Joshi‚s nemesisA tenured professor of physics at the Allahabad University (AU), former Union human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi could never have imagined that the university would be his nemesis. But so it was in the recently concluded 14th general election in which Joshi was unceremoniously rejected by Allahabad‚s electorate. Reportedly because he failed to get AU the much-coveted Central university status, the varsity‚s faculty mounted a sustained anti-Joshi campaign and openly declared support for his opponents.Their cause was helped by a former MLA who distributed photocopies of the Allahabad University Bill, 2004 which he claimed proved that Joshi never intended to get Central status for the university and that he could not even persuade his own party MPs to make a quorum on the day the bill was introduced in Parliament. According to Joshi the document had deliberately been tampered with to show him in poor light.But there are few in AU who are willing to accept that Joshi spared the time and effort to pilot the bill through Parliament. Indeed Joshi‚s former colleagues in the Allahabad University Associated Colleges Teachers Association organised mass prayers to invoke divine help to ensure his defeat. Even the BJP‚s student wing, the Akhil Bharti Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) neglected Joshi‚s re-election campaign. Joshi‚s notorious arrogance and high handedness didn‚t help either. One of his favourite bon mots was that as an MP he was supposed to formulate national policies, not look into petty local issues. Moreover he demanded that the electorate accord due respect to his stature as one of the “top three leaders of the BJP” as evidenced by a 36 page booklet with pictures of him in the company of prominent BJP leaders. Apart from IIM and IIT campuses, Joshi‚s electoral rout was also celebrated by the Lucknow University faculty who were miffed that Joshi had tried to push for central university status for AU rather than for the “more deserving” Lucknow University.Sic transit gloria.Comrades‚ revisionismFor years now, ever since the left front administration ruling West Bengal since 1977 turned the state‚s universities into red citadels, the University of Calcutta (established: 1857) has been a favourite target of cynics, sceptics, Cassandras and Left intellectuals because of its old world conservatism on academic matters. But the dons of the venerable university seem at last to be waking up to the fast changing ground realities of the marketplace. In its next academic session beginning July, the University of Calcutta will offer a one-year postgraduate diploma course in film and television media studies with a trendy syllabus which offers options like radio anchoring. Nor is that all. Taking cognizance of the mid-life career-switching phenomenon, the university has ‚ for the first time ever ‚ waived age restrictions for admission into its courses. Even elderly professionals are welcome to enroll and hone their audio-visual media skills. The course sans entry barriers has been warmly welcomed by the film industry. According to proud varsity spokespersons, legendary Kolkata-based film directors including Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Gautam Haldar have accepted guest faculty invitations. Further, unprecedentedly, the university has pegged the tuition fee at Rs.5,400 for the one-year diploma course ‚ a fee that is considerably higher than payable by students in postgrad mainstream arts, science and commerce programmes. Is it possible the comrades in Writers Building are finally becoming business literate?Summer tug-of-warTeachers in Delhi‚s 960-plus government schools and the directorate of education (DoE) which administers them, have locked horns over a contentious issue this summer ‚ extra classes. While the directorate insists that students from ‚Ëœweak‚ schools in which the percentage of students clearing the class X CBSE exam is below the city average, should attend ‚Ëœextra‚ classes during the summer vacation, teachers are adamant that they are entitled to their break. Therefore the Government School Teachers‚ Association (GSTA) is fiercely resisting the proposal to summon teachers during the searing summer hols, particularly since they‚ve had to do additional work mopping up the mess caused by the exam paper leaks in March. GSTA is particularly narked that the extra-tuitions order has been issued by DoE in the most arbitrary and dictatorial fashion, sans consultation. Worse, under the order teachers won‚t be paid transport allowance or given compensatory leave for their efforts. Officials at DoE, however, have warned that non-compliant teachers will face “strict disciplinary action”. Though extra coaching for class X board students was dispensed last year, the directorate admits that this is the first time it has scheduled intensive tuition during the summer vacation.Caught in this cross-fire are already disadvantaged students who will not only have to grapple with the capital‚s scorching heat but also with the heat generated by the war of words between their teachers and DoE. Krishna‚s half measureUnlike the ouster of unionHRD minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi from office which has been almost unanimously welcomed by right thinking people, the exit of Karnataka‚s affable chief minister S.M. Krishna who was repeatedly adjudicated the country‚s most capable CM in opinion polls sponsored by the business press, has caused considerable anguish and heartburn among the small minority which values good manners and civility in government. Krishna‚s fatal flaw was that he accepted, but didn‚t fully act upon well-meant advice which was offered to him in the editorials of this publication and also heard but disregarded its editor who numbers the tennis-playing CM among his friends. The advice offered to Krishna midway through his term was that he should introduce the free mid-day meal scheme in government schools to boost classroom attendance and secondly, he should bolster farm incomes by incentivising investment in rural post-harvest technologies such as cold storage and food processing businesses. The CM acted on the first bit of advice by introducing the state‚s highly successful akshara dasoha mid-day meal scheme which won the Congress 60 seats in the legislative assembly. But the failure to heed the second bit of advice cost him the other 60 seats which he had won in 1999. These 60 seats were bagged by former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowda who did little more than lend lip sympathy to the state‚s rural majority.Moral of the story: (1) get your maths right ‚ don‚t ignore the numerical majority, and (2) ignore EducationWorld at your peril.