Bangalore-based Ronita Mookerji (26) is a danseuse with a difference. An alumna of Attakkalari — a performing arts charitable trust — she was the only Indian dancer to be selected for Dance Box’s choreographic residency ‘Kobe-Maizuru Exchange Programme’ convened last year in Japan. The exchange programme is an initiative of the Imperial Japanese government to […]
Three years since it became law on April 1, 2010, it’s becoming increasingly clear this historic legislation was hastily drafted without proper evaluation of ground realities in primary education criminally neglected for over six decades. A close reading of the RTE Act indicates that several of its ill-conceived provisions have the potential to wreck India’s […]
Although widely acclaimed as a country with a mathematics heritage stretching back to Aryabhatta and Ramanujan, there’s been a steady decline of students opting for maths higher education in post-independence India. Even the mathematical skills of 230 million children in primary-secondary education are in steep decline. Hemalatha Raghupathi reports
The temple town of Kumbakonam (pop.140,113) in Thanjavur district […]
Dr. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon is professor of education at the University of London
In a dramatic about-turn on the issue of testing learning outcomes of children in all primary and upper primary classes, the historic Right to Free & Compulsory Education (aka RTE) Act, 2009 has abolished examinations. S.16 of the RTE Act prohibits detention or […]
s.2.(n) “School” means any recognised school imparting elementary education and includes: (iii) school belonging to specified category and (iv) an unaided school not receiving any kind of aid or grants to meet its expenses from the appropriate government or local authority.
s.3.(1) Every child of the age of six to fourteen years shall have a right to free […]
To mark the end of three years since the right to Free & Compulsory Education (aka RTE) Act, 2009 became operational (on April 1, 2010), 22 education NGOs and six respected educationists convened in Delhi on March 28. On the occasion, they made an appeal to the Central and state governments to shift the focus […]
The story of how maths genius Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) was discovered by the world is one of the most engaging accounts in the history of mathematics. In 1913, Ramanujan wrote a ten-page letter containing 120 theorems to eminent English mathematician G.H. Hardy of Trinity College, Cambridge (UK). Hardy took hours to analyse […]
India hosts several world-class institutions for mathematics education and research. They include the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; the IITs; Indian Statistical Institute, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai among others which offer high quality undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral education.
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Bangalore (estb. 1963): B.Math (3 years) degree programme, M.Math (2 years).
Government provision of foundational elementary (primary and upper primary) and usually even secondary education, is normative in almost all nation states around the world. Curiously the founding fathers — who wrote the elaborate Constitution of India which became the supreme charter for the governance of free and independent India on January 26, 1950 — included education […]
Although in the excitement generated by the mminent assembly elections in several states and the general election scheduled for next summer, it has gone off the headlines, government corruption is — or should be — a live issue at the hustings in the states and at the Centre. Two recent incidents in Maharashtra — India’s […]
It’s naïve to believe the newly passed Criminal Amendment Bill, 2013 will prevent and deter crimes against women (EW April cover story). As the authors observe, despite the outpouring of public anger little has changed. The police and judiciary continue to be indifferent, callous and inefficient when dealing with gender crimes. That’s why women should […]
A new four-year baccalaureate (Hons.) degree programme, introduced by Delhi University from the new academic session beginning July, to replace the existing three-year BA/B.Sc (General/ Hons) course has sparked a major controversy in India’s most respected Central government-funded university (estb. 1922). This reform — the handiwork of the varsity’s high-profile vice chancellor Dinesh Singh — […]
Even as large swathes of India’s most industrialised state — Maharashtra (pop. 112 million) — are suffering the worst drought in four decades and the Congress-NCP government is reeling under a spate of scandals (including a Rs.70,000 crore defalcation in the irrigation ministry), 50,000 college and university teachers across the state have struck work since […]
A great trier like the spider who inspired Robert Bruce, Gujarat’s chief minister Narendra Modi, the frontrunner in the race to the prime minister’s office should the BJP emerge as the largest party in Parliament next summer, never gives up. Take the case of the appointment of a Lok Ayukta (ombudsman), a post kept vacant […]
When the comrades-weary West Bengal electorate ended 34 years of uninterrupted rule in the state by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-led Left Front government, and overwhelmingly voted in the Trinamool Congress party led by Didi (sister) Mamata Banerjee in May 2011, it believed it was voting for poribortan (change). Two years later, it’s becoming […]
The Andhra Pradesh government is all set to shut down 880 government primary schools in the state before the next academic year beginning July. Primary education minister S. Shailajanath of the Congress party government held a meeting with officials, educationists and voluntary organisations in early April to explain that the 880 primary schools spread across […]
A decision taken by the J. Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party last November to nationalise the crisis-ridden 84-year-old Annamalai University (AU, estb. 1929), Chidambaram (213 km from Chennai) — arguably India’s most famous teacher certification university for liberally dispensing B.Ed degrees under its distance learning programmes — was warmly welcomed by […]
“Industry must have a voice in universities and training institutes since they’re the end-users who eventually hire people graduating from these places.” — Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing industry leaders at the CII annual general meeting (April 4)
“Of course we are rooting for India’s economic uptick, but the human side needs deeper examination. In many ways India is […]
The mizoram assembly has referred its Mahatma Gandhi University Bill introduced by the state higher and technical education minister C. Lalsawta to a select committee of the legislature. On April 4, Lalsawta withdrew the Bill and sought permission of the house to refer it to the select committee for review. The […]
The Hyderabad-based next education India pvt. ltd, one of the premier e-learning companies in India, was awarded the prestigious Corporate Innovation in Teaching Pedagogy award at the World Education Summit 2013 convened in Delhi, for its MathsLab.
Based on LAB (learn, analyse, build) ideology, MathsLab offers children an innovative platform for various activities, projects and simulations […]
Since it admitted its first batch of 56 class I-VI students in 2008, the CBSE-affiliated Taurian World School, Ranchi has set new benchmarks in school education for the educationally backward state of Jharkhand
Twice top-ranked the most admired residential school in the newly constituted (2000) state of Jharkhand (pop. 32 million), and ranked […]
In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012, University of Sheffield, UK is ranked # 13 in the UK and # 66 worldwide. it’s also ranked among UK’s top 10 research-intensive varsities by RAE
University of Sheffield (estb. 1905), one of Britain’s six ‘red brick’ varsities, has acquired an international reputation for […]
India’s squash racquets champion Saurav Ghosal (26) is among the world’s Top 20 (# 19) players in this testing indoor game which requires lightning-fast reflexes, stamina and grit. Ghosal was in the garden city recently to participate — and win — the Bangalore Invitational Squash Tournament 2013 hosted by the Karnataka Badminton Association.
The demand for trained hotel and hospitality management personnel is unabated, offering youth attractive career opportunities, sizeable pay packages and conducive conditions
Although the worldwide leisure tourism industry has taken a hit because of the prolonged global recession, business travel and medical tourism to India continue to rise. And the hotels and hospitality industry which offers […]
I will complete class XII (science) next year and am interested in a career in meteorology. Which institutes offer this subject and what are their eligibility requirements? Deepak Iyer, Chennai
Meteorologists understand, explain, observe and forecast the earth’s atmospheric phenomena and/or how the atmosphere affects earth and life on it. Specialisation in meteorology can be attained after study […]
“Don’t ask silly questions”, “don’t try to be smart”, “you are too much”, “don’t eat my head”, “don’t question elders”, “just do what you’re told”, “you are like a question mark”. Drawing from memory, these are examples of dismissive statements which are commonplace in school classrooms. In India’s 1.30 million schools, questions are an irritant […]
Manoj Chandra and Ankur Dinesh Garg are co-founders of an online children’s merchandise store (www. allschoolstuff.com) owned by the Gurgaon-based Fame Eduserve Pvt. Ltd. A business management graduate of the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University, Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), Chandra who is CEO of the company, acquired valuable business management experience with Bata India, AFL Ltd, […]
Dr. Geeta Menon is dean of the undergraduate college at New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business (NYU Stern, estb. 1900). Ranked among the Top 10 B-schools worldwide for research productivity by the University of Texas at Dallas (Research Contribution 2007-11 in All A-level journals), Stern is globally renowned and ranked #19 by […]
Abdul G. Sait (30) is the founder-chief executive of Basket Option Pvt. Ltd (estb. 2005). This Bangalore-based financial services company recently launched the Stockmarket Institute of India (SMI) to teach financial literacy to students, professionals, and housewives through the company’s one-day workshops and part-time six-month and one-year programmes.
Newspeg. On April 14 SMI launched its one-year e-cap […]
Pune-based Ajay Dasgupta, an admirer of the gurukul tradition of story-telling, has gone a step beyond admiration to found the Kahani project (estb. 2012). Also accessible online (www.thekahaniproject.com), the project is an archive of audio-recordings of 100-plus stories/poems in English, Hindi, Bengali and Marathi contributed by 50 volunteers. The narratives are digitally recorded by the volunteers, uploaded […]
Certified in the year 2000 as the world’s youngest CEO at age 14 by the media, with an entry in the Limca Book of Records in 2007, Bangalore-based Suhas Gopinath (27) has transformed Globals Inc, the company he promoted in 2000, into a respected information technology (IT) consulting and development company, with a footprint in 11 countries […]
Some history professors in Florida are paying more attention these days to the future than to the past. The historians have organised themselves to promote the value of their discipline against a growing sentiment that history is “non-strategic” in an economy that needs more engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and workers in the health professions.
Growing up in the southern mexican town of putla Villa de Guerrero, Lili Gracida Jiménez watched with dismay as teachers lined up students by order of intelligence, calling the underperformers names.
“My teachers were cruel,” recalls Gracida Jiménez, who went on to graduate from Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca and now teaches Spanish at a […]
The centre for higher education development (che) is responsible for what is arguably Germany’s best-known universities ranking system. Results are presented by means of a simple traffic-light method of classification: top-rated universities get green buttons, average ones yellow and low scorers blue. But the ratings paintbox has recently seen the addition of a new colour: […]
Many summers ago, i had been invited to give a talk at the athletics banquet of a local school — a lecturing engagement I had frequently discharged. I remember how I resolved to go beyond my usual spiel and come up with something new — something I’d be as interested in saying as (I hoped) […]
Sethji by Shobhaa De; Penguin Books; Price: Rs.250; 287 pp
In the preface to this high octane exposé of Indian politics, Shobhaa De, the celebrated founder-editor of Stardust and Celebrity magazines, is described as the author of 17 books including bestsellers such as Socialite Evenings, Starry Nights, Spouse and Superstar India. Books authored by her include […]
Rustom Kerawalla, Chairman, Vibgyor High Group of Schools
Where would you place education on your national list of priorities?
Among my top three priorities together with infrastructure development and medical care.
How best to upgrade government schools?
They should be given to private sector educationists on an upgrade/operate/transfer model.
One of the peculiar anomalies of self-styled socialist India governed by a greedy establishment with superpower aspirations is that it is the largest importer of arms, ammunition and defence equipment worldwide. The fact that 46 percent of the country’s children suffer chronic malnutrition induced by poverty, mass illiteracy and unemployment for which the Central government’s […]
The ski run from Alparbat to Tangmarg (on the road from Gulmarg to Srinagar), is probably one of the longest in the world from 14,000 ft to 4,000 ft. Experts have categorised it as potentially the best ski run on the planet. Rahul Singh reports
Which is the fastest growing sport worldwide since the 1960s? […]
- Mita Mukherjee The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is planning to introduce a new policy to assess and award grades to institutions of .....Read More
- Baishali Mukherjee On January 25, the Kolkata division of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) -- an autonomous scientific society under the .....Read More
Case for testing learning outcomes
Dr. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon is professor of education at the University of London
In a dramatic about-turn on the issue of testing learning outcomes of children in all primary and upper primary classes, the historic Right to Free & Compulsory Education (aka RTE) Act, 2009 has abolished examinations. S.16 of the RTE Act prohibits detention or […]