Misrepresented facts Your cover story (EW August) was well researched and on point regarding issues of the Barefoot College (BC) model of learning without formal degrees and the reasons cited why it may not work in India. These are revolutionary ideas based on a steadfast belief in the human spirit and honesty that have yielded extraordinary results. However, you have given Barefoot College International (BCI), an implementing agency of the parent organisation viz, Barefoot College, credibility by stating they have a shared history goes against the grain when legacies and IPR (intellectual property rights) are stolen and misused. There are so many errors in your write-up on former BC chief executive Megan Fallone and facts have been misrepresented. It would have been expected that some research was done on Fallone’s actual background and why she and a bunch of others were expelled from BC. Perhaps further research would have thrown up the fact that an implementing agency has no right to any history, legacy or brand when its services have been terminated. Giving so much space to Fallone on the same platform as the founder of Barefoot College, is to discredit him and the people who built this 50-year-old enterprise through huge sacrifice and high values. I’m extremely disappointed that EducationWorld gave wing to an entity based on duplicity. This will have a far-reaching impact on the credibility and sustainability of the original Barefoot College as its mission has never been — or will be — for personal gain. You should have completed your homework Mr. Thakore before publishing this cover story. Saritaa Hegde Roy on E-MAIL One-sided content We, the entire staff and leadership team of Barefoot College International are writing to express our sincere disappointment and outrage at the recent cover article on 50 years of the Barefoot College. Your article exemplifies the lowest level of journalism by circumventing fact, genuine due diligence and a willingness to allow unsubstantiated and utterly incorrect information to be placed in the public domain. Perhaps this has been done unwittingly and your trust in the individual who authored the article has been misplaced but that is ultimately the responsibility of the editorial staff at EducationWorld. It is completely negligent and irresponsible to deliberately and recklessly allow publication of information which may negatively influence the many partners including the Government; with whom we at Barefoot College International, work closely. Your purpose in allowing such one-sided editorial content into the public domain acts as a defacto endorsement and your purpose in doing so as a reputable and important publication is incomprehensible. We believe that putting poor rural women, children and community development work first, ahead of petty fabricated issues, is and should be everyone’s priority. This applies to the leadership of Social Work & Research Center (Barefoot College Titonia) as we[[, who seem oddly unabte to represent their own history in a factual inctusive way, crediting the individuats and teams whose work has defined so much of who that became. Omission constitutes a lie…
The ONGOING slanging match between the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) and the BJP/NDA Central government over the status of 2,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled ethnic and religious persecution by the brutal military regime in neighbouring Myanmar (aka Burma) and are living in pitiful makeshift slums of the country’s administrative capital, is indicative of the low level to which public discourse has sunk. Uncouth leaders of both governments are vilifying the handful of Rohingya refugees living in small communities and making ends meet by engaging in dehumanising odd jobs. Yet Union home minister Amit Shah has described this minuscule community as “termites” capable of destroying this country of 3.28 million sq.km with a population of 1.4 billion. And Delhi’s deputy chief and education minister Manish Sisodia has demonised them as terrorists undeserving of any civility and hospitality. With leaders invested with learning-by-doing rather than formal academic experience ruling the roost, it’s doubtful if these wordy worthies are aware that the subcontinent has an age-old tradition of welcoming foreigners suffering persecution and discrimination in their native countries. Among them Persians (latter day Parsees), Jews from Europe, Bangladeshis who fled Pakistan in the late 1960s. Therefore, the heavens won’t fall if a few thousand Rohingyas are welcomed in our midst. But the rub is that these refugees are Muslims and therefore, disqualified from any quality of mercy. These gents are very unlikely to recall that in 1973 when Uganda dictator Idi Amin expelled 73,000 Indians from that country overnight because God had so directed him in a dream, they were accepted into the UK despite the widespread belief that the British Isles were being “swamped” by immigrants. Such small-mindedness in pursuit of the majoritarian Hindu vote is unbefitting a country with global super-power ambitions.
Despite China which was relatively underdeveloped compared to India on October 1, 1949 — when the Communist Party of China (CPC) established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing, and Chairman Mao Zedong famously declared that “China has stood up”— having overtaken India in the global development race after it took the capitalist road under the leadership of secretary Deng Xiaoping in 1978, India’s carping lefty academics and the neta-babu brotherhood are still mired in Soviet-style socialism. The full implication of PRC’s GDP having risen to $15 billion against India’s $2.9 billion doesn’t seem to have impacted these worthies who never miss an opportunity to denigrate the country’s most successful private entrepreneurs and wealth creators, the 2 As (Ambani and Adani) in particular. The common charge against them is that they are favoured cronies of the BJP/NDA government at the Centre. Given their massive annual contribution to the public exchequer by way of direct and indirect taxes — estimated at 5-6 percent of total government revenue — and generating well-remunerated direct employment for over 500,000 citizens with huge multiplier impact on the economy, it’s unsurprising that governments of all hues and stripes accord the 2 As high respect and access. India’s neta-babu brotherhood and carping left academics haven’t understood that instead of denigrating the 2 As, they should apply their suspect wisdom to create conditions for 1,000 2 A clones to multiply and flourish within the Indian economy. Even with the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) of a prosperous and aggressive PRC threatening to redraw boundary lines along the 484-km border up north, these latter day Neros continue to sing yesteryear threnodies. Also read: Ambani-Adani 1000x wanted
The demise of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala (RJ), the ‘Big Bull’ of the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges, on August 14 is a big setback for the Indian economy. This statement is likely to invite derision and contempt of eggheads in academia and the overwhelming majority of citizens who believe that India’s century-old stock market is little more than a casino in which wily traders gamble large sums of money. However, the truth is that stock markets encourage the savings habit and facilitate the flow of national savings — especially household savings — into industrial and economic development. When risk-taking investors such as RJ succeed in building great fortunes by investing in corporate paper, millions of citizens are encouraged to limit consumption and invest their savings in financial instruments issued by business enterprises. These savings are deployed by entrepreneurs and corporate managers to promote and/or expand their enterprises. This sets a virtuous cycle in motion by way of creating employment and generating incomes, a substantial proportion of which accrues to the Central, state and local governments by way of taxes, necessary to maintain law and order, provide justice and education, health and welfare services to the poor majority. By carefully tracking corporates most likely to succeed from his college days, RJ started investing small amounts in well-managed companies and over half a century built a blue-chip portfolio valued at a humongous Rs.31,407 crore. Following his example, millions of citizens countrywide started saving and investing in corporate paper which financed the growth and expansion of Indian industry. Yet perhaps RJ’s greatest virtue was his steadfast belief in India’s ancient entrepreneurial wealth creation tradition. RJ was firm in his belief that India is the world’s largest marketplace and that high-quality goods and services provided at affordable price will invariably find ready purchasers. That’s an understanding of development economics which academics and bolshies with zero risk-taking capability and penchant for comfy salaried employment, will never grasp. That’s why nothing shakes their belief that the stock markets are mere gambling dens. RJ knew better and played a major role in the growth and development of India Inc. RIP.
As the world begins to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic which severely disrupted K-12 schooling, the challenges confronting India’s education system need to be urgently addressed, writes Elisabeth Evi Indian education was severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. While many children missed school altogether during the world’s most prolonged schools lockdown — averaging 82 weeks — among major countries, partnerships between the public and private sectors and incremental use of educational technology permitted a minority of children to continue their schooling. As the world begins to recover in the aftermath of this calamity, the challenges confronting India’s education system need to be urgently addressed. Making good learning loss of primary children. E-learning facilitated continuation of learning for a substantial number of children, especially in urban India. However, the positive effect was mostly for secondary school students. The overwhelming majority of preschool and primary (K-II) children have never attended school. These children need to be acclimatised to daily routines and expectations of the education system. Additionally, they need to learn the basics of reading, writing and math, while learning age-appropriate and grade-level content. Any strategy for moving forward must include plans for remediation that also address progress in students’ current grade learning outcomes.
In-depth research and scholarship have made this book a fascinating account of the role of intelligence services in China during the turbulent past century, writes Parimal Maya Sudhakar Chinese Spies: From chairman Mao to Xi Jinping Roger Faligot Harper Collins Rs.699 616 pages The rise of a nation in international politics is measured by its hard and soft power, and the effectiveness of its intelligence services. It is surprising that discussions on the rise of China in the 21st century have been centred more on its hard and soft power, but barely on the Chinese intelligence service. The CIA of the United States, KGB of Russia, MI6 of Britain, Mossad of Israel, DGSE of France, Naicho of Japan, and even MJIB of Taiwan, as well as RAW in India, are wellknown names in the world of spies and espionage. On the other hand, China’s Guoanbu is rarely mentioned in international relations discussions. This vacuum is substantially filled by Roger Faligot in this book under review. Guoanbu has been remarkably successful in keeping itself out of the limelight outside China. Faligot’s account is a serious and detailed work to uncover the pervasive presence of the secret service in Chinese society as well as the world beyond. Guoanbu, the short form of Guojia Anquanbu, i.e, ministry of state security, was formed in the early 1980s under the supervision of the great reformer Deng Xiaoping. This was the fifth modernisation silently initiated by Deng together with the famous four modernisations of industry, agriculture, science and technology, and military. Deng got rid of Maoist influence in the intelligence service by rebuilding it through the Guoanbu. After Deng passed on in 1997, his successor Jiang Zemin paid special attention to new domains such as cyber warfare, which is now one of the major strengths of China’s secret service. The book is divided into three parts. The first part comprises six chapters, which narrate the complex details of the intelligence wing, how the intelligence services were used by the CPC (Communist Party of China) leadership from the days of the Long March to the Tiananmen protests, and preparations for the takeover of Hong Kong from the British. In 1984, the Ministry of State Security was restructured as Guoanbu and deployed in Hong Kong to prepare the ground for the peaceful transfer of the island to China in 1997. The Tiananmen protests of 1989 however, dented the image of Deng Xiaoping in the western world and apprehensions emerged about the future of Hong Kong. However, it was prime minister Zhou Enlai, who had laid the foundations of the Guoanbu. During his long innings as the prime minister of China (1949-1976), he was chief diplomat in charge of China’s diplomatic missions abroad and foreign policy. The success of the 1949 Revolution was used in a masterly way by Zhou in spreading the influence of the CPC in most of the third world countries as well as in courting East European governments. In India, Zhou executed Mao’s orders to…
In this fascinating book the author unravels the mysterious ways in which viruses orchestrate the cycle of life on Planet Earth, writes Anil Thakore Invisible empire: The natural history of viruses Pranay Lal Penguin Random House Rs.799 Pages 278 In January 2020, news emerged of a mysterious fever in China. Until it was identified as the SARS-CoV-2 or Covid-19 virus, it had spread globally and by November, an estimated 122 million individuals worldwide were infected by it. Latest figures suggest that 600 million people have been infected and the Covid-19 death count is estimated at 7 million worldwide, of which 5 million — against the official death count of 520,000 — could be in India. As panic, fear, death, and economic disruption sweep across the world, virus has become a dread word. This is not warranted, says Pranay Lal, a biochemist, caricaturist, animator, journalist and environment sustainability campaigner and author of Indica — A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent (2016), which has won plaudits and several international awards. According to Lal, most viruses are benign and beneficial for humankind. In this fascinating book with excellent illustrations, he unravels the mysterious and miraculous ways that viruses (aka microbes) go about their lives, and how they orchestrate every activity in the cycle of life on this planet. The existence of any species on earth would not be possible without viruses. As Lal tells it, six billion years ago, a bacterial phyllum, Cyanobacteria and other photosynthesizing organisms, multiplied profusely and produced so much oxygen that our planet froze into a ball of ice heralding the Ice Age. It took another virus — cyanophage — over 200 million years to curb and kill the growth of Cyanobacteria, and restore the planet into a habitable environment which kick-started the evolutionary process of all species that inhabit Planet Earth currently. Broadly categorised under the umbrella of microbes, i.e, organisms that can be seen only under a microscope, viruses are the world’s most abundant life form and are not only the engines of evolution, but also digest, produce, process, ferment, breakdown, recycle, reformulate and synthesise all chemicals that make this planet habitable for the species living on it. The discovery of viruses — perhaps the first inhabitants of this planet — as a distinct species happened less than 100 years ago. In 1939, the first microbe — the tobacco mosaic virus — became visible following invention of the electron microscope. Thus, virology is in its infancy. The word virus is derived from the Sanskrit vish, denoting venomous poison. The numbers and species of viruses are inestimable. Trillions upon trillions live in the human body (and in the bodies of all species), performing miraculous functions that make life possible. Only an infinitesimal fraction of microbes makes us sick, even fewer have power to kill us. Most simply pass through us, and a few use us as a substitute to make more of their kind. “They usually don’t bother us in the least and some, in fact,…
With the overwhelming majority of new day schools being mixed gender, the boys-only league table has been shrinking every year. This year with legacy vintage boys schools ranked separately, the number has reduced to 26 The 2022-23 national league table of India’s best boys day schools sports a new look after introduction of a separate vintage schools (aged 90 years-plus) category this year. With the overwhelming majority of new K-12 education institutions promoted in the new millennium being mixed-gender schools, even the hitherto undivided boys-only league table had shrunk to a mere 53 primary-secondaries. This year with the league table divided to carve out a new category of vintage schools, the boys-only day schools league table has been reduced to 26. Yet while co-ed day schools dominate the K-12 education landscape and constitute the lengthiest league table in EWISR 2022-23, it bears repetition that the country’s shrinking minority of gender-segregated schools enjoy king-size national reputations and often outperform coed day schools in higher-secondary board exams. This year St. John’s High School, Chandigarh (SJHS, estb.1959) ranked #3 in 2021-22 and #1 in 2020-21 has recovered its numero uno rank. The 14,221 sample respondents — parents, principals, teachers and senior students — interviewed by the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore), have voted SJHS India #1, with top scores on eight of 14 parameters of primary secondary education excellence, viz, faculty competence, teacher welfare and development, infrastructure, leadership, community service, special needs education, mental and emotional well-being services and value for money. Promoted 63 years ago by the Congregation of Christian Brothers on a 30-acre campus in the heart of Chandigarh, the CBSE-affiliated St. John’s High has 2,100 students mentored by 80 teachers on its musters.
With a large number of conservative households insistent upon gender-segregated education, high-ranked girls schools provide a window of opportunity for a large number of girl children to acquire quality K-12 education Tragic but true. Even in this 21st century day and age, there are not a few conservative households which insist on gender-segregated primarysecondary schools for girl children. Therefore, all-girls day schools serve an important social purpose. They provide girl children who would have been denied the opportunity to access high-quality K-12 education for cultural and religious reasons to access it. Therefore, in a society in which FPLF (female participation in labour force) has fallen to a dismal 20.3 percent, all-girls schools provide a window of opportunity for a large number of children. This year despite a separate new category of vintage legacy girls schools (90 years and above vintage) having been carved out of the 2021-22 composite league table, the girls day schools league table is competitive and 61-strong (cf. 26 boys day schools). In EWISR 2022-23, 14,221 sample respondents comprising parents, teachers, educators and senior students interviewed by the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore) have awarded top spot to Sacred Heart Sr Sec School, Chandigarh (SHSSS, estb.1968), ranked #9 in 2018-19, #7 in 2020-2021 and #2 in 2021-22. Moreover, they have awarded this CBSE-affiliated all-girls school highest score on five of the 14 parameters of education excellence, viz, competence of faculty, teacher welfare and development, individual attention to students, value for money, and community service. We experienced joy, delight and gratitude to God as also the sin of pride on learning that SHSS is ranked India’s #1 girls day school. I credit this achievement to my teachers, children, parents and other stakeholders. They are the pillars of this institution, ever willing to collaborate and cooperate to help the school provide all-round education excellence. All the parameters — our excellent faculty, constant endeavour to provide individual attention to students and commitment to serve society — on which Sacred Heart has been top-ranked, have enabled us to deliver holistic education. This honour has motivated the entire SHSS team to re-double our efforts to develop competent, strong women of character with a sense of social responsibility. -Sr. Arti, principal of SHSSS which has 2,900 students and 104 teachers on its muster rolls. Ranked #2 in the truncated 61-strong 2022-23 league table of girls day schools is the Rajmata Krishna Kumari Girls Public School, Jodhpur (RKKGPS, estb.1992), promoted from #4 last year, followed by Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata at #3 (#5).
It’s a brilliant idea to rank India’s vintage schools over a century-old which are a valuable legacy of the country, separately. It’s logical that schools with ancient traditions and value systems are compared with each other rather than with new late 20th and early 21st century institutions. Over the past 130 years, Daly College has struck deep roots and developed well-established traditions while evolving into a mature trend-setting K-12 school that offers an optimal blend of valuesbased traditions and latest ICT (information communications technology) pedagogies. Our teachers and students are committed to continuous learning and institutional improvement. After my appointment as principal in April this year, we have resolved to give top priority to improving academic learning outcomes, sports education, adherence to our established value systems, life skills and foreign languages education. Moreover, we have introduced an innovative Immerse & Inspire programme under which all day scholars will become boarders for one month. -says Dr. Gunmeet Bindra, the recently appointed principal of Daly College, Indore (estb.1882), ranked India’s #1 vintage day-cum-boarding school. An alumna of Calcutta University and Delhi School of Economics, Bindra, the first woman principal of a top-ranked all-boys boarding school (Welham Boys, Dehradun 2012-2020) brings 35 years teaching and administrative experience to Daly College. For the complete table: EW India School Rankings 2022-23 – Top & best schools in India
Day-cum-boarding schools are highly valued because they offer parents and children the advantages of living at home plus access to superior infrastructure that boarding schools invariably provide. Little wonder their number is rising every year In the pioneer annual EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) league tables, day-cum-boarding schools — whether affiliated with indigenous examination boards or international boards such as IB (Geneva/Hague) or Cambridge International (UK) — occupy a special place. They are highly valued because they offer parents/ students all the advantages of day and well-equipped boarding schools. The advantages of living at home and receiving parental support plus access to superior infrastructure, especially in terms of co-curricular and sports and games facilities that boarding schools invariably provide, are available to day scholars. Simultaneously, boarders enjoy the advantages of professionally administered pastoral care in addition to 24×7 access to a wide range of co-curricular activities and sports and games facilities. Moreover, day-cum-boarding schools also offer the advantage of greater students and teacher diversity as they attract city-based day scholars as well as boarders from across the country, and in many instances from overseas. In the circumstances, it’s unsurprising that the number of day-cum-boarding schools — especially in the private education sector — countrywide is rising exponentially every year. Against 162 day-cum boarding primary-secondaries ranked in the 2021-22 league table, the number has risen to 171. In addition to the factors cited above, day-cumboarding schools are also becoming attractive because poor urban planning and massive road traffic jams in cities which involve long commutes for day scholars, is prompting parents to opt for the boarding school option. To accommodate local communities, most day-cum-boarding schools provide weekly boarding and extended day schooling options. Hence their rising popularity and rising number. Another useful social purpose that the rapidly multiplying number of upscale, well-furbished co-ed day-cum-boarding schools serve is they disburse high-quality, globally benchmarked education in nonmetropolitan cities across the country. With real estate prices in the country’s major metros having risen sky-high, room for expansion and introduction of boarding facilities and infrastructure is limited.
The scale and depth of EWISR 2022-23 is unprecedented in India and worldwide. Over a period of four months, 122 C fore field researchers conducted interviews in 28 cities across the country. They persuaded 14,221 parents, teachers, principals, educationists and students to rate 4,000 primary-secondaries under 14 parameters of school excellence, writes Dilip Thakore & Summiya Yasmeen. For centuries and even 150 years after British educationist and administrator Thomas Macaulay imposed the formal English education system upon the Indian subcontinent, the overwhelming majority of parents enrolled their children in local schools on the basis of informal consultation and recommendation of friends and relatives. This continued to be prevalent practice after enlightened administrators permitted the establishment of high-end boarding schools in the country’s salubrious hill stations of Mussoorie, Sanawar in the north and Ootacamund and Kodaikanal down south in the mid-19th century. Modelled on imperial Britain’s famous boarding schools for children of administrators of the empire, they also admitted children on the basis of word-of-mouth publicity and recommendations of knowledgeable and influential members of society. However towards the end of the 20th century after Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of cognition and education at Harvard University, produced his path-breaking Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983) and Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons in Theory and Practice (1993) which posited that every child/individual is gifted with one or more of eight major “intelligences”— musical, bodily-kinesthetic (relating to dance, sports capabilities), logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial (navigation, visual arts), interpersonal (understanding people), intrapersonal (self-study, self-awareness) and naturalist (“high degree of awareness to distinguish diverse plants, animals, mountains or cloud configurations in their ecological niche”) — in various combinations, it became abundantly clear that schools can be scientifically chosen to develop the highest intelligences of children. Even the IQ test developed by French psychologist Alfred Binet (1857-1911) and its subsequent variations, including SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), which measure only the linguistic and mathematical capabilities of students, became inadequate. Therefore somewhat influenced by the Times Higher Education and QS World University Rankings (WURs), which evaluate the world’s most respected higher education institutions on six parameters (academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, international faculty ratio, student body diversity, citations per faculty etc), in 2007 your editors introduced the EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) which for the first time rated and ranked the country’s most reputed primary-secondaries under a dozen parameters of school education excellence to assess their capability to develop the multiple intelligences of students. Since then over the years, the number of parameters of K-12 education excellence under which schools are rated, has risen to 14 including teacher welfare and development, teacher competence, infrastructure, co-curricular and sports education, parental involvement, academic reputation, curriculum and pedagogy, internationalism, mental and emotional well-being services, among others.
IIT-M’s new programme Chennai, August 1. The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) announced that its three-year B.Sc degree course in programming and data science can be converted into a fouryear BS degree in data science and applications. Moreover while reading for the BS degree, students have the option of doing an eight-month apprenticeship or project with corporates or research institutes. “This unique programme is carefully designed to offer students multiple entry and exit options with learners awarded certificate, diploma and degrees on completion of one, two and three years. This provides flexibility to learners and empowers them to choose subjects of their choice to complete this programme. Students currently in class XII can also apply for admission into the programme,” explains an IIT-M spokesperson. “IIT-M’s contemporary BS in data science and applications degree provides access to high-quality IIT education to learners across the country. Data science is one of the emerging subjects of the future. It is a highly employment-oriented programme in a domain where there is high demand for skilled professionals,” said Prof. V. Kamakoti, director, IIT-Madras, announcing launch of the programme. ANU-Solv(ED) agreement Ahmedabad, August 8. Anant National University (ANU) announced that the university’s four-year Bachelor of Technology in Climate Change (BTCC) undergraduate degree programme has been accepted by the Solv(ED) community of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. Solv(ED) supports sustainable solutions of tech entrepreneurs to address the world’s most pressing problems. All ANU students signed up for the BTCC degree programme are eligible for microgrants and tailored support from the Solv(ED) community. Solv(ED) membership aids institutions that support young people practicing social entrepreneurship and innovation. According to an ANU spokesperson, in the first semester of the second year, students enrolled in the varsity’s BTCC programme will receive microgrants from Solv(ED) aggregating Rs.400,000 for initiating projects addressing climate change. Solv(ED) will disburse micro-grants funding to ANU students for developing projects under the Solv(ED) Youth Innovation Challenge. “MIT Solv(ED) is very excited to welcome BTCC students into our community. During the course of this year, ANU’s BTCC students will have access to workshops, events, challenges and funding opportunities to enable them to design climate change solutions of which they will be proud,” said Gaby Gonzalez, senior officer, Solv(ED) at MIT, speaking on the occasion. Added Dr. Miniya Chatterji, founding-director of the ANU School for Climate Action: “This is a highpotential, powerful collaboration between MIT Solv(ED) and ANU. It will motivate our students to dream big and equip them with tangible skills to implement impactful projects on the ground.” NU’s Campus Future initiative New Delhi, August 1. NIIT University (NU) Neemrana (Rajasthan) offers students who have completed class XII, opportunity to explore undergrad career programmes and experience life on the scenic NU campus in Neemrana. NU’s Camp Future programme invites students and their parents to become acquainted with the NU campus before entering higher education. Camp Future is an interactive programme designed to provide schoolleaving students and their parents a sample of NU life. “Meeting with the…
Uttar Pradesh: Defalcation scandal Agra/Firozabad, August. A school principal and other employees of the basic education department of Firozabad district have been charged with defalcating Rs.11.46 crore, sanctioned for the state’s Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme for children. The teacher used fake ration and ID cards to register an NGO and transferred Rs.11.46 crore sanctioned for the MDM scheme with the connivance of officials and staff of his department and banks. A case of corruption has been registered against teacher Chandrakant Sharma of the basic education department of Firozabad district. According to the charge sheet, the principal had appointed his father president of the NGO, his mother manager and secretary, and his wife treasurer. Odisha: Gender equity initiative Bhubaneswar, August 8. A gender equity module will be integrated into the social studies syllabus of classes VI-X students in 18,000 government elementary and 5,000 secondary schools statewide. The state’s school education ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal), South Asia, and a Bhubaneswar-based women rights organisation Breakthrough. The gender equity module mandates interactive classroom discussions to encourage adolescent boys and girls to question culturally embedded gender norms, roles and discriminatory practices. J-Pal will conduct independent monitor surveys to assess progress of the programme towards achieving its objectives. Breakthrough will work with the education ministry to contextualise and integrate the module into the syllabus, train teachers, receive feedback, conduct workshops and involve parents in this initiative. Gujarat: Overt bribery ban Ahmedabad, August 12. A class XII student has been debarred from writing the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) examination for a year. He attempted to bribe an examiner by adhering a Rs.500 note in his answer sheet. Addressing a press conference, a Gujarat board official said: “When the examiner found the note, he complained to GSHSEB. After recording the student’s statement, the board exam committee withheld his result and banned him from appearing for the exam for the next one year.” This boy is one of 22 class XII science stream students imposed punishments including ban from writing the board exam for a year, said an official spokesperson of the exam board. Results of the class XII board exam were declared in May. Chhattisgarh: English medium colleges Raipur, August 18. The state government is set to establish English-medium Swami Atmanand Model Colleges in all districts of the state over the next three years. “The decision to set up these institutions has been taken after receiving a positive response to the Swami Atmanand English Medium Schools started by the state government earlier,” said chief minister Bhupesh Baghel in a note sent to the chief secretary. “Initially, ten English medium colleges will be established in major cities from the academic year starting June 2023. Later they will be replicated in all district headquarters over the next three years,” added Baghel. Assam: Zero pass schools Guwahati, August 25. The state government has announced closure of 34 public schools after all their 1,000 students who wrote…
Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) The once well-governed southern state of Karnataka (pop.68 million) is rapidly transforming into ‘broken windows’ society. In 1982, American academics James Q. Wilson and George Kelling ideated their Broken Windows theory. They posited that if civic neglect and official corruption in any society or neighbourhood remains unpunished, an outbreak of serious crimes and criminality becomes inevitable. Continuous tolerance of everyday petty crimes — road traffic offences, shoddy public works execution, bribery in government offices, arbitrary garbage dumping — has precipitated a major crime wave in Karnataka. Last November, the Karnataka State Road Contractors’ Association (KSRCA) wrote directly to prime minister Narendra Modi complaining that elected representatives of the BJP-ruled state government are routinely extorting commissions of 40 percent for award of civic maintenance and road construction contracts. Even as resolution of the KSRCA complaint is still pending, in a letter dated August 26, RUPSA (Registered Unaided Private Schools Association), which has 13,000 member schools, also wrote a letter directly to the prime minister accusing Karnataka’s BJP government and education minister B.C. Nagesh in particular, of extorting massive bribes for renewal of school recognition, issuing no-objection certificates to new CBSE and CISCE schools, RTE fees reimbursement, and other routine administrative functions. “Due to irresponsible behaviour and greediness of our education minister, private unaided schools are facing unbearable hazards. We have brought our plight to the notice of our honourable chief minister on several occasions, but in vain. But the education minister is clever enough to manipulate in connivance with department officials. They give scant respect to the chief minister’s instructions and throw our appeals into the dustbin. Because of this, thousands of private schools, especially in educationally backward districts like Bidar are left with no option but closure,” says the letter to the PM signed by RUPSA president Lokesh Talikatte. RUPSA claims that last August (2021) renewal of registration/recognition certificates, which was mandated every 10 years, was reduced to annual renewal. This change has cost private school managements “lakhs of rupees”. In addition, schools have to pay bribes of up to 30-40 percent of the amount owed to private schools as reimbursement for admitting poor neighbourhood children under s. 12 (1) (c) of the RTE Act. Unsurprisingly, education minister Nagesh indignantly denies these charges. “RUPSA has made baseless allegations against me and the department. If they have any proof and documents, why didn’t they lodge a complaint until now? We will take necessary action if there is proof,” he says. However, such denials cut little ice in the academy and among private school promoters in Bengaluru which hosts 3,500 private schools including top-ranked globally benchmarked schools such as Indus International, Inventure Academy, Vidyashilp which educate the progeny of the garden city’s upscale IT professionals and businessmen. It’s a matter of common knowledge that corruption is deeply entrenched in the education ministry regardless of the government in office, and that education ministry officials have made large illegal fortunes by extracting huge bribes from private school promoters represented by shady…
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) Although there’s no denying that Christian missionaries have made a great contribution to the growth and dissemination of English-medium school and higher education, there’s rising awareness within the country’s influential middle class that priest-educators, i.e, men and women of the cloth also discharging academic roles and duties, are becoming obsolete.Bound by strict laws of celibacy, Jesuit (and Church of Rome) academics plagued by a rash of paedophilia scandals worldwide, are out of step with 21st century zeitgeist. This rising sentiment was dramatically confirmed by official harassment and hounding of a highly qualified woman professor of English literature of St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata (SXU, formerly St. Xavier’s College, conferred university status by the University Grants Commission in 2017) which prompted her resignation. Her offence: prior to signing up with SXU in 2021, she had posted swimsuit photographs of herself on a social media platform (Instagram). This photograph was chanced upon by a first-year student of the university in October last year whose outraged parent complained to SXU’s founding vice chancellor Fr. (Dr.) Felix Raj, an alum of Loyola College, Chennai, St. Joseph’s College, Trichy, awarded an economics in Ph D by Rabindra Bharati University, Santiniketan and formerly principal of St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata (2009-17). According to this woman professor awarded Ph Ds by two European universities, Dr. Raj and registrar Asish Mitra intimidated, bullied and made “sexually-coloured remarks” during a kangaroo court trial held on October 7 last year. “I was told that my failure to voluntarily resign would be punished by the lodging of a criminal case against me for putting up objectionable photographs, and I was also forced to submit a letter of apology for inappropriate conduct, hurting the image of the institution,” wrote the professor in a detailed account of her persecution by the SXU management published by Indian Express (August 20). Subsequently, on second thought after tendering her resignation on October 25, in February, 2022 the professor wrote a letter to the SXU management seeking reinstatement and a formal apology. In response, the university sent her a legal notice demanding Rs.99 crore for “causing irreparable damage” to the university. On receiving the notice, the former professor filed a FIR (first information report) at a local police station against the SXU management under sections 354 (c) (voyeurism) and 509 (outraging modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code 1860. Unsurprisingly, there was a massive public uproar in Kolkata immediately after the news was published in the online portal Wire (August 10). SXU students staged campus protests on August 10 followed by several student-run and women organisations holding protests before SXU gates. Support for the persecuted professor has also poured in from St. Xavier’s College alumni, gender activists and leading lights of Kolkata including mental health activist Ratnaboli Ray, psychologist Payoshni Mitra, former president and one-time SFI leader Anisha Pal. In a post, Ray wrote “that the SXU management needs to extend its periphery.” Since then, an online petition addressed to West Bengal education minister…
Dipta Joshi (Mumbai) Eight months after large-scale tampering and malpractices were reported in the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) 2019-2020 written by 3.43 lakh aspirant school teachers, the Maharashtra State Council of Examinations (MSCE) disqualified 7,880 candidates who wrote the exam and banned them from writing any future TETs. In the list of proscribed aspirant primary school teachers made public on August 4, are the names of three daughters and son of Abdul Sattar, Maharashtra’s agriculture minister. A mandatory exam under the Right to Education Act, 2009 for graduates aspiring to teach in government schools, TET was introduced in Maharashtra in 2013 when the RTE Act was belatedly implemented statewide. Candidates aspiring to teach in Maharashtra’s 71,426 government-administered and government-aided primaries/elementaries (classes I-VIII), are required to pass TET with a minimum 60 percent average score. In the large and rapidly expanding upwardly mobile urban and periurban middle class of Maharashtra (pop.125 million) — and indeed countrywide — landing a government school teacher’s job is a big deal. Starting salaries of government school teachers prescribed by official Pay Commissions which determine the remuneration of Central government employees (including school teachers) serve as benchmarks for state governments, and are handsome. Especially when compared with teachers’ remuneration in the country’s estimated 400,000 budget private schools (BPS). According to Prof. Geeta Kingdon, chair of education economics and international development at University College, London, in rural hamlets of hinterland India, government school teachers are numbered among wealthiest citizens and enjoy high social status as their monthly salaries could be 30 multiples of BPS teachers remuneration. Moreover, within the country’s six million government school teachers’ community there is little accountability for children’s learning outcomes or their own classroom attendance. The authoritative Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) published by the Pratham Education Foundation reports that learning outcomes of government school children countrywide are declining year-by-year. Moreover, several studies have documented that 25 percent of all government school teachers are absent from classes every day. Little wonder the number of graduates from obscure undergrad colleges signing up for TET is rising every year. In 2018, 1.73 lakh candidates wrote TET, while in 2020, the number of candidates — most of whom are employed in BPS, writing TET — more than doubled to 3.43 lakh. However, given the weak school and undergrad education of the great majority of TET candidates, the exam has always recorded poor pass percentages. In 2018, of the 1.73 lakh candidates in Maharashtra who wrote TET, only 1,679 passed. In TET 2020, of the 3.43 lakh who wrote the exam a mere 16,705 passed. Unsurprisingly, with the mad scramble for government school employment, the education sector has become the happy hunting ground of corrupt officials, agents and coaching school professionals. Moreover with TET going online, officials of software companies have also become embroiled in TET scams and scandals. In November 2020, the Pune police during a raid on the city-based GA Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd, an external contractor which conducts recruitment exams on behalf of…
Autar Nehru (Delhi) A 2017 decision of the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) Delhi state government to conduct online admissions of pre-primary and class I children from economically weaker sections (EWS) admitted free-of-charge into private schools under s.12 (1) (c) of the RTE Act, 2009, has generated conflict between the state government’s Directorate of Education (DoE) and private schools. The decision to mandate online registration through the state government’s education ministry was taken following reports that some private schools are making fraudulent admission entries of EWS children and claiming reimbursement for educating ‘ghost’ children. Since 2017, although pre-primary and class I admissions have been made online under government supervision, private schools continued to admit EWS children directly under s.12 (1) (c), allegedly inflating their number and claiming reimbursement from the state government. Under s.12 (1) (c) of the historic Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, private unaided (financially independent) schools are obliged to reserve 25 percent of capacity in class I (or nursery in composite schools with pre-primary sections) for children from EWS homes in their neighbourhood, admit and retain them free-ofcharge until completion of elementary education (class VIII). Under s.12 (2) the state/local government is obliged to reimburse private schools the cost of educating EWS children on the basis of the average per child expenditure incurred by government in its own schools, or the independent school’s prescribed tuition fee, whichever is lower. Therefore an August 5 circular of, DoE directing private school managements to segregate online pre-primary and class I and offline (direct) admissions from 2018 onwards, which added that tuition fees of EWS children admitted directly by private school managements will not be reimbursed, has come as a shock to private schools. Especially low-fees budget private schools (BPS) which have been admitting duly certified EWS children in their neighbourhoods into classes II-VIII delhi Education News for the past five years. They have requested DoE to maintain the status quo until the academic year 2021-22 as more than 100,000 EWS children have been directly admitted under s.12 (1) (c) by independent schools since 2018. The issue of private independent schools admitting children under s.12 (1) (c) has been complicated by antecedent Delhi School Education Rules 1973. Under these rules framed under the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, 394 private independent schools given land at concessional prices by government are obliged to reserve 20 percent of capacity and provide free-of-charge education to EWS children for the entire K-12 education span. Since 2010 when the RTE Act, 2009 became operational, the practice of concessional land grant schools has been to admit an additional 5 percent EWS children and claim reimbursement for their education until class VIII. In 2018, the Delhi government standardised reimbursements to private schools admitting s.12 (1) (c) children at Rs.26,908 per annum for classes I-V and Rs.26,707 for class VI-VIII plus Rs.1,100 and Rs.1,400 respectively towards books, stationery and uniforms. Therefore, with private schools claiming to have admitted 100,000 EWS children since, the aggregate…
The alacrity with which the BJP government of Gujarat state accepted a report of the Sentences Review Board (SRB) packed with state government officials including two BJP MLAs (members of legislative assembly), to release 11 convicted criminals serving life sentences for gang-rape of survivor Bilkis Bano, and the daylight murder of her three-yearold daughter and 14 relatives during communal riots that swept the state in 2002, has shocked the conscience of right-thinking members of society countrywide. The backdrop of this brazen release of unforgiveable convicts is widespread communal riots that broke out in Gujarat in 2002, after a train compartment with 58 Hindu devotees returning to Ahmedabad from the holy city of Ayodhya was allegedly set on fire by a mob of Muslim zealots when it halted in the town of Godhra on February 27. All the devotees were charred to death. Following this atrocity, widespread anti-Muslim riots broke out across the state. According to official data, in the months that followed 1,044 people were killed and 2,500 injured. Of the dead, 790 were Muslim and 254 Hindu. On February 28, Bilkis Bano and her family of 18 including women and children fearing loot and arson fled her village in Dahod district for a relief camp in Godhra. En route, on March 3, they were attacked by a rampaging mob of 25-30 including the 11 convicts who gang-raped her, murdered — yes murdered — her three-and-half-yearold daughter and 14 of their party. Despite every official discouragement and life threats, Bilkis Bano fought her case all the way up to the Supreme Court which ordered the accused to be tried by a special CBI court constituted in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra. In January 2008, the special court found 11 guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. On August 15, 2022 the life sentences of the convicts were abrogated by the Gujarat state government on the recommendation of the Sentences Review Board which opined that the convicts had served jail terms of more than 14 years during which they had exhibited good conduct, itself a contestable conclusion. However, this justification is untenable because under law, remission of sentence for convicts incarcerated for over 14 years is not automatic. In a 2012 judgement, the Supreme Court ruled that state governments are obliged to carefully weigh the nature of crime and its impact on society and investigate every convict’s conduct during imprisonment prior to granting pardon. In Bilkis Bano’s case, the nature of the crime was horrific as acknowledged by revised remission guidelines issued in 2014. The release of all 11 convicts simultaneously is clear proof of nonapplication of mind by SRB and the BJP Gujarat state government. In the circumstances, the Supreme Court should immediately nullify the release order of the Gujarat government. A well known maxim of law is that justice must not only be done, but also seen to be done.
The prime minister’s 75th Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of Delhi’s historic Red Fort on August 15, was a departure from usual speeches delivered on this day to mark the end of almost two centuries of British rule over India. Unlike earlier speeches that boasted the tremendous progress the country has made since 2014 when the BJP was swept to power in New Delhi and rolling out new development programmes, this year prime minister Modi presented the nation with a roadmap to transform India into a fully developed and prosperous country within the next 25 years when India will celebrate its centenary, i.e, 100 years as a free, self-governing and globally respected nation-state. The panch pran (five worthy) goals set for the nation to be achieved by 2047 are: to resolutely march forward to transform from a developing to developed nation; shedding all inferiority complex and mind-set of servitude; developing pride in the country’s history and cultural legacy; focusing on developing national unity and strength, and all citizens discharging their duties with honesty. Elaborating, the prime minister exhorted citizens to collaborate with government to stamp out corruption and nepotism, and empower women to attain the panch pran goals. However, there’s a ring of deja vu about this roadmap. Every prime minister has presented similar development prescriptions to little avail. Because while it’s easy to proclaim lofty politically correct resolutions, translating them into effective programmes is an altogether different proposition. For instance, the first of the five goals to transform India into a developed country within the next 25 years requires careful drawing up of priorities and detailed projects planning. Whereas your editors say that India rising is impossible without thorough overhaul and upgradation of the education system from KG-Ph D, BJP governments at the Centre and in states pay scant attention towards greater provision for and reforming education. On the contrary, they are more focused on rewriting history from the hindutva perspective and mixing mythology with history. Likewise, the third goal of developing pride in the country’s history and cultural legacy suggests a coded message to the Hindu majoritarian ruling party to propagate hindutva ideology and nostrums. Ironically, the prime minister’s advice to the public to empower and respect women coincided with the remission of life sentences awarded by a special CBI court to 11 convicted criminals involved in the heinous 2002 gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her 14 relatives in the prime minister’s bailiwick state of Gujarat. Undeniably, it is the prime minister’s duty and obligation to set lofty goals for development and progress on national occasions such as Independence and Republic days. But lofty vision needs to be implemented through actionable ground-level programmes. Mere high-sounding rhetoric contradicted by official acts of commission and omission, disseminates cynicism and demoralisation within the citizenry.
Over the past 15 years since the detailed globally unprecedented EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) survey was introduced, it has generated great enthusiasm within the educationists, institutional promoters, principals, teachers and students communities countrywide. This is because unlike all other schools ranking league tables (except for blatant knockoffs) which evaluate primary-secondary schools on a single parameter, i.e, learning outcomes in school-leaving board exams, the annual EWISR league tables assess schools under 12-15 parameters including teacher welfare and development, teachers competence, leadership, infrastructure, co-curricular menu, sports education, parental involvement, among others. Moreover, the methodology adopted by us is based on elaborate — and expensive — field interviews, rather than the usual six jurors sitting in a room with little knowledge of schools beyond their bailiwicks. Every summer over a period of four months, field researchers of the Centre for Forecasting & Research Pvt. Ltd, aka C fore, Delhi, a highly-reputed specialised market research and opinion polls company, persuade over 14,000 carefully chosen, knowledgeable sample respondents (educationists, fees-paying parents, principals, teachers and senior students) to rate the country’s 3,500-4,000 most reputed schools on a scale of 1-100 on 12-15 parameters of school education excellence. Subsequently, the parameter scores are totaled to rank schools in 22 segregated categories. We believe that segregating schools for assessment and ranking is important to provide level playing fields and eliminate apples and oranges type comparisons. The objective of this prolix explanation of our institutional ranking methodology is to assure readers that maximum possible care has been taken to make the annual EWISR league tables as fair and objective as possible to enable parents to choose most aptitudinally and emotionally suitable schools for their children. This is important because choosing a school that will optimally develop the unique intelligence(s) of children in their formative years will shape the rest of their lives. The proposition that academic reputation and record should be the sole criterion for selecting children’s schools has become obsolete. We hope EWISR 2022-23 which rates and ranks 3,500-4,000 of India’s most admired schools in 392 cities and towns countrywide will aid and enable parents to select the most suitable school for their children. Simultaneously, a parallel objective of the annual EWISR — the world’s largest and most comprehensive schools ranking survey — is to stimulate and motivate institutional managements to strive for all-round perfection and benchmark themselves with globally respected schools. India’s 1.5 million schools — including 450,000 private schools — have a vitally important responsibility to nurture and develop the world’s largest and most high-potential child and youth population.
Pressure from the entertainment and glamour industries and the corporate sector is driving the demand for qualified skin care specialists, aka dermatologists ACCORDING TO INDUSTRY estimates, aggregate annual expenditure on the skin and beauty care industry in India is currently $950 million (Rs.5,770 crore per year) and increasing at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 15-20 percent. Pressure from the entertainment and glamour (movies, television, fashion) industries, and the corporate sector, for sleek well-groomed professionals, is driving the demand for qualified skin care specialists, aka dermatologists. Consequently with people of all ages and professional backgrounds anxious to look good, dermatology has transformed into a lucrative career option. Dermatology is a branch of medicine which involves medical and surgical interventions. Dermatologists treat diseases as well as cosmetic problems of the skin, hair, scalp, and nails, with a new genre of young specialists foraying into cosmetic dermatology. Professional dermatologists tend to be graduates or postgrads of a medical college or university. To be eligible for admission into medical college, aspirants need to clear Plus Two with physics, chemistry and biology. For super specialisations, a three-year MD programme after completing MBBS is mandatory. Among prominent medical institutes offering dermatology programmes are the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Sun Institute and School of Dermatology, New Delhi; Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh; Department of Dermatology, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences; Dr. MGR Medical University, Tamil Nadu; NRS Medical College, Kolkata; Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. Moreover, since postgrad syllabuses/curriculums tend to be textbook rather than technology focused, a growing number of dermatologists are signing up for short-term diploma programmes in aesthetic or cosmetic dermatology, contact dermatitis, trichology, chronological photo ageing, cutaneous surgery, and laser treatment programmes in the US, Europe and South-east Asia. Employment opportunities are plenty for qualified dermatologists in government and private hospitals, nursing homes and pharma companies. Most dermatologists start their careers in group practice clinics, research and academia. After a few years™ experience, they may have the option of going into private practice. Qualified professional dermatologists are well-compensated worldwide. In India, starting remuneration is between Rs.12,000-21,000 per month. For the modestly experienced, pay packages zoom to Rs.1.6-3 lakh per month. Even in a Central government hospital, a mint-fresh MD can expect to earn Rs.60,000 per month, whereas in academia a professor/department head is paid Rs.1.5 lakh per month. For dermatologists in private practice, Rs.4-5 lakh per month is de rigueur and in the US, salaried specialists earn between $280,000-480,000 (Rs.1.71-2.93 crore) per year. There’s no dearth of employment opportunities for dermatologists in hospitals and private clinics, some of whom like Kaya Skin Clinic have launched a chain of clinics countrywide, observes dermatologist and cosmetologist Dr. Poonam Wadhwani, who runs a flourishing private clinic in the Ratan Tata Medical Centre, Mumbai. An MBBS graduate of the MGM Medical College, New Bombay (1997), Dr. Wadhwani pressed on to acquire a diploma in dermatology and venereal diseases from the Bombay Port Trust Hospital, Wadala in 2001. Soon after,…
Outrageous perversion of justice
-Sudheendra Kulkarni ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ is an aphorism most of us learnt in our school days. “Tarikh pe tarikh” (‘date after date’) is a synonymous but more colloquial axiom familiar to all harassed and frustrated citizens seeking justice in India’s courts, which postpone case hearings habitually and almost interminably. The judicial system of our country is globally notorious for delay in justice delivery. According to official data (March 2022), 47 million cases are pending in the country’s courts — 70,154 in the Supreme Court, 5.89 million cases in 25 high courts, and the remaining in lower courts. Of them, 10 million cases are pending for over five years, and 76 percent of the country’s prisoners are unconvicted undertrials awaiting adjudication of their cases. In April, a court in Bihar acquitted a murder case accused after he had spent 28 years in jail. In May, another citizen was acquitted in a murder case by a Madhya Pradesh court after suffering wrongful incarceration for 13 years. These facts and figures make a mockery of our criminal justice system. It would be neither inaccurate nor inappropriate to call it a justice system that is criminal. But the recent outcome of Bilkis Bano’s case in Gujarat is an altogether more hideous injustice. It is perversion of justice in a case involving two heinous crimes committed simultaneously — gang-rape and multiple murders.