EducationWorld November 04

The surprise election of a sizeable number of young candidates — most of them educated in blue-chip universities — to the 14th Lok Sabha has generated hope that a powerful pressure group for the radical reform of India’s moribund education system is in the making. The good news is that they want education to be the No.1 priority on the nation’s development agenda.Summiya Yasmeen reports Renewed murmurs of hope and optimism are being heard in the sleepy groves of Indian academia following the May general election which elected 541 members to the 14th Lok Sabha. In one of the biggest surprises in the country’s electoral history, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance — favourite of poll pundits — was ousted at the hustings by a Congress-led coalition which has formed the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government in New Delhi. This shock defeat of the BJP-led saffron alliance wasn’t the only surprise of Election 2004. Perhaps for the first time in the history of the Lok Sabha, 37 young parliamentarians below the age of 35 were elected to the country’s lower house. Of these, over a dozen are from the Congress Party and only two from the BJP. The large number of first-time Congress MPs is not surprising given that the party high command had distributed 50 tickets among youth (the second highest after the Bahujan Samaj Party’s 150). The young parliamentarians elected in E-2004 include Rahul Gandhi (elected from Amethi, Uttar Pradesh), Sachin Pilot (Dausa, Rajasthan), Milind Deora (South Mumbai), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna, Madhya Pradesh), Sandeep Dikshit (East Delhi), Manvendra Singh (Barmer, Rajasthan), Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh), Jitin Prasada (Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh), Naveen Jindal (Kurukshetra, Haryana), Kuldeep Bishnoi (Bhiwani, Haryana), Ajay Maken (New Delhi), Dayanidhi Maran (Central Chennai), and Dushyant Singh (Jhalawar, Rajasthan), among others. With the initial euphoria of entering the august halls of Parliament having subsided, these young turks, most of whose lineage can be traced to political families, are articulating the demands and preferences of the youngest nation (540 million Indians are below 25 years of age) in the world. In a lunch meeting with prime minister Manmohan Singh on October 3, they spelled out their development priorities. Not surprisingly education reform, healthcare and agriculture development — low priority items in the election manifestos of all political parties and campaign speeches of the 5,000 plus candidates who contested the 14th Lok Sabha elections — topped their agenda. This tête à tête with the PM, young MPs hope, will become parliamentary best practice under which they meet the prime minister every fortnight to convey the “aspirations and hopes” of young Indians. Indeed it’s the relatively young average age (53) of the new Lok Sabha and the surprise election of a sizeable number of astonishingly young candidates — most of them educated in blue- chip universities abroad — which has generated the hope that a pressure group for the long overdue process of radical reform of India’s moribund education system, will crystallise. Having come of age in post-liberalisation India, these young MPs are…

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Importance of adventure learning Sudheendra SavanurIn my previous contributions to this page, I had discussed how to apply expeditionary learning all day long. In this contribution I propose to demo how adventure experiences can help schools to enhance student achievement while creating safe and caring environments.Adventure is a philosophy ‚ a set of values rather than a set of activities ‚ that honours the learning potential inherent in risk, challenge, and the unknown. Its implementation is as appropriate in an academic setting as it is in a physical activity, if the common goal is to increase students‚ ability to challenge themselves and work in groups. Adventure can happen in any environment that offers risk, challenge and surprise. Though adventure experiences can also be created in a safe environment, wilderness experiences can challenge students to reach deep within themselves and go beyond their perceived limits. Therefore adventure is central to expeditionary learning. But adventure driven expeditionary learning goes beyond outdoor education, high ropes courses and strenuous physical activity.For any school, the bottom line is student achievement. Standards-driven learning expeditions, however, are not enough to significantly raise achievement. Research indicates that one of the most important factors in attaining academic excellence is a caring and safe school environment. Adventure education has helped several schools create that culture. It teaches communication, teamwork, cooperation, trust, decision-making, and problem-solving in an atmosphere of fun and challenge. Adventure learning differs from traditional physical education programmes in that the teacher assumes a ‚Ëœfacilitative‚ rather than ‚Ëœactive‚ role. Students primarily learn from each other and the flow of activities is spontaneous and unpredictable. Team-building initiatives ‚ challenges that have unpredictable outcomes ‚ help to introduce elements of adventure into a class. Teachers should try to balance activities with individual skill-development such as juggling, skipping, pole climbing, etc. It is when students challenge themselves to master individual skills that their confidence grows and transfers to group activities. The physical facilities in your school may not accommodate the installation of high ropes or a climbing wall. Consequently, teachers and students have to fund adventure experiences at outdoor education facilities in surrounding areas offered by expert organisations. Plan for overnight camping and participate in a series of team-building and rope activities. Always plan a progression of activities back at school that will help students build on what they learn in the field. For teachers a stiff challenge will be to relinquish a directorial role and trust the adventure process. Allow for students to experience the positive outcomes that occur through natural group dynamics and allow them to struggle through their own learning. Try to move from a central, visible role to that of a supportive observer. As students gradually assume more responsibility for negotiating rules and resolving inclusion and safety issues, you‚ll see how it empowers them. If they can internalise this process in an activity setting, they are likely to apply it in academic settings as well. The way teachers model routines, procedures, and the adventure process, sends students strong…

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Letter from London Top-up fees stimulus College corridors are buzzing with students this autumn as universities finally get the new academic year underway. British academia seems to be bursting at the seams as students fill every lecture hall, classroom, cafeteria and university bar in the scramble to be educated and entertained, fed and housed. Space is at a premium in lecture theatres, classrooms, canteens and halls of residence, all of which need to be bigger, better and more convenient. A glaring omission in the carefully crafted information put out by universities in glossy literature and websites, is the size of classes, which according to a senior university lecturer have quadrupled from 16 to 64 during the eight years of his teaching. It’s surprising this issue has received little attention thus far because in the UK, parents who can afford to do so select private schools for their children and demand detailed information on class sizes, and teacher-pupil ratios. But at the university level class sizes suddenly become irrelevant. The introduction of top-up fees of upto £3,000 (Rs.2.4 lakh) per year at the discretion of institutional managements which will become a reality in Autumn 2006, may help the situation. Some universities will spend part of their additional income on improving staff-student ratios, now that it seems likely that almost all universities will levy the maximum £3000 for undergraduate courses. Student competition will be for bursaries offered to those from less well-advantaged backgrounds. University and college managements are already drawing up spending plans for 2006 onwards. Much of the additional revenue will go into upgrading infrastructure, libraries, computer rooms and student accommodation. Some universities are already commissioning market research to ascertain student preferences. For instance Anglia Polytechnic University is investigating what students will demand when they pay more. The higher fee-paying student is expected to be a discerning individual, who will demand excellent leisure and study facilities and high quality living quarters. Parents are sure to inspect residential accommodation so universities are gearing to provide comfortable ensuite rooms, storage space and multiple TV rooms in halls of residence. Evidently students’ leisure activities will be well provided for with universities already going the extra mile to provide high quality facilities. The University of Plymouth for example, has extended the library and is planning to improve water sports facilities so students can go sailing in their leisure time. The University of Exeter, which has estimated that it will rake in an additional £2 million (Rs.16 crore) annually from top-up fees, is planning to use the money for a variety of projects, including recruiting additional staff. All indications are that the mere prospect of charging top-up fees is actually breathing new life into universities. Although everyone agrees that the additional incomes derived will be hardly enough to compensate for years of under-funding, large and small plans and building projects are already underway in universities across the country. Marketing initiatives resulting in intensifying competition between higher education institutions look set to make life a lot better for…

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All children need equal opportunityShukla Bose”Art for art‚s sake” and “education for life and not a living” are lofty pronouncements that most of us have heard as we grew up. But sadly, we represent only 20 percent of the population of this potentially great nation. For the rest of the population, education is just a gateway into the jobs market. My real brush with this reality began when a few class X students of some Bangalore Municipal Corporation schools where we run classes, told me that they would prefer to write the school-leaving SSLC exam and fail ‚ rather than pass ‚ which was an endeavour that our non-government organisation Parikrma, had embarked upon with great energy and passion. The reason: passing SSLC actually disqualified them from getting a factory job! And they couldn‚t dream beyond a factory job‚¦I am not a specialist in academics nor a trained social worker. My only claim to experience is several years of running organisations and making them viable and profitable. So when I decided to quit corporate life while I still considered myself young and energetic, it was with great trepidation that I approached educationists for advice on how to start up a school for abandoned, neglected street and slum children in the garden city of Bangalore. What I received was a volley of negatives ‚ what could not be done and what was not possible. My response was that if educationists themselves believed that the education system devised by them could not equip students from marginalised sections of society to break out of their poverty cycle, then why the elaborate farce of getting them to school? What appalled me was that I encountered so many doyens of education who seemed to believe that providing minimal, rock-bottom quality education to the children of the poor was more than enough because they had never had it before. My argument to them was ‚ and still is ‚ precisely for this reason, deprived children should be given much more attention in terms of inputs to enable them to catch up with mainstream children. This provokes the counter-argument of scalability behind which many specialists and for that matter, the government, hide to justify lack of quality in public education. Yet the moot point is, should we scale down inputs to broaden reach or scale up quality to guarantee impact and create a snowball effect? Anyone who says that both are possible, needs to do a reality check and question why it hasn‚t happened for half a century. The more I spoke to specialists the more determined I became to do it differently. It was this shared passion of a few believers to deliver comparable quality education to the children of the poor and disadvantaged that prompted the promotion of Parikrma Humanity Foundation 18 months ago. Currently the foundation runs three schools in Bangalore with an aggregate enrollment of 480 slum and orphaned children. These are English medium ICSE affiliated schools for children who about a year…

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In response to the large and growing number of Indian students applying for admission annually (1,250 in 2003-04), the Queensland (Australia)-based Griffith University (estb. 1970) is planning to establish a state-of-the-art campus in India in the next three-five years. Currently the university operates from five campuses (Gold Coast, Logan, Mt. Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank) in Australia. A campus in Sharjah, UAE is expected to open by end 2005. “We organise four-six student recruitment drives in the subcontinent annually. Over the years the number of applicants for admission has grown steadily. Market research shows that demand from India is expected to grow in huge proportions within the next three years and beyond for quality international education. In response to this expected demand, Griffith University is currently looking at partners in India to set up a campus for world-class education. We are looking at a joint venture, preferably with a large education group or a committed edupreneur,” says Rahul Vinoo Mankad, Griffith University’s manager (international marketing), who supervises student recruitment, offshore delivery and strategic linkages in the Indian subcontinent and Middle East. Finding an institutional partner won’t be difficult, says Mankad, because over the past three decades Griffith has acquired a global reputation for academic innovation, syllabus and curriculum design, and for internationalisation of its study programmes. “Within Australia and abroad, especially in South-east Asia, it’s well known that Griffith doesn’t offer mere degree programmes. We provide uniquely holistic academic experiences in a safe and congenial academic envir-onment. Indian students have good work ethics and communication skills, but they lack international exposure. This is the vitally important finishing touch we provide,” says Mankad, an alumnus of Bombay University who migrated to Oz in 1984. Mankad’s claims are backed up by the fact that Griffith University is one of the fastest growing universities in the sixth continent. It offers over 56 fully-fledged undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes which have attracted 23,000 students including 6,000 international students from over 100 countries — and over 700 from the Indian subcontinent — on its muster roll. The holistic education Griffith offers is reflected in its sponsorship of the Gavaskar-Border Cricket Scholarships for students from India. Aspiring Indian students with sound scholastic back-grounds are awarded this generous scholarship to pursue world-class sports-cum-academic education at the university. “In the subcontinent, cricket speaks more eloquently than any other language, so we decided to touch markets which share our love of this game,” adds Mankad, himself a top-grade batsman of Bombay in the Ranji Trophy league who has also played for and coached at several English cricket clubs such as Lurgan (Ireland) and Cleckheaton, in the Yorkshire league. The Griffith University campus in India is being negotiated with several private sector education groups. Though Mankad is not inclined to reveal names, he expects negotiations to be completed soon. Under the joint venture partnership, Griffith aims to provide its intellectual property as well as systems and faculty while the chosen Indian partner will provide the infrastructure and administration services. “This campus…

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Your Counsellor RepliesI‚ve completed my B.Com and am currently studying for the CA (chartered accountancy) exam. I also want to pursue some other study programmes (CS, M.Com, etc). Which qualification when combined with CA certification will give me an edge in the job market?Shekhar Rao, BangaloreIf you want to qualify as a chartered accountant, your energies and focus should be solely on excelling in the CA exam because the demands of the mandatory articleship and CA studies are sufficiently daunting. But if you feel you can manage to add to your academic qualifications, you could consider CS, CWA or M.Com. Chartered accountants who are rank holders and have completed their articleship from reputed organi-sations usually get the best entry level placements. Many CAs also pursue an MBA from reputed B-schools to avail the facility of campus recruitment.I‚ll be completing my B.Sc (physics and chemistry) next year. Which course should I pursue after graduation ‚ an M.Sc in biotechnology or MBA in biotechnology?Nalini Gupta, New Delhi MBA after B.Sc or M.Sc will qualify you for a career in all industries. On the other hand an MBA (biotechnology) will qualify you specifically for the biotech and related industries. This qualification is focused on a particular sector of specialised research and applications and hence job opportunities are limited. Finally, if security and placements happen to be your priorities, focus on institutions which attract established recruiters.I need information on IATA courses. Please advise.Shalini Singh, ChandigarhThe IATA/UFTAA (international travel and tourism training) programme is a four-level career path through foundation, consultancy, management and senior management courses. IATA/ UFTAA training courses are based on an independent, home-study method with a complete training kit including training manuals and study publications. This programme is offered in more than 240 IATA/ UFTAA authorised training centres (ATCs) around the world. These centres set their own tuition fees and course structure but the examination papers are based on IATA/ UTFAA course content. Career opportunities are better for those who have higher levels of training. If you do not find it practical to study for the IATA courses on your own, you should consider any of the ATCs (log on to www.iata.org/ps/training/uftaa_ foundation.htm).I‚m in class XII (arts) and would like to pursue a career in publicity design. Please advise.Deepak Sule, PuneThe best study programme in this field is the bachelor of fine arts degree course offered by several universities in the country or the National Institute of Design‚s (NID) graduate diploma course. Both are of four years duration and open to applicants after Plus Two. You still have time to apply for admission. To learn about NID‚s postgrad courses visit (www.nid.edu). Alternatively you can enroll in commercial art diploma programmes offered by private training institutes. Entry into these programmes requires artistic aptitude. If the formal training route isn‚t appealing and you have a reasonably well compiled portfolio of sketches, try to approach prospective employers directly. If your work is good you could land some freelance assignments. After working on several projects you…

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After the economic liberalisation and deregulation initiative of 1991, there has been an explosion of activity in the real estate sector prompting highly qualified professionals to enter this business With cities expanding and cheap home loans to be had for the asking, lifestyle changes and multinationals setting up shop across the country, there has been a sudden explosion of activity in the real estate business which until recently was not regarded a serious profession. It was synonymous with real estate agents most of whom were neither qualified nor trained. But after the economic liberalisation and deregulation initiative of 1991, for reasons stated above and more, the industry has come alive with a whole new tribe of real estate developers, marketers, evaluators and sundry others offering a gamut of services ranging from buying-selling property to consultancy, valuation, legislation, finance and economics, property management, facilities management, and insurance advice. Hardly surprising given that in the past few years real estate multinationals such as Chesterton Meghraj, Colliers International Knight Frank, Cushman and Wakefield, Le Salle Partners, Jones Lang Wootton and Abaqus Property have pitched their tents in the subcontinent and are active recruiters in India’s top B-schools. Inevitably there is a paucity of professional institutes or training establishments offering formal real estate study programmes. However CEPT (Centre for Environment Planning and Training), Ahmedabad, has introduced a Master’s programme in planning. Likewise the Kamala Raheja Institute of Architecture, Mumbai is all set to start a postgraduate degree course in real estate for engineering and/ or architecture graduates. There are of course quite a few short-duration diploma courses in real estate. For example the Mumbai-based Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies offers a one-year part-time diploma programme in the subject. So does the Indian Institute of Real Estate (IIRE) Mumbai, which has tied up with the National Association of Realtors, USA — America’s largest real estate association — to offer study courses leading to Graduate Realtors Institute certification. “As the real estate business and new construction is growing at the rate of 6-7 percent per year, the number of people involved in the property market will double in the next few years. Given India’s housing deficit of 40 million homes, the construction business will continue to grow. Indeed this is already beginning to happen. Construction and real estate activity contributes 12 percent to the total GDP of the country, next only to agriculture,” says Joygopal Sanyal (33) who heads the consultancy division of Mumbai-based Chesterton Meghraj Property Consultants (P) Ltd. An architecture graduate of Calcutta University with a Masters from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, Sanyal entered the urban, infrastructure and environmental planning and international real estate advisory business in 1995. Since then as a planner and project co-ordinator, he has been involved in and executed several large-scale developmental planning projects including city and regional development plans in Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. As an independent consultant he developed an enviable clientele which included World Bank, Asian Development Bank, state and…

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Hierarchy of teaching professionalsDilip P Patel”Thank you, teacher, you changed my life.” How many of you would like to hear these words from your students some day in your lifetime? I posed this question to a hall full of teachers in Hyderabad. Almost every hand went up.”And what would prompt your student to give such credit to you?” I asked. There was a silence. Then a feeble, diffident voice sounded from a corner of the hall. “Maybe because I am a good teacher?”My mind went back to my school days in the early 1960s. The only teacher about whom I have vivid memories is Mrs. Srivastava, the class VII English teacher in Bhilai Vidyalaya, Sector II, Bhilai, Chatthisgarh. (I will be grateful if someone could help me get in touch with her. My e-mail is given at the end of this piece).Was she a good teacher? I‚m not sure. I remember being petrified for more than a month whenever it was my turn to read. I would stare into the textbook and cry. Those two minutes every day seemed like eternity. At that time I didn‚t know the ABC of English as I had just been uprooted from Gujarat where English was taught only from class VIII onwards. To my misfortune I had shifted to Bhilai where English was taught from class VI and thus, I was completely illiterate in the subject. But the humiliations I suffered in Mrs. Srivastava‚s class made me resolve that I would master this complex language. I am still at it, and perhaps will remain at it for the rest of my life. But that ordeal by fire impacted me deeply and for the better. Therefore looking back I can say: “Thank you Mrs. Srivastava, you changed my life.”Nevertheless even four decades later the ‚Ëœgood teacher‚ syndrome continues to play on my mind. Sharu Rangnekar, a master trainer and management guru draws deep upon his knowledge of Sanskrit literature to classify ‚Ëœtypes‚ of teachers. First, there‚s the teacher who requires a prefix like ‚ËœEnglish‚ teacher, or ‚Ëœphysics‚ teacher, marking him/ her a specialist in that subject, capable of transmitting knowledge of the subject to students.As Rangnekar explains, in Sanskrit a person who provides ‚Ëœinformation‚ is known as adhyapaka. However, the individual who transforms information into ‚Ëœknowledge‚ for his students is known as upadhyaya. The great majority of teachers remain adhyapakas and upadhyayas for life. Today, in the information age, I wonder if that‚s acceptable. I take delivery of two such ‚Ëœteachers‚ every morning in the form of my newspapers which cost me less than Rs.200 per month. Moreover in addition, I have another 70 upadhyayas available round the clock in the form of television channels for whose services I pay Rs.750 per month. I also have access to millions of web pages at the click of a mouse. Therefore in the new ICT (information communication technology) era it is imperative that teachers move up from upadhyayas to the higher levels.Sanskrit literature describes the next level…

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Differentiated teaching basicsVasanthi VasudevThere‚s an ancient saw which says that if you have to sing to the cow to milk it, do it; if you have to dance to coax the cow, just do it. Sama dhana bedha dandam ‚ a famous Sanskrit adage, reiterates this wisdom: do whatever it takes to achieve important objectives.This principle underpins the relatively recent psychopedagogic concept of differentiated teaching.”Let no child be left behind,” says Carol Tomlinson, an expert on differentiated teaching who has done pathbreaking research to demonstrate the efficacy of this concept. She has successfully developed this pedagogy to motivate students to learn through warm and friendly methodologies based on empathy and respect for individualism in learning.Differentiated teaching derives further legitimacy when viewed through the lens of Howard Gardner‚s multiple intelligences theory, which defines human intelligence as a collection of at least nine abilities or adaptive skills. It explains individual differences in the context of every individual having differing degrees and measures of the nine dimensions of intelligence.Let‚s step aside for a while from theory and take a walk through a typical classroom. What does one see? There is a set of learners who have been grouped together on the basis of either age or ability or both, and on the basis of the study programme they have chosen. Collectively this group is called a class and for all purposes, it‚s addressed as a homogenous unit. All students in the group are given the same curricular inputs; they are tested and assessed by common norms and above all, taught by standard methodologies and pedagogies. The pace and plan of learning is all pre-set and the teaching juggernaut trundles on, unmindful of whether the student devotee is on board or left behind!Who sets the pace, and decides on the style or method of instruction? Essentially, the teacher. Yet invariably the teacher is following her script or lesson plan. It can be assumed that the teacher communicates the pattern of her pedagogic design with great skill. But unfortunately, her pattern is not acceptable to all students simply because her teaching style does not sync with the learning capability of every student! The teaching may be perfect but learning is not guaranteed. And all too often a lot of toil comes to naught.Let me illustrate this paradox with real-life examples narrated by teachers during several differentiated teaching programmes I have conducted. Not a few maths teachers lamented that their impersonal, strict subject/ concept oriented approach to teaching maths often made humanitarian learners in class, i.e children who learn only when they relate personally to a teaching environment and to subjects, shy away from learning. Or take the case of an English teacher who adopts a story-based approach to teaching grammar. This doesn‚t suit ‚Ëœtheoretical-analytical learners‚ in a class who prefer to learn through concepts, principles and rules. Likewise the ‚Ëœvisual learner‚ hates classes where the teacher explains without writing on the blackboard. Quite obviously a uniform pedagogy or methodology even if brilliantly executed, doesn‚t suit…

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To meaningfully celebrate the 5th Anniversary of EducationWorld, we deemed it incumbent upon ourselves to ask several educationists and industry leaders with proven commitment to improving the education system to write prescriptions for a renaissance of Indian education. Dilip Thakore reports  It’s a rising irreversible tide. though not a few within the political class and the nation’s powerful bureaucracy are in denial, there is an emerging consensus within India’s 5 million-strong academic community that the nation’s moribund, moth-eaten education system fashioned by Lord Macaulay over a century ago, needs an urgent makeover. With 21st century India burdened with the world’s largest population of illiterate citizens, an estimated 59 million children in the six-14 age group out of school, and the aggregate number of names and addresses of job-seekers in the registers of employment exchanges across the country having swollen to 41 million — not because there aren’t sufficient jobs, but because youth streaming out of the obsolete education system are unemployable — alarm sirens are wailing in all sections of Indian society.    The starkest evidence of the rising tide of anxiety about the quantity and quality of education being provided to genext is indicated by the unprecedented provision made in the Union budget presented to Parliament on July 8, to impose a 2 percent cess on all Central taxes to raise additional resources for elementary education. Moreover in his budget speech Union finance minister P. Chidambaram committed the 100-days-old United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre to raising the national outlay for education from the current 3.5-4 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) to 6 percent in the near future. Coterminously upgradation of the nation’s languishing public education and healthcare systems are top priority on the agenda of the National Advisory Council (NAC) chaired by Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi.  Inevitably, there is considerable scepticism about the declarations of intent and grand pronouncements made by governments at the Centre and in the states which are seldom followed up with policy implementation programmes. But even within civic society and the general public there is a never-before, new millennium awareness that quality education is the best social leveller and passport to gainful employment, affluence and social respect. Hence despite the rigours and travails of licence-permit raj which has migrated from industry to education, there’s a flurry of activity in terms of promotion of new schools, colleges and institutes of professional education, particularly in the private sector. For example, during the decade past, over 100 next generation, capital-intensive, privately promoted primary-secondary schools such as the G.D. Goenka World School, Delhi; The International School, Bangalore; Pathways International, Gurgaon; The Selaqui School, Dehradun; Ecole Mondiale and Dhirubhai Ambani International, Mumbai among others which benchmark themselves globally, have sprung up across the country. Affiliated to international syllabus-setting and examination boards such as the Geneva-based IBO (International Baccalaureate Organisation) and UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate), these schools offer world-class secondary education which almost guarantees admission into the best universities worldwide. Even in higher education the bar is continuously being raised…

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From reservations to affirmative actionRajiv DesaiAt a recent meeting with prime minister Manmohan Singh, I expressed concern about the Congress Party‚s proposal to introduce reservations in the private sector. I told him that it was a retrograde step. His response surprised me. Given the increasing role of the private sector in the economy, he said it was time business leaders understood social realities. As long as government was the key player in the economy, it ensured reservations in its own schools, universities and companies. “Now that the private sector is playing an increasingly important role in the economy, its leaders must come to terms with the realities of India,” he said.”Educated young people from backward segments of our society are unable to find jobs and are therefore recruited by militant organisations in central India, the north-east and Kashmir. There is nothing that threatens national security more than graduates with guns,” he added.This unexpected response from Dr. Singh set me thinking. He is a man of unimpeachable intellectual integrity. When he says something that is seemingly contradictory to your beliefs, you are better off questioning your beliefs than challenging his view. I began to question my unremitting hostility to the idea of reservations in the private sector.Caste and tribe-based reservations for government jobs and school admission were first introduced in India under Article 334 of the Constitution. The policy was supposed to remain in force for 20 years, at the end of which the “historical wrong” would be deemed to have been righted. However, reservations became a political vested interest. Thus in 1969, just before the provision lapsed, Parliament passed the 23rd Amendment, extending reservations for another ten years. Beyond that, Parliament passed the 45th, 62nd and 79th Amend-ments extending reservations through to the year 2010.The inability of Parliament to end the reservations policy came to be regarded as rampant populism. Not just that, in 1978, the Janata Party government of Morarji Desai set up the Mandal Commission which recommended extending the reservations policy to other backward castes. Mercifully, the government did not last long. The Mandal report was buried and the newly elected Congress government led by Indira Gandhi passed the 45th Amendment continuing the reservations policy for another decade.In 1989, V. P. Singh‚s Janata Dal government dusted the Mandal report and proposed to implement its recommendations. It set off a firestorm that swept away the government. The Congress-supported Chandrashekhar government installed in its wake enacted the 62nd Amendment and gave the reservations policy another decade‚s lease of life. In October 2000, the BJP-led government passed the 79th Amendment to extend the life of the reservations policy for another ten years.The inability of successive governments to take an enlightened view of the reservations policy created the feeling among opinion-makers in the academy, media, in business and the professions that reservations were a populist political gimmick and promoted mediocrity. This attitude persists even today. In raising the issue well before the 2010 deadline, prime minister Manmohan Singh has ensured a reasoned…

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For propagating European culture through ballroom dancing, he has received letters of appreciation from Queen Elizabeth II and Charles, Prince of Wales. Meet Mumbai-based twenty-something Sandip Soparrkar, teacher extraordinaire of ballroom dancing and promoter-proprietor of the Sandip Soparrkar Ballroom Studio, the only one of its type in India. A commerce, hotel management and business management graduate of Symbiosis University, Soparr-kar began his career as a public relations professional in Pune. “I was always interested in studying dance, but in India at that time, it was not considered a suitable career option for men,” recalls Soparrkar. Thus he began dancing as a hobby, learning the intricacies of ballroom dancing from Ewa Maria, a former European ballroom champion. After a ten-year association with her, in 1999 he acquired certification from the Ballroom Dance Teachers’ Training School in Bonn, Germany, becoming the only Indian in the school to successfully graduate from this institution. Returning to India and Mumbai specifically in mid 2001, Soparrkar began dancing with his friend, former model and actress, Kitu Gidwani as partner. “It was then that a mutual friend suggested I teach ballroom dancing,” says Soparrkar. Accepting the advice, he promoted a dance studio in Andheri, Mumbai and was soon inundated with students. He currently teaches a two-month course. Soparrkar’s repertoire comprises Latin American ballroom dances such as the rumba, samba, the cha cha cha, jive and paso doble. He also teaches conventional ballroom dancing such as the waltz, the Viennese waltz, the foxtrot, quick step and tango. Moreover Soparrkar’s studio is the first in India to receive exclusive rights to send entries to two famous international dance festivals — Dance Grand Prix Italia and the Prague Festival — for the Latin American ballroom category. And with the cinema and entertainment industries booming there’s little time for leisure activities. Recently Soparrkar signed a contract to teach Femina Miss India contestants dance appreciation to familiarise them with western classical dance. Simultaneously he is choreogra-phing for several Bollywood movies such as The Rising and Kyon Ho Gaya Na. “The dances I choreograph must have a classical base, otherwise I don’t accept the assignment,” says Soparrkar emphatically. Soparrkar does not intend to rest on his laurels. “I want to continue to spread awareness about ballroom dancing throughout India.” With this in mind, he plans to open dance studios across the country. So put on your dancing shoes — Sandip Soparrkar is coming your way! Mona Barbhaya (Mumbai) Siddharth Nagarajan  Like most boys his age, Chennai-based Siddharth Nagarajan (7) is a live wire, constantly disturbing the furniture at home while playing pranks. What’s different about him is his wonderful talent with the drums, a talent which has earned him an entry into the Limca Book Of Records 2003 and 2004 as ‘The Youngest Drummer of India’. Barely the height of the drums he plays, the Limca Book citation apart, Siddharth has bagged over a dozen other awards including the Wisdom International Child Prodigy Award 2004 (which he will receive in December), the IWA (International Women’s Association) 2004 Award, the Samaikkya Bharath Gaurav Satkar Award…

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With effect from October 2 the Centre for Civil Society, New Delhi has launched a National Education Choice Campaign which promotes reforms to deliver quality education for all. Radical new thinking is necessary to save one more generation of the nation’s children from being lost to the failing education system. The campaign invites participation to broaden the dialogue and to work towards immediate implementation of reforms. The Free and Compulsory Education of Children Bill, 2004 is the latest effort by the Union government and education experts to deliver elementary education to all. Unfortunately the bill represents outdated thinking and is completely disconnected from the ground realities of contemporary India. It advocates a CSS (common school system) where government will decide which school every student will attend with the ultimate goal that all students from a given area must attend the same ‘common’ school. The CSS principle was adopted by western countries more than a century ago. Has nothing changed in our understanding of quality education in a century? Should we look at what these countries had done a century earlier or what they are doing today to improve their education systems? In fact they are moving away from the regimented, bureaucracy-ridden system that represents the interests of teacher unions and administrators rather than of students. Let’s learn from their mistakes, not repeat them. The recently elected UPA government in New Delhi promises to increase government spending on education to 6 percent of GDP. The almost doubling of govern-ment expenditure on education is bound to have some positive impact. The question is whether the impact would be in any way proportionate to the increase in spending. It is evident that unless we reform the delivery system, the extra money is unlikely to match our expectations of improvement. Several countries that have achieved high literacy rates in the post-war era rarely spend anywhere close to 6 percent of their GDP on education. South Korea spends about 3.2 percent; Japan spends around 3.8 percent, and China 2.6 percent. Student expenditure in the United States is one of the highest but student performance is far below world standards. International evidence suggests that it is not how much governments spend but how they spend that determines the quality of education systems. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon’s study (in 1996) of Uttar Pradesh documents that annual expenditure per student in private unaided schools is Rs.999, in private aided schools Rs.1,827 and in government schools Rs.2,008. The learning achievement however, is inversely related to the amount of spending. The government spends more than twice that of private unaided schools and provides half as much education. It is widely recognised that government is inefficient in producing economic goods and services. The world over, governments are getting out of the business of manufacturing steel, cement, bicycles, bread etc. But what magic makes the government efficient in providing complex services like education when it is inefficient in producing simple goods like cement? A government that performs poorly in tilling the fields, how well would it train minds? Therefore what…

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Established in 1887 and situated in Oz’s second largest city, this university attracts 8,700 international students and offers 450 professional and job-oriented academic programmes Situated in the heart of Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne, RMIT University enjoys a formidable reputation in Oz and across the world for excellence in vocational and technical education, as well as research and development. RMIT (formerly the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), offers more than 450 professional and job-oriented academic programmes at several levels including pre-university (foundation), certificate, diploma, bachelors, graduate diploma, Master’s and doctoral research. Its programmes in the fields of applied sciences, engineering and business are particularly well reputed for providing industry-ready and highly employable graduates with specialised skills and knowledge. RMIT also offers over 200 TAFE (technical and further education) and vocational education and training (VET) programmes. Established in 1887, RMIT currently has more than 57,000 students, 3,000 academics and 8,700 international students on its rolls. With its three campuses in Melbourne, one in Vietnam, two regional sites in Victoria, RMIT offers study programmes in collaboration with over 190 partner institutions around the world. The university is a member of the Australian Technology Network, a powerful coalition of five front-rank Australian technology institutes which share “a heritage of working with industry and a united vision to provide career-driven education for tomorrow’s leaders”. Moreover RMIT is a promoter-member of the Global University Alliance, a partnership of eight international varsities dedicated to sharing resources to provide online education throughout Asia. “Expert teachers, a wide range of facilities and latest technologies assist students to reach their potential. From diploma to doctoral studies, our programmes link theory with practice. Work placement or research in industry-linked projects is an integral part of the RMIT experience,” says a university spokes-person. After 95 years as Australia’s leading technology educator, and having offered degree courses for over 30 years, RMIT was granted formal university status under the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Act 1992. Now formally known as RMIT University, this highly acclaimed institute has been variously known as the Working Men’s College (1887), Melbourne Technical College (1934), Royal Melbourne Technical College (1954), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1960).  Melbourne. Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne (pop.3.5 million) is a bustling seaport, industrial and commercial centre. Built on two waterways, the Yarra river and Port Philip Bay, it boasts scenic parks and gardens perfect for walks, picnics and relaxation with the city skyline as a backdrop. It is home to immigrants from over 100 countries, has an enviable public transport system and numerous shopping centres.  Within an hour’s drive of Melbourne are some of the most scenic regions of Oz — beaches, rainforest, mountains and lakes. For those interested in the arts, Melbourne offers world-class theatre, concerts and galleries. Exciting nightlife abounds in sophisticated restaurants, cafes, clubs and opulent theatres. Sports lovers have numerous opportunities to witness world-class sporting events such as the Grand Prix, the Australian Tennis Open and the Melbourne Cup. Melbourne enjoys a mild climate round the year. Summers can…

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The passion and dedication which the teachers of Kolkata’s showpiece school display for mainstreaming challenged children is in conformity with a growing global movement for inclusive education Established as recently as 1998 under the aegis of the Rajpal Khullar Memorial Trust to provide quality education to all children, with a special mission to mainstream challenged students, Kolkata’s Akshar School bills itself as a “co-ed inclusive school firmly rooted in the culture of India”. The moving spirit behind the school who has made the right of “all children to be included in the mainstream” of primary and secondary education his top priority is Deepak Khullar, chairperson of Akshar and a successful Kolkata-based restaurateur who believes it’s time to move away from stereotypical norms in Indian  education. “There was an evident void in the education system when it came to quality education for special children. Akshar was born out of the urgent need for an institution that would provide all children the right to be included in the mainstream,” explains Khullar. Teaming up with accomplished educationist Neena Singh and wife Kavneet, a skilled special educator, he set up Akshar as an inclusive school ab initio. And the Khullars’ effort to establish a breakthrough school with special emphasis on mainstreaming challenged children is supported by Prof. Yashpal, well-known scientist and former chairman of the University Grants Commission (the chief patron of Akshar) and a host of other notables including trustee and vice chairperson of the Spastics Society of Eastern India, Sudha Kaul. “Standardised assessments are inappropriate for children with learning disabilities; hence we assess their potential and make our evaluations based on research and practical work by renowned educators and doctors worldwide,” says executive director Neena Singh. Adds principal Kavneet Khullar: “Right from the start our dream was to provide a platform for regular and special children to mix and grow together thereby contributing to each other’s development. In Akshar we set individual goals for students with special needs whom we welcome rather than discourage into mainstream education.” Currently this caring and compassionate school affiliated with the Delhi-based Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) offers personalised education to 380 kindergarten to class IX students instructed by 32 teachers. Each class whose strength is restricted to an upper limit of 24 students, includes three special needs children. “The ceiling restriction on the number of children per class enables teachers to cater to the specific learning requirement of every child. Moreover each class functions with a trained teacher assisted by a co-teacher, both implementing the curriculum mandated by CISCE. The role of the co-teacher is to supplement the efforts of the class teacher by assisting special needs children, who are given additional tuition in specially-equipped resource rooms as well,” says Kavneet. Although the Khullars and the school are committed to integrating special needs children, they are appreciative of the patience and talents of teachers who have qualified as special educators. “There will always be children for whom mainstream education is not feasible. Children with severe learning disabilities, major physical handicaps or…

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Dr. Ramdas M. Pai, president of the Manipal Aacademy of Higher Education (MAHE) has been awarded the prestigious honorary fellowship of the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners of the Royal College of Surgeons, UK. The award is in recognition of Dr. Pai’s contribution towards education in health services. Ian Pocock, registrar FGDP UK, presented the award. MAHE has two dental colleges in Manipal and Mangalore with more than 850 students at the undergraduate level and 150 plus postgraduate students. MAHE and FGDP (UK) have been associated since 2002 for conducting part I & II examinations for the FGDP diploma. MAHE conducts the training and examination in Manipal and Bangalore. “It is indeed an achievement for MAHE that Royal college of Surgeons, UK endorses our mission of achieving global excellence in dental education and oral health,” said Dr. Pai speaking on the occasion. “We are very impressed to know that MAHE works towards ‘taking dentistry to the doorstep’ by conducting 280-300 comprehensive dental care camps every year,” said Pocock while presenting the award. “It is hugely important that we look after the continuing professional development and training needs of dentists.” Epson introduces Greg Gorman Epson India will bring renowned celebrity photographer Greg Gorman to India in November for a series of seminars. Entitled ‘Faces of Fame — A Perspective by Greg Gorman’ they will be held in Mumbai (November 25) and Delhi (November 27). Comments G. Suresh senior business manager of Epson India: “Greg Gorman’s unique style of photography and imaging has made him one of the most sought-after photographers in America. From personality portraits and advertising campaigns to magazine layouts, Gorman has added his special touch to all his works of art. In 2001, Gorman joined Epson Stylus Pros, an elite group of industry-leading professional photographers across the world who have incorporated Epson imaging technology into their digital workflow.” According to Suresh, these unique half-day seminars are targetted at professional and amateur photographers. “For photographers it will be a rare opportunity to see Greg Gorman live, as he discusses what it takes to capture the perfect image of a celebrity and also to watch him demonstrate step by step how he captures and prints his amazing images. Some of Greg’s work will also be on display at the venues,” adds Suresh. For more details e-mail [email protected]. XLRI’s satellite executive education foray XLRI School of Management, Jamshedpur, the well known B-school, has introduced postgraduate certificate programmes in business management (PGCBM) and human resource management (PGCHRM) through satellite learning in collaboration with Hughes Direc Way Global Education. According to XLRI sources the 14-month programmes are designed for high potential mid-career managers, who want to study and enhance their skill-sets without interrupting their careers. “The courses will be delivered by a team of highly qualified XLRI faculty in a real time class room environment in 39 study centres across 26 cities in India. The course comprises 400 hours of interactive online learning — twice a week, three hours per day. It also includes a campus component under…

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They said it in October”The kind of corruption the ordinary person faces in India is something that is not even recognised in the developed countries.”R.H. Tahiliani, chairman of Transparency International India”You can‚t have both a big paycheck and reasonable hours. The laws of economics won‚t allow it.” Keith Hammonds, deputy editor of Fast Company, Denmark”Hitler lent dignity and prestige to the German government within a short time by establishing a strong administrative set up. He created the vast state of Germany‚¦ Hitler discarded the Treaty of Versailles by calling it ‚Ëœjust a piece of paper‚ and stopped paying the war penalty. This instilled the spirit of adventure in the common people.”A class VIII history textbook of the Gujarat State Board”Indians are deliberately not reminded of it in their history textbooks, but there is a most shameful episode in Communist history of India. These fellows have to explain why they sided with the British during the Quit India movement.”TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan in the Business Standard (October 16/17)”There are more speakers of English in India than there are in Britain and America combined.”Prof. David Crystal in an interview with The Hindu (October 17)”When I write I have always tried to be on the side of the weak. The side of the powerful is not literature‚s side.”Elefriede Jelenik, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, 2004″There is now that awakening among the younger Muslim generation to really stand on their feet, to harness their own talents.”Dr. Rafiz Zarkaria, educationist, author and academic”In the late 1990s, when about two million north Koreans starved to death, their Dear Leader ‚ as Kim Jong Il is known ‚ sent his personal chef to Tokyo to buy fresh sushi, to Tehran to buy caviar, to Copenhagen for gourmet bacon and to Paris for the finest wines and cognac.”James Brooke in The New York Times (October 23)”When we walk out of our house and step into our car, roll up the windows and switch on the air conditioner, we see the world outside, the poverty and the slums. We go through the wretched roads and see the polluted environment of Bangalore and feel less of a human being than we are. Our confidence is taken away. We have truly low-class leaders.”N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd

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Delhi Soul-less education In a historic, first ever national survey of its kind conducted by the Union ministry of human resource development (HRD) among the country’s public (or privately-funded) schools, some shocking facts have come to light. Foremost among them is the verdict that while India’s independent schools pass muster in imparting quality education, they are pathetically inadequate in creating good citizens out of their students. According to the survey — conducted within 80 schools in the four metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata) and Guwahati — private schools are spending a piffling Rs.1.50 per month per student on community service programmes, care for the disabled and other socially useful productive work. The report — prepared by the Media Management Group for Literacy and Development, a Delhi-based NGO — has created a stir in the national capital following its release on October 14. Applying 14 parameters of socially-responsible behaviour to the country’s much-hyped independent or private schools, the report concludes that their social commitment is “abysmally low”. According to the survey (for the year 2001-02), 51.2 percent of the inspected schools don’t provide any scholarships for poor students and an overwhelming 81.3 percent don’t offer fee concessions to the disabled. However, simultaneously, the survey has also drawn up a list of the top 10 philanthropic schools in several cities across the country. Topping the list is St. Mary’s, Delhi, which though less renowned for its academic scores, is engaged in a gamut of charitable activities (including care for the disabled and a raft of scholarships for the underprivileged) which, say the authors of the report, is “definitely worth emulating”. According to the survey, in 2001-02, St. Mary’s spent a whopping Rs.31 lakh on charitable causes. Interestingly, half of the top 10 most charitable schools are in the national capital. Apart from St. Mary’s, there’s Sanskriti School, St. Columbus, Holy Child and Delhi Public School, Mathura Road. In Mumbai, the honours go to Don Bosco and Villa Theresa while Chennai features only one — Chettinad Vidyashram. Kolkata’s most socially conscious is the Lakshmipat Singhania Academy and Guwahati’s the Miles Bronson School. Inevitably the report has stirred a controversy in academic circles with several private schools debunking the survey as “totally unnecessary”. Their claim is that though charity is a “laudable” objective, there’s no reason why private schools should be singled out for attention. “Given the intense competition for good grades,” asserts a school principal, “we can’t afford to be in the business of charity. It is PCM (physics, chemistry, maths) percentages which determine student admissions into the best colleges, not community service.” School managements argue that there is already tremendous pressure on infrastructure and resources with classrooms bursting at the seams due to the paucity of good private schools. In such a scenario, the prime objective is to impart quality education. The dilution of this objective will erode the ability of their students “to cope with pressure in today’s competitive environment”. However, liberal academics dismiss this self-serving argument. “The whole point of…

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Congratulations on your cover story ‘Dirty dozen corrupt practices destroying Indian education’ (EW October). I believe this is the first time any publication has taken pains to list the corrupt practices ruining Indian education. Well done! However you have failed to elaborate on a corrupt practice which is rampant within the teachers community and is squarely responsible for the abysmal learning and teaching standards in government schools. Teacher absenteeism and the phenomenon of ‘ghost teachers’ is the root cause of more than half of India’s under-12-year-olds dropping out of school. It’s well known that government school teachers especially in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh turn up only on pay day. On most working days they sign the attendance register and disappear, leaving the poor students to their own devices. I’ve also heard that in some instances government school teachers moonlight in private schools and/ or sign on for other jobs. There’s no denying that teachers are the prime facilitators of the education process and it’s their dedication and commitment to the learning process that will deliver the Education For All goal. I strongly feel that a stringent system of punitive measures should be evolved to check this immoral corrupt practice. Devendra Shetty Gulbarga (Karnataka) Learn from BCCI The special report â€˜Preparing for Beijing 2008’ (EW Oct) was rightly critical of the sports set-up in the country. This is the first article I have come across in the media that focuses on solving the problems that ail Indian sport instead of criticising hapless sportspersons. I agree with Krishna Bhupathi that rather than honorary office bearers who have their own political agendas, it would make better sense to hire competent professionals to manage the various sports federations. A good example is the way Indian cricket has been managed. The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) doesn’t meddle with who opens the innings or bowls first. This is perhaps the reason why the Indian cricket team ranks among the best in the world and there is no dearth of sponsorship for this sport. Why can’t the sports ministry incorporate a similar system to manage Olympic sports? If the several sports federations can’t get their act together and improve performance, it is better that India doesn’t participate in Beijing 2008. The money can be better spent on establishing more top-class schools for the poor on the lines of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (EW cover story August 2004). Padmanabha Raju Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) Tale of two boards This has reference to Ms. Kamala Menon’s letter to the editor supporting state examination boards in response to your detailed special report feature ‘Swelling support for common school system’ (EW July 2004). I am the principal of a school at Baramati which offers the Maharashtra state board’s SSC (Secondary School Certificate) and the ICSE curriculum of the Delhi-based Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE). The same staff teaches SSC and ICSE students and any member of my staff will confirm that the ICSE syllabus is way ahead and above the syllabus prescribed by the Maharashtra state…

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Prime minister Manmohan Singh’s somewhat contradictory assertion made in Mumbai on October 6, to the effect that the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government is committed to job reservations in private sector industry for scheduled castes and tribes and his subsequent clarification that job quotas will be “voluntary”, reflects the national confusion on the issue of affirmative action. For over half a century since the Constitution of India was promulgated in 1950, 22.5 percent of jobs in the Central and state governments have been reserved for SC and ST comprising citizens born into the most socially disadvantaged castes and forest tribes who for several millennia have been denied basic human rights, especially the right to education and to practise trades and professions of their choice. The rationale of the Constituent Assembly which drafted the Constitution and mandated job reservations for these historically under-privileged citizens is unexceptionable. The SC and ST or Dalit (their preferred descriptive) communities have suffered unremitting social oppression from the upper castes in the Hindu varna hierarchy for so many centuries that their collective spirit and self-esteem has been crushed. Therefore the live example of Dalits serving in positions of power and responsibility within governments at the Centre and in the states would boost the self-confidence of members of this community and prompt them to break with the past and become fully-fledged, participating citizens of free India. Unfortunately the performance of government in post-independence India which ill-advisedly took upon itself the additional burden of capturing the “commanding heights of the economy”, in all spheres of administration, maintenance of law and order, providing social services and in managing its huge chain of public sector enterprises, has been pathetically inefficient. Inevitably, the relatively educated upper castes who dominate the nation’s 20 million-strong bureaucracy have been quick to cite job reservations mandated by the Constitution as an alibi for failure. Yet the plain truth is that the upper castes constitute 77.5 percent of the nation’s failed and notoriously corrupt bureaucracy while notwithstanding government job quotas, Dalits have been stagnating in the lower rungs of government. It’s against this backdrop that the pros and cons of the proposal to reserve jobs in relatively more merit-driven and efficient private sector industry should be weighed. Because of the foolish decision of upper caste intellectuals to adopt the inorganic socialist development model resulting in stagnation of the Indian economy for half a century, the socio-economic condition of the nation’s 300 million Dalit community at the bottom of the social pyramid continues to be of miserable denial. Therefore there is a strong case for affirmative action by private sector industry in favour of the Dalit community. However post-independence India’s experiment with mandatory job quotas in government which has created a reservation mindset (with virtually all castes and minorities clamouring for job quotas) has proved that voluntary affirmative action is a preferable alternative. The time is ripe for industry representative organisations such as CII, FICCI and state-level chambers of commerce to certify corporates which practise affirmative action in favour of…

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I’m sure most readers of this letter will agree that five years of uninterrupted publication — indeed survival — of a new genre periodical such as EducationWorld is a noteworthy achievement. That’s the milestone we cross with publication of this Special Anniversary Issue of India’s first education newsmagazine. Inevitably this is a time of thanksgiving. And it needs to be placed on record that this sui generis publication which came to the brink on several occasions, would have fizzled out and died but for the support of our dedicated correspondents and marketing personnel who have soldiered on in the cause of attaining our mission — “to build the pressure of public opinion to make education the No.1 item on the national agenda” — in adverse conditions and with remuneration packages unreflective of their true market value. Our thanks also to the Manipal Education and Medical Group, my London-based sister Shyama Thakore and Glenn and Sandra Christo who reposed faith and purchased equity in this enterprise several years ago when the nation’s reportedly far-sighted venture financiers and high net worth champions of education in industry balked at the prospect of investing modest sums in this first-of-its-kind venture. To our backers our thanks and assurance thatEducationWorld has navigated the most rocky shoals and is all set to take the tide to high seas. Of course thanks are also due to our advertisers — some of whom have stuck with us for years despite our relatively poor visibility. I believe during the past quinquennium EducationWorld has helped them build their corporate and brand images, even if not sales revenue and incomes. In the medium term this will translate into higher market cap and social respect. Nor should they lose sight of the reality that industry will be the prime beneficiary if we succeed in our mission to universalise and upgrade Indian education. In this connection this is perhaps an apposite time to appraise our undemanding shareholders and readers of the range of widening activities of D.T. Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd — the holding company of EducationWorld and EducationWorld Books. The books division has successfully published and marketed the specially adapted Indian edition of Quality Circle Time, the whole school behaviour upgradation bestseller of British educationist Jenny Mosley. And this very month as part of our 5th anniversary celebrations, our second book title, 51 Great Careers for the 21st Century is due out. Moreover together with the socially responsible blue-chip infotech corporates Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies we have instituted the TCS-EducationWorld Teachers Awards and the Infosys-EducationWorld Young Achievers Awards respectively. These awards will recognise and celebrate the country’s best academics and young talent every year. And because we firmly believe that there’s more to education than academics, we have entered into collaboration agreements with the Bangalore-based Sportz Village India and the Nike-Bhupathi Tennis Village to publicise and market their unique skill-sets and services. Several other projects on our drawing board are in the incubation stage. It’s against the backdrop of this progress report that in our Special 5th Anniversary Issue we present a detailed cover story on…

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Social value of liberal arts educationShiva KumarAt a recent meeting of education experts in New Delhi I was surprised to learn that only half the applicants for a school teacher‚s job correctly answered the question: “24×0 =?” Those who got it wrong advanced three reasons in their defence. One, they had stopped learning mathematics in class VIII. Two, they didn‚t have time to complete the question paper. Three, they were arts students. When I gasped in disbelief, I was told that the problem isn‚t unique to arts graduates. Knowledge of mathematics and science among science graduates is little better. In a test administered to science graduates, many teachers couldn‚t satisfactorily answer questions posed to them from a class VIII curriculum.Let me describe a second situation. I teach at a leading business management school in India which I prefer not to identify. By any standard, it attracts the ‚Ëœbest and brightest‚ students from across the country. While conducting classes, I found that many of them were not aware of the definition of infant mortality, the average life expectancy of an Indian, the country‚s female literacy rate or for that matter, even India‚s per capita income. I was disappointed, though not entirely surprised, to find that their views were formed by reading newspapers, watching television reports and through casual conversation with friends and relations. They had few opportunities or little inclination to read about these issues, research, debate, discuss, reflect and introspect. Finally, let me take you to another context. A group of experts from South Asia gathered in Lahore last month to discuss issues relating to economic growth and compreh-ensive security in the SAARC countries. The consensus was that addressing issues of poverty, inequality, discrimination and conflict are fundamental to ensuring progress in the region. They also opined that there is adequate technical knowledge and managerial expertise in South Asia to address the backlog of human deprivation and enhance people‚s capabilities. But I was struck by the sense of despondency. Discussions centred around ways to secure societal commitment to eradicate poverty. How can we get policy makers and citizens to address the huge backlog of human deprivations? How can politicians who have long been aware of the problems of disadvantaged groups be made more conscious of their obligation to act in the best interests of the poor? How can society move rapidly towards delivering gender justice and equality? What are the levers of change that can bring about significant shifts in policy formulation and public action? As is often said, it is impossible to achieve ‚ËœHealth for All‚ or ‚ËœEducation for All‚, unless we can build a societal consensus for ‚ËœAll for Education‚ and ‚ËœAll for Health‚. It is only when there is a groundswell of public support that politicians and government officials will take ‚Ëœbold‚ decisions. After all, radical decisions require courage to counter opposition and resistance. For instance, people will inevitably protest when bus fares are raised, electricity and water charges increased, and even when subsidies to the rich…

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