EducationWorld May 16

Dilip Thakore interviewed Sanjit (‘Bunker’) Roy, founder of Barefoot College, Tilonia. Excerpts: How satisfied are you with the progress and development of Barefoot College? In particular, what new milestones has BC crossed since we last featured a cover story in 2012? I am fairly satisfied. Fourteen of the United Nations 2015 Sustainable Development Goals are embedded in the Barefoot solar electrification and other tertiary learning programmes such as rainwater harvesting, livelihood development and education. Moreover, the Barefoot Gandhian approach to fabrication, repair and maintenance of clean energy technology has been implemented in 75 countries; 1,320 villages worldwide generate solar electricity and 565,000 people have been provided clean lighting in their homes during the past five years. In addition, eight regional Barefoot College Vocational Training Centres — joint ventures directly between Barefoot College and the government of India and state governments — are under construction; the number of people working fulltime in BC’s solar technologies research and development has increased to 26, while the number of foreign offices inaugurated abroad (Latin America, Africa and Asia Pacific) has increased to four, and corporate partnerships we have signed in the past eighteen months have grown to 18. Although outstanding rural development success stories such as BC, Operation Flood, Shetkari Sanghatana, Pardada Pardadi, Seva Vikas Mandal, Anna Hazare’s Ralegan Siddhi experiment etc have been reported, for mysterious reasons their influence has been limited to their local environments, i.e they have not multiplied countrywide. Can you explain this mystery? There is a fundamental flaw in most NGO promoters. They fail to decentralise because they are insecure and want to be put on a pedestal and idolised. All are good public speakers incapable of multiplying their dreams nationwide. Fortunately, I like to think I don’t fall into this category. I am a poor public speaker. I hate crowds and I like to be challenged by equals. In 1993, Barefoot College promoted its decentralised SAMPDA (Society for Activating, Motivating and Promoting Development Alternatives). Since then, the network has grown to 23 BC-inspired NGOs promoted by graduates of BC, Tilonia. They are registered in different names, have their own boards, raise their own funds, identify their own priorities and are totally independent of Tilonia. We meet once or twice a year to map collaborative projects on solar electrification, rainwater harvesting, and marketing of handicrafts that would have the widest impact. Close to seven decades after independence as evidenced by the rising number of farm suicides and a long-term growth rate of a mere 2 percent per year, Indian agriculture continues to stagnate. What’s your prescription for its revival and regeneration? Indian agriculture continues to stagnate because there are simple, direct solutions that ‘experts’ are unwilling to accept. Our agricultural scientists have lost touch with small farmers — the 98 million rural households which own less than 1 bigha today. Our agri-scientists speak in riddles and have no idea of the enormous pressures that small farmers face while living a hand-to-mouth existence. Behind every tragic suicide is a pittance…

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With top ratings on the parameters of faculty competence, faculty development and welfare, research and innovation, and infrastructure, Manipal University has leapfrogged BITS, Pilani and IIIT, Hyderabad to the top of EWIPUR 2016: Dilip Thakore The Manipal (Karnataka)-based Manipal University (MU, estb.1953) — accorded the status of deemed (private) university in 1993 — which provides medical, engineering, business and hotel management, pharmacy, nursing and paramedical education to 30,000 students in its 22 colleges, has been voted India’s #1 private university by the 4,465 sample respondents polled in the EducationWorld India Private University Rankings (EWIPUR) 2016. Ranked #3 among private universities and #15 overall in 2015, this year, with top ratings on the parameters of faculty competence, faculty development and welfare, research and innovation and infrastructure, MU has leapfrogged the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani and the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, ranked first and second in 2015, to the very top of the EW private universities league table. “Manipal University has risen to the top in the public esteem because of sustained effort and teamwork of the administration, faculty and successive batches of students who have succeeded in their businesses and professions all over the world. Such institutional synergy always produces great results,” says Dr. Ramdas Pai, chancellor of MU who has played a major role in transforming Manipal (pop. 35,000) into India’s premier university town, and in establishing MU-affiliated colleges and universities in Sikkim, Malaysia, Dubai, and Antigua (West Indies) after he took charge following the death of MU’s legendary founder Dr. T.M.A Pai (1898-1979). Currently, the Manipal Education Group comprises 55 private education institutions with an aggregate enrolment of 167,000 students in India and abroad. Dr. H. Vinod Bhat, FRCS and an alumnus of Glasgow University, who signed up with MU in 1988 and was appointed vice chancellor of the university last June, is also delighted that MU has been ranked India’s #1 private university by the informed sample respondents of EWIPUR 2016. Bhat is particularly enthused about this off-the-beaten-track varsity’s top rating on the parameter of research and innovation. “In recent years, we have made a conscious effort to expand our research capacity in the life and natural sciences, virology and biomedical engineering, and MU has emerged as a national hub of embryology, genetics and social science research. Intelligent investment in globally benchmarked science and medical infrastructure has attracted substantial domestic and international research grants. I am also happy with MU’s top rank on the parameters of faculty competence, development and welfare which drives the research capability we have developed. Moreover, the top rating we have received on infrastructure validates my point about sustained intelligent infrastructure development,” says Bhat. In this year’s league table of India’s best private universities, MU is followed by last year’s top-ranked Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani and Amity University (#1 and #4 in 2015), International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (#4), and VIT University, Vellore (5). The next half of the Top 10 table is made of…

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With the monotonously top-ranked IITs and NITs admitting a minuscule percentage of the estimated 1.3 million school-leavers aspiring for engineering education, and other government engineering colleges in a shambles, league tables of the country’s Top 100 private engineering colleges serve a very useful public purpose, here are India’s Best Private Engineering Colleges 2016-17: Summiya Yasmeen  Engineering education in India is in deep crisis. An overwhelming majority of the 1.5 million graduates certified annually by the country’s 3,470 engineering colleges — the largest yearly cohort of engineering graduates produced by any nation worldwide — are unemployable. According to the Aspiring Minds National Employability Report 2016 released in early January, 80 percent of the country’s engineering graduates are inadequately skilled for industry. An earlier 2011 report of NASSCOM (National Association of Software & Services Companies) estimated the unemployability of engineering graduates at 83 percent. It ascribed the poor employability of India’s engineering graduates to inadequate knowledge of English (the medium of instruction) and communication skills, inadequate domain knowledge, and deficient technical skills. The general consensus among informed academics is that the quality and unemployability crises in Indian engineering education have been precipitated and accentuated by indiscriminate licencing of engineering colleges by the Delhi-based All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the apex regulatory body for technical education. Over the past decade, the number of engineering colleges in the country has almost tripled from 1,511 in 2006-07 to 3,384 in 2013-14. The fallout of the wild mushroom growth of engineering colleges led by the private sector is excess capacity. In the academic year 2015-16, AICTE estimates that 50 percent of the total seats available (1.6 million) in engineering colleges were vacant countrywide, driving a large number of them to the edge of bankruptcy. Against this backdrop of continuous decline in quality, in 2013 and 2014 EducationWorld published its first pan-India ranking of engineering colleges other than the seven pioneer Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), which by common consensus are leagues ahead of other engineering colleges and monotonously top all media rankings. Given that barely 2 percent of the 1.3 million school-leavers who write the IIT-JEE (joint entrance examination) annually, are admitted into these elite institutes, your editors have ab initio felt that the public interest would be better served by eliminating the IITs from our rankings and comparing the remainder inter se. Taking this reasoning a step further, this year we have eliminated all government-promoted colleges including the 30 Central government-funded National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and highly subsidised state government engineering colleges. Like the IITs, the 30 NITs admit a mere 16,000 students countrywide who write IIT-JEE annually, while the majority of state government engineering colleges offer pathetic education. Moreover, with almost 80 percent of the 3,470 engineering colleges promoted and managed by private edupreneurs, it makes good sense to evaluate the relative merits of the country’s Top 100 private engineering colleges to enable parents and students countrywide to choose from the best among them. “The IITs and NITs are supported by massive…

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On the reasoning that 70 percent of the country’s 3,452 B-schools are privately promoted, the IIMs, which routinely top all B-school surveys and the small minority of other government B-schools have been eliminated from this year’s private B-schools league tables: Summiya Yasmeen The Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur (formerly XLRI) followed by Mumbai’s S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) are India’s top three private business management institutes, according to the latest EW India Private B-schools Rankings 2016. A specially constituted sample database of 1,197 respondents comprising 542 faculty members, 522 final year management students and 133 industry representatives evaluated 500 privately-promoted B-schools on nine parameters of academic excellence — faculty competence, faculty welfare and development, research orientation, pedagogic systems and processes, industry interaction, placements, infrastructure and facilities, value for money and quality of alumni. This pan-India survey was conducted early this year by 40 field researchers of the well-reputed Delhi-based market research and opinion polls company Centre for Forecasting and Research Pvt. Ltd (C fore, estb.2000). For this year’s survey of B-schools, all government-promoted business management institutes including the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are excluded on the reasoning that they routinely top all B-school surveys, and the fact that the 19 IIMs together admit only 3,635 of the 210,000 students who write its annual Common Admission Test (CAT). EducationWorld’s last survey of B-schools conducted in 2013 had also excluded the IIMs for the same reason. Taking this reasoning a step further, since over 70 percent of the country’s 3,452 B-schools are privately promoted and managed, your editors decided to also eliminate the small minority of other non-IIM B-schools promoted by Central and state governments from the ambit of the survey. But bearing in mind that a great majority of private B-schools are nothing to write home about in terms of competent faculty, contemporary curriculums, pedagogies and processes, we took the decision to rate and rank only the 50 best among them. “We shortlisted 500 private B-schools offering the two-year MBA programme for this year’s survey. This means that highly-fancied B-schools such as the Indian School of Business which offer one-year programmes have been excluded. Respondents were asked to assess the shortlisted B-schools on a ten point scale against the nine parameters of academic excellence. The scores awarded by respondents under each parameter were multiplied by ten and totaled. Ratings awarded by faculty/students to their own institutes were invalidated and B-schools not known to at least 25 respondents were eliminated from the rankings,” says Premchand Palety, promoter chief executive of C fore explaining the painstaking effort invested in ranking India’s pre-eminent private B-schools. With the premier Indian School of Business, Hyderabad — ranked #1 in EW’s 2013 league table of best non-IIM B-schools and ranked among the world’s Top 20 B-schools by the Financial Times, London — eliminated from the survey, the Xavier School of Management (XSM), Jamshedpur, ranked #2 in 2013, has claimed first rank in the EW Top 50 Private…

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A curious facet of the neta-babu driven model of education is that post-independence India’s 35,000 colleges, 744 universities and the 38  Soviet-style Council of Industrial & Scientific Research labs across the country, which employ several hundred thousand higher education faculty and research scientists, haven’t been able to present the nation even one breakthrough invention like the computer, internet or cell phone. On the other hand, in the matter of devising ingenious ways and means of swindling the exchequer and public, the neta-babu conspiracy which controls the “commanding heights of the Indian economy,” has shown great inventive capability. The latest swindle to be unearthed in Karnataka which is listed high on the corruption index of Transparency International India, involves Dr. Yathindra, son of chief minister Siddaramaiah, who recently achieved national fame for sporting a diamond-studded Hublot watch valued at Rs.2 crore on his socialist wrist. A year after it inducted Dr. Yathindra Siddaramaiah into its board of directors, Matrix Imaging Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a Bangalore-based medical diagnostic company, was awarded a plum project to set up a for-profit diagnostic laboratory inside the premises of the government-owned Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. Strangely, five other companies which had initially tendered bids for this juicy captive market contract, withdrew from the bidding at the last minute, leaving Matrix Image’s tender as the only bid. The tender of HLL Lifecare — a Central government public sector enterprise, no less — was rejected because its earnest money deposit was reportedly not received by the tender adjudication committee in time, although the company’s bank records indicate otherwise.  Meanwhile, even as merchandise and commodities exports are continuously declining, corruption has become India’s most successful export. Currently, several Indian origin members of the British parliament are under investigation for defrauding the public exchequer. Greed, indifference & disrespect In recent years the remuneration packages of corporate directors and CEOs have swelled mightily. According to Businessworld (April 18), the country’s most highly-paid chief executives are Dayanithi and Kalanithi Maran, promoter-directors of Sun TV Networks who paid themselves a staggering — brace yourself — Rs.61 crore each in 2015-16. Also high on the CEO pay league table is N. Chandrasekaran, CEO of IT software and services major Tata Consulting Services Ltd (TCS), with a handsome annual pay package of Rs.21.2 crore. And thereby hangs a tale.  In 2002 Faqir Chand Kohli, then vice chairman of the company who during an almost four-decades tenure (1969-96) as CEO of the company built TCS into the country’s #1 IT software development and services heavyweight, was persuaded to sponsor an annual EducationWorld-TCS Teachers Awards under which the country’s best primary and secondary school teachers were felicitated, celebrated and awarded laptops and modest cash prizes. In 2009 — the last year in which the awards were presented — 20,000 entries were received. However as soon as Chandrasekaran was appointed CEO of TCS in 2009, he terminated the TCS-EW contract — which cost the company a modest Rs.6-8 lakh per year — pleading corporate poverty. But…

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The Public Intellectual In India by Romila Thapar aleph book company in association with the book review literary trust; Price: Rs.889; Pages: 284 In his obituary to Benedict Anderson, historian Ramchandra Guha recollects a letter from him in which he asked, “How many public intellectuals are there in India? In Southeast Asia they are dying, replaced by professors and bureaucrats to whom not many ordinary people pay any attention… I guess your Gandhi was a public intellectual, but probably Nehru not???” The worry about disappearance of the institution of the public intellectual is widespread. Romila Thapar expressed her anxiety about this decreasing tribe in the annual Nikhil Chakravartty Memorial Lecture in 2014 titled To Question or Not to Question: That is The Question. Later, five brilliant minds from the fields of philosophy, science, political science, history and media got together to respond to the concern raised by Thapar in her lecture. This discussion developed into the book under review, which contains an introduction and afterword by Thapar apart from her original lecture, and the responses of Sundar Surrukkai, Dhruv Raina, Peter DeSouza, Neeladri Bhattacharya and Jawed Naqvi respectively.      Who is an intellectual and what is her role in society? Being merely a scholar or an abstract thinker does not make one an intellectual. In his essay The Role of the Intelligentsia, Isaiah Berlin says that excellence in one’s own field of expertise, be it science or arts, “does not qualify you to be a member of the intelligentsia as such”. Nor does “sheer opposition to the establishment” earn one a place in the assembly of the intelligentsia. “A combination of belief in reason and progress with a profound moral concern for society” is needed for inclusion in the thinning assembly of public intellectuals, says Berlin. In Romila Thapar’s view, a questioning spirit is essential for an intellectual. Questioning in itself is a subversive act as it destabilises establishments of all types. She draws from the past of India and Europe to explain that questioning is not a ‘modern’ phenomenon. “In earlier times the questions emerged from rational argument and logical thinking, but were tempered by the recognition of the human condition,” she writes. To discover new ways of structuring a fair society, one has to challenge all kinds of power. To be able to do so, intellectuals have to be autonomous of power structures. “An acknowledged professional status” makes it easy to be autonomous but this alone does not make one a public intellectual. According to Thapar, what differentiates the public intellectuals of today from intellectuals of the past is an acute awareness of and concern for the rights of citizens, particularly on issues of social justice. In earlier times if it was religious orthodoxy intellectuals had to fight; in our days the name of the new orthodoxy is nationalism. For independent thinking to flourish, nationalism has to be questioned and challenged. But in another context, talking about the role of public intellectuals, Terry Eagleton wondered whether they are true to…

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Leadership is a performing art, and the best way to get better at it is to practice it while learning about it — Jim Thompson, founder, Positive Coaching Alliance, USA An urgent need of these complex times is to equip youth to lead the way into the future. Admittedly, it’s important to teach them to be followers first — but there’s a greater need for leadership development programmes and strategies as young people make their progress through high school, college and begin their careers. Yet, the fact is that most youth never participate in formal leadership development programmes. For the past several years, I have been devoting my time and energy to a youth leadership development programme called Leading2Play. In 2011, America’s secretary of defence Robert Gates delivered his final speech at the famous Military Academy, West Point where he posed the question: How will new leaders emerge when military academies (which train cadets to defend justice and liberty in zones of terrible conflict around the world) are obliged to position young leaders in cubicles to re-arrange PowerPoint slides? In his address to cadets and commandants, Gates raised the question of how will true military leaders develop without being confronted with genuine military challenges. During this important address, the defence secretary highlighted the reality that military conflict is now very different from what it was in World War II or Vietnam. The enemy today is often not an evil country but suicidally determined terrorists. This makes modern warfare more messy and complex than ever. On the other hand, the capabilities of soldiers, sailors and airmen to shoot, move and communicate today is stunning. On any given day, decisions are made in real time, on the ground, even in the midst of a ballooning crisis — and they’re made by officers behind and in front lines and theatres of action. However despite the radically changed nature of modern warfare, leadership skills are developed when young men and women make tough decisions on the ground in real time. To put it another way, technology doesn’t create leaders, experiences do. Comfort doesn’t create leaders, crises do. Today, the science of leadership development is all about moving outside comfort zones to push causes or teams of people forward into difficult situations. Presenting youth with problems and challenges is the first requirement of contemporary leadership programmes. In addition to this external factor, leadership programmes require one more essential ingredient. They must teach responsibility. Young people never actually learn to lead without learning to take responsibility in difficult situations, including combat. In the armed forces, young combatants are taught to quickly communicate real-time situations and derive the authority to “take the shot” if needed. These days, permission to act is given swiftly — scary but empowering. We can teach all day, show videos, play instructive games and do assessments, but until we actually invest young people with responsibility, we won’t succeed in developing effective leaders. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a believer in the power of…

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Dilip Thakore interviewed Dr. Sugata Mitra, professor of education technology at Newcastle University, after he conducted lecture-workshops in Mumbai and Bangalore under the EducationWorld Professional Development Workshop Series.   Indian education is in sorry condition. Learning outcomes in primary schools are very poor with class V children unable to read class II texts and 53 percent of children dropping out of school before completion of elementary education. In higher education only two of India’s 800 universities — some with over 150 years vintage — are ranked among the global Top 200. What in your opinion has gone wrong? Indian education was redesigned by the British in the 18th century. Its purpose was to produce people who would be useful for administering British rule in India. At the time, India had already been conquered and ruled by people from the Middle East for over 800 years. No trace of its earlier heritage (before 1000 BCE) was either evident or in public memory. Indians had forgotten what it was like to be free. British-designed education to produce clerks and factory workers continued after independence. Amazingly, it continues even today. Government schools in particular, go on mindlessly producing 19th century people using 19th century curriculums, 19th century pedagogy and 19th century examination systems. At the end of their schooling, these people enroll in universities. Prof. Dinesh Mohan of IIT-Delhi once described the higher education system as “an ocean of mediocrity”. I don’t need to say more. A growing number of educationists believe that new digital technologies offer India’s education policy-formulators an opportunity to make up for lost time and opportunities. Do you share this opinion? ‘Technology in education’ is not the answer. Millions are spent buying junk in the name of technology for education. Instead, we need to change our focus from ‘teaching’ to ‘learning’. We need evidence of efficient learning before investing in technology. There are too many people and companies selling ‘solutions’. We need to know how to see through them and focus on the key requirement of Indian education — learning. Your Hole-in-the-Wall experiment in Kalkaji, Delhi in the 1990s, and subsequently SOLE (self-organised learning environments) and School in the Cloud seem to have vindicated your faith in peer-to-peer and self-learning. Would it be correct to say that you believe that Indian education requires pedagogy rather than technology revolutions? Yes, 21st century learners learn differently. We need to factor the Internet into our schools and examinations, and set up collaborative learning spaces in schools. I set up such a space in a government school in Kalkaji, New Delhi, three years ago. If you talk to the students there you will see fantastic change. In India, the greatest resistance to new technologies and pedagogies is from the teachers’ community. How can this problem be addressed? India’s teacher training progammes are ancient and obsolete. Our teachers seem utterly uninterested in their jobs — with some rare exceptions. The examination system encourages them to be apathetic, to suggest private tuition, and help students cheat…

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I completed my BA next year and would like to explore a career in digital humanities. Which universities abroad offer this specialisation and what are the job opportunities? Subhash Iyer, Chennai Digital humanities is a transdisciplinary field that involves creation and dissemination of knowledge in the networked age mediated by digital culture and technology. Course modules include study of internet technologies, digital resources in the humanities, introduction to programming, server programming and structural data, digital publishing, the social life of big data, communication of cultural heritage, management of content industries, digital media/marketing etc. Reputed universities abroad offering this specialisation are Georgia Tech and Florida State University, USA; University College and King’s College, London, UK; Australian National University, Canberra; University College Cork, Ireland and University of Atlanta, Canada. Job opportunities are exciting and rewarding. After graduation, you could work as a digital product manager, director of marketing, senior strategy analyst, data engineer, journalist, research associate, web marketing executive, senior curator, and/or digital assets and media manager. After completing my final CA exam in India, is it advisable to pursue CPA (Certified Public Accountant) certification in the US? Sunil Kulkarni, Pune CPA deals with the accounting and taxation structures of the US and consequently will not help your accounting practice in India. CPA has value only if you are planning to work with organisations which need to conform with US accountancy protocols. I’m a final year B.Sc (IT) student. I want to switch to a career in graphic design or film-making. What are my options? Neena Rao, Bangalore You could sign up for certificate/diploma programmes in graphic design offered by several private computer institutes countrywide. Many media/mass communication institutes also offer courses in film-making. You need to be creative and tech-savvy to do well in both these fields. Which institutes in Mumbai offer a course in the Bharatnatyam dance form? Also which is the best fashion design institute in India? Shalini Desai, Mumbai You could sign up for the bachelor of fine arts (dance) programme of University of Mumbai at the Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya, Vile Parle (W), Mumbai. Bharatnatyam is one of several classical dance specialisations offered in this programme. For further information, visit nalandadanceeducation.com. India’s premier fashion design institute is the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi which has a branch at Navi Mumbai. If you have the aptitude and passion for fashion design and qualify in the competitive admission process, good career prospects await you. Will an MBA with an engineering degree offer better job prospects than a B.Sc degree followed by an MBA? Amit Puri, New Delhi What really counts for placement is the reputation of the B-school from which you graduate. Most recruiters give weightage to the MBA programme score-cards and bachelor’s degree (engineering or otherwise) and extra-curricular activities. Demand for business management graduates is good but campus recruitment is usually offered to the Top 20 percent of each graduating batch, and that too of premier B-schools. Other B-school graduates have to find suitable employment on…

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For businesses and companies, social media sites are emerging as important communication channels to market products, brands and generate new business Wikipedia defines social media as “computer-mediated tools that allow people or companies to create, share, or exchange information, career interests, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks”. In layman’s terms, it’s the information people and companies share on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, among others. According to market research firm Nielsen, internet users worldwide spend more time on social media than on other websites. This is rapidly becoming the norm as people build and share information with like-minded communities worldwide. For businesses and companies, social media sites are emerging as important communication channels to market products, promote brands, connect with current customers and generate new business. As India’s e-commerce industry is expected to generate revenues of over Rs.670,000 crore by 2020, and 100 million Indians are scouring the internet for products and services information, social media management and marketing is emerging as a hot and happening 21st century career. Social media management involves posting and updating content, monitoring, filtering, and measuring the online ubiquity of a brand, product, individual, institution or company — even political parties — on popular social media websites. This information is used by social media professionals to help companies improve brand exposure. To sucessfully execute these tasks, social media managers must possess adequate communication and writing skills and the ability to engage with people/customers online. Social media management software (SMMS) is used by managers to monitor internet conversations, document online social marketing initiatives and measure the usefulness of social media advertising and communications. Study Programmes A bachelor’s degree in advertising, media and communications, digital marketing, journalism, public relations, or business management is a good foundation for a career in social media management/marketing. This could be followed up with domain-dedicated short-term diploma/certificate courses. Among institutions offering these programmes are Loyola Institute of Business Administration, Chennai; Digital Vidya, Delhi; Digital Academy India, Delhi; NIIT; EduKart, Delhi; the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) at its Mumbai and Delhi institutes and the Internet & Mobile Research Institute (IMRI), Bangalore. Several US universities also offer degree and certificate programmes in social media management/marketing. Rutgers University offers ‘a mini-MBA’ in social media marketing and Austin Community College, Texas a two-year degree and certificate course in social media communication. The University of Florida offers an online Master’s degree in mass communication with specialisation in social media. Formal education and training apart, it’s important to simultaneously enhance your knowledge and experience of social media usage by developing an online presence through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram profiles and blogs. This will add great value to your resume. Pay and Perks Freshers usually begin as assistant/junior social media managers at Rs.20,000-30,000 per month and a manager with three-four years’ experience can expect between Rs.60,000-100,000. Opportunities for freelance work from home are also available. “With social media becoming an integral part of online life as websites and…

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It’s raining encomiums for Sohini Karmakar and Rojismita Purohit, class XII science students of Visakhapatnam’s Vikas Vidyaniketan School (estb.1993) who cracked the annual Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY, youth sciences study incentive plan) scholarship exam of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Although the students were ranked #410 and #1,410, they are among the 1.5 percent of the 100,000 candidates countrywide who cleared the KVPY exam (the results of which were announced on March 22) and as such, are eligible to receive annual study grants of between Rs.80,000-112,000 for undergrad and postgrad study. Given that both come from the interior district towns of Baripada and Sambalpur in Odisha where access to quality secondary education for girl children is restricted, this is a notable achievement. In 2013 they were admitted into the fully residential Vikas Vidyaniketan School, Visakhapatnam (Andhra) which offers an integrated CBSE and IIT-JEE/PMT test preparatory programme, and wrote the KVPY scholarship exam in November 2015. Vikas Vidyaniketan is among 58 schools promoted by the Hyderabad-based People Combine Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd. Established in 1999 and administered by the Indian Institute of Science, KVPY is a scholarship programme funded by the Central government’s Department of Science and Technology to encourage school-leaving students to opt for science streams in higher education. The programme offers scholarship and contingency grants up to the pre-Ph D level to the top 1.5 percent of students who write the exam. Sohini readily concedes that switching schools and the mentoring she received at Vikas Vidyaniketan helped her bag the prized scholarship. “Over the past two years since I moved to Vizag, my school has been a home away from home,” she says. Likewise, Rojismita acknowledges that the switch to Vikas Vidyaniketan was a turning point. “I believe the integrated curriculum of the school is adequate grounding for any entrance exam,” she says. The classmates are currently preparing intensively for admission into medical colleges countrywide. While Sohini wishes to study and research cardiology, Rojismita has set her sights on practising gynaecology. Wind in your sails! Paromita Sengupta (Bangalore) A2Oz champions The Load Distributor, a three-and-a-half-minute film which sends out a strong message of hope to the huge community of head-load bearers including railway and mountain porters, has won 17-year-old innovators Tilak Badaya and Raghav Kabra, class XI science students of the CBSE-affiliated Seedling Public School, Jaipur, first prize in the social entrepreneurship category of the A2Oz — Advance to Australia Schools Video Competition 2015. The jury’s verdict was announced on March 10. After besting 102 entries, the two teens are all set to travel Down Under on an all-expenses paid five-day study tour hosted by Bond University, Queensland. Organised jointly by the Australian Trade Commission and Cambridge English Language Assessment in four categories — marine sciences, robotics, creative animation and social entrepreneurship — the A2Oz competition, which drew participation from 380 schools countrywide, required students to produce short films outlining their ideas to solve complex global challenges. “Gazing out of our physics lab window, we often saw…

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The Delhi-based NIIT Ltd, a well-known name in digital technology skills and talent development, was conferred the ‘Best Innovation Brand in the Education Sector’ by an Assocham National Brand Summit & Excellence Awards 2016 jury. Sanjay Zhunzhunwala, chairman, and Shradha Agarwal, co-chairperson of the Assocham Regional Council, presented the award to Shakera Roy, general manager NIIT, at a formal ceremony staged at The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata on April 25. Speaking on the occasion, Prakash Menon, president (global skills and careers) of NIIT Ltd observed: “Over the past 35 years, NIIT has played a pioneering role in shaping the education and training sector through its innovative and industry-aligned career programmes. We continuously strive to design our programmes to match the aspirations of youth with the requirements of industry. This award is a recognition of our efforts and will encourage us to constantly innovate by introducing a diverse range of learning solutions focused on digital transformation.” Nasscom takes to CSR Addressing a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Leadership Conference 2016 convened in New Delhi on March 9, B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, chairman of the National Association of Software Services Companies (NASSCOM), said the NASSCOM Foundation has secured grants of over Rs.50 crore for the financial year 2016-17. During the CSR leadership conference, a landmark deal between the Union government and NASSCOM Foundation was signed under which the foundation has undertaken the responsibility of sensitising citizens countrywide about e-waste, its health and environmental hazards and responsible disposal. Reddy said Indian industry will spend Rs.20,000 crore on CSR activities this year. Also the industry partner of the Union government for the National Digital Literacy Mission, the foundation has successfully established over 100 learning centres across India and intends to make over 75,000 households digitally literate. “Our ongoing partnerships with government and corporates is a good example of how CSR money can be used for the benefit of millions across the country — improving their livelihood and income prospects, and creating a real impact in the community. It’s a great way to achieve inclusion in society,” said Shrikant Sinha, CEO of the NASSCOM Foundation speaking on the occasion. Amity scientists’ innovation Scientists of Amity University (AU), Noida have developed India’s first hand-held and chemicals-free milk adulteration testing kit which can detect adulteration in milk within ten seconds. The kit was formally presented to the Ahmedabad-based Everest Instruments Pvt. Ltd, on April 19 at an official ceremony on the university campus presided by Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan, founder-president of the Amity Group. The technology for the kit was developed over 18 months by a team of AU scientists led by Dr. Ashish Mathur, assistant professor of the Amity Institute of Nanotechnology, sited on the AU, Noida campus. “The adulteration testing kit we have developed is non-hazardous, cost-effective, transportable, user-friendly and does not require lab test equipment. A 2.2 ml milk sample is required and the result of the test is conveyed within ten seconds through a mobile phone app. The kit can quickly detect levels of starch, detergent,…

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Jharkhand New composite schools Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani announced five new composite schools in Ranchi, Palamau, Dumka, Chaibasa and Hazaribagh districts to provide education to students from class I until postgraduation — all on one campus. The minister was participating in the Vidyalaya Chale-chalayein Abhiyan — Jharkhand’s school enrolment drive programme — at Kalamati village. The government will run the composite schools on lines of private schools with students provided bus transport services, according to an official statement issued on April 19 in Medininagar (Palamu district). In a reference to IIT-Dhanbad (formerly Indian School of Mines), the minister has exempted SC, ST and OBC students from paying tuition fees, the statement added. Gujarat Mass cheating case Saurashtra University authorities have registered a case of mass cheating against 51 students for allegedly using mobile phones during their final B.Com examinations in Gujarat’s Amreli district. An official communique issued on April 4 by the university in Ahmedabad said the case was registered after a video went viral on social media showing students writing the exam while speaking on mobile phones at an examination hall in a college affiliated with Saurashtra University. Vice chancellor Pratapsinh Chauhan said a five-member expert committee had been specially constituted to investigate the matter. Telangana ISB-SMU Concord The Indian School of Business (ISB) and Singapore Management University (SMU) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which the two top-ranked B-schools will share best practices and leverage each other’s expertise in business management education and research. The MoU of five years duration between ISB which has campuses at Mohali and Hyderabad, and SMU, encourages faculty and student exchanges to develop new thinking and practices in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship and to design joint programmes, said an ISB statement issued on April 15 in Hyderabad. Speaking on the occasion, Rajendra Srivastava, dean of ISB, said: “ISB’s academic partnerships have played an important role in its evolution and growth over the years. In keeping with this, we see enormous potential in associating with SMU and working towards a stronger, mutually beneficial, institutional connect to develop expertise and insights relating to Asian and emerging markets that will be of immense value to the world.” Added SMU president Arnoud De Meyer: “We are pleased to work with a like-minded partner focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in business education, to exchange and deepen our expertise in teaching, research and student programmes.” Nagaland RAISE for special needs children The state’s social welfare secretary, Dellirose M. Sakhrie, formally launched the Regional Action on Inclusive Education (RAISE)-North East project — a five-year pilot on inclusive education — in Kohima on April 12, and requested the citizenry’s help to empower special needs children through education. RAISE has been designed to complement the Central government-funded Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme and will improve the quality of education for children with disabilities in government and government-aided schools in select districts of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura. The Kohima-based Cherry Blossoms Society is partnering with…

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“Gurugram may have been OK a few decades ago, but wouldn’t Gurukilo have been more appropriate, now?” B. Jay Panda, BJD spokesperson, on the renaming of Gurgaon as Gurugram by the Haryana state government (April 12) “Many families that have bet their shirts on education will be disappointed to find that this education has only rendered their child unemployable. There’s a great deal of frustration building up.” Anirudh Krishna, professor at Duke University, USA, sharing his research findings on social mobility in India (Times of India, April 17) “I cannot get euphoric if India is the fastest growing large economy. Our current growth certainly reflects the hard work of the government and the people of the country, but we have to repeat this performance for the next 20 years before we can give every Indian a decent livelihood.” Dr. Raghuram Rajan, RBI governor delivering a lecture at NIBM, Pune (April 21) “Inequities have to be settled in some way, but not by claiming back royal jewels which have little to give us civilisationally except some publicity.” Naman Ahuja, professor of art at JNU, Delhi, on the demand of the Central government to Britain to return the Kohinoor diamond (The Hindu, April 22) “Aspiration and wealth creation are not dirty words.” David Cameron, British prime minister, releasing his tax returns following revelations in the so-called Panama Papers that he once held an interest in his late father’s offshore accounts (Time, April 25) “The nation state often commands uniformity, while the university triggers plurality, thus making the politics of knowledge a creative and difficult balance between the two. By treating the protests as anti-national, JNU seems to consider itself as a continuation of the civil service.” Shiv Vishvanathan, social scientist, criticising a JNU report suspending two students for alleged anti-national activities (Deccan Chronicle, April 29)

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The dimming electoral prospects of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party led by its feisty chief minister Mamata Banerjee, reeling under impact of the Vivekananda flyover collapse in Kolkata on March 31 that resulted in the death of 25 unsuspecting citizens, and the Narada sting operation which revealed the complicity of the TMC with the ubiquitous syndicate (gangs of youth who corner construction material supply contracts) among other scams, are not likely to be helped by the continuous confusion surrounding the state government’s Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). The careers and future of thousands of prospective and in-service school teachers remain undecided due to recurrent cancellation of TET following question paper leaks, unpublished results, erroneous recruitment and pending court cases, even as there are 50,000 teacher vacancies in the state’s 92,000 government schools. But even as the results of TET 2015 remain undeclared because of pending court cases, on February 16 the School Service Commission (SSC) of West Bengal published a notice inviting online applications for recruitment of 18,203 teachers for 10,000 government secondary and higher secondary schools statewide. However, continued ambiguity about the qualifications required to write TET continues to cause huge confusion among aspiring teachers. According to the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), aspirants must have a B.Ed degree with a minimum average score of 50 percent to write TET. However the SSC guidelines demand B.Ed and a minimum of 50 percent only in the chosen honours subject. Moreover, in its February 16 notice, SSC also changed the criteria for teachers aspiring to teach in senior (classes IX-X) and higher secondary (classes XI-XII) schools, resulting in rejection of the application forms of an estimated 50,000 applicants. Under the new eligibility rules, B.Ed honours graduates are eligible to write TET for classes IX-X and to be eligible to teach in higher secondaries (classes XI-XII), postgrad qualifications are required. These “abrupt and random changes” in TET eligibility criteria have aroused fears of a rain of litigation. This is hardly the first TET in jobs-starved West Bengal which has been marred by controversy. The state TET came under flak in its very first year (2012) when 3.4 million candidates wrote the test but only 18,000 passed, of whom 95 percent were fresh graduates. Newspapers in Kolkata were awash with reports that question papers had been leaked, and that teachers’ posts were cornered by TMC cadres and sympathisers. Despite this, the state government went ahead with the recruitment of teachers in 2013, many of whom immediately signed up for the two-year open and distance learning (ODL) training programmes of IGNOU, Kalyani, Jadavpur, and Vidyasagar universities, as NCTE guidelines made it mandatory for all teachers to be trained by March 31, 2015. This was again a breach of NCTE regulation which makes it mandatory for teachers to have at least two years’ teaching experience before signing up for ODL training. The next TET conducted in 2015 was also mired in controversy with insufficient application forms leading to a scramble and allegations of…

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For 174,000 out of 650,000 higher secondary students across the southern state of Karnataka (pop. 64 million) who finally completed their Plus Two, aka pre-university, exam staged by the department of pre-university education (DPUE) on April 12, the preceding four weeks was a period of repeated punishment. The students had to write the chemistry exam not once, but almost three times. Their agony began on March 21, when the chemistry exam was scheduled to be held in 975 centres statewide. Two hours prior to the exam, DPUE officials learned that the question paper had been leaked to some students. After the 174,000 students had written the three-and-a-quarter-hour exam, DPUE cancelled the examination. Subsequently, a re-examination of the paper was scheduled for March 31. However, the exam was cancelled the second time because hours before it was to commence, DPUE was alerted by the state CID (Criminal Investigation Department) that the question paper had been leaked again. Students were sent smses informing them of the cancellation on the morning of the re-exam. Following widespread protests by parents and students, on April 4 the CID arrested three people — a physical education teacher of a private college in Bangalore, the personal assistant of Prakash Patil, minister for medical education, and one Rudrappa, a public works department employee. The ill-starred chemistry exam was finally conducted under tight security on April 12. This time, DPUE, with help from the state’s CID and police, ensured question paper boxes were sent to the exam centres under heavy security. Since then, CID investigations have found that the mastermind behind the repeated question paper leakages was a 65-year-old former headmaster of a government secondary school in Bangalore, a repeat offender who had been arrested five times since 2008 in connection with leaked school exam papers, but had never been convicted. While this worthy is on the run, the CID has filed a chargesheet under the Karnataka Organized Crime Act (KOCA) against the arrested suspects of the question paper leak. Under this legislation, the accused cannot get anticipatory bail and their movable and immovable assets are liable to seizure. Meanwhile, the agony of the students was compounded by the Karnataka State PU College Lecturers and Principals’ Association calling an indefinite strike on April 5, demanding a pay increase. This meant the completion of the pre-university exam, already delayed because of the paper leakages and consequent re-exams, could be exacerbated with the students getting their exam results late. This places them in danger of missing the deadlines for writing public entrance exams for admission into engineering and professional education institutions. Fortunately after a two-week face-off, the lecturers called off the strike on April 19 “in the larger interest of the student community”. Meanwhile, to ensure there’s no repetition of secondary and higher secondary (pre-university) paper leakages, on April 12 the state’s minister for primary and secondary education Kimmane Rathnakar announced his ministry’s intent to introduce a fool-proof system of online question paper delivery starting from the next academic year, on…

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The April 8 decision of the union ministry for human resource development (HRD) to raise annual tuition fees for higher secondary school-leavers entering the country’s 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) from the current Rs.90,000 to Rs.200,000 in the new academic year starting July, has evoked mixed reactions within students, parents, academics and industry leaders countrywide. Expectedly, while the student community has strongly opposed the steep 121 percent increase in tuition fees, informed academics and industry representatives believe that the fees hike was long overdue. Although the IIT Council comprising representatives of 16 of 23 IITs and chaired by Union HRD minister Smriti Irani, initially approved the new tuition fee for all students with effect from the next academic year, protests from students at IIT-Kharagpur prompted the ministry to hastily issue a clarification that the new tuition fees will be applicable only to new batches of students entering the IITs. Moreover, the ministry’s clarification stated that students from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, differently-abled and from households with annual income of less than Rs.100,000 will get full tuition fee waiver. Students from households with annual incomes of less than Rs.500,000 will be entitled to a two-thirds tuition waiver while all others will be provided interest-free loans to fund their education. These generous concessions amounting to an almost total volte-face have failed to impress the 9,000 students of IIT-Madras (ranked first among engineering colleges in the India Rankings 2016 under the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the HRD ministry) who have launched a signature campaign against the tuition fee increase, and submitted a petition to the ministry demanding its revocation in toto. The Indian school education system doesn’t provide science stream students with sufficient economics and social sciences education to enable them to see the bigger picture. Yet, the plain truth is that higher education in post-independence India — mainly availed by the middle and elite classes — has been over-subsidised at the cost of early childhood and primary education. In the 2016-17 Union budget, of the grudging outlay of Rs.72,934 crore for education, Rs.28,000 crore has been provided for higher education. Shockingly, students in India’s 389 public universities are universally — instead of targetedly — subsidised by way of rock-bottom tuition fees. In the circumstances, the selective targeted subsidisation of SC, ST and low income household students in the IITs proposed by the HRD ministry — although not fully means-tested — is a novel initiative and an example worth emulating in all public institutions of higher education. Moreover, it’s pertinent to note that the new annual Rs.200,000 tuition-cum-residential accommodation fee covers only one-third of the Central government’s actual expenditure estimated at Rs. 600,000 per year per IIT student. Against this, the average start-up salaries of IIT graduates have always been many multiples of their annual fees. For instance in IIT-M, the average annual remuneration package for 2015 graduates was Rs.6 lakh. “All students, particularly general category students from middle and elite classes can well afford to pay or repay…

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Maharashtra’s BJP-Shiv Sena government has introduced a new school certification system applicable to all primary and secondary schools statewide, irrespective of board affiliation. The ‘Samruddha Shala’ system will evaluate a school’s compliance with the norms and standards mandated by s.19 and Schedule of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. The new infrastructure assessment system is modelled on a Central government initiative — ‘Shala Siddhi’ or National Programme of School Standards and Evaluation — devised by the Delhi-based National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) under the aegis of the Union HRD ministry in December 2015. Since then, state governments countrywide have launched their versions under the Shala Siddhi guidelines. In Maharashtra, schools applying for the Samruddha Shala (SS) certificate are obliged to evaluate themselves before being assessed by an external assessor from the Maharashtra State Council of Education, Research & Training (MSCERT). In addition to a s.19 norms compliance report, every school has to also send a self-evaluation report assessing its learning attainments, students’ progress, teacher performance, school leadership, productive community participation and adherence to health and safety standards. Under s.19 of the RTE Act, all schools have to ensure they are equipped with infrastructure facilities such as well-equipped classrooms, drinking water, clean toilets, a library, playground, ramps for differently abled students, a boundary wall etc. The Act gave all private schools a three-year time window to become compliant with the norms and standards specified in s.19 and the Schedule after the Act became law on April 1, 2010. Although typically, government schools are exempt from the stringent financial penalties including forcible closure stipulated in s.19, the norms and standards specified are as applicable to government schools as to private. But despite the great majority of 67,691 government primaries in Maharashtra being non-compliant with s.19, education ministry officials seem to derive considerable comfort from data which indicates that 22,019 of them are RTE-compliant. However, according to Status of RTE Implementation in the State, a report published by the Mumbai-based NGO Samarthan earlier this year, a large number of primary schools in Maharashtra (pop.112 million) — India’s most industrialised state — lack basic infrastructure facilities. According to the report, 13,106 schools don’t have electricity, 970 don’t have separate toilets for girls, and 388 schools don’t provide children drinking water. Moreover according to Samarthan, the classrooms of 25,585 schools are in poor condition and pose a danger to children in them. At least one teacher per classroom and a 1:40 teacher-pupil ratio is one of the norms specified in the Schedule of the RTE Act. However in 2014-15, the number of teacher vacancies in Maharashtra’s primary schools rose to 30,000 barely averaging one teacher per class. “A sum of Rs.230 crore earmarked for zilla parishads and Rs.22 crore for municipal corporations under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme remained unspent in fiscal 2015-16. For instance, a proposal to construct girls’ hostels to reduce the dropout percentage of secondary school girls and protective walls for all…

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The first official (union HRD ministry) league tables ranking the Top 100 category ‘A’ Indian universities, engineering colleges and B-schools were released in New Delhi on April 4. Based on a National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) devised by a 16-member “core committee” of academics constituted by the Union human resource development ministry in October 2014, the first-ever government league tables evaluated category ‘A’ higher education institutions on six parameters, viz, teaching, learning and resources; research and professional practices; graduation outcomes; outreach and inclusivity; perception. Although HRD ministry sources claim that the NIRF framework, based mainly on hard data plus perception, is superior to the overwhelmingly perception-based surveys of media publications (including EducationWorld), the ministry’s first official rankings are less than credible. In the universities league table, while the #1 rank is predictably awarded to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and is in line with most media surveys, the ranking of Tezpur University (#4) above Delhi U has invited derision. Ditto the rankings of Aligarh University (#10) and Viswa Bharati, Kolkata (sic) at #11. Moreover, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), a centre of excellence under the Union ministry of commerce and industry but not a university, has been ranked #81. Consequently, there’s been a war of letters between the two ministries. While compiling the engineering and B-school league tables, the NIRF rankings have played it safe by ranking all IITs headed by IIT-Madras, and the IIMs headed by IIM-Bangalore, among the Top 10. However the #19 rank of the Indian Institute of Technology-Mandi above the College of Engineering, Pune (estb.1848) and PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore has aroused widespread criticism. Ditto in the B-schools league table, the #15 rank of Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai, above the transnational S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (#16), Mumbai and Vellore Institute of Management (#17) has raised eyebrows among informed monitors of Indian higher education. Responding to widespread criticism of its inaugural ranking, the HRD ministry constituted a nine-member committee under the chairmanship of higher education secretary, V.S. Oberoi, on April 25. According to HRD ministry sources, the new committee will review the ranking methodology, rationalise the parameters, and establish a permanent NIRF cell within the NBA (National Board of Accreditation). The ready willingness of Union HRD minister Smriti Irani to admit mistakes and constitute a review committee, has impressed some monitors of higher education. “The HRD ministry’s idea to establish NIRF league tables is a positive step in the right direction. Admittedly, it will take some more time before NIRF rankings match the credibility of Shanghai Jiao Tong or QS. Yet this is a welcome initiative towards putting order into the totally confused and muddled rankings systems prevalent in India so far,” says Dr. Yaj Medury, vice chancellor of Bennett University and former chairman & managing director of EdCIL (a government of India enterprise under the HRD ministry offering consultancy and technical services in education). Likewise, Delhi’s academic community has welcomed the HRD ministry’s initiative to rate and rank…

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Thanks for your hard-hitting cover story ‘Licence-permit-quota raj crushing India’s private schools’ (EW April). Most reports in daily newspapers tend to portray private schools as money-grabbing institutions out to fleece parents by charging huge fees. Your story has highlighted on-the-ground reality — how private schools, preferred by all segments of society, are being harassed and intimidated by education inspectors for alleged failure to comply with a plethora of levelling-down rules and regulations. Indeed, there’s a bewildering irony in state governments which have failed miserably to raise academic and infrastructure standards in their public schools, prescribing rules and setting benchmarks for private schools. As you have rightly analysed, the motivation for regulating private schools is not quality control, but rent-seeking. The government neither has the resources nor capability to improve private schools. Indian education is over-regulated. It needs to be liberalised to let a thousand schools and colleges bloom. Amit Kumar Delhi Puerile argument Your argument that the government should worry only about improving standards in its own schools and not regulate private schools is puerile (EW April cover story). It’s in the public interest for government to set and regulate minimum academic and infrastructure standards in private schools. A sizeable number of private schools — particularly budget schools — provide pathetic infrastructure facilities with hundreds of children crammed into unsafe, dilapidated buildings, and pay their teachers a pittance. Across the world, governments set minimum benchmarks and criteria for promotion of new private schools and monitor their functioning continuously. This is to safeguard the interests of parents and children. Instead of wasting time fighting government regulation, private school managements must focus on complying with the minimum standards prescribed. Murali Krishna  Bangalore Transparency call Your anguished special report on the Union Budget 2016-17 (EW April) is a grim reminder of how successive Central governments have put children and education at the bottom of India’s development priorities. The BJP government has cheated the country’s public. Your revelation that the Central government’s total wages and salaries bill for its 4.8 million employees is Rs.2.47 lakh crore, is shocking. It’s amazing that the payout to 4.8 million Central government employees is several multiples of the annual education provision made for the country’s 500 million children and youth. But while greater allocations to the education and health sectors are crucial for developing human capital, expenditure efficiency is also important. Many studies have revealed that there’s huge wastage in public education with some allocations not being utilised at all. The Union as well as state budgets need to inform the public about how the money, particularly the 2 percent education cess, has been spent with full details of education projects completed. Rahul Deshpande Mumbai Rioting vote banks Re your editorial ‘Critical importance of law and order’ (EW April), the BJP/Modi government is silent on violations of law and order for fear of losing its vote banks. The violent agitation by Jats demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutions should have been strictly dealt with by the…

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The despatch of over 3,500 Central paramilitary, BSF and other troops to Handwara in the Kashmir Valley on April 16-17 after continuous stone-pelting on Indian Army personnel and pickets over a doubtful molestation charge of a minor girl by an army jawan, is an indicator that civilian unrest in the northern periphery state of Jammu & Kashmir is going from bad to worse. A few days earlier, riots had broken out on the campus of the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar — the state’s showpiece engineering college — over the issue of raising the national flag on campus. This reasonable request of out-of-state students was vehemently opposed by Kashmiri-Muslim students of NIT and youth mobs in the vicinity of the institute. A protest staged on campus by non-Muslim and ‘outsider’ students, prompted a brutal attack on the protestors by the state police in which 115 students were injured, some severely. These instances of student and civilian unrest are merely the latest in a series of continuous civil disturbances in J&K and the Kashmir Valley in particular, for the past 68 years since independence. Regrettably, even after J&K being accorded special status in the Constitution of India and receiving cumulatively higher per capita grants from the Central government than any other state of the Indian Union, the Muslim majority of the valley remains obstinately communal, and has refused to fall in line with other states and govern itself according to the secular Constitution of India. On the contrary, communal hostility and violence drove over 200,000 Kashmiri pundits (Hindus) out of their homes in the valley into squalid refugee camps in Hindu-dominated Jammu and Delhi. Quite clearly, this permanently disgruntled and intolerant community is a strain on secular India, and should be given the azadi they demand, with the Kashmir Valley severed and its people expelled from the Indian Union. Although hyper-nationalists deny it, in 1948 India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised a plebiscite in Kashmir to ascertain whether its people wanted accession to India or Pakistan, or full independence after the first Indo-Pak war over Kashmir. But subsequently, Nehru himself and successor political establishments in Delhi reneged on this promise on the ground that return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to India is a precondition. The plain truth is that apart from visa-free access to middle class tourists from India, the tiny Kashmir Valley has little to offer and is a huge drain on national resources because it has failed to attract industrial investment. In the circumstances, it’s time to call the bluff of communal Kashmiri and Pakistan leaders and hold a plebiscite in the valley and PoK under UN supervision. In the likely event of the populace voting for accession to Pakistan or azadi, this territory should be severed from the Indian Union and left to its own devices. India will be better for it. No case for imposing liquor prohibition Tragedy is likely to follow farce across the country as populist politicians with a dim, if any, knowledge of history…

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It’s not common knowledge that there are 355 private universities, 2,775 engineering colleges and 2,400 B-schools, and other privately-promoted professional education institutions which provide education to over 60 percent of the 27 million youth enrolled in the country’s floundering higher education system. Because of post-independence India’s disastrous romance with socialism, private initiatives in higher education in particular, were officially unwelcome, and dedicated private educationists had to run the gauntlet of discretionary licences, permits, controls and quotas before they were grudgingly allowed to establish greenfield universities and colleges. For this reason, politicians, bureaucrats, crooks and charlatans who could game the system had an edge over genuine educationists and promoted a substantial number of professional education, especially engineering, medical, and business management institutes. Consequently a large number of them — perhaps even a majority — are shell institutions lacking basic infrastructure and sufficiently learned faculty. Although the overwhelming majority of Indian academics disoriented by gobbledegook Marxist economics tend to be disparaging and contemptuous of private higher education institutions (HEIs), the fact that an estimated 15 million youth are currently enrolled in private HEIs means they are perceived to provide better education than government universities and colleges, barring a handful of heavily-subsidised Central government institutions which demand near-impossible cut-offs for admission. And although comfortably tenured academics are loath to admit it, the gap between the top-ranked government-funded higher and best private universities and colleges is closing.  Against this backdrop, we commissioned C fore, the well-known Delhi-based market research and opinion polls company, to rate and rank India’s Top 100 private universities, engineering colleges and Top 50 private B-schools. This is a departure from the beaten path and our own past practice of ranking top public and private universities and professional education colleges inter se without distinction. Accordingly, in keeping with international practice, C fore constituted a database of 4,465 sample respondents comprising faculty, final year students and industry leaders. These individuals were interviewed by 200 field researchers and asked to rate and rank over 500 institutions of higher education on seven parameters of education excellence. For the growing number of students/parents disenchanted with public institutions of higher education, the EW summer league tables with their exclusive focus on the country’s private universities and colleges which tend to be overshadowed in most media surveys, will prove a useful guide for shortlisting, even if not for selection, purposes. The unprecedented cover story apart, there are other nuggets in this hot summer issue of EW. Check out the interview with Dr. Sugata Mitra of Newcastle University and our Eyewitness feature on Barefoot College, Tilonia which is acclaimed and honoured, save in its own country.  

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