It isn’t easy for parents to watch their children struggle with things that most children learn instinctively. It is harder still being the child who watches everyone around him do things with ease, tasks they themselves take twice as much time to figure out while wondering why they aren’t able to do the same. Every day becomes a fight to keep up and succeed, chasing outof-reach or near-impossible expectations without help. Arjun (name changed), joined Vidyaniketan Academy (VNA) at the age of 14 with a fierce will to prove to his parents that he could study and would do well, despite failing Science and Math lessons at his previous school. It was evident to his teachers from day one that Arjun was exceptionally talented. He was skilled in every activity, particularly sports, and had an unparalleled drive. But he needed much help with spelling, found it difficult to follow structure, could be extremely impulsive and often talked endlessly out of his joy for life. Such children can be a challenge for teachers with many students to manage. In VNA, the teachers helped Arjun make space for himself in just a couple of months. He has now learnt to take responsibility for his actions, assumes leadership at each opportunity, supports his peers, and thrives in everything he does. Academically, he has pushed himself to reach new heights and enjoys a sense of pride at how well he is doing. For Arjun, this change was not easy but he overcame his challenges steadily. Karun’s (name changed) journey was different. He enrolled at VNA at age 10. He had been bullied for his stammer and lack of coordination. He was taunted for being unable to do well academically. Unlike Arjun, Karun took time to adapt to VNA. He started every class with the statement, “I don’t know how to do it. It’s too hard.” It was not uncommon to find him hiding under his desk before the next teacher walked in. The teachers worked with him individually, coaxing him to try even if it meant making a mistake and ensuring support if things went wrong. His lessons were simplified and activities scaffolded to give him time to learn at his own pace. Slowly but surely, Karun has grown to excel. He is now working towards his Senior Secondary certificate through the NIOS board — a feat even his family doubted he would ever reach. Karun and Arjun had different experiences and yet their stories are intertwined at VNA. They are a glimpse into the diverse needs that students have and how the right environment can help them flourish. Children with Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) grapple with issues that range from academic to motor skills to socioemotional development. Often, their struggles are silently borne in a world incapable of comprehending the true nature of their experiences. At VNA, special educators work intensively with no more than ten students in a class, providing individual attention and academic remediation, alongside…
UTTARAKHAND Demolition order Dehradun, september 15. School education minister Dhan Singh Rawat ordered demolition of all dilapidated school buildings in the state, a day after the ceiling of a toilet in a government primary school in Champawat district collapsed, killing an eight-year-old student and injuring three others. Addressing a press conference, the minister said a district-wise survey will be conducted to identify all dangerous school buildings and they will be demolished. “The school management is to blame for this incident as instructions to evacuate dilapidated school buildings are issued from time to time,” added Bansidhar Tiwari, director, school education. MADHYA PRADESH Molestation outrage Bhopal, september 15. Sexual molestation of a three-year-old child inside a school bus in Bhopal has shaken the confidence of the people, said chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan following an emergency meeting of the cabinet. He directed officials to take stringent action against the accused and management of the private school. “Parents send their children to a selected school because they have faith in the institution. It is the duty of school managements to ensure this trust is not broken. We can’t leave children to the mercy of barbarians,” said Chouhan. The chief minister directed the officials to ensure police verification of employees and organise workshops to train staff as well as make parents and children aware of the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. MIZORAM New campus impasse Aizawl, september 16. Chief minister Zoramthanga briefed Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and apprised him of the need to improve education standards and establish additional higher education institutions in the state. According to a state government communique, the chief minister especially sought the Centre’s help to establish a new campus of Mizoram University (MZU) in south Mizoram’s Lunglei town. Earlier state higher and technical education minister Dr. R. Lalthangliana informed the legislative assembly that the state government is ineligible to finance the construction of MZU’s southern campus because it is a Central government-funded university. TRIPURA Five new colleges Agartala, september 16. Five new undergrad colleges including an English-medium college will be inaugurated in the new academic year, said Ratan Lal Nath, the state’s education minister. Of the five colleges, three will be promoted by the state government and two including a law college will be promoted privately. As a result the total number of undergrad colleges in the state will rise to 22. “Tripura Central University has already granted affiliation to all these degree colleges including the two private colleges,” said the minister, addressing a media conference. BIHAR No-bags day Patna, september 18. In line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the state government is all set to introduce a ‘no school bags’ order and a mandatory weekly games period in public and private schools. An official notification will be issued soon, said Dipak Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary in the education ministry. Addressing a press conference, Singh said: “The weekly ‘no-bag day’ will have task-based practical classes. At least once…
“Skill is the currency of the century. Economic actors have a more important role than imagined. An educated and skilled workforce attracts investment, enhances productivity and is critical for moving up in the value chain. Academia and industry must collaborate for better outcomes.” Vikas Singh, economist & columnist on reforming Indian higher education (Businessworld, September 24) “Education is the most potent mean for social transformation and universities will have to play the role of change agents… It should be the aim of every Indian educational institution to become a world-class centre of learning.” President Droupadi Murmu speaking at the inauguration of St. Joseph’s University, Bengaluru (September 28) “As per government data, from 2015 to 2021, more than 900,000 out of India’s total population of 1.3 billion have surrendered their passports. Although it is a small percentage, the worrying factor is that the number is rising year-on-year.” Vidya S, special correspondent, on the rising number of Indian HNIs migrating abroad (Business Today, October 2) “More than anything else, the Congress needs to tell and sell a story to Indian voters. Mr. Tharoor does that well… he knows enough about the Congress but is not caught in its intrigues; and he knows better than most others how to represent the Congress before the expanding Indian middle class. He’s what the Congress needs but, alas, won’t get.” Varghese K. George, journalist, on the impending contest between Shashi Tharoor and M. Kharge for the post of Congress party president (The Hindu, October 2) “But perhaps the Left’s fortunes are changing. Certainly, it’s holding its ground. With young blood coursing through its veins, another red eruption may well be brewing.” Romita Datta, journalist, on the resurgence of the Left parties in West Bengal (India Today, October 3)
Nishant Saxena (Lucknow) Academics and media pundits in lucknow, the administrative capital of Uttar Pradesh — India’s most populous (215 million) state — which is an also-ran on all socio-economic development indices, are pleasantly surprised by a spurt of positive activity in the education sector. With children having enthusiastically returned to classes after the prolonged lockdown of education institutions because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the state’s 1.3 lakh government schools recorded their highest enrolment of 19 million in the new academic year 2022- 23 which started in April. Moreover, 1,780 government schools in 890 blocks have been identified for upgradation under the Centrally-sponsored PM-SHRI (Prime Minister’s Schools for Rising India) programme. The state’s BJP government headed by saffron-clad monk Yogi Adityanath which swept the legislative assembly election of 2019, has also promoted 280 new higher-secondary aka junior colleges, “to spread the ray of education in every corner of the state”. Simultaneously a drive to introduce digitally-enabled learning has been initiated statewide. In higher education as well, there is some traction. Three new government universities and 78 new government degree colleges are being constructed statewide. The government is also readying 119 e-learning parks, where bottom-of-pyramid children will get access to reliable internet and digital course content. And recently, Lucknow University was awarded the A+ grade of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) — the first higher education institution in UP to be awarded NAAC’s highest grading. “There’s been a welcome spurt of activity in UP’s education sector. From new universities to e-learning parks, proposals to establish educational townships, sharp rise in primary school enrolments — there is a lot of action in this space,” confirms Dr. Dhirendra Kumar, former principal of Shia College of Law, Lucknow. Prof. S.K. Swain, who heads the faculty of education at the high ranked Banaras Hindu University, is also impressed. “Yes, the state government is taking human resource development and education seriously. If properly implemented, these initiatives will give a huge boost to socio-economic development in India’s most populous state,” says Swain. Although a rising number of hitherto skeptical academics in India’s most populous — and arguably backward state, ranked #17 among major states on Niti Aayog’s Education Index — are discerning fresh buds of hope in UP’s moribund education scene, some remain cautious. “A large number of these initiatives seem promising. However, education is not high a priority for any political party. Nevertheless, the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is an excellent education development blueprint, if faithfully implemented. Let’s wait and watch,” says Dr. Mohammad Parvez, professor of education, Aligarh Muslim University. Close monitoring of the state government’s initiatives is necessary. Because given this Hindi heartland’s territorial size, massive population and huge representation in Parliament, if Uttar Pradesh succeeds, India succeeds. And vice versa.
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) West Bengal’s unprecedented teacher recruitment and related scandals which have blocked the appointment of much-needed teachers in the state’s 92,000 government schools for over a decade, are in the process of being unblocked. On September 26, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta high court issued a slew of orders directing the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to appoint aspirants who have passed the state’s TET (Teacher Eligibility Test), and simultaneously cancelled appointments of illegally appointed teachers. As a result 250 candidates, whose appointment had been stayed by the high court because six “wrong questions” had been posed in a 2014 TET question paper, have been appointed. Moreover, Justice Gangopadhyay directed WBSSC to complete the recruitment process of 15,924 candidates for 4,150 upper primary schools and 3,929 candidates for 75,141 primary schools who have passed TET 2014 and TET 2017, but are yet to receive appointment letters. The back story of the huge backlog in recruiting teachers for government schools is that ever since the Trinamool Congress (TMC) led by fire-brand chief minister Mamata Banerjee routed the Left Front government in the assembly elections of 2011 and was returned to power in 2016 and again in 2021, graduates who had written TET have been flooding the courts with writ petitions alleging exam malpractices, favouritism and non-merit appointments, and obtained stay orders. For instance, 5 lakh graduates wrote TET 2014, of whom 2.4 lakh were declared passed in 2016 and 29,000 candidates short-listed for interview. But 12,000 complaints were submitted to WBSSC alleging fraud and payment of bribes to examiners and board members. Consequently, the recruitment and appointment of teachers who passed TET 2014 was stayed by several high court orders. Although 10,000 teachers were appointed in 2016 after they cleared a special state-level selection test administered by WBSSC, it has subsequently become clear that the appointments were made fraudulently. According to Shankar Samanta, convener of the West Bengal SLST Candidates Association, since recruitment of teachers has been stalled for the past six years, 1.2 million aspirant teachers statewide with B.Ed degrees have become age-ineligible (age upper limit: 40 years) to write SLST or TET. Following a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe ordered by the Calcutta high court on April 7, it has become manifest that bribes of Rs.10 lakh for Group C and D jobs; Rs.10-12 lakh for primary teachers’ appointments, Rs.15-18 lakh for secondary and Rs.18-20 lakh for higher secondary teachers’ posts were demanded and paid to former education minister Partha Chatterjee. This was confirmed on July 23 when Rs.100 crore in cash and title deeds of 12 properties were unearthed from four upscale apartments of Chatterjee’s girl-friend, cinema actress Arpita Mukherjee. Earlier on May 21, CBI arrested president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) Kalyanmoy Ganguly and former WBSSC chairman Soumitra Sarkar. With the number of teacher vacancies in West Bengal’s 92,000 government schools having risen to 85,000, the average teacher-pupil ratio in government schools has risen to 1:59 against the…
Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) Reeling under attacks from the opposition Congress party which has launched a highly effective ‘Pay CM — 40 percent accepted here’ poster campaign across the state to highlight rampant corruption in the state (last November the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association wrote directly to prime minister Narendra Modi complaining that government officials routinely extort 40 percent ‘commission’ on all government contracts and bills payable) and also accused by several private schools associations of pervasive corruption, Karnataka’s BJP government has sought to recover lost ground by announcing a slew of education initiatives. On September 20, the state government tabled the State Universities (Amendment) Bill 2022, which proposes promotion of eight state government universities in Bidar, Haveri, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Koppal, Mandya and Bagalkot districts. The estimated expenditure: Rs.112 crore over the next two years. Moreover the BJP government’s populist statements of intent to reserve 75 percent of employment in government and private sector industry for natives of the state and making Kannada the sole language of administration are also being interpreted as desperate measures of the besieged BJP government readying for legislative assembly elections early next year. Opposition Congress party leaders and academics have been quick to highlight that Karnataka already hosts 33 state universities beset with massive faculty shortages, rampant corruption in appointment of vice chancellors and faculty, obsolete curriculums and pedagogies and poor infrastructure. Consequently, admissions in government undergrad degree colleges affiliated with state-run universities are plummeting. According to a report in The Hindu (September 30) 171 government degree colleges affiliated with state universities received less than 100 admission applications for the new academic year 2022-23, with three colleges reporting single digit admissions against 740 vacancies. Moreover, with the state’s BJP government being first off the blocks to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in higher education institutions, university managements are confused and apprehensive about online admissions, teaching engineering programmes in Kannada etc. Simultaneously, Krishna Byre Gowda, a Congress party leader, has alleged “several irregularities and scams” in the appointment of vice chancellors and faculty at state universities, and rampant corruption that has resulted in “deterioration of higher education standards”. Moreover Congress state president Eshwar Khandre has accused the BJP government of auctioning posts of vice chancellors for Rs.5-20 crore. Confronted with a barrage of criticism, higher education minister Dr. C.N. Ashwath Narayan admitted that 2,300 faculty positions are vacant in the state’s government colleges and varsities. Vice chancellors posts are also vacant in three varsities for over a year — in Gulbarga (Kalaburagi), Karnataka Folklore (Haveri) and Karnatak universities. With Karnataka’s extant 33 universities and hundreds of affiliated colleges in a shambles and beset with funding, faculty and certification credibility problems, respected academics question the advisability of augmenting the number of new under-resourced universities dispensing poor quality education. “The government should distribute available resources to strengthen existing state universities instead of promoting anaemic new higher education institutions. It should use the finances allocated to raise education standards, recruit qualified faculty and focus on research and…
Dipta Joshi (Mumbai) Primary school teachers in Maharashtra’s 65,734 government-run zilla parishad (ZP) rural schools are simmering with anger. The state government’s education ministry has directed all teachers to display A4 size photographs of themselves in their classrooms. Additionally, Prashant Bamb, a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded that the house rent allowance (HRA) of zilla parishad teachers who fail to provide proof of residence in the same village as their school, be withheld. On Teachers Day (September 5) ZP teachers wore black arm bands to protest this government directive and on September 11, a large contingent of ZP teachers from across the state staged a protest at Aurangabad. Moreover several teachers, who were issued notices to submit proof of residence or forgo their HRA, have reportedly briefed lawyers to contest this government directive. The prime cause of the impugned directives is widespread belief that highly paid government school teachers — their Pay Commission stipulated remuneration is often 20-30 multiples of teachers in private, especially private budget schools — practice mass truancy. Way back in 1998, a PROBE (People’s Report on Basic Education) survey shocked the nation by stating that 25 percent of government school teachers nationwide are absent from school every day. This widely cited report was supported in 2005 by the US-based Ithaka think tank’s JUSTOR Report whose authors included Nazmul Chaudhury, a World Bank economist and Kartik Murlidharan, a doctorate scholar at Harvard University and currently professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). “Twenty-five percent of teachers were absent from school, and only about half were teaching during unannounced visits to a nationally representative sample of government primary schools in India. Absence rates varied from 15 percent in Maharashtra to 42 percent in Jharkhand, with higher rates concentrated in the poorer states,” wrote the authors of the report published in the Journal of the European Economic Association (April-May, 2005). Teachers attribute declining learning outcomes of children in government schools to teachers being assigned a spate of ‘official’ duties outside the classroom which takes away much of their teaching time. According to government school teachers’ spokespersons, they are obliged to discharge 150 non-teaching administrative duties within schools and beyond school gates. These assignments include preparing children’s mid-day meals, maintaining accounts of foodgrains distributed by government to schools, collecting funds for locally sponsored school development projects, submitting reports and updating data required by several administrative departments. Moreover, since July the state’s teachers have been assigned the additional duty of registering children for their Aadhar unique identification cards on the education ministry’s online platform. In addition, teachers are routinely given assignments to conduct health, animal husbandry, population control drives, door-to-door anti-tobacco awareness campaigns, administer polio vaccine doses, survey the number of public toilets, check open defecation behaviour in villages and even regulate queues outside liquor shops. During the Covid pandemic lockdown, over 300 teachers statewide who were assigned pandemic-related duties lost their lives. Moreover during general and…
Autar Nehru (Delhi) India’s political class is arguably the most obtuse of any country worldwide. Whereas politicians world over are well aware that education of children is the highest priority of parents, for post-independence India’s politicians and political parties, education of generation next is a peripheral low priority issue. Party manifestos pay mere lip service to the subject and education seldom figures in political debates and discourse. The leadership of the new genre Aam Aadmi (‘common man’) Party (AAP) is an exception to this rule. Quite clearly, this political party born out of social activist Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption national movement (2012), believes that children’s education is an electoral issue. In 2015, after the BJP spectacularly won General Election 2014, it called a legislative assembly election in Delhi state. Against all expectations, the newly registered AAP won 67 seats in the 70-strong assembly. In 2020, after the BJP won an even larger majority in General Election 2019, campaigning on the platform of improving education and health services and corruption-free government, AAP won 62 seats in the Delhi state assembly. Arvind Kejriwal, a former civil servant and Manish Sisodia, chief minister and deputy CM respectively of the AAP government of Delhi state, evidently believe that education — especially primary-secondary education — is an elections winning issue. Delhi’s AAP government loudly proclaims that it allocates 20-25 percent of its annual budget expenditure for education, a larger proportion than of any state government countrywide. It has impressively spruced up and modernised state government schools and children’s learning outcomes have improved significantly. The AAP leadership claims that students are leaving upscale private schools to enroll in state government schools. There’s some evidence to back this claim. The AAP government’s 22 show-piece Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV) schools are highly respected. Five of them are ranked among the country’s Top 10 state government schools in the latest EducationWorld India School Rankings 2022-23 (see. p.160). The AAP leadership’s electoral promises of upgrading and modernising primary-secondary education combined with improved public health services and anti-corruption drives have impacted electorates beyond Delhi. Last March, AAP won a spectacular victory in the Punjab legislative assembly election winning 92 seats in the 117-strong assembly, and the party’s first government beyond Delhi state was sworn in on March 16. Now with assembly elections due to be held in Gujarat and Karnataka early next year, the AAP leadership has developed national ambitions. In August, it launched ‘Make India No.1’ campaign. Shortly later, it launched an ambitious Delhi Model Virtual School (DMVS) on August 31. This national online classes IX-XII schooling programme is open to any student countrywide. Admissions began on August 31 and a clear challenge has been thrown to the 43-year-old NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling, estb.1979). According to political pundits in Delhi, the DMVS open schooling programme is designed to give AAP a national image in the run-up to General Election 2024. The outcome of the AAP government’s success in delivering online education during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, DMVS has…
Commendable evolution CONGRATULATIONS FOR bringing out the mammoth 344-page EducationWorld India School Rankings issue (EW September). It’s undisputedly the most comprehensive schools rankings survey in the country, and perhaps worldwide. In particular, special thanks for bringing back the sports education parameter and continuing with the critical parameter of mental and emotional well-being services to assess schools in seemingly normal times. This year’s inclusion of vintage legacy schools — 90 years and above — in eight sub-categories is also a welcome innovation — a well-thought and much-needed classification. Not only does it set these schools apart from the rest but also levels the competitive playing field. Another positive development is the rising number of school teachers taking the 30-minutes CENTA online test to improve teacher competency scores. The annual EWISR — the world’s most comprehensive and detailed schools rating and ranking survey — is continuously evolving for the better. Congratulations and keep up your good work! Dharmendra Singh, Chandigarh Mapping error A REGULAR reader of EW, I would like to point out an error in the latest edition of your September EWISR survey issue. On page 41, the survey has included schools from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. However, in accompanying maps the islands have not been represented. In the interest of your educated readers, care must be taken to draw an accurate map of India to include all islands including Lakshadweep, regardless of whether schools from that region are ranked or not. Fahad M, Mumbai Shocking corruption YOUR EDUCATION news report from Maharashtra ‘Suffer little children’ (EW September) has left me in utter shock and disbelief. I have always venerated teachers for doing under-paid work. Therefore it’s shameful that aspiring primary school teachers are involved in ugly exam malpractices. The state’s unscrupulous agriculture minister has exposed himself by turning a blind eye to his own children indulging in malpractices, as also chief minister Eknath Shinde for failing to take timely action. I agree with the author when she says that ultimately the price of corruption is being paid by our children. Time for some serious introspection. Raghunandan Chetty, Hyderabad Unwarranted focus I READ Sudheendra Kulkarni’s ‘Outrageous perversion of justice’ essay (EW September) with interest. But I fail to understand why the religion of innocents like Bilkis Bano is overplayed while the severity of the crime itself is downplayed. Can we not put our petty ideological mindsets aside and stand with Bilkis and her family unconditionally and provide her the support she needs whatever her caste or religion? In this respect we are failing the women of this country time and again. Wake up India! Daisy Pinto on email Vague innovation WHILE FLIPPING through the voluminous EW India School Rankings 2022-23 issue, I noticed an exclusive 1+ rank awarded to schools in the national and state rankings tables. Curious to learn more, I read your cover story but was disappointed to find a rather vague explanation which fails to define the specific areas in which the school has excelled. Sushma Bagchi,…
Road traffic mismanagement and chaos witnessed 24×7 on the roads of Bengaluru, the administrative capital of the southern state of Karnataka (pop.64 million), is pervading the state’s politics and all sectors of government. A few decades ago, Karnataka had the deserved reputation of being ranked among the country’s most well-governed states offering a business and industry friendly environment. But since its transformation in the new millennium into the hub of the new ICT (information communication technologies) industry, the garden city has acquired an infamous reputation for political populism, maladministration and widespread corruption. In the Transparency International India index, 2019, Karnataka is ranked #4 for government corruption. Last November the state’s BJP government was rocked after the Karnataka State Road Contractors’ Association wrote directly to prime minister Narendra Modi’s office in Delhi, alleging that 40 percent “commission” is routinely extorted by government officials for awarding civic contracts and releasing payments after project execution. More recently (August) RUPSA (Registered Unaided Private Schools Association) has also written to the PMO complaining that education ministry officials routinely armtwist them for issuing school recognition and no-objection certificates to promote new schools and release reimbursements payable by the state government under s.12 (1) (c) of the RTE Act, 2009. Quite obviously, to distract rising public indignation, the BJP government which is gearing for legislative assembly elections scheduled for next summer, has resorted to populist parochial and language chauvinism proclamations that are likely to further discourage investment flow into the state. On September 23, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the state government has finalised legislation to reserve 75 percent of jobs in public and private companies for Kannadigas, defined as individuals resident in the state for over 15 years and fluent in reading and writing Kannada, the dominant language of Karnataka. Secondly, legislation titled Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill under which all government business and communication will be conducted solely in Kannada has been drafted by the BJP government and is set to be enacted in the current monsoon session of the legislative assembly. Besides being violative of Articles 14 (equality) and 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution (to conduct business freely), such sub-nationalist, provincial initiatives are self-destructive because they will inhibit investment and damage industry productivity. Similarly language chauvinism is likely to adversely impact the ease of doing business because E(I)nglish is the language of business and the judiciary. Instead of resorting to desperate populism in the final run-up to the imminent assembly election, the state’s BJP government would do well to address the issue of runaway corruption, ruining the good reputation of Karnataka.
Heavy rain, flooding and waterlogging of Bengaluru (in 2014 foolish parochial politicians mindlessly surrendered its global brand identity as Bangalore, the IT capital of India) in early September caused substantial damage to business and industry variously estimated at Rs.500-700 crore by way of loss of material, stock-in-trade and production. The tragedy is that such water-logging and flooding is becoming normative in this over expanded metropolis sprawled over a diameter of 741 sq. km. The standard explanation for the slide of this once garden city into functional anarchy is that business and industry — especially the peopleintensive ICT (information communication technologies) industry — has grown too fast and prompted a numbers explosion with the city’s population having risen from 6 million in 1999 to 10 million currently. This has made it impossible for civic management authorities to cope. Moreover much of the debate is centred on technical problems such as blockage of storm water drains and draining of lake beds to build homes and offices. Undoubtedly there is some substance in these explanations, but they sidestep deep-rooted issues that require resolution to stem the rot. The first great act of omission that has resulted in pervasive mal-administration of Bengaluru (and all major cities countrywide) is the failure of the intelligentsia and middle class to press for enforcement of Part IXA of the Constitution as rewritten by the 74th Amendment (1993). The amendment mandates devolution of civic administration power to municipal governments and further down to citizens’ ward committees. Although municipal corporations are extant in most cities, property tax is determined, levied and collected by state governments and trickled down to municipal corporations. To give effect to the 74th Amendment, property tax should be determined by committees elected by registered property owners in every ward, and distributed upwards to municipal and state governments as per a negotiated formula. This is the essence of the 74th Amendment which has been ignored by greedy state governments. Under this schema committees of richer/ upscale wards would not be averse to levying high property taxes to build superior infrastructure which would enhance property prices. The basic rationale of 73rd (for rural areas) and 74th amendments is that if citizens carefully tended their wards, the whole city would become beautiful. But commissions-skimming and bribe-hungry politicians and bureaucrats are reluctant to devolve tax and spend power to ward committees with direct interest in increasing property values in their backyards. Therefore, the focus of civic reformers and planners should be on devising ways and means to enforce the 74th Amendment of the Constitution. This is the necessary first step towards meaningful civic administration reform.
Since it was somewhat hesitantly and experimentally introduced in 2007, the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) survey, which rates and ranks 3,500- 4,000 of India’s best schools, has evolved into the largest and most detailed schools ranking survey worldwide. However it arouses mixed emotions in diverse publics. Left intellectuals who curiously continue to dominate the academy despite the rejection of communist/ socialist ideology in Russia and China — the fons et origo of this obsolete creed — have contempt for it. It’s a commercial venture, the evaluation methodology is flawed, it provokes unseemly competition et al. But bona fide school promoters, principals and teachers love this annual survey because it provides feedback on ways and means to upgrade and improve institutional performance across a broad range of parameters of school education excellence. Parents also look forward to the annual EWISR because it enables them to shortlist, even if not select, primary-secondary schools most likely to develop the unique intelligences of their children. That’s why every year there is a clamour from schools countrywide for inclusion in our survey. In 2007 a mere 250 schools were sufficiently well-known to sample respondents to include in the survey. In the latest EWISR 2022- 23, the number of schools included in our league tables has risen to 4,000 from 392 cities and towns across the country. The field interviews-based institutional evaluation methodology adopted by us is elaborate, and expensive. Every summer over a period of four months, field researchers of the Centre for Forecasting & Research Pvt. Ltd, aka C fore, Delhi, a highly-reputed specialised market research and opinion polls company, persuade over 14,000 carefully chosen, knowledgeable sample respondents (educationists, fees-paying parents, principals, teachers and senior students) to rate the country’s most reputed schools on a scale of 1-100 on 12-15 parameters of school education excellence. Subsequently, the parameter scores are totaled to rank schools in 22 segregated categories. We believe that segregating schools for assessment and ranking is important to provide level playing fields and eliminate apples and oranges type comparisons. Last month we published detailed league tables spread over 344 pages rating and ranking the country’s most-reputed Day Schools (co-ed, day-cum-boarding, girls, boys) nationally and in the country’s 29 states and seven Union territories. In this issue we present EWISR 2022-23 Part II rating and ranking Boarding (co-ed, boys and girls) and International (day, day-cumboarding and residential) schools. Moreover league tables evaluating the country’s best Vintage legacy, Central and State government (day and boarding); Special Needs and Philanthropy schools are also featured. There’s something in these league tables for everyone — parents, educators, students and social scientists.
It gives me great pleasure to learn that EducationWorld has made a distinct category of vintage legacy schools and we are proud that Mayo College is ranked India’s #1 boys boarding school in this new category. During the pandemic we evolved an SOP (standard operating procedure) which helped us to become an anticipatory, responsive and agile institution, and a model for other schools. We also used this time to invest heavily in professional development of our faculty including pastoral care staff. The results of these efforts are evident in the ease with which our staff can perform in a hybrid learning environment. I am also elated about our #1 rank for teacher welfare and development across all vintage boarding schools in the EW survey. At the same time we are building cutting edge facilities which truly reflect our vision of combining tradition with modernity — as reflected in our top score for infrastructure -Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Surendra Kulkarni, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, director of Mayo College, Ajmer (estb.1875) which has an enrolment of 750 boarders and 94 teachers
It is a matter of great satisfaction that the contribution of this 156-year-old school to society has been recognised and acknowledged in EducationWorld’s latest 2022-23 survey. For over 150 years Auckland House has educated and nurtured young women, developing their values of head and heart. We take great pride in walking the extra mile to inculcate the highest moral, spiritual and aesthetic values in our girl children and have steadfastly upheld the school’s traditions and legacy -Sunita John, director-principal, Auckland House School, Shimla, which has an aggregate enrolment of 1,193 girls mentored by 60 teachers.
We are delighted to learn that Lawrence, Sanawar is ranked India #1 in the survey’s new category of vintage legacy co-ed boarding schools. This is welldeserved because the Board of Governors and successive headmasters have taken great care to preserve our 175-year-old school’s rich heritage while simultaneously modernising curriculums, pedagogies and infrastructure. During the past two years of the pandemic in particular we made determined efforts to upgrade the school’s digital infrastructure and trained our teachers in latest online pedagogies and technologies. Now with resumption of in-person schooling we have gone the extra mile to provide improved academic, co-curricular and sports education to our students. We have also upgraded infrastructure and built new facilities including a new indoor shooting range and sports complex. This justifies our top scores on the parameters of sports education and infrastructure provision. Moreover, we are especially thrilled that the school is ranked #1 for quality of alumni as our graduates have contributed immensely to nation building. — Himmat S. Dhillon, headmaster, Lawrence School, Sanawar (estb.1847), which has 675 boarders and 73 teachers on its muster rolls.
We are thrilled that GSIS is ranked India’s #1 international residential school. This is a testament to the vision and sustained hard work of my parents — Dr. P.C. and Elsamma Thomas, who founded the school 45 years ago. My late father’s vision to build an institution that provides not only academics, but a wide range of activities focused on holistic development of children has been realised in GSIS. Therefore, I am especially delighted that GSIS has been awarded top scores under the parameters of curriculum and pedagogy, co-curricular and sports education, infrastructure provision and mental and emotional well-being services. These scores are reflective of our vision to focus on all aspects of our students’ development. In GSIS, we are fully committed to continuously enhancing and adapting global best education practices to prepare children for the new rapidly evolving world. Last year, we introduced the International Baccalaureate’s PYP and MYP programmes; started implementation of the Creya XEL 2.0 STEAM Lab & Design Studio, and commenced construction of new outdoor and indoor sports facilities — Jacob Thomas, president, Good Shepherd International School (GSIS) which has 600 students and 165 teachers on its muster rolls
We are delighted to be ranked India #1 in EducationWorld’s new category of vintage legacy international schools. These schools stood the test of time and continue to blend heritage and innovation to deliver educational excellence. It is an honour to be recognised as a leader among this illustrious group. We are especially delighted to be highly ranked under the important parameters of quality of alumni, academic reputation, faculty competence, co-curricular education and internationalism, curriculum and pedagogy. Credit for these accolades must accrue to our dedicated staff, faculty, and students. Over the past few years, the school has also undergone major campus refurbishment — our redesigned classrooms and laboratories provide exceptional educational environments within our heritage buildings. Last but not least, we recognise that the ability to navigate virtual spaces is crucial for our students’ future success in higher education and beyond. Therefore, we are developing strategies to ensure that children retain valuable skills learnt during distance online learning and embrace elements of the digital world into the future. -Dr. Craig Cook, principal, Woodstock School, Mussoorie (estb.1854), which has 469 students and 85 teachers on its musters. For full list, please visit:EW India School Rankings 2022-23 – Top & best schools in India
Tagore’s first experience of village life and close observation of the glaring poverty of the peasantry planted the seed of the Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Nabanipa Bhattarcharjee (The Book Review) A HISTORY OF SRINIKETAN: RABINDRANATH TAGORE’S PIONEERING WORK IN RURAL RECONSTRUCTION Uma Das Gupta NIYOGI BOOKS Rs.450 Pages 234 BORN INTO a wealthy family in Calcutta in 1861, there was very little scope, so to speak, in Rabindranath Tagore’s childhood years to experience country life first hand. It was only in the 1890s, after Tagore was well past youth, that he was tasked with the supervision and management of the family’s (zamindari) estates in the rural areas of eastern Bengal. Based in Selidaha/ Shilaidaha, headquarters of the Birahimpur estate (in the then Nadia district) located on the banks of the mighty River Padma, Tagore’s long stint in the Bengal countryside gave birth to some of his finest literary creations. But what many of us may not be aware of is that the lengthy sojourn was the city-bred Tagore’s first direct experience of village life wherein he closely observed the glaring poverty and misery of the peasantry, and which planted the seed of the Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IRR) he would eventually establish in Sriniketan, in the Birbhum district of western Bengal in 1922. Tagore’s unease with the dismal state of India’s villages turned him, as Uma Das Gupta writes in the blurb of this enlightening book under review, “into a man of action”. Economic development of villages was at the core of Tagore’s Sriniketan-IRR experiment but there was (also) the ‘other’ no less important goal of infusing joy into the lives of village people. He knew intuitively that poverty was not the only problem; unhappiness was also a problem. Expectedly, the Sriniketan-IRR model combined and connected rural and urban ideas and grassroots reform, humanism and economics, science and arts/crafts, tradition and modernity, agriculture and industrial technology, local and global/universal. This slim volume by Das Gupta on Sriniketan-IRR’s history attempts to document the work of rural reconstruction (begun by Tagore) and examine its pioneering features of integrated thought and action. “The idea… was premised on a unique proposition of ‘bringing life in its completeness’ to village India through the SantiniketanSriniketan alternative education,” writes Das Gupta. The book is divided into 11 short chapters plus four appendices and a visuals section. Indeed the photos, curated from the collection of Rabindra-Bhavana Archive, is the real treat for Tagore lovers. Following a succinct introduction, the author narrates the causes which motivated Tagore to think about and act on the dire need of rural reconstruction in colonial India. On this issue of the village as a site of reform, Mahatma Gandhi too was not far behind the poet, though the two differed on ways and means to address rural reform from a modern perspective. However, one of the more serious differences which Tagore had with nationalists of the Indian National Congress was about the path to be adopted to arrest rural decline in India. While…
A biography of John Lang, writer, lawyer and alcoholic who exposed British epicures who ruled India for almost 200 years, writes Mridula Garg JOHN LANG: WANDERER OF HINDOOSTAN, SLANDERER IN HINDOOSTANEE, LAWYER FOR THE RANEE Amit Ranjan NIYOGI BOOKS Rs.795; Pages 472 Amit Ranjan’s book John Lang poses a conundrum quite like the persona of the protagonist. Who was John Lang? Columnist, creative writer, lawyer, rebel, alcoholic or just a stupendous wit, masquerading as all of them? Which country did John Lang belong to — Australia, England or India? Born in Australia; educated in England and resident of India, undoubtedly. But his parentage in Australia was of doubtful lineage. Was he the offspring of convicts? He was not only educated in England but had the dubious honour of being expelled by a British university. But expulsion from a self-righteous, conservative, rules-ridden university is perhaps the prerequisite of getting a real education. One could well argue that he was one with the hoary Indian tradition of the vidushak, or glorified court jester-cum-philosopher, essential to every Sanskrit drama and reallife courts of Indian rajas and maharajas. The vidushak was given latitude to critique and ridicule the raja in every way possible. Hardly ever was he told to hold his tongue. On a rare occasion, due to jealous courtiers, he would be ordered to leave the kingdom and sometimes even incarcerated. But he would soon be pardoned and brought back to court to continue to jest with the potentate raja, which he did with not a jot of remorse. Perceptively, just how lonely it would be for a raja to be at the mercy of sycophants, day in and day out! Unfortunately, Lang didn’t have to deal with an eccentric literature aficionado as his ruler but a faceless government, composed of banal men. So, he spent a year in jail in Vienna for an offence, the legitimacy of which is undisclosed, quite like a vidushak being jailed at a whim and acquitted soon after. What we can’t help regret is that our gora vidushak was finally punished in the most illogical and cruel manner — he was forgotten! While Kipling, who stole from him, and Dickens, who fed off his anonymous contributions to his journal Household Words, became icons of literary history, Lang was thrown on the scrap heap! The grand irony of Lang’s life, in keeping with the whole tenor of his mocking the establishment is that history knows him as the lawyer for the Rani of Jhansi, a case he lost, rather than as the lawyer for Lala Jotee Persaud, a case he won against all odds and with typical Langian wit. Amit Ranjan needs to be congratulated for rescuing Lang from oblivion and making him vigorously breathe again. My favourite Lang witticism was his succinct response to a friend’s recital of Edgar Allan Poe’s celebrated 1845 poem, The Raven. All he said was, it was very good Persian — meaning thereby that it was lifted from a Persian poem —…
To be useful, feedback has to be timely, specific and actionable. Teachers are often buried under day-to-day demands of the profession. But delayed feedback loses its power and utility for students, writes Tara Quigley OVER THE COURSE OF MY 24-YEAR TEACHING career, I have assessed and provided feedback to students on countless assignments. But only after I learned about how our brains work as we learn, that made the biggest difference to how I provide feedback. Knowing the end goal of an assignment is critical for providing useful feedback. According to educationists Hattie and Timperley, in their essay The Power of Feedback (2007), “effective feedback must answer three major questions asked by a teacher and/or student: Where am I going? (What are the goals?), How am I going? (what progress is being made towards the goal?), and Where to next? (what actions need to be undertaken to make better progress?). These questions correspond to feed up, feedback, and feed forward.” There are two types of feedback, formative and summative. The first provides guidance about how a student is progressing towards a summative goal and what she can do to improve her performance. It also informs a teacher how she can provide corrective instruction to individual students or the whole class.
Prior to enactment of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, EducationWorld started rating and ranking the country’s most respected special needs schools to inform parents and encourage education institutions to pay greater attention to children with disability, writes Paromita Sengupta Arguably the most poignant outcome of continuous under-funding of education in post-independence India — annual expenditure for public education has averaged a mere 3.5 percent of (low) GDP for the past seven decades cf. the global average of 5 percent and 8-10 percent in developed OECD countries — is the neglect of youngest and most vulnerable children at the bottom of the country’s iniquitous socio-economic pyramid. More so of children with disability. According to the Mumbai-based NGO ADAPT (formerly Spastics Society of India, estb.1972), 21st century India grudgingly hosts 20 million children with varying degrees of disability. Of them, 75 percent below age five have not attended an educational institute, says a 2019 Unesco State of Education Report, despite a spate of child-friendly legislation. The new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 also “fully endorses the recommendations” of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. In Chapter III, the Act details the obligations of the state and local governments to ensure that “all education institutions funded or recognised by them” provide inclusive education for children with disability. However, before this Act was legislated in 2015, your editors started rating and ranking the country’s most respected special needs schools to inform parents and encourage schools to pay greater attention to differently abled children. Moreover, all schools were assessed under the parameter of ‘special needs education’ in the annual EWISR league tables. Since then, the number of dedicated special needs schools of sufficient repute to be rated and ranked by EducationWorld has risen from 16 in 2015 to 28 this year. To compile the eighth EW Special Needs Schools Rankings 2022-23, field personnel of the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting & Research Pvt. Ltd (C fore, estb.2000) interviewed a specially constituted database of 676 sample respondents including parents and special educators to rate special schools under ten parameters of excellence, viz, teacher welfare and development, competence of faculty, quality of programme, rehabilitation, co-curricular education, individual attention to students, leadership/management quality, safety and hygiene, infrastructure provision and value for money. In the 2022-23 league table of India’s most admired special needs schools, there is a major rearrangement of seating at top table. This year’s sample respondents have vaulted Sankalp — The Learning Centre & Special Needs School for Children with Autism and Intellectual Disability, Chennai and Sankalp — The Open School for Children with Learning Disabilities, Chennai to #1 from #5 in 2021-22, with top scores under nine of ten parameters of excellence. “We are humbled by this recognition and accept this big promotion with great sense of responsibility to sustain the high standards that we have set ourselves to educate and mainstream our children to the maximum extent possible. I believe that total commitment of our teachers, parents’ faith in this institution,…
Consequent upon inclusion of schools promoted by defence services in the Central government day and boarding schools league tables, JNVs, which had hitherto dominated this league table, have had to cede rank, writes Paromita Sengupta and Reshma Ravishanker Since 2014, when EducationWorld editors took the decision to rank government schools — routinely ignored by the media and public — in the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) survey, the league table of India’s best government boarding schools has been dominated by the Central government-promoted Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs). Conceptualised in 1984 by the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi as freeof-charge class VI-XII co-ed boarding schools for meritorious rural children, the country’s 661 JNVs are arguably the greatest success story in public education. Unfortunately there are too few of them. India has 731 districts but only 661 JNVs. However this year, consequent upon inclusion of schools promoted by the defence services in the Central government schools day and boarding schools league tables, JNVs have had to cede considerable ground. The 1,279 SEC (socio-economic category) ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ sample respondents interviewed by field personnel of the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting and Research have voted Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun (RIMC-D, estb.1922) — ranked India #10 in the boys residential school category in 2021-22 — the country’s #1 government boarding school.
For state government schools, subject to relentless criticism by educationists, academia and media, a separate league table has been introduced this year to encourage them to upgrade and improve, writes Paromita Sengupta & Reshma Ravishanker The overwhelming majority of the country’s 1.30 million government schools which have earned global notoriety for dilapidated infrastructure, chronic teacher truancy, multi-grade teaching and rock-bottom learning outcomes, are owned and managed by India’s 29 states, seven Union territories and/ or numerous local, municipal and other governments. Contrary to popular belief, the Central government has established and manages less than 5,000 primary-secondary schools such as the Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs). Schools promoted and managed by the defence services, Indian Railways and several public sector enterprises are generally classified as Central government schools. It’s substantially true that Central Government schools (and higher education institutions) tend to be relatively well-funded, well-administered and ensure acceptable student learning outcomes. Therefore, much of the volley of relentless criticism against government schools by educationists, academia and media (including EducationWorld) is directed at state and local government schools which tend to be under-funded, negligently administered and sabotaged by teacher recruitment scams, examination malpractices and chronic corruption. However, even if belatedly, some governments — especially the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of Delhi state which has discovered that public education is an elections winning issue — are initiating primary-secondary education reforms. This is a socially beneficial development that promises to upgrade public education across the spectrum.
For EWISR 2022-23, a specially constituted sample respondent database was interviewed by the Delhi-based C fore to rate Central government day schools on 14 parameters of school education excellence, writes Paromita Sengupta & Reshma Ravishanker The condition of the overwhelming majority of India’s 1.20 million government schools is so poor in terms of infrastructure, teacher competence, pedagogy, curriculum delivery and digital readiness, sports, co-curricular and life skills education that no media publication has ever bothered to evaluate them or separate grain from chaff. However, your editors have no ideological or any other prejudice against government schools. On the contrary, we are convinced that comprehensive upgradation and continuous improvement of government schools under all parameters of school education excellence is the essential precondition of national development. Therefore since 2014, the annual EWISR (EducationWorld India School Rankings) survey has included league tables rating and ranking the best Central government schools inter se. However this year, in response to public demand, the composite government schools league table is sub-divided into Central and state government day schools. Moreover, Indian Army and defence services schools have been reclassified as Central government institutions.
In international day-cum-boarding schools, day scholars benefit from the excellent infrastructure and facilities built for boarders and the latter benefit by way of student body diversity. Against 28 schools ranked in this category in 2017, the number has risen to 41 in EWISR 2022-23 Within the broad category of international schools, day-cum boarding schools are gaining increasing popularity because they offer students day and boarding options. Day scholars benefit from the excellent infrastructure and facilities built for boarders, and the latter benefit by way of student body diversity. And with a rising number of day-cumboarding schools offering the choice of five-days boarding, they have become the preferred option of nuclear households with working parents. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the number of international day-cumboarding schools countrywide is rising year on year. Against 28 schools ranked in this category in 2016-17, the number has risen to 41 in EWISR 2022-23. Since 2013 when international schools were segregated into day, day-cum-boarding and residential, the Indus International School, Bengaluru (IIS-B, estb.2003) has dominated the day-cum-boarding schools league table. This year too, 14,221 sample respondents polled by the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting and Research (C fore) have voted IIS-B India’s #1 international daycum-boarding school with highest score under the parameters of teacher welfare and development, community service, faculty competence, leadership and curriculum and pedagogy (hybrid learning readiness). “We are delighted we are ranked India’s #1 international day-cumboarding school for the 11th consecutive year in the authoritative EW India School Rankings. This is the outcome of our sustained effort to reinvent and transform K-12 education by integrating latest digital technologies, contemporary pedagogies and new knowledge into the school curriculum. Some of our innovations include introduction of a collaborative learning model; employment of robots as teaching assistants in classrooms; and designing a unique entrepreneurial skills development curriculum. Moreover, we are currently piloting a unique 10x International School initiative for classes IX-XII under which the curriculum is delivered in blended format through utilisation of latest digital technologies. All these initiatives are driven by our teachers who voluntarily sign up for professional training and selfdevelopment programmes. We value them very highly as is evidenced by IIS-B’s #1 rank under the parameter of teacher welfare and development across all international schools,” says Sarojini Rao, an economics and education alumna of Pune and Annamalai universities and principal of IIS-B since 2005.
The league table of international day schools in the annual EWISR is lengthening every year with new institutions springing up in metros, state capitals and even tier III and IV cities across the country. This year’s league table of India’s best international day schools is 123-strong Arelatively new post-1991 (when the heavily regulated, cabined, cribbed and confined Indian economy was substantially — but not sufficiently — deregulated) phenomenon, international schools affiliated with globally reputed offshore examination boards such as International Baccalaureate (Geneva/The Hague), Cambridge Assessment International Education (UK) and Advance Placement, USA, are unpopular with politically correct lefties who dominate the academy and media. They are adjudged elitist and too expensive. However, international schools benchmarked against the world’s most well-equipped and studentsenabling K-12 schools, serve very useful purposes. First, they set infrastructure, teacher recruitment and development, curriculum and pedagogy and life skills education standards for aspirational schools. Secondly, they nurture and educate children of the rich, who as the great institutions builder the late Prof. N.S. Ramaswamy, founder-director of JBIMS and NITIE, Mumbai and IIM-Bangalore, famously remarked, would otherwise loiter in public spaces fomenting trouble. Therefore, the small but fortunately steadily expanding number of private international schools which levy tuition fees substantially lower than international schools abroad, are national assets. Moreover, international schools are invariably genderintegrated (co-ed) institutions which is another social benefit.
With several hitherto highly ranked boys boarding schools including Mayo College, Ajmer, Scindia School, Gwalior, Bishop Cotton, Shimla and St. Paul’s, Darjeeling among others transferred to the new vintage legacy category, there’s been a major rearrangement of seating in this league table The history of modern primary-secondary education has been profoundly influenced by boys boarding schools. Initially boarding schools were promoted in 15th century England to provide board and lodging to orphaned children of the working class obliged to farm the sprawling estates of nobility, slog in coal mines and serve as household menials. Soon the English upper class, stiffly unanimous that children should be seen and not heard because they may distract them from their Downton Abbey and Bridgerton-style round of balls, soirees and dinner parties, discovered the virtues of packing male children off to elite boarding schools such as Eton (estb.1440), Harrow (1572) and Winchester (1382) among others to learn upper class conformity, discipline, self-reliance and healthy disdain for the working class. With the passage of time and as imperial Britain more by happenstance and luck evolved into a major military and industrial power, this lonely wind-swept country’s elite boarding schools acquired a legendary reputation for shaping battle-winning generals and administrators of the British empire. Author Thomas Hughes glorified Rugby College in his enduring bestseller Tom Brown’s School Days and the Duke of Wellington famously attributed his glorious victory in the Battle of Waterloo (1815) to his education on the playing fields of Eton.
Girls boarding schools are valuable national assets because they provide access to a wide range of co-curricular and sports education and greater personality development opportunities, than to girl children in day schools Although gender-segregated schools are fading out of fashion as testified by the explosion of co-ed schools in all categories, in the world’s most diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-religious nation with millions of households governed by strict conservative mores that discourage if not prohibit, social interaction between boys and girl children from early age, gender segregated, especially, all-girls schools serve a useful social purpose. They enable girl children who would otherwise be confined to home and hearth and denied high and higher secondary school education, to avail it. Arguably, girls boarding schools render greater service and opportunity to the cause of women’s emancipation than girls day schools inasmuch as boarders are provided egalitarian environments far removed from conservative home environments in which gender inequality is routinely practised. Besides, girls boarding schools offer students access to a wide range of co-curricular and sports opportunities which tend to be denied to girl children in day schools. Therefore ever since the sui generis EducationWorld India School Rankings were introduced 15 years ago, girls (day and boarding) schools have been accorded as much importance as league tables ranking co-ed schools and other genre primary-secondary schools. Although your editors believe that multiplication and proliferation of co-ed schools, which encourage interaction between boys and girl children from early age, is the preferable option because they facilitate mindsets of mutual respect and gender egalitarianism during schooling years, girls boarding schools — institutions equipped with excellent contemporary infrastructure — which enable girl children to access co-curricular, life skills and sports education are valuable national assets. It’s a telling statistic of the high respect the best girls residential schools are accorded by informed society that aggregate scores of the Top 4 girls boarding schools in EWISR 2022-23 are greater than of the Top 4 boys boarding schools.
Somewhat surprisingly in a reportedly conservative society, even under the boarding schools category the lengthiest league table is of co-ed institutions with numbers listed in the gender-segregated boys and girls schools shrinking year by year Societal preference of mixed gender co-ed schools is evidenced by the rapidly multiplying co-ed schools – including government-promoted schools – countrywide. This is a progressive, socially beneficial phenomenon. This trend in favour of co-ed education is confirmed by the reality that co-ed schools — day, boarding and international — league tables are the lengthiest in the EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) 2022- 23 survey. And they have been since the unprecedented, detailed annual EWISR was introduced in 2007, and currently rates and ranks the country’s Top 4,000 schools segregated into four main categories — day, boarding, international and vintage legacy (introduced this year) — and 22 subcategories to ensure level playing field and eliminate apples with oranges type inter-sectoral evaluation. Last month (September) in Part I of the extensive 344-pages EWISR 2022-23, we published detailed league tables rating and ranking the country’s most admired day schools — co-ed, boys and girls. Unsurprisingly, the lengthiest national, state and city league tables were of co-ed day schools with the national league table rating 2,310 schools on 14 parameters of primary-secondary schooling excellence spread over 84 printed pages.
In this issue, we present national, state, and parameter league tables of boarding schools (co-ed, boys and girls), international (co-ed day, day-cum-boarding, residential), vintage legacy, government, special needs, budget private and philanthropy schools, writes Dilip Thakore & Summiya Yasmeen Since the EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) were somewhat tentatively and experimentally launched in 2007, they have evolved into the world’s largest annual schools ranking survey which rates the country’s most admired primary-secondary schools on 14 parameters of education excellence. Scores awarded by over 14,000 knowledgeable sample respondents under each parameter are totaled and schools are ranked in 22 discrete categories to facilitate peer institutional comparison. The underlying philosophy of the annual EWISR is that there’s much more to education than academic learning, and that children’s schooling should be a holistic, enjoyable education and personality development experience. That’s why in a radical departure from global practice to rank schools under just one parameter — learning outcomes — the annual EWISR assesses the country’s best schools under 14 parameters including teacher welfare & development, leadership, academic reputation, co-curricular and sports education, individual attention to students, infrastructure among others. The maximum possible score under each parameter is 100 except that the vitally important parameter of teacher competence is accorded double weight. Assessment of schools under multiple performance parameters compels institutional managements to ensure that students receive balanced, well-rounded education to develop their unique intelligences. Evidently this core philosophy driving the annual EWISR now in its 15th year, has resonated with parents and educators’ communities countrywide. In 2007, a mere 250 schools countrywide were sufficiently well-known (institutions rated by less than 25 sample respondents are not ranked) in the survey league tables. In EWISR 2022-23, over 4,000 schools included in national, state and city league tables are ranked. With schools and education leaders raising their public profiles and volunteering to be rated and ranked for the purpose of attracting best teachers and students, and parents across the country aspiring to choose the most suitable schools for their children, EWISR has transformed into the world’s largest and most detailed schools ranking survey. Moreover, with the number of schools in 22 sub-categories grouped under four main categories — day, boarding, international and vintage legacy — having risen exponentially, for the past three years, the annual EWISR is spread over two consecutive issues of EducationWorld. In last month’s bumper 344- page issue, we presented Part I of EWISR 2022-23 rating and ranking day primary-secondary (co-ed day, day-cum-boarding, boys day and girls day) schools and vintage legacy schools under these categories. IN THIS ISSUE, WE PRESENT Part II of EWISR 2022-23 featuring league tables ranking India’s best boarding (co-ed, boys and girls) and international schools affiliated with offshore examination boards (day, day-cum-boarding and residential). In addition, league tables rating and ranking top government (Central and state), Top 20 Special Needs Schools for differently-abled children, Top 15 philanthropic schools and Super 30 affordably priced budget private schools (the complete rankings to be featured in a forthcoming BPS dedicated issue)…
Curious conundrum of declining women’s labour participation
INDIANS TAKE PRIDE IN COMPARING THEIR economy to the fastest and largest in the world. Last month twitter was full of congratulatory messages as India became the world’s fifth largest economy, pushing the UK, its once colonial overlord, to sixth place. Yet, when it comes to women’s participation in the labour force (WLFP), India trails the largest economies by at least a century. In 2021, Indian WLFP rate was 19 percent. A hundred years earlier, in 1920, work participation rate of women in the US was 23 percent and in the UK 34 percent. These countries saw a sharp increase in women’s work participation through most of the 20th century. India, alas, has experienced the opposite trend. According to World Bank data, India’s WLFP rate of 32 percent in 2005 has fallen by more than a third. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) surveys report an even more dismal picture: in 2016, WLFP was 16 percent and it fell to 8.4 percent in 2022. Whereas WLFP reduction is greater among girls aged 15-19, other age groups have also experienced a decline. The former could be because young girls are pursuing high-school or college education instead of working, which is a positive development. The latter implies that women are withdrawing from work places, a puzzling and worrisome trend. The plain truth is that when it comes to women’s participation in paid employment, Indian gender norms are closer to the Middle East than the West or East Asia. Within the Middle East, there are two groups: countries with low but rising WLFP and countries with low and declining WLFP. Alas, India falls within the latter category. Why is Indian women’s labour force participation falling? Many blame the Indian government (or Indian economy) for not creating sufficient number of jobs suitable for women. This is a faulty argument. Countries with high WLFP have not created employment opportunities specially for women. It is tempting to conclude that gender discrimination in India is worsening, but there is no evidence of this. On recent field visits, I found that the reality is more complicated. Several factors, including urbanisation, mechanisation of agriculture, migration, rigid cultural norms mingled with rising economic prosperity have contributed to fall in women’s participation in formal employment. While visiting villages in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, I asked several groups of women why women’s workforce participation has been declining in rural India. In a Dalit village in the Badhoi district of eastern UP, one group highlighted sexual harassment by men of higher castes as the primary cause. “Sexual harassment was common and accepted by our ancestors. Not anymore. We refuse to work for them,” said one woman angrily. Clearly, for this group withdrawal from the workforce helped to end generational exploitation and harassment by higher caste men. Another woman, sporting a smart phone, dismissed my anguish with the following response, “There is a lot of work at home. We don’t get the time to go out to work.” To which women around her retorted,…