– Prof. Ram B. Ramachandran, Professor of Practice and Vice Dean O.P. Jindal Global University Mysteries of our brain have puzzled human beings for centuries. Neuroscientists and psychologists are still trying to figure out how 86 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses work in tandem to compute, comprehend and rationalize. Our thoughts, emotions and memories are controlled by the enigmatic 3-pound brain. We make decisions in life sometimes based on empirical evidence and also based on our emotions and biases. We tend to magically create mental short cuts based on conscious and sub-conscious influences. It is specifically pronounced in financial decision making. Financial markets are characterised by volatility, with prices moving in cycles of peaks and troughs. Lately, liquidity fuelled booms and busts have become common occurrences. In light of this, the assumptions of ‘Rationality’ and ‘Efficient Markets’ have been in dispute, but now it is widely acknowledged that much of this market volatility has its source in human behaviour and its quirks rather than fundamentals or quantitative factors. After all, what constitutes ‘markets’ if not their very human participants who make them up, technical trading strategies and algorithmic trading notwithstanding? Analysing Emotions It is becoming increasingly necessary to understand, analyse, and build strategies around human emotions to the extent they move financial decisions and markets. This is where Behavioural Finance comes in. The broader aim of Behavioural Finance is to narrow the gap between the theory of rational investor decisions and their actual behavioural abilities when it comes to making investment decisions. The formal study of Behavioural Finance helps to equip us with knowledge about the principles of psychology of decision-making under conditions of risk and uncertainty. This specialised knowledge can then be deployed to formulate practical applications for managing assets and constructing portfolios. The knowledge is specialised since it combines two domains that are not just technical (psychology/human behaviour and finance) but also as different as chalk and cheese! Thankfully, this niche field has received attention from serious academics from finance, economics and psychology. Individual and Professional Investment As Individual investors ‘suffer’ from behavioural biases, can they turn to professional investors? Well, professionals suffer from similar biases that afflict individuals. In fact, their biases many a time results in overconfidence, familiarity bias and disposition effect. Past performance is no guarantee for future results. Many investors and the markets rely on and follow ‘hot’ fund managers. The ‘hot-hand’ fallacy creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, which can then lead to wild swings when the fund manager goes ‘cold’. The current craze with cryptocurrency and Non-Fungible Assets (NFTs) are partially driven by crowd mentality. Can the wild swings in these new investment vehicles be better predicted and managed? The need for Behavioural Finance The need for such specialised knowledge is becoming obvious given how much finance and economics have gained from insights about psychological processes. Five Nobel Prizes in Economics have been awarded for path-breaking work on cognition, nudge theory, market behaviour and decision making, which now offers a deeper understanding of…
Countingwell — a supplementary math learning app/online platform owned by Illuminati Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd — released its State of Math Learning Report 2021 in early January highlighting the decline in math learning skills and outcomes of middle school children countrywide. The report analysed data of 75,000 class VI-VIII students from the learning cycles, assessments and tests taken on the Countingwell Maths learning digital app over the pandemic year 2021. The key findings of the nationwide report are: • Poor word problem comprehension i.e, lack of English language skills is a major contributor to low math learning outcomes. • One in five students lack basic calculation skills learnt in previous classes. • One of ten class VIII students is lagging behind in math skills because they have not mastered concepts that they should have learned in previous classes. This learning gap increases as students move to higher classes. • Students witness a drastic drop in math scores from class VII onwards as they begin solving more complex problems that require application of multiple concepts. • Students from tier II and III cities such as Varanasi, Madurai, Indore, Jabalpur, Vapi, Nashik and Bharuch performed on a par with peers in metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. • Male students fare better in math learning outcomes than girls, but the gap is marginal. The widest gender gap is in comprehension. While it was already quite low for both genders, boys did better than girls • Weakest comprehension is in math concepts such as fractions, ratio and proportion, algebra, and decimals. “The objective of the report is to understand, analyse and highlight the maths skills of middle-school children. We chose middle school as this is the stage during which math content becomes progressively complex and students begin to lose interest in the subject. Our goal was to understand the factors that influence maths learning and interest levels of middle school students. Our study found that poor understanding of concepts, reduced parental involvement in monitoring math learning at home, and increase in difficulty levels were some of the reasons attributed to the drastic drop in math scores in class VII students,” says Nirmal Shah, a chemistry alum of Madras University whose entrepreneurial journey began 24 years ago (Advanced Technology Labs, Chennai TESCRA, Bengaluru, Trade2Gain, Delhi), and co-founder of Countingwell. Prompted by the struggles of their own children in learning math in school, Nirmal Shah and Ravi Jitani, a commerce and business management alumnus of Delhi University and INSEAD with over two decades of rich working experience (Fujitsu Consulting, Aureos Capital etc) co-promoted Countingwell in 2018. Headquartered in Bengaluru, Countingwell’s fully remote teams operate from New Delhi to Jaipur in the north to Salem and Honnavar in the south. The company offers well-researched and specially designed app-based math learning study programmes mapped to the prescribed middle school (class VI-VIII) syllabus; a blended learning programme for schools and teachers, and career guidance and counseling programmes in careers of the future. Countingwell’s team of curriculum developers…
–Dr. Amita Chauhan, Chairperson, Amity Group of Schools Women need to be cherished and celebrated every day, and even more so those who shine the light of education upon us while we must acknowledge, on a daily basis, the significant role women play in every aspect of life, it is essential to reiterate their importance on some special occasions. International Women’s Day is, therefore, an apt moment to celebrate various acts of courage, perseverance and determination exemplified by ordinary women, who play extraordinary roles in shaping the present and future generations of their societies and countries. We have all been witness to how, during the ongoing pandemic, women have stood resolutely at the frontline as healthcare workers, innovators, teachers and administrators, balancing all this with their responsibilities as caregivers and homemakers. Amongst all these equally relevant roles, I believe that the most important role a woman plays is that of a teacher. Naturally so, as the first life lesson we learn is always at home, and always through our mother’s knowledge and wisdom. The extraordinary role of a mother as a teacher starts right from when a child is born. She always leads by example, whether it is for inculcating qualities of discipline and hard work, or about imparting moral values of respect for others and compassion for the needy. She is the one who teaches us how to share – first with our siblings and then with our friends – and care. As children begin their school life, they move seamlessly from the loving arms of their mother to that of a teacher, and in majority of cases, it is usually a woman. As per a recent survey of the Education Department, more than 80% of all teachers in kindergarten through high school are women. Evidence also suggests that women teachers are better equipped to understand a child’s emotional and mental needs. They impart a sense of security to children who have just stepped out of the comfort zone of their homes. Through my vast years of experience as an educator, I can safely claim that women prove to be great counsellors as teachers, as they are born with an innate empathy, high emotional quotient and an unending capacity to nurture. These qualities that women are endowed with naturally also find mention in our ancient texts. (Yajur Veda 20. 85). This means that a scholarly woman inspires us towards knowledge and promotes a noble conduct. Another great exposition according to Markandeya Purana (Devimahñtmyam 2.13), says that a woman is born out of the incomparable radiance emerging from all Gods, so it is only natural for her to be all powerful and wise. Truly, we have innumerable instances of women who have turned the tide of time, despite all odds. To name just a few, we all know of Savitri Bai Phule, educator and reformer who played a vital role in revolutionising women’s rights in India, or of Helen Keller, who never surrendered to her disability, and instead rose to…
A business management alumnus of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai who pressed on to study for a PhD from the International University of America, London. Dr. Chandan Agarwal is chairperson of GD Goenka Public School, Kanpur. What is the objective behind the promotion of GD Goenka School, Kanpur? Education is the soul of a society passed down from one generation to another. With innumerable players in this arena, it becomes important for schools to build a formidable reputation in society, and enjoy the support and loyalty of its parents, students’ and teaching communities. A positive image helps attract and retain skilled and experienced faculty and also influences students’ achievements. To create and sustain a popular image, it is significant to ‘live the brand’ and reinforce positive reputation through various platforms such as websites, newsletters, participation in community welfare programs etc. What are the distinguishing features of your school? Our school provides a learning environment that focuses on and augments the evolution of 21st century skills- — critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. We believe that every child is unique and blessed with inherent capabilities. Therefore, our endeavour is to provide appropriate developmental programmes with not more than 25 students in a class. The ambience inculcates a lifelong love for learning. A futuristic approach to learning based on experiential and child-centric pedagogies has been our forte from inception. What initiatives did your school take over the past two pandemic years to ensure that every child continues to receive holistic education? The disillusionment regarding the seriousness and objectivity of online education did not shake our determination to provide quality education. We adopted a progressive approach and during the initial stages of the pandemic, charted a strategy to implement multidimensional teaching pedagogies, using different mediums of communication to reach out to all our students. To ensure the physical and mental well-being of our students and parents, frequent motivational and counseling sessions by iconic personalities from different walks of life were also organised What are your school’s future plans? The need of the hour is to provide students with enriching experiences which will reinforce their learning and expose them to various opportunities of self- growth. The NEP 2020 has also been designed to nurture skill-based learning and focus on socio-emotional, intellectual and physical needs of students. In the future, we intend to focus on experiential learning, personalised attention, and gradual implementation of NEP 2020. What are your suggestions to revive Indian education post pandemic? Reopen schools now!. The past several months of schools’ lockdown has taken a severe toll on children’s social and emotional well-being resulting in enormous learning loss. We must restore their confidence and enable them to recover lost learning, identify new and innovative strategies to sustain through changing times and prepare students for the future. Let us not forget “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”.
“The English language continued to remain dominating (sic) in our country because we were colonised. Parents fear that if their children will not learn English, they won’t have a future. Once we give them better options in regional languages, this hesitancy will go away.” Dinesh Prasad Saklani, newly appointed director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (Hindustan Times, February 17) “We are seeing how the digital divide is rapidly shrinking in India. Innovation is ensuring inclusion for us. I am seeing that power in the digital university which can completely eliminate the problem of shortage of seats that we experience in our country.” Prime minister Narendra Modi on the provisions made in Budget 2022-23 for the education sector (The Economic Times, February 21) “(The hijab) does not interfere with education, holding a job, voting, participating in public life, or achieving anything in life. To, therefore, use it as a pretext for disqualifying someone from teaching or going to college is a travesty.” Pratap Bhanu Mehta, public intellectual, on the hijab (headscarves) controversy raging in Karnataka (Indian Express, February 23) “A radical liberalisation of medical education in India is the only option. The problem of ‘bad’ commercialisation can only be solved by more liberalisation. All other solutions are akin to putting a band-aid on a bullet wound.” Pranay Kotasthane, deputy director of Takshashila Institution (Times of India, February 27) “We have survived two world wars, three famines, the Holocaust, Babyn Yar, the Great Purge, the Chornobyl explosion, the occupation of Crimea, and the war in the east of our state. They wanted to destroy us so many times, but they couldn’t.” Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky, president, Ukraine (The Kyiv Independent, March 3)
GHI Presents L’Atelier Bengaluru, February 26. M. Venkaiah Naidu, vice president of India, and Thaawarchand Gehlot, governor of Karnataka, inaugurated the state-of-the-art L’Atelier — ensemble of fine arts and indoor sports arena — of the top-ranked Greenwood High International School, Bengaluru (GHI). Addressing students and parents of GHI, the vice president said: “A healthy body is essential for a healthy mind. Thus, sports and co-curricular education play an indispensable part in the growth and moulding of young minds.” GHI’s L’Atelier Centre for Sports Excellence (CSE) offers state-of-the-art facilities including a natural grass FIFA size football ground, Astroturf hockey field, tennis courts and cricket pitches with nets, 50-m swimming pool, world-class glass-backed squash courts, shooting range, indoor basketball and badminton courts, golf simulator with professional golf clubs and data analyzer. A separate block for arts, drama and music with globally benchmarked facilities including sound-proof music rooms with world-class acoustics; art room to conceptualize and paint artistic canvases; art gallery to showcase students’ artwork; drama, music and, design tech rooms for design thinking; music studio for sound recording; dance studio for choreography of classical and contemporary dance forms. “Inauguration of this complex is a step forward in our mission to enable our students develop in a holistic manner, with all-round education,” said Bijay Agarwal, chairman, GHI, speaking on the occasion. SIS Global Debates Bhubaneswar, January 29. SAI International School (SIS), India’s top-ranked co-ed day-cum-boarding school in the latest EW India School Rankings 2021-22, convened an online Global Debate Competition which attracted participation of 49 school teams from ten countries including China, UAE, Japan, Pakistan, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Morocco and Kenya. The chief guests were Alex Ellis, British high commissioner to India, and Hemanth Bharatha Chakravarthy, chairperson, events of the Harvard College Debating Union. The topics of debate included, ‘The future of artificial intelligence (AI) and school education will go hand in hand’; ‘Development of AI will help humanity’; ‘AI has the potential to address some of the biggest challenges in school education today’; ‘Excessive use of Internet has led to unsafe learning’; ‘Is climate change already irreversible?’ among others. “The SAI Global Debate is an independent, non-partisan, progressive initiative seeking to develop confident communicators, critical thinkers, and empowered global citizens and leaders of today and tomorrow — equipped to shape a more just, inclusive, peaceful, secure and sustainable future for all,” said Dr. Silpi Sahoo, chairperson of the Sai International Education Group. Added Alex Ellis: “Global problems need global solutions and these can be addressed by deliberations and discussions as global solutions cannot be forced. They have to come about with a coalition of countries.” IIT–H-Suzuki contract Hyderabad, February 4. The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT-H) and Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), Japan, the parent company of Maruti Suzuki (India), signed a three-year contract to institute a Suzuki Innovation Centre (SIC) in IIT-H with the objective of “creating innovations for India and Japan” and providing a platform for exchange of knowledge between the two organisations. SIC will be a platform for…
Madhya Pradesh: Happiness textbooks ready Bhopal, February 4. The Madhya Pradesh government is set to introduce ‘happiness’ as a compulsory subject in its secondary and higher secondary school syllabuses in the academic year 2022-23. MP was the country’s first state to establish a happiness department in 2016. Addressing the media, Akhilesh Argal, CEO of the Rajya Anand Sansthaan (state happiness department), said draft textbooks on the subject for classes IX-XII are almost ready. “After giving final touches to these books, they will be sent to the State Council of Educational Research and Training for clearance,” he said. Delhi: New NCERT director New Delhi, February 4. Dinesh Prasad Saklani has been appointed director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). A history professor with the department of ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology at HNB Garhwal University, Uttarakhand, Saklani previously taught in the tourism department and IAS Coaching Centre of HNB Garhwal University as guest faculty. The appointment of Saklani, a life member of the Indian History Congress, comes at a crucial time when NCERT is in the process of developing the new National Curriculum Framework. Odisha: Testing violation charge Bhubaneswar, February 9. The state government issued a show-cause notice to the highly ranked DAV School, Chandrasekharpur for allegedly violating government guidelines relating to reopening education institutions during the pandemic lockdown. According to a government spokesperson, the school had issued a notice to students regarding conduct of periodic tests in the offline mode. The school’s directive came despite a state government order that students should have the option to write tests in the offline or online modes. Conducting on-campus offline tests would be stressful for some students and the school’s action violates government guidelines, said the directorate of secondary education in a letter to the principal. Rajasthan: Vedanta Nand Ghar largesse Jaipur, February 8. The Rajasthan government recently signed an agreement with the Anil Agarwal Foundation of the Vedanta Group to establish 25,000 of its proprietorial Nand Ghar anganwadis statewide. The foundation will construct these pre-primaries at a cost of Rs.750 crore (Rs. 3 lakh per anganwadi). Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Ashok Gehlot said: “The development of Nand Ghar anganwadis will ensure youngest children learn in an environment with the best infrastructure and are provided quality education and nutrition.” West Bengal:English teacher training Kolkata, February 11. The United States consulate signed an agreement with the education ministry of West Bengal to provide English language training to government school teachers. A total of 25 English teachers employed in government and aided schools in eight districts of the state have participated in a TESOL (Teaching English to the Speakers of Other Language) Core Certificate Programme (TCCP) offered by the consulate. The US government is providing this programme through TESOL International which trains English teachers worldwide. Assam: New medical college Guwahati, February 14. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma laid the foundation of the 20-acre Pragjyotishpur Medical College and Hospital to be constructed with a project outlay of Rs.998 crore…
The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State by Josy Joseph Published by Westland Books Rs. 699 Pages 306 -Anil Thakore Up until the year 2012, barring a two year blip in the Emergency period (1975-76), India was widely acknowledged as free and democratic, and ranked among the top 30 countries worldwide in the indices of institutions monitoring the governance of nations. But in 2020, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) assessed it as a “flawed democracy”. The Swedish institute V-Dem has described the Indian state as an “electoral autocracy”, while Freedom House, the US-based global democracy watchdog has demoted India from “free” to “partly free”. In The Silent Coup (2021), Josy Joseph, a Delhi-based investigative journalist with excellent credentials (Times of India, The Hindu) and currently founder-director of Confluence Media — “a platform agnostic investigative journalism outfit” — poses a fundamental question: “How can a coterie of influential people, stationed mostly in a single city, unsettle democratic institutions, intimidate millions into silence, send thousands to jail, terrorise its business class into supporting it, bully the media into becoming its publicity arm, convert the judiciary into a timid institution, and even silence the most courageous of its civil servants?” Subsequently by presenting persuasive evidence, and well-researched facts, Joseph details how the incumbent political establishment at the Centre has insidiously captured power and control of the nation and is eroding the democratic rights of India’s citizens. In this book which has unsurprisingly received little publicity, Joseph offers insights on how the establishment and governments at the Centre and states have subverted the democratic rights of citizens, to attain new political, commercial, and ideological objectives. The Deep State according to Joseph is a plethora of compromised law enforcement agencies such as RAW, NIA, NCB, CBI, ED, the Central and State Police, CRPF etc, promoted to protect the unity and integrity of the country. These agencies are controlled by pliant bureaucrats, who over the years have enacted draconian laws such as MISA, TADA, POTA, DAA, UAPA, AFSPA, NSA to side-step or cut short the jurisdiction of the courts and dilute the fundamental rights and liberty of citizens. The impact of the calculated acts of omission and commission of the deep state establishment has been devastating. Joseph maintains that 400,000 people are in jails across the country, over 76 percent incarcerated without trial. Over 2,000 intellectuals, artists, activists, dissenters are in jails under UAPA, also without trial. In 1990-2000, NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) reported over 1,093 custodial deaths. Subsequent reportage has been muted, but the death of Father Stan Swamy in 2021 is a grim reminder of the excessive power of the deep state. Joseph traces the rise of the deep state establishment to the Emergency when Indira Gandhi usurped the powers of the State, invalidated the Constitution and unleashed a reign of terror and lawlessness across the country. The Emergency demonstrated how a small coterie vested with draconian powers, can bring India’s democracy to its knees. During the 19 months of the…
Red Roulette by Desmond Shum Published by Simon & Schuster Rs.2000 Pages 310 -Dilip Thakore There’s no shortage of admirers of the Red China development model of socio-economic growth in India and world over. Admittedly, by any yardstick the dizzying growth of our unfriendly neighbour, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) — with whom we share a 3,488 km and as yet unsettled border, God help us, in the north and north-east — is impressive. As recently as 1990, the annual GDP of the world’s two most populous countries was almost on a par. According to reputed economist-author Shankkar Aiyar, in that year China’s GDP was $390 billion, India’s $320 billion. At that time the sweeping liberal economic reforms introduced by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary-general Deng Xiaoping (the CCP secretary-general outranks all public officials in PRC) were 12 years old. India was yet to announce its relatively lukewarm, but nevertheless historic liberalisation and deregulation budget of 1991. That delay has proved very expensive. Currently according to IMF data, PRC’s GDP in the pre-pandemic year 2019-20 was $16 trillion; India’s $2.9 trillion and China’s per capita income is 5.5 multiples of India’s. Moreover its industrial production and manufacturing prowess outstrips India’s by miles. The plain unvarnished truth is that a new border war with our belligerent northern neighbour is likely to be a repetition of the 1962 battle in which India was humiliated. Be that as it may, the popular belief is that PRC has grown into the world’s second wealthiest nation because of the tight control and efficiency of the CCP. You need to read this autobiography to learn that the evolution of PRC from a poor strife ridden country into the world’s second largest economy whose PPP (purchasing power parity) per capita income is forecast to exceed America’s by 2030, is despite CCP rather than because of the world’s largest political party. Shanghai-born Desmond Shum’s ill-paid school teacher parents escaped desperately poor post Cultural Revolution China and moved to Hong Kong in 1978. His father prospered sufficiently under British rule to send young Desmond to an English-medium school in Hong Kong and graduate with a business management degree from Wisconsin University in 1993. Passing up a chance to acquire a Green Card for fear of “hitting a glass ceiling”, he returned to Hong Kong and began his career as a stockbroker with Citibank Vickers, at a time when following a lull in foreign investors’ interest in China after the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy students, Deng Xiaoping broke with conservatives of the CCP, and stating that “to be rich is glorious”, signalled the resumption of market-oriented reforms in PRC. Money from the US and around the world poured into Hong Kong companies investing in China. In 1994 Shum landed a job with ChinaVest, a company founded by a former CIA officer, Bob Theleen. From Hong Kong the author began visiting the mainland to search for businesses for investment. “China was so poor that none of its nascent private…
Although currently taking a gap year is an upper class privilege, not a few teens from middle class households are becoming aware of the importance of life skills and internships acquired in a break that enrich higher education and develop competencies that are valuable in adult life, writes Abhilasha Ojha Though a relatively new phenomenon in India, a small but increasing number of higher secondary and college students are opting to temporarily step out of the academic continuum, now raised to 19 years, and take a gap year — a year-long break after school or college/university — to pursue travel, sports, cultural interests, voluntary service or discover life’s purpose. Aaliyah Kashyap (21), daughter of celebrated Bollywood film director Anurag Kashyap, is one of them. In an emotional video on her YouTube channel, she recounts her experience of taking a gap year from Chapman University, California. Posted in September 2021, Aaliyah opens up about her difficulty in adjusting to a new alien environment and suffering anxiety and depression. In another video, posted a few months later, Aaliyah reveals how taking a gap year and returning to India to bond with family and friends and pursue her creative interests was a regenerative experience that enabled her to find her true calling in fashion marketing. Although currently taking a gap year is an upper class privilege, not a few teens from middle class households are becoming aware of the importance of life skills and internships acquired in a break that enrich higher education and develop competencies that are valuable in adult life. The value of work experience is acknowledged by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which provides for multiple entry and exit options in higher education. In a radical break from past practice, it permits students in higher education to exit after one, two and three years before resuming the four-year degree programmes now mandatory under NEP 2020. An online Academic Bank of Credits records certification at every stage. The popularity of the gap year is likely to increase now that three years of ECCE (early childhood care and education) have been added at the beginning of formal education and one year at the end of higher education. There’s every likelihood of exhaustion, if not burn out, during 19 years of education. Anushka Bellani, a graduate of the Heritage Xperiential Learning School, Gurugram, who topped her school in the humanities stream (98.8 percent) in the 2020-21 CBSE class XII exam, opted for a gap year because she was “desperate for time off from the academic drill”. “Twelve years of academic routine had demotivated me. I realised, it was time to give myself a break. There was a period of confusion in my mind, which was amplified by the deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Online classes, lockdown restrictions, and inability to meet friends stressed me out. Taking a gap year sounded like a great idea to calm and rejuvenate myself,” says Bellani, who was admitted into the University of British Columbia,…
Industrial licensing killed indigenous development. Despite government funding and import protection policies, scientific research in India rarely resulted in saleable products, writes Ramjee Chandran. We blew past India’s National Science Day on February 28 — so named to celebrate the discovery of the Raman Effect by Nobel laureate, Sir C.V. Raman. Deservedly, we must acknowledge and celebrate this great scientist, as we must others including Bose, Chandrasekhar, Ramanujan, Khorana; and the lesser known science stars. But as with everything Indian, it satisfies our sense of achievement to bask in ethnic affinity with these men — but not ask the follow-up question, “And then…?” Probably because we know the killjoy answer would be, “And then, not much.” Recently, speaking to a group of startups, prime minister Narendra Modi stated with an unmistakable tone of pride that India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index (an annual whodunit of the World Intellectual Property Organisation) has “improved” to #46. And though it may come as a shock to many that India is ranked #46, behind Malaysia, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates and that even in Group 3 (lower middle income countries), we are #2, behind Vietnam, it is neither a shock nor surprise to me. With all our bombast, boasting and tireless references to “Sir C.V.”, the question is, why did we end up like this — also-rans in the league tables of science and technology innovation nations? Here’s my take. Right through to the end of the 1980s, all economic activity in India was possible only by obtaining government licence. Industrial licensing, and currency and import controls, were routine in India’s centrally controlled economy. Central planning was designed to protect local manufacturing, discourage imports and prevent capital flight. It followed that the mantra of self-reliance should extend to technology; and to this end, there was token investment in R&D projects attached to schools of science. Under central planning, detailed procedures for vetting applications for licences were designed in the belief that industry and business would resort to frivolous and “unnecessary” economic activity, if they were not controlled. Therefore, there were constant cat and mouse contests between business and government. Business tried to find loopholes and the government tried to plug them. Unsurprisingly, industrial licensing killed indigenous research and development. Despite government funding and protectionist policies against imports, scientific research in India rarely resulted in the development of saleable products. True, rockets and bombs were designed by isolated R&D establishments, but it was hard to find any product of value to the general public developed in Indian labs. Most products we manufactured were based on technology bought or licensed from foreign shores. Instead India Inc obtained licences to import foreign technology for items like scooters, cars, agricultural machinery, white goods, and practically everything else, while government scientists were being funded for R&D. Under the licence-permit-quota system there was no reward for innovation. For business, the goal is to employ tech and resources to manufacture products that are tried, tested and reliable. There was…
A university leader has called for “calm and rationality” as French academics fear being caught in the crossfire of increasingly bitter culture wars in the run-up to the country’s presidential election. Sabine Saurugger, director of Sciences Po Grenoble, hit the headlines in January after suspending Klaus Kinzler, an associate professor of German, who had made repeated criticisms of the institution in national media. Dr. Kinzler had received death threats and been accused by students of fascism after claiming during preparations for an anti-racism event that Islamophobia wasn’t comparable to other forms of discrimination. Prof. Saurugger told Times Higher Education that the “temporary” suspension of Dr. Kinzler was based only on his description of Sciences Po Grenoble as a “political re-education camp” and of colleagues at the grand ecole as teachers who “indoctrinate their students”. “His repeated statements have caused prejudice to the institution, its personnel and particularly its students. Expression is free, but as an employee, denigrating with such violence and unfairly the institution you work in, causes strong prejudice,” says Prof. Saurugger, whose institution, while modelled on Paris’ Sciences Po, is administratively a subsidiary of Universite Grenoble Alpes. However, in response to Dr. Kinzler’s suspension, the president of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, announced on December 20 that he had suspended “all funding and all cooperation” with the university over its “unacceptable ideological and communitarian drift”. Prof. Saurugger says the regional funding is worth about €500,000 (Rs.5 crore) a year, covering activities such as lifelong learning and exchange programmes. The funding freeze was cheered by right-wing candidates in the upcoming presidential poll, Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour, with the latter saying it was the right response to the “infiltration of our grandes ecoles by Islamo-leftism”. The freeze came after a year of accusations, including from the French government, that the country’s universities have created an intellectual breeding ground for terrorism by viewing society critically through the lenses of ethnicity, religion and gender — rather than the republican ideal of equality. Scholars focusing on areas such as racism, Islamophobia and French colonialism have come under intense attack since the beheading of Samuel Paty, a middle school teacher who showed his pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad in October 2020. “For an individual politician to cancel funding to a university based on the unfounded allegations of a disgruntled employee is a significant and worrying development. It is a political act and a violation of the principle of academic freedom,” says Simon Dawes, a media lecturer at Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. Former students of Dr. Kinzler have published an open letter in the Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper calling for his reinstatement, criticising student protesters and demanding Sciences Po Grenoble be reformed to better protect political balance among staff and students.
China’s new crop of privately backed, industry-focused universities could help meet skills gaps and jump-start innovation. At the end of 2021, Chinese businessman Cao Dewang came one step closer to establishing his institution when he signed an agreement with the city government of Fuzhou to build a university for developing applied research and technical talent. The Fuyao University of Science and Technology is one example of a handful of such endeavours taking shape in the country, which experts say could provide a blueprint for future development. “These new types of universities could bring innovation to higher education in China; they can respond to changes faster, and their collaboration with industry… is very much mandated (so) it will be easier for the government to drive changes through them,” says Ka Ho Mok, vice president of Lingnan University Hong Kong. Their development comes at a time when Chinese higher ed institutions are struggling to keep pace with the country’s ambitious manufacturing aims. Because it’s “extremely difficult” to reform China’s government-run universities, Beijing is encouraging other types of varsities to evolve, such as those born of partnerships with overseas institutions, which “bring new models of delivery and innovation in university governance”, says Prof. Mok. But unlike NYU, Shanghai or Duke Kunshan University, the new Fuyao and institutions like it focus on a specific industry. For instance, the Nanjing Integrated Circuit University, founded in 2020, aims to address a skills shortage in the semiconductor industry. Similarly, the Dongfang University of Technology and Oriental University of Technology — which has yet to receive its official English name and is under development in Ningbo, sponsored by chip businessman Yu Renrong — tackles industry gaps. “China is now in great need of ‘new times’ technicians and workers in the different manufacturing organisations,” says Zhiyong Zhu, professor of sociology and educational administration at Beijing Normal University. “From the perspective of central government, private funding can possibly set an example… that (a) public university controlled by the government could learn from.” Still, these new institutions will need to overcome several hurdles if they are to succeed, Prof. Zhu cautions. For one, they will need to find appropriately trained lecturers. “It is difficult to employ the teachers with (innovative) viewpoints and vision of learning, teaching, knowledge… because it is highly possible that most of those teachers are trained by public universities,” he says. Such institutions will also need to have new models of governance to “encourage innovation and institutional autonomy”, says Prof. Mok. He stresses that this should be accompanied by stable government policy and “sufficient (and) stable funding support”. For its part, China’s ministry of education will most likely adopt a different set of evaluation criteria for performance measures “if they are serious about new ways of operation being sustained”, and the government will need to adopt a different university governance framework “for supporting institutions with more flexibility in management in response to rapid changes,” he says.
About one in 20 papers recently published in Russian journals is an exact or near duplicate of an existing article, with some pieces reproduced as many as 27 times across different publications, according to a study. While the problem of plagiarism in Russian academic papers is well- known, having resulted in hundreds of retractions in recent years, an investigation reveals that a different form of text recycling. Self-plagiarism may also be rife. According to a Journal of Informetrics paper that analysed 3.8 million scientific articles in Russian-language publications, about 3.9 percent of papers published between 2000 and 2019 had been published again in another outlet, usually by an author linked to the original article. Overall, 70,406 papers were identified as duplicates — having a text overlap of at least two-thirds with another paper — of which more than 5,000 appeared three or more times. In several cases, papers were republished on more than 20 occasions, with one article appearing 27 times in different formats. Yury Chekhovich, chief executive of the Moscow-based anti-plagiarism checking company Antiplagiat, who undertook the research with his colleague Andrey Khazov, told Times Higher Education that the analysis is important because it exposes the extent of a “very special kind of ethical violation”. “We believe that the number of detected cases found is unprecedented,” says Dr. Chekhovich, who explains that similar studies had identified far lower rates of duplication. In some cases, authors republished papers from years earlier, but often the article is published in different outlets in the same year as a result of the “purposeful sending of new manuscripts to two or more journals,” says the study. Also read: Russia: Plagiarist politicians pandemic
The institutions in the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings are united by their recent foundation dates; only universities aged 50 years and under are included in the annual list of the world’s top newcomers in higher education. But the stories and circumstances around their creation are very different. There are institutions that already seem to be such an established part of the global higher education landscape. For example, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore or the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. It’s hard to believe they are only three decades old. But global shifts are taking place. On the one hand, Asia is becoming a more prominent region in the ranking, with India and Turkey now leading the list in terms of representation. On the other, it is the first time an institution in the continent has not led the ranking since 2017; this spot is taken by one of France’s collegiate universities. It is willingness to innovate and challenge the status quo that makes the THE ranking of the world’s top young universities something truly worth celebrating. Also read: The Rankings: THE Top 200
The sacking of three elected deans from Bogazici University could signal a renewed attack on institutional autonomy and freedom of speech in Turkey’s universities, warn scholars. The dismissal of Ozlem Berk Albachten, Metin Ercan and Yasemin Bayyurt by Turkey’s Higher Education Council (YOK) follows a tumultuous year at Istanbul’s premier university, which has been riven by student protests since a loyalist to the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was installed as rector in January 2021. Since the appointment of outsider Melih Bulu, a member Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party who was accused of plagiarising his Ph D, over 600 student protesters have been arrested, and some of them face jail sentences of more than 30 years in Turkey’s notoriously cruel prisons. It is believed the deans were made redundant because of their support for academics who criticised the appointment of Dr. Bulu — who was later dismissed. Scholars have held a daily vigil to protest against his successor, Naci Inci, another Erdogan supporter. The dean’s dismissal follows a sustained attack on academic freedom within Turkish universities in the wake of an attempted coup in 2016. In the years since that putsch, more than 6,000 academics have been sacked and about 3,000 schools and universities closed over alleged links to the failed coup allegedly led by exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen. Several emigre Turkish scholars told Times Higher Education that the most recent sackings at Bogazici are particularly troubling because they signal that even mild political dissent won’t be tolerated in universities. “This latest event makes many educators like me hesitate to return and work in Turkey,” says Bogazici graduate Elif Balin, now an assistant professor at San Francisco State University. “This constant attack on institutional independence, academic freedom, job security and the right to peaceful protest, along with filling administrative and academic positions with non-elected and partisan members, makes many people — especially young people in Turkey — question the quality of their education and diminishes their hope for the future,” laments Balin. Also read: Turkey to enrol 200,000 international students by 2023
Sarah didn’t know she was pregnant until teachers told her. In 2020, her state-run boarding school in Tanzania ordered tests for all the girls returning after a three-month closure caused by Covid-19. When her pregnancy was confirmed, she was expelled and sent home. She was less than two years from graduating. Sarah is one of thousands of girls harmed each year by a law that compels schools to expel pupils accused of “an offence against morality”. These expulsions were celebrated by the country’s previous president John Magufuli, who declared: “After getting pregnant, you are done.” Magufuli died last year, perhaps of Covid. The government of his successor, Samia Suluhu Hassan, relented in November, saying it will let teenage mums resume their schooling. Sub-Saharan Africa has almost double the world’s rate of teenage births. Only 40 percent of girls in the region in the 15-17 age group attend school, compared with 45 percent of boys. This is partly because of policies like the one Tanzania has abandoned. Such rules are self-defeating, since there’s a strong link between the number of years of schooling that girls complete and the number of babies they will subsequently have. At least 30 African countries now protect the education rights of pregnant girls and young mothers, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), a pressure group. Half a dozen have made progress in the past few years. New rules in Uganda, where about a third of girls marry before they turn 18, allow parents to report school principals who refuse to enrol young mothers. Mozambique and Zimbabwe have also made schooling easier for teenagers with children. The last two holdouts still expelling expectant teens are Equatorial Guinea and Togo. The most celebrated recent reforms are in Sierra Leone. In early 2020, the government ended a ten-year ban on adolescent mothers attending normal school. A year later, it introduced a new policy — dubbed “radical inclusion” — that gives pregnant girls the right to remain in class until they give birth and allows them to return to lessons as soon as they wish. Local law considers girls who have sex before age 18 to be victims of a crime, says David Sengeh, the education minister. Forcing them to give up their schooling compounds the crime. Many of these changes were ordered before the pandemic. But some 30 weeks of school closures in Africa have made them all the more essential. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation, an NGO, reckons the hiatus deprived pupils in 23 African countries of roughly an eighth of the learning they would typically receive in their entire time in school. That is all the more worrying because they do not receive as many as pupils elsewhere to begin with. Governments have more to do. Few of them maintain policies as liberal as Sierra Leone’s. Uganda’s new guidelines require pregnant girls to leave school before their second trimester, for example, even if their right to return is much clearer than it was. But countries with enlightened rules…
-Aruna Raghuram (Ahmedabad) Ahmedabad-based mother tongue advocate-entrepreneur Darsha Kikani is an independent director of several public limited liability companies. She also organises the annual Vartamelo (story fair) in Gujarati language creative writing competition open to class VII-XII students and teachers. Launched in 2017, this annual storywriting competition held in January-February every year attracted participation from 200 schools and 1,300 students and teachers across Gujarat before the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. Newspeg. In early February, Kikani concluded Vartamelo’s sixth edition after receiving 642 student and 86 teacher entries. “About 50 schools across Gujarat participated in the competition this year, an excellent response far exceeding the entries of the pandemic year. To motivate interaction with elders in the family, we urged students to write stories involving them,” says Kikani. History. A polymath lawyer, company secretary and business management postgraduate of IIM-Ahmedabad, Kikani was a practicing company secretary for over a decade managing a client base of 50-plus companies. This was followed by a two-year stint with Reliance Infrastructure Ltd and six years with the highly reputed Ahmedabad-based Educational Initiatives (EI). “During my stint with EI as vice president (languages), I discovered that neither teachers nor parents were concerned about children’s proficiency in the mother tongue. Awareness that creativity and original thinking in the mother tongue is a neglected area, inspired me to launch Vartamelo in 2016 with a small initial investment (Rs.2 lakh). On principle, we do not charge participation fees. Of the six editions of the competition, three latter editions were sponsored by friends,” says Kikani. To encourage children and young adults to develop Gujarati language proficiency, Kikani has translated Tuesdays with Morrie by American author Mitch Albom and Iran Awakening by Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi from English into Gujarati. Moreover, she writes a weekly column for Chitralekha, a well-known Gujarati portal with a million subscribers. Last February (2021), Kikani earned an entry into World Records India for compiling a 12,500-page handwritten storybook comprising 2,000 entries she received for Vartamelo’s annual competition. Direct talk. “I believe that children should receive primary education in their mother tongue as it generates a sense of belonging and fosters respect for one’s culture and heritage apart from developing creative thinking skills. Vartamelo was launched six years ago to encourage thinking and writing skills in Gujarati. While teachers are given specific topics, students are free to write on topics of their choice. There are three rounds of elimination with entries assessed by professionals and Gujarati language experts. Writers of the best stories are awarded cash prizes from Rs.11,000 onwards at a specially organised ceremony. Moreover, about 20 stories are shortlisted and published in book form annually,” explains Kikani. Future plans. Vartamelo’s website is currently under construction. “Once it is launched, it will enable students and teachers to submit stories online and access our counselling programme on improving Gujarati writing skills. Simultaneously, we will try reaching out to special needs children and students in tribal belts,” says Kikani. Also Read:Maithili Dalvi
-Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) Deep Narayan Nayak, a teacher at the state government promoted Tilka Maji Adibashi Free Primary School, in the Jamuria village (pop.1.5 lakh) in Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal, is popularly known as ‘Raster Master’ (Teacher of the Street). This enterprising 34-year-old educator turned walls of village homes into blackboards and roads into classrooms to ensure learning continuity of children during the prolonged pandemic lockdown of schools. In May 2020, 45 days after schools across the country were ordered closed to check the spread of the novel Coronavirus, Nayak began teaching village children under blue skies. An enterprise that started with six children has now grown to 2,000 students in 14 street study centres of Paschim Bardhaman. Newspeg. After successfully implementing his learning model in 14 villages of Paschim Bardhaman, Nayak is all set to launch similar street study centres in other districts of Bengal. He has already finalised an April launch of centres in Bankura, Purulia and Midnapore districts. History. Since he was appointed teacher at the state government-owned Tilka Maji Adibashi Free Primary in 2018, Nayak has been providing free-of-charge after-school tuition to tribal children. However, after lockdown of schools in March 2020, he realised that most of his students couldn’t afford digital devices and hence spent the day loitering in the village or grazing cattle. Fearing his students would drop out of the education system altogether, he began conducting informal classes under trees and on street corners. As the number of children grew, he decided to use the mud walls of village houses as blackboards and began providing books and mid-day meals. Thus far, this initiative is self-funded with some help from his wife Jhuma Patra, a professor of Bengali at Raniganj Girls College in Paschim Bardhaman, and a handful of like-minded individuals. Direct talk. “I have been getting a monthly salary from government without working during the pandemic. Therefore, I felt it was my duty to earn my keep. With many parents in the village having lost their jobs during the pandemic, and schools closed, they had put their children to work. If I had not intervened with my street classes, most children would have dropped out of the schooling system,” says Nayak, a science graduate of BB College, Asansol, who earlier worked as a primary teacher at Bamunia Free Primary School. Remarkably, Nayak has also been able to persuade women of the village to attend street classes. “Today 2,000 mothers of my students are attending classes with their children. I also persuaded them to get vaccinated against Covid-19. With schools having reopened recently, I have shifted my street classes to early mornings and evenings before and after school hours,” says this education missionary whose unique initiative won him second prize in the Unicef Photo of The Year 2021 contest. Future plans. Nayak is networking with corporate and government agencies to raise funding to take his teaching-learning model to the most backward rural hinterlands of India. “My street school model has worked wonders…
-Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) Ranjita Raman is the Mumbai-based CEO of Jaro Education Pvt. Ltd (JE, estb.2009) — a constituent of the Jaro Group of companies. JE is an edtech company that provides world-class executive education, certificate and degree programmes included, to enable junior, middle and senior-level working professionals to upskill and advance their careers. Since inception, Jaro Education has impacted the careers of over 3 lakh working professionals through its 30 learning centres countrywide. The company has agreements with over 20 academic partners including IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Trichy, University of Toronto/Rotman Business School, Imperial College Business School, UK, WeSchool among others, and over 1,000 corporate partners including Accenture, American Express, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra and Infosys. Newspeg. Last October, Jaro Education launched a series of innovative joint programmes including its Future Leader programme, a collaboration between leading advisory services firm KPMG in India and Australia’s high-ranked Deakin University. History. A fashion technologist and business management alumna of NIFT, Mumbai and IIM-Ahmedabad, Raman began her career in 2007 as a talent acquisition associate with NetHR, a Jaro group company. In 2009, she was inducted into Jaro Education’s core management team. “Since then, I have handled various and diverse responsibilities, starting as a team lead, senior manager, general manager, vice president, director, COO and eventually CEO. My journey has been through all stages of the company’s growth from ground level to strategy,” says Raman. These achievements have been duly recognised. Raman was conferred Business Leader of the Year Award 2021 of the World Leadership Congress, Woman Icon Awards (Leadership) 2020 by Times Applaud and the Devang Mehta Foundation’s Young Achiever Award, 2015 among other encomiums. Direct talk. “As an essentially executive education company, our goal is to bridge the industry-academia gap by upskilling working professionals and entrepreneurs. Recognised by all corporates, our six-month to two-year programmes offer immersive 360 degree learning experiences through virtual classrooms aka learning centres, in 30 cities countrywide. Highly qualified faculty drawn from our academic partners deliver live lectures from on-campus studios with the support of our robust technology team. These virtual classrooms are interactive and enable peer-to-peer learning and group discussions — a combination which helps to retain student interest. We offer a range of skilling programmes such as postgrad certificate programmes in business analytics and applications, digital strategies and marketing analytics and advanced management programmes of 10-12 months duration at an average fee of Rs.2.5 lakh. We also provide career mentorship support,” says Raman. Future plans. Raman is encouraged by the positive public response to JE’s executive programmes despite the pandemic and believes the future is bright. “We recently finalised a blueprint to establish global cohorts of learners and plan to expand our current academic portfolio to include executive development programmes of Ivy league universities and institutions,” she says. Also read: IIM-N, Jaro Education to jointly launch 4 programmes
-Dipta Joshi (Mumbai) Bengaluru-based Aayur Kaul is the India head of the New York-based Skillshare Inc. (est.2010) — “the world’s largest online learning community for creativity”. Skillshare, with over 13 million registered members worldwide, made its India debut last November. Kaul’s brief is to introduce Skillshare’s products and services to Indian learners. Newspeg: Skillshare’s India debut fortuitously coincided with the company’s global launch of its Chroma courses. This cohort-based four-week course provides lessons in several creative subjects to small batches of students, ensuring personalised attention. Meanwhile, Kaul has also adapted Skillshare Originals for the Indian market. Through collaborations with accomplished professionals, Skillshare aims to provide its community the opportunity to learn valuable skills from the likes of filmmaker and YouTuber Ankit Bhatia, with a class on producing quality travel films, and Chaitanya Limaye, illustrator and animator who worked on the Oscar winning The Jungle Book. History: Founded by Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Skillshare moved from in-person teaching to an online platform back in 2012 to “democratise learning and make acquiring creative skills affordable and accessible to everyone”. Skillshare’s two-sided marketplace connects teachers, who take online video-based classes, with learners who pay an annual subscription fee (Rs.1,788) to access over 30,000 video-based lessons in creative disciplines such as graphic design, photography, painting, illustration and interior design. A computer engineering graduate of the Sardar Patel Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Kaul seems the perfect fit to lead this increasingly popular tutorial hub in India. Earlier, this ed-tech entrepreneur co-founded Chase, a digital creativity learning ecosystem in 2018, which was acquired by Bitclass in July 2021. Direct talk. “India is one of the largest markets for Skillshare outside the US. The Indian edtech industry has witnessed phenomenal growth since 2020 and is now valued at $20 billion with an annual revenue of $2 billion (Rs.15,000 crore). With over 100 million millennials looking to pursue and monetise their creativity, India is a high-potential market for Skillshare. We plan to make significant investments in the country this year. The company currently has numerous creators based in India producing authentic content that resonates with creative youth and professionals,” says Kaul. Future plans: Skillshare’s focus on the creative arts gives its “value proposition a unique edge” despite competing with several international and homegrown edtech companies. Besides running acquisition campaigns to attract new learners, Skillshare also conducts special programmes — ‘Teach Labs’ and ‘Teacher Success’ to help creators (teachers) polish their classes before broadcasting them on the platform. “Skillshare wouldn’t be what it is without its teachers. We make every effort to ensure they have the right tools, training and resources to produce quality content through our Teach Labs and Teacher Success programmes. We want to boost India’s creative economy and aim to support creative professionals to expand our online learning community. Currently we have over 1,000 teachers from India on our platform and the plan is to increase that number substantially in the coming years,” says Kaul.
Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) A widely acknowledged master of articulation, Dr. Rakesh Godhwani is the Bengaluru-based founder-CEO of the School of Meaningful Experiences (SoME, estb.2018, head count: 22), an education start-up that offers online communication and leadership skills development programmes to teenage children, entrepreneurs and working professionals. Through partnerships with corporates, schools, colleges and other education institutions, the school has certified 30,000 learners over the past four years. SoME has a presence in five cities (Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Mangaluru) in India and two overseas (Sydney, Kuala Lumpur) and hosts a current cohort of 967 learners. Newspeg. Last September, SoME successfully concluded the second season of India’s only online debating competition for teens Debato 2021. It attracted participation of 300 school teams from across the country. History. A computer science engineering and business management alum of NIT, Surathkal and IIM-Bangalore with a Ph D in leadership communication awarded by Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK, Godhwani served for over a decade in several blue-chip companies (Wipro, Intel and Qualcomm) before going solo in 2008 to follow his passion to “teach, write and research”. Subsequently, he taught at IIM-Bangalore, IIM-Trichy, IIM-Vizag, SDM IMD, IIM Udaipur and Ahmedabad University as adjunct faculty. After completing his Ph D programme in 2017, he was offered a tenured professor position at a university. But he turned down the offer as it would have restricted him from teaching communication skills to students. “My dream was to teach millions of students. I realised this ambition could only be achieved through a start-up. For me, good education is about creating meaningful experiences. In 2018, the School of Meaningful Experiences was born,” says Godhwani. Direct talk. “Indian education has traditionally neglected developing students’ communication, soft and other essential life skills. The focus has been primarily on machines, hard skills, sciences and mathematics. I became aware of the enormity of a communication deficit in my corporate life. Moreover, my teaching experiences revealed that many schools and colleges wrongly equate command of English with communication. There’s much more to it. Unfortunately, this key aspect of education is a rarity because there are insufficient communication departments in Indian colleges. SoME’s goal is to empower learners of all age groups through effective communication and sound leadership skills,” says Godhwani. Future plans. Encouraged by the positive response to SoME programmes, Godhwani has drawn up an ambitious roadmap for the future. “We have finalised plans to reach 1 million learners by 2025 and 10 million by 2030. SoME has plans to penetrate tier II-IV towns across India and create better jobs for communication teachers and trainers. Our mission is to develop SoME into an institute of the future and make learning an enriching, empowering and everlasting experience for learners across all age groups,” says Godhwani. Way to go!
One major argument advanced in favour of the country’s political class which has divided society on religious and caste lines to win political advantage, and has wrecked the Indian economy with its inorganic socialism experiments, is that they have the pulse of the people. If so, how will apologists for duly elected people’s representatives, explain the timing of the huge pay rise that Karnataka’s members of the legislative assembly voting themselves? According to Hunger Watch-2, a study of a representative sample of 6,500 households in 14 states of the Indian Union commissioned by the Delhi-based Centre for Equity Studies, following the third wave of the Omicron variant (December-January), 66 percent of households reported their incomes were below pre-pandemic level. Moreover, 70 percent report food insecurity. Despite this, the BJP dominated Karnataka legislative assembly has voted all its MLAs (members of legislative assembly) a 50-60 percent pay hike. Under the Karnataka Legislature, Salaries, Pensions & Allowances (Amendment) Bill passed unanimously amid chaos over the issue of an insult to the national flag, the monthly salary of MLAs has been increased from Rs.1.4 lakh to Rs.2 lakh. Moreover, the monthly salaries of the chief minister, assembly speaker and legislative council chairman have been hiked from Rs.50,000 to Rs.75,000; house rent allowance from Rs.1.2 lakh to Rs.1.6 lakh; fuel allowance to 2,000 litres (from 1,000); travel allowance to Rs.40 per km (Rs.30) and ‘sumptuary allowance’ to Rs.4.5 lakh per year (Rs.3 lakh). Total increment because of “financial trouble due to a steep rise in prices of diesel, petrol…”: Rs.92 crore. All this self-voted munificence at a time when the public is suffering widespread financial distress. A finger on the pulse of the people? Doubtful. Also read: Priorities of BJP/NDA Government 2.0
There’s an inherent paradox in best-selling author and newspaper columnist Chetan Bhagat. Although he writes thought-provoking and readable 1,000 word newspaper columns, he also writes puerile and lazy 60,000-80,000 word English language novels which no intelligent or discerning reader can stomach. If his novels are best-sellers as his publishers proclaim, it’s an indictment of the country’s sub-standard education system which certifies millions of barely literate youth as college and university graduates. The plain truth is that Bhagat’s simpleton novels are timepass fodder for unfortunates short-changed by the education system. Although your correspondent would be classified as a member of India’s Intellectual and Discerning Elite (IIDE) lambasted by Bhagat in an op-ed essay in the Times of India (February 11), I have no prejudice against him. I have read two of his novels and reviewed one of them — Revolution 2020 in EducationWorld. This novel was of particular interest to me as its protagonist is an individual who becomes rich by promoting an engineering college on land inherited by him and selling seats at vastly inflated prices. Although the novel is centred around a juvenile love story set in Varanasi, it provided Bhagat an ideal opportunity to expose the sub rosa shenanigans through which colleges are awarded licences aka NOCs (no objection certificates) by corrupt regulatory organisations such as AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education), University Grants Commission (UGC) and star ratings by NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council). The folklore is that when teams from these institutions visit colleges for inspection, they are royally wined and dined and then some, to award NOCs and star ratings. With a little research and investigation Bhagat could have blown the lid off this well-oiled racket which permits sub-standard institutions to obtain pristine NOCs and star rankings. The critically important story of bribery and corruption behind the success of the engineering college is dismissed in one paragraph and ascribed to Shuklaji, a crooked politician who “took care of it”. Little wonder IIDEs panned it. In his column under reference, Bhagat advances the argument that anything the IIDEs like — English language book publishing, the Congress party and Netflix — suffer the “kiss of death”. If his juvenile novels are also a casualty, society is better off. Also read: Chetan Bhagat tweets his CBSE Class 10 mark sheet
As the renowned English poet John Donne (1572-1631) observed, every man’s death diminishes us. More so if the man is a great leader who has contributed to the public good and welfare of the general populace. Rahul Bajaj who passed away on January 13 at his home in Pune, was undoubtedly a great industrialist and business leader. However even as encomiums and tributes to RB are flooding the media, for purposes of balanced assessment of this frank and fearless business leader, it’s important to note that Bajaj was a hard-knuckled, take-no-prisoners type of businessman who didn’t let morals and scruples get in his way. This was evidenced in the brusque manner in which he ousted H.K. Firodia — a brilliant engineer who built the first Bajaj Auto factory in Pune and whose family was an equal shareholder in the company — by using his political clout and getting government institutional shareholders to vote with him. Nor was he content with that. He did his very best to oust the Firodias from Bajaj Tempo in which they were equal 29 percent shareholders by persuading Mercedes Benz of Germany which held 50 percent of equity, to vote with him. But in this latter enterprise, he failed because Mercedes stood firm. As founder-editor of Business India and Businessworld, your correspondent was an unabashed admirer of RB and wrote several cover features on Bajaj Auto which sent the company’s market capitalisation soaring, and I even developed a friendship with Bajaj. However, many years later when EducationWorld was struggling, an appeal to RB for tax deductible advertising support, was rudely refused. Typical of India Inc leaders who pay lip service to education and human capital development, RB also turned out to be a fairweather friend.
Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) Yashovardhan Poddar is the Bengaluru-based co-founder of edtech start-up Openhouse Technologies Pvt. Ltd (estb.2018, head count: 100) that offers K-12 children a rich menu of curated after-school learning programmes including academic support, public speaking, theatre, dance, entrepreneurship, community service, chess, robotics, data science, and music. Initially based in Kolkata, in 2020 Openhouse moved its head office to Bengaluru where it has established six well-furbished 5,000-6,000 sq. ft learning centres with modern infrastructure, art studios, dance and music rooms and maker spaces. Primary and secondary school children can enrol as members (Rs.36,000 per year) and receive high quality co-curricular education of their choice after school hours. Newspeg. During the pandemic the company launched Openhouse Clubs, under which the same menu of co-curricular activities is offered to partner schools online. In this venture, the company contracts with schools to enable their students to access high-quality life skills and co-curricular education offered by carefully chosen faculty from around the world. History. While he was a student at the top-ranked Stanford University, USA, Poddar acquired valuable experience of the Indian marketplace during a four-month stint in the economics wing of the PMO (prime minister’s office) in India, providing economic policy formulation inputs. This was succeeded by a three-month internship at Reliance Jio. After he was awarded a Masters in economics and public policy by Stanford in 2016, Poddar began his career in the mobile caller ID startup Truecaller Inc, USA. A year later, he returned to India and together with Akshay Rampuria, a fellow student at Stanford, promoted Openhouse in Kolkata with an initial investment of Rs.70 lakh from their personal savings. Direct talk. “Openhouse began with a vision to reimagine vitally important life skills and co-curricular education which is not given enough importance in academics-focused Indian education. Therefore, we established our neighbourhood learning hubs which students could visit after-school hours to learn a variety of co-curricular subjects of their choice. However, with the outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 and children confined to learning from home, we went online contracting with schools to enable their students to continue their co-curricular education dispensed by skilled professionals from around the world. Students with similar interests are grouped together into online Openhouse Clubs with membership not exceeding 20 students per club. Every three months, Openhouse organises a performance or competition to enable students to showcase their talents,” says Poddar. Annual subscription Rs.15,000 via schools. Future plans. Encouraged by the enthusiastic response to Openhouse programmes, Poddar has drawn up an ambitious blueprint for the future. “We are all set to increase the number of learning hubs in Bengaluru to eight. By the end of this year, we intend to establish 50 bricks-n-mortar learning hubs in the major metros for which we have raised adequate funding. Moreover, we intend to sign up a minimum 100 schools across the country to enable their students to access our online clubs. There’s rising interest within young students in life skills and co-curricular activities. So the…
Following the most prolonged education lockdown of any major country worldwide, the world’s largest cohort of children and youth estimated at 500 million has suffered huge learning loss and has a steep mountain to climb to make good the lost lessons of the pandemic era, writes Dilip Thakore & Summiya Yasmeen With the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic and its Delta and Omicron variants which disrupted industry, business and commerce to the extent that the Indian economy contracted by an unprecedented 7.6 percent in fiscal 2020-21 over, the economy is limping back to normal with GDP forecast to grow by 8.2 percent in the year ending March 31, 2023. The damage in terms of 5.12 lakh lives lost hasn’t been catastrophic, although that number is widely believed to be an under-estimate. Moreover, even if the number of lives lost is ten multiples of the official figure, it is still well short of the 18 million lives lost during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-20. Yet even though the damage inflicted by Covid-19 in terms of economic output and lives and livelihoods lost has been well managed by the Central and state governments — 90 percent of the adult population has been double-jabbed by anti-Covid vaccines — there’s little awareness, let alone alarm, about the disruption in the country’s education system. From pre-primary schools to universities, it has been under strict lockdown for 82 weeks barring a few brief insignificant re-opening of campuses in some states. Although your editors have been stridently advocating reopening schools and all education institutions for over a year and had published a detailed cover story last July titled ‘Why Schools Should Open Right Now!’ (educationworld.in/why-india’s-schools-should-open-right-now/), neither the government nor the influential urban middle class, paid any heed. Our main arguments were that several authoritative research studies indicated that children are rarely at risk of contracting severe illness from the Covid-19 virus, and that schools operating at 50 percent capacity with students attending on alternative days while maintaining strict Covid protocols would mitigate learning loss, especially among youngest children.
Currently celebrating its golden jubilee year, GMU sited in close proximity to Washington DC, is noted for its highly acclaimed faculty of Pulitzer Prize winners and Nobel laureates, writes Reshma Ravishanker With enviable on-campus facilities, an awards-winning faculty and proximity to Washington DC, America’s political capital, George Mason University (GMU, estb.1972) is a nationally respected public higher education institution. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, GMU is noted for its highly acclaimed faculty of Pulitzer Prize winners and Nobel laureates. The university is ranked #67 among public varsities in the latest rankings of America’s Best Colleges 2022 of the US News and World Report. Moreover, GMU is an R1 (Research 1) institution certified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, USA. The first university in America to establish schools focused on information technology, engineering and computational sciences, GMU provides its 39,000 students from over 130 countries 211 degree programmes. Moreover, the university has four campuses in Virginia state and an overseas campus in Songdo, South Korea. Named after George Mason, one of the authors of the American Constitution and a widely acknowledged proponent of the Bill of Rights, GMU became an independent member of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s system of colleges and universities in 1972. Since then, it has rapidly expanded to ten schools and colleges offering a wide range of undergraduate, postgrad, and doctoral programmes. Washington. The rich and varied cultural, historical and education resources of America’s capital city have long boosted the reputation of universities sited in and around its periphery, and GMU is no exception. The famous Smithsonian Institute, national museums and memorials, the Library of Congress and other education resources of Washington DC are just a 30-minute drive from the main GMU campus. Its educational and historical treasures apart, the city also offers summer and autumn recreation facilities along the Potomac River and a lively nightlife. Fairfax. Closer home, the historic city of Fairfax (pop.24,146) beyond which the main campus is located, has a museum, visitors’ centre, downtown shops and fine restaurants, all set in a charming old-fashioned environment. An hour’s drive from the campus are scenic Shenandoah mountains with the Shenandoah river meandering through. While summers are warm and humid, winters are cold and snowy. Winter temperatures range between -30C-80C and summer 170C-300C. Campus facilities. GMU has four campuses in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The university’s sprawling 677-acre main campus fringing Fairfax hosts state-of-the-art academic buildings, several student residences and an extensive parking structure. Most of the university’s academic departments and student services are located on this campus. They include the refurbished Fenwick Library (1.5 million volumes), the 320,000 sq. ft Johnson Center (students’ union building); Center for the Arts (2,000-seat concert hall); the 180,000 sq. ft Long and Kimmy Nguyen Engineering Building; Exploratory Hall for science; an astronomy observatory and telescope; and an 88,900 sq. ft Art and Design Building. Sports facilities are equally impressive. They include a Recreation and Athletics Complex (RAC) with three gymnasiums, racquetball and squash courts, a two-storey…
Established in 2002, GTS-G has swiftly developed into a progressive CBSE-affiliated K-12 school ranked among the Top 25 in Delhi NCR in the EW India School Rankings 2021-22 writes Autar Nehru. Sited on a 10-acre state-of-the-art campus off the Delhi-Meerut Expressway in Ghaziabad (pop.2 million), Gurukul The School, Ghaziabad (GTS-G, estb.2002) has swiftly developed into a progressive 21st century school providing highly qualified teachers, tech-enabled pedagogies, rich sports and co-curricular education and excellent student learning outcomes. In the latest EW India School Rankings 2021-22, GTS-G is ranked among the Top 3 co-ed day schools of Ghaziabad and among the Top 25 in Delhi NCR. Affiliated with the Delhi-based CBSE, this 20-year-old school has an enrolment of 2,055 students tutored by 162 well-trained teachers. An engineering graduate of Pune’s Savitribai Phule University, Sachin Vats, founder-director of GTS-G, says the prime objective behind the school’s promotion two decades ago was to provide children of the fast-expanding city of Ghaziabad access to internationally benchmarked K-12 education. “During my school days, I had to travel 30 km daily to Delhi/Noida for good quality education. Years later, this memory prompted me to establish a school which would offer the best infrastructure, pedagogies and teachers. This pursuit of excellence combined with my philosophy of offering education blending ‘modernity with values’ has enabled us to develop GTS-G into a high-quality institution in a short span of time,” says Vats, who started GTS-G with a first batch of 50 students in 2002 under the aegis of Gurukul Education Society. Today, this school receives five admission applications for every seat in nursery. Vats is especially pleased with the school’s response during the Covid-19 pandemic prompted 82-weeks closure, which has earned GTS-G “great trust and appreciation” of its parents community. Immediately after the lockdown of schools was announced in March 2020, GTS-G switched to online platforms such as Google Classroom, Zoom and MS Teams to smoothly transition to digital teaching-learning. Simultaneously, the school’s 162 teachers received intensive training in online teaching-learning pedagogies and ICT (information communication technologies) utilisation. On average, the school’s teachers receive 300 hours of continuous professional development (CPD) annually. “The past two years have been a great learning experience with the school succeeding in developing highly effective online, offline and hybrid teaching-learning models. Our teachers ensured that children’s learning was never disrupted and provided full remedial learning support while our counselors supported students’ mental health and wellbeing,” says Vats. The school management and teachers’ commitment to ensuring learning continuity during the pandemic has paid off by way of excellent results in CBSE school-leaving exams. In the 2020-21 CBSE class XII boards, the GTS-G cohort averaged 92.89 percent and 88.95 percent in the class X board examination. To provide students balanced and integrated education, the school has generously invested in contemporary academic, co-curricular and sports education facilities. The thematically designed ten-acre campus houses a fully air-conditioned building with 93 classrooms equipped with interactive Smart boards supported by optical fibre high speed Internet connectivity; two libraries with 48,000 print…
-Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) After a gap of nearly two years, 3,000 aided and 12,000 unaided private schools across Tamil Nadu reopened nursery classes on February 16, following an official order of the DMK-led state government permiting nursery classes, kindergarten, and playschools statewide to restart. This order has brought much needed relief to pre-primary schools, which had a tough time getting enrolments in the past academic year. The prolonged closure of all schools and higher education institutions across the country since March 2020 to safeguard children and youth from the Covid-19 pandemic, prompted an almost 70 percent drop in admissions in Tamil Nadu’s early childhood education institutions. According to a survey conducted by the Tamil Nadu Nursery Primary Matriculation Higher Secondary and CBSE Schools Association, in the academic year 2020-21, pre-primary admissions aggregated 6.3 lakh plus 1.2 lakh poor household children admitted under s.12 (1) (c) of the Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. In the academic year 2021-22, pre-primary admissions plunged to a mere 2.5 lakh. As the process for pre-primary admissions for the academic year 2022-23 began in February in most schools across Tamil Nadu, parents of youngest children have responded enthusiastically to normative in-person (cf. online) classes. “In the first week after reopening, our nursery section is at full strength with 100 students in lower KG and 100 in upper KG. In the academic year 2020-21, the admissions plunged to 60 and in the academic year 2021-22, 50 parents took our application forms but only 30 paid the stipulated admission/tuition fee. Clearly, now most parents are confident about sending their infants to school. This is because we are adhering to all Covid-19 safety protocols,” says Sudha Malini, principal of the CBSE-affiliated RMK Senior Secondary School, Thiruverkadu, which has an enrolment of 1,700 children and 90 teachers. This experience is not exceptional. “Youngest children confined at home for almost two years are returning — in some cases starting — nursery classes with great enthusiasm. Attendance till now is 80 percent and we are expecting all seats will be filled in the next few days,” says D. Girija Devi, principal of Anna Gem Science Park Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai. In Tamil Nadu’s 54,000 anganwadi centres (AWCs) — essentially nutrition centres for new-borns and lactating mothers that also provide free-of-charge ECCE (early childhood care and education) to children in the 0-6 age group — the enthusiasm about returning to in-person classes is discernibly greater. AWCs are a refuge for children from bottom-of-the-pyramid households because they not only provide playway education but free mid-day meals. For infants imprisoned in cramped houses and suffering nutrition anxiety, AWCs are a deliverance from boring daily routines especially for first generation learners. “Children are back in AWCs with full attendance. There are very few parents who are unwilling to send their children back to school. Most parents understand that their children are better off in school than at home. With very few resources to learn with at home, AWC children…
-Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) With the daily count of Covid-19 cases in West Bengal dipping from 24,000 cases per day in mid-January to 500 on February 13, the state’s hyper cautious Trinamool Congress government announced reopening of all primary and upper primary schools with effect from February 16 — after a 23-months lockdown. The government also greenlighted restart of the state’s anganwadi centres established by the Central government under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (1976). While there was initial jubilation in the state about schools opening after the unprecedented pandemic lockdown, educationists and educators are dismayed by the scale of the challenge confronting them. Media reports from all over Bengal confirm that a large number of students have dropped out of primary classess — especially of government schools — because they have started working. Reports also confirm that youngest children who have resumed classes have forgotten what they had learnt. A year ago, an Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) survey indicated that the lockdown of schools had inflicted a huge learning loss to primary school students statewide. ASER field personnel tested primary children in 10,141 households in 510 villages of all districts of Bengal, except Darjeeling. Their report indicated that the reading and arithmetic competencies of children in government schools had reduced by 7-10 percent respectively and only 30 percent of class III children were able to read class II texts or do class II-level subtraction sums. It also highlighted that only one out of six students received learning material during the first eight months of the pandemic and only one-third had access to smartphones. It is pertinent to note that if India’s education sector pandemic lockdown is the world’s longest (82 weeks), within India West Bengal’s is the longest among all states (99 weeks). Somewhat belatedly following reports of massive learning loss of children, parents, students, teachers’ organisations and students’ bodies of the state have begun to raise the volume of protest against exaggerated caution about restarting normal schooling. With the latest ASER survey (2021) confirming these apprehensions, several intellectual heavyweights including Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee, Sukanta Chaudhuri, professor emeritus of Jadavpur University, and Achin Chakraborty, professor of economics and director of the Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, have expressed deep concern about the future of West Bengal’s 8 million children enrolled in 65,000 primary schools. Comments Abhijit Banerjee in The Times of India (February 10): “Teachers will have to play a crucial role in identifying the shortcomings of students and filling the learning gaps. We have to find a new approach to prevent the bond between students and schools from weakening. The focus should be on not leaving anyone behind because if we lose this opportunity, a generation will lose their future.” Likewise in a recent op-ed essay in the Anandabazar Patrika, Prof. Sukanta Chaudhuri, wrote: “In West Bengal, about 16 lakh children are admitted to primary school every year. The children of the last two batches did not go to school for a single day. There is…
Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) Against the backdrop of Karnataka (pop.69 million) becoming the first state countrywide to start implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 beginning with higher education last September, the Karnataka Private School Managements Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff Coordination Committee (KPMTCC), which has 7,000 member schools, hosted a two-day national symposium to deliberate the ‘Regulatory Architecture of School Education Governance as recommended by the National Education Policy 2020’ in Bengaluru on February 25-26. The two-day symposium, which attracted over 200 delegates including school promoters, trustees and principals from 12 states countrywide, and policy makers and government advisors, thoroughly discussed the implications of implementing Chapter 8 — ‘Regulation and Accreditation of School Education’ of NEP 2020 — upon the country’s 450,000 private schools. Chapter 8 proposes an elaborate K-12 education regulatory structure headed by a Department of Education in all states and Union territories for “overall monitoring and policymaking for continual improvement of the public education system”. Operations and policy implementation falls within the purview of the Directorate of School Education, while an independent State School Standards Authority (SSSA), to be constituted by the state government, will set standards for safety, security, basic infrastructure, teacher adequacy, financial probity and sound processes of governance (para 8.5). All schools are obliged to make full disclosure of information as per the (no doubt elaborate) format prescribed by SSSA on their websites with SSSA empowered to adjudicate “any complaints or grievances” arising out of the information posted. The galaxy of panelists including Rajendra Singh, president, Independent English Schools Association (Maharashtra), Dr. M. Srinivasan, president, CBSE Schools Association (Karnataka) and members of the legislative council (MLCs) Puttanna and Arun Shahapur, expressed apprehensions about Chapter 8 increasing rather liberalising government regulation of private schools and demanded that the SSSA mandatorily comprise private school representatives. “The ministry of education which operates government schools cannot also regulate schools. This goes against the fundamental principle of separation of powers. The fundamental reform of NEP 2020 is that the roles of government as provider and monitor/regulator should be separated. However the NEP 2020 explicitly requires the state government to constitute the SSSA. Therefore delegates at the symposium were unanimous that the SSSA should include private school representatives because past practice has been to pack regulatory bodies with retired politicians and bureaucrats who are sympathetic to government and often hostile to private schools. Therefore, our unanimous demand is that SSSA is not entirely under government control,” says Puttanna, member of the legislative council representing the Bengaluru Teachers Constituency. Expert panelists at the symposium highlighted that the Indian K-12 education system is already governed by 145 State Education Acts, 101 corresponding rules and codes (often running into 2,000 pages) apart from the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act aka RTE Act, 2009 which has transferred part of the State’s obligation to provide free and compulsory education to children to private schools (s.12(1)(c)). Moreover under the RTE Act school inspectors have been granted wide powers to impose heavy fines and…
-Dipta Joshi On February 27, as Maharashtra celebrated Marathi Language Day on the birth anniversary of popular poet, Kusumagraj, 64,000 mostly Marathi medium private aided schools announced they would abstain from conducting the state government’s forthcoming class X and class XII board exams on their premises. The managements of these schools are on the warpath against the state government’s failure to reimburse Rs.520 crore of ‘non-salary grants’ for the academic years 2018-19 and 2019-20. The class X exams (March 15-April 4) and class XII exams (scheduled for March 4-April 30), conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), are the state’s largest assessment exercise involving 3.4 million children. Aided schools across the country — Maharashtra included — receive state government grants to cover teachers’ salaries. An additional non-salary or post-paid grant is paid to vernacular medium schools to make up for expenses they incur towards infrastructure development and maintenance. Under the Maharashtra Employees Private Schools Act (MEPS, 1977 & 1981)), all vernacular schools in the state are obliged to dispense free-of-charge education and are barred from taking any form of capitation fees or donations from their pupils. Although the tradition of the state government paying teachers’ salaries of private aided schools (which enables the government to regulate their tuition fees) is well-entrenched, time and again the Maharashtra government has attempted to end non-salary grants. After two unsuccessful attempts in 1997 and 2003, in January 2013, the state passed a government resolution (GR) reducing the non-salary grant component to 5 percent of the salary grant of aided schools. The constitutional validity of this GR was challenged by the Maharashtra Rajya Shikshan Santhan Mahamandal, an association comprising 30,000 private school trustees statewide. In 2017, after the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court ruled in favour of the trustees, the government continued paying Rs.260 crore per year as non-salary grants to Marathi and other vernacular medium aided schools. In December 2020 however, the Mahamandal filed a contempt petition when non-salary grants for the academic years 2018-19 and 2019-20 remained unpaid. In its response to the contempt petition, a government affidavit cited a decision taken by the state’s finance minister Ajit Pawar to end all non-salary grants from the year 2020. It further stated that aided vernacular schools incurred no expenses during the shutdown of schools for two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In court, government counsel suggested these schools should charge students Rs.1,000 per year as fees to cover non-salary expenses. With the court again ruling in favour of school managements, the government disbursed the first instalment of Rs.90 crore in January this year, promising to disburse another Rs.100 crore by March. “Our students come from very poor homes and cannot pay any fees. On one hand, the state government has been proclaiming that schools have quickly shifted to online education across Maharashtra. But on the other hand, it says our schools have not incurred any expenses during the pandemic. Schools like us dispense 90 percent…
Hindi promotion not in the National interest
– Rahul Singh The National Education Policy (NEP) approved by Parliament in 2020 has been widely praised. However, it has a major flaw that hasn’t been adequately addressed, viz its promotion of Hindi, while simultaneously disparaging English. The disastrous — unimplemented and unimplementable — three language policy, instead of being discarded, has been given a new lease of life by NEP 2020. Indeed, the policy goes further: the Union education ministry has been tasked to provide undergraduate engineering programmes in Hindi and regional languages, even though they are painfully short of the scientific terminology and literature needed for higher education. In particular, Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), among the few publicly-funded institutions of higher learning that are world-class, are also targeted in this language madness. The faculty of the IITs have global exposure and teach in English, the global language of industry and commerce. They are a proud and powerful symbol of India’s unity in diversity. To regionalise them would be a disservice to the nation. Moreover, the BJP/NDA government’s downplaying of English and promotion of shuddh Hindi (as opposed to the more colloquial and comprehensible Hindustani) is not in the national interest. Hindustani is by far the most spoken language in the country. But recent surveys indicate that English is the second most spoken language, and more importantly, it’s widely spoken in all of India’s linguistic states, making it the country’s premier link language. A report of the United District Information System of Education (UDISE) is telling. It covers 265 million children in 1.5 million schools, from the primary to higher secondary level. It reveals that 26 percent of all children are enrolled in English-medium schools, though Hindi remains a much bigger medium of instruction. All southern states, except Karnataka, have more children in English-medium, than in vernacular schools. Surprisingly, this is even so in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. In many English-medium schools, instruction is imparted in the local language. What this means is that the children want to be taught in English, but they can only do so if their teacher instructs them in their mother tongue, a truly bizarre situation and reality. The parents of these children converse with their kids in the vernacular at home, yet are keen that their children become fluent in English as well. Clearly, English has become an aspirational Indian language, not a colonial one, as the ruling party projects it. The BJP has lately been propagating Subhash Chandra Bose as a national icon, on a par with Gandhi and Sardar Patel. It may surprise many to learn that Bose was an advocate of Hindi written in the Roman script. After a trip to Turkey in 1934, he said: “To promote national unity, we shall have to develop our lingua franca and a common script,” while adding that a mix of Hindi and Urdu was best (i.e, Hindustani). “But I am inclined to think the ultimate solution would be the adoption of a script which would bring us in line with the…