EducationWorld August 13 Archives

Young Achievers

Mahalakshmi Mugunthakumar

Unlike most girls her age, Mahalakshmi Mugunthakumar (14) doesn’t hang out with friends, watch movies or play outdoor games. She is content spending time honing her skills in the mind game of chess, which has won her an impressive string of national and international titles. Recently (April), this class X student of Velammal Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai, hit the headlines in the local press when she was conferred the Young Achiever award of the Rotary Club of Madras for bagging the under-14 World Youth Chess Championship held in Maribor, Slovenia last winter. To her great delight the award was presented by five-time world chess champion Grandmaster (GM) Viswanathan Anand. While felicit-ating Mahalakshmi, Anand named her the first awardee of the Rotary Club of Madras-Viswanathan Anand Chess Scholarship instituted in 2010 which will finance her coaching, travel and entry fee for chess play-offs in India and abroad. The youngest of four daughters of P. Mugunthakumar who runs a plastics business and homemaker Geetha, Mahalakshmi took to the chessboard at age five by merely observing her elder sister Jagadambal — a former national player — playing and being coached to play the game. Putting her learning-by-observation to quick use in 2004, she won the Under-7 state championship. In quick succession she checkmated her opponents at the National Youth Chess Championship (U-8), Aurangabad in 2005; won a bronze in the World Youth Chess Championship (U-8), Georgia in 2006; a gold medal in the Asian Youth Chess Championship (U-10) held in Iran in 2008 and a bronze in the World Youth Chess Championship (U-12) in Greece. Driven and completely committed to attaining excellence in this sharp mind game, Mahalakshmi averages seven hours of daily practice. “I am very grateful to the Rotary Club of Madras and ONGC for their support. I also owe my success to my coach, GM R.B. Ramesh, for giving me individual attention. My school has been fully supportive and has even sponsored some of my foreign trips, and my paren-ts have always encouraged my passion for the game,” she enthuses. Despite the pressures of competitive chess, Mahalakshmi is an academic topper and adeptly balances her studies and chess practice. “Now my sights are set on the national, Asian and World championships in my age category, and acquiring a GM title. I haven’t decided on a career choice because right now I intend to scale greater heights as a chess player,” says this young achiever. Way to go, Sister! Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)

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Postscript

Classic fascism

The puppy-under-motor car analogy drawn by Gujarat chief minister and BJP’s national election committee chief Narendra Modi whose prospects of becoming prime minister following the 2014 General Election are improving by the day, reveals a dangerous mindset. Responding to a question by a Reuters correspondent on whether he experienced remorse over the massacre of 2,000 Muslims in a pogrom under his watch in Gujarat in 2002, this BJP strongman and alleged youth icon with patently faux sanctimony said he felt the same remorse as he would have if a puppy was crushed under the wheels of a motor car “driven by someone else”. Since Modi made that revealing analogy, BJP spokespersons have issued numerous clarifications and explanations. Yet the point that seems to have been missed in all media debates and commentaries, is of trivialisation of the worst communal pogrom in recent memory. In pathetically misgoverned contemporary India in which stray dogs roam streets freely, and vehicular traffic is chaotic in every urban agglomeration, the accidental death of puppies under rashly driven motor cars are commonplace. To equate this — let’s face it — routine occurrence with the deliberate, targeted murder of 2,000 sentient citizens of a particular religious community is a deep insult, which has rightly aroused widespread indignation within right-thinking members of society. Curiously this crude politician has emerged as the icon of youth countrywide. If so, it’s an indication of how poorly the nation’s youth are educated. Any student of history should be aware that what Modi — a former canteen contractor without any notable academic achievement — is unwittingly practicing is classic fascism, i.e, forging a big business-politician alliance contemptuous of civil liberties and labour. This was the politics that Adolf Hitler and Gen. Franco practiced to come to ruin, but not before inflicting huge damage and suffering upon their societies. Juvenis emptor (‘youth beware’). Last priority A defining feature of déclassé politicians who have scrambled their way to the top of Indian politics, is astonishing disregard of their obligation to create meaningful, well-paid jobs in the national interest, especially for youth of the country. This characteristic of the species politicus indicus was brought into sharp focus by Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil when he peremptorily imposed an absolute ban on Mumbai’s once-famous dance bars in 2006. Quite obviously, this small-town simpleton’s imagination was pushed into overdrive by the prospect of nautch girls gyrating to Bollywood music in men’s bars, prompting him to order their shutdown in Mumbai, throwing 75,000 bar girls and 125,000 other people employed in these establishments — and reportedly earning a decent living — out of work. It took seven years of determined litigation by dance bar proprietors for Patil’s foolish diktat to be struck down by the Supreme Court, which held that the state government’s ban of dance bars was illegal and violative of the proprietors’ (and bar girls) fundamental right to carry on a business, trade or profession under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution. During the past three…

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Eduleader Bytes

Dr. PA Fazal Ghafoor, President, MES, Kerala

Dr. PA Fazal Ghafoor, President, Muslim Education Society, Kerala Where would you place education on your national list of priorities? At the very top. Because illiteracy and under-education are the greatest impediments to national development. How best to modernise madrassa schools? Add secular syllabuses and curriculums to round off and complete religious education. Thinker/philosopher you admire most. Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker, the father and champion of education and social advancement of India’s backward classes. Your favourite educationist. My father Dr. P.K.Abdul Ghafoor, who founded the biggest Muslim education movement in India. Your leadership style. Building a consensus and implementing decisions with resolution. Your favourite book on leadership. An active life is the best book. For or against the RTE Act mandating 25 percent reservation for underprivileged children in private schools? For. Because the number of poor in the country is very large and they need all the help they can get. Also read: Why the RTE act should be scrapped Should education outlay be doubled by cutting defence expenditure? Yes. Intensified diplomatic initiatives are a better alternative. How satisfied are you with the growth and development of the Muslim Education Society, Kerala? Highly satisfied and gratified. Kerala’s Muslim community is the most advanced in India in terms of education, vocational skills and employability. Pessimistic or optimistic about the future of Indian education? Optimistic. The number of education institutions mushrooming in South India in particular is huge, and also across the country.

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Books

Terrorism politics

The Way of the Knife: The Untold Story of USA’s Secret War by Mark Mazzetti; Penguin Books; Price: Rs.499; 379 pp “No longer a traditional espionage service devoted to stealing the secrets of foreign governments, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has become a killing machine, an organisation consumed with manhunting… Prior to the attacks of September 11 (on the New York World Trade Centre), the Pentagon did very little human spying, and the CIA was not permitted to kill. In the years since, each has done a great deal of both, and a military intelligence complex has emerged to carry out the American way of war.” These chilling words from the prologue sum up what Mark Mazzetti, a Pulitzer Prize-winner and national security correspondent of the New York Times, has to say in this fascinating and intensively researched book. The metamorphosis of the CIA began during the presidency of George Bush Jr. (2001-2009). Surprisingly, despite his liberal credentials and professed respect for human rights and international law, President Barack Obama has expanded the role of the CIA and Pentagon by authorising the use of remote-controlled Predator drones (unmanned aircraft) to track and strike at suspected enemies and terrorists. As recounted by the author, shortly after the 2001 terrorist attack on WTC, Sir Richard Dearlove, the head of M16, the British intelligence service, was shown a live demonstration of drone capability at the Counter Terrorism Centre of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. On a large screen in front of him was a white Mitsubishi truck driving along a road in Afghanistan. “Several minutes went by as the Mitsubishi was framed by the crosshairs at the centre of the video monitor, until a missile blast washed the entire screen in white. Seconds later, the picture clarified to show the wreckage of the truck, twisted and burning.” Dearlove’s reaction was typically British. “It almost isn’t sporting, is it?” he said with a wry smile. Since then, drone attacks have been used with deadly effect in Afghanistan and Pakistan, enraging the people of these countries. “The parameters of America’s dysfunctional relationship with Pakistan in post 9/11 had been set: The United States insisted on the right to wage a secret war inside Pakistan and Islamabad extracted money in return,” notes the author. Inevitably, much of the consideration paid was secreted by the military regime under Gen. Musharraf, and subsequently by President Zardari and perhaps his military chief, Gen. Kayani, as well. Success of drone attacks depends on good intelligence. If the intelligence is faulty, “collateral damage” — a euphemism for the killing of innocent civilians who happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time — is inevitable. The increase in drone strikes and ensuing collateral damage, have become commonplace in Pakistan, provoking strong opposition within the country. In fact, in one of his first declarations of intent on assuming the office of prime minister on May 28, Nawaz Sharif promised to halt drone strikes within Pakistan’s borders. However, that’s for public consumption. In reality according to Mazzetti, the Pakistan army has…

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Guest Column

A profile in courage and defiance

Malala Yousufzai’s birthday (July 12) was declared Malala Day by the United Nations. In October 2012, when a lone gunman shot a teenage girl in the head in Pakistan’s Swat valley, he couldn’t in his wildest imagination have known that the life he meant to snuff out would come back to haunt him — and those who had sent him on his mission — in perpetuity. The point they wanted to make by killing her has backfired. The girl defied death and defied them a second time. In the history of a nation where so many believe so much to be wrong but never have the courage, motivation or desire to speak up, Malala Yousufzai has written a glorious chapter with her steely will, grit and determination. In 2009, Mulla (‘Radio’) Fazalullah and his band of murderous marauders were allowed to establish sway over the Swat valley, and enforce their brand of obscurantist Islam to spread darkness in a region where education has traditionally been cherished. In addition to a reign of terror defined by public beheadings and hangings in the main chowk in Mingora, women were ordered not to step out of the house without a mehram (male chaperone). All men were advised to grow beards. Swat residents say an environment of such great fear was created that people felt uncomfortable confiding even in close friends. It was against this backdrop the Taliban decreed female education un-Islamic. They must have thought their brutality was so overwhel-ming that nobody would dare defy them. They were mostly right, save for the 12-year-old Malala who had other priorities. The passion that burned within her for an education for herself and other girls in her area surfaced in the form of a blog on BBCUrdu.com where she wrote under the nom de plume Gul Makai. Her blogs offered a poignant depiction of life in Swat. Surrounded by the unchallenged Taliban, who had usurped all established authority and were well-funded through a levy imposed on the multi-billion rupee logging industry in the area, Malala’s defiance must rank among history’s bravest acts. Her words, her eloquence, in full display on the BBC blog, is perhaps the most fitting tribute to her. No wonder she became an international celebrity, a symbol of defiance to the Taliban and a role model for school-going girls countrywide. She represented a sty in the eye of the Taliban. Three years after she became well known, they tried to kill her. Malala’s single-minded pursuit of education risked her life and the lives of near and dear ones, forcing her family to leave Swat ahead of the military cleansing operation of 2009. But once the military had broken the stranglehold of Mulla Fazlullah and his faction of the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), they promptly returned. It is also a tribute to her parents that they have supported her through thick and thin when more well-off parents in more secure environments would have backed down in the face of the relentless pressure of the TTP.…

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Special Report

Khoj study conclusions

Officially released on May 13, the Khoj (search) study is the outcome of interviews with 1,482 teachers and 18 principals of 100 schools across four cities (Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune and Chennai). Its objective was to assess on-the-ground impact of the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) system, implemented in 14,358 schools affiliated with the Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) — the country’s largest pan-India school-leaving (classes X and XII) examination board — since 2009. Commissioned by the Gurgaon-based The Curriculum Company (TLC), the study highlights several lacunae which are hampering the implementation of CCE. Teacher orientation. There is considerable misalignment between teachers’ goals and CCE objectives. Most teachers interviewed said increased classroom activity, daily assessments, and reducing student stress were the priority whereas the prime objective of CCE is to diagnose and assess students’ learning needs through continuous evaluation, and accordingly develop teaching-learning strategies to improve performance. Teachers also don’t identify with the other aims of CCE — developing learner centric pedagogies and enabling holistic development. For instance, social science teachers in Chennai believe the prime objective of CCE is to improve the grades of below average students. Teacher training. The common lament of teachers interviewed is that they weren’t put through enough training sessions, the maximum number being five per year. However, a large number of teachers skipped even these few training sessions. The study also observes that training sessions don’t provide for feedback. Teacher workload. Teachers believe CCE has sharply increased their workload, given their obligation to maintain daily, weekly and monthly student assessment records. Daily assessments now take 34 percent of teachers’ time. This reduces time available for experimenting with creative teaching innovations. Moreover, high teacher-pupil ratios are hampering effective CCE implementation. New assessment rubrics. Most teachers interviewed said they are not comfortable with the assessment techniques such as project work, games, puzzles, etc mandated for formative assessment. The freedom given to them to develop their own assessment rubrics has led to increase in ambiguity, errors and subjectivity. Parents’ ignorance. The objectives and details of the CCE system have not been adequately communicated by school managements to parents, who are alarmed by the rise in the number of academic and non-academic assignments. Parents of academically advanced students are unhappy with the assessment framework as the grading system lumps 99 percenters with 90 percenters. Parents also believe there is a strong element of teacher subjectivity involved in assessing the co-curricular skills of students and are apprehensive about teacher prejudices creeping into assessment. Source: Khoj (The Curriculum Company & Learnmile)

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Special Report

CCE aims and objectives

In July 2009, then Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal announced a series of populist school reforms to reduce the burden of academic stress which students are reportedly suffering countrywide. One of them was to replace the periodic and particularly ‘sudden death’ final examination with continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE). This suggestion was accepted with unusual alacrity by the Delhi-based Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) — India’s largest national school-leaving examination board which has 14,358 schools affiliated with it. Unsurprisingly the “self-financing”, autonomous CBSE is a handmaiden of the HRD ministry with the secretary of the ministry described as the “controlling authority” of the board. Consequently, all 14,000-plus CBSE schools countrywide have been implementing CCE in classes I-X since 2009. Against the backdrop of confusion surrounding the aims and objectives of CCE, its distinguishing features as defined by CBSE, are enumerated below: Definition. Continuous and comprehensive evaluation refers to a student assessment system which covers all facets of education. According to a CBSE Concept Note on Conceptual Framework of CCE, “it is a developmental process of assessment which emphasises on (sic) two fold objectives: continuity in evaluation and assessment of broad based learning and behavioural outcomes”. CCE objectives. According to the CBSE concept note, implementation of this student assessment and evaluation system will: • Help develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills • Develop students’ thinking processes while de-emph-asising memorisation • Make continuous evaluation an integral part of the teaching-learning process • Use evaluation data for improving teaching-learning strategies • Utilise assessment data as a quality control device to raise academic outcomes • Enable teachers to make student-centric decisions about learners’ processes of learning and learning environments • Transform teaching and learning into a student-centric activity Assessment processes. The CCE process is made up of formative and summative assessment components. Formative Assessment. This process enables teachers to track each student’s progress in academic subjects as well as co-scholastic areas such as life skills, attitudes and values and extra-curricular activities. Schools and teachers are advised not to restrict formative assessment to paper and pencil tests. Instead teachers are mandated to use other means of testing such as quizzes, puzzles, project work, practicals and assignments. FA is given 40 percent weightage in the final grade awarded. Teachers have the discretion to enhance a student’s academic grades (in a maximum of two subjects by one grade) if she has performed well in non-scholastic activities. Summative Assessment. SA assesses students’ performance in written first term and final exams which are given 20 and 40 percent weightage respectively. Class X students are given the option to choose between writing the final exam conducted by their school or CBSE. Regardless of whether a student writes the class X exam conducted by her school or CBSE, she is awarded a six-page comprehensive CBSE report card, which details grades awarded for performance in academic subjects and a range of non-scholastic areas. Source: Concept Note on CCE and CCE Training (CBSE)

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CBSE issues guidelines for Class 9, 11 exams 2021

Special Report

Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation Confusion

Four years after the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation schema was adopted with surprising alacrity by the Central Board of Secondary Education and introduced in all 14,358 CBSE-affiliated schools, the CCE experiment is floundering in a sea of confusion with school principals and teachers struggling to switch from the traditional examination system. Summiya Yasmeen reports Although on the surface all seems calm and business as usual within India’s 1.40 million primary-secondary schools (routine tragedies such as the poisoned mid-day meal horror in Bihar which snuffed out the lives of 23 children, cruel and unusual corporal punishment, child murder, suicides etc are quickly forgotten), the four years past have been a period of great upheaval in school education countrywide. The historic Right to Free & Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, over a decade in the works, became law on April 1, 2010; the world’s largest school mid-day meal programme covering 120 million children is operational; the GER (gross enrolment ratio) in primary education is above 98 percent for boys and girls. And perhaps for the first time since independence, pedagogy and learning outcomes in K-12 education are receiving government and academic attention. In July 2009, former Union human resource development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal, fresh from the Congress-led UPA-II coalition’s triumphant return to power at the Centre for a second consecutive term, announced a slew of reforms in school education to reduce examination stress and associated anxiety. These reforms were quickly adopted by the HRD ministry-affiliated Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) — the largest pan-India school leaving examinations board with 14,358 of the country’s top-ranked private and government primary-secondaries affiliated with it. These liberal initiatives made the class X board exam optional and introduced a new assessment schema — the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system — to replace the ‘sudden death’ examination which assessed students’ capabilities in a final exam. Since then, while Sibal has migrated to the Union telecom ministry, the managements, principals and teachers of the 14,000-plus CBSE schools, comprising a mix of private sector and Central government-owned (Kendriya Vidyalaya and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya) institutions with an aggregate enrolment of 12 million students, have silently been grappling with implementing the ill-considered exam-ination reforms mandated by the former HRD minister and readily-compliant CBSE. Educationists and academics monitoring the country’s glacial education scene are surprised — even astonished — by the alacrity with which the ‘autonomous’ CBSE responded to Sibal’s proposal to introduce CCE. In July-August focus groups comprising parents, teachers, principals and students were hurriedly heard and CCE was “introduced” in all affiliated schools from class I-X through a circular dated September 20, 2009. Four years on, the CCE experiment is floundering in a sea of confusion with school principals and teachers — who were neither consulted nor adequately trained — struggling to switch from the traditional exam system to a radically new form of assessment and evaluation, under which students are continuously appraised through non-stressful progress evaluation methodologies. Typically, neither Union HRD minister Dr. Pallam Raju nor CBSE chairman…

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Sports Education

Remembrance of great games past

For eight months I have been rising at 4 a.m to sit at my computer and dredge the depths of memory, as I write what will surely be my last book: Changing the Game. The book is part memoir, part life lessons, and ultimately an introduction to my latest project, A-Games. A-Games is a programme for youth designed to create meaningful sports and fitness activities for them while simultaneously enabling children to learn valuable life skills such as organisation, management, and leadership. To write Changing the Game, I have sifted through childhood scrapbooks, talked to old friends, and taken long walks to recall and reflect upon my experiences on and off myriad playing fields. After numerous discussions with players, coaches, parents and friends, and much cogitation, I have arrived at this conclusion: when it comes down to it, the most important thing you derive from active and prolonged participation in sports is a harvest of memories. Another great takeaway from games and sports is the joy of building lasting friendships, together with physical competence, achievement and enjoyment. Though I’ve competed in seven sporting disciplines from junior high school to the professional level, I have only a few memories of victories and defeats. I don’t believe winning taught me to be a gracious winner or losing readied me for more serious losses in life. Rather, 70 years of consistent participation in competitive sports and games has taught me how to play with empathy, humour and honesty. If a player challenges me on the senior basketball court, the game takes on a special thrill. The joy of winning is transitory, it doesn’t last very long. Sure, winning is great. But every athlete and sportsperson isn’t likely to win the ultimate championship in her chosen sport. However, every athlete who laces up her shoes and ventures into a sports arena or athletics track, has an opportunity to build a bank of memories — hopefully wonderful — to last a lifetime. For example, I remember the time my high school basketball team was invited to play in the Beverly Hills Invitational Tournament. It was the final day of the tournament and we were tired. Two of our starters were down with the flu; we’d played two games the day before and one that afternoon, and now we were lined up against Long Beach Wilson for the championship. It was an evenly contested game and the scores were tied as the clock ticked down to eight seconds remaining. I took a shot and missed it. A Wilson player grabbed the rebound and his teammates immediately but ill-advisedly shouted “Timeout!” There was just one small problem. Wilson didn’t have any timeouts left to use. The referee tried to tell them they would be penalised (a technical foul is given in such cases) if they insisted on taking the timeout. But in the noise and confusion his warning to them went unheard. The expression on the players’ faces when they realised their mistake was painful. I felt…

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International News

Nigeria: Youth bands take on Islamists

Youths in northern Nigeria’s Borno state, where many members of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram (BH) have been arrested in recent weeks, are increasingly joining vigilante gangs to pass on the identity of BH members to the military-police Joint Task Force (JTF) following a string of deadly attacks on schools, according to vigilante groups and residents of Borno state capital, Maiduguri. “Vigilante groups are springing up in neighbourhoods to counter BH and many young men are joining them,” Abubakar Mallum, the leader of a vigilante group in Maiduguri, told IRIN. “BH has declared war on youths in Maiduguri and Damaturu, which has motivated many young men to join. The battle line has been drawn. Youths have realised they either fight by exposing BH or they risk being killed by BH,” he says. Vigilante group members are now joining the police and military at checkpoints to identify BH members, Mallum said. “We know them, while the soldiers don’t.” In the most recent high-profile attacks on June 16-17, BH opened fire on the Government Secondary School in Damaturu, Yobe State, and Ansaruddeen private school in Maiduguri, killing 16 students and two teachers, according to Lt-Col. Sagir Musa, military spokesperson for Borno state. Many BH members have fled camps in northeastern Nigeria following the military crackdown in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states (all in the north), and tried to return to their old neighbourhoods, said residents. The vigilantes, dubbed “civilian JTF” by Nigerian officials, are afraid that with the return of BH members to their neighbourhoods, regular bombings and gun attacks will resume, alongside killings and arson by the military in response. “We know the (school) attacks are aimed at rattling us to abandon the noble task we have started of exposing BH members in our area. They are just using students as scapegoats,” says Mallum adding: “Since BH members moved out to Marte District (Borno state) we have not had any bombings, and killings have dropped considerably. We are afraid if we allow them to come back, now that the military is hard on them, the relative peace we have been enjoying will be shattered.” The vigilantes do not bear arms which puts them at great risk of BH reprisals, says Shehu Sani, a leading rights activist in northern Nigeria. In the past, residents of BH enclaves in Maiduguri — including the neighbourhoods of Gwange, Bayan Quarters, Siumari, Gamboru Market and Kaware Maila, among others — were afraid of exposing BH members for fear of reprisals. “But now they want to return, which is what we are working to prevent,” says Mallum. (Excerpted and adapted from www.irinnews.org)

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International News

Japan: Choshu Five sesquicentenary

Five pioneering international students who risked life and limb to reach England before going on to become the architects of modern Japan, are being celebrated by a University College London (UCL) event. The story of the so-called ‘Choshu Five’, a group of Japanese noblemen who studied at UCL 150 years ago, is testimony to the transformative power of global higher education. The most eminent of the quintet was Hirobumi Itô (1841-1909), who rose to become a four-time prime minister of Japan, the father of its 1889 Meiji Constitution and a key player in the promotion of the University of Tokyo. In the early 1860s, explains Shin-Ichi Ohnuma, professor of experimental ophthalmology at UCL, “Japan faced serious problems, including a severe economic crisis, difficult relations with foreign countries such as the US and the UK, and political instability. But there were those within the two powerful clans of Chôshû and Satsuma who realised that Japan could learn from the West in many areas.” So the Choshu Five secretly made contact with William Keswick, a representative of Jardine, Matheson & Co — the first foreign trading house to establish a base in Japan — to secure passage on one of its ships. Because of sakoku (“chained country”), the state policy restricting contact with foreigners, this was illegal and put their families as well as the men themselves in great danger. After an arduous 135-day journey, they eventually reached London looking “like hungry crows”. Hugh Matheson, the head of Jardine, Matheson & Co, contacted UCL, and the Chôshû Five were enrolled at the university and taken under the wing of Alexander Williamson, a chemistry professor who acted as their teacher, adviser and landlord. They were fascinated by London’s underground railway and focused their educational efforts on chemistry, engineering, mathematics, mineralogy and physics. They also used their time in England to visit military facilities and factories, as well as the Houses of Parliament, the Bank of England, the Royal Mint and the British Museum. Their experiences, continues Prof. Ohnuma, marked “a turning point in Japanese history… And after returning to Japan, the Choshu Five did indeed apply what they had learned in London to help transform their country, making them pioneers of modern Japan, both as a group and individually.” Besides Ito, Masaru Inoue became the founding president of the Japanese Board of Railways; Kinsuke Endo founded the Japanese Mint; Kaoru Inoue became Japan’s first foreign secretary; and Yozo Yamao, the “father of Japanese engineering”, established the country’s first institute of technology. All were at the heart of a new government responsible for transforming Japan from an isolated, inward-looking state into a global technological power. The anniversary of their arrival was marked by a ceremony on July 3 supported by the Jardine Matheson Group — the current chairman of Jardine Matheson Holdings is a direct descendent of William Keswick — and included speeches by UCL provost Malcolm Grant, Keiichi Hayashi, the Japanese ambassador in the UK, and a representative of the company. (Excerpted and adapted…

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International News

France: Early class warfare lessons

Both relief and tears greeted the results of France’s school-leaving baccalaureat exam on July 5. With breathtaking efficiency, the entire country’s exam papers were corrected and marked within just two weeks. Founded in 1808 by Napoleon, the bac is an entry ticket to university as well as a yearly national ritual, which opens with a gruelling compulsory four-hour philosophy general paper that even scientists have to write. This year the papers were particularly revealing of how French youngsters are taught to view the world. “What do we owe to the State?” was one essay option in the philosophy exam. In the economics and social science paper, pupils were asked to comment on a wealth-distribution table, showing that 10 percent of French households owned 48 percent of the country’s wealth, and then told to “demonstrate that social conflict can be a factor behind social cohesion”. “We still have the mentality of the class struggle,’’ says Nicolas Lecaussin of the Institute for Research in Economic and Fiscal issues (IREF), a think tank, and author of a report on economics textbooks. France excels at producing top-rate academic economists. But high-school teaching of economics is uneven. The IREF study last year showed that in one tome’s 382 pages, only 18 were devoted to business. “Entrepreneurs and business leaders are almost absent,” noted the report, and “global-isation and free trade are treated with distrust”. Since 2011, the national syllabus has somewhat belatedly been revised. Basic economic concepts, including supply and demand, have been reinforced. Economics and sociology, the two components of the combined paper, have been partly separated. The portrayal of companies has become more neutral. With government backing, the Institute of Enterprise, a think tank, runs a programme to bring together business leaders and lycee economics teachers, “to close the gap”. Yet the curriculum remains heavily tilted towards social conflict. The analysis of social structure starts with Marx. One textbook’s subheadings move depressingly from “More and more suicides at work”, to “More and more insecure jobs”. In another textbook, a chapter on “social justice” asks: “Do high revenues threaten fairness?” and illustrates it with a 19th-century engraving of a bourgeois couple and a photo of a modern-day French demonstrator with a placard reading “Tax the rich”. Little wonder, perhaps, that the French are consistently champion pessimists and hostile to free markets. In 2012, according to a Globescan poll, only 4 percent of the French agreed that free-market capitalism works well, next to 27 percent of Americans and 22 percent of Chinese. (Excerpted and adapted from The Economist)

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International News

China: Widespread fudging phenomenon

Jiao Yizhou, a 17-year-old student at Jiangsu College for International Education in Nanjing, hopes to study environmental engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US. Like many applicants to university, however, he is anxious about the entrance tests and essays involved. He says he knows that some Chinese students cheat on their applications, persuade teachers to falsify secondary school grades and recommendations, and hire agents who purportedly write admission essays for them. “This kind of thing doesn’t bother me, because I did it the right way and the university officials are not stupid,” Jiao says. “They can tell which applications are real and which are fake.” But increasing competition for places at universities in the West, in concert with huge year-on-year rises in the number of applicants from China, have left admissions officials worried about what experts say is a widespread and growing practice of cheating. “I don’t mean to caricature this as happening at every school,” says Linda McKinnish Bridges, associate dean of admissions and director of programme development in China for Wake Forest University, a private institution in North Carolina. “But some schools I’ve visited have said to me: ‘We will work with you in any way we can to get these students into the United States’.” The problem has become increasingly apparent in recent years. In 2011, research by Nafsa, the Association of International Educators and US educational consulting firm Zinch China found 90 percent of recommendation letters for Chinese applicants to Western universities had been falsified. The two organisations, which conducted interviews with 250 students at top-ranked secondary schools in China, also concluded that 70 percent of admission essays had been written by someone other than the applicants, half of secondary school transcripts had been doctored, and many awards and achievements were fake. “Fraudulent applications are pervasive in China, driven by hypercompetitive parents and aggressive agents” who can earn financial bonuses for getting students into top Western universities, the researchers said. They reported that the phenomenon is driven mostly by middle-class Chinese parents determined to have their children study abroad, 80 percent of whom paid agents to help make it happen. The going rate for this is up to $10,000 (Rs.6 lakh) per student, and as much as double that if the agent can get the student into an institution at the top of the most influential university league tables. “The cultural norm in China is to consider a 17-year-old not yet capable of managing a decision as important as his or her college education,” states the Zinch and Nafsa report, Fraudulent Chinese Undergraduate Student Applications. Or as Bridges puts it, Chinese parents “have got one child and for that one child you will do everything you can to help (them) get ahead”. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation estimates that 440,000 Chinese citizens are studying abroad, with the US and the UK being the two most popular destinations. China sends nearly 200,000 students a year to the US, almost four times as many…

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International News

Qatar: Emirate succession jitters

Western universities based in Qatar are not expecting any major shake-ups under the country’s new emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, despite what is said to be his preference for Arabic — rather than English-language — instruction at university level. Tamim was handed power over the gas-rich Gulf state on June 25 by his 61-year-old father, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Qatar has persuaded six US universities and one each from the UK and France to set up branch campuses on a site near Doha. Under the elder emir the hope was that Hamad Bin Khalifa University, which was known as Education City before being renamed after the former emir last year, will help wean the state off its dependence on gas by educating young Qataris and building a knowledge economy. The new emir (33) is the son of Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, “who was the driving force behind Education City”, explains Christopher Davidson, reader in Middle East politics at Durham University. Davidson expects “little change” in the levels of official support for the project. This opinion is endorsed by an academic working with the Qataris, who wished to remain anonymous. According to him, branch campuses are expecting business as usual because Tamim had already been involved in much of the decision-making regarding Hamad Bin Khalifa University. Tamim won’t interfere in the university, the academic argues, and Sheikha Mozah will continue to lead the project. Moreover the new emir is thought to be committed to funding serious research in the sciences in Qatar, although he may scale back spending on humanities and social sciences research, adds the scholar. However, Tamim is believed to be more socially conservative than his father and is “known for his seriousness, religiousness and interest in protecting language and culture”, says Davidson adding that the emir is believed to have been behind a government order last year that forced Qatar University to switch its language of instruction in some courses from English to Arabic. (Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)

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International News

United Kingdom: THE Global Top 100 under 50

For the second consecutive year, South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology heads a list of the world’s top 100 universities under 50 years vintage. The UK’s “plate-glass” universities have lost ground. Founded in 1986, Pohang — better known as Postech — retains its top spot in Times Higher Education’s second annual 100 Under 50 Rankings, comfortably ahead of Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in second place. Postech’s national rival, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kaist), rises from fifth to third, while the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) drops one place to fourth. Only one UK institution — the University of York, at #7 — makes the top 10, compared with three last year. After York, the highest-placed UK institutions are the University of Warwick (#13), Lancaster University (#14) and the University of East Anglia (#16). Overall, however, the UK still has the most representatives in THE’s Under 50 list, with 18 in the top 100 institutions. This is down from 20 last year, although one of 2012’s entrants —Keele University — is now too old to be included in the ranking. Other strong national systems include Australia (13 institutions), the US (eight), France (seven), Spain (six) and Taiwan (five). But South Korea’s #1 and #3 spots make it the “star” of this year’s list, says Phil Baty, editor of Times Higher Education Rankings. “South Korea’s experience shows that it is possible for nations with sufficient political will to build in a relatively short time, world-class universities that can compete with the traditional elites in the US and the UK,” says Baty. Overall, 28 countries make the list, eight of them in the top 10. THE’s 100 Under 50 is based on the same 13 performance indicators covering teaching, research, interaction with industry and internationalisation that underpin THE’s World University Rankings, although academic reputation is less significant. The ranking provides a fresh perspective on the concept of the “elite university”, which some believe better reflects past glories and reputation built up over centuries than current academic excellence. Unsurprisingly, although the Sharif University of Technology, Iran is included among the global Top 100, not even one under-50 Indian varsity makes the league table. Bond proposal ends policy stability Universities have accused the government of reneging on a promise to deliver a period of “policy stability” on visas, after plans were revealed that could lead to bonds being demanded from international students to ensure they don’t overstay. From November, under a pilot scheme, some visitors to the UK from “high-risk” countries could be asked to provide a bond worth hundreds of pounds, which will be returned only if they leave on time. The eventual scope of the pilot and size of the bond — intially reported as £3,000 (Rs.2.7 lakh) — are unclear after reports that prime minister David Cameron had not signed off the policy. However, a Home Office spokeswoman said in the longer term “ministers are interested in extending the principle to all visa types, including…

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People

Committed special needs educator: Manjushree Patil

The Maharashtra Secondary School Certificate (SSC) results declared this year marked a major milestone for Manjushree Patil, founder-director of the Aatman Academy, Thane, (estb.2011), a first-of-its-kind specialised institution for children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. The school’s first batch of seven students, who wrote the class X SSC exam of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education, scored between 68-81 percent. History. Aatman Academy admitted its first batch of three students with learning disabilities two years ago. Since then, aggregate enrolment has risen to 30 students from diverse backgrounds who are taught by 17 specially trained facilitators. The curri-culum, developed in-house by an expert team of three educators led by Patil, an alumna of St. Mary’s Teachers Training College, Pune, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, and Indian Institute of Professional Studies, Lucknow (Masters in education), addresses the academic needs of each student while teaching them the arts (painting, crafts, music, dance, drama, theatre etc), athletics (yoga, karate), and other subjects. Manjushree Patil began her professional career in 1991 as a remedial teacher and special educator in Pune’s Shikshan Prasarak Mandali English Medium School (1991-1994). However, after she signed up as a counsellor with the Institute for Psychological Health, Thane in 1999, she became acutely aware of the possibility of practising special education outside the portals of one school. After a couple of consulting stints and in-service training programmes for over 20,000 teachers, she was appointed principal of the Arya Cambridge International School, Thane where she served for two years. Subsequently, realising the pressing need for special education, Patil promoted Aatman Academy in 2011. Direct talk. “On an average, 10-15 percent of all school-going children countrywide are struggling with learning disabilities. Specialised schools offer effective, research-based instruction to ensure these children are given the attention and opportunity to make significant academic gains. The greatest gift we provide is perhaps a rediscovery of correlation between effort and success. We believe children with disabilities can learn effectively at their own pace in a cond-ucive learning environment,” says Manjushree Patil. Future plans. Currently negotiating partnerships with like-minded educators, Patil wants to replicate the Aatman model in Mumbai and across Maharashtra. “I expect Aatman Academy to expand its capacity to 150 students over the next five years. With the growing and urgent demand for specialised schools, additional capacity will be created gradually by rolling out branches of the academy. Given the sensitivity and care required in teaching special needs children, expansion through the franchise model is inadvisable,” says this committed educator. Sunayana Nair (Mumbai)

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People

Tara story-teller: Gita Wolf

Chennai-based Gita Wolf is the founder-editor of Tara Books Pvt. Ltd (estb. 1994), which began as a children’s book publishing house but has gradually expanded its range of 15 titles per year to cover adults. Wolf’s interest in experimenting with book forms and innovations has given Tara Books a unique identity as a pioneer of handmade books, which feature an attractive mix of words and visuals of India’s folk and traditional art. Over the past 19 years, Wolf has been joined by a core group of like-minded tribal and folk artists, writers from India and abroad, designers, and other creative professionals. Today Tara Books is run as a workers-owned cooperative, committed to bringing a variety of marginalised voices and perspectives to readers. Newspeg. Tara Books was awarded the Best Children’s Book Publishers Award (Asia) 2013 at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) staged in Italy, between March 24-27. The continental awards were introduced this year to mark the golden jubilee of BCBF. Tara Books offers a range of fiction, non-fiction, educational, picture and activity books for children in the age group 3-15. Customers include K-X schools, private and public libraries, and older readers of non-fiction, pop culture and Tamil titles. The firm employs 14 artisans in its book craft workshop in Chennai, who have produced over 200,000 handmade books translated into several foreign languages and distributed in India, the UK and USA. A globally respected publisher, Tara Books has signed 87 collaboration agreements with reputed publishers worldwide, and has sold 152 book rights to them. Direct talk. “The BCBF award in its inaugural year is a recognition of the volume of work that we have done over the past 19 years, and the quality we offer in terms of content and production. A lot of research is invested in all our titles and we are overwhelmed with the respect and goodwill we have earned within the international publishing community,” says Wolf. History. An alumna of Bangalore, Bayreuth and Erlangen/Nurenberg universities (comparative literature), Wolf worked as an academic in Germany for a decade before returning to India with her family in 1987. Her academic background and passion for visual art prompted her to promote Tara Books in 1994. Wolf herself has penned over 20 books for children and adults beginning with The Very Hungry Lion (1995) which won the Alcuin Citation for excellence in book design in Canada. Since then, several titles authored by her have won international awards and have been translated into multiple languages. Last year, the firm inaugurated its three-storied Tara Book Building comprising a bookshop, art gallery, editorial and design offices. Its guest quarters with coloured wall murals and paintings display India’s diverse art styles such as Patua (West Bengal), Gond (Madhya Pradesh), Warli (Maharashtra), Mithila (Bihar), among others, and the building has become a Chennai landmark. Future plans. Tara Books has drawn up ambitious plans to reach out to school children countrywide with educational books to develop the reading habit and improve visual literacy. “We are reviving several educational titles for schools…

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People

Skills-focused couple: Jaiprakash Singh Hasrajani

Chandigarh-based Jaiprakash Singh Hasrajani is the co-founder and CEO of Taaleem Academy Pvt. Ltd (estb. 2009), the holding company of Taaleem India, a skills development enterprise providing learning management system (LMS) packages to education institutions and corporates, and the Taaleem College of International Studies (TCIS), Chandigarh which offers business management study — including MBA — programmes. Newspeg. Taaleem Academy recently signed accords with the Asian International College (AIC), Singapore, and Asia Pacific Management Center of Griffith University, Australia, to offer their programmes in TCIS. Moreover in school education, Taaleem India has signed up with an international company which develops LMS software for K-12 institutions. History. Since it was promoted four years ago, Taaleem Academy has forayed into school and higher education, LMS, corporate training, and delivery of programmes of reputed institutions such as AIC and Griffith. Taaleem Academy and its offshoots have evolved from the joint initiative of Gursimran Kaur, an alumna of Warwick Business School (UK) and an NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) practitioner who promoted ValueurHR-Solutions Pvt. Ltd in 2006, and Hasrajani, a graduate of Pune University and a former HR manager with several well known companies including Quark and Dell. In 2009, Hasrajani called it quits and teamed up with wife Gursimran to promote Taaleem Academy the same year. Last October, the couple set up the Taaleem College of International Studies in Chandigarh and admitted its first batch of 20 students into the MBA programme. Meanwhile, Taaleem India has stepped up its promotion drive in schools, colleges, and corporates offer-ing counseling, skilling and training programmes through 45 trainers. Currently Taaleem Academy, which has nodal offices in J&K, Delhi, Ahmed-abad, Bangalore and Mumbai, has signed up partners in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, and is drawing up plans to expand its reach across India through the franchise model. Direct talk. “As HR professionals, we discovered huge gaps between the skills of school and college graduates and industry requirements. So when we moved from Delhi to Chandigarh in 2003, our aim was to enter businesses which would improve education quality and bridge this gap. Taaleem India was promoted as a vocational skills develop-ment company and TCIS as a B-school. Since then, we have trained more than 24,000 people in skills development and placed 6,000 MBAs in industry,’’ says Hasrajani. Future plans. The enterprising duo is well aware of the importance of scaling up operations to create impact, given the magnitude and diversity of India. “By year-end, we expect to have 12-15 of our own centres and are examining the franchising option as well. Our objective is to make Taaleem Academy a comprehensive skills development enterprise for school-leavers through Taaleem India, and for college graduates through TCIS,” says Hasrajani. Wind beneath your wings! Autar Nehru (Delhi) Also read: 10 Quick-fix Solutions to Mend Indian Education

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People

Successful E-diversification: Gorsi Parekh

Gorsi Parekh is the chairperson and managing director of the Gandhinagar (Gujarat)-based Arraycom (India) Ltd. Arraycom is a well-known name in the telecom integrated broadcast systems and seismology industries in Gujarat and beyond. A family and child welfare postgrad of the reputed Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, Parekh intended to build a career in social work. But the untimely death of her husband in 2002 imposed the responsibility of taking charge of Arraycom (annual turnover: Rs.100 crore, headcount: 300). Newspeg. With Arraycom firmly on the rails in its traditional businesses, Parekh has undertaken the company’s first social sector initiative — an e-learning project. The objective of Project E-Path is transformation of education through technology, by digitising content mapped to the syllabuses of state school examination boards. Direct talk. “Though people in urban areas are also showing keen interest in the project, our focus is on reaching rural students in remote areas. Karnataka was the first to test E-Path through a pilot project for classes V-VIII, followed by Gujarat for classes III-IX and Uttar Pradesh for classes IX-XII. In all these states, students’ response has been excellent,’’ says Parekh. “In Gujarat we are also testing a mobile e-learning lab in six districts contiguous to Gandhinagar. There’s a clear possibility of Project E-Path revolutionising school education,’’ she adds. History. Although Parekh’s attention was primarily focused on Arraycom, she managed to spare time for socially beneficial education projects. In 1995, she established the first Toddlers Den (Todden) — a preschool activity centre — in Ahmedabad. Today, 120 children are enrolled in six Todden centres statewide. After her marriage in 1990, Parekh relocated to Gujarat and registered a non-profit organisation to promote an institution for education and child development. In 2000, the society promoted the Ahmedabad International School (AIS), a K-12 world school affiliated with IBO (International Baccalaureate Organisation), Geneva. “AIS is the first school in Gujarat with affiliation to IBO, Trinity School of Music, London and CAIE (Cambridge Assessment International Examinations), UK,’’ she says with justifiable pride. Future plans. With the launch of Project E-Path last year, Parekh is fully committed to its outreach. “Rolling it out to cover all states is likely to occupy our attention in the foreseeable future. This is a period of consolidation in the education space,’’ says Parekh. Fair winds! R.K. Misra (Gandhinagar)

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People

Skills bridge builder: Ashwin Ajila

Ashwin Ajila is the promoter and managing director of the Bangalore-based iNurture Education Solut-ions Pvt. Ltd (estb. 2005), a company which specialises in developing and delivering industry-specific educational content designed to improve the employability and productivity of youth streaming out of the country’s colleges and universities. iNurture, which has a headcount of 250 — most comprise faculty drawn from industry — prides itself on being the only education enterprise to offer Plus Two school-leavers and graduates full-time undergrad/postgrad degree programmes in association with 15 Indian universities. Newspeg. iNurture celebrated its eighth anniversary in July by adding the information security, information storage and cloud technology verticals to its portfolio of undergraduate and postgrad programmes. Another cause for celeb-ration is that over the past nine months the company has signed up with seven partner institutions including Jain University, Bangalore; Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Delhi; and Vel’s University, Chennai, among others. History. A chartered accountant, Ajila articled with KPMG Peat Mavrick, Manchester, UK and acquired a decade’s experience with manufacturing, travel and education companies including KPMG, Fakhro, Bahrain, and Ihot (Internet Holiday and Travel) Pvt. Ltd. However after ten years in employment, Ajila heeded the call to go solo and in the spirit of enlightened self-interest promoted an animation design company under the name and style of ToonSkool Pvt. Ltd after encountering Indian youth certified in animation design struggling to find jobs because they lacked industry-specific skills. In 2010 ToonSkool was renamed iNurture. “Industry experts and HR consultants constantly complained about syllabi being completely out of sync with industry requirements. We discovered a business opportunity in bridging this industry-academia gap,” recalls Ajila. Currently the company offers a wide range of niche study programmes including animation, mobile applications, creative management and financial services. Direct talk. “ToonSkool was the first company to conceptualise and roll out the university industry partnership (UIP) model which connects industry and academia. We invest time, money and academic skills to develop syllabuses and content in consultation with industry experts, and offer these curriculums on-campus. These courses certified by full-fledged universities and independent of study programmes run by them, could be B.Sc/B.Tech or an M.Sc/M.Tech designed according to industry specifications,” says Ajila, alumnus of the garden city’s vintage Bishop Cotton Boys’ School and St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. “Thus far we have awarded degrees to 1,000 students and placed over 600 of them. Our target is to certify 20,000 such students over the next five years,” says Ajila. Tuition fee. Rs.60,000-1.5 lakh per year, payable to the university, a share of which accrues to iNurture. Future plans. According to Ajila, the idea of preparing graduates for industry by skilling them is increasingly becoming acceptable in Indian academia. “With colleges and universities cooperating readily, our goal is to widen our portfolio to include analytics, design, corporate social responsibility and sustainability, and expand our partner base to 50 universities by 2015. Indian industry urgently needs ready-to-go managers to meet project execution deadlines and raise organisational productivity. We are in the right business at the right time,” says Ajila. Way…

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Teacher-to-Teacher

School education slipping behind

The deluge of ninety percenters that routinely follows in the wake of class X and XII board examination results declared in May, highlights an urgent need for close assessment of India’s school system. Having had the privilege of studying in India and in the West, of becoming a schoolteacher by choice, and of teaching in India and now in the US, I would like to offer a perhaps different perspective on this issue. India represents a huge paradox in education. While many of the infirmities of K-12 education regularly aired are true — poor quality teachers, teacher and student absenteeism, rigid curriculums — it’s also true that Indian students are highly respected and welcomed in foreign universities (and not only because they pay!), and they fare exceptionally well in university and careers abroad. This paradox merits an explanation. First, it’s important to understand that the Indian school education system is highly heterogeneous. The village school vastly differs from its urban counterpart, and city schools — private and public — are vastly different from each other. Likewise, boarding and day schools differ in aims, objectives, character and ethos. One school cap certainly does-n’t fit all. Nevertheless, all K-12 institutions share similar problems. The most obvious perhaps is the chronic shortage of effective teachers. While this is not the occasion for a detailed analysis of this phenomenon, the plain truth is that post-independence India has failed to make the teaching profession sufficiently attractive, to draw the best graduates into teaching. And the failure is not merely in terms of the relatively poor remuneration of teachers. The core issue is inadequate emphasis on teacher training. Teacher education institutions of the stature of the IITs and IIMs for example, are conspicuously missing, with the result that the socio-economic status of teachers has been neglected and degraded. In turn, this has translated into poorly taught classrooms. Moreover, there is the problem of numbers. There just aren’t enough schools to satisfy the demand for acceptable quality education. The consequence is that K-12 institutions offering superior learning outcomes can dictate onerous terms and conditions to their clientele. And following liberalisation and deregulation of the Indian economy in the 1990s, a large number of non-educationists have entered education. Schools and colleges are increasingly being promoted by businessmen, and run as hardcore business enterprises. Even in some of the best private schools, the board of governors comprise members who haven’t the first idea of education, but who enjoy great powers of patronage. Students must, therefore, not only put up with bad teaching but poor governance as well. Then there’s the age-old problem of curriculum and course content. Indian education institutions depend heavily on ‘content’. Although this dependency has its virtues inasmuch as it gives students a thorough grasp of the fundamentals of various disciplines, and also enhances exam writing skills, there’s no doubt it stifles creativity. In sharp contrast in the West, education — including K-12 education — is rapidly transforming into skills acquisition and development. Proficiency with technology,…

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Career Focus

Your Counselor Replies

After completing my Plus Two (science) in 2014, I want to enroll in a design degree programme. Please advise me. Bhaskar Rao, Chennai The National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, offers seven undergraduate and 17 postgraduate degree programmes. Specialisations include industrial, communication, textile, lifestyle accessories, apparel, IT and retail design. The National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), with 15 centres countrywide, also offers degree programmes in design. Other premier institutes include MIT Institute of Design, Pune; MS University, Baroda; Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune; Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore; Department of Industrial Design, School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi; D J Academy of Design, Coimbatore etc. Admission is on the basis of entrance exams conducted by each design school. Which reputed institutes offer study programmes in automobile and auto-motive products design? Vikas Desai, Ahmedabad Among the prominent schools for automobile and auto products design are the Industrial Design Centres (IDCs) of four IITs; National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad; MIT Institute of Design, Pune; and Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. All these schools stipulate stringent admission criteria involving a written exam, studio test and interview. Postgraduates in automobile and auto products design are in great demand with starting salaries pegged at Rs.6-14 lakh per year. I’m in class XII (science) and keen on a career in microbiology. What are the job options and prospects in this field? Sunita Rajan, Bangalore Microbiology is offered at three levels — undergrad, postgrad and doctoral. Students with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology can work in science and pathology labs. Microb-iology postgraduates are usually empl-oyed in the pharmaceutical industry, dairy, breweries, distilleries, etc, or can press on for a Ph D. Students who complete their doctoral programmes become eligible for teaching or post-doctoral research with excellent fellowship and contingency grants offered by agencies such as UGC, CSIR, ICMR etc. With a number of micro-speciali-sations available and growing demand for qualified microbiologists, graduates can expect fast career growth. I’m enrolled in a postgraduate degree programme in mass communication. What job opportunities are available in radio journalism? Deepa Mehra, New Delhi With 839 new FM channels slated for auction in the near future, radio offers great career opportunities. A typical radio station is divided into four departments — creative, activation, marketing and sales. The creative dep-artment dealing with programme cont-ent, is manned by RJs (radio jockeys), producers and scriptwriters. The producer is responsible for story ideas and works closely with scriptwriters. Music is an important element in radio. Those with a keen ear for music and melody are needed as music managers and sound engineers. In addition, as in any other media organ-isation, there are jobs for researchers and marketing professionals. I’m in the final year of my bachelor of chemical technology undergrad degree programme. Please advise if chemical technology is an elective in GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering). Rahul Fonseca, Bangalore Admission into postgraduate courses with scholarships/assistantships in engineering/technology/architecture and pharmacy requires students to clear GATE. Some colleges/institutes specify GATE as a mandatory qualification…

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Career Focus

Urgent need for urban planners

A heavy and onerous responsibility of drawing up detailed blueprints for the construction of new towns and cities has devolved upon professionally qualified urban planners, writes Indra Gidwani With India’s urban population slated to increase from 350 million currently to 580 million by 2030, and the number of urban households predicted to rise from 22 million to 91 million in 20 years, urban planning has emerged as a vitally important vocation. Professional urban planners have the onerous responsibility of drawing up detailed blueprints for construction of new cities and towns and devising optimal land use strategies to accommodate the influx of rural migrants into India’s already crowded towns and cities. The minimum academic qualification required for acceptability into this esoteric profession (only 5 per cent of the country’s top 21,000 civic management professionals are formally trained) is a Masters’s degree in urban or regional planning from an institute accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board, Delhi. For admission into a Masters’s programme of an accredited institution, a bachelor’s degree in architecture/urban design/economics/or environmental design is the usual requirement. Formal study programmes in urban planning are normatively offered by architecture, design, geography and/or public policy schools. The School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi (estb. 1959) is widely acknowledged as the country’s premier institute for town/urban planning studies, offering undergrad, postgrad and doctoral programmes. Another well-reputed institute is the Centre for Environmental Planning & Technology, Ahmedabad. For working professionals already employed in urban planning and development in civic and municipal organisations, the Bangalore-based Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) offers an 11-month full-time Programme for Working Professionals in Urban Development (PWP-UD). Graduates with at least three years’ work experience and postgraduates in any discipline with two years work experience are eligible for admission into IIHS. Promoted in 2008 as a PPP (public-private partnership) education instit-ution, IIHS is India’s first prospective independently funded and managed inter-disciplinary national university for research and innovation. Its objective is to research civic management issues. Employment and career development prospects are excellent both in public and private organisations. In the public sector, certified urban planning prof-essionals are urgently required in municipal corporations, local govern-ments and parastatal organisations. They are also needed in civil society organisations engaged with livelihood, advocacy and civil rights, improved urban services delivery, community empowerment and social inclusion issues. In the private sector, certified urban planning professionals find ready employment in infrastructure develop-ment, real estate, construction and consultancy companies. Given the acute shortage of qualified urban/civic plan-ners, this is a well-paid profession. Freshers can expect Rs.25,000 per month as a start with pay packages swelling to Rs.100,000 depending on performance and experience. “There is critical need for a radical shift in urban planning policy formulation and practices to build healthy and hospitable cities of the future. This calls for a new generation of implementers, managers, advocates, activists, game-changers, leaders and urban planning practitioners. The greatest constraint of contemporary India is the availability of a sufficient number of well-educated professionals committed to the common good to discharge…

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Cover Story

Private school promoters primer

One of the paradoxes of K-12 education in India is that while the overwhelming majority of the public — including parents within the socio-economically deprived households — is desperate to provide their children with English medium or at least high quality English language education, several state governments or more accurately neo-literate politicos and bureaucrats within them, prohibit teaching of English even as a second language. Driven by sub-nationalism and opportunities for bagging contracts and commissions for printing shoddy vernacular textbooks for captive markets, they have erected formidable legislative and procedural roadblocks against private initiatives in primary-secondary education, particularly promotion of English-medium schools. The common hurdles and speedbreakers that private educationists and entrepreneurs should anticipate, are set out hereunder. 1. In some states such as super sub-nationalist Karnataka, promotion of English-medium primary schools is prohibited by law and until recently teaching English even as a second language was prohibited in primary (classes 1-V) education. Ditto West Bengal under 34 years of rule (1977-2011) of the CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist)-led Left Front government. Inevitably discretionary power to waive this prohibition is vested in the state government and can be purchased for negotiated consideration. 2. Municipal and local government licences necessary for establishing schools are almost wholly discretionary. Therefore bribes are routinely demanded by municipal corporation officials. For establishing greenfield English-medium schools, “speed money” demanded tends to be significantly greater because capital expenditure is usually higher. That’s neta-babu interpretation of socialism. 3. Apart from site location permission, sanctions from electricity, water and sanitation authorities are required. Be prepared to pay above and beyond the official prices to avoid delays and to make periodic pay-offs for uninterrupted supply. Despite this it’s advisable to install a 24×7 captive power generation facility. 4. A no-objection certificate (NOC) from the ministry of education is mandatory before power, water and other connections are sanctioned. Don’t make the mistake of commencing infrastructure construction before actual issuance of NOC. 5. With urban land prices having shot through the ceiling, brave education entrepreneurs or ‘edupreneurs’ are prompted to promote traditional British-style boarding or international schools in the countryside. In several states including Maharashtra and Karnataka, agricultural land can be sold only to agriculturists. Special permission is required from the state government for purchase of agricultural land for non-agriculture purposes. This paternalistic legislation was designed to further enrich the rural rich and artificially suppress rural land prices, but that’s another story. 6. For residential schools, reasonable access to large cities is advisable. Qualified teachers are impossible to find in rural areas and professional middle class teachers prefer to work in urban habitations. 7. Check out the power of teachers unions. In Kerala, powerful teachers’ unions begin making demands as soon as the foundation stone of a greenfield school is laid and are known to dictate school management policies. 8. While choosing the site, especially for co-ed and residential schools for girls, research the local law and order situation. In any case, budget for payment of ‘protection money’ to the local police. 9. Most state governments have appointed admission and fees…

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Cover Story

English learning fever in China

One of the few and perhaps most valuable upsides of almost 200 years of British rule in the Indian subcontinent during which the GDP growth rate was less than 1 percent per annum, is that it introduced the English language to the people of India. Modernisation ideals and the ideas of national freedom and democracy which inspired the first and succeeding generations of freedom fighters, were learned from English language textbooks containing the revolutionary beliefs of philosophers including Plato, Thomas Carlyle, Thomas Paine, Voltaire and Karl Marx. Indeed Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Tagore and Maulana Azad, among other leaders of the freedom movement, prided themselves on their study and knowledge of English which enabled them to give our colonial masters as good as they got, and rouse global opinion against British imperial rule. Unfortunately, after independence was wrested from foreign rule in 1947, a new class of political leaders driven by narrow ambitions and self-righteous nationalism made repeated attempts to squander this valuable legacy by insisting on replacing English with Hindi as the national language of government, business and commerce. Even after the southern anti-Hindi agitation of the 1960s scotched this linguistic hegemony plan of the educationally backward northern states, the anti-English rhetoric of patriarchal regressive classes of the BIMARU states hasn’t abated. On July 19, BJP president Rajnath Singh attributed the nation’s backwardness to English learning. A few days later, Mohan Bhagwat, chairman of the Hindu right-wing organisation RSS, endorsed this analysis. In sharp contrast, the ruling Communist Party and lay population of the neighbouring People’s Republic of China have — even if somewhat belatedly — embraced English learning with great enthusiasm. Comments Anne Johnson in a detailed paper, The Rise of English: The Language of Globalization in China and the European Union. (digitalcommons.macalester.edu), which she wrote in 2009 after the successful Beijing Olympics: “It seems to be taken for granted in China that English, more than any other language, is the mode of communication for the world, the ultimate solution for global integration. While a multitude of other languages are studied throughout the country, none have caught on with the enthusiasm afforded to English, seen as a channel for much of what China and its citizens want from the outside world: transnational networking, economic success, and cosmopolitan culture.” Explaining English fever sweeping across China — an estimated 300 million children and youth are currently studying and over 60,000 foreigners are teaching the Queen’s English in the communist republic — Johnson cites Chinese scholars Pang, Zhou and Fu, authors of a paper English for Inter-national Trade: China Enters WTO (2002), as writing that it’s official policy to encourage English language learning “not for the prestige of knowing a foreign language or appreciating the cultural heritage of Anglo-American societies, but for patriotic and utilitarian reasons, and for national modernisation as well as personal advancement and material gain”. On the other hand, India’s political class which has been handed English proficiency in large segments of the population — an…

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Cover Story

Why English-medium school admissions are a nightmare

The start of the new academic year marks the culmination of a season when parents are obliged to pull every string and use their influence with politicians, bureaucrats, high court judges and even media personnel to put in a word for admission of their wards into the country’s top-ranked day, boarding and international schools. Dilip Thakore investigates For the great majority of middle class India’s young parents with children in the age group four-six, the start of the new academic year in June marks the culmination of months of frenzied running around to secure admission into primary-secondary schools of their choice. Except for parents in the super-rich bracket who have the option of enrolling their offspring in the multiplying number of new private international schools affiliated with offshore examination boards and levying tuition fees of Rs.3-5 lakh per year, other households have a hard time getting their children into affordable English-medium (aka ‘convent’) schools whose number is estimated at 70,000 countrywide. This is the season when parents are obliged to pull every string and use their influence with politicians, bureaucrats, high court judges and even media personnel, to put in a word with promoters, trustees, headmasters and principals of the country’s best day, legacy boarding and even the top new genre international schools, to admit their wards. Consequently it’s also a harrowing time for school principals who often become incomm-unicado, as phone calls and chits from the country’s highest offices impose unbearable pressure upon them to make out-of-turn admissions. Regrettable but true, the mad rush for school admissions also provides opportunity for less upright private school promoters and principals to make windfall gains by demanding illegal capitation fees and donations through a network of agents including in a famous instance, a barber plying his trade in the neighbourhood of a top-ranked vintage day school in Bangalore. Principals and parents are well aware that venal, patronage-dispensing politicians and bureaucrats at the Centre and in the states have ruined the country’s 1.20 million government primary schools, rendering them a no-go zone for the upwardly mobile middle class. Therefore for the 60 million middle-class households, admission into India’s 80,000 (200,000 as enumerated by government which counts primary, upper primary, high and higher secon-dary schools as separate units) private schools is a do-or-die mission, which will determine and shape the future of their children. But with the ‘supply’ of new schools constricted by soaring real estate prices, bureaucratic red tape and corruption for which contemporary India has acquired global notoriety, the pressure for admission into the country’s 80,000 ‘recognised’ private schools is intensifying year on year. Even the lower subaltern classes which had hitherto been fobbed off with indifferent, free-of-charge government vernacular education, are begin-ning to flee in growing numbers to the country’s estimated 400,000 illegal private ‘budget’ schools which offer English language, even if not English-medium education while demanding — and getting — tuition fees of Rs.100-500 per month. According to a Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (education for all) programme analysis for Karnataka, reported in…

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Young Achievers

Jyotirmoy Guha, Arka De and Aditya Gupta

A team comprising Jyotirmoy Guha, Arka De and Aditya Gupta — students of the private sector Heritage Institute of Technology (HIT), Kolkata — has won the TI Analog Design Phase I (TI ADC) contest 2012-2013. The trio of final year students reading electronics and communication engineering, were awarded the first prize of Rs.10,000 in the contest which attracted 350 entries from 102 engineering colleges countrywide. TI ADC is an annual pan-India contest sponsored by the Bangalore-based Texas Instruments India — a subsidiary of the US-based Texas Instruments (annual revenue: $13.75 billion) — to encourage students to develop innovations in electronics. TI ADC 2012-2013 is the fourth edition of the contest in India. The rules require final year engineering students to submit You Tube videos of their innovations. All submissions were reviewed by a panel of experts who assessed their novelty, completeness, innovative use of analog components and attention to systems optimisation. Based on their recommendation, TI shortlisted 23 projects as winners in Phase 1, 40 projects as consolation prize winners, 12 projects for paper presentation and 34 for poster presentation. All these projects were showcased during the TI India Educators’ Conference staged in Bangalore in early April. “Our project innovation was about water conservation. In housing complexes, people tend to be negligent about turning off the pump immediately after overhead tanks fill up, resulting in huge water wastage. Our innovation ‘Water management for checking water usage and preventing wastage’ comprises an electronic switch which detects the level of water usage and turns the pump off automatically when the tank is full,” explains Aditya Gupta. The award-winning techies were guided by Mousiki Kar, professor of electronics and communication engineering at HIT. “We received valuable assistance from TI India in developing our automated electronic switch. The company also provided us some very useful components such as the low power microcontroller MSP430, TLO82 OPAMP etc free of charge,” acknowledges team leader Jyotirmoy Guha. Although serious about academic and professional success, the three friends are by no means dullards. Sports aficionados, they also share a passion for books and music. Jyotirmoy plans to press on towards an M.Tech degree. Arka has already been offered a job by Tata Consultancy Services and Aditya is preparing to enroll in a top-notch B-school for an MBA. Fair winds! Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

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Expert Comment

Distance education constraints

High cut-offs demanded by the country’s best colleges and the mad annual scramble for school and college admissions are enough proof that the demand for high quality arts, commerce and science as also professional education by far exceeds supply. Encouragement and spread of distance education (DE) offer a practical solution to this problem. But shortsighted bureaucrats and vested interests are thwarting efforts to disseminate and popularise DE. There is little public outcry against this, because most people aren’t aware of the power and potential of DE. In the public mind, it is synonymous with correspondence courses and the media largely ignores it except for occasional stories of wrongdoing. However, DE has advanced far beyond correspondence courses which were about home delivery of reading materials to pass exams. Now huge advances in ICT (information communication technologies) and the internet in particular, enable students to complete higher education without attending traditional universities or colleges. In conveniently accessible learning centres they can receive online lectures from globally renowned professors and experts supplemented by face-to-face guidance from local academics. The popularity of DE — particularly MOOC (massive open online courses) — programmes is growing by leaps and bounds abroad. In the US about 20 percent of all undergraduates signed up for DE programmes in 2007-08, according to the US department of education, National Center for Education Statistics (2011). The current enrolment in DE programmes is estimated at 25 percent. In the neighbouring People’s Republic of China, a hybrid DE learning system was improved with the establishment of CERNET (Chinese Educational and Research Network), which introduced advanced distance learning programmes in the 1990s. Currently this higher ed network run by the central government has 100 major universities linked to it and soon all universities, higher education institutes and schools from the primary level will be linked to CERNET. On the other hand in India, there are far too many regul-ators of distance education. Among them are the Distance Education Council (DEC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the University Grants Commission (UGC). According to DE specialists, all these organisations are anxious to assert their ‘control’ over DE programmes introduced by universities and institutions. Parliamentary legislation with all-India jurisdiction is conspicuously lacking, giving these self-appointed regulatory authorities considerable leeway to issue confusing and contrary diktats. The Supreme Court in a well considered judgement delivered on April 25 this year, in Association of Management of Private Colleges vs. All India Council for Techn-ical Education & Ors (CA 1145 of 2004), ruled that although the MCA (Master of computer applications) postgrad programme is a technical subject, universities offering this study programme, don’t come under the regulatory ambit of AICTE, and at best AICTE’s role can only be advisory. Likewise, business management (MBA) programmes offered by universities. Another supervisory authority of distance education is the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), established in 1985 as a Central university by a special Act of Parliament. In 1991, IGNOU promoted the Distance Education Council. Since then, DEC had widened…

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Institution Profile

University of Leicester, UK

A seven-time recipient of the times higher education awards, University of Leicester, UK’s four colleges offer a wide range of undergraduate, postgrad and doctoral programmes to 23,000 students Founded in 1921 and awarded a royal charter in 1957, the University of Leicester is consistently ranked among the Top 20 universities in the UK. The Guardian University Guide ranks it #13 while The Complete University Guide and Times University Guide rank it #16 and #17 respectively. The 93-year-old varsity is also well-reputed for research with its Quality Related Research funding (QR) rank #19 in Britain, and over 90 percent of faculty actively engaged in research. A seven-time (2007-2013) recipient of the Times Higher Education awards, University of Leicester, UK’s four colleges — arts, humanities and law; medicine, biological sciences and psychology; science and engineering; and social science — offer a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral study programmes to 23,000 students. The university’s department of museum studies is particularly well-reputed and is credited with leading the successful search for the lost grave of King Richard III. It was also at Leicester that DNA genetic fingerprinting was discovered by Prof. Sir Alec Jeffreys. “We are a dynamic 21st century university that provides high quality research and teaching alongside meeting widening participation bench-marks and providing an excellent student experience. It is these features that lead to a positive institutional ethos. This year Leicester has been ranked 17th in the national league tables. We are also delighted to receive highly acclaimed international ratings, coming within the top 2 percent of universities in the world,” says Sir Bob Burgess, vice chancellor of the university. Leicester. Sited in central England, 160 km north of London (70 minutes by train), Leicester (pop. 300,000) is the country’s tenth largest city offering a wide variety of shops, restaurants, cultural and recreational amenities. They include a range of museums and art galleries; a state-of-the-art theatre (Curve); the largest covered market in Europe (which has been on the same site for 700 years); the National Space Centre (the largest space-related visitor attr-action in Europe); and the Highcross shopping centre. Leicester is a culturally diverse city and hosts the largest ethnic minority population in the UK, particularly of South Asian origin. Consequently the city boasts several Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and other places of worship and the Melton Road district serves as a hub with a large number of Asian restaurants. The city’s Diwali celebrations are the largest outside India. Surrounded by scenic countryside, Leicester is within easy reach of several major towns including Stratford-upon-Avon (the birthplace of William Shakespeare), and the university towns of Oxford and Cambridge. The weather in Leicester is typical of Britain — cold, cloudy and rainy in all seasons with brilliant bursts of summer. Maximum temperatures range from 0oC in winter to 28oC in summer. Campus facilities. Leicester’s compact campus is sited adjacent to Victoria Park, a few minutes’ walk from the city centre. The main Fielding Johnson Building housing the university’s administration offices and law faculty dates back to 1837. Opposite…

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Institution Profile

SSPM College of Engineering, Sindhudurg

Within a short span of 14 years, SSPM College of Engineering, Sindhudurg has succeeded in impacting technical education and industry in the Konkan belt of Maharashtra in a big way Sited in the picturesque town of Kankavali (pop. 14,625) — a buzzing seaside town in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district, 460 km from India’s commercial capital, Mumbai — over the past 14 years, the low-profile Sindhudurg Shikshan Prasarak Mandal College of Engineering (SSPMCOE) has established an excellent reputation in the lush Konkan belt, as a provider of high quality technical education. Established in 1999 under the aegis of the Sindhudurg Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (SSPM) — a trust promoted by Narayan Rane, former chief minister of Maharashtra, which also runs a dairy development college and an agriculture institute in Kankavali (affiliated with Konkan Krishi Vidyapith, Dapoli) — SSPM College of Engineering, Sindhudurg bills itself as the first engin-eering college of the region. Recognised by the Delhi-based All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), Maharashtra, SSPMCOE is affiliated with Mumbai University (MU). “There was an evident void in higher technical education for students living in the Konkan region. SSPMCOE was promoted to fulfil the demand for quality engineering education driven by the mission to contribute to the develop-ment and prosperity of Sindhudurg and its people. We have invested heavily in infrastructure and our focus is on providing career-ready, employable engineering graduates with specialised skills and knowledge to industry in the Konkan belt and rest of the state,’’ says Dr. Ananth Krishna Bhat, a 1976 alumnus of Karnatak University, Dharwad, and former special officer at Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belg-aum, who took charge as principal of SSPM College of Engineering, Sindhudurg in 2010. Ranked among the top 15 of MU’s 65 affiliated engineering colleges on the basis of university examination results, SSPMCOE offers undergraduate programmes in four disciplines — electronics and telecommunication, computer engineering, electrical and mechanical engineering. “The focus of our academic programmes is on improving the quality of teaching as well as developing a research culture within the college. We shape and develop engineers by bridging the gap between academics and the world of professional engineering and linking theory with practice. Internships and research projects in industry are an integral component of SSPMCOE curriculums. This ensures our students keep abreast with latest developments in technology and are well-equipped to meet industry requirements after grad-uation. Moreover, there is strong emphasis on extra-curricular education at SSPMCOE. Our students organise and participate in seminars, conferences and diverse activities to develop leadership qualities,” says Bhat. Currently the college boasts an aggregate enrolment of 1,400 students mentored by 74 well-qualified faculty “who are not only dedicated teachers, but also active researchers in their chosen fields”. As a result, SSPMCOE has succeeded in impacting the technical education establishment in Mahar-ashtra in a big way through its contem-porary curriculums and teaching innovations. Set on a picturesque 32-acre campus with a built-up area of over 100,000 sq. ft against the undulating backdrop of hilly terrain,…

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Education Briefs

Symbiosis International conference

The Symbiosis Institute of International Studies, a constituent school of Symbiosis International University, Pune, has scheduled an international relations conference titled ‘India and Development Partnerships in Asia and Africa: Towards a New Paradigm’ on December 14-15 at Symbiosis’ Lavale campus in Pune. “The conference will provide a platform for academicians, researchers, corporates and policy makers to examine multifarious aspects of development partnerships. The key objectives are to find meaningful and sustainable solutions to development issues, and explore India’s increasing capabilities and potential for development work in developing countries in the areas in which the latter need it most,’’ says an SIIS spokesperson. The conference will feature six tracks — development partnerships administration; trade and finance; social sector capacity building; partnerships for inclusive development; role of culture in development partnerships; and post-MDG 2015: the evolving agenda. Central Square progress report In a progress report (July 12), the Delhi-based Central Square Foundation (CSF, estb. 2012) has outlined the foundation’s several initiatives to make quality the focus of education policy and practice in India. “During the past few months, we have met numerous elected leaders and senior bureaucrats focused on education at various levels of government. Their interest in improving the quality of education inspires optimism and we are working on a number of policy initiatives to improve quality,’’ says Ashish Dhawan, the promoter-chairman of CSF. Among these initiatives are the FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry)-sponsored National School Education Committee (chaired by CSF) with 25 corporate members and use of the FICCI platform to call the attention of policymakers towards critical education reform issues; an agreement with a group of like-minded civil society organisations to draw media attention towards ‘Making Learning the Priority in RTE’; and a partnership in education with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. Moreover the India School Leadership Institute (ISLI), promoted by CSF with a group of international foundations, admitted its first batch. The Akanksha Foundation is currently incubating this programme in partnership with Teach for India and KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program). CSF has also promoted five Mindspark learning centres in Delhi with an enrolment of over 400 children, which blend technology with traditional learning. Tata Tech-BITS concordat The Pune-based Tata Technologies Ltd has signed an agreement with the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani under which the company will design and deliver special education programmes for skills develop-ment of engineering professionals, students and faculty. Under the agreement inked, in Pune on July 15, Tata Technologies will support BITS’ industry interface programmes such as Practice School I & II for internships, and industry immersion for faculty refreshers. BITS will run special programmes incorporating industry perspectives and inputs from Tata Technologies. Moreover, BITS will award specific degrees through its off-campus Work Integrated Learning programmes. “Industry relevant education delivered in close collaboration with industry, has been a cornerstone of the educational philosophy of BITS, Pilani for over four decades. I am confident that the exciting multidimensional engagement that we are entering into with Tata…

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Education Notes

Bihar First BLISS graduates The Bihar state government felicitated 120 teachers trained in English teaching under the British government-spons-ored Bihar Language Initiative in Secondary Schools (BLISS) project, at a ceremony in Patna on July 3. Speaking on the occasion, Bihar’s education minister P.K. Shahi said: “We have a staggering 20 million students in classes I-X to whom we must provide quality education and equip with linguistic skills to enhance their pros-pects. We must address the aspirations of our students for better education. Otherwise we are sitting on a volcano.’’ In January, the state’s education ministry signed an agreement with the British government’s Department for International Development (DFID) to provide English teaching programmes for teachers in Bihar. Rob Lynes, director, British Council (India), said the BLISS project will provide English teaching skills to teachers by way of in-service training. Odisha Higher education quality push The Union government will give a major push to improve the quality of higher education during the Twelfth Plan (2012-17) period under its Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) programme. “It is a stark reality that quality, particularly in higher education, is not of international standards. Therefore the Central government is taking a slew of measures to improve the situation,” Union human resource development minister M.M. Pallam Raju said in Bhubaneswar on July 2. Addressing a press conference, Raju said RUSA’s focus will be on improving teaching-learning quality and enabling research. “RUSA will fund colleges and universities, and transform them into centres of academic excellence.’’ Elaborating, the minister announced that 20 new Central universities and seven IITs will be promoted under RUSA during the 12th Plan period, adding that deserving institutes will also be conferred the status of Central universities. With particular reference to Odisha, Raju said the Centre’s allocation to the state for school education schemes during the period 2009-13 aggregated Rs.6,488.77 crore against which the allocation in 2013-14 is Rs.837.12 crore. Punjab Rural higher ed initiative The punjab government is examining a proposal to provide free higher education to meritorious students of poor families in rural areas of the state. The programme, under active consid-eration, is envisaged in the PPP (public-private partnership) mode in association with several renowned private sector education institutions in Punjab. “The state government is determined to provide free-of-charge high quality higher education to merit students from poor rural households. We are currently engaged in discussions with several reputed education institutions to partner with the state government,” said Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Maluka, speaking to media personnel in Chandigarh on July 4. Uttar Pradesh IIM-L-SMU concordat A memorandum of understanding has been inked between the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L), and Singapore Management University (SMU). Under the terms of the MoU signed in Lucknow on July 29, the two institutes will support each other in the pursuit of excellence in global business education. “Both IIM-Lucknow and SMU will closely collaborate in research, executive education, faculty and stud-ent exchange programmes. With globalisation, opportunities will be created in various domains of learning. Moreover,…

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Education News

They said it in July

“I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all the terrorists and extremists.” Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teenage education activist, addressing UN Youth Assembly (July 13) “Modi says we “hide behind the burqa of secularism”. Preferable, surely, to the khaki shorts of intolerance and hatred that he now tries to hide?” Shashi Tharoor, Union HRD minister, commenting on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on Congress secularism (July 15) “You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is: Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.” US President Barack Obama reacting to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for shooting Trayvon Martinan, an unarmed African-American teenager (July 20) “It is an illusion that English is the only means to progress. It’s not true. The maximum cases of corruption and irregularities are committed by such educated people.” Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief, defending BJP chief Rajnath Singh’s comment that the English language has caused great loss to the country (Deccan Chronicle, July 27) “Growth is really vitally important and I’ve never wavered from that.. I have been a great believer in economic growth but not as an end in itself, but as a means to enhancing human lives.” Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on the growth vs. development debate (Financial Express, July 26) “I am for redistribution (spending revenue for the poor), but unlike Mr. Sen I do not pretend somehow money will materialize by our wishing for it, as in some of our mythological tales.” Well-known economist Jagdish Bhagwati responding to Amartya Sen (Business Standard, July 27) “When I used to do my social work, I visited a remote village in Orissa that didn’t have enough food to eat, but had expired Fair and Lovely tubes.” Nandita Das, actress-director, on starring in and endorsing The Dark is Beautiful national advertising campaign (Mint Lounge, July 27)

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Education News

Karnataka: Continuous confusion

The world over the process of admission into colleges and universities is simple. Students complete admission forms, provide required documentation, submit to interview and/or entrance exams, agree to pay prescribed fees and are admitted or rejected by college/university managements. But under Indian-style socialism distinguished by disrespect for property rights and driven by government need to subsidise the vocal middle class, admission into higher education institutions — especially professional education institutes — has become a complex and confusing process defined by quotas, differential tuition fees, reservation for special interest groups and over-regulation. In particular, the government-prescribed admission process of Karnataka’s 250 professional colleges is becoming more chaotic and confusing year on year. This year hasn’t been any different. Through the months of May and June students suffered great anxiety with no clarity on the number of seats which would be made available to students topping the state government’s common entrance test (CET) by 187 private professional colleges, or of tuition fees payable. Under a seat-sharing agreement (which is renewed annually) between the state government and the Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges-Karnataka (COMED-K), private professional colleges surrender 25-45 percent of seats to CET toppers who pay rock-bottom tuition fees. On May 24 this seat-sharing agreement was renewed again by t he newly elected Congress state government and COMED-K. As per the agreement, in the new academic year commencing this month, 45 percent of first year seats in private unaided engineering colleges, 40 percent in medical and 25 percent in dental colleges, will be allotted to CET exam toppers. On July 2, the state government’s Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), which conducts CET and streams toppers into private professional colleges, announced that 46,600 engineering, 1,780 medical and 791 dental seats had been allocated for CET students (in order of their merit rank in the exam) at government-prescribed annual fees — engineering (Rs.41,390); medical (Rs.46,000) and dental (Rs.35,000) — and set the first round of face-to-face student admission coun-seling for July 10. Meanwhile COMED-K had begun its admission counseling on July 2 (COMED-K conducts its own entrance test and counseling for admission into the remaining 55 percent engineering, 60 percent medical and 75 percent dental seats available in its 187 member colleges). Given that the fees under the government quota i.e. CET students, are much lower (COMED-K tuition fees range from Rs.1.25 lakh (engineering) to (Rs. 3.52 lakh (medical) per year), most students prefer to be admitted under the CET quota. Hence the disquiet over COMED-K beginning its admission process before KEA. The state government’s extraction of a sizeable quota and insistence on stipulating the special tuition fees payable by government (CET) quota students to private professional coll-eges is questionable, given that three Supreme Court judgements (T.M.A. Pai Foundation (2002), Islamic Academy (2003) and P.A. Inamdar vs State of Maharashtra (2005)) have upheld the right of unaided professional education institutes to conduct their own “trans-parent” merit-based admission processes and levy “reasonable” tuition fees. More recently on July 18, the Supreme Court quashed the single-window National Eligibility-cum-Entrance…

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Education News

West Bengal: Equal ignorance

Messing with English language learning in West Bengal has cost this eastern seaboard state (pop. 91 million), which right until 1970 was commonly acknow-ledged as the country’s most literate and well-educated, dearly. From the mid- 1960s when Marxist fever spread through West Bengal’s famous colleges and universities, the state’s education system has been in decline. This fall was accelerated and sustained during 34 years (1977-2011) of uninterrupted rule in the state of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-led Left Front government. Initiating a Mao-style cultural revolution in the state, the Left Front completely banned the teaching of English in primary-upper primary (classes I-VII) education. This diktat had a cascading effect on secondary and higher education which combined with government-sponsored student agitat-ions and faculty infiltration by CPM cadres, has wiped out West Bengal’s pre-eminent status as an education hub. Currently West Bengal is ranked #27 on the pan-India Education Development Index (EDI) of the Delhi-based National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). However the incumbent Trinamool Congress government of West Bengal led by feisty chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who routed the CPM/Left Front in the historic legislative assembly election of 2011, seems unaware of the dangers of messing with the state’s two-language formula. On July 12, the state government sent a proposal to a 19-member syllabus reforms committee headed by Avik Majumder, former assistant professor, department of comparative literature at Jadavpur University, to recommend an amend-ment to the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Examinations (WBCHSE) syllabus which mandates compulsory learning of two languages. To reduce “undue stress” reportedly suffered by higher secondary (classes XI-XII) students, the state government has proposed making the study of one language optional. This proposal has not found favour with the majority of members in the syllabus reforms comm-ittee which wants higher secondary students to learn two languages as compulsory subjects. The majority opinion is that higher secondary stud-ents need to learn the state language and English, as is the norm of most state examination boards countrywide. “If only one language is compulsory, urban students will choose English while rural students would be inclined to choose Bengali. This will place rural students at a disadvantage in higher education while hurting Bengali and vernacular languages,” explains a syllabus reforms committee member, who requested anonymity. On the other hand, the state’s education ministry is in favour of making one language optional. “Higher secondary students writing the class XII exams of the CBSE and CISCE boards are given the choice of making one language optional. The examinee’s average is calculated on ‘best-of-five’ subjects, in which English and three subjects are compulsory, while the fifth is optional. With most students likely to write competitive exams immediately after completing class XII, it is unnecessary to saddle them with two compulsory languages,” says Muktinath Chatterjee, president of WBCHSE. However Sunanda Sanyal, former professor of English at Calcutta University, believes the Trinamool Congress is replicating the error of the Left Front government. “Experi-ments with English language learning during the Left Front decades…

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Education News

Tamil Nadu: Mid-day meal rumblings

The tragic death of 23 children of the Dharmasati Gandaman School, Chhapra, in Saran district, Bihar, after consuming the pesticide-contaminated school mid-day meal on July 16 and numerous scary stories of this type, suggest the rot in India’s school mid-day meal scheme — the world’s largest, covering 120 million children — is systemic. Two days later, 147 girl students of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School in Tamil Nadu, were hospitalised after consuming their noon meal. Ditto 20 students in St. Joseph’s High School, Usgao (Goa) on July 19; and 30 primary students in Chhattisgarh on July 20. Even in the southern state of Tamil Nadu (pop. 72 million) which pioneered the school mid-day meal programme (MDMP) in 1960 and prides itself on its education system, the MDMP is beset with problems of poor management and negligence. Introduced in 1960 by the state’s legendary chief minister K. Kamaraj and expanded to reach all government school children in classes I-X by actor-turned-chief minister M.G. Ramachandran (1917-1987), Tamil Nadu’s mid-day meal programme has proved spectacularly successful in increasing school enrolment and retention, prompting the Supreme Court to recommend it to all 28 state governments and seven Union territories in a landmark directive (November 28, 2001). Today, the Tamil Nadu Puratchi Thalaivar MGR Nutritious Meal Programme covers over 10 million children in 92,000 schools statewide at a modest cost of Rs.1,500 crore per year. Consequently, the fall from grace of Tamil Nadu’s exemplary mid-day meal scheme to one in which lunch has to be forced down children’s throats with threats and reprimands, has prompted considerable dismay and head-shaking within the academic community. According to educationists and child rights activists, the main causes of the decline of Tamil Nadu’s mid-day meal scheme are lack of proper storage facilities in most schools, manpower shortage and absence of efficient monitoring. “The mid-day meal programme which feeds so many children requires an effective monitoring system and commitment from officials who should inspect noon meal centres every month. However, most officials shirk this responsibility. Moreover, there is no audit of the mid-day meal scheme by parents, school management committees and local government organisations. Too many rural schools lack storage facilities, potable drinking water, as also clean rooms for cooking. Negligent cooks and meal providers are also responsible for mid-day meal calamities,” says K. Shanmugavelayudham, convenor, Tamil Nadu Child Rights Obser-vatory and Right to Food Campaign. Despite tall claims made by the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK govern-ment that the state government has installed separate kitchens in more than 92 percent of government and govern-ment-aided schools, and has equipped them with cooking gas and stoves, in a large number of schools in the Villipuram, Thirunelveli, and Kanchi-puram districts, the mid-day meal is still prepared and served in classrooms. According to a report in the New Indian Express (July 22), 2,918 government schools statewide and 231 in the Vellore district don’t have separate kitchens. Moreover, according to the third review mission of the mid-day meal scheme undertaken by the Union government in…

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Education News

Gujarat: Poor homework fallout

Are students in Gujarat losing interest in professional (engineering, business management, etc) education, or is the country’s industrially fastest growing state experiencing a glut of professional education institutions? State education department officials are keeping their fingers crossed as the admission process for professional courses in Gujarat moves into the final stages amid fears that the vacancies in engineering, MBA, MCA, pharmacy and para-medical programmes may rise to 25 percent this year. “Average vacancies in professional colleges were 20 percent last year and around 11 percent in 2011,” says a state government official, speaking on condition of anonymity. This despite the number of students completing the school-leaving class XII science stream exam having risen from 68,000 in 2010 to over 100,000 this year. Within the engineering stream as well, students’ preferences are changing. According to M.Y. Patil, officer on special duty, admission committee for professional courses (ACPC), five years ago information technology (IT) was the most preferred subject. In the past two years, it’s been electrical and this year it’s mechanical engineering. More than 44,000 students listed mechanical engi-neering as their first choice followed by 36,000 who opted for civil engineering. Gujarat’s 21 government and 102 private engineering colleges offer 54,814 seats per year. Of them 16,230 are in mechanical, 9,950 in civil, 9,839 in electrical, 8,160 in computer, 7,080 in electronics and communications engin-eering and 3,555 in information technology. At the end of the second round of admissions on July 20, 7,767 seats were vacant, leaving college managements, who expected surplus demand, in shock. The maximum vacancies were in electronics and communications (1,291) followed by civil engineering (899), IT (884), electrical (852) and mechanical (791). Moreover, after they were selected and admitted, 6,585 students did not report for admission, thus adding to vacancies. According to Janak Khandwala who heads the association of self-financed professional colleges, the no-show is attributable to the best students being admitted into the IITs and top-ranked non-IIT engineering colleges. “Their selection process started late and was completed just as the second round of counseling ended in Gujarat. Obvi-ously students selected here preferred to enroll in colleges with an all-India profile,’’ says Khandwala. However Dr. Sumit Vyas, research fellow with the Biotechnology Aware-ness Programme, attributes declining student interest in professional education — especially engineering progra-mmes — to reckless capacity expansion which has created an acute faculty shortage. “Most engineering study programmes are conducted in English which has been neglected for several decades in Gujarat. Finding English fluent qualified faculty is a very difficult proposition, particularly for rural and semi-rural colleges. Hence the decline of interest in engineering education,’’ says Vyas. This problem has been compounded by the increasingly liberal accreditation policy of the Delhi-based All India Council for Technical Education. According to official sources, in 2010, capacity was expanded by 6,299 seats in engineering, 1,500 in business management and 1,380 in pharmacy programmes in Gujarat. Between 2010-13, the total number of engineering seats increased from 31,714 to 54,815, a jump of almost 73 percent. However, the general consensus is that…

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Education News

Maharashtra: School census shock

The latest Annual School Census 2012-13 report of the Delhi-based National University of Educational Planning & Adminis-tration (NUEPA) for Maharashtra indicates that 93 percent schools in the state are deficient of infrastructure mandated by s.19 and Schedule of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. Only 7,355 of 103,625 schools fulfil all ten infrastructure norms stipulated by the RTE Act. For the past 18 years, NUEPA has been releasing hard data relating to primary education. This year for the first time, the university has presented U-DISE (Unified District Information System for Education) which covers primary, secondary and higher secondary schools — an invaluable service. Educationists and captains of industry in Maharashtra are dismayed — or should be dismayed — that India’s second most populous and industrial state (pop. 112 million), which contributes 14.4 percent of the country’s GDP, provides such poor school infrastructure. The norms prescribed by the Schedule of the RTE Act — teacher-pupil ratio, all-weather building, safe drinking water, separate toilets for boys and girls, kitchen for mid-day meals, playground, library etc — are embarrassingly modest by OECD nation standards. That even so, the overwhelming majority of primary-secondary schools are non-compliant with Schedule norms has caused the scams-tainted Congress-NCP government which has ruled the state since 2004, considerable discomfiture. “Maharashtra has met targets in terms of providing drinking water, separate toilets for boys and girls, providing textbooks, on which para-meters we have fared better than all other states. But given our size and population and since we have over 100,000 schools in the state, full RTE compliance will take some time,’’ says Siddhesh Wadkar, consultant for education policy and planning of the state government. According to Wadkar, Maharashtra’s steady progress in school education is testified by the state’s improved ranking in NUEPA’s Educational Development Index (EDI) 2011-12. “In 2009-10, Maharashtra was ranked #17. In 2011-12, we are ranked #8,’’ he says. However, according to a Mumbai-based school principal, Maharashtra’s improved EDI ranking is not proof of improved learning outcomes in school education. “It’s indicative of how poorly other states are faring in their progress towards attaining the objectives of the RTE Act and in improving teaching-learning standards. Moreover, it’s important to note that the infrastructure deficiencies highlighted by the U-DISE report are mainly in government, not private, schools which are the saving grace.’’ This analysis is supported by U-DISE data. Of the 103,625 class I-XII schools in Maharashtra, 67,718 are managed by state and local governments. Another 21,259 are quasi-government (private aided). The total number of private independent (unaided) schools aggregate 13,989, of whom a mere 7,833 are English-medium institutions. “You can bet your boots that 95 percent of private English-medium schools are RTE-compliant,’’ adds the anonymous principal. With government and aided schools comprising 80 percent of the total number of schools in the state, it’s patently obvious the majority of them are not RTE-compliant. But one of the major criticisms of the RTE Act is that while it prescribes punitive measures, including closure of…

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Delhi: Wary reaction

The Delhi state government is set to finalise a historic decision to allow recognised private unaided schools in the national capital to run two shifts. Addressing media personnel on July 5, education minister Prof. Kiran Walia said a government-appointed panel has drawn up rules and regulat-ions for the citys top-ranked private schools to double their admissions, income and installed capacity utilisation.With the national capital attracting continuous migration from around the country, the population of Delhi NCR (national capital region) has grown from 6.22 million in 1981 to 16.75 million currently, resulting in the city and its environs experiencing an acute land shortage. As it is not possible to allow expansion of the majority of existing schools, the only possible solution is to go in for optimum utilisation of existing material resources by allowing them to run schools in the second shift, explained Walia. According to the Master Plan for Delhi 2021 (MPD-21), the state already hosts 5,034 schools, of whom half (2,377) are private institutions. At the current rate of civic growth, another 550 bricks-n-mortar primary-secondary schools will be required by the end of the 12th Plan (2017) — a near impossibility. Therefore MPD-21 has recommended a second shift in existing schools in view of the problem of land and space. To evaluate the MPD-21 proposal, last December the Delhi government constituted a sub-committee. In March, the sub-committee submitted its report, endor-sing the proposal but advising that the second shift school should be a full-fledged replica of the first shift with new/different students and teachers. The reaction of Delhis top-ranked private independent (unaided) schools, which are flooded with admission applications and have long waiting lists, has been surprisingly lukewarm. Despite the opportunity to double their revenue and being spared the intense pressure exerted by the national capitals high and mighty for out-of-turn admissions, they are wary about the terms and conditions — the fine print — which may be imposed upon them by the state governments resentful, nit-picking bureaucracy. We have to wait for the rules to be notified. Once that happens we will debate them with school management boards. We dont intend to immediately recommend starting second shifts to our member schools, says L.V. Sehgal, principal of the Bal Bharati School, Rajendra Nagar, and chairman National Progressive School Conference (NPSC) whose 110 members include premier schools such as DPS, R.K. Puram, Modern School, and Springdales, among others. Knowledgeable, experienced princ-ipals also fear reputational loss and brand dilution because schools will be obliged to double their faculty, a difficult proposition given the acute nationwide shortage of well-qualified and trained teachers. It will be almost impossible to find the type of faculty we have nurtured over the past several decades for a second shift school. While the proposal is evidently in the public interest, we have to thoroughly examine and debate it with all our stakeholders before taking a decision, says Manika Sharma, principal of The Shri Ram School, consistently top-ranked in the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings. Madhulika Sen, principal…

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Useful ranking exercise

Thanks for your insightful cover story ‘Indias most respected non-IIM B-schools (EW July). Your analysis that the huge reputation the IIMs enjoy is because they attract the countrys best graduates, is bang on. Only the top 2 percent who score 98-99 percent in the Common Admission Test qualify for admission into the IIMs. These are the countrys brightest of the best graduates and are inherently motivated to do well.Though nobody can deny that the ABC (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta) IIMs enjoy great reputations, other B-schools are fast catching up. As your cover story highlights, the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, XLRI, Jamshedpur, S.P. Jain, Mumbai, among others which feature in ‘Indias Top 50 non-IIM B-schools rankings, are well on their way to bridging the teaching-learning gap which separates them from the IIMs. For the great majority of students who dont qualify for the IIMs, your rankings are extremely useful, enabling them to make informed choices. Rajashekar Murthy Chennai Informative league tables Your latest cover story (EW July) featuring the league tables of the countrys top law, hotel management, fashion, mass communication and animation design colleges was very useful and informative. Given that these professional disciplines are new and still evolving, there are many doubts about the quality of professional courses offered by education institutions. In fact of late, a large number of private professional education institutions, which make tall claims in their advertisements, have mushroomed and its very difficult to be unimpressed. Your rankings, based on the informed opinion of industry experts, faculty and students, will go a long way in helping parents and students shortlist bona fide institutions. I hope next year you will expand the rankings to include healthcare management and computer training institutes. Ramesh Kulkarni Mumbai Glaring omission In your cover story ‘Indias most respected non-IIM B-schools (EW July), we are un-able to find the rankings on the parameter of ‘Infrastructure. Rankings of only eight parameters are featured in the magazine. Priti Miranda S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai The Top 10 Infrastructure parameter ranking table was inadvertently omit-ted. The omission is deeply regretted. The table is reproduced below — Editor Infrastructure (100) 1 ISB, Hyderabad 92 2 XIM, Bhubaneswar 84 3 XLRI, Jamshedpur 83 4 MDI, Gurgaon 81 4 NITIE, Mumbai 81 6 Alliance Business School, Bangalore 80 7 SIBM, Pune 79 7 BIMTECH, Greater Noida 79 9 NIRMA University, Ahmedabad 78 9 BIMM, Pune 78 Public relations blitz I compliment your Gujarat correspondent R.K. Misra for his unbiased report on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modis primary school enrolment drive and the states education record (‘Controversial blitzkrieg, Education News, EW July). Its easy to get swayed by the public relations blitz which projects Modi as an education champion, and Gujarat as the countrys most developed state. But the truth is that public education in Gujarat — as elsewhere in the country — is grossly neglected. Government schools in the state are poorly equip-ped, student attendance is much below the national average, learning outcomes are poor…

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