EducationWorld October 04

Confused comrade commissarsThough India‚s communist parties unexpectedly notched up unprecedented gains in the May 2004 general election (68 Lok Sabha seats) and as a consequence have acquired a stranglehold over the Congress-led UPA government in New Delhi, it‚s hardly surprising that despite overwhelmingly illiterate, poverty-stricken India being fertile soil for sentimental Marxist mumbo-jumbo, India‚s Left parties have never been ‚ and are unlikely to ever become ‚ a force to reckon with in their own right at the Centre. This is because it is painfully obvious even to the meanest intelligence that their leaders lack the common-sense required to provide workable governance to the nation.Two recent top-level decisions of the communist parties are testimony to the intellectual bankruptcy of their leadership and garrulous intelligentsia. First, despite it being plain as a pikestaff that foreign investment inflow into the Indian economy generates employment and additional incomes, the comrade commissars of the CPM and CPI are strenuously opposed to larger foreign investment inflows into insurance and even the capital-intensive telecom and civil aviation industries. Secondly the comrades are frothing at the mouth over the issue of World Bank and Asian Development Bank personnel being called by the Planning Commission to provide advice on plan implementation.Despite it being painfully obvious that central planning in India has been a disaster for over half-a-century and has transformed high-potential post-independence India into one of the poorest nations of the contemporary world, Left intellectuals are indignant that the UPA government has resorted to inviting foreign experts to advise the Planning Commission. All this blather against the backdrop of the Soviet Union having gone capitalist with a vengeance and communist China attracting more than $40 billion by way of foreign investment annually and the Marxist government of West Bengal rolling out thick red carpets for foreign investors.Quite evidently the communist and Left parties are unlikely to ever win the electoral race to form a government in New Delhi. How can they when they shoot themselves in the foot so regularly?Futile firmanPerhaps in anticipation of India‚s Athens 2004 Olympic Games debacle, the government of Uttar Pradesh (pop.166 million) issued an order in July decreeing sports compulsory in classes VII-XII in the 8,456 secondary schools (with 5.32 million students) affiliated to the state examination board. The state government led by former wrestler-turned-neta Mulayam Singh Yadav plans to print and publish books on several sports and henceforth the school syllabus includes a compulsory ‚Ëœsports paper‚ with 50 marks for theory and 50 for practicals. But already Yadav is discovering that it takes more than a chief ministerial firman to create a sports culture in the routinely neglected education sector. The teachers‚ community is up in arms and complaints about shortages of playgrounds, equipment and trained sports teachers are pouring in. Responding, the state government‚s sports directorate is training teachers with interest in games to double as sports instructors.With the cash strapped government not willing to open its purse strings, government schools are unlikely to raise any money for sports infrastructure and…

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In the Shadow of Kirinyaga by Sophia Mustafa; Tsar Publications; Price: Rs.850; 238 pp The general consensus is that people of the Indian subcontinent attach little value to history. A put-down commonly employed in drawing room arguments across Indian society with telling effect, is ‘don’t talk about the past’. Yet contrary to popular global belief that the past is over and done with (Henry Ford famously remarked that history is bunk), study of the past — i.e history — is important because nations, societies and people are shaped and contoured by it. They are indeed the sum of their past. Therefore contrary to what some of the high and mighty in Indian education who cavalierly shape and bend history to suit their whims and prejudices believe, historical narratives written in good faith are important because with the benefit of hindsight they sort out victors and villains and unsung heroes ignored by motivated or prejudiced historians. This is the outstanding virtue of Canada-based writer and novelist Sophia Mustafa’s In the Shadow of Kirinyaga. Though presented as a novel, in effect this is a painstakingly crafted social history of the pioneer Indians who not only built East Africa’s railway network, but subsequently monetised and played a stellar role in the socio-economic development of the once high-potential nation states of former British East Africa — i.e Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania — which became independent in the 1960s. With the mainly mercantile East African Indians ignorant of the importance of recording their great contribution to the development of this region, and Indian intellectuals from the subcontinent under the influence of confused socialism disdainful of the remarkable entrepreneurial drive of their compatriots in Africa, the story of this enterprising, nation-building community was in danger of remaining untold. “East African Asians have always been a peripheral people working for the railways and at petty trading and business,” in the racially-prejudiced histories and novels of Europeans and as “stereotyped and marginal characters in African-authored writings,” says Mustafa, explaining her inspiration to pen this valuable social history. What Mustafa is too polite to state is that perfidious Albion (i.e the Brits), pastmasters at the game of divide-and-rule played their cards to perfection in East Africa driving a deep wedge between the natives and culturally — but not politically — exclusive Indians. Even to this day Indians who raised themselves up by their bootstraps and taught Kenyans, Ugandans and Tanzanians the few vocational trades they knew when these nations became independent, are widely regarded as exploiters and rapacious traders by politically naive native Africans who remain massively ignorant of the wholesale loot of these territories by European settlers working hand-in-glove with British agri-business multinationals. Ironically with anti-Asian sentiment stoked by the British unabated in these territories, East African Asians have migrated in large numbers to Britain, Canada and Australia greatly enriching their economies with their professional skills and commercial acumen. However this or any other political analysis of the decline and fall into mediocrity of the high-potential nation states of former British East…

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Assam: Gateway to the OrientNurtured by the tempestuous Brahmaputra, terraced with tea gardens, home to the endangered one-horned rhino and dotted with undulating hills,Assam offers a rich mix of natural and cultural beauty-Nurtured by the tempestuous Brahmaputra, terraced with tea gardens, home to the endangered one-horned rhino and dotted with undulating hills and cosy hamlets, Assam (pop. 26.6 million) surprises and enchants the tourist in myriad ways. Etymologically the word ‚ËœAssam‚ finds its root in the Sanskrit word asoma meaning ‚Ëœpeerless‚. Historically ‚ËœAssam‚ is an anglicised version of asom ‚ the name the Ahom tribe gave to the region after conquering it. Mythologically, the Brahmaputra (son of Brahma) is the only male river of India and is designated a national waterway.Though Assam has been reduced to one-third of its original size over the past 30 years, it is still the largest of the ‚Ëœseven sisters‚ states of the north-east. Flanked by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh in the north; Nagaland and Manipur in the east; Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram in the south and Bangladesh and West Bengal in the west, Assam is the most accessible of the north-east Indian states. Inevitably Assam‚s past is shrouded in mythology. Its ancient name was Kamapura with its capital at Pragyotishpura ‚ modern day Guwahati ‚ as recited in Vedic literature. Kama ‚ the god of love ‚ after being reduced to ashes by Shiva was reborn here. Various sites mentioned in the great epic Mahabharata still exist in contemporary Assam. Aryan tribes comprising the priestly and warrior classes subjugated Assam in ancient times and the first king who ruled over Kamapura was Pushya Varman (350-380 AD), a contemporary of emperor Samudragupta, who reigned in north India. The Varman dynasty ruled Assam until 650 AD followed by the Salasthamba regime. Subsequently the Pala Dynasty founded by Brahmapala (990-1010), ruled Assam until 1138. These early Hindu kings worshipped Shakti and were followers of mystic tantric cults some of which exist even today. The Ahoms from Myanmar (aka Burma) invaded Assam in the 13th century establishing a Hindu dynasty that flourished until the 19th century despite repeated invasion attempts by the Mughals. The Burmese invaded Assam again in 1817 reportedly decimating one-third of the local population. Shortly thereafter the British annexed the region after driving away the Burmese and Assam joined with the rest of India in the struggle for independence. Assam is rich in natural resources. It was the very first state in India where oil was discovered (at Digboi) in 1889. Indeed it has the oldest oil refinery in the country. Of Assam‚s agro-based industries, tea occupies the prime position. Robert Bruce, an official of the British Empire, discovered the brew in 1823 and ever since, the leaf of the cup that cheers is extensively cultivated in the Brahmaputra and Barak plains. Assam produces more than 50 percent of the tea crop in India and approximately one-sixth of the tea leaf output of the world. The state has large reserves of coal, granite, limestone and…

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A ten medal tally predicted for India by the London-based Price- Waterhouse Coopers prior to the commencement of the Athens Olympiad 2004 is a realistic target for Beijing 2008. India has the demography, talent and resources to realise this modest goal four years hence. The decks need to be cleared right now for a coordinated and intelligent national effort. Summiya Yasmeen reports A day ahead of the closing ceremony of the 28th Olympic Games which concluded in Athens on August 29, Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee declared that the “Athens Olympics were the Asian Games” and that “what we have seen here in Athens is the awakening of Asia”. Simultaneously in its issue dated August 30, the best-selling Time magazine featured a cover story titled ‘Asia’s Golden Games’ confirming the emergence of the hitherto also-ran nations of Asia as the ascendant stars of the sporting world. Both Rogge and Time were dazzled by the olympian achievements of China (32 gold, 17 silver and 14 bronze), Japan (16-10-12), South Korea (9-12-9), and Thailand (3-1-4). However despite being the world’s second most populous nation, India (pop. 1.2 billion) made an insignificant contribution to the Asian blitzkrieg in Athens. India’s embarrassing lone medal tally at the historic 28th Olympiad which attracted 16,000 athletes and team officials representing 201 nations and was telecast into 180 million Indian homes caused much anger and heart-burn especially in the nation’s 50,000 newspapers and periodicals. For the nation’s editorial pundits, the bitterest pill at the end of the 17-day sports extravaganza was the spectacular success of neighbouring People’s Republic of China (PRC) with whom India shares a 3,440 km disputed border in the north-east (which provoked a brief war in 1962 in which India was humiliatingly defeated) and deep ideological differences. Both nations are of comparable size in terms of population and landmass and each believes that its intellectual capability and development model is superior. Against this competitive backdrop the grossly disproportionate medals tally of 63:1 has generated seething anger and indignation about the quality of sports education and training being provided to young India. Lamented a lead editorial in The Times of India (August 19): “Since 1900, our sportspersons have won only three individual bronze medals. India’s claim over the two silvers that Norman Pritchard won in Paris 1900 is disputed since the UK claims the Calcutta-born sprinter as its man. A gold has remained elusive even in hockey, which India claims as its national game, since Moscow 1980… There is little to dream for in Indian sports…” The same day the lead editorial in The Hindu said: “…That a country like Cuba, with a population of just over 11 million, went into the Athens Games with a tally of 137 Olympic medals should give us an idea of what can be achieved if the focus and priorities are right. A (sports) budgetary allocation of Rs.466 crore is hopelessly inadequate for a country of India’s size and population…” Though teachers and educationists have known it all along, rather belatedly post independence India’s all-powerful politicians are beginning…

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Thirty years ago I spent six months in Jakarta, Indonesia, after writing my final school exam. It was the first long break from 13 years of schooling and I allowed myself to be thoroughly spoilt by my aunt, uncle and their three sons who never having had a sister more than ensured that I had a good time. It was the first time I ate satay, one of the most common everyday foods available in homes, restaurants and every street corner in Indonesia. Satay is meat, fish or tofu pieces on skewers, grilled on charcoal and served with delicious peanut sauce, red chili and shallot. My aunt’s old cook would feed me with satay at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Besides, my aunt had a small refrigerator — for chocolates only — sited in the living room. So satay and chocolates, I am ashamed to admit, formed my diet for six months. With my aunt’s house equipped only with half mirrors, I was unaware that I had put on a lot of weight around my hips. On returning to Mumbai and examining myself in a full-length mirror I was shocked by the extra poundage I had acquired. I decided to immediately get back into shape. I didn’t like the way I looked — complacent and greedy, which indeed I had been for over six months. With no knowledge of nutrition at that time, just by utilising my commonsense, I was back to being my trim self within a month or two. It was so quick that all the plump girls in class begged for my secret formula. Of course, staying away from the satay and chocolates was half the battle won. But having lived on nothing but spinach and rotis one summer on my father’s farm when the fridge had conked out, I was aware how easy it is to shed even the slightest bit of extra fat. I recall that at the time I felt so good and looked so terrific that I had never thought about also being healthy, it came naturally. I’m sure like my friends in Mumbai, many of you who want to lose weight want specifics. But specifics don’t work in the long term because each person’s needs are different. If you have been reading this column carefully, you should have learned not only how to keep trim but to maintain excellent health as well. The one important ingredient is ‘intent’. If you desire it intently enough, it will be yours. Last month I wrote on how ‘intent’ will not allow you to make money if you encounter it with guilt. Money should be regarded as an instrument which enables you to be part of a web of interactions and is simply a means to go through life’s routines. Losing weight is a simple matter if your intent is clear. I have said it before but it is worth repeating that unreasonable interest in food is the major cause of weight gain. Of course being overfed in childhood is a…

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Vital seed principleSudheendra SavanurIn previous contributions to this page, I described learning expeditions, design principles, building blocks of high quality learning expeditions, school structures required; and the benefits of expeditionary learning. In this conclusive part, let‚s examine how expeditionary learning can be practised daily and discuss experiences of schools that have made it work.When we dig down through the layers of design principles, core practices, benchmarks, and planning guides, we come to the integrating principle at the heart of expeditionary learning. We discover the seed meant to bear fruit all day, every day, in every subject and every lesson. It seems too simple and obvious to promise much, but then, visualise the seeds you‚ve seen. They don‚t look like all that much, but they know the amazing secret of orchestrating the elements: earth, water, air, fire in a way that brings forth growth and fruit. Here‚s the seed: The experience comes first, then the concept. The experience creates a ‚Ëœvessel‚ that the concept ‚Ëœfills‚. If we pour in concepts without having created vessels to receive them, they will run off the sides of understanding and be forgotten ‚ if not before the test, then surely after.Two problems immediately complicate this simple principle. The first is that understanding and skill require much practice and repetition in order to be mastered, even if you see it once with a great “Aha!” I can create moving experiences to introduce an idea or challenging products to address a standard, but understanding won‚t last without repeated practice and opportunities for application.The second has to do with figuring out what is ‚Ëœexperience‚. We often use the word, but what are we really talking about? Is it more than just doing stuff? I think about four aspects of experience: sensual, emotional, imaginative, and mental. It is direct, immediate, and the first three types accessible without language. The way the world enters us through our senses is experience. The emotion we feel when the world enters us is experience. The imagination, the seeing of pictures in our mind‚s eye is experience. Finally, we can experience ideas and concepts, themselves. The power of thinking can be an experience. Understanding can bring joy.Howard Gardner writes, “The most important moment in a child‚s education is the crystallising experience: when the child connects to something that engages curiosity and stimulates further exploration.” How do we create these experiences for our students? Ask the following questions to plan individual lessons: What is amazing about the concept or the topic? What important consequences does it have in our lives? How would life be different without it? Until we recognise the significance of the concept ‚ the genius of the topic, what makes it unique, what makes it important ‚ we won‚t be able to communicate to our students that it matters. Can you imagine a number system without zero? What an incredible invention! To appreciate how amazing it is, I have to feel it. How have children experienced the topic in their own lives?…

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Letter from London Exam reforms debate After a very damp summer in Blighty, students and professors are getting ready for the new academic year which begins in early October. This autumn, universities will be welcoming students following a year of record-breaking A level results in which the overall pass rate was an impressive 96 percent — the 22nd consecutive year of improvement. Enquiry panels of the government’s exams watchdog committee reject claims that A level standards are being dumbed down and have opined that while exam papers have not become easier, changes in examining methodologies have made it easier to obtain top grades. As a result of reforms introduced in 2000, students now study six different modules during the two years of study required to acquire an A level certificate. Only 20 percent of the marks are reserved for the end of term exam. The good news is that the education ministry is putting together a reform package to replace the current GCSE (O level) and A level system. The present structure does not allow over-subscribed institutions to choose the most talented candidates, so universities have no idea whether a student merely scraped through to a top grade A level, or achieved it comfortably. In order to solve this problem a number of options have been put forward as to how the most talented can be recognised, one of which is to introduce a 4,000 word ‘super essay’ to be written by all A level pupils. Other proposals include presenting detailed marksheets rather than an overall grade, or awarding grades for each module rather than a single overall grade. The problem is that the existing system relies on predicted A level grades, which is extremely unsatisfactory since about half the predictions turn out to be wrong. This discourages less confident pupils from applying to front-rank universities, as they don’t have the results to back their applications. Against this backdrop it’s good news that a government task force has recently recommended that students should be able to make university choices after receiving their A level results. Prof. Steven Schwartz of Brunel University, who is heading a government-backed committee, believes that too many decisions are made on unreliable information, such as schools’ forecasts of A level grades or “impressionistic” interviews. “We have come to the conclusion that we really have to seriously move to a post-qualification admissions system because the current one is just not fair,” he says. In response to this two university vice-chancellors have recently indicated that they are prepared to delay the start of the academic year to accommodate A level results, the first sign of a new approach to a re-think on reforms. Prof. Eric Thomas, vice-chancellor of Bristol University, says he is “absolutely convinced” of the need to scrap the present system. “I would certainly be prepared to delay the start of the first year and I think schools could be more flexible about putting back the dates of A levels so we have more time,” he says. Prof.…

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With 20 years experience of spearheading educational initiatives in several countries across the world, Ken Jarman, is the newly-appointed (March 2004) principal of the Ecole Mondiale World School (EMWS) — one of Mumbai’s two international schools offering International Baccalaureate (IB) as well as the IGCSE study syllabuses. Promoted in 2003 by businessmen Pradeep Sadia and V.D. Goenka on a two-acre site in the upscale suburb of Juhu with an estimated investment of Rs.100 crore, the school admitted its first batch of 130 students (kindergarten-class XI) in July this year. According to Jarman, the distinguishing feature of Mumbai’s mint new international school is that it offers the full menu of IB programmes as well as “outstanding facilities”. “The quality of our facilities is extremely high. We have five wholly contemporary, fully equipped science labs, three state-of-the-art computer labs, two libraries, indoor sports facilities, multipurpose auditorium, an indoor gym and a 25-metre indoor swimming pool apart from numerous studios and 40 class-rooms,” says Jarman. Tuition fees range from Rs.3.9 lakh per year for primary school to Rs.5.9 lakh for secondary school. An alumnus of the Teacher’s Training College, Brisbane (Australia), Jarman began his career as a teacher at age 18 in 1966 and served in several schools across the sixth continent before taking charge as headmaster of one of Brisbane’s largest schools with 1,000 students on its muster roll in 1990. It was then that he made a resolution to export his teaching skills and experience abroad. In 1993 he was appointed headmaster of the largest secondary school in Papua New Guinea and three years later headed for Cameroon as director of the American School there. In 1998 he was offered the position of principal of the Suzhon International School in Suzhon (near Shanghai), China. After completion of his three-year contract in China, in 2001 Jarman headed for Namibia as principal of the International School, Windhoek. “The standards and values of international schools can be easily replicated in Saudi Arabia, Finland or India,” opines Jarman. “An international curriculum, well-qualified staff and continuous teacher development are hallmarks of genuine international schools. EMWS fulfills all these criteria.” Jarman predicts a bright future for Ecole Mondiale. “The government of India has drawn up ambitious plans to transform India into the world’s leading nation by 2020. High quality education is the pre-requisite of such a transformation. EMWS offers the most complete education for any family wishing their children to access the world’s best university education and employment,” he says. Little wonder Mumbai is rolling out the red carpet. Mona Barbhaya (Mumbai) Pre-school children’s champ Early Childhood Matters reads one of the many posters on the walls of Prof. K. Shanmugavelayutham’s cluttered cabin in the social work department of Loyola College, Chennai. They proclaim his chief interests — early childhood care and education, implemen-tation of child rights and upliftment of under-privileged children. Currently Shanmugavelayutham is serving his second term as convenor of TN-FORCES (Forum for Crèche and Childcare Services in Tamil Nadu) the state chapter of a national network of 114 organisations…

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Your Counsellor RepliesAfter completing my B.Sc I would like to enroll in a recognised institute offering the MCA (Master of computer applications) programme. Please provide details about eligibility requirements.Nalini Tandon, New DelhiAny graduate who has studied maths upto class XII is usually eligible for admission into the three-year MCA programme offered by several institutions across the country. This year, IIT Roorkee has introduced its All India MCA Entrance Test (AIMCET) and scores in this test are used by a number of institutions for admission eligibility. Also, various state governments conduct their own common entrance test (CET) for admission into MCA courses offered by institutions and universities in the state. To get a list of institutes participating in AIMCET, log on to www.iitr.ac.in/aimcet and www.dte.org.in/mca.I‚ll be graduating next year and would like to pursue a career in broadcast journ-alism. What are the courses available?Christina Vaz, PanjimSpecialised courses in broadcasting are comparatively fewer than print journalism programmes. The Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110 067 offers a one year postgraduate diploma in radio and television broadcasting. Other institutions you could consider include Asian College of Journalism, Kasturi Centre, Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002; Makhanlal Chaturvedi Rashtriya Patrakarita Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal (www.mcu.ac.in or www.mcrpv.ac.in or www.makhanlaluniversity.org) which has affiliated institutions in other cities; the School of Broadcasting and Commu-nication, 108 Building, 4 Kamdhenu Centre, Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri (W) Mumbai 400 053 (www.sbc.ac.in). The University of Mumbai (www.mu.ac.in); SNDT Women‚s University and University of Pune (www.unipune.emet.in) also offer media-related programmes. What‚s the eligibility requirement for admission into a B.Ed course? I‚ll be graduating next year.Sonali Shah, AhmedabadA common admission procedure for B.Ed has been introduced recently. The minimum eligibility is a bachelor‚s degree from any recognised university, agricultural university, open university or deemed university in arts, science, commerce, home science or agriculture science. For applicants of the open category, OBCs and special backward class category, a minimum average of 45 percent in the final year degree examination is required. For scheduled caste candidates a minimum average of 40 percent is necessary.I‚m in my final year BA. I would like to pursue a career in social work. Please advise.Uma Kolhatkar, NasikThe Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai (www.tiss.edu) offers a two-year full-time MA in social work. The course is very comprehensive and offers the option of specialisation in areas such as family and child welfare, medical and psychiatric social work, criminology, correctional administration etc. You may choose the specialisation that leads to a career of your choice. TISS also offers part-time courses in social work, which you could consider if you wish to get a job after graduation. University of Mumbai also offers a full-time Master of social work study programme.I‚m a B.Tech (electronics and telecommunications) graduate. I‚d like to learn about job opportunities available in the government sector.Aman Mujawar, LonereProspects of employment are particularly good for electronics and telecommunications engineers in the government sector. The Central as well as state governments recruit engineers regularly on the basis…

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With political, economic and common criminality on the upswing, this ill wind is blowing well for the new genre of private detectives whose number is multiplying across the country  Though crime detection and unmasking of the ungodly as a career fitted the legendary fictional detective Sherlock Holmes as naturally as his cape and deer-stalker cap, like Holmes, the contemporary sleuth requires an inquisitive nose, an analytical mindset, a eye for detail and increasingly techno-philia, to succeed in the gumshoeing business. For people with these skill sets sleuthing could prove to be a challenging and profitable 21st century career. Regrettably political, economic and common criminality is on the upswing. But this ill wind is blowing well for the rapidly multiplying number of private detective agencies across the country. During the past decade in particular, detective agencies have proliferated particularly in metros like Mumbai, where the market for detective services is growing fast and margins are high despite intensifying competition. Currently 23 Mumbai-based detec-tive agencies have established internet websites. The work of detective agencies is becoming increasingly diverse. Though they continue to discharge their traditional functions — tracing missing persons, shadowing suspect spouses, investigating the histories of prospective business partners and post-marital cases for determining alimony — their corporate client portfolios are becoming incrementally important. Increasingly, private detectives are being engaged to investigate business fraud, keep an eye on employees, check prospective employees, track loan defaulters, verify the assets of prospective acquisitions, and ascertain the credibility of Indian companies with whom offshore multinationals are contemplating colla-boration. Moreover offshore employers frequently use Indian agencies to verify Indian job applicants’ backgrounds and qualifications. “Tremendous growth in this line of business is in the offing given the continuous erosion of moral values in society, business and industry. The belated dawning of the consumer age and the consequent desire to get rich quick has led to a sharp increase in fraud crimes which has increased the workload of detective agencies. And with police personnel becoming increasingly apat-hetic, private agencies will mushroom,” predicts ace detective Lt. Col (Retd.) Vasant Vaikunth Pai, zonal advisor to the oldest private detective firm in the country, Globe Detective Agency (P) Ltd. As zonal advisor Pai supervises the sleuthing activities of the agency in western India, including Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa. Promoted in 1959, Globe Detective Agency has a registered office in Delhi, a corporate office in Bangalore, its western zone and national headquarters in Mumbai and 20 branch offices across India covering all metros and major towns. “Over the past 45 years we have evolved our own style and systems of data collection and case summaries. Essentially we gather information and data which our clients cannot acquire themselves. And it’s a measure of our efficiency that the majority in our growing client list are long-standing repeat customers,” says Pai. After graduating from Bombay University in 1961, Pai joined the Mumbai police force and received 18 months training at the Central Police Training School in Nasik, after which he was posted as a sub-inspector…

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Helping others by helping ourselvesDilip P PatelIn my first contribution to this page in EducationWorld I introduced the subject of life skills education from the student‚s point of view. In the second contribution (September) from the vantage point of parents and teachers. Now let‚s examine what‚s in it for society as a whole. Every global vision has a local beginning. We have to identify it, focus on it and achieve it.While waiting recently to address an assembly of class X parents, I kept my ears open and heard many voices.”My daughter is very good in extra-curricular activities, but her interest in studies seems to be declining‚¦”” My son is over confident‚¦””I don‚t know how to make my son concentrate on his studies‚¦””These children just don‚t listen to us (the parents)‚¦””There is too much competition I don‚t know how our children will manage in the future‚¦”My thoughts went back to a couple of weeks ago when I had conducted a life skills workshop for the children of these very parents. What a contrast! The students were dreaming about becoming scientists, biotechnologists, olympians, indus-trialists, good politicians and so on and so forth. Aren‚t we adults and parents generating mediocrity within our children by limiting them?I couldn‚t help recalling the vision statement of our popular teacher President Dr. Abdul Kalam. His soaring vision and infectious enthusiasm have already started percolating into various streams of our daily life. He believes that India can become a developed nation by the year 2020.But the onus of attaining this goal, says Dr. Kalam, is upon the shoulders of young citizens studying in the nation‚s schools and colleges. Wherever he goes he exhorts students to think and dream big; to develop a scientific temper; to focus on values and ethics. Against the backdrop of the resources identified in Dr. Kalam‚s book Vision 2020, if we are able to ignite the student community the future will certainly be bright.Moreover if attaining developed nation status is our goal, it‚s important to set about developing the life skills of our youth to mould them into motivated, emotionally mature and responsible citizens. What could be the starting point of developing the life skills of the nation‚s youth? Strangely all the negatives in society. Social evils like drugs, chemical and sexual abuse, violence, communal disharmony, rampant corruption, suicides ‚ all can be monitored. And according to WHO (World Health Organisation), sustained life skills education will reduce their incidence considerably. In short, introducing like skills education is the first step towards creating a mature and responsible society in which the energies of youth will flow in creative and constructive directions. The path to development will have less road blocks and attaining development goals will be easier.Therefore let‚s get going. Imparting sustainable life skills education is possible if, as mentioned in previous columns, the adults influencing the lives of the young ‚ parents and teachers ‚ themselves become life skills learners. Recently at the end of a PTA meeting, the principal of a school in…

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Facilitators not monarchsBrendon MacCarthaighAt the moment of writingI am seething. A counselling client of mine has recently been suffering severe, indeed life-threatening, pressure on the home front, physical abuse included. It was hard for her to work up enough interest to enroll for her M.Com, but she drew on inner reserves and set off for Paper One this week.One of her responses to stress is to hum. So, when the papers were distributed and she saw that she knew precious little of what it was about, she began to hum. Hardly noticeable in a hall full of murmuring students helping one another sotto voce. The supervisor asked her to stop? No. The supervisor ordered her, loudly, to leave the hall ‚ no warning whatever. She was about the only one not consulting anyone else at the time. Now having battled so hard just to face this ordeal, the girl almost caved in but with a mighty effort pleaded for mitigation of sentence. Lord High Supervisor graciously granted her a mere half-hour rustication ‚ but took time off to upbraid her for being without culture, uncouth, having actually, horror of horrors, crossed her saree-clad knees while reading the question paper. Finally, with ten minutes still to go, he pestered her again and again, to tie up her papers and check them in. She held her nerve, and her paper, and forced herself to keep writing. She phoned me last night to report this dreadful experience, and we both agreed that in practical terms little can be done. This is a graphic illustration of a universally denied truth: teaching is a power game. And supervising exams is an extension of it.It doesn‚t take long for a teacher to learn that the students are totally dependent on her/ him. She has the knowledge, the knowledge they must have if they are to move up the academic ladder. And lest they think that they can acquire that knowledge via texts or tutors, the teacher is the corrector, and allots the marks/ grades. When parents visit a school, they treat the teacher like royalty, scared lest any word of theirs imperil their child. This is an irresistible and intoxicating situation. Monarch of all they survey indeed. I must admit that for several years I enjoyed the teacher-is-monarch experience. Until I began to notice the faces of my students around examinations time, then the stories of sickness, the feverish kids insisting on doing exams even in class II, the fierce tension of parents ‚ the whole mountain of health-threatening symptoms that accompanied every exam the children were writing. This recurring phenomenon prompted me to reappraise and seriously question my role as a teacher. I became aware of how intolerant I was when supervising exams. Yes, the youngsters would copy and cheat at the drop of an eraser, but it never struck me then how desperate they were to pass. Desperate to the point of ‚ well yes, suicide. In this contribution I don‚t intend to explain…

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here is widespread apprehension that the United Nations’ Education For All goal by the year 2015 — translated into the former NDA government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan — cannot be attained without eliminating a dozen pernicious corrupt practices which bedevil Indian education. Dilip Thakore reports  Eleven-year old P. Ramesh (name changed) is a class V student of a primary school run by the Municipal Corporation of Bangalore (pop. 7 million), the fast-expanding megalopolis known worldwide as the information technology (IT) capital of india, a nation foolishly over-hyped as an emergent it power in the crystallising fully-wired world of the 21st century.  But if Bangalore is widely regarded as a hi-tech city of developed world standards, Ramesh is wholly unaware of it. Let alone connectivity, the Bangalore Mahanagar Palike Higher Elementary School, Austin Town which has 800 boys and girls aged five-14 instructed by 18 teachers on its muster roll, doesn’t even provide drinking water or toilets to its students or teachers. Together with other children from poor families, Ramesh goes through the motions of learning history, geography and maths from poorly printed, low-quality textbooks written in Kannada, the official language of the state of Karnataka (pop. 56 million). Teacher unpunctuality and absenteeism in this municipal school is persistent and incurable and multi-grade teaching is the norm. Little wonder though Ramesh has been attending school for four years, the best he can do is read and write his name and address accurately as he struggles with elementary maths. The drinking water infrequently available in the four recently installed taps in the school is dangerous and the two toilets (for 800 students) in the school are shunned by teachers and students. As per a policy directive of the state government which funds the school where education is provided free, Kannada is the medium of instruction in all subjects, though English — the language of business which has made Bangalore globally famous as the back-office of the world — is inexpertly taught as a second language. After four years in school Ramesh cannot read, write or converse on a par with his counterparts in western or eastern countries. But in the rapidly emerging free-trade global economy, he will have to compete with them in the marketplace for innovations, goods and services. Tragically, Ramesh’s predicament is the rule rather than exception for 90 percent of the estimated 146 million children enrolled in primary (classes I-V) schools across the country. Herded into cramped, insanitary multi-grade schools bereft of furniture and elementary teaching aids in which little learning is dispensed or absorbed, only 59 million children stay the course to complete middle school (class VII). Given this weak foundation of the initial schooling years, it’s hardly surprising that the quality of students who persist through middle school and beyond is the cause of much lament within Indian industry, if not in government where paper qualifications rather than actual education is at a premium. It is against this sobering backdrop that well-intentioned monitors of the socio-economic scene need to assess the…

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This is one lady whose career is “on the rocks” and she isn’t unhappy about it. Meet feisty Manju Sharma Chitnis, one of the few women mountaineering and rock climbing trainers in India, who teaches rock climbing in Mumbai. “My father died when I was in school in 1990 and being the eldest, the responsibility of maintaining the family fell upon me,” she explains. “I began working immediately after completing class X and could not complete my education.” Chitnis began her working career with a chemicals marketing company — Stoplic Services India Pvt Ltd, where she served for six years (1990-1996) before signing up with Citibank’s debt collection service as the only woman in the bank’s field work team. “However, even though I was doing very well in my career, I was more interested in sports than anything else, including studies,” says  Chitnis. Sports in particular meant mountaineering and rock climbing which had prompted her to enroll for a basic mountaineering course in 1994. This was followed by an advanced programme at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi, Uttaranchal. She got her first break in 1999, when construction tycoon Surendra Hiranandani, promoter of the Hiranandani group offered her a job to teach rock climbing. “Mr. Hiranandani set up the first successful sport climbing wall in Mumbai, — the Hakone Wall — located within the Hiranandani complex in Powai,” she says. Though the job paid a meagre Rs.5,000, Chitnis seized the opportunity to convert her passion into her profession. Chitnis has been teaching rock climbing at Hiranandani Gardens ever since. In 2003, she also signed up as an instructor with Gold’s Gym, a network of plush gymnasiums spread throughout Mumbai. “These are the only gyms in India offering walls for sport and rock climbing,” says Chitnis, who teaches participants aged four to 60 years. “A growing number of parents are encouraging their children to learn rock climbing,” claims Chitnis. “With sedentary activities such as television watching and net surfing causing obesity problems in middle class India, some progressive parents are actually gifting rock climbing courses to their children. Schools should also include this exhilarating activity in their curriculums for the same reason,” she advises. Next on this go-getting outdoor education enthusiast’s agenda are the growth and development of Xventures, an adventure sports company promoted in 2003 and an adventure sports magazine. Says Chitnis, “I believe there are others who share my passion for sports and outdoor learning. I want to form a community of such like-minded people.” Way to go girl! Mona Barbhaya (Mumbai)   Nandana Bose What is life without love, and what worth living and loving without laughter? Like many 20-something members of gennext with more than their share of sensitivity, Nandana Bose asked herself questions such as these while an honours student of English literature at Presidency College, Kolkata. A keen observer of human foibles, she would watch figures scampering in the corridors of her college and noted how their moods and facial expressions kept changing. One night — on the stroke…

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An education institution does not become â€˜elite’ because it charges the highest tuition fees, or if its students study in air-conditioned premises or if every student has a laptop or personal computer. A truly elite institution teaches its students to understand reality and to appreciate the world around them. It imparts not mere information or knowledge but a bit of wisdom as well. It becomes an elite institution because of the superior quality of its pedagogy and because it strives to attain the highest standards not just of teaching but of education in the broadest sense of the word — that is, the complete and holistic development of an individual’s personality so that he/ she becomes a sensitive human being. To become productive and efficient is one part of the goal of education. To become aware of what is happening around you is another. These are but two small aspects of the whole. Education is supposed to make you sensitive. A sensitive person is one who is aware of her/ his place in society and strives to contribute to its progress. This is easier said than done. To be able to achieve such a lofty ambition, a person must be willing to sacrifice — to be willing to give up a certain amount of personal benefit in favour of gains to a larger number of people. The well-known American writer Ayn Rand believed in the “virtue of selfishness” — in fact, this is the title of one of her books. Born Alissa Rosenburg in 1905 in St. Petersburg, her parents’ properties were taken over and they were hounded out of Russia after the 1917 revolution. Anything close to communism was anathema to her and she went to an extreme to promote the cause of capitalism in her writings. But free market enterprise too has an underbelly. Education, for instance, if left entirely to market forces would deprive many among the poor of the right to learn. Certain education institutions claim their students are being taught to become true citizens of the world. These institutions contend that they train young people not merely to survive but prosper in the newly-emergent competitive, globalised work environment. However, such claims are usually advertising hype and little else. It is sometimes said that certain non-resident Indians are out of touch with what is happening in the country of their origin. Those who are even more ignorant and naïve than such NRIs are RNIs or the resident non-Indians who are far removed from the real India, which has more than its share of the poor and illiterate. Too many people have forgotten the old imperative of ‘simple living and high thinking’. But those who run the rat race in the hope of being classified as successful by a section of society can end up feeling empty and unfulfilled and without a sense of satisfaction for all their achievements. Good education leaves you hungry for more, for education is a life-long process. The day you think you know…

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Situated in the heart of London, SOAS has acquired a global reputation for the high quality Asia, Africa and Middle East programmes it offers to over 3,000 students from 110 countries Situated in Russell Square, in the heart of London, over the past 88 years the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has acquired a global reputation for its high quality Asia, Africa and the Middle East research and studies. Affiliated with London University SOAS has over 3,000 students, instructed by over 200 research-cum-teaching faculty on its musters. It’s a testimony to the quality of its study and research programmes that students from 110 countries represent one-fourth of its enrollment. Within Britain as well SOAS enjoys an excellent reputation. The 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) of the education ministry ranked SOAS among the top research institutions in the country, with ten of the 15 departments rated the maximum 5 or 5*. Founded in 1916, SOAS which offers specialist degrees in the languages and cultures of Asia and Africa has acquired new relevance in the contemporary globalised world. Its wide range of undergraduate, postgrad, doctoral and certificate degree programmes in the humanities and social sciences as well in several non-European languages is unmatched by any institution of this genre. Comments Prof. Colin Bundy, director and principal of the school: “SOAS is synonymous with intellectual excitement and academic achievement. Students who study here are passionate about their subjects and are dedicated to expanding their knowledge of the world around them. In the sphere of higher education, SOAS remains a place that dares to be a little different. It is our academic focus on the languages, cultures and societies of Africa, Asia and the Middle East that makes us distinctive. At SOAS, students have an opportunity unparalleled in British higher education to learn more about the most urgent issues confronting two-thirds of humankind.”  London. The political, financial and cultural capital of Britain, London attracts millions of visitors each year drawn to its wealth of galleries, theatres and museums, palaces, parks and squares, restaurants and shops, not to mention famous and familiar landmarks such as Big Ben, the red bus, the black cab and the tower of London. SOAS is sited in the epicentre of London. Students can walk to the British Library, the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, sip coffee in Soho and do light shopping in Oxford Street. Further afield are the museums of South Kensington and galleries and theatres of the South Bank. For those who believe that there’s more to the academic experience than study, London is another city by night. ‘Cosmopolitan’ does not do justice to the number of cuisines available and the range of theatre (West End and fringe), cinemas, music, clubs, pubs, social and cultural events, lectures and discourses on offer. Campus facilities. SOAS has two campuses — in Russell and Vernon squares. The Russell Square campus is situated in the legendary Bloomsbury area, the birthplace of Fabian Socialism, and is surrounded by other colleges and buildings…

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The Bangalore-based Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College’s Center for Management Studies (CMS) staged a first-of-its-kind academic coup by organising a seminar featuring Jack Trout, widely acknowledged as the world’s foremost authority on marketing strategy. The workshop/ strategy summit was held in Bangalore on September 30. According to a CMS spokesperson, this is the first time that an Indian academic institution or B-school has persuaded Trout who introduced the concept of product/ service positioning in 1980, and is the widely acclaimed co-author of seven globally best-selling books – The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing; Marketing Warfare; The New Positioning; The Power of Simplicity; Big Brands Big Trouble; Learning the Hard Way; A Genie’s Wisdom; and the latest Trout on Strategy to participate in an academia-sponsored seminar. “The main motive behind the strategy summit is to expose corporates to the concepts and procedures employed by the world’s best minds in various fields of management. Strategy is vital in any form of business practice, negotiation and in one’s own life. That is why we thought it apt to rope in the world’s foremost authority on the subject,” says R. Chenraj Jain, director of CMS and chairman of the Jain group of institutions comprising 20 education institutions with 18,000 students on their muster rolls. An estimated 400 corporate executives and B-school students registered for this path-breaking workshop. First premier schools exhibition tour A first-of-its-kind India & International Premier Schools Exhibition (IIPSE) is scheduled to be held in metropolitan India between October 27-November 6. The exhibitions to be staged in New Delhi (October 27-28); Mumbai (October 30-31); Bangalore (November 2-3) and Kolkata (November 5-6) will showcase premier residential schools in India and abroad. “The objective of IIPSE is to provide a venue for parents to interact directly with the faculty of premier schools in India and abroad. The fair will provide vast information to parents about available school options and will help them in choosing the most suitable education environment for their children. Simultaneously it will offer school managements an opportunity to project their facilities and academic and sports achievements to the public. The exhibition will also provide information about several examination boards which is crucial for students with an eye on education abroad,” says Sanjeev Bolia chief executive, Afairs, a Kolkata-based firm which has promoted this pioneer pan-India exhibition. Third Nike Junior Tour held in Bangalore The 3rd Nike Junior Tour 2004 (NJT) Tennis Tournament was held in Bangalore from September 29-October 2 at the state-of-the-art Nike–Bhupathi Tennis Village. The winners and runners up from NJT 2004 will participate in the 2004 Nike Junior Tour International Masters incorporating the NJT/ World Team Tennis Cup to be played at Club Med Pompadour in France from October 30-November 6. Young players from 25 countries will vie for top honours in France. The NJT, the brainchild of Nike Inc. USA, is the most prestigious event in tennis for children of U-12 and U-14 years. NJT has been staged in over 25 countries for the past six years, featuring the best…

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They said it in September”For sustained economic development, all information that has been generated should be used to improve the skills of students and help them embark on a life-long mission of learning.” President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, speaking at the inauguration of the silver jubilee celebrations of Gulbarga University on September 21″Indian science and technology must make a greater difference to the lives of our people.”Dr. Manmohan Singh, prime minister, speaking at the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar awards ceremony held on September 13″EDUSAT will propel India into a leadership role in distance education over satellite.”ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair on the successful launch of India‚s first education transmission satellite”EDUSAT will be very beneficial considering the shortage of teachers, especially in frontier areas of technology.”K. Balaveera Reddy, vice-chancellor of Visveswaraiah Technological University (118 engineering colleges in Karnataka with 1,30,000 students)”Distortion of history and culture in the official textbooks of Pakistan is a serious issue. Actually it is ‚Ëœmurder of history‚, to borrow a phrase from the title of a book by the Pakistani educationist, K.K. Aziz.”B. Muralidhar Reddy in The Hindu (September 23)”In 1965, Pakistan occupied several areas of India, and when India was on the point of being defeated she requested the United Nations to arrange a ceasefire.”A Pakistan government school textbook “The dedication, passion and commitment, which are expected from the implementing agencies are lacking. Policies, programmes and schemes of the government tend to get compartmentalised and isolated for administrative reasons.”Arjun Singh, Union minister of human resource development”Justice is quality education for poor backward class children, not perpetual reservation for the creamy layer. Wisdom is not grabbing what others have built but sowing for a better future.”P.V. Indiresan, former director of IIT-Madras in The Indian Express (September 24) “We have a war against terror. But where‚s the war on poverty?”Sander Veenman, Dutch photographer in unsigned picture book

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The prolonged disruption of the monsoon session of the Lok Sabha by recently elected MPs which resulted in the President’s address to both houses of Parliament and the government’s Rs.477,000 crore Union budget 2004-05 being passed without any debate, marks a new low in independent India’s history. Though some of the blame for this unprecedented impasse could accrue to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government for inducting ‘tainted ministers’ into the Union cabinet, the preponderantly greater share of the blame has to be laid at the door of the BJP-led opposition parties grouped under the umbrella of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which was unexpectedly voted out of office in the general election held in May this year. The plain truth is that the over-confident leaders of the former NDA government have not yet come to terms with the rejection by the electorate of their inegalitarian development model driven by a divisive hindutva ideology. This is why from the very first day that the new Parliament was convened on June 2, its proceedings were disrupted over the issue of MPs with criminal charge-sheets being inducted into the council of ministers. True, the induction of individuals with serious criminal charges filed against them into ministerial office (explained away by the government as the compulsion of coalition politics) is a cause for protest, but not for crippling the business of the country’s apex legislative assembly. Particularly since the NDA government’s council of ministers also included individuals with criminal charges for involvement in the demolition of the Babri Masjid pending against them. The BJP leadership’s nit-picking distinction between common criminal cases and ‘political’ crimes is specious and spurious. On the contrary it could be argued that political crimes which incite lynch-mobs to mayhem and riot are more reprehensible than common and garden criminal offences. The fascist-style contempt which the leadership of the BJP (and its sangh parivar allies) displays towards Parliament and its established procedures is evidenced not only by its disrespect for a President installed in office by the NDA government and boycott of the multi-billion rupee Union budget, but also by its unprecedented decision to withdraw from all the standing committees of Parliament. Fortunately wiser counsel prevailed and this latter decision was reversed after a short boycott. Moreover the NDA leadership’s abortive attempt to present amendments to the boycotted Union budget directly into the prime minister’s office (instead of the floor of Parliament) and subsequent hullabaloo about the disrespect allegedly shown to its delegation by prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh when he rightly rebuked them, is indicative of a schizophrenic mindset which seems to have seized the NDA leadership. Though it’s embarrassing to instruct leaders of the nation about the rationale of parliamentary norms and procedures, this needs to be done. These procedures have been devised during the past half century to facilitate intelligent and informed debate on matters of national importance and to legislate laws of the republic. The NDA leadership should note that a political revival strategy based upon contempt of Parliament is likely…

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The path-breaking cover story of this issue has been brewing within EducationWorld’s head office in Bangalore for quite some time. While every issue of this first-of-its-kind publication for the past four years and more has focussed a searchlight on areas of darkness within the nation’s vitally important education system, there’s been some dissatisfaction that the searchlight provided a partial rather than whole picture of the problem. It then became obvious that as in all things that go wrong, there is a multiplicity of infirmities — with a cascading effect upon each other — which have combined to sicken the system. Out of this awareness was born this month’s cover story — which hopefully provides a complete picture of the rackets rooted in pervasive corruption the republic is heir to, which threaten to destroy Indian education. The purpose of this month’s cover story is not to sensationalise the issue of corruption within the education system as much to generate awareness in civil society that the entire floor of the education system has to be elevated. The existing model of a few schools and colleges offering globally accepted world-class education while the overwhelming majority languish in a desert of mediocrity is as unacceptable as it is unsustainable. With the Indian economy growing at 6 percent plus annually, there is a clear and present danger of the output of the few islands of education excellence proving inadequate. Moreover since everybody can’t be a general, the quality of the troops who man the shop floors of Indian industry and the service sector, also has to be improved if India Inc has to take on global competition in the rapidly crystallising new world order. Therefore removing the dirty dozen corrupt practices which threaten to destroy Indian education is a pressing national priority if some good is to flow out of the recently-inducted United Progressive Alliance government’s welcome initiative to fulfil the long-delayed promise to raise the nation’s annual education outlay to 6 percent of GDP. We would be delighted if our cover story stimulates a country-wide debate on ways and means to clean up the education system so that the young and vulnerable graduating from the nation’s institutions of learning are equipped with real learning and problem-solving skills urgently required by Indian industry and society. Coincidentally, our special report feature is also an investigation into the causes of India’s dismal performance in the Athens 2004 Olympiad which concluded on August 29. The fact that India with its pool of 1.2 billion citizens won only one Olympic medal while Australia with a population of 18 million won 49 and even Ethiopia with all its problems of hunger, poverty and civil war won seven, points to a major structural fault which is bedevilling Indian sports education. A detailed analysis is offered in our special report feature. In addition there are our usual comment pages and news reports. I believe this is a particularly enriched issue of EducationWorld. But admittedly, this is a subjective assessment. If you have any suggestions to…

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