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EducationWorld April 2023

India’s Top Private Engineering Colleges 2023-24

Against the backdrop of Indian engineering education set to experience a revival and overdue contemporisation of curriculums, EducationWorld presents its EW India Private Engineering Institutes Rankings 2023-24, to enable higher secondary school-leavers to pick and choose the most aptitudinally suitable private colleges for undergrad engineering education , writes Summiya Yasmeen   There’s good news for aspiring engineering students in India. The Delhi-based All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the apex regulatory organisation for all engineering and technical institutions countrywide, has lifted the moratorium on promotion of new engineering colleges following a two-year ban. In its new Approval Process Handbook 2023-24 released on March 23, the council states: “Moratorium for establishing new institution(s) in engineering and technology has been lifted from AY (academic year) 2023-24. However, for establishing a new institution in engineering and technology, preference shall be given to the applicant offering courses in multi-disciplinary area in-line with NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 in STEM.” Moreover, the council has also relaxed land eligibility norms for greenfield institutions. The backstory of the two-year moratorium is that in 2019, an expert committee had advised AICTE to impose a moratorium on promotion of greenfield engineering colleges from the academic year 2020-21 due to declining student admissions. Admission applications in the country’s 3,415 engineering colleges had declined from 2.6 million in 2012-13 to 2.3 million in 2021-22. Three years later, another expert committee headed by the director of IIT-Bhubaneswar, has advised AICTE to lift the ban citing an increase in “admission percentage in engineering courses” in 2022-23. In its new approval guidelines, the council has mandated greenfield colleges to offer at least one study programme in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in addition to core engineering subjects. In sum, civil, mechanical and electrical programmes apart, new engineering colleges will be obliged to provide cutting edge electives to students. The recently promoted private Plaksha University (estb.2021) offers a good example of the type of inter-disciplinary electives greenfield engineering colleges will be expected to provide. It offers computer science and artificial intelligence, cyber security systems, bio-systems engineering and data sciences, economics and business. Against this backdrop of Indian engineering education set to experience a revival and overdue contemporisation of curriculums, EducationWorld presents its EW India Private Engineering Institutes Rankings 2023-24 to enable higher secondary school-leavers to pick and choose the most aptitudinally suitable private colleges for undergrad engineering education. It’s important to highlight that since 2016, EducationWorld has been excluding the heavily subsidised and routinely top-ranked Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs), preferring to evaluate and rank the country’s Top 100 private engineering colleges to enable 98 percent of students who aren’t among the 2 percent who top the IIT-JEE and make it into the country’s 23 IITs and 31 NITs. Our focus is on aiding and enabling this 98 percent to choose the most suitable among private engineering colleges, some of which are rapidly closing the IITs/NITs versus the rest gap. To compile the EW…

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Biggest Global Education Conference and Awards For All Educators

STTAR Global School Education Conference 2023 is a one-of-its-kind forum that brings together all important stakeholders from the global education fraternity to re-imagine current ecosystems, ideate future trends, and foster exchange of best practices. The theme of the conference is ‘Education For A Sustainable Future’ and the agenda is to design real workable solutions and […]

New India Education Summit (NIES Edition 2.0, Delhi NCR Chapter)

Educators at NIES, DPS Gurgaon

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in its introduction states that ‘education is fundamental for achieving full human potential, developing an equitable and just society, and promoting national development’. The tools for reinventing curriculums and pedagogies in schools aim to be holistic, integrated, enjoyable and engaging.

Delhi Public School, Sec […]

India’s top-ranked private autonomous ASC colleges

An estimated 894 Arts, Science and Commerce (ASC) undergraduate colleges have been conferred autonomous status by the University Grants Commission. They have full freedom to introduce new courses and draw up their own syllabuses and curriculums Under s.3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, UGC has the discretionary power to confer academic and administrative autonomy on higher education institutions (HEIs) awarded top A grading by the National Assessment & Accreditation Council of India (NAAC), and which in the commission’s opinion have an excellent track record of higher education delivery. Accordingly an estimated 894 Arts, Science and Commerce (ASC) undergraduate colleges countrywide have been conferred autonomy by the commission. However, it is noteworthy that this power is discretionary and not always exercised logically. For instance, while St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai has been awarded autonomy since 2010, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and several other Delhi colleges which have the required NAAC rating have not been awarded autonomy, and remain tied to the apron strings of Delhi University. It’s also noteworthy that in this year’s EW India Higher Education Rankings, the total score awarded to St. Stephen’s is comfortably higher than to St. Xavier’s. Moreover, an estimated 83 government colleges with even lesser scores have been awarded autonomy and are ranked separately inter se in EWIHER 2023-24 (see p. 66). But not St. Stephen’s. Like God, UGC also moves in mysterious ways. Be that as it may, to facilitate school-leaving students to choose between private autonomous and non-autonomous private undergrad colleges, they are ranked separately in our institutional ranking league tables. It’s quite possible — indeed probable — that a large number of school-leavers would prefer to sign up with private autonomous rather than tightly-controlled non-autonomous colleges. Just like the rankings of privately-promoted non-autonomous colleges are dominated by St. Stephen’s and several colleges affiliated with the relatively pampered Delhi University, the league table of private autonomous colleges is dominated by St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai (SXM) top-ranked for the past four years. Moreover, this league table is dominated by colleges promoted by Christian education missionaries, some of centuries vintage.

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Top 500 Arts, Science & Commerce Colleges

Although several newspapers and magazines publish league tables ranking colleges and universities, these are general news publications with peripheral interest in education. Therefore the annual EWIHER, first introduced in 2013, are the best and most reliable rankings available to parents and school-leaving students, writes Dilip Thakore Grading and ranking higher education institutions has come under a cloud with the dramatic resignation of Bhushan Patwardhan last month from the position of executive committee chairperson of NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council, estb.1994), the highest government agency for rating and ranking undergrad colleges and universities in India. According to Patwardhan, favourable grades are available to higher education institutions (HEIs) for a price. “Based on my experience, various complaints from the stakeholders, and review committee reports, I had expressed my apprehensions earlier about the possibility of vested interests, malpractices, and nexus among the persons concerned, offering thereby a green corridor by presumably manipulating… processes leading to the awarding of questionable grades to some HEIs. Mainly due to this, I had also suggested the need for an independent inquiry by appropriate high-level national agencies,” he wrote to UGC chairman Jagadesh Kumar on February 26. This letter calling for an independent inquiry was “misinterpreted” by Jagadesh Kumar as a letter of resignation, and old academic warhorse Anil Sahasrabudhe was appointed chairman of NAAC on March 3. On March 5, Patwardhan formally resigned from his position after making a sincere appeal to the Central government to “institute an independent inquiry in this regard and book those who are responsible for this serious lapse on their part, in the interest of justice to protect my individual rights, dignity, and sanctity of UGC, NAAC, and Higher Educational Institutions in the country.” This somewhat over-detailed recitation of a top-level resignation at NAAC is likely to evoke wry smiles within knowledgeable monitors of Indian higher education. Because it’s been known for years if not decades, that good NAAC grades could be obtained for consideration. Visiting NAAC assembled task forces comprising retired vice chancellors and senior academics — whose costs of inspection are paid by the assessee institution — are routinely wined, dined and more by the assessee HEIs for high grades. Ditto teams from AICTE and UGC. Indeed as emphasised by your editors in several critiques of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which mandates establishment of a plethora of official committees to supervise higher education — HECI, NAC, NHER, HEGC and GEC — while at the same time mandating institutional autonomy, there is an inherent contradiction in NEP 2020 which may prove a fatal flaw of the policy. With the education establishment and bureaucracy thoroughly compromised, finding individuals of “unimpeachable integrity” to man these committees and commissions mandated by the Kasturirangan Committee Report on which NEP 2020 is based, sounds like mission impossible. Most likely, positions in these high-sounding committees and commissions will be filled by ruling party faithfuls put out to pasture and not immune to well-phrased inducements. Be that as it may, it’s highly unlikely that parents/school-leavers…

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India’s Top non-autonomous colleges 2023-24

Although the total scores of several non-autonomous Arts, Science and Commerce colleges exceed those of colleges granted autonomy, for mysterious reasons they have not been awarded autonomous status No one can blame readers for experiencing a sense of deja vu when they peruse this year’s league table of India’s Top 100 private and/or aided non-autonomous ASC colleges. Headed by St. Stephen’s College, Delhi which has been top-ranked for the past five years, the Top 10 list is almost a replica of the 2022-23 table with the Shri Ram College of Commerce, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Hindu College, Miranda House, Hansraj College — all affiliated with Delhi University (DU) — ranked in that order under St. Stephen’s. Quite obviously, the general public and parents, academic and students communities who constitute the SEC (socio-economic category ‘A’) sample respondents base for the annual EW India Higher Education Rankings (EWIHER), are well-aware that colleges affiliated with Delhi University are relatively well-funded and offer the best Arts, Science and Commerce (ASC) education. And that too at rock-bottom prices. Tuition and residential accommodation prices of this Central government university haven’t changed for decades and it’s a fair bet that the lion’s share of the government’s budgeted outlay of Rs.44,094 crore for higher education in 2023-24 is allocated to Delhi University. This also explains the mad annual rush for admission — and high cut-offs — of colleges affiliated with DU. Despite the countrywide popularity of DU colleges and their proven excellence — their total scores comfortably exceed the scores of the 894 undergrad colleges awarded autonomous status (see p.44) — they haven’t been granted autonomy. Delhi’s powerful neta-babu (politicians-bureaucrats) brotherhood is reluctant to surrender the powers of patronage which come with their control over Delhi University. An indicator of how great and valuable this power is that in the league table of Non-autonomous Colleges, nine are based in Delhi and affiliated with DU. Thus the application of St. Stephen’s College for autonomy made four years ago is still pending. Ditto an application for establishment of a St. Xavier’s University affiliating all St. Xavier’s Colleges countrywide (which caused considerable excitement in EducationWorld and provoked a cover story in March 2009 has vanished from the radar screen of the Union ministry of education. Now with NEP 2020 having unequivocally mandated the conferment of academic and administrative autonomy upon provenly excellent undergrad colleges and their transformation into autonomous universities — albeit somewhat paradoxically subject to monitoring of several supervisory and regulatory authorities (see edit p.8) — it’s a conjecture when St. Stephen’s and several other non-autonomous colleges of Delhi University (Shri Ram College of Commerce, Miranda House among others) will enjoy real autonomy. Meanwhile Prof. John Varghese, an alum of Loyola College, Chennai and Madras Christian College and principal of St. Stephen’s, is delighted with the college being top-ranked for the fifth year in succession. “We recently completed our second cycle of the NAAC accreditation process and cleared it with top honours — A++. The faculty, students and…

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India’s best government autonomous colleges 2023-24

The small minority of 188 government colleges who have qualified for autonomous status have a special place of honour within the national higher education system According to the latest All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2020-21 released by the Union education ministry on January 29, India hosts 43,796 colleges providing mainly undergraduate education.

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New lumpen bourgeoisie

That India is ranked #80 out of 150 countries on the Berlin-based Transparency International’s Corruption Index 2022, well below Botswana, Chile, Taiwan and Cabo Verde, doesn’t seem to bother India’s politicians and middle class — “we are like that only” — who love to proclaim India’s greatness from every available roof-top. Yet for man’s sheer inhumanity to man, consider this story filed by Petlee Peter, a correspondent of the Times of India, Bangalore edition (March 1). On February 1, IT professional Sunil Kumar received the devastating news that his wife and elder daughter were crushed to death under a concrete mixer truck driven by a reportedly sleep deprived driver. After the bodies of the deceased were taken to hospital, the driver of the hospital ambulance refused to drive the bodies home unless he was paid Rs.21,000 in cash. After the amount was paid, employees of the mortuary refused to issue death certificates unless Rs.60,000 was paid up in cash. Nor are these examples exceptional. Many years ago, your limping correspondent was denied a ride by several autorickshaw drivers after emerging from a hospital with a pulled hamstring. The truth is that with routine extortion and rents extraction at every level, corruption has permeated the DNA of India’s middle class. To the extent that the new lumpen bourgeoisie typified by the neta-babu brotherhood, doesn’t hesitate to extort money from people in extreme distress. Karnataka, where the bereaved Mr. Sunil Kumar had to suffer man’s inhumanity to man, goes to the polls in May. The “folk-lore of corruption” — a descriptive invented by Nobel laureate economist Gunnar Myrdal in the 1960s — is set to sink the incumbent BJP government.

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Inflection point? Nah

All of India has gone gaga over two Indian productions — knockout song Naatu Naatu from the blockbuster hit RRR and documentary short film The Elephant Whisperers — winning top honours at the 95th Oscar Academy Awards held recently in Los Angeles. However, it’s pertinent to note that but for OTT (over-the-top) major Netflix co-producing The Elephant Whisperers, this heart-warming documentary wouldn’t have seen light of day. Ditto All that Breathes, another Indian production which was nominated in the documentary short feature category, was backed by a British producer and streamed on HBO. These two Indian documentaries got their moment of glory on the Oscar stage thanks to foreign funding and support. Indeed, the advent of OTT platforms Netflix, Amazon, Disney Hotstar among others has been a major gamechanger for the Indian documentary films genre, which had few backers in a country obsessed with glossy song-n-dance cinema. Curiously, foreign OTT production bosses are aware that there’s a huge, educated English-speaking middle class in India, within which there’s a sizeable minority (small in percentage but big in numbers) appreciative of documentaries which portray real-life stories rooted in the Indian socio-economic milieu. The Elephant Whisperers is drawn from the actual life of a tribal couple parenting two baby elephants in the forests of Tamil Nadu, and All that Breathes follows the life of two brothers who rescue injured birds in the national capital. These are intelligent stories for which Bollywood and its several regional clones have neither the time, funding nor patience. The Oscar award to The Elephant Whisperers is an inflection point in Indian cinema, and marks a departure from mindless, logic-defying formula films churned out every year. RRR which featured the Naatu Naatu song is a formula film produced at a mind-boggling cost of Rs.550 crore. Ditto the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathaan, which is breaking box-office records. What are the chances of the two documentaries and success of OTT platforms changing the mindsets of Bollywood badshahs and vernacular cinema producers in the near future? Nil.

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Investigation or brow-beating?

There’s something seriously wrong with the heads of the top brass in Central government agencies such as the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department, who summon and question citizens for eight-ten hours at a stretch to unearth alleged suspected crimes and misdemeanours. Take the case of K. Kavitha, MP and daughter of Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, who was interrogated by detectives of the Enforcement Directorate for nine hours on March 11, and again for ten hours on March 20. All this in connection with a case filed by ED/CBI against the Aam Aadmi Party whose Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is charged with master-minding a liquor excise duty scam by changing the Delhi state government’s policy to favour a cartel of South Indian businessmen and politicians with whom Kavitha is allegedly involved. The merits and demerits of the case apart, one wonders why such prolonged questioning of witnesses/accused is necessary and permitted. In most democratic countries the maximum time allowed for grilling the accused is one hour after which the accused are either arrested or allowed to go about their business. Merely repeating charges and confronting the accused with “evidence” and “proof” of wrong-doing in the hope of tripping them up is not legitimate investigation, but brow-beating. And it’s highly doubtful if confessions or evidence obtained under duress will be admissible in courts of law. The mental picture of ill-trained officers of CBI, ED and tax agencies repeatedly asking the same questions over and over again for hours, and proudly filing 1,000-page chargesheets written in gibberish, reinforces the popular belief that the process is the punishment, if not that the law is an ass. Instead of commending investigative brow-beating and mental torture of citizens, judges would do well to pass strictures against over-zealous officials of investigative agencies who are bringing the justice system into further disrepute.

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Parliament & Broken Windows Message

Frequent disruption of the business of Parliament is giving India a bad image abroad and perhaps worse, domestically. For instance at the time of writing this editorial, in the Budget session of Parliament during which the Union Budget 2023-24 was presented the expenditure priorities of the Rs.45 lakh crore budget of the Central government in the forthcoming fiscal year have not been discussed and debated. For several years this publication has questioned as to why the Centre’s allocation for public education as a percentage of GDP has continuously declined. This issue should be debated in Parliament and the government is obliged to justify its expenditure priorities. Instead, Lok Sabha proceedings have come to a standstill because the treasury benches want Rahul Gandhi (since a disqualified former MP) to apologise for opining on “foreign soil”, that Indian democracy is being steadily eroded by acts of omission and commission of the ruling BJP. On the other hand, Congress members are also guilty of the impasse in Parliament by demanding a JPC (joint parliamentary commission) enquiry into the alleged “closeness” of business tycoon Gautam Adani, accused of influencing government policy, stock price manipulation and fraud by Hindenburg Research, a self-confessed US-based short-seller firm which has benefited mightily by driving down the market prices of several Adani Group companies. Not to mince words, the contentions of both parties verge on the ridiculous. In this new age of the internet and real-time global communications, whether an individual makes a statement on foreign or domestic soil has become irrelevant. Likewise the Congress party’s insistence on a parliamentary JPC to investigate the charges made by Hindenburg against Adani have been rendered redundant, because on March 2 the Supreme Court appointed an expert six-member committee chaired by a retired apex court judge to investigate the charges made against Adani, a probe the latter has welcomed. In the circumstances, the conduct of the BJP and Congress members to repeatedly stall parliamentary business and raise ruckus in both houses by storming the well of the house is highly reprehensible and condemnable. It sends out a “broken windows” message through society. First researched and developed by American academics James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in 1982, and highlighted by best-selling writer Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can make a Big Difference (2002), Broken Windows theory posits that visible manifestations of crime, anti-social behaviour and civil disorder at the top create an environment that encourages widespread anti-social behaviour because it sends out a message that nobody’s in charge. A constantly unruly Parliament sends out this anarchic message countrywide.

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Time to End Higher ed Infantilisation

The resignation of bhushan Patwardhan, executive committee chairperson of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC, estb.1994), on March 5 has opened up a can of worms and aroused fears relating to smooth implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. In his resignation letter to University Grants Commission chairman M. Jagadesh Kumar, Patwardhan alleged that “vested interests and malpractices” had enabled some higher education institutions (HEIs) to obtain “questionable grades”. Monitors of India’s HEIs are surprised that it has taken so long for NAAC’s shoddy “malpractices” to come to light. The reality that high grades and rating can be purchased for money and inducements from NAAC and AICTE (which regulates engineering and technical colleges) has been well-known for years if not decades. This explains why despite NAAC being of 27 years vintage, only 9,062 colleges (out of 43,796 countrywide) and a mere 418 universities (out of 1,113) have signed up for NAAC accreditation. It lacks credibility. Patwardhan’s exposure of deep-rooted corruption within NAAC comes at a fortuitous time, when the country is in the process of implementing the new NEP 2020. Enlightened and contemporary, NEP 2020 which inter alia mandates integration of early childhood and skills education into formal schooling, and internationalisation of higher education has — as repeatedly highlighted by your editors — a fundamental contradiction. On the one hand, it recommends gradual progress towards full autonomy for all HEIs, but on the other it mandates establishment of numerous supervisory bodies — Higher Education Council of India supported by four verticals, viz, National Higher Education Regulation Council, National Accreditation Council (successor of NAAC), Higher Education Grants Council and General Education Council to regulate, accredit, fund and set learning outcome standards. And although the Kasturirangan Committee Report which recommended this elaborate regulatory superstructure also recommends selection of individuals of “unimpeachable integrity” to regulate education in a “light but tight manner”, as the NAAC scandal indicates, these individuals don’t exist and/or are likely to misuse their power in office. Quite clearly, implementation of NEP 2020 has arrived at a fork in the road. The supervisory superstructure recommended by the KR Committee and incorporated into NEP 2020 has to be jettisoned in favour of institutional autonomy also mandated by the policy. A major reason why India’s HEIs have not attained world-class standards is over-regulation by government bureaucracy and infantalisation of highly qualified and experienced educators in the majority of the country’s colleges and universities. With media and other independent organisations and market reputation determining the progress and advancement of HEIs, institutional autonomy seems the best bet for the future of Indian higher education. Especially with the emergence of a large and growing number of private universities which are setting globally accepted standards in higher education.

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Mailbox

Enlightening comment As much as your cover story ‘National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for School Education: Great Expectations’ (EW March) highlights the urgent need for NCF to standardise the quality of school education countrywide, it also exposes the confusion that most educators have about NCF, its purpose and implementation. Be that as it may, I was enlightened by the interview of Dr. Deepak Madhok, chairman, Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions, Varanasi. He rightly says that NCFSE’s focus should be on developing the ‘whole child beyond academics’ through integration of non-academic activities into the curriculum, and competency and skills education to enhance children’s employability and entrepreneurship skills. Dhanya Suguna Tumakuru (Karnataka) Enter politics advice! Congratulations on your second lead feature ‘Union Budget 2023-24: 260 Million Children Shortchanged. Again’ (EW March). I am a regular reader of EW and over the years, I have observed and admired the dedication with which the Editor draws up a schema year on year for greater investment in human capital development. I humbly request Mr. Thakore to consider joining politics as the country is in urgent need of changemakers. Suresh Kumaran Coimbatore I promoted the Children First Party of India in 2013 but it received no public support — Editor Confusing headlines I not only read EW but carefully follow your website for instant education updates. On March 15, I was appalled to see an online news headline that read ‘Will consider including law on right to education in curriculum, BCI tells Delhi HC’, whereas the article was about Bar Council of India’s intent to introduce the RTE Act as a mandatory subject in law colleges. Urgent need for some editorial attention here! Chandan Mahato Patna Support gifted children! Thanks for highlighting the achievements of whizkid Rishi Prasanna (9) in your Young Achiever section (EW March), as also for beaming a spotlight on the neglect of gifted children in India. The Indian K-12 school system ignores gifted children unlike the West, where many schools offer special nurturance programmes for them. I hope NEP 2020 has made recommendations for developing gifted children. Anwesha Bose Kolkata Elephant in room The Special Essay ‘Bridge skills gap to boost job creation’ by Sanjay Viswanathan (EW March) was thought provoking and insightful. The biggest elephant in the room is that millions of youth are unemployed because they are inadequately skilled for the new era of digitalisation. To successfully bridge this burgeoning skills gap, skills training must start in primary school. Adrian Sangma Kohima Editorial opinions Re your Karnataka Education News ‘Online system smokescreen’ (EW March), although it read well, it could have done without editorial opinion especially since the state is election bound in a couple of months. Many of your education news stories have editorial opinions and analysis. My request to EW editors is to substantially expand coverage of education news without expressing individual bias. Rosamma Thomas Trivandrum EW is a news and analysis magazine. We believe in not just reporting news but also interpreting it for our readers — Editor…

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They said it

“The country is filled with self-confidence, foreign countries as well as foreign experts are optimistic about India. In the middle of all this, talk of pessimism, attempts to degrade India, lower the willpower of the people is taking place. It’s like the tradition of putting a kala tika to ward off evil.” Prime minister Narendra Modi speaking at the India Today Conclave (March 18) “India’s political system is veering towards a full-blown tyranny. The targeting of Opposition leaders leading to the farcical disqualification of Rahul Gandhi, the hounding of civil society and research organisations, censorship of information, the suppression of protest, are harbingers of a full-blown system of rule where all the interlocking parts add up to the one objective of tyrannical rule: To create pervasive fear.” Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, public intellectual, on the BJP government’s targeting of opposition leaders (Indian Express, March 29) “The National Education Policy (NEP) has been made streamless and classless, with multiple entry and multiple exit being a special part of this education policy.” Amit Shah, Union home minister, speaking at the 113th convocation of Gurukul Kangri University in Haridwar (March 31) “Why is this particular emphasis on Ivy League universities? If they come, it is alright, but there are several(other) excellent universities around the world.” Jagadesh Kumar M, Chairman, UGC on foreign universities setting up campuses in India (Indian Express, April 2) “A bloody war has killed fewer people than the pressure on India’s youth to succeed… In such a scenario the idea of scrapping JEE and similar entrance tests isn’t as drastic as it sounds.” Robin David comparing the number of student suicides (13,000) in India to the number of people (8,000) killed in the Ukraine war (Times of India, April 2)

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Delhi: No let up on education reform

Autar Nehru (Delhi) The resignation of manish Sisodia, deputy chief minister and education minister of the Delhi state government, on February 28 following his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Delhi Excise Policy (2021-22) liquor licensing ‘scam’, is unlikely to prove a set-back to the Delhi school education model that has played a major role in transforming the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) into a force to reckon with in Indian politics. The first political party in the history of post-independence India to make education a major plank in its election campaign, AAP, founded by Arvind Kejriwal, a former bureaucrat and RTI activist, and Sisodia in 2013, is the only political formation to have trounced the high-riding BJP in the Delhi state legislative election of 2015 and 2020, and in the Punjab state election of 2022. Sisodia is succeeded by Atishi Marlena — an alumna of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and Oxford University, UK — his former advisor from July 2015 to April 2018, with a reputation for spearheading AAP’s education policy and upgrading the profile of Delhi’s government schools. Therefore, there isn’t any likelihood of a let up in the AAP government’s emphasis on K-12 education. Ads on television highlight government schools with excellent labs, libraries and neat classrooms with children in smart uniforms — unprecedented in Indian history. The AAP government accords high importance to consistently upgrading its 1,047 state schools. In the government’s budget presented to the legislative assembly on March 22, the allocation for education is Rs.16,575 crore (21 percent of the total budget of Rs.78,800 crore) with a marginal increase of Rs.200 crore over the previous year. This percentage is the highest of any state government countrywide, claim AAP spokespersons. The highlight of this year’s education budget is that new digital tablets will be provided to all teachers — regular, guest and contractual, vice principals and principals. Moreover, the government will provide at least 20 new computers to every school in a phased manner. In 2023-24, these devices will be made available in 350 of the state’s 1,047 schools. Under the Constitution, the Delhi state government has a complex relationship with the Union government which also has jurisdiction over Delhi. For instance, maintenance of law and order in Delhi is a Central government subject. Therefore, trounced in two consecutive state elections, the BJP leadership is making life difficult for the AAP state government on several fronts. In the confrontation between state and Centre, principal and teacher recruitments have been stalled and risen to 24,000 in government schools. The response of AAP has been to recruit contract teachers whose number rose to 24,003 last year. However, the Government School Teachers’ Association (GSTA), Delhi, is not impressed. “I can tell you that no more than 125 out of the 1,047 government schools offer STEM/science after class X. In other words, government schools where the children are from poor families, don’t provide the education the public wants,” says Ajay Veer Yadav, general secretary, GSTA. Nevertheless,…

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West Bengal: Chaos & confusion

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) At a time when kolkata’s dailies were headlining the Hamburg-based Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) — one of UNESCO’s key education-related institutes and the only organisational unit in the UN family that holds a global mandate for lifelong learning — expressing interest in West Bengal’s education system, smaller news items disclosed that the state government has decided to shut down 6,845 primary and 1,362 higher primary schools. Government and government-aided schools located in the backward districts of Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum, Jhargram, Murshidabad and West Midnapore are downing shutters after an education ministry report revealed that they have less than 30 students on their muster rolls. On average, these schools have 17-20 students, while the total number of full-time teachers in these schools is 19,083, plus 1,181 ad hoc teachers. Student enrolments in these schools have plunged after the 99-week pandemic lockdown of education institutions in the state which was way above the national average of 82 weeks. According to the education ministry report, during the pandemic, 28 percent of pupils in government-run primary schools in West Bengal became “totally disconnected from academic activities” as many low-income families could not afford smartphones. The one-time grant of Rs.25,000 (for class C qualifiers) and Rs.30,000 (for class XII qualifiers) awarded to BPL (below poverty line) households was largely used to get daughters married. Although government spokespersons attribute this sharp fall in enrolment to the Covid pandemic disruption, according to a report published by the state education ministry in 2022, the decline in primary school enrolments in Bengal started long before the pandemic. In the past ten years, 7,018 primary schools mostly located in economically distressed areas have been closed down. This corresponds with a decline in enrolment as well — from 7.8 million children in 2012 to 7.19 million in 2022 despite rising population. The total number of primary, junior and high schools also declined from 97,428 in 2019 to 95,755 in 2020, and 94,744 in 2022. The consensus of academia and middle-class opinion is that enrolment of children in government and aided schools has continued to fall even after the pandemic because of their pathetic infrastructure and scant attention to remedial education. This situation has been exacerbated by the ruling TMC government’s ill-advised Utshoshree (‘origin’) teacher transfer policy launched by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on August 2, 2021, during the height of the pandemic. Under this policy, teachers can request transfers to serve in their home towns. With a large number of teachers having opted for their urban home towns, the average teacher-pupil ratio in rural government schools has risen to 1:59 against the 1:35 prescribed by the Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. If the government goes ahead with its plan to close under-populated schools — with 25 students enrolled in each school on average — about 2 lakh students will have to suffer the inconvenience of transferring to the nearest government school. Also, teaching and non-teaching staff will be transferred to nearby…

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Maharashtra: Caste shadow over IIT-Bombay

Nitish Kashyap (Mumbai) The suicide of darshan solanki, a first year B.Tech student at the top-ranked Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B, estb.1958) on February 12, has cast a spotlight on the issue of student suicides, especially students admitted under the Central government’s reservations policy. Under this affirmative action policy, 22.5 percent of seats in all 23 IITs countrywide are reserved for school-leavers from the scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) and another 27 percent for students of OBCs (other backward classes/castes). All aspirants for admission are obliged to write the IIT-JEE (joint entrance examination) and IIT-Mains — reportedly the toughest entrance exams worldwide — but affirmative action quota students have lower cut-offs. Darshan Solanki was admitted under the affirmative action policy. Following reports of on-campus discrimination, an internal IIT-B committee investigating Darshan’s death concluded that there was no specific evidence of caste-based discrimination against the deceased student. The committee’s report attributed his suicide to “poor academic performance” and “aloofness” and dismissed allegations of on-campus caste discrimination. It rejected a statement of IIT-B’s SC/ST cell to the committee that Darshan had suffered caste-based discrimination from general (merit) category students. With admission into the country’s IITs highly prized – 1.2 million school-leavers write the annual IIT-JEE, of whom 2 percent are admitted — the generous reserved quota has always been resented by general (‘merit’) quota students who argue that merit, i.e, topping the entrance exams should be the sole criterion for admission into the much prized IITs. On the other hand, liberals contend that SCs, STs and OBCs have suffered caste-based alienation and denial of education from the upper castes for several millennia. Therefore, they deserve favoured admission. This subject has often provoked nationwide agitations and numerous court-room battles until in the interests of balancing merit with social justice, in Indira Sawhney vs. Union of India & Ors (1992), the Supreme Court capped the reserved quota at 50 percent. And although IIT authorities are strictly prohibited from disclosing the caste identities and quota details of students on campus, merit students have devised ways and means to discover the caste backgrounds of quota students during the infamous ‘ragging’ of freshers (now tempered down), to label the latter and disparage them with snide hurtful remarks (see www.educationworld.in/pernicious-casteism.in-academia). In this particular case, the haste with which the IIT-B internal investigation ruled out the caste angle has aroused suspicion against the management. Last year (2022), the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), a student body at IIT-B, had complained to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) that the head counsellor of the institute’s Student Wellness Center (SWC) had signed a public petition to end caste-based reservation i.e, affirmative action, and posted it on social media. APPSC had highlighted in its complaint that this incident discouraged quota students from seeking SWC advice. It was also highlighted that none of the student counsellors were from SC or ST backgrounds and that for many backward class students, meeting them was causing more harm than good. Taking…

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Tamil nadu: Cluster debate

Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) In its third budget presented to the legislative assembly and the public on March 20, the state’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government has increased the outlay for education in 2023-24 to Rs.40,299 crore, 9 percent higher than the previous year and 1.62 percent of GSDP (gross state domestic product). This higher outlay for education by the DMK government, which is at odds with the Central government on most issues (NEET, CUET, three-languages learning formula), at a time when the Pratham Education Foundation’s ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) is reporting severely deflated learning outcomes in rural primaries countrywide, has been welcomed by educationists statewide. However, the highlight of the budget session of the legislative assembly was the government’s announcement that all schools hitherto functioning under various departments such as Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, Backward Class, Most Backward Class and Denotified Communities, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments and the forest department will be brought under the supervision of the education ministry’s Department of School Education & Literacy. “The objective is to achieve the goal of social justice in the field of education, to improve the quality of schools functioning under various departments, and to ensure that all students are provided with quality education,” said finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan in his budget speech. Moreover, the minister added that the service conditions and benefits of teachers and staff, presently working in these schools will be protected. According to government insiders, this clustering of all schools hitherto operated by various bodies is the outcome of requests to the government to operate and maintain Adi Dravidar Welfare Schools (which serve children of 8 million tribals across the state) under the school education department. Although this initiative will result in tighter management and egalitarian education for tribal children, some educationists believe it will be detrimental to students as well as teachers of such schools. Currently, 1.2 lakh students are enrolled in 1,466 Adi Dravidar schools across the state. In addition, nearly 30,000 students are enrolled in 300 Kallar Reclamation Schools run by Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities Welfare departments. “All these special schools are established near the dwelling places of these communities. If the schools are closed and merged with other schools, will children get easy access? And since most of these children are first generation learners, will they benefit from equal treatment? Moreover, government schools themselves don’t have sufficient number of teachers. In July last year, 39,000 government schools had vacancies for 13,000 teachers. All this will adversely impact the teaching-learning process for tribal children,” says Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System, Tamil Nadu. Adds M. Nagarajan, general secretary, Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa, and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association: “By bringing schools run by various departments under one umbrella, the purpose of establishing those schools to provide appropriate differentiated learning will be defeated. Even the recruitment process of teachers will be adversely affected. The Kallar Reclamation Schools established…

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Karnataka: Assessment & exams confusion

Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) After a three-month legal drama which went right up to the Supreme Court, the Karnataka Secondary Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) commenced ‘annual assessments’ on March 27 for 1.9 million class V and VIII students in 56,157 KSEAB-affiliated schools statewide. Since December 13 last year, when the state’s education ministry issued a circular announcing “annual assessments” in March for all class V and VIII students of state board schools, there’s been controversy and uncertainty over this proposal. Despite the circular declaring the purpose of the ‘assessment’ is to “derive measurable learning outcomes” of children and emphasising that no child will be failed/detained, parents and schools associations have equated it with exams and opposed it, citing inadequate time for students to prepare and therefore causing stress to young children. On the other hand, education officials insist that assessing children’s learning outcomes periodically is in line with recommendations made in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Moreover, the circular highlighted that s.16 of the landmark Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009, which initially prohibited examinations and mandated compulsory yearly promotion of classes I-VIII children, was amended by the BJP government at the Centre in 2019 to allow exams and detention of students who fail twice. However they stress that no student will be detained following assessment. In January, the Registered Unaided Private Schools Association (RUPSA), which has 13,000 member schools, filed a petition in the Karnataka high court challenging the December 13 circular. On March 10, a single judge bench accepted RUPSA’s arguments and ordered cancellation of the assessment. However, the state government appealed the verdict and a special bench of the Karnataka high court headed by Justice G. Narender upheld the appeal and gave the government the go-ahead to schedule the assessment for March 27. Subsequently, RUPSA filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, which dismissed the petition on March 27 stating that “Let’s not interfere with the high court order. The high court knows what is best in that state”. D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Private Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), which has 4,000 member schools statewide, and is a rival organisation of RUPSA, welcomes the apex court’s decision. “As per the amended RTE Act, we are in favour of annual exams for class V and VIII children because learning outcomes dropped drastically during the Covid pandemic when children were out of school. There’s a need to rigorously assess children’s learning outcomes to provide appropriate remedial education. The whole controversy around the exams is unnecessary,” says Shashi Kumar. However Lokesh Talikatte, president of RUPSA, which challenged the state government’s circular, insists that the government has made a huge mistake in going ahead with exams. “BJP governments at the Centre and Karnataka have ignored s.30 of the RTE Act. While the Act encourages schools to conduct continuous and comprehensive evaluation to assess children’s learning outcomes, it specifically disallows board exams in elementary education. The state government’s class V and VIII ‘annual…

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Education Notes

Assam Question paper leakage row Guwahati, march 14. Twenty-two people including teachers and students have been detained for questioning about leakage of a general science question paper of the class X state board examination which led to cancellation of the exam. Addressing media personnel, education minister Ranoj Pegu, however denied the involvement of any teachers. “There is no question of involvement of teachers. The papers are kept at police stations and taken to examination centres only on the morning of the test day,” he said. Added Gyanendra Pratap Singh, Director General of Police: “The Assam Police has registered a criminal case and the Crime Investigation Department has been given charge of the investigation.” Jharkhand Special rewards scheme Ranchi, march 27. Chief minister Hemant Soren introduced a special rewards scheme for a cohort of 68 class X and class XII rank holders across all exam boards (Jharkhand Academic Council, CBSE and CISCE) and toppers of the Jharkhand Olympiad. A total sum of Rs.1.32 crore, laptops and mobile phones were distributed at a specially organised awards ceremony. The first three class X and XII board exam toppers were conferred cash rewards up to Rs.3 lakh, a laptop and mobile phone. Addressing a media conference, the chief minister said: “Even if a student from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh or any other part of the country tops from any Jharkhand school, he/she will be rewarded by the state government. We want to lessen the initial financial burden of the families of meritorious students after board examinations, so that they pursue higher education.” Delhi Finland teacher training New delhi, march 4. After several disputes with Delhi’s AAP government in the past, Lt. Governor VK Saxena approved the government’s new proposal to send primary teachers of state-run schools to Finland for training. While granting approval, Saxena noted the AAP government’s refusal to bring “impact assessment of the foreign training programmes conducted in the past, on record,” said an official from the LG’s office. Addressing a press conference, the official said: “Lt. Governor VK Saxena has approved the education ministry’s proposal for training of primary school in-charges in Finland. Taking the approach of equitable benefit for all, the LG has increased the number of primary in-charges (headmasters) who were to proceed to Finland for training, from 52 to 87 to ensure equal representation of primary in-charges from all 29 administrative zones of the education department.” Madhya Pradesh Molestation charges against teachers Dindori, march 8. The state government issued a transfer order to Sanjay Singh, Superintendent of Police (SP), for “poorly handling” a molestation case of girl students in a district school run by Jabalpur Diocesan Education Society (JDES) of the Roman Catholic community. A caretaker nun, principal and guest teacher of the school were booked on charges of assaulting and molesting several girl children. The caretaker was booked for overlooking complaints of the girls, while the nun was charged with beating them. Action was initiated only after officials of the Madhya Pradesh Child Protection Department visited the school.…

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Education Briefs

NIFCO-NSDC initiative Delhi, march 29. The Yokosuka City (Japan)-based NIFCO (Nippon Industrial Fastener Corporation) Inc, a global manufacturing company and an IoT (Internet of Things) solutions provider with battery-less devices, and the Delhi-based NSDC (National Skills Development Corporation) International, a company engaged in building global job opportunities for Indians, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Under the MoU, the two companies will encourage migration of skilled human resources from India to Japan. “This MoU is signed to establish a cooperative framework to promote, enable opportunities for Indian professionals in Japan and contribute to support the education environment in India. The companies will also focus on conducting various hybrid and physical promotional seminars in India and Japan for knowledge sharing and skills mapping,” says a NIFCO Inc spokesperson. NSDC International is a 100 percent subsidiary of NSDC that is promoting Skill India international objectives to make India a global source for quality talent. High-powered GISA launch Gurugram, march 29. India’s estimated 340,000-plus independent (private) schools were urged to join forces with schools around the world in the first meeting of a worldwide representative body for the K-12 independent education sector — the Global Independent Schools Association (GISA). A critical objective of GISA is to improve education provision throughout the world by sharing knowledge. According to a press statement issued by GISA, this global association seeks to co-ordinate, represent, and give a voice to the global K-12 independent education sector — filling a “representation void” of schools that educate 350 million children around the world — including 52 percent of secondary school children in South Asia and 45 percent of primary school children in Latin America. “GISA gives us an excellent platform to promote the benefits of international schools in India and highlight how we can work alongside the national system to promote high standards and educate the next generation of leaders,” said Christopher Short, managing director, Nord Anglia Education, India, speaking on the occasion. Some of the biggest names in global K-12 independent education have united to form GISA’s executive board, which will shape its strategic direction. They include Andrew Fitzmaurice, CEO of Nord Anglia Education; Sunny Varkey, founder of Gems Education; Nadim Nsouli, founder, chairman and CEO of Inspired Education; Frank Maassen, Group CEO of Cognita; Brian Rogove, Group CEO of XCL Education; and Dino Varkey, Group CEO of GEMS Education. The association was launched with a call to action to attract members from around the world, “whether they are a single classroom private school in a low-income country, a school run by a charity or foundation, or a school operating within a multinational chain”. NCERT-ETS-PARAKH treaty New delhi, march 29. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) to strengthen the PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) online platform for assessments. PARAKH was launched by NCERT in 2020 to assess the learning outcomes of students in classes III-X in schools…

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Epiphany of a Dalit

I could not be Hindu: The story of a Dalit in the RSS Bhanwar Meghwanshi Navayana Publishing Rs.399 Pages 240 The author shares his experience with the RSS and the reasons why he quit this organisation, the ideological mentor of the BJP, which rules at the Centre This is an autobiography in which the author shares his experiences with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the reasons he quit this organisation, the ideological mentor of the BJP which rules at the Centre and several states of the Indian Union. Similar to Gandhi’s experiments with truth, where he identifies modernisation and westernisation as culprits of the degeneration of Indian civilisation, Bhanwar Meghwanshi highlights the hypocrisy and knouts of Brahmanism as the denominators of mass hypnotism, leading to rivalry, riots and toxic patriotism. He enlightens his readers about the situation of Dalits in the RSS and across the country. According to the author, the RSS welcomes youth of different backgrounds and ensures superficial equality like wearing the same uniform or addressing each other with the suffix ji and bhai-sahab after the first name. However, this equality is cosmetic. A brainchild of Hedgewar, the RSS aims at creating a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ where Muslims, OBCs, SCs and STs are used as tropes to fight against each other in the guise of defusing Brahmanism, the moot agenda being protecting social hierarchies, i.e, uplifting the ethos of the existing caste system. Meghwanshi’s testimony affirms the degrading caste-based exploitation perpetrated by the RSS. He joined the RSS at a tender age, where patriotism is evoked through exercises, hymns, anthems, learning weapons usage in the name of self-protection, distorting cultural history and always projecting Muslims as the national enemy. However, he also read Ambedkar’s original writings like Riddles in Hinduism; Annihilation of Caste, and writes: “Ambedkar’s writings sowed the seed of progressive thinking in me. A Dalit perspective helped me understand my personal, individual struggle against the sangh as a collective struggle for identity, social justice and dignity”. Meghwanshi elaborates on the emotional and affective state of mind of Dalits, tribals and to some extent OBCs, who have historically been segregated, humiliated, ostracised and exploited. He notes that momentary socialisation within the shakhas, interaction of the swayamsevaks with pracharaks, as well as addressing each one with respect, appreciation of local-level activities, and most importantly, welcoming Dalits to voluntarily Sanskritise themselves thereby eliminating their original identity and emulating Brahmins, made them visualise a better life. Meghwanshi refers to “weapons being stored in the basements of mosques”, and that demolishing Babri Masjid was similar to “a second battle for independence”. In the early 1990s, rescuing the imagined Hindu Nation gave him a sense of honour, pride and boosted his self-esteem. However, soon he started noticing the cracks and fissures underneath the community’s ostensible sense of solidarity. He served the RSS diligently till he reached the position of District Officer, but on expressing a wish to become a pracharak, caste-based discrimination became a roadblock. On another occasion of inter-dining among members…

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Sino-India border blunder

India’s china war Neville Maxwell Natraj Publishing Rs.595 Pages 510 This book first published in 1970 was banned in India by Indira Gandhi and the dynasty for 40 years. An updated version was reprinted in 2015 Although liberals put up a stout defence, no politician’s star has fallen from the zenith of his glory to near rock-bottom as of Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India’s first prime minister who passed away in 1964. Undoubtedly there were some fine elements mixed in him. He united the country after Partition — the parting kick of the British Raj — led by example in transcending caste and religion, and ensured free India remained a functional democracy by according high respect and accountability to Parliament. Yet this great man who strode not only the Indian, but world stage like a colossus, burdened the nation with three toxic legacies which makes it impossible for an objective historian to forgive him. First, despite his claim to being a historian — he wrote Discovery of India (1946) — he ignored India’s several millennia tradition of private enterprise and imposed the socialist economic model of development upon the newly independent nation under which the State would “dominate the commanding heights of the Indian economy”. Private enterprise was strangulated and national savings and huge foreign loans were canalised into giant public sector enterprises (PSEs) managed by bureaucrats and government clerks. Unsurprisingly, Central PSEs whose number has multiplied to 256, never made a half decent profit and dragged down the economy. For over 50 years, post-independence India’s GDP grew at an average 3.5 percent per year, while GDP growth in our neighbour nations of South-east Asia including China, grew at two and three multiples thereof. Nehru’s second abiding sin was dynasticism and nepotism. Himself parachuted into the top echelon of the Congress party by his father Motilal whom he succeeded as president of the party in 1929 when he was only 29 years of age, Nehru signalled preference for his daughter Indira Nehru Gandhi as his successor, when he appointed her as president of the Congress in 1957. In turn, she anointed her totally inexperienced and unqualified sons Sanjay and later Rajiv as her heirs. Moreover, Nehru saw nothing wrong in appointing his sister as ambassador to the United Nations, nephew R.K. Nehru ambassador to the United States, and several Kashmiri pandit kith and kin to highest offices including head of RAW, and most disastrously Gen. V.K. Kaul — an officer of no combat experience — as Chief of Defence Staff during the Sino-Indian border war of 1962, in which India suffered a humiliating defeat. Nehru’s third egregious error for which the country has paid a huge price — and continues to do so — was neglect and failure to negotiate a clearly demarcated boundary between China and India. As a result, a hazy boundary which divides the world’s two most populous nations stretches over 4,000 km from the Aksai Chin plateau in the north-west to Arunachal Pradesh in the north-east. As…

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19th Anniversary Essay

Transfer sword over government school teachers

The solution to this old, entrenched problem is in school-based recruitment. Private schools enjoy this freedom. Why can’t it work for government schools? The reasons are many… Entering the foyer of a rural government school, I noticed a list painted on the wall. It displayed the names of eight teachers. Their qualifications, dates of joining, subjects and classes they taught were all mentioned. It was an impressive display of staff strength for a rural government school. While I was studying the list, the Headmaster came by and I asked him if all the eight teachers were present. I had heard about the problem of teacher absenteeism across Hindi belt states. What he told me was quite different and from the point of view of children, far worse than absenteeism. He revealed that six of the eight teachers mentioned in the list had been transferred in September. Six months later, their posts are still vacant. “We have been waiting, that’s why the list has not been repainted,” he said. The village Panchayat had also written several times to the district education officer, asking for the vacancies to be filled, but there was no response. I asked the Headmaster how he manages the school with so many vacancies. He said he invites young unemployed men in the village to take classes. This state of affairs is not only common, but widely accepted as a necessary feature of education governance. The logic is that teachers are recruited by state governments, so they have to be allocated to schools by state governments according to existing needs. The match between needs and number of teachers available is usually disproportionate.Moreover once they are recruited, teachers want to serve in schools close to their homes. Pressures to seek convenient postings arise and mostly lead to corruption among those invested with the responsibility and power to relocate teachers. These are district-level officers and their counterparts at the state level. Politicians play a key role in managing the pressure dynamics — say, between rival claimants to one available post. When transfer orders are given, no one thinks about the children. I remember a group of class X children in a Haryana school, desperately asking me for help. What could I do? Their mathematics teacher had been transferred ahead of their board exams. As usual, no substitute was sent. The principal was helpless and nervous about exam results. Every government school has similar stories. And then you have individual tales of ‘punishment posting’ for poor results. What it takes for a teacher or principal to look for a home in a new village or district is something the powerful bureaucracy ignores completely. The last time a committee was appointed to look into housing problems confronting rural teachers was in the late 1950s. Lucky teachers are those who serve in a Central government-promoted Kendriya Vidyalaya or Navodaya Vidyalaya schools which provide on-campus housing. This privileged category of schools provides teachers a life altogether different from that of the common government school…

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Dilip Thakore

Letter from the Editor

A large number of media publications — dailies and periodicals — rate and rank education institutions under several parameters and in various categories. Yet all of them are either general interest publications or business magazines which regard this exercise primarily as an annual revenue generation initiative. But EducationWorld is a focused education news and features magazine whose prime intent is to reform and rejuvenate India’s fast obsolescing education system. Therefore logically, our elaborate league tables rating and ranking education institutions are more purposive and credible. We are better aware that choosing the aptitudinally most suitable college and university may well be the most important decision of a young person’s life. To conduct this national institution evaluation exercise, we have partnered with our trusted ally, the highly-reputed Delhi-based market research and opinion polls company, Centre for Forecasting & Research Pvt. Ltd (C fore, estb.2000). Over 100 field personnel of C fore interviewed 2,960 faculty and 3,707 senior students in higher education countrywide, and 446 industry representatives and persuaded them to rate India’s most reputed Arts, Science and Commerce and Private Engineering Colleges on six-nine parameters of collegiate education. Scores awarded under each parameter by these knowledgeable sample respondents were totalled to rank colleges in each category. Although considerable time and money is spent by all publications employing different methodologies to rate and rank education institutions to enable school-leavers and parents to shortlist suitable colleges, few are satisfied with ranking outcomes. Some believe that perceptual rankings are not reliable. But alternative methodologies are worse. For instance, NAAC employs a direct audit methodology to award its gradings. Not only is this a very expensive proposition, but as a recent scandal has proved, audit teams are susceptible to the blandishments of assessee institutions. Likewise, the NIRF rankings of the Union education ministry which relies on data submitted by institutions themselves have proved absurd with excellent universities such as BITS-Pilani ranked way below obscure provincial institutions. In the circumstances, our methodology which relies on the opinions of knowledgeable respondents with some reliance on the Scopus Index of published papers is the best. But as we routinely caution parents and students, even our league tables are for shortlisting the most suitable higher education institutions. The shortlisted ones require further detailed investigation. With this cautionary advice, in this issue we present the EW league table of India’s Top 500 Arts, Science and Commerce, and Private Engineering Colleges. Plus of course, our other columns and unmatched news reports and important book reviews. In the next issue, we will present the EWIHER league tables of the country’s best universities followed by a grand event to felicitate and celebrate them. For us, the condition and progress of higher education institutions is serious business.

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Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Yuvvan Talreja

-Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) Mumbai-based coding enthusiast Yuvvan Talreja (16) was declared Top 10 National Winner for innovating an air pollution detection device, by an eminent jury at the grand finale of the inaugural edition of Vivo Ignite Science and Innovation competition staged in Delhi, on February 8. As a Top 10 National Winner — ranked #4 in the prototype category — young Yuvvan was awarded prize money (Rs.2 lakh) and a trophy. Born and raised in the maximum city listed among the Top 10 most polluted cities worldwide, Yuvvan chose to develop a microenvironment pollution detection device which measures air pollution to help health management officials. “While researching optical sensors, generally used to detect pollution levels in larger areas, I discovered their data for microenvironments tended to be inaccurate. This revelation inspired me to develop a device to accurately detect pollution levels in differing neighbourhoods with the help of microscopic images of plant leaves — nature’s best bioindicators,” says Yuvvan. The Vivo Ignite competition — open to classes VIII-XII students — attracted 3,000 entries from across the country this year. Conducted over three rounds, the competition required participants to develop projects based on creative thinking, innovation and positive social impact. The only child of Rajkumar Talreja, executive director of Avendus Capital Ltd, and Siya Talreja, a nutrition counselor, Yuvvan is a class XI student of Mumbai’s top-ranked Cathedral and John Connon School. “From the beginning, my parents have encouraged me, sponsored all my initiatives including the parts to build my prototype and helped me improve my data collection methodology and presentation. I am equally grateful to my class IV computer science and robotics teachers who introduced and encouraged my deep interest in coding and subsequently in Artificial Intelligence. Moreover unlike other Indian boards, the IB (Geneva) curriculum that I follow makes me think critically,” he says. Looking ahead, Yuvvan is set on studying computer science after completing class XII. “I plan to expand my knowledge of machine and deep learning so I can develop more applications for the benefit of humanity,” he enthuses. Way to go, bro!

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Young Achievers

Young Achiever: Preethi Kongara

-Somasekhar Mulugu (Hyderabad) A teenager from a BPL (below poverty line) household in Hyderabad, Preethi Kongara is making waves in an elite sport — sailing. In February, the 19-year-old qualified for the forthcoming Asian Games 2023 — scheduled to be held in Hangzhou (China) in September — in the mixed 470 class category. To ready herself, Preethi has been training intensively with the Indian Navy in Mumbai for the past 18 months. Raised by her mother Kongara Vijayalakshmi, a housekeeper in a private firm, after her father passed when she was seven, Preethi — currently a class XII commerce student of the Marredpally Government Junior College, Secunderabad — was introduced to this sport at age 11 (2015). Identified by industrialist Anand Mahindra’s Nanhi Kali initiative for children from poor households studying in government schools, Preethi signed up for a free-of-charge Naavika ‘Learn to sail’ extra-curricular programme run by evangelist Suheim Sheik at the Yacht Club of Hyderabad (YCH). “My initial training started in YCH under the tutelage of founder-president and head coach Suheim Sir,” she recalls. Within two years of training, Preethi won a gold medal in the Telangana State Regatta. In 2018, she won a silver medal in the 1st Independence Regatta in Hyderabad. These triumphs were followed by two gold medals at the National championships (2019) in Mumbai, a silver at the All India Westcoast Championships (2021) in Mumbai, and a gold at the Senior National Regatta competition (2022) also in Mumbai. Contrary to popular belief, “sailing is a testing endurance sport which requires peak fitness,” says this gritty teen. “Therefore, I practice for 4-5 hours every day whether I am in Mumbai or Hyderabad. For my fitness and nutrition regimen, I am supported by the world-class Suchitra Academy, Hyderabad. And the generous YCH takes care of my tournament and other expenses,” says Preethi. Currently, Preethi is writing her class XII board exams. “Academics is as important to me as my sport for success in future life,” says this promising sailor, who stands an excellent chance of bringing home a medal from the Asian Games later this year. Wind in your sails!

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New liberal education imperative

Liberal arts students learn to use imagination, experiences and sensitivity to create new knowledge, learn to empathise to understand human sensitivities, and learn for the joy of learning writes Sanjay Padode The industrial age was dominated by concepts of division of labour and specialisation. This was the most efficient strategy for achieving scale and efficiency in the production of goods and services. The work environment was hierarchical and driven by working in shifts in which cooperation between different sets of human resources played a critical role. It was always about a few humans leading many and instructions from the top played a key role in driving the workforce. Managers were trained by the education system to master the art of giving instructions, and the workforce was trained to follow instructions and execute. Innovation and development of products were the function of research and development, constraining the human mind to concentrate on project completion. With the advent of the information age, hierarchies were flattened and a lot of work done previously by humans began to be done by machines. Human resources were developed to instruct machines that have no cognitive capabilities but can perform repetitive tasks efficiently. This fuelled the growth of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. Capability to understand the use of machines coupled with knowledge to design systems and machines for efficient work delivery became necessary for successful project execution. In turn, education systems evolved to deliver just that. Ideation and imagination was confined to the creative arts. Education systems and curricula evolved to apply scientific principles of quantification and measurement in every field and, the theory of knowledge took a back seat. However, standardisation and globalisation became omnipresent and with the advent of the Internet the knowledge required to produce goods and services became easily accessible. The arbitrage in cost of living worldwide led to offshoring of work. These opportunities became available to all making the world a more competitive place. The new efficiencies added to the prosperity of the world but introduced volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in the workplace. Technologies started to evolve rapidly, and markets became more dynamic. Differentiating products and services started to emerge as a challenge. All this change suddenly created a huge gap between education outcomes focussed on development of the left brain, and the emerging right brain needs of society. Critical thinking and problem-solving gained prominence in education. ‘Innovate or die’ emerged as the new mantra for survival. Legacy education systems designed to develop instruction followers began to feel the heat, and evolution of education became inevitable. The word ‘liberal’ has many connotations and is better understood in the Western context. Liberation from laws, customs, and strict norms of society through protests and agitations, defying set norms started to become a way of life as societies continued to democratise. Since their genesis Asian and African societies had been quite liberal in their way of life, but their liberal sense was distorted by westernisation during the colonisation era. Here the…

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