EducationWorld October 10

Education News

They said it in September

“Stop Vedanta in the wrong manner and for the wrong reasons and we may stop India.”
B.G. Verghese on the Union forest ministrys order stopping Vedanta from mining bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills of Orissa (Business Standard, September 4)
“I compliment and pay tribute to my colleague Kapil Sibal for the zeal, dedication and enthusiasm […]

Institution Profile

Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi

Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi is one of the most selective colleges in the country. In the recently concluded admissions session, of 10,000 student applicants for undergrad courses, a mere 624 were admitted Ranked India’s no.1 commerce college for the 14th year in a row in the India Today-AC Nielsen Survey of Indias Top […]

Sports Education

Endangered demographic dividend

Over the past seven years since I quit the corporate world to promote a sports education company which now has a client base of over 75 K-12 schools across the country, in my interactions with school leaders, teachers and parents, Im often asked questions such as:• Why is sports education important? Shouldnt the focus of […]

People

Crafts crusader

The first Indian president of the World Crafts Council (WCC), elected for a four-year term in 2008, Usha Krishna has committed her time and influence to the cause of crafts and craftspersons, thus ensuring that governments and policy makers around the world give them due recognition and rewards. WCC is a non-government organisation established in […]

People

Zesty new-age educator: Shalini Nambiar

Shalini Nambiar, director of the Gurgaon-based Excelsior American School (EAS), was recently bestowed with two prestigious awards — Bharat Jyoti and International Gold Star — of the India International Friendship Society (IIFS) for meritorious service to Indian education. IIFS is a voluntary organisation established in 1995 to promote unity and integration among non-resident Indians. […]

International News

United States: Ryanair-style competition for varsities

A Harvard University-educated entrepreneur with doubts about the value of traditional high-cost higher education programmes has launched the ‘Ryanair of university instruction. Echoing the approach of the successful budget airline, StraighterLine offers no-frills courses designed by former professors at cut-rate prices. They are provided at students convenience and can be transferred towards degrees at other […]

International News

China: Disney debut in pre-school education

On a Tuesday at 6 p.m in downtown shanghai, children begin arriving at a bland commercial building just as office workers are leaving. A small storefront leads to an English-language school run by Disney. Children as young as two toddle in and climb the stairs. At first glance, their classrooms look like dreary boxes, but […]

International News

Syria: Iraqi children’s struggle to keep up

Iraqi refugee children in Syria are struggling to keep up at school, or are dropping out to seek paid work, according to the UN Childrens Fund (Unicef). Education is absolutely central to the future of all children. Having a generation not equipped to participate in the economy of their country serves no one, says Sherazade […]

Special Report

Top 10 stressors

The most common causes of student stress and anguish according to school and college counselors are:

Anxiety over inability to cope with academic presure, overload of assignments and exam-related stress

Depression over unrealistically high parental expectations to perform well in academics and extra-curricular activities

Constant pressure to ‘fit-in and conform with peer groups and their socio-economic expectations

Lack of […]

Postscript

Gill sans sense

Theres something seriously suspect about the mental equilibrium of Indias 20 million-strong neta-babu (politician-bureaucrat) class which has the nation in a thrall with its idiosyncrasies enacted on the national stage. A case in point is Union sports minister M.S. Gill (who like his tutor and mentor prime minister Manmohan Singh), is a former bureaucrat and […]

Editorial

Populist simplification of complex issue

The politicisation and rejection of a proposal of the London-based metals and mining conglomerate Vedanta Group (annual revenue: $7.6 billion or Rs.34,960 crore) to extract bauxite from Orissas Niyamgiri Hills, has dangerous implications for industrial development and foreign investment flows into the Indian economy. Politicians — including the Congress […]