The cover story ‘Edupreneurs empowering small town India’ (EW July) is an encouraging account of how entrepreneurs in small towns starved of quality education, are coming forward to provide quality academic options to parents.

It’s commendable that despite official discouragement and harassment, progressive educationists are stepping up to promote nationally benchmarked private schools at affordable prices in tier II/III cities.  Their growth and development into modern metros will require educated and skilled youth.

Suraj Bhatia              
Gurgaon

Forget about PSBs

I appreciate Your special report ‘New hope for education loans’ (EW July). India’s public sector banks (PSBs), which were nationalised for the specific purpose of making credit available to poor and marginalised farmers, small businesses and students, have miserably failed in fulfilling their mandate. It’s almost impossible for uneducated or semi-literate citizens to find their way through the maze of paperwork and onerous conditions imposed by PSBs.

Your case for the proposed Student Financial Aid Authority to be transformed into an independent credit assessment, lending and loans recovery organisation is an excellent idea. The UK and US have successfully implemented such national student loans systems which function independently of banks.

It’s the government’s responsibility to ensure no serious student is denied higher education due to lack of funds. Profit-chasing banks are unlikely to be interested in loaning to students from families with no credit history.

Arvind Jaikumar
Chennai

Surprising omission

EducationWorld has taken a good initiative of publishing the list of India’s Top 100 CBSE schools based on their class XII exam results (EW July). 267 students of SAI International School, Bhubaneswar who wrote the CBSE class XII exam, passed with an average score (five-subjects) of 87.05 percent. We also have the distinction of recording 100 percent first divisions. 

Surprisingly, despite an average of 87.05 percent, SAI International has not been included in the Top 100 table. Please publish SAI International’s scores in the next issue.

Dr. Bijoy K. Sahoo 
Chairman, SAI International School, Bhubaneswar

Soul-stirring feature

In your cover story ‘Agriculture–primary education=mass farm suicides,’ (EW June), you have presented a good case for greater public investment in primary education.

The link between farm productivity, rural development and elementary education is supported by 55 years of research. Nobel laureate Theodore Shultz, who wrote Transforming Traditional Agriculture in 1963 after meeting with large numbers of farmers in Uttar Pradesh, confirmed this connection. My own study Responsiveness of Rural Persons to Development Stimuli (1978), identifies education attainment as the most important variable of rural development.

My compliments to you on a soul-stirring feature which should move the hearts of India’s self-seeking, nonchalant, insensitive middle class, and specifically the intelligentsia.

Dr. A.S. Seetharamu
Bangalore

Unacceptable ranking

We read the EducationWorld India University Rankings 2015 (EW May) with great interest. However, you have wrongly published the address of Nagaland University (NU) as Kohima (p. 73). The correct address of NU is Lumani, Zunheboto.

The university has four campuses (no other Central university has as many) and several affiliated colleges. NU came into existence in 1997 with the transfer of two campuses of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Kohima and School of Agriculture and Rural Development, Medziphema. The Kohima campus of NEHU was declared the interim headquarters of Nagaland University. Subsequently in 2010, the NU headquarters was shifted to Lumani, Zunheboto.

We believe you have presented the ranking (#186) of Nagaland University while it was operating from Kohima, which we cannot accept. Since 2010, the university has made significant progress on all fronts.  NU alumni are well-placed in government, private and non-government organisations countrywide, and the varsity has been re-accredited by NAAC with Grade ‘B’.

We are providing quality higher education and would appreciate your reviewing our ranking.

Prof. Bolin Kumar Konwar 
Vice chancellor
Nagaland University, Lumani