EducationWorld January 06

By all accounts the selection of America’s golden couple, Bill and Melinda Gates as Time magazine’s persons of the year (with rock star Bono) for their philanthropy of earning and giving (the $ 29 billion Gates Foundation has saved 700,000 lives in third world countries through investments in vaccinations; provided internet access to 11,000 public libraries in the US and has funded 9,048 minority students into college), has not thawed the hard consciences of India’s political class or the country’s business community which hosted them in early December. Quite obviously even the fabulous wealth of the contemporary world’s richest ever couple cannot set right the half century of neglect of education and health in developing countries of the third world, India included. But at least they are making an attempt. Unpalatable as it may be for India’s perpetually US-bashing intelligentsia and trendy lefties, the plain truth is that the American people, even if not Washington, are the world’s most generous philanthropists with particular bias towards funding education and health causes- the blind spots of shining India’s thick-skinned pillars of the establishment. This perhaps explains why Harvard University has the world’s largest education endowment of $ 69 billion (Rs.317,000 crore) and virtually every university in the US has built huge corpuses through corporate and alumni donations. America’s top 50 universities have accumulated an aggregate corpus of $ 160 billion from which they provide subsidies and freeships to scholars from around the world. On the other hand the practice of endowing alma maters is completely foreign to India’s over-hyped politicians and business tycoons. Last year a Times of India, (Bangalore) investigation revealed that the primary schools which provided free education to three of Karnataka’s chief ministers are crumbling, ramshackle institutions doubling as cowsheds and gambling dens. And while a handful of the country’s newly rich IT millionaires have made private contributions to their alma maters, the IT companies themselves which save hundreds of crores by way of income tax exemption, have done comparatively little to help India’s neglected schools and colleges by way of endowment grants and bequests. Quick to learn about wealth creation from America, India’s business leaders have not learned the art of giving it away. And that’s earning Indian capitalism a bad reputation. Also read: Top philanthropists of the century Life imitates art In the quasi-literate Hindi heartland states of India life imitates kitsch art with deadly seriousness. Teachers and administrators in the grandly nomenclatured King George’s Medical University, Lucknow are grappling with the “Munnabhai syndrome”- an affiliction flowing from a Bollywood hit film titled Munnabhai MBBS. In this tedious, over-the-top movie widely eulogised as a successful comedy, a notorious mafia don qualifies as a medical practitioner (MBBS) through the simple expedient of coercing surrogates to write his exams. Last month, three KGMU students were booked by the Kanpur police for kidnapping a Jhansi-based student, Mahendra Singh to find surrogates to write their exam papers. The son of an impecunious farmer, Singh owns a pharmaceutical company and two homes in Lucknow, zips…

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Deng Xiaoping and the Making of Modern China by Richard Evans; Viking Penguin; Price: Rs.225; 315 pp Whenever the done-to-death question of suitability of the democratic system of government for developing nations of the third world is discussed, it is politically correct to praise the innate wisdom and perspicacity of the Indian electorate, which we are reminded time and again, has always shown tyrants great and small, the exit door. Yes, yes. But if Indian voters, the great majority of whom can barely read and write their own names are really so clever and insightful, how come they repeatedly vote dinosaurs of the nation’s two communist parties- the CPI and CPM- into Parliament and state legislative assemblies? In the historic 2004 general election in which the overweening and extraordinarily insensitive charioteers of the BJP were cut down to size and sent into the wilderness of opposition by the much-lauded electorate, the two communist parties and allies won 67 seats in the Lok Sabha, their highest tally ever. This, despite it being common knowledge that on every progressive policy issue starting from India’s freedom movement, economic liberalisation and deregulation, cutting non-merit subsidies to the middle class, curbing militant trade unionism, computerisation of banks, divestment of public sector equity, welcoming foreign investment etc, the commissars of the Left have been in opposition. But there are communists and communists. And contemporary India’s communist party comrades who seem to be enmeshed in a 1950s Stalinist time warp, would do well to read this outstandingly illuminating biography of the late Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997), a true-red communist, who following the chaos and confusion of the Cultural Revolution and death of Mao Zedong in 1976, navigated and piloted the transformation of the People’s Republic of China into the world’s fastest growing economic powerhouse. Deng, who was twice stripped of power during communist China’s roller-coaster ride to socio-economic development was paraded through the streets in a dunce cap during the Cultural Revolution (1965-73). How he sprang back to emerge as the undisputed leader of the People’s Republic through the momentous 1980s to morph China into the world’s most high-potential economy, is the subject matter of this engrossing biography-cum-history written by diplomat Sir Richard Evans, British ambassador in China in the mid eighties when Deng Xiaoping was at the height of his power in Beijing. Later, Evans led the British team in the Sino-British negotiations on the future of Hong Kong in the mid 1990s. There’s much that distinguishes Deng from our own comrade commissars who manage India’s suddenly influential communist parties. For one, he rose to the top after suffering the trials and tribulations of the Long March (1931-35); fought the Japanese invasion of China (1935-45); suffered the pains of the disastrous Great Leap Forward (1957-65); was denounced as a capitalist roader during the Cultural Revolution (1965-73), and suffered a second humiliation during the ascendancy of the Gang of Four (1973-76). On the other hand, commissars of the Communist Party of India (which split in the sixties into the CPI and…

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The welcoming charm of IndonesiaWith its pretty beaches, tropical terrain and well-developed culture, Indonesia is ideal for rejuvenating holidays. What it lacks in terms of economic progress, it compensates with exotic locales, mild climate and cultural affinity with Indian visitorsWith the decline of service culture and sky-high hotel room prices in the West, the clean, neat and infrastructurally well-equipped high-growth nations of south-east Asia and ASEAN have emerged as the preferred hot spots of leisure travellers around the world. During the past two decades Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand with their thriving economies have earned good reputations as safe and exotic getaways with opportunities for excellent shopping and extra-curricular activities. Although not quite in the same league in terms of economic progress, what Indonesia (pop. 210 million) lacks in terms of development, it compensates with exotic locales, mild climate and cultural affinity with Indian visitors. Unfortunately the Bali bombings in 2002 and again earlier this year, have led to a further decline in the tourism appeal of this progressive Islamic nation with strong cultural associations with its Hindu past. However its pretty beaches, tropical terrain and exotic culture are ideal for rejuvenating holidays, especially for Indian travellers.The name Indonesia has its roots in two Greek words: Indos meaning Indian and nesos which means islands. Strategically located between the mainlands of Asia and Australia, Indonesia comprises a necklace of 17,508 islands stretching 5,150 km, of which only about 6,000 are inhabited. Five main islands ‚ Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan aka Borneo, Sulawesi aka Celebes and Irian Jaya aka Papua ‚ and 30 smaller archipelagos contain the majority of the population. Indonesia‚s history goes back to the fossil era of the Java Man. Fossils discovered by Dr. Eugene Dubois in 1809 near Trinil village in East Java are estimated to be about 500,000 years old. This discovery proves that the region had been inhabited since several millennia. Major migration patterns from China and Tonkin to the Indonesian archipelago have been traced as far back as 3,000-500 BC. These migrations introduced new Stone, Bronze and Iron Age cultures as well as the Austronesian language into the archipelago. By about 100 AD Indonesia had come under the influence of the mighty Hindu kingdoms of south India and later of the powerful Srivijaya Buddhist kingdom during the seventh century. The spectacular Borobudur Buddhist sanctuary was built in Central Java by the Srivijaya kings. The 13th century witnessed the rise of the powerful Majapahit Hindu empire in East Java, which united the whole of what is latter day Indonesia and parts of the Malay peninsula for over two centuries. As in all Hindu empires, the Majapahit kings built several grand temples in Java including the Prambanan temple complex near Yogyakarta, the Penataran temple complex in East Java and several ethereal shrines on the Dieng Plateau. The prosperity of the archipelago attracted plundering Mongol armies led by Kublai Khan in 1293 AD, but he was badly defeated and driven back. Later during the 14th century visiting Arab traders…

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Letter from London Students as custom It is an unsettling thought that with the advent of top-up fees next September, universities are already being encouraged to view their new fee-paying students as customers. Sir Howard Newby, chief executive of Higher Education Funding Council for England, recently advised university managements that “students are consumers in other spheres of their life, which universities are going to have to match. The idea that students should jolly well be grateful for what we do no longer works. We need to be responsive to students and not say we know what they ought to want.” Now that students have joined the ranks of a customers like rail passengers and hospital patients who have gradually grown used to their new status, it is important that universities do know what students “ought to want”. Teaching staff experience indicates that students have no idea of what they want or expect. Having recently met the new intake of first year students, it’s quite obvious they welcome guidance and help of any type or description. This is why they have entered university” to find out. At a recent conference on higher education in London it was suggested that university managements will have to be on their toes to manage their customers if they are to cope with changes which are in the works, including course top-up fees from next year, major changes in admission procedures a process which is now almost entirely electronic despite teething troubles. On top of these changes there is a strong likelihood that within the next ten years or so the number of 18-year-olds in the British population will begin to drop dramatically, which means that universities could be struggling to fill installed capacities. Students top-up fees which will rise to a maximum of £3,000 (Rs.2.5 lakh) per year remains a hot topic, and the subject was recently raised again by the two contenders for Conservative party leadership, David Davis and David Cameron, who are divided over the introduction of the policy. Davis describes higher fees as “a straightforward tax on learning” and says he would never have had the opportunity to go to university in his day as it would have incurred “such huge debt”. On the other hand, Cameron (who has since won the Tory leadership race) believes tuition fees are essential to help fund Britain’s universities so they remain “world class”. “To make our economy competitive, we need to be prepared to remove burdens on the state, and that’s why I’ve made clear that in higher education some form of co-payment is almost certainly the correct way forward,” he says. Both viewpoints come down to money, and whichever way one looks at it, the plain truth is that higher education is extremely expensive. The interests of equity demand it should be a cost shared between the beneficiary, educational institutions, business and the taxpayer, since all these parties and individuals benefit in the long run as the country moves forward into the future. (Jacqueline Thomas is…

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Dr. P.C. Thomas, founder-principal of the state-of-the-art Good Shepherd International School (GSIS), Ooty, was the genial host of the 48th annual conference of the Association of Schools for the Indian School Certificate (AIISC). The three-day conference (November 23-25) held in the verdant 90-acre Mt. Palada campus of GSIS was a slickly choreographed faculty-student event which showcased the institutional management skills of this hill station’s largest fully residential school, and mightily impressed 700 principals of the country’s top-rung schools affiliated to the Delhi-based Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE).  “We have been associated with the CISCE board since we admitted our first batch of students in 1977. During the past 28 years a substantial share of the credit for GSIS having transformed into the largest and most-respected primary-secondary school in the Nilgiris needs to be given to the council for the excellent syllabus, curriculum and teacher training support it has given us. Therefore it was a privilege to host this year’s AIISC conference, which gave us the opportunity to exchange notes and discuss new pedagogies at a time when school education is experiencing radical changes around the world,” says Thomas who was awarded a doctorate in education management by the Pacific Columbia University, USA. Starting his academic career as a teacher in Sainik School, Bijapur, Thomas served as principal of several reputed schools including Cordite Factory School, Aruvankadu (Tamil Nadu) and Breeks Memorial, Ooty. In 1977 he purchased and refurbished the crumbling Baroda Summer Palace from his Ooty-based family’s savings to promote GSIS with 54 students of both sexes. Since then GSIS has grown in strength and currently boasts an enrollment of 1,200 students including 400 from over 40 countries such as UK, Italy, Australia, Bhutan, Kuwait, Malaysia, etc. Sited amid the scenic Nilgiri ranges, GSIS now comprises two campuses: the erstwhile Baroda Summer Palace located on the original 20-acre wooded space overlooking Ooty lake which hosts kindergarten-class V students and the sprawling 90-acre state-of-the-art campus completed in 1999 atop Mt. Palada for classes VI-XII. Certainly no expense or effort has been spared to build its impressive infrastructure facilities. Among them: a half Olympic size six-lane indoor heated swimming pool maintained at a constant temperature of 270 C; an Olympic size athletics stadium with an eight-lane 400-metre synthetic track and facilities for all indoor and outdoor sports including football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, badminton, squash, rifle shooting and horse riding. Residential facilities include 30-strong centrally heated separate dormitories for boys and girls, with one bathroom unit for three pupils. Thomas is strongly committed to making GSIS into a globally competitive institution. “The way to achieve this is to upgrade teachers’ skills, so that they are able to teach international syllabuses and curriculums. Two years ago we introduced the IGCSE curriculum as an option for class X students and the IBO diploma for classes XI-XII. Within the next two years our teachers will be ready to teach the IGCSE ‘A’ level curriculum,” he says. Quite obviously, Thomas takes the word ‘international’ in GSIS…

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Your Counsellor RepliesAfter completing my B.Sc (information technology), would it be more rewarding to pursue an MCA or MBA? Also do I have to write an entrance exam for admission into the M.Sc programme of the IITs?Ravi Chauhan, Pune If you are interested in a career in software development, MCA is the better option. An MBA will help you diversify career opportunities but the work may not be technical or scientific in content. Choose the course according to your academic capabilities and preference. For admission into the M.Sc programme of the IITs, writing the Joint Admission Test is mandatory. The structure of the exam, content and syllabus is available on www.iitb.ac.in/_jam/about_jam.html.I‚m a final year B.Sc (IT) student and interested in a career in artificial intelligence. Please advise.Nalini Bhatia, New DelhiInformation technology encompasses digital electronics, peripherals technology, computer science, information systems, data transmission, computer networking, artificial intelligence and other related applications. You could, therefore, enroll for an M.Sc (IT) or MCA programme.What‚s the new syllabus of the IIT-JEE exam?Nikhil Joshi, MumbaiThe syllabus for this examination is available on all IIT websites including that of IIT-Bombay (www.iitb.ac.in). It will also be set out in the information brochure of JEE 2006.Please provide information on universities offering degree courses in automobile design. I‚ll be completing my graduation in mechanical engineering in 2007.Ashok Srinivasan, ChennaiAfter you acquire your mechanical engineering degree you could enroll for a postgrad programme in transportation/ industrial design. Options include the two-year Master of industrial design of the IITs with specialisation in transportation design and/ or postgraduate diploma programme in transportation and automobile design at the National Institute of Design. Details of the above programmes are available on www.iitb.ac.in and www.nid.edu. What are the career options available to a B.Com graduate? I‚m not clear about what I want to do after graduating in 2006.Lakshmi Narayan, BangaloreMost B.Com graduates opt for MBA or M.Com (with various specialisation options such as accountancy, banking and finance), retail management, insurance, chartered accountancy, company secretaryship, cost and works accountancy, MA economics, Master of finance, and law.However there are several other options for commerce graduates. They include postgraduate programmes in mass communication, advertising and public relations, social work, labour and social welfare, personnel management and industrial relations, hospital administration, fashion management, apparel merchandising and marketing, film editing, film direction, etc. Alternatively there are opportunities aplenty in business organisations, banks, insurance and retail companies. Study the options and decide what‚s best for you.I‚m a third year B.Com student and would like to know whether I should do an M.Com as well as an MBA after graduation for better job prospects.Neena Mehta, AhmedabadM.Com andMBA are good study programmes but there is no need to enroll for both. An MBA from a reputed business school is enough to get you a good placement.Please give details of institutes other than IIMs, which use CAT scores as an admission criterion for entry into MBA programmes.Anil Vaswani, MumbaiMore than 50 institutions use CAT for shortlisting candidates for admission into their MBA programmes. Prominent…

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With no dearth of demand for packaged and processed foods in the marketplace, there’s a premium on food technologists, leading to a bright future for food techies and making it one of the more attractive career choices  In the fast-paced contemporary age with dual income urban families having little time for preparing elaborate home-cooked meals, there’s no dearth of demand for packaged and processed foods. This socio-economic transformation has created a new profession- food technology. The demand for food and coterminously for food technologists has ballooned, making it one of the most attractive careers of the 21st century.  Food technology is the study of manufacture, storage, preservation, canning and packaging of food products. The technology embraces all types of food- fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, milk, cereals, spices, tea, coffee, etc. Within this rapidly expanding fast-track industry, the food technologist is a key player. Apart from examination of foodstuff, checking for contamination and adulteration and certifying its nutritional value, food technologists devise new and improved techniques for the processing, conservation and preservation of food items. To qualify as a professional in this emerging field, a variety of study programmes which train students for jobs in small as well as large-scale units are available. For interested students who have completed Plus Two, short-term certificate, craft and diploma courses are offered at various polytechnics in different states. The Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore (Karnataka) is the premier postgrad institute for food processing and technology. To enroll for a B.Sc degree in food sciences a Plus Two in physics, chemistry and biology is generally required, though some institutions require maths as well. For the M.Sc programme the minimum eligibility criteria is a B.Sc degree in physics, chemistry, biology and maths, agricultural/ chemical engineering or agriculture/ food technology. Among the prominent institutes offering study programmes in food science and technology are the Central Food Technology Research Institute, Mysore which has a branch in Mumbai; M.S. University, Vadodara; SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai; Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Himachal Pradesh; Fruit Technology Institute, Lucknow; National Sugar Institute, Kanpur; Central Institute of Fisheries Education which has four training centres in Barrackpore (WB), Kakinada (AP), Lucknow and Mumbai; National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The Small Industries Services Institute, Okhla, New Delhi also conducts entrepreneurial development programmes. Food technologists with professional qualifications are readily absorbed by food processing companies, food research laboratories, wholesalers, retailers and even by hotels, restaurants, hospitals and other catering establishments. Entry level pay and perks tend to be good for those who are professionally qualified in public and private sector companies- Rs.20,000-25,000 per month. Moreover the food processing industry offers excellent entrepreneurial opportunities as this sector has attracted investments of over Rs.20,000 crore during the past few years. “Food processing is a sunrise industry, an IT industry in the making. With the Union ministry of food processing finally getting the encouragement it deserves, this agri-industry is poised to take off in a big way soon and India, which wastes almost 40 percent of its horticulture produce could…

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There is rising criticism of Right to Education Bill, 2005 that this new bill relies heavily upon the education bureaucracy which has conspicuously failed to improve the quality of learning in government schools and has imposed asphyxiating strangleholds on private education institutions. Dilip Thakore reports  Although with its 6-7 percent annual GDP growth of the past decade post-liberalisation India has dazzled the world and looms large on the radar screens of foreign investors, knowledgeable domestic monitors of the sub-continent’s socio-economic scenario are only too well aware that the superstructure of the fast-track Indian economy is built on weak foundations. In particular despite loud proclamations of its socialist character (in sharp contrast to the nation states of the communist bloc who for all their other faults, universalised primary education) every government in post-independence India, preoccupied with high matters of state, criminally neglected the social sector — education and health.  Contemporary India’s education statistics make dismal — indeed shocking — reading. Of the estimated 200 million children who enroll annually in the nation’s 900,000 primary schools, 53 percent drop out before they make it into secondary education (class VIII). Of the remainder only 10 million enter institutions of tertiary education, of whom some 3 million graduate annually. Hardly surprising considering that 20 percent of government primary schools (over 90 percent of school-going children enroll in state and local government-run schools) are multi-grade teaching institutions; another one-fifth don’t have a proper building; 58 percent can’t provide safe drinking water, and 70 percent lack toilet and sanitation facilities. Moreover corporal punishment is rife in India’s crowded classrooms which boast the world’s highest teacher-pupil ratio — 1:63. Instead of addressing this monumental waste of human resources, successive governments at the Centre and in the country’s 29 states have never been able to raise their combined annual outlay for education to beyond 4 percent of GDP, compared with the global average spending of 5 percent of GDP per annum and 6-7 percent in the developed nations of the western world. Impossible as it may seem, shining India’s child health statistics are worse. With the Central and state governments’ combined annual allocation for public healthcare a mere 0.9 percent of GDP (cf. the global average of 5 percent), 33 percent of the country’s children under five years of age are underweight and 47 percent suffer malnutrition, making it difficult for them to derive optimal benefit from primary education, even if it ever becomes easily accessible. Although the nation’s benighted politicians preoccupied with self-aggrandisement and primitive accumulation seem blissfully unaware of this astonishing neglect of education and health, social activists and NGOs (non-government organisations) are belatedly beginning to express rising indignation about the low priority given to human capital development issues by the nation’s omniscient central planners who have engineered post-inde-pendence India’s inegalitarian socio-economic development effort. According to economics Nobel laureate Dr. Amartya Sen, often “the very institutions that were created to overcome disparities and barriers” to health and education for citizens and children in particular, “have tended to act…

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For the great majority of students, schools can be dangerous and even rather scary places where if the examination system doesn’t beat you down, the chances are that bigger kids will. Given that children spend most of their day in school, socialisation happens between commencement of assembly and the welcome ring of the last bell. The lessons students learn during these daily seven-eight hours are what they take with them into their lives as professionals, householders and citizens.  Therefore it’s a welcome development that the National Curriculum Framework for School Education, 2005 has taken the next steps in peace education, recommending for the first time, the teaching of peace education as a core competency and suggests “nurturing ethical development, with values, attitudes and skills required for living in harmony within oneself and with others including nature”.    The skills and dispositions required to build harmonious societies won’t flow from platitudes about peace, non-violence, unity in diversity and secularism. For peace education to become meaningful and effective it is necessary to introduce sophisticated pedagogies and provide space within curriculums for it. Peace education cannot be a separate, stand alone subject. The subject needs to be integrated into the curriculum so that pedagogically and in practice, the skills and dispositions permeate the larger culture of schools and become the norm for everyday behaviour.  Against this backdrop it would be useful to examine successful peace education and conflict resolution programmes and curricula that have been developed the world over, so that we can perhaps adapt them to the Indian context.   Peer mediation. Richard Cohen, director of School Mediation Associates, Massachusetts, USA, has pioneered peer mediation programmes adopted by a growing number of middle and high schools in the US and several European countries. After a school enrolls in the programmes, nominated and/ or self-selected middle and high school students are taught conflict resolution and mediation skills that allow them to settle disputes within peer groups.  In the process, says Cohen, peer mediators develop valuable life skills even while serving as role models for the rest of the student community.   Diversity training. World of Difference is an anti-bias and diversity programme of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) adopted by middle and high schools across the US, parts of Europe and the Middle East. This writer was a consultant with the programme for over eight years and witnessed first hand how young people develop awareness and sensitivity towards people who are culturally, ethnically, religiously and otherwise different. This programme has developed a common vocabulary and methodology to help students and teachers deal with differences and contentious issues without regressing into bullying or harassment of those who don’t fit in. Peace building amongst polarised groups. Seeds of Peace, an NGO based in Maine, USA, brings together young people from all over the world, notably conflict spots, to engage in dialogue and understanding. It has conducted summer camps for youth from Israel, Palestine, India and Pakistan. The emphasis is on allowing “participants to develop empathy, respect, and confidence as well as…

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The rising incidence of cross-border and internal terrorism resulting in bomb detonations which take a heavy toll of human lives, prompted two Chennai-based engineering students- S. Devadurai and J. Maria Alen Dioney Biju- to design a computer-controlled multi-functional bomb defusing robot. This electronic robot employs video and audio surveillance to investigate remote locations hazardous to human beings, viz war zones and nuclear reactors, atomic research centres etc. The duo’s invention won them the National Innovative Student Project Award 2005 sponsored by the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), New Delhi. “We wanted to build a state-of-the-art robot which would help bomb disposal squads and defence personnel save human lives. We worked on this project for six months. Therefore there is a justifiable feeling of pride that our invention has been chosen as the best from among 2,000 submitted by students from engineering colleges across the country,” says Devadurai. Both S. Devadurai and Dioney Biju are information technology students at St. Joseph’s College of Engineering, Chennai. The award winning robot incorporates a powerful video camera which transmits audio-video information to a computer which controls it. Programmed in Java software its platform-independent modules perform functions like cutting wires and lifting objects. Its functions can be extended by adding further modules. “Our robot uses the latest technology and can be built indigenously at lower cost,” says Dioney Biju. Encouraged by the top-level recognition they’ve received from INAE and President A.P.J. Kalam, the duo has set their sights on upgrading and perfecting the revolutionary robot in collaboration with software engineers of the Mumbai-based Patni Computer Systems (PCS). This month (January), the two will present a paper on the multifunctional robot at the International Conference of Robotics to be held in Germany- a trip sponsored by the St. Joseph’s College of Engineering. “We hope to acquire new ideas and meet with talented inventors from other countries. Continuous perfection of our robot could well create an international market for it,” enthuses Dioney Biju. Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai) Also read: Scientists bag Infosys-Educationworld Young Achievers Awards 2006  Jenny Bhatt Anno Domini 2005 has been a memorable year for Mumbai-based artist Jenny Bhatt. She received a commendatory letter from legendary artist M. F. Husain, hot on the heels of being awarded a trophy in the visual arts category at the sixth Indo American Society’s (IAS) Young Achievers Awards. The annual IAS Young Achievers Awards were launched in 2000 and are given to those making significant contributions in their chosen vocations ranging from business and sports to theatre and art. On December 3, IAS felicitated 19 individuals based in India and the US with its Young Achiever Awards. An applied fine arts graduate of the Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai, Bhatt describes her current crop of canvases as quasi-abstract, though she’s done figurative work in the past. “I paint out of an inner need. This is not just what I do; it’s who I am,” she professes. Quite evidently her inner need has commercial value. She has seven solo exhibitions of paintings to her credit, and her…

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The decision of the Congress-led UPA government to enact the 104th constitutional amendment to make it mandatory for self-financed, unaided colleges of professional education to reserve seats for economically weaker sections and scheduled castes and tribes will unleash a mutually damaging conflict between the Supreme Court and the Central and state legislatures, and may lead to a dangerous discouragement of private sector. The will of Parliament might prevail, but this confrontation will weaken the foundations of the highest judicial court. Admittedly, it’s difficult to govern a large country like India within the framework of democracy. The parliamentary democracy system based on the British model which we adopted in 1947, is responsible for most of the nation’s problems. The democratic system functions well in western countries which are homogenous societies and government participation in economic activity is very limited. On the other hand India is a society of multi-dimensioned diversity, comprising many competing interest groups. Moreover government is directly involved in economic activity in innumerable capacities. As owners and managers of numerous business enterprises, political leaders have little time and energy for governance, which is the primary role of government. Therefore while it’s a matter of pride that we have sustained a democratic framework of governance for the past 57 years, its negative aspects and ill-effects are becoming evident. Now it’s incumbent upon all institutions of government- the executive, Parliament and the judiciary- to ensure they don’t further strain or overstretch the system which is in danger of collapse. There are a variety of ways in which access of backward castes and socio-economically disadvantaged students into professional education can be facilitated. First, it needs to be admitted that private sector educationists have done great service to professional education by expanding capacity several fold. Starting with four engineering colleges in the early 1950s we now have 1,200- of which over 1,000 are privately promoted- with an annual intake of over three lakh students. Moreover today there are over 800 business management institutes, of which 95 percent are private, churning out one lakh MBAs annually. Similarly, our medical education system has expanded and is internationally recognised with India emerging as a favoured destination for “medical tourism”. Nor is it contestable that the spectacular success of India’s information technology companies is because of the quality education delivered by our engineering colleges, most of whom are privately promoted. By diminishing the autonomy of private unaided colleges, politicians are discouraging private educationists who can further expand the higher education system. True there are sub-standard private colleges indulging in profiteering and demanding exorbitant fees, but they will slowly disappear if maximum autonomy is given to private educationists, genuine investors, philanthropic institutions and the corporate sector to promote educational institutions. Currently they dread to enter the education sector as the procedure of obtaining sanctions, licenses etc is cumbersome within a rigidly controlled system. Western experience clearly shows that privately promoted higher education institutions with maximum autonomy tend to emerge as centres of academic and scholastic excellence. In Parliament and even…

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Established by an act of parliament in 1946, anu is widely acknowledged as the sixth continent’s premier research and teaching institution of higher education Strategically located in Canberra, the national capital, the Australian National University (ANU) is widely acknowledged as the sixth continent’s premier research and teaching institution of higher education. The Australian Good Universities Guide 2005 awarded it a five star rating for six categories including prestige, staff qualifications, graduate starting salaries and placements. Moreover the China-based Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute of Higher Education’s Academic Ranking of World Universities has ranked ANU ahead of every other university in the southern hemisphere two years (2004 and 05) in a row.  Promoted by an act of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1946, ANU was established as the country’s first full-time research university without any teaching responsibilities. Its mandate was to undertake “postgraduate research and study both generally and in relation to subjects of national importance”. However, subsequently in 1960 following its amalgamation with the Canberra University College, it incorporated the latter institution’s undergraduate study programmes. Following another amalgamation in 1992 with the Canberra Institute of the Arts (comprising the Canberra School of Art and the Canberra School of Music), music and art study programmes were incorporated into its syllabus. Throughout these mergers and acquisitions, the research institutions of the parent ANU of 1946 vintage maintained their distinct identities under the umbrella of the Institute of Advanced Studies. Currently ANU’s seven faculties offer a wide range of undergrad, postgrad and doctoral programmes (see box). Sited on a leafy campus ANU has an aggregate enrollment of 13,500, of whom 8,700 are undergrad and 4,600 postgraduate students. Moreover it boasts more faculty with higher degrees, more ARC Discovery grants per staff member and more research expenditure per faculty member than any other Australian university. “ANU continues to be a unique institution within the Australian university system. It is well placed to continue and build upon its role as a major centre of research in the natural, physical and social sciences and the humanities. It values its reputation as an innovative research and teaching university,” says Prof. Ian Chubb, vice chancellor and president of ANU. Canberra. The capital of Australia, Canberra (pop.3.12 million) is an exquisitely designed city nestling in a picturesque bushland setting. With a history spanning just 80 years, Canberra combines the infrastructure and facilities of a modern city with the culture and vibrancy of a national capital. Designed by Chicago architect, Walter Burley Griffin, it is centred around a scenic lake bearing his name. Numerous parks and reserves dot the capital and careful integration of urban and natural environments has earned Canberra the sobriquet of “the bush capital”. In addition to being the political hub of the nation, the capital’s intellectual and cultural life is enhanced by the activities of the diplomatic corps, with representatives from over 120 countries located in the city. Inevitably ANU is a neighbour to several national institutions including the high court of Australia, the National Gallery, the War Memorial, and…

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Since it admitted its first batch of boys in1869, this Jesuit promoted kg-class X St. Xavier’s High School Mumbai has produced an illustrious roll call of alumni. Today it is struggling to maintain its reputation “I have inherited a long tradition of crafting the educational process as a holistic formation in a positive climate and I try to adhere to the excellent standards that have been maintained for over a century in this institution,” says Fr. Baptist Pinto, principal of the St. Xavier’s High School Mumbai which has been repeatedly adjudged by the Delhi-based weekly Outlook as the best Maharashtra state education (SSC) board affiliated school in Mumbai. Established in1869 by the selfless missionaries of the Society of Jesus, aka the Jesuits, St. Xavier’s High School Mumbai is one of 208 schools promoted across South Asia by this 450-year-old Catholic congregation for whom education remains a preferential apostolate. “In keeping with the Jesuit ideal of education, this school accords special care to developing the imaginative, affective and creative dimensions of students,” says Pinto a maths graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, who took charge of St. Xavier’s High, a boys-only (kg-class X) day school with an aggregate enrollment of 2,430 students instructed by 74 teachers, in 2000. Once housed on a sprawling site, St. Xavier’s High suffered a carve-up of its campus in the 1960s when a large plot allotted to it was taken over for civil defence. Still, the school enjoys an extensive playground fringed by trees and separated from the college campus by an open-air public auditorium and a large building housing the State Vocational Guidance Board. The roll call of school alumni is illustrious. All the scions of the Godrej and Mafatlal business families studied here as did Mohammedali Currim Chagla (first Indian chief justice of the Bombay high court and Union minister for Education); cancer specialist Dr. Ernest Borges; bureaucrat J. B. D’Souza; Archbishop Simon Pimenta; scientist Dr. Homi Sethna; judges Bhaktavar Lentin and Madhu Kania; super cop Julio Ribeiro; architect Charles Correa; legal eagle Soli Sorabjee; former army chief of staff Gen. Sunith Rodrigues; internationally renowned economist Jagdish Bhagwati; banker Deepak Parekh; cricket maestro Sunil Gavaskar and renowned artist Francis Newton Souza, who was expelled for chronic absenteeism. Pinto admits that over the past three-four decades the school’s social profile has changed and the city’s haute bourgeoisie now enroll their offspring in more elite institutions. “Currently most of our pupils are drawn from the immediate neighbourhood and since this is a poor neighbourhood we get a grant-in-aid for the secondary section, which enables us to charge very modest tuition fees. This, in the ill-considered opinion of some, lowers academic standards,” says Pinto. However he is happy with St. Xavier’s academic record. For two years in a row, Outlook (December 10, 2001 and December 16, 2002) ranked it among the city’s top four, and best among SSC schools. In 2003, the school achieved a 100 percent pass result in the class X SSC examination after a gap of 37…

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Prof. Eleanor Duckworth, a Harvard University-based theorist/psychologist, who has done extensive research in the field of learning and education will be conducting a series of workshops and seminars in Bangalore between January 6-9, 2006 under the aegis of Delhi-based iDiscoveri, a well-known experiential learning, teaching and research company. The three-day intensive workshop will be held on the premises of the Azim Premji Foundation (134 Doddakannelli, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore). “A former student and translator of legendary educationist Jean Piaget, Prof. Duckworth grounds her work in Piaget’s theories of the nature and development of intelligence. With experience of close to four decades in academia in the United States and Europe, Prof. Duckworth has worked on curriculum development, teacher education and programme evaluation in the United States, Switzerland, Africa and her native Canada. The main objective of Prof. Duckworth’s visit is to interact with teachers, principals and parents- all of whom can foster the ability to learn in a child- and help them understand how to create situations that get children excited about learning,” says an iDiscoveri spokesperson. Middlesex campus in India or Sri Lanka The London-based Middlesex University which has an aggregate enrollment of 22,000 students including 1,000 from India, is in the final stages of establishing campuses in South Asia and China. “We are working on the details and talking to potential academic partners in this region. Whether it will be India or Sri Lanka will become clear soon and as far as partners go it will be premature to say anything about it,” says Dr. Terry Butland, deputy vice chancellor of the university who was recently in Delhi in this connection. “Under WTO rules of engagement, India has to provide access to foreign universities and Middlesex University is determined to be the first to boost higher education here,” says Maroof Raza, the Delhi-based regional director (South Asia) of Middlesex University. Adds Butland: “Our experience in Dubai where we inaugurated our new campus early last year has been encouraging and in less than a year we have started 55 courses for 250 students. Our students now have the choice of completing some modules in Dubai and others in the UK and vice versa. This will apply to future campuses as well.” Meanwhile Middlesex University has commenced research activities in India under the name and style of Middlesex Research Initiative. This programme is headed by Raza, a defence strategist and former fellow of the Centre for Policy Research. SBMJC-CMS offers Careers with Professionals The Bangalore-based Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College’s (SBMJC) Centre for Management Studies (CMS) which offers undergraduate and postgraduate (BBA and MBA) business study programmes has introduced its Careers with Professionals counselling programme. Under the aegis of the programme on a designated day, students and parents get to interact on a personal level with professionals from the fields of science and technology, defence, medicine, design, management, liberal and fine arts. Top-level professionals in 24 vocations will advise students and parents on personality traits required for various careers, and employment trends. According…

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They said it in December”We believe this (call to ban women working in late night shifts) will be a retrograde step and everyone including women have a right to work any time they want.” — Nasscom president Kiran Karnik after a woman call centre employee was murdered by a cab driver in Bangalore (December 20)”I think you have to be very careful to only speak about a few things. If you have some credibility, it only goes a small distance.” — Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman in Time (December 26)”Stop your tongue Sheikh Hasina. Or else we shall charge you with sedition.” — Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia reacting to allegations made by opposition leader Sheikh Hasina (December 22)”I recommend that before the ‚Ëœpeople‚s President‚ makes his next speech about empowering India, he take a short drive without his cavalcade. He could discover that neither Bharat nor India are ready for his wondrous plans.” — Tavleen Singh in The Deccan Herald (December 24)”Now more than ever I am convinced that recovery must be guided by a commitment to build back better: better housing, schools and healthcare centers, safer communities and stronger economies.” — Bill Clinton, former US President and United National Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, in The New York Times (December 26)”At present our schools act like factories, forcing children into a fixed, preconceived mould. They stifle natural curiousity and creativity. The fruits of democracy and modernity will remain elusive if education is not structurally adjusted to the needs of the rural poor.” — NCERT director Krishna Kumar in The Hindu (December 26)”For development to become a national obsession, the tyranny of bureaucracy has to end.” — Prime minister Manmohan Singh in India Today (December 26)

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Uttar Pradesh Crumbling school system In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous (166 million) state where the ruling Samajwadi party government is more concerned with moral policing, engineered communal clashes and political vendettas, education is a low priority. Most of the state’s 122,835 government schools in 70 districts are characterised by crum-bling buildings designated as schools. Unsurprisingly in end November, the roof of a school building in Lucknow’s Dayaram Purva locality came crashing down, seriously injuring two students. In Lucknow district which hosts 1,686 dilapidated schools with 3.69 lakh students, it was a disaster waiting to happen. Following a public outcry, the city education officer Pankaj Gupta ordered that students of 13 primary schools in decrepit buildings be shifted to neighbouring schools within 24 hours. But the order itself prompted further protest because some of the endan-gered schools had enrollments of over 400. This consideration had aborted a similar order issued three years ago. “It takes time to build schools. We are doing the best we can. In many instances the children themselves don’t want to move to new schools fearing that the commuting distance will be too much,” says Gupta who prefers not to comment about a promise made by him last August to repair school buildings that were compromising the safety of students. But it’s possible this was because the quality of repairs don’t inspire much confidence. In 2002 the education department decided that a primary school building in the city’s Chinhat suburb was too dangerous for its 200 students. So Rs.1.5 lakh was expended to set up a new building next door. However the school continues to function from its old premises as the peeling plaster, cracked floors and walls and falling concrete of the new structure make it more unsafe than the older one. Moreover the building had only two classrooms which meant classes would have to be held in the portico as well. Unsafe buildings isn’t the only problem plaguing UP’s primary schools which have a modest Rs. 12.93 crore budget for civil works for the financial year 2005-06. Shortage of teachers and support staff is another chronic problem. Over 200 schools in Lucknow are single teacher institutions. In Varanasi, 1,082 primary schools have just 4,272 teachers between them. In schools that function in Dalit dominated areas, students are often asked to double up as sweepers and peons. Comments a dispirited teacher: “Can you imagine a school where a single teacher teaches all subjects to all classes while the headmaster remains busy with administrative work? These children come from poor families and don’t have a supportive home study environment. We aren’t able to provide it here either. There is no electricity and our students have to sit on worn-out mattresses. We have made so many complaints to the education department, but nothing comes of it.” It’s the same story elsewhere. In Lucknow’s neighbouring Faizabad district, Rs.1 crore is allocated annually for running primary schools. But most school buildings are either incomplete or unsafe. Faizabad’s shiksha adhikari (education officer), Devi…

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I read your cover stories “Can Sam Pitroda spark India’s overdue knowledge revolution?” (EW November) and “Swelling stream of corporate crossovers” (December) with great interest, indeed admiration. EducationWorld’s belated crusade to focus public attention on India’s education system which is going from bad to worse, is commendable. However I regret to say that you are fighting a losing battle. Although you have correctly diagnosed that greater private sector intervention in education is the panacea for remedying the ills that plague the education system at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, the ground reality is that Indian education is so heavily dominated by the Central and state governments and offers so many opportunities for corruption and graft, that politicians and bureaucrats will oppose greater private sector participation tooth and nail. On the contrary, at best your efforts for better education for children of households “at the base of the social pyramid” will result in better quality education for the children of the rich and powerful who can afford private schooling. Because as is common knowledge, only the managements of private upscale schools are likely to introduce new concepts and pedagogies discussed in your magazine. I hope I am proved wrong, but you need to know your limitations. Satish Purkoyashtha Delhi Also read: Can Sam Pitroda spark India’s overdue knowledge revolution Bhargava reacts I have read your cover story on the Knowledge Commission (EW November) on which I need to comment. I was somewhat intrigued by your describing me and Pratap Bhanu Mehta as “liberal”, as against Andre Beteille, Deepak Nayyar and Jayati Ghosh, whom you have labelled, “left-leaning”. Can’t a person be liberal and left-leaning? Aren’t intellectuals (certainly, leading scientists) overwhelmingly left-leaning and liberal as against right-wing and conservative? The reason I have raised this issue is that the nature of a person’s overall social commitment is bound to play a role in determining not only his views but also his actions. There-fore the contribution of the members of the National Knowledge Commission will surely be determined by the nature of their social commitment. Further, you described the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad constructed under my stewardship as a Rs.12.5 crore laboratory. This was the money spent on its construction and basic furnishings 25 years ago! The laboratory today, I would imagine, would be worth well over Rs.500 crore. Not only that, even though I spent only Rs.12.5 crore on building and services, the estimates were close to Rs.65 crore which shows where the money in construction generally goes! Dr. P.M. Bhargava Hyderabad Language disadvantage It was interesting to read the special report titled “English learning fever sweeping India” (EW December). The article rightly highlighted the growing demand for English language education in all classes of society. In my opinion English as a language should be rigorously taught right from kindergarten in all schools. Moreover the three-language formula being followed from class V onwards should be started from class I. For instance in Karnataka state English teaching commences from class V. Most students find…

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Parliament’s unanimous approval of the 104th Constitution Amendment Bill which clears the ground for restoration of caste-based, state government determined quotas in private unaided institutions of professional education- and perhaps extends them to private schools- on December 21, is a severe setback for the orderly growth and development of education in India. In Inamdar’s Case (August 2005) the learned judges of the Supreme Court upheld the 2002 judgement of a 11-strong bench of the apex court in T.M.A Pai Foundation & Ors vs. State of Karnataka & Ors (2002 8 SCC 481) which decreed that all citizens have a fundamental right to “establish and administer educational institutions of their choice” without harassment and interference from the Central and/ or state governments. Regrettably this well reasoned commonsense (majority) judgement attracted widespread criticism from the nation’s pampered, subsidies-addicted middle class, and even from within the court itself. Consequently the then chief justice of India V.N. Khare, constituted a five-judge bench to “clarify” the apex court’s judgement in the T.M.A Pai Foundation case. In the Islamic Academy Case (2003 SCC 697), a five-judge bench decreed separate state-level committees headed by retired high court judges to ensure transparency and merit in the admission processes of colleges of professional education, and to ensure that tuition fees levied were reasonable. Following the judges’ committees sanctioning the re-imposition of government decreed quotas and adjudicating unreasonably low tuition fees, managements of unaided professional colleges appealed again to the Supreme Court for justice. In its well-considered judgement in Inamdar’s Case delivered on August 12, the seven-judge bench of the apex court upheld the ratio decidendi of the T.M.A Pai Foundation Case. It is the considered judgement of two full-strength benches of the Supreme Court of India which Parliament has nullified through the 104th Amendment. Quite obviously in their haste to enact populist legislation, honourable members of Parliament have given insufficient consideration to two issues of overwhelming importance which portend a grave threat to constitutional stability and the future prospects of a growing number of young citizens countrywide readying to acquire professional qualifications. In its landmark judgements in the T.M.A Pai Foundation and Inamdar cases, the learned judges of the Supreme Court implicitly reaffirmed that contemporary India is not a communist dictatorship in which government(s) can ride roughshod over the rights and liberties of individuals. To enact overriding legislation which would abridge a fundamental right through imposition of government mandated quotas and tuition fees upon education institutions promoted by citizens from their own legitimate savings, is a shocking denial of constitutionally mandated individual rights and freedom, and a clear case of an attempt to subvert the basic structure of the Constitution.  Constitutional legalities apart, it’s crystal clear that the 104th Constitution Amendment Act which gives the green light to backdoor nationalisation, will discourage future private initiatives in professional education and exacerbate existing capacity shortages.    Confronting irrational colour prejudice Rooted in colonial history and proclaiming a national inferiority complex, contemporary India’s unapologetic colour prejudice is becoming a global embarrassment. Hitherto the subject of wry humour and social comment, the…

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To readers who complain that too many of our lead features are legal stories, an apology. But the fact is that the year 2005 was marked with unprecedented parliamentary activism which culminated in legislation. And given the ‘other income’ generation preoccupations of our duly elected representatives, it’s possible — indeed probable — that such legislation may not receive detailed examination in Parliament. Therefore bearing in mind that legislation pertaining to education directly affects the lives and future of the entire next generation, it is vitally necessary that it is thoroughly analysed and debated by the academic and parental communities, even if not by students themselves. Moreover isn’t it rather strange that the country’s major news glossies seldom bother to comment upon education initiatives of critical importance to the future of the nation? Be that as it may, the enabling legislation to give effect to the 86th Constitution Amendment Act, 2002 and the more recently enacted Article 21-A of the Constitution which at long last makes it the obligation of the State (i.e. Central and state governments) to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages six-14 nationwide, is too important to be spared rigorous examination and analysis. Quite obviously issues such as the quality of education to be provided, measuring learning outcomes, ways and means to fund this overdue gigantic initiative, division of parental, state and societal obligations etc need to be intensively discussed and debated. Fortunately, for all its faults India is a functional democracy in which the fiats of the executive and imprimatur of Parliament can be freely debated, criticised and opposed without fear of the midnight knock and a bullet in the back of the head. Fortunately also, the nation is gifted with purposive, high quality intellectuals and argumentative Indians who make the time to study issues of national importance and are prepared to debate and discuss them in all available forums. Dr. Parth J. Shah, promoter-president of the Delhi-based Centre for Civil Society is one such individual who has thoroughly studied the Right to Education Bill, 2005, drafted to enable Article 21-A and has discerned several dangerous provisions and omissions within it. In particular, he is alarmed that the Bill is deafeningly silent about ways and means to encourage private initiatives in education. That’s an important dissent because especially in school education, the good reputation which post-independence India has acquired is entirely due to non-government efforts and initiatives. These and other issues of vital importance for the future direction of primary-cum-secondary education in the world’s youngest nation are addressed in our first cover story of 2006. And in our second lead feature, assistant editor Summiya Yasmeen reviews 2005 — by her account a landmark year — from the education development perspective. Happy New Year!

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