EducationWorld April 09

Contemporary Bangalore, the administrative capital of the southern state of Karnataka (pop.57 million) which through the 1980s was repeatedly adjudged the most well-administered and hospitable Indian city in media surveys, represents all that has gone wrong with urban planning and management in Shining India. Today, this once garden city (pop. 7 million), visibly crumbling under the load of 2.2 million automotive vehicles and continuous migration from neglected rural Karnataka, has morphed into Indias garbage city, severely afflicted by water and air pollution, road and traffic chaos, breakdown of law and order, and rampaging Hindu fundamentalist lumpens who have destroyed the citys once-bustling social life.Against this gloomy backdrop which bodes ill for this once green city renowned for its parks, lakes and walks, has re-emerged the unlikely figure of a local politician, Vatal Nagaraj, from political obscurity. Known more for his comic persona, floppy hat, wide grin and photo op grabbing skills rather than political acumen, somewhat late in his political career, Nagaraj has hit upon sanitation, more specifically the severe shortage of public toilets in the city, as his new campaign theme. To illustrate the paucity of public toilets he is given to drinking water in large quantities and threatening to do what comes naturally thereafter near numerous public monuments — including the chief ministers official residence — which are unserved by way of public conveniences. Although Nagarajs unique protest shows all signs of petering out given the apathy and inertia of the citizenry, theres no doubt that his grievance and protest is justified. The fact that Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park — showpiece grounds of over 3 sq. km each — offer one small toilet between them, is testimony to the skills of the civic planners of Indias Silicon Valley. Although its difficult to take him seriously, Nagarajs belated protest deserves the support of all right-thinking citizens, not only of Bangalore, but of all urban habitats where the sanitation issue is ignored in the hope that it will resolve itself. In this connection it is relevant to note that Nagarajs campaign would have had the full backing of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who — it is forgotten — accorded the highest priority to sanitation, and routinely cleaned public toilets himself.

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Children caught in the intensified conflict in Sri Lankas war-torn north are paying a heavy price by way of death, injury and trauma, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and the UN Childrens Fund (Unicef) have warned. The secretary-general is extremely concerned over the deteriorating situation for civilians trapped in northern Sri Lanka, said a statement issued by Bans office last month. He strongly deplores the mounting death toll of civilians in the area of fighting, which includes a significant number of children.Children are being killed, witnessing their family and parents killed, being separated, and suffering injuries including burns, fractures, shrapnel and bullet wounds, adds Unicefs Humanitarian Update for Sri Lanka, released on March 4. There is a dire lack of clean water, food, proper sanitation and medicine. In turn this has further worsened the nutritional status of affected populations, with malnutrition rates in the north higher than the national average, says the Unicef report. Heavy fighting since mid-2008 between Sri Lanka government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the northern Vanni area, which includes Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts and parts of Mannar and Vavuniya districts, about 300 km from Colombo, has forced tens of thousands to flee. More than 36,000 have escaped the fighting into government-controlled areas since January. However, Unicef estimates between 150,000-200,000 civilians to be trapped in the rapidly shrinking area of fighting. The defence ministry confirms that the LTTE had been pushed into a narrow area of about 55 sq. km by March 3. In particular Unicef has raised concerns about LTTEs recruitment of underage children. Recruitment of children by armed groups continues to be reported and is assumed to have increased over the past months in the north. Tens of thousands of children have been unable to attend school as they have been forced to flee on multiple occasions as fighting advanced, adds Unicef. The conflict has forced more than 60,000 children of primary school age out of the education system. Many children have been displaced up to 12 times over the past year and have been living in bunkers and trenches for weeks on end. Ban called on both combatant parties to allow civilians to move safely out of danger areas. The secretary-general renews his call to the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to suspend hostilities for the purposes of allowing civilians to leave the conflict zone, and allowing immediate humanitarian access to them, says the statement. (Excerpted and adapted from www.irinnews.org)

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The closure of schools and continuing attacks on students in the southern Helmand province of Afghanistan forced Abdul Wakils parents to send him to a madrasa (Islamic school) in neighbouring Pakistan. Almost two months later, Abdul Wakil (not his real name) quit the school outside Quetta, capital of Pakistans Baluchistan province, and returned home.In the madrasa we were taught to sacrifice ourselves for jihad in Afghanistan and were told to do suicide attacks, says 14-year-old Wakil who lives in Lashkargah, centre of Afghanistans insurgency-torn Helmand province. I dont want to become a suicide attacker, because its forbidden in Islam, so I secretly quit the madrasa and returned home. Abduls parents are happy to have their son home safe and sound, but are worried about his security. If the Taliban find out about him, they will kill him, says his father, who requested anonymity. We are also concerned about his education and future, he adds. His concerns are not unique in the volatile south, where attacks by insurgent groups have closed more than 630 schools, depriving 300,000 students of education, according to the ministry of education (MoE). More than two decades of war has severely damaged education in Afghanistan, resulting in very low literacy rates: 12.6 percent among females and 43.1 percent among males, an average of 28.1 percent nationwide, according to aid agencies. The insurgents anti-education activities — armed attacks, intimidation and negative propaganda — seek to shut down schools and deny students — girls and boys — formal education that mixes modern scientific subjects with Islamic studies. From January to October 2008, 256 school-related security incidents, with 30 deaths, were reported, against 213 incidents in the same period in 2007, according to the UN Childrens Fund (Unicef). As a result, going to school has become increasingly dangerous for students and teachers. However, the insurgents have tacitly encouraged parents to send their sons to religious schools in neighbouring Pakistan for Islamic studies. Almost all Taliban leaders, including their reclusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, were trained in Pakistani madrasas. They not only offer immunity from Taliban attacks but also provide free board and lodging to students and are thus more attractive to poor families than modern schools. Tens of thousands of Afghans are enrolled in Pakistani madrasas, according to MoE officials. Of Afghanistans six million students, 35 percent are female, with more than 1.2 million school-age girls out of school. The government has recently stepped up efforts to protect schools and school children from Taliban violence. Asif Nang, a spokesman for MoE, says the government is ready to negotiate with the opposition over schools and would be willing to accommodate their religious reservations. If they want to call schools ‘madrasa we will accept that. If they want teachers addressed as mullah we have no problem with that. Whatever objections they (the Taliban) may have we are ready to talk to them, says Nang who adds that currently the curriculum of government schools is entirely in accordance with Islamic values with girls…

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New local laws being passed by village chiefs in northern Sierra Leone, which decree that when a school girl is impregnated by a male student, both must drop out of school, are causing concern among child protection experts. These laws have been passed by chiefs in parts of Sierra Leones northern Bombali district, according to Ramatu Kanu, deputy director of education for the district. Bombali district is made up of 13 chiefdoms.The laws are designed to build stigma around teenage pregnancy and dissuade girls from becoming pregnant, according to Maud Droogleever Fortuyn, child protection director at the United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef) in Sierra Leone. In these chiefdoms, when a girl becomes pregnant, most boys also drop out. They start doing petty trade, or become okada (motorcycle taxi) drivers, says student John Amadfoma, (17), who attends school in Makeni, the capital of Bombali district, 140 km north of Freetown. Teenage pregnancy levels contribute to the low percentage of girls attending secondary school in Sierra Leone, according to Kanu. A mere 17 percent of girls and 21 percent of boys attended secondary school in the period 2000-2007, according to Unicefs State of the Worlds Children Report, 2009. Most girls drop out of school by age 15, mainly because of pregnancy, says Kanu, while boys tend to drop out by age 16. Local child protection experts speculate pregnancies are caused by voluntary sexual relations among school children, early marriage, transactional sex with adults and other forms of sexual abuse, but Unicefs Fortuyn says no studies have yet been undertaken. Unicef is not happy with these (laws) banning pregnant girls and boys who made girls pregnant from school, says Fortuyn. Taking children out of school is against their right (to education). Although we recognise the boy needs to bear responsibility too, this is not the way. Why not make his family responsible for ensuring the girls finish secondary school, for instance? Education deputy director Kanu calls for more incentives to encourage girls to remain in school. More girls would stay in school if they had more role models to look up to. We need to reward high-performing girls and hold them up as an example to others. Girls top primary school tests, but then they disappear out of secondary school. It is such a loss for the community. Even where laws are not in place, social stigma pressures girls to leave school as soon as they become pregnant, according to Kanu. In Sierra Leone when you are a teenager and pregnant and unmarried, you are a second-class citizen. (Excerpted and adapted from www.irinnews.org)

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Growing competition for jobs in the Chinese civil service appears to have produced a boom in dishonesty, with about 1,000 cheats caught in the national entrance exams this year. Hundreds of thousands of unemployed graduates seek safe berths in government offices, but their desperation to succeed has led to the highest level of cheating on record, according to the China Daily.While 775,000 people wrote the exam — an increase of more than 20 percent year-on-year — only 13,500 jobs were available. Applicants have used increasingly hi-tech fraud to write their papers, with some even using listening devices so accomplices outside can whisper answers into their ears. More than 300 cheats were caught in exam rooms in November last year, while another 700 were collared after examiners realised their papers shared much conformity, the state administration of civil service revealed. Most of them came from the north-eastern province of Liaoning and the capital Beijing. The administration said it will disqualify cheats this year and, in serious cases, bar them from central and local civil service exams for the next five years. A huge expansion in higher education and reduced job opportunities because of the financial downturn are thought to be responsible. An earlier report from the official Xinhua news agency says the public had been warned not to buy answers. It added that exam papers are state secrets and those caught leaking them faced three to seven years in prison. One would-be cheat got into trouble in February after paying a conman 12,000 yuan (Rs.88,800) for a copy of a test paper. When he realised it was a fake, and none of the questions appeared on the actual exam, he complained to the police, who launched an investigation. (Excerpted and adapted from The Guardian)

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After six weeks spent digesting Australias most comprehensive review of higher education in recent times, the countrys elite universities branded it a road map to mediocrity in late February. The Review of Australian Higher Education, chaired by Denise Bradley, former vice-chancellor of the University of South Australia, had recommended a radical overhaul of the sector, including a massive expansion in student numbers.Its significance to Australian higher education has been likened to the impact of Lord Dearings 1997 review in the UK, but now the Group of Eight, which represents Australias most prestigious research-led institutions, has criticised its findings. The group met Julia Gillard, minister of education, to discuss its concerns. It said the recommendations of the review risked setting students up for a fall and wasting public money. The Australian government is not well served by the Bradley panels road map to mediocrity, the executive director of the Group of Eight, Michael Gallagher, wrote in the countrys national newspaper, The Australian. Its financing model will not sustain quality higher education and university research. Among the key recommendations of the review, which was published at the end of December, are plans for a voucher system which would allow students to attend any university that accepts them, rather than tie them to institutions in their own localities. If pursued, this policy would see funding follow students rather than being split between universities on a pre-agreed formula. Gallagher says this approach would encourage institutions to accept more students, even if they were not good enough to flourish. Students could be set up for failure and public resources would be wasted. It is unwise to relax entry standards to the bachelors degree until exit standards are established, he told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. Gallagher also branded the reviews target of making 40 percent of Australians aged 25-34 graduates by 2020, up from the current 29 percent, as unachievable. The thinking reflects the worn-out, one-size-fits-all notion of a university rather than mission-based structural differentiation to fit varying needs, he says. The government is due to publish its response to the review shortly. However, Gillard has already expressed doubts about how financially viable the proposals are. Critics point out that the prevailing economic climate is very different from the one in which the review was commissioned, a fact that has given its opponents significant leverage. Fred Hilmer, vice-chancellor of the University of New South Wales, told The Australian that the review has not been properly costed, and warned the government not to accept its recommendations in whole. Like other Group of Eight leaders, Prof. Hilmer is said to be bristling at what is seen as the reviews attempt to deconcentrate research. Australian concerns echo those of the Russell Group, as leading research-intensive universities in England await forthcoming quality-related research funding allocations. (Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)

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England faces a dismal picture on basic skills, despite 5 billion pound (Rs.32,500 crore) being spent over six years on improving adults reading, writing and maths. The House of Commons public accounts committee says that even if the government meets its ambition of 95 percent functional literacy and numeracy among adults by 2020, England will only have caught up to the standard of the top 25 percent of countries today. Comments Edward Leigh, the committees chairman: This is a dismal picture, both for the many who face diminished prospects in what they can achieve in life and for the competitiveness of our country in the world economy.The committee recommends that ministers should order a repeat of the 2003 Skills for Life survey to see what effect the money spent between 2001 and 2007 has had. The committee says the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills has acknowledged that more work needs to be done on numeracy, following an earlier focus on reading and writing. Graduates of maths-related courses should be targeted for recruitment to teaching to redress the balance of 6,300 numeracy teachers, the committee proposes. Prison education represents a major lost opportunity, says the committee with just one in five offenders who have low basic skills enrolled in courses to improve them. It called for incentives for prisoners to improve their literacy or maths, and for basic skills to be integrated into vocational skills training in prison. Take up of Skills for Life courses within the free, employer-based Train to Gain scheme had also been lower than expected, with just 41,000 enrolments compared to an expected 73,470. But Alan Tuckett, director of the Niace, the non-governmental adult education body, believes the Skills for Life work already undertaken should not be underestimated. You can look at the Skills for Life agenda through either end of the telescope, he says. On the one hand, the committee is surely right that the size of the job is enormous. To make a real difference to the lives of several million people isnt a cheap job. On the other hand, the government is surely right to take pride in the number of people who have responded to the Skills for Life programme, and the opportunity for people to get the first certificate of their lives. One important area for development was basic information technology skills, along with literacy and numeracy, says Tuckett, because these are often crucial to help people into work. The government has met its July 2010 target to improve the basic skills of 2.25 million adults two years early. In six years 5.7 million adults took 12 million courses, with 7.6 million leading to approved qualifications — although only the first qualification for any student counted towards the target. It is not known how much was spent on adult literacy and numeracy before the Skills for Life programme was launched in 2001, as the money was not ring-fenced. No government has done more to tackle improving the nations literacy and numeracy…

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California and Texas are both large states that are home to a growing population of minorities. They also share another trait. In a blow to the policy of affirmative action, public universities in the two states were forbidden, a decade ago, from using race as a factor in college admission decisions by a federal court, in Texass case, and by state law in Californias.Currently Texas guarantees admission at the state university of his or her choice to any student graduating in the top 10 percent of high school class. This helps students from predominantly minority high schools who excel relative to their peers. The University of California (UC), on the other hand, altered its admission standards in 2002 to require a comprehensive review of applications. Under that system, students win points not just for academic criteria such as grades and test scores, but also for overcoming ‘life challenges. Affirmative action by the back door, some critics say. Both policies have had modest success in maintaining campus diversity. But now policy makers in both states are about to shake the kaleidoscope again. William Powers, the president of the Univerity of Texas (UT) at Austin, has sounded an alarm. The number of students in the top tenth of fast-growing Texas high school classes will have climbed from some 20,000 in 1998 to over 30,000 by 2015. Last year more than 80 percent of Texas freshmen at UT Austin came from this group. By 2013 it will be 100 percent. Powers has urged lawmakers to amend the law by capping the number of students who can be admitted under the rule at half of a state universitys class. As for the other half, he wants the university to retain discretion over which students to admit, including the discretion to consider race. Without this change, Powers says, the proportion of minorities at his university will decline: the top 10 percent plan yields only about 25 percent black and Hispanic students, but the university could admit far more if it retained control over the other half of its class. The Texas legislature almost passed such a change last year; a version of it is likely to pass this year. Meanwhile, university officials in California voted in early February to overhaul their current admissions system, which guarantees a student a place at a UC campus if he ranks in the top 4 percent of his high school class or in the top 12.5 percent of the graduating class statewide. The new plan alters the ratios so that the top 9 percent of students from each high school would be guaranteed a spot, as well as students who rank in the top 9 percent of the state as a whole. The overall effect is to make Californias system resemble the system Texas now wants to give up. This part of the California proposal has been met with little resistance. But a second aspect troubles critics of affirmative action. The plan would create a new category of applicants:…

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San Francisco-based author, sports guru and psychologist Dr. George Selleck, a well-known name to readers of this publication by virtue of the monthly Sports Education column he writes for EducationWorld, drew a full house and attracted considerable media attention when he released the Indian edition of his latest book Coach Sense — Coaching to make a Difference (EduSports, Rs.395) in five cities across India in February. On his second visit to India, Selleck was here as a team member of the Bangalore-based institutional sports development and advisory company Sportz Village Pvt. Ltd (estb.2003), which markets its EduSport programmes and curriculums to schools, colleges and corporates across the country.A distinguished alumnus of Americas most respected universities including Stanford where he read history, Princeton (theology) and University of South California, which awarded him a doctorate in psychology, Selleck played high-quality NCAA basketball in his college years and began his career as a Presbyterian pastor engaged in counseling and social work (1960-73). Subsequently he established a private practice in counseling psychology while coaching and refereeing collegiate basketball. Currently, Selleck who has also authored seven best-seller books on ways and means to translate on-field and track sports experiences into life skills, is a San Francisco-based author, counselor and consultant in sports and organisational management. I can say with conviction that regular play on the basketball court or cricket field, helps a child develop valuable life skills such as strategic thinking and decision-making, team work and inter personal relationships which are vitally important for career progression and success in life. My message to parents, teachers and students themselves, is to regard sports arenas as learning labs and environments which teach children life skills in fun-filled hands-on ways, says Selleck who has also authored a book addressed to parents with the evocative title Raising a Good Sport in a In-Your-Face World (McGraw Hill 2003). Now fairly well acquainted with the Indian education scenario by virtue of his long association with Sportz Village, EducationWorld and whistle-stop tours of Indias towns and cities, Dr. Selleck confirms the general opinion that theres excessive focus on academics in Indias schools, colleges and institutions of learning. Sport should not be viewed as an extra-curricular activity. It should be integrated with academic education because development of sports skills enhance and enable academic learning. Playing is a natural activity for children and reduces stress, which automatically improves academic performance, explains Selleck. Although now a senior citizen, this indefatigable author, coach, and sports psychologist is keen to use his knowledge and expertise to assist EduSport, which is effectively spreading the message of sports education in India. I will be visiting more frequently to conduct sports seminars and workshops for parents and children in India and online through my website. I am particularly interested in advising Indian parents on how to become good sports parents, says Selleck. Fortuitously for academics-obsessed Indian parents, theres more such valuable advice coming from this sports education guru. Dilip Thakore (Bangalore)

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As the worlds largest free electorate prepares to vote in Indias 15th general election scheduled to roll out countrywide between April 16-May 13, a striking feature of the election rhetoric is the deafening silence of national and regional political parties on the most important issues confronting 21st century India which owes a deep duty of care to the worlds largest (450 million) child population: public health and education.The pre-election public discourse in India is in sharp contrast with the recently concluded combative presidential election fought in the US, culminating in the election of Barack Obama as the 42nd — and first racial minority president of America — in which these issues were high on the debate and development agenda. In Britain too, education gets top political billing during general elections. In 2001 Labour Party leader and former prime minister Tony Blair famously remarked that the top three priorities of Labour were education, education, education, and swept the British election that year. Against this backdrop of growing global awareness that development of a nations human capital is the vital precondition of national development, the indifference of Indias political class as a whole to public health and education reform is testimony to how out of touch they are with the aspirations of the people. In all of contemporary Indias 200 million households — as in Americas 80 million households — there is a deeply felt, even if unarticulated, need for quality public health services and education. Despite this, the annual outlay (Centre plus states) for education has never crossed 4 percent of GDP even though the Kothari Commission recommended 6 percent way back in 1966. Worse, provision for public health services has never exceeded 1.2 pecent of GDP, forcing millions of children and youth, who are expected to deliver 21st century Indias ‘demographic dividend, to live half lives. But even as Indias much trumpeted demographic dividend shows signs of mutating into a demographic disaster, leaders and strategists of Indias major political parties seem unaware of the public yearning for a meaningful health and education infrastructure, which can aid and enable generation next to break out of the vicious cycle of ignorance and poverty. The countrys establishment continues to live in a Shining India bubble with politicians from the rural hinterland co-opted into government of the middle class, by the middle class and for the middle class. Consequently the onus of rewriting the national agenda and forcing the establishment in New Delhi and the state capitals to get its priorities right has devolved upon the Indian intelligentsia. As election fever rises and the debate on national development priorities intensifies, its upto the teachers community in the countrys 1.24 million schools, 431 universities, 21,000 colleges and not least the media, to highlight the critical importance of education and healthcare. The blame for the shameful neglect of these urgent issues cannot be laid solely at the doors of politicians — the intelligentsia is also complicit. Its still not too late for them to awake, arise…

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Its a car that can fit in the palm of a hand spread wide, powered by a 2.5cc engine and a two-stroke internal combustion engine. But dont go by its dinky size. Christened Beast 2.0, it has won five engineering students from Pune the Full Throttle competition at the IIT Techfest held in Mumbai from January 24-26. The Japanese engine uses nitro-methane as fuel, and is remote controlled.The team, comprising Brijesh Singh Bisht, Sharun Kumar and P.S. Sriram from Punes G.S. Moze College of Engineering, and Jomson Perayil and Neeraj Gole from Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, bagged the coveted cash award of Rs.48,000, by clocking the fastest timing in the competition despite showcasing the least powerful engine. Student participants were asked to design a vehicle using an internal combustion engine which should prove its endurance on a test track with jumps, loose mud and bridges, explains Vaibhav Desai, a member of the Techfest organising committee. In the last stage of the competition, based on the Formula 1 racing system, the model cars were raced on tracks measuring about 100 metres. Of the 300 teams which registered for this years event, 103 were short-listed for the compe-tition, and the Pune teams Beast 2.0 was adjudged best entry. Explaining the key features of the model car, P.S. Sriram says: The primary factor that worked to our advantage is that we used nylon instead of metal for making the body, and this helped reduce the weight of the car. Subsequently, by scouring around for the best and most affordable deals (and this included visiting the citys flea market for various accessories), we were able to restrict the total cost of manufacture to Rs.25,000. Speaking on behalf of the team, Neeraj Gole, a final year mechanical engineering student, ascribes their success to teamwork despite the students belonging to separate colleges. Each team member was assigned a specific job according to his expertise. I was involved in the process of fabricating and testing the vehicle for almost a month. The tools and equipment were provided by the Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, says Gole. Operationally, the quintet worked on developing the model in a plant nursery, converting one of the green houses into a makeshift workshop prior to submitting their model car. Techfest is the annual international science and technology festival of IIT-Bombay. Huned Contractor (Pune)

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British Council (India) has scheduled to hold two certificate teacher training programmes for English language teachers — the Cambridge Young Learners English and Cambridge Main Suite — in June/July.Each three-day teacher training programme is certified by British Council, and will equip participants to train students for the Cambridge Young Learners and Cambridge Main Suite exams (administered by Cambridge University, UK). These language skills assessment tests are designed for children aged six-12 and 13 years plus respectively. The training programmes anchored by Cambridge University certified trainers will also provide wider access to latest language training resources, both online and offline. The fee for the programme is Rs.2,500 per participant. The CYLE teacher training programme will be held in Hyderabad from July 23-25, and the CMS programme in Coimbatore between June 25-27. Duly qualified teachers and trainers should contact the British Council, Chennai ([email protected]) for application forms.

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The National HRD Network (NHRDN), the apex body of human resource development professionals in India, launched its web2.0 portals (www.nationalhrd.org and www.hrdnetworkdelhi.com) in New Delhi on March 19. The new NHRDN portals are designed to help HR professionals leverage the power of web2.0 and digital media for learning, knowledge sharing and professional networking.The launch of the new NHRDN web2.0 portals are an important step towards building a cohesive and interactive platform for Indian HRD professionals to satisfy their learning and networking needs. Not only will this help in promoting human resources development countrywide, but it will also provide an online gateway for knowledge dissemination among Indian professionals, said Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar, member of the Planning Commission, at the launch ceremony attended by a large number of HR professionals. HR has come of age in this country. There is a huge requirement from CEOs and business leaders who look to HR professionals for effective implementation of their plans and programmes for realising competitive advantage through people development strategies, added Aquil Busrai, executive director, HR, IBM India and president of the National HRD Network.

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The Chennai-based Veta Spoken English Training Academy has designed a unique summer programme titled English Holiday, for school students. The programme includes a light and enriching syllabus comprising general knowledge, spoken English, grammar, creative thinking and social etiquette, to help students enhance their soft skills. Spread over a period of 40 hours at each level, the programme is targeted at students of classes VII-XII.Communication and soft skills are of prime importance in todays world and we must hone these skills of children from a young age. The English Holiday programme includes special elocution classes, games, quizzes, language puzzles, and learning the social graces. The language games, competitions and lots of prizes offered will be exciting for children, says Dr. S. Ramachandran, head of brand management at Veta. English Holiday will be conducted at specific Veta academies in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the summer holiday months. Induction of batches will start from April 1. Veta, Asias largest spoken English training academy, offers direct training and distance education courses to English language learners of differing competencies. Founded as the Vivekananda Institute in 1981, Veta has 250 training centres in 140 cities in 22 states and Union territories countrywide. Thus far 2.2 million students countrywide have been trained by Veta.

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“Im not a politician. There are many people working to improve their lives. The answer will come from India. Its an absolutely extraordinary nation that is charging through the 21st century and I think they will address their own issues.” Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, answering a question on how to improve the conditions of slum children in India (Time, March 2) “Mere numerical expansion, without an understanding of the symptoms of poor education wont help.” Excerpt from the Yash Pal Committee report (Times of India, March 9) “We cant afford our kids to be mediocre at a time when theyre competing against kids in China and India who are actually in school about a month longer than our kids.” US President Barack Obama addressing a town hall meeting in California (March 19) “I dont see enough anger among civil society and the media about the lack of quality in secondary education… Different central and state boards have different parameters and requirements. So how do you gauge quality?” Sam Carlson, education specialist of the World Bank (Times of India, March 24) “This represents a failure of policy and lack of an effective alternative to public transport. Nano is going to increase emissions exponentially and add to (road) congestion.” R.K. Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, on the Rs.1 lakh Tata Nano motorcar “Theres only one word for the speech that Varun Gandhi gave in Pilibhit last fortnight — disgraceful… Not just Nehru, even Feroze Gandhi, Varuns grandfather, must be turning in his grave at some of the things he is saying.” Nayantara Sehgal, well-known author and niece of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru (Outlook, March 30) “China is today unhappy, paranoid, bitter — and angry at the Western world.” Venkatesh Vembu (DNA, March 27)

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With the academic year ended and bills and notices for the new school year starting in June/July, arriving in their homes, middle and upper middle class parents in Bangalore are up in arms against varying increases in school fees announced by the citys estimated 1,200 private schools. As the global economic meltdown begins to impact the hitherto robust Indian economy, a cloud of uncertainty is hovering over business and industry as also over the citys high spending IT professionals.Against this backdrop, parents with school-going children are enraged that most private school managements have increased tuition fees for the new academic year by 10-40 percent. On February 28, 800 parents of children enrolled in the citys CISCE-affiliated Deccan International School, staged a road blockade before the school campus protesting the managements decision to increase the annual tuition fee by 40 percent, an increase of Rs.6,000-8,000. Moreover principals offices and editorial offices of daily newspapers and internet blogsites are flooded with protest letters from irate parents. Comments the father of two girls studying in a CISCE school in the city, which issued a circular hiking monthly tuition fees from Rs.1,500 to Rs.2,100: Because of the economic recession, my company has imposed a pay cut on all employees and Im taking home almost Rs.7,000 less per month. To increase fees by more than 20 percent at such a difficult time is very insensitive of the school management. Moreover, apart from the tuition fee, there are costs of transportation, books and stationery, and other incidental expenses which need to be added. We have formed a parents forum and plan to take up the matter with the school management. However, a cross-section of principals EducationWorld spoke to believe its much ado about nothing, as its standard practice for all private schools to raise tuition fees by 10-15 percent every year. My advice to school managements is to raise tuition fees by 5-10 percent annually rather than by 30-40 percent every three years. Yet higher tuition fees are inevitable because annual maintenance and infrastructure expenses are rising, and we are under constant pressure to invest in teacher training and ICT equipment. All this costs money. Parents cant have it both ways; for quality education they should be willing to pay the price, says Anu Monga, principal, Bangalore International School and president of TAISI (The Association of International Schools of India). Whats left unsaid in all the debates about rising private school fees is that middle class parents always have the option to enrol their children in free-of-charge local government schools. Yet total secession of the pan-India English speaking middle class from the state school system is a glaringly curious characteristic of contemporary Indias education system. Despite state schools being funded by taxpayers, the great Indian middle class is conspicuously uninvolved with the reform or upgradation of government schools. Consequently the countrys 1.19 million free government schools, perforce attended by children of the poor, are left to the mercy of state and local government bureaucrats who short-change…

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The tragic death of Rohit Kumar (24), a third year electrical engineering student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (estb. 1951), on March 22 prompted unprecedented violence on the placid campus of the institute, the resignation of its director, and has dealt a heavy blow to the global reputation of this internationally-respected IIT.According to IIT-Kgp student spokespersons, on March 21, Kumar, a student with an epilepsy history, was attended as an outpatient for a severe headache at the institutes seven-bed B.C. Roy Technology Hospital named after IIT-Kgps founding father and former West Bengal chief minister, Dr. B.C. Roy. On the way back to his hostel he fell off a rickshaw and hurt his head. Fellow students rushed him back to hospital where he lay unattended for three hours. Subsequently a doctor prescribed neuromedical attention and a CAT scan. Despite the 1,200 hectare IIT-Kgp campus hosting a population of 9,200 students, faculty and staff, elementary medical facilities were unavailable locally and nor was there an ambulance. Moreover as neither a doctor nor nursing attendant was on call, some students hired an ambulance and raced to Kolkata — a 120 km distance. However Kumar died en route. When news of Kumars death reached the campus at 2 p.m, students anger hit explosion point and a horde stormed and ransacked the bungalow of director Dr. Damodar Acharya, and demanded his resignation. Acharyas description of the rampage during which his car was smashed is laconic. We tried to make them understand that there would be a proper enquiry to ascertain the cause of death, and if there is any negligence on anyones part, action would be taken. I also told them that I would try to improve the infrastructure at B.C. Roy Hospital. But they insisted on my resignation. Therefore I have resigned, he informed media personnel adding that he had faxed his resignation letter to the Union human resources development ministry at 4.30 p.m. on March 22. However student spokespersons reveal that IIT-Kgps Dr. B.C. Roy Hospital has an infamous track record of negligence. They say that a few weeks earlier the hospital treated a fifth-year student for jaundice and typhoid. When his condition worsened, his Meerut-based parents flew him to Delhi where malignant malaria was diagnosed. Likewise last December, when a second year student suffered a cardiac arrest, and was rushed to hospital, oxygen could not be administered because a gas mask couldnt be found, resulting in his death. In yet another case, a fourth year pupil fractured an arm while playing football. The hospital could not treat him and dispatched him to Kolkata. It took five hours to hire an ambulance. Meanwhile deputy director Madhusudhan Chakraborty — currently officiating as director — informed newsmen that a retired Supreme Court judge will probe the entire episode that led to Acharyas resignation. Moreover he announced several measures to improve the quality of medical services available to IIT-Kgps 7,000 students. Among them: commissi-oning a 24/7 pharmacy, establishing a modern diagnostic centre and retaining the…

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An ambitious plan of the University of Pune (UoP) to set up an offshore campus in Dubai has come a cropper. The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Dubais apex licensing and regulatory authority for education, has rejected the varsitys detailed proposal. According to an explanation proferred to the media by the KHDA, UoPs bouquet of study programmes dont offer novelty, nor are they in alignment with the thrust areas highlighted in the Dubai Strategic Plan (DSP)-2015.DSP-2015, which was unveiled on February 3, 2007 by the UAE prime minister, vice president and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, roadmaps a strategic plan to develop the emirates most dynamic economic sectors. The plans objective is to sustain real economic growth at 11 percent per annum, to expand GDP to $108 billion (Rs.540,000 crore) by 2015, and to increase real per capita GDP to $44,000 (Rs.22 lakh) per year. The education sector is a key focus area of DSP-2015. The rejection of UoPs proposal, forwarded for KHDAs approval in early 2008, has come as a blow to the universitys administration which had worked on it for over a year. The objective was to set up the campus in partnership with the Dubai-based Edulink Services, an academic infrastructure provider. The plea before the KHDA was for an academic licence to enable UoP to offer its programmes and a commercial licence for Edulink Services to deliver the programmes in Dubai. According to KHDAs chief of licensing and customer relations, Mohammad Darwish, Dubai needs higher education institutions which focus on the needs of learners and address the requirements of the workforce in the Emirates. But the UoP courses are a duplication of those already in existence, says Darwish. UoPs bouquet offered to introduce 14 degree programmes in subjects such as business management, engineering, foreign trade, computer applications, business administration and science at the proposed Dubai campus. Asked to comment on the rejection of UoPs proposal, vice-chancellor Dr. Narendra Jadhav says: I dont want to speak about the issue right now. However, the UoP will definitely establish a good academic relationship with the Emirates in the coming years. Undoubtedly the rejection of its proposal to establish an offshore campus in Dubai has come as a shock to the UoP top brass. Because currently nine Indian universities have established branch campuses in this tiny sheikhdom (pop. 1.4 million). Yet its perhaps the sheer size of UoP which scared KHDA. Perhaps the largest university in India, UoP has 520 colleges and 300 recognised institutes spread across Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts affiliated with it. Together, these institutions have an aggregate student population of 650,000, including 14,000 foreign students mainly from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Africa. However nothing loath, UoP and its go-getting vice-chancellor have operationalised Plan B: opting for Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), another one of the seven emirates of the UAE, as the new starting point for the universitys offshore campus initiative. As per the revised plan, we will…

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Like the four annual reports that have preceded it, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2008, published by the highly respected Mumbai-based NGO Pratham, projects a dismal picture of learning outcomes in government primary schools in rural India. Excepting Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which the report says have recorded some progress. According to ASER 2008, although the gross enrolment ratio (GER) of children between ages six-14 is an unprecedented 95.7 percent, there isnt much learning happening in rural primaries.In particular, the latest ASER 2008 has sent shock waves through Tamil Nadu (pop. 62 million) — a state which prides itself on its high literacy and relatively superior education infrastructure. According to the report, while the states 34,342 primary schools with an aggregate enrolment of 6.2 million children are way ahead of primaries in other states in terms of infrastructure and access, they rank 20 percent below the national average in reading and mathematical abilities of students. The survey further indicates that only 54.7 percent of children in classes I-II in this state can read the alphabet against the national average of 75.4 percent. Similarly, of the children in classes III-V, only 45.7 percent can read a simple (Tamil language) text, against the national average of 66.6 percent. In terms of mathematical ability, only 62.6 percent of the children in classes I and II can identify numbers against the national average of 75.7 percent; and a mere 36.3 percent in classes III-V can do subtraction (54.9 percent). However, this southern state has the highest GER of 99.4 percent, and the number of five-year-olds attending school in Tamil Nadu has increased by 16-20 percent-age points during the past three years. Tamil Nadu is a model state in terms of infrastructure, number of schools, teachers and student enrolment. Despite this, the survey indicates poor learning outcomes and one reason for this could be the early admission of children into schools — Tamil Nadu has the youngest official age (five) for enrolment into class I. Moreover, insufficient attention is being paid to remedial programmes to improve learning competencies, says Rukmini Banerji, director of ASER Centre, Chennai. ASER 2008 has prompted much hand-wringing among educationists and education NGOs in Tamil Nadu, who are at a loss to explain how the states massive investment in elementary education infrastructure and teacher recruitment has not translated into improved learning outcomes. Despite the SSA wing of the school education department spending Rs.800 crore annually on primary education, and introducing the innovative Activity Based Learning (ABL) pedagogy, which is widely acknowledged as flexible and child centric, not much learning seems to be happening in the states classrooms. Though a number of innovations have been introduced into classroom transactions, they dont encourage learning of basic skills. Schools should shift their focus from examinations and rote learning to development of basic reading and maths skills. Unless the state government prioritises the acquisition of basic skills, we cannot expect improvement in learning outcomes, says Dr. Balaji Sampath, secretary, AID India and trustee…

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Perhaps the biggest opportunity missed by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance coalition government, which has reigned, even if not ruled, in New Delhi for the past five years, was to implement systemic reforms in education. Under septuagenarian Union HRD minister Arjun Singh, who was preoccupied with politicising higher education rather than reforming it in the interest of the worlds largest youth population, Indian education marked time, sliding imperceptibly downwards.Take for instance the inability of the HRD ministry to stamp out the ragging menace in the countrys 431 universities and 21,000 colleges. The ‘lynching to death on March 8 of Aman Kachru (19), a medical undergraduate student of the Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, glaringly indicated the stark reality that ragging is alive on the countrys campuses despite repeated admonitions of the Supreme Court. In the absence of stern deterrents, the ragging tradition will persist and college authorities will continue to label ragging deaths as suicides due to academic pressure. Moreover right now thousands of ragging incidents are unreported, because teachers and senior students continue to believe that ragging is a healthy interactive personality development exercise. The media only reports sensational cases and parents and relatives fail to understand the pain of victims, says Harsh Agarwal, a former ragging victim who runs the Delhi-based CURE (Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education). Predictably the tragic ragging death of young Aman Kachru in Himachal, which drew poignant electronic media coverage, has evoked a traditional knee-jerk response from the Delhi-based University Grants Commission (UGC), which supervises higher education in India. The commission has given an ultimatum to educational institutions to either take preventive steps to combat ragging or face funding cuts, said Harminder Kaur Chauhan, joint director of UGC, to media persons in Chandigarh, adding that a high-powered committee has been formed to curb ragging from the next academic session, and colleges and universities have been told to detail punishments for ragging in their prospectuses. Likewise in Delhi UGC chairman Dr. S.K. Thorat spoke of convening a conclave of all 17 regulators and monitoring councils — from AICTE to MCI — to formulate tough new anti-ragging regulations. A conclave draft reportedly contains provisions for cancellation and rustication of students indulging in ragging for two to four semesters, and withdrawal of UGC recognition to institutions. But educationists in the national capital feel that unless all the 50 recommendations of the R.K. Raghavan Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to suggest ways and means to stampout the ragging menace from institutions, are implemented, this scourge cant be contained. The Raghavan Committee was appointed in December 2006 by the HRD ministry following a Supreme Court directive, and submitted its report with 50 recommendations to the apex court in May 2007, which accepted them on February 11, 2008. I am confident that if all the Raghavan Committee recommendations are followed and implemented, the ragging menace can be curbed, says Dr. Rajendra Prasad, principal of Ramjas College, who served as a…

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The forthcoming general election to elect 543 members to the 15th Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) is arguably the most crucial in the history of post-independence India. Its timing coincides with a global economic meltdown which is severely testing the wisdom and crisis management capabilities of legislators and political leaders around the world. With the worlds largest and most powerful economies fighting the worst recession since the Great Depression of 1929-33, the India growth story which began after the historic economic liberalisation and deregulation initiative of 1991, has begun to falter. The annual rate of GDP growth, which averaged 7 percent during the period 1999-2004 and 8 percent plus in the years 2004-2008, is expected to plunge to 5 percent in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2009.A 3 percent fall in annual economic growth has already cost the Indian economy a loss of 500,000 jobs. Moreover thousands of Indian workers who have been laid off in the US and Middle East, are returning to India. At this critical juncture, for the worlds largest (700 million) and youngest democracy — 100 million youth will be casting their ballot for the first time — the conundrum is to choose between bad and worse. Essentially the choice is between the Congress party, which has just completed a modestly successful term in office as the head of a multi-party United Progressive Alliance government, and the BJP which ruled as the head of a National Democratic Alliance government during the period 1999-2004. In addition, the electorate has the choice to vote for candidates of a bewildering mix of fringe and regional parties, whose leaders will extract a heavy price for the loaves and fishes of office. For first-time voters in particular, its important to note that in terms of economic policy there isnt much to distinguish the Congress and BJP, both of whom are almost equally committed to liberalisation and deregulation of the economy, still shackled by business-illiterate politicians and bureaucrats armed with wide discretionary powers. Yet the vital difference between these two parties is that the BJP is a Hindu political party committed to imposing a hindutva agenda upon a society comprising numerous minorities of other faiths and cultures, while the Congress is officially committed to building a secular society. The electorate needs to clearly appreciate that without affirmative action and protection of minority rights, this nation cannot prosper. On the contrary under the leadership of a political party committed to Hindu majoritarianism, there is a distinct possibility of the country immersing into a sea of troubles as it is engulfed by protests, local insurgencies and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. The electorate and young voters in particular, need to think deep and hard before they exercise their franchise which was hard-won by the leaders of the freedom movement half a century ago. This is not a time for reckless or negligent casting of ballots.

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