go to church, yet they are ranked among the least corrupt. This is because moral and ethical values are built into their education systems and translate into managerial and administrative systems characterised by transactional transparency. Currently B-school syllabuses are drawn from the social sciences — politics, economics, sociology, psychology, law, logic, statistics, information technology and productivity studies. There is urgent need to add ethics, morals, values, philosophy, yoga, meditation, theories of karma-dharma, laws of cause-effect, compassion towards animals, and respect for natures endowments, to B-school curriculums, because these principles are rational, logical, scientific, fair and humanistic, and indeed independent of orthodox religious creeds. In essence, the science of business or enterprise management is a by-product and instrument of the capitalist system, in which the prime motivation of work is self-interest. Yet resources management is an all-pervasive activity which governs transactions and relationships between man-animal-nature. For sustaining life on the planet and building harmonious human relationships, values such as selflessness, service, sacrifice, concern for other living species, cooperation, compromise, culture, compassion, tolerance, forgiveness, etc need to be consciously aroused to negate conflict, envy, greed, jealousy, hatred, cheating, ego-centricity, arrogance, lust. Regretably, the unethical base of formal and informal business management education is responsible for most of the ills and disasters of society. Too great an emphasis on the utilitarian component of business education has resulted in violence and vulgarity in cinema and television which routinely use women to promote consumer and even capital goods. Moreover corporate managers entice and induce people to buy products they dont want, to borrow beyond their means to finance wasteful consumption, display women to sell goods and services, and profit from the indebtedness and dissatisfaction of consumers. On the other hand, in balanced and well-developed societies shaped by values-driven…

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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 our office situated in a prime location of the city, students can drop in anytime to enquire about courses, pedagogy and most importantly the values and experience of the Globsyn brand. Globsyn Business School, Ahmedabad, had a successful inaugural year in 2008 with the inauguration of its 33 acre campus sited between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. Designed as a modern B-school campus, GBS Ahmedabad offers the best collegiate infrastructure in Gujarat and is located far from the bustle of the city. The campus offers an ideal learning environment where students can discover themselves and work within simulated corporate environments in preparation for their work life, added Dasgupta. With two sprawling campuses in Kolkata and Ahmedabad, Globsyn Business School was initiated in Kolkata with a first batch of 50 students. Currently GBS has an aggregate enrollment of 700 students and has contributed 1,000 alumni to the national management pool.

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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 the IIFT campus in New Delhi.President Kagame invited IIFT to help build capacity in Africa in the areas of international business, negotiations at the WTO forum, trade policy formulation etc. Though the current global meltdown has left industry anxious, Africa is still a frontrunner in the list of potential markets of the world. With the state still playing a key role in many of the sectors in Africa, the time is ripe for a comprehensive dialogue between Indian industry and key stakeholders of both public and private sector enterprises in Africa, he said. Promoted by the Union ministry of commerce in 1963, IIFT is Indias premier international business research and training institute. In recognition of its academic rigour and excellence, IIFT was accorded deemed university status in 2002.

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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 other backward caste (OBC) children. Modelled on the Central-government promoted Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya schools, the first Morarji Desai and Navodaya schools became operational in 1995-96. Currently these secondary schools, spread across 27 districts of Karnataka, have 98,000 students instructed by 3,940 teachers — including 1,500 ‘contract teachers — on their muster rolls.However this state secret was outed on Republic Day (January 26), when 1,300 teachers and principals of these state government-funded schools were all set to go on a hunger strike in Belgaum, where a special session of the Karnataka legislative assembly, which cost the exchequer Rs. 24 crore, had just concluded. The teachers were agitating about having had to make ends meet as lower paid contract teachers for over ten years. The hunger strike was averted at the eleventh hour with the state government promising the aggrieved teachers that a decision on their demands would be taken before February 21. Typically, after promoting these model residential schools for SC/ST and OBC children with great fanfare at the estimated cost of Rs. 2 crore each, the state government has neglected their contract teachers/principals who subsist on a mere Rs.6,500 per month against the Rs.13,000 paid to permanent teachers. Moreover during the April-May summer vacations, contract teachers dont get paid at all. Ditto school principals hired on contract. Most of the contract teachers/principals were employed 10-12 years ago, when there was a major teacher crunch in state government schools. Comments G.S. Gupta, principal of the Morarji Desai School at Sulibele in Hoskote taluk, who despite his rank is not a permanent tenure employee of the state government: I have been recruited through the proper process applicable to permanent teachers. Therefore why this patent injustice? Although he didnt do anything substantial for the Morarji Desai or Navodaya schools during his 13-month tenure as the education minister of Karnataka (in 2007), Basavaraj Horatti has now taken up the cause of these aggrieved teachers. They have been demanding their right to equal pay for over a decade now. Every time the teachers propose to go on strike, the government in power pacifies them with the promise that their demands will be met. However, this time the BJP state government has given us a legally binding assurance that the process of regularisation of their posts will start by February 21. We will wait and watch until then. But if they dont keep their promise this time, I will join them in their indefinite hunger strike in Belgaum, says Horatti. At the root of this decade-old confrontation is lack of state government funding for the Sri Morarji Desai and Navodaya schools. Constructed at a cost of Rs.2 crore each, the annual…

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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 few top-notch institutions, the cheerful and upbeat mood, which was pervasive on engineering campuses at this time last year, has all but evaporated.In the southern state of Tamil Nadu (pop. 62 million), which hosts 354 engineering colleges and churns out 135,000 graduates annually, excepting top-ranked institutions such as IIT-Madras, NIT Tiruchirapalli and Anna University, most colleges which recorded 90 percent-plus campus placements last year, are experiencing a 40-70 percent drop in campus recruitment. The plight of second and third tier colleges in the state is worse, with companies shying away altogether from the campus recruitment process. Moreover, several companies that had issued offer letters to graduates in 2008 have yet to communicate joining dates. According to brokerage house CLSAs placement survey of 45 engineering colleges across a dozen cities, IT major Infosys Technologies reduced the number of campuses visited from 1,079 in 2007 to 620 in 2008; Wipro from 300 to 106; and TCS from 265 to 260. However, TCS has not decelerated its recruitment drive, and has honoured its commitment to the 24,000 graduates, to whom it issued appointment letters last year. But recessionary winds blowing over the IT industry have proved to be a boon for core engineering companies which were hitherto sidelined by IT companies. Against a 70:30 recruitment ratio in favour of the IT industry in 2007, the ratio was 50:50 in 2008, offering non-IT engineering companies an oppor-tunity to recruit high quality graduates. Simultaneously institutional manage-ments are preparing students to look beyond IT. We are advising students to take up jobs in the BPO, banking and insurance sectors even if they are less lucrative, or pursue studies to wait out the recession. We are also offering vocational courses to enhance their skill sets, says G. Visagan, head of placement and training at Rajalakshmi Engineering College, a premier institute in Chennai. Meanwhile IT industry leaders, even while admitting that the sector has been hit by the double whammy of a global meltdown and the Satyam fiasco, believe that the situation is redeemable. In the first half of fiscal 2008-09, we posted 24 percent growth. While recruitment is admittedly lower, there is still job growth. We are expecting to create 100,000-150,000 new jobs in the IT sector this year. To survive the current slowdown, students will need to equip themselves with industry specific skills instead of expecting to be trained after they join work. Infrastructure management, enterprise resource planning and software engineering are some key areas students should focus on to become readily employable in the IT industry, says Ganesh Natarajan, chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM). Quite clearly these are testing times for engine-ering — especially…

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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 approval of its B.Ed study programme from the Delhi-based National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE). The court ruled that since the RBU management had obtained NCTE approval in 2001, only its post-2001 B.Ed degrees are valid.Under the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993, the supervisory mandate given to NCTE is very broad and covers the whole gamut of teacher education programmes for pre-primary, primary, secondary and senior secondary teachers. The Act clearly stipulates that all institutions offering inter alia B.Ed degrees have to be recognised by NCTE. Shockingly the RBU management, which had complied with this mandatory requirement in the first year forgot about this stipulation for five years and woke up only in 2001. During the five year interregnum, it awarded hundreds of B.Ed degrees to students who were unaware that their degrees were not valid. This anomaly came to light when Durba Sanyal-Bhattacharya, a teacher of Sahapur Girls High School, Kolkata, who was awarded her B.Ed degree by RBU in 1999, applied to the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to write an examination for recruitment of principals of state government high schools. WBSSC rejected Durbas application in March 2008 on the ground that the B.Ed degree awarded to her by RBU in 1999, was not recognised by NCTE. Sanyal-Bhattacharya moved the court arguing that a university recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) should have ensured that its B.Ed degree had the requisite approvals. The Calcutta high court agreed but did not — perhaps it could not — validate her degree. It merely asked RBU to refund the teacher her tuition fees and awarded her damages of Rs.5,000 for loss and hardship caused to her. This is cold comfort for Sanyal-Bhattacharya and 600 other teachers who enrolled in RBUs B.Ed degree programme from 1996 to 2001, and are now teaching in schools across the state. They are apprehensive about their jobs and fear loss of special financial benefits such as an extra annual increment stipulated for B.Ed-qualified teachers. Paramita De who was awarded her B.Ed degree by RBU in 1998 and has been teaching in the Canning Secondary School in the coastal town of Canning, 50 km south of Kolkata for the past three years after clearing the WBSSC selection exam, is not as worried about her employment contract as she is about being obliged to return her special increments to the state government. I am a B.Ed-qualified teacher and have enjoyed special increments for the past two years. Now I will be treated as a non-B.Ed and may be called upon to refund previous special increments, says De. Rupan Chakraborty, RBU B.Ed degree holder of the class of 1999, says…

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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 in UP is 1:42 whereas in the southern state Kerala its 1:500. Translated, this statistic implies that UP ‘contributes one-third of all the maternal child-birth deaths in India. In turn this means that an infant born in Indias most populous state has minimal chances of survival, given that babies whose mothers die during the first six weeks of delivery are more likely to die within two years. Releasing the report on January 16, Unicefs UP chief Adele Khudr said as much: UP is the riskiest state for a woman to have a baby in the country. Interventions that save the life of new mothers are beneficial for their babies because survival of mothers is linked to survival of their infants. According to the report, UP ranks third in the list of neo-natal mortality rates (death within the first 28 days of birth) with 46 children dying per 1,000 live births, after Orissa (52) and Madhya Pradesh (51). The authors of SWC 2009 have taken pains to reiterate that 80 percent of causes of neo-natal deaths — diarrhoea, tetanus and asphyxia — can be prevented by vaccination or good hygiene. Moreover the report highlights that 75 percent of pregnant women in UP deliver their babies at home, without any medical or para medical assistance. Savitri Joshi, a healthcare activist working in Lucknows rural fringes, says there is a vicious cycle of perception and ignorance in Indias most populous state. The poor perceive the states health service and its providers as inadequate and inaccessible. Thus, even where the government has been able to set up healthcare infrastructure, its fallen into disuse, while with the lack of facilities young doctors are simply not interested in serving in rural areas. R.S. Dubey, medical superintendent of Lucknows RML Hospital, blames UPs abysmal mother and child healthcare record to deliberate government disinterest in the poor. The government is not really interested in improving the healthcare system. A number of grandiose schemes, including public-private partnership initiatives, have been floated, but the results have been discouraging, he says. Nor is SWC 2009 the sole report to paint a grim picture of UPs child and maternal healthcare system. According to the third National Family Health Survey, 74.7 percent of pregnant women never make ante-natal care visits to healthcare centres. Also, only 8.7 percent of mothers consume iron folic acid tablets for 90 days or more. And more than 60 percent of pregnant women in the state are severely anaemic at any given point of time. Against this backdrop, its unsurprising that in this Hindi heartland state, 52 percent of children are severely malnourished, against the low but still shameful 43 percent all-India average. However,…

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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 Administration (NUEPA) ranks Puducherry (pop. 0.5 million) numero uno with an EDI value of 0.808 (out of a maximum 1), pushing Kerala (0.791) to second position. These states are followed by Lakshadweep (0.788), Delhi (0.780) and Tamil Nadu (0.771). Compiled annually, EDI measures the primary and upper primary education attainments of Indias 29 states and five Union terri-tories. Bihar (0.406), Arunachal Pradesh (0.485), West Bengal (0.488), Jharkhand (0.491), and Assam (0.515) are the most laggard states educationally. But even as the flash statistics of NUEPA indicate a marginal across-the-board improvement in primary education countrywide, its conclusions are contradicted by another report — Status of Indias Children 2009, released on January 23 by the Delhi-based child rights advocacy organi-sation HAQ. SIC 2009, based on literature reviewed from various sources, says that over six million children living in Indias proliferating urban slums seldom get basic services, highlighting that India ranks 66th among 88 countries in the Global Hunger Index, below 25 countries in Africas poor sub-Saharan region. According to HAQ (estb. 1998), 75 percent of children in the age group 0-6 years dont receive supplementary nutrition and a vast number of children of prostitutes, prisoners, and children with special needs, those affected by riots, militancy, natural disaster, and the displaced and orphaned continue to be out of the purview of childhood education. Despite constitutional guarantees and legal provisions, children continue to be discriminated on the basis of caste, ethnicity and gender. Children with disabilities are excluded from mainstream education and other basic services that should be available to all children, says the report. Children are important national assets and we have to act fast in the next five years and speak up for them. If we dont, there will be a crisis of great proportions, warns Ravi Prakash Varma, member of Parliament representing the Kheri constituency of Uttar Pradesh, who focuses on social issues such as education, women and child development, and has been re-elected to the Lok Sabha three times by his grateful constituency. Belatedly, New Delhis somnolent establishment is becoming aware of the long-festering crisis in Indian education. Educationists and childrens champions tend to draw some comfort from the provisions made for primary and secondary education in the Eleventh Plan (2007-12). In particular, the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), a Central government initiative to universalise access to and improve quality of secondary education, for which a provision of Rs.20,120 crore has been made, has cheered educationists. RMSA aims to achieve a general enrollment ratio (GER) of 75 percent in classes IX-X during the Plan period by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance of every habitation, and to universalise access to secondary education by…

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