“NEET-based selection process favours urban students and those who can afford costly coaching classes and hence is inherently against the poor and underprivileged.” M.K. Stalin, chief minister, Tamil Nadu, on why the state government is opposed to the NEET medical exam (The Hindu, August 14) “NEP speaks about learning in the mother tongue, experiential learning, flexibility in education and making global citizens. Doesn’t the state government want this for its students? This decision is anti-Kannada and anti-Karnataka… Let’s put students first and stop the petty politics.” Dharmendra Pradhan, Union education minister, on the Karnataka Congress government scrapping NEP 2020 implementation in the state (August 23) “For people wanting to make a career in space or aerospace, the United States or Europe was the place to go to. But that is changing. It began with Chandrayaan-1 itself, and has been gaining momentum in the last few years. The moon landing and Aditya mission will accelerate this process. Youngsters in the aerospace industry now see India as a place where they can do all kinds of high-end work and thrive.” Mylswamy Annadurai, project director of Chandrayaan-1 on the successful launch of Chandrayaan 3 (Indian Express, September 2) “Fighting spirit is extremely important in a game or any sport. If at any point I realise that I am on the backfoot, I try to fight back because I think that is the only way to navigate the situation.” R. Praggnanandhaa, chess champion and runner-up at the recently concluded World Chess Cup (Times of India, September 5) “The Delhi Declaration is undoubtedly a diplomatic triumph for India. It’s a good achievement because right until the G20 summit was being convened, the widespread expectation was there would be no agreement…” Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP, on the Delhi Declaration released at the recently concluded G20 Conference in New Delhi (ANI, September 11)
– Shobith Mathur, alum of IIT Bombay, Washington University, Indian School of Business and former technology manager at Amazon (USA). Shobith Mathur is cofounder and Vice Chancellor of Rishihood University, Sonipat The challenge isn’t to celebrate past achievements but to actively work towards a future where the Indian mind is truly free. The times are changing and it’s logical that the education system is reinvented On August 15, 1947, India unfurled its tricolour for the first time as a free nation. Seventy six years on, as we commemorate our nation’s independent journey, it’s essential to contemplate not only our territorial freedom but also the freedom of our minds. The challenge isn’t merely to celebrate past achievements, but to work actively towards a future where the Indian mind is truly free. In the words of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free.” And where better to begin than with our institutions of higher education. The times are changing and it is only logical that the education ecosystem is reinvented so it can empower our youth to take on the world with appropriate skills and valid professional knowledge. The world is moving rapidly towards digitalisation with Artificial Intelligence, Metaverse and Internet of Things (IoT) taking over every sphere. And India with its great talent pool can never remain far behind. Today, Indians are holding top positions around the world in all fields including science, technology, and economics. And it won’t be wrong to say that India with its strong base in inherent knowledge is known to produce the sharpest brains, and the trend should continue by remaining updated with latest innovations. Universities should keep reinventing their curriculums so that Indian education stays ahead of time. Universities have always been the cradles of fresh ideas, innovation, and leadership. They are crucibles where ideologies are shaped, challenged, and reformed. We need universities rooted in an Indian ethos that can unlock the immense potential of education in shaping independent, decolonised minds. This is especially true at a time when globally there is a crisis of identity and a loss of purpose. By infusing our curriculums with an authentic Indian lens to view the world, and at the same time encouraging critical thinking, universities can play a pivotal role in the reinventing process. Imagine the value of juxtaposing global best practices with our time-tested wisdom, thereby ensuring our students are equipped with a panoramic worldview which will enable them to take on challenging roles anywhere in the world, and come out successful. A strong base in elementary learning, which has been the core of the Indian education system, has helped Indian students flourish globally in their chosen fields. Universities have a responsibility to be stewards of technological advancement and cultural preservation, preparing our youth for a future that respects the past. The role of universities is not just confined to academic realms. They have a larger role to shape communities, societal ideas and…
With co-ed schools becoming increasingly popular, the league table of all-boys schools has been steadily shrinking. Nevertheless they continue to enjoy outsized reputations for excellent academic, sports and co-curricular education Even though the EWISR league table of India’s best all-boys day schools is shrinking with the great majority of new schools promoted being co-ed institutions, boys-only schools continue to enjoy outsized reputations for delivering excellent academic, sports and co-curricular education. EWISR 2023-24 rates and ranks the country’s 28 best boys-only day schools inter se (and another 24 in the vintage legacy category created last year, see p.364). This year the 18,928 sample respondents — parents, principals, teachers and senior students — interviewed by the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore), have once again voted St. John’s High School, Chandigarh India’s #1 boys day school with top scores under the parameters of competence of faculty, leadership, infrastructure and mental/emotional well-being. Promoted in 1959 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers on a 30-acre campus in the heart of Chandigarh, this CBSE-affiliated K-12 school has 2,120 students mentored by 102 teachers on its musters. “It’s a significant achievement for our entire school community that St. John’s High is ranked India’s #1 boys day school for the second consecutive year. It reflects our consistent commitment to high-quality education to positively impact students’ lives. It’s also very satisfying to learn that the school is top-ranked for competence of faculty, effective leadership, infrastructure and mental and emotional well-being services because these parameters are critical for well-rounded education. Our faculty is well-trained to innovate and adapt to changing educational trends and technologies and our green campus is equipped with state-of-the-art enabling infrastructure and facilities. These high parameter rankings indicate that St. John’s provides a rigorous academic curriculum and also a supportive and nurturing environment preparing students, not just for scholastic achievement but also for life,” says Br. Ryan Fernandes, appointed principal of St. John’s High earlier this year. Further down the Top 10 league table, there’s minor change in seating order. Campion School, Mumbai has retained its #2 rank of last year while Birla High School, Moira Street, Kolkata, ranked #3 and St. Columba’s School, Delhi at #4 have interchanged their last year’s ranks. DAV Boys Senior Secondary, Gopalapuram, Chennai has retained its #5 rank, Don Bosco School, Park Circus, Kolkata has been promoted to #6 (#7 in 2022-23) as has M.C. Kejriwal Vidyapeeth, Howrah to #7 (#8), NASR Boys, Hyderabad to #8 (#9) and Don Bosco School, Siliguri to #9 (#10). DAV Boys Senior Secondary, Mogappair, Chennai has lost ground this year and is ranked #9 (#6) even as Loyola School, Thiruvananthapuram has received a huge promotion to #10 (#14). Mallika Mukherjee, principal of the CISCE-affiliated M.C. Kejriwal Vidyapeeth, Howrah (MCKV, estb.1997), is delighted with the school’s steady ascent in the EW league table from #12 in 2021-22 to #8 in 2022-23 and #7 this year. “We are honoured to be ranked among India’s Top 10 boys day schools in the prestigious EducationWorld India…
“I am pleased though not surprised that Daly College is ranked India’s #1 legacy day-cum-boarding school for the second year consecutively. This is well-deserved because the school has successfully built upon its rich history and legacy to transform into a contemporary, progressive K-12 institution providing world-class all-round education. I believe our top ranking is the outcome of Daly College’s shift towards wholly student-centric education. In particular our highest score under the important parameters of faculty competence, curriculum and pedagogy (digital readiness), individual attention to students, leadership and mental and emotional well-being services are especially satisfying. Our highly qualified teachers are continuously trained and empowered to deliver the curriculum and lessons innovatively. And their role transcends academics to mentoring and ensuring children’s mental and emotional well-being. This is the consequence of our philosophy of student-centric education” — Dr. Gunmeet Bindra, principal, The Daly College, Indore (estb.1870)
The country’s best all-girls day schools have built formidable reputations for dispensing not merely rigorous academics but also co-curricular, sports and life skills education to prepare girl children for leadership positions in society India’s all-girls schools are valuable national assets. In a still largely conservative and patriarchal society where gender discrimination is rife, girls-only schools perform an important public service by dispensing quality K-12 education to girl children who would otherwise be denied it for religious and cultural reasons. Moreover, the country’s most respected girls day schools have built formidable reputations in their host cities for delivering not merely rigorous academics but also co-curricular, sports and life skills education to prepare girl children for leadership positions in society. Therefore, since 2007 all-girls day schools are ranked separately and distinctly from co-ed and all-boys institutions in the annual EW India School Rankings (EWISR). It’s important to note that the broad category of all-girls day schools — sub-divided last year to create a new category of vintage legacy schools (over 90 years of age) — comprises 89 institutions (cf. 52 boys schools) indicating continuous demand for gender-segregated education for girl children. In EWISR 2023-24, the league table of India’s best all-girls day schools has undergone a major makeover (for vintage legacy girls schools league table, see p.354). The 18,928 sample respondents comprising parents, teachers, educators and senior students interviewed by the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore) have promoted Rajmata Krishna Kumari Girls Public School, Jodhpur (RKKGPS), ranked #2 in 2022-23, to joint #1 with Carmel Convent School, Chandigarh, ranked #4 last year. Sacred Heart Sr. Sec School, Chandigarh, ranked #1 in 2022-23, has slipped to #2. Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata has retained its #3 ranking of last year. Neera Singh, principal of the CBSE-affiliated RKKGPS (estb.1992), is “thrilled” that EWISR survey respondents have awarded the school 1+ rank. “Over the past two years, we have taken deliberate steps to improve on all 14 EWISR parameters, especially those on which we had received low scores. Therefore, it’s very satisfying that the collective efforts of the management, teachers and students have paid off,” says Singh, an alumna of Rajasthan and SNDT, Mumbai universities who has 25 years of teaching experience in schools countrywide, appointed principal of RKKGPS in 2008. Singh derives special pride that RKKGPS is awarded highest score on the parameters of infrastructure provision, parental involvement, community service, special needs education and sports education. “Community service is an important focus area for us. Our girl children manage a sanitary napkins manufacturing unit on campus and also participate in several rural women empowerment programmes. Sports education is a top priority with 17 games offered and all girl children compulsorily required to play one individual and one team game. It’s our focus on empowering girl children not just with academic education but also with skills of communication, teamwork, confidence, resilience, and leadership that distinguishes RKKGPS,” says Singh, who adds that the school recently inaugurated a 400-seat air-conditioned auditorium. Sited on…
Because they offer the advantages of valuable gender interaction, life skills education, the excellent co-curricular and sports infrastructure of boarding schools and student body diversity, day-cum-boarding schools are becoming increasingly popular countrywide. Among primary-secondary education institutions, day-cum-boarding schools offer children several unique advantages. Firstly, without explicitly stating as much, they are invariably liberal co-ed institutions which inculcate mutual respect and modern egalitarian ideals in children of both sexes from young age. Having experienced a prolonged all-boys boarding school experience, your correspondent can vouch for the advantages in terms of valuable gender interaction and life skills that co-ed schools invariably confer upon their students. Secondly, because they have large contingents of boarders, they offer excellent co-curricular and sports infrastructure that boarding schools provide, to day scholars. This is beneficial for day scholars who are unlikely to have access to a wide range of extra-curricular educational activities in ordinary day schools. Third, the daily presence of day scholars adds to students’ body diversity on campus and gives boarders who would otherwise be a homogenous lot of children from upscale families, the opportunity to mix with and interact with day scholars from diverse income groups and cultural backgrounds. Moreover contemporary day-cum-boarding schools offer the option of weekly boarding which reduces separation of parents and children that are a feature of boarding schools. All these advantages perhaps explain the increasing popularity of day-cum-boarding schools that offer children the best of both worlds. That’s also why the EducationWorld league table of (co-ed) day-cum-boarding schools is lengthening year by year. Moreover, it’s important to note that following complaints from relatively newly promoted Day, Boarding and International schools that rating and ranking them with vintage schools, some of which were established more than a century ago, provided an “uneven playing field,” after much deliberation and debate vintage/legacy day-cum-boarding schools — over 90 years — are separately ranked inter se. Against this backdrop, there is only minor change in the seating order at the top table of India’s most admired (non-vintage) Day-cum-boarding schools this year. The new genre superbly furbished The Emerald Heights International School, Indore (EHIS) and Sai International, Bhubaneswar have retained their joint #1 ranking, followed by Greenwood High, Bangalore and DPS, R.K. Puram, Delhi jointly ranked #2. The incommunicado Palli koodam School, Kottayam (Kerala) is promoted to #3 (cf. #4 last year) and DPS, Vasant Kunj, Delhi to #4 (#5) together with Neerja Modi School, Jaipur promoted to #5 (6). “I am delighted that your knowledgeable sample respondents have voted EHIS India’s #1 day-cum-boarding school for the second year running. The secret of our success is our focus on genuinely integrated, holistic education — a near-optimal blend of academic, co-curricular and sports schooling to our children. This together with the individual attention our teachers accord to every child — our teacher-pupil ratio is maintained at 1:20 — and our culture of winning, not merely participating, in academics, debates, quizzing and sports championships, has enabled us to provide a stimulating learning environment to our students,” says…
The league table of co-ed day schools is invariably the lengthiest in the annual EW India School Rankings (EWISR), introduced in 2007. In EWISR 2023-24, over 3,000 co-ed day primary-secondary schools in 433 cities and towns countrywide are ranked nationally, in the states and cities One indicator that K-12 education in India is progressing in the right direction is that the league table of Day Co-ed schools is the lengthiest in the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) introduced in 2007. In EWISR 2023-24 which ranks the country’s most well-reputed schools in three umbrella categories — Day, Boarding, International — and in 14 sub-categories (e.g, Day coed, boys and girls) to provide a level playing field to all schools by eliminating apples and oranges type comparisons, over 3,000 day co-ed primary-secondary schools in 433 cities and towns are ranked nationally, in the states and cities. The co-ed day schools national league table in this issue stretches to 79 printed pages! However in the case of day schools the national ranks are of limited value and city/town rankings are of greater import because of ease of access. At best high national ranking confers bragging rights. For day scholars town and city rankings are of prime importance (see p.50). That said, this year’s sample respondents have voted the Vasant Valley School, Delhi (VVS) promoted by media tycoon Aroon Purie in 1990 as India’s #1 co-ed day school of 2023-24. With top scores under five of the 14 parameters of school excellence devised by your editors, viz, competence of teachers, academic reputation, curriculum & pedagogy (incl. hybrid readiness), leadership, mental and emotional well-being services and value for money, VVS has pipped Step by Step, Noida (#1 in 2022-23) and Heritage Xperiential Learning School, Gurugram which are jointly ranked second this year. Inventure Academy, Bengaluru at #3 (#4), Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Thane #4 (#7), the Valley School, Bengaluru (6) and Vidyashilp Academy Bangalore (6) jointly ranked #5 this year complete top table. Further down the national Top 10 table, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Delhi has made a great leap forward in the esteem of this year’s informed sample respondents and is ranked #6 (13). The invariably high-ranked The Shri Ram School, Delhi has conceded some ground at #6 (5); Nirmal Bhartia, Delhi, Sanskriti, Delhi and Jamnabai Narsee, Mumbai are all ranked #7. Sishya School, Chennai, the Krishnamurti Foundation’s KFI School, Chennai are jointly ranked #8 with the former being given a big promotion from #16 last year. CHIREC and Glendale Academy, Hyderabad are jointly ranked #9 and three schools — Springdales, Delhi (11) Mother’s International, Delhi (5) and Vidyaranya, Hyderabad (11) tied at #10, complete the Top 10 table of 2023-24. Rekha Krishnan the highly qualified (history and education postgrad of Delhi and Northwestern (USA) universities with teaching experience in top-ranked schools including Modern High, Birla School and La Martiniere Boys, Kolkata) and principal of Vasant Valley School, Delhi since 2006, attributes this 34-year-old school’s promotion to India #1 to the high quality of…
The uniqueness of EWISR, introduced in 2007, is that institutional rankings are based on careful evaluation of 14 discrete parameters of school education excellence. Moreover, schools are grouped within their own categories to eliminate apples and oranges type comparisons, writes Dilip Thakore & Summiya Yasmeen. It’s the time of year when the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) are presented to the public. Especially the educator and parents communities. For principals, teachers and educators, the annual EWISR is important and of interest because it enables them to learn the reputation of their school in relation to competitor institutions. For parents the annual EWISR is important because it may influence a change of institution to ensure their children are in schools that best develop their special aptitudes. The uniqueness of EWISR, introduced in 2007, is that institutional rankings are based on careful evaluation of 14 discrete parameters of school education excellence. Moreover, schools are grouped within their own categories to eliminate apples and oranges type comparisons. For instance, co-ed day-cum-boarding schools are ranked with each other and not with day boys or girls schools. By the same logic, all ranked schools are divided under the umbrella categories of day, boarding and international schools. Another special feature of the annual EWISR is that it is a national survey based on field interviews. Ab initio, your editors resisted availing the easy option of constituting a jury of eminent educationists and enclosing them in a room to award scores under our chosen parameters of excellence and total the scores to rank schools. We were aware that with education being accorded low priority by government and the media — EW launched in 1999 with the mission to “build the pressure of public opinion to make education the #1 item on the national agenda”, was the first news and features periodical in this space — there was sparse awareness even among experienced educationists about schools beyond their parishes. Therefore, we chose the more painstaking — and expensive — option of engaging the Delhi-based Centre for Forecasting & Research Pvt. Ltd (C fore, estb.2000), a highly reputed market research and opinion polls company, to conduct field interviews with 12,000-14,000 educationists, principals, teachers and parents countrywide to rate and rank schools in their regions under chosen parameters of primary-secondary education excellence. Since then over the past 16 years, the annual EWISR based on this methodology — which eliminates subjectivity and bias to the maximum extent possible — of rating and ranking over 4,000 of the country’s primary-secondaries in over a dozen separate categories and under 14 parameters of excellence — has evolved into the gold standard of school rankings. Sure, with the success of EWISR which has achieved global renown — schools in several neighbouring countries have pleaded for inclusion — competitive rankings have sprung up. But school managements and parents are advised caution against relying on thinly plagiarised versions of EWISR. Firstly, because they suffer the infirmity of jury-based rankings alluded to above, and also because of…
The Mahabharata quest: the Khandavaprastha conspiracy Christopher C. Doyle Westland Rs.499 391 pages This fast-paced thriller blends mythology, science fiction and historical facts so smoothly that the reader feels this is a factual account with an air of verisimilitude Creating fiction, poetry and drama based on the Mahabharata, Ramayana or the Puranas is a well-established tradition in Sanskrit and the Bhashas. Indian English novelists and poets have turned to reinterpretations of Hindu mythology in a big way only in the 21st century: the 20th century had just a few writers, like K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar, Sri Aurobindo and TP Kailasam who attempted this. Christopher C. Doyle has gone a step further; having studied the Mahabharata for 15 years, he makes good use of incidents in the epic to build up his series of thrillers. Doyle gives the correct chronology of events through a close reading of the Adi Parva, the first book of Vyasa’s Mahabharata. Many years after Indraprastha was built and the new kingdom established, Krishna and Arjuna were approached by Agni, the god of fire, who wanted to recover his lustre by ‘eating’ the Khandava forest and all its creatures. Doyle provides a scientific explanation for why Krishna and Arjuna set fire to the forest, killing all its inhabitants. Only five birds, Takshaka’s son and the Asura Maya escaped the conflagration. The main characters of The Mahabharata Quest series were first introduced in The Mahabharata Secret (2013). Vijay Singh attempts to understand the cryptic emails his uncle Vikram Singh had sent him before he was murdered. Vijay’s childhood friend Radha, her father Dr. Shukla, who is a linguist and Sanskrit scholar, and Imran Kidwai, an officer from the Intelligence Bureau, help him. In The Alexander Secret (2014), the first book of The Mahabharata Quest, the team tries to find the hidden cave which contains the elixir of immortality. Clues lie in a new reading of the Mahabharata combined with a small cube found in the tomb of Alexander’s mother. A mysterious organisation, the Order, is on the same quest, but with nefarious intent. Other countries of the world join India and the US in setting up the Global Task Force (GTF) to fight techno-terrorism. In The Secret of the Druids (2016), links between Druids and the Mahabharata are revealed. The GTF unravels the mystery behind Julius Caesar’s repeated invasions of Britain, while foiling the evil plans of the Order. This book has the GTF investigating a deadly disease. Doctors have not been able to isolate any pathogen which could be causing the variety of symptoms the patients develop. The only common factor is that ‘patient zero’ in each country seems to have had some contact with China. As was the case with Covid-19, the fictional Chinese government refutes all allegations of a Chinese origin for the disease. There is also another mystery: the disappearance of Alex Wilson, author of a biography of the explorer Alexander von Humboldt. An anonymous organisation stops publication of his book by threatening to blow…
Ambedkar: A Life Shashi Tharoor Aleph Book Company Rs.599 Pages 226 This book is about the confrontation between Gandhi and Ambedkar, a profound disagreement on the status of Dalits in free, independent India India’s uniquely successful freedom movement in last few decades of British Raj over the subcontinent was almost entirely due to the generalship and masterful strategic planning of Mahatma Gandhi. He took on the self-serving sanctimony of the British upper classes who had assumed the white man’s burden of civilizing the natives in blissful ignorance of several millennia of Indian history, and hoisted them on their own petard. Nevertheless there were some flaws in the judgement of the greatest man who walked upon earth, in scientist Albert Einstein’s memorable tribute. And some leaders of the Indian freedom movement didn’t share this sentiment. The most prominent among them was Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, leader of the Depressed Classes (Dalit) emancipation movement and principal author of the liberal and egalitarian Constitution of India, which was unanimously enacted into law on January 26, 1950. Dr. Ambedkar is the subject matter of this engrossing biography written by prolific author and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, whose credentials include 21 non-fiction and four works of fiction. Written in seemingly effortless Tharoor style, it is at the same time deeply researched with an impressive bibliography. Ambedkar, A Life traces the journey of the man popularly known as the father of the Constitution of India from his early years as a boy born into Maharashtra’s Mahar community, at the bottom of the Hindu varna caste hierarchy, to his fortuitous education at Columbia University, New York and the London School of Economics, his chairmanship of the Committee to draft the Constitution and emergence as the undisputed leader of India’s Dalit community aka, ‘untouchables’. It is a poignant story of an extraordinary individual who suffered the unalterable indignities of the pernicious Hindu caste system throughout his life, his heroic deeds and inestimable contribution to Indian jurisprudence and transformation of free India into a modern state, notwithstanding. In the end in the last years of his life, as Tharoor recounts, Ambedkar and a large contingent of his Dalit followers, in a historic conversion in Nagpur adopted Buddhism, a casteless egalitarian creed. Essentially this forthright book is about the confrontation between Gandhi and Ambedkar, a profound disagreement on the future of the country and the status of Dalits in free, independent India. Ambedkar was in favour of reserved electoral reservation for Dalits on a par with the communal reservations for Muslims in Islam dominated states/regions, because he believed that upper caste Hindus would never grant ‘untouchables’ equal status as citizens of independent India. In the 1930s when the British government under prime minister Stanley Baldwin proposed separate electorates and seats in the provincial assemblies and Central Legislature for Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Europeans, Ambedkar insisted that the Depressed Classes should also have the right to vote their own representatives into these popularly elected assemblies. This proposition was adamantly opposed…
Evidently the top leadership of the BJP/NDA government at the Centre doesn’t comprise students of history. If it did the BJP would cease and desist from brazen attempts to ram Hindi — the lingua franca of the most economically backward and lawless states of India — down the reluctant throats of hundreds of millions of citizens, especially of the southern states of the country. If they were well read in the history of Asia they would be aware that attempts to impose the majority language on unwilling minorities, usually provokes violent reaction, often culminating in civil war. A major cause of the prolonged civil war (1983-2009) that devastated neighbouring Sri Lanka was imposition of Sinhala as the country’s official national language. The strife bled Sri Lanka dry, and left it in the dire economic straits that the serendipitous island nation is in today. It’s also useful to remember that dismemberment of Pakistan into two countries in 1971 when Bangladesh declared itself independent, was the fallout of imposition of Urdu as the national language in post-independence Pakistan. But why look that far? In 1965 when Hindi was declared the sole national and official language of India, riots erupted in several southern states and there was real possibility of Tamil Nadu seceding from the Indian Union. Unmindful of all this, BJP leaders including the prime minister, deliver lengthy speeches in Hindi to blank-faced audiences in southern states without line-by-line translators and television subtitles. Moreover timorous English language television channels permit long diatribes by Hindi speakers on their talk shows and panel discussions. The other day your correspondent was blown away by a prolonged interview between a Hindi-speaking interlocutor and Harish Salve — who is making quite a mark as a top-rank English fluent King’s Counsel in the UK — conducted entirely in Hindi. This coup, repeated several times on NDTV, has the finger prints of business tycoon Gautam Adani who recently acquired the channel. It’s hardly a secret that Adani is enamoured with the BJP leadership. Creeping Hindi imperialism is being imposed with aplomb. Meanwhile Down South, anger and resentment is ballooning.
Financially, Indian cricket — and cricketers — have never had it so good. In the past quinquennium, BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has earned a revenue of Rs.27,400 crore, transforming into one of the richest sports governance bodies worldwide, rivalling NBA, USA and the English and European Football leagues. Last year, it clocked up a record profit of Rs.4,400 crore, on which after paying for the luxurious expenses of paunchy officials and Test and budding cricketers, it proudly paid income tax aggregating Rs.1,159 crore. But although everyone has benefitted, the huge audiences that attend T-20, ODIs (one-day internationals) and even five-day test matches in India and contribute heavily to BCCI’s bulging coffers, continue to be massively short-changed. Indeed, one wonders why enthusiastic viewers line up for hours to buy tickets to watch live cricket matches when they are treated like dirt by the men — yes it’s always men — who constitute the top management of BCCI. Large notices on the gates of cricket stadiums prohibit ticket purchasers who fork out substantial sums (Rs.4,000-80,000) from taking their own snacks, water, cushions into stadiums. Inside, spectators are at the mercy of authorised vendors who sell these wares at five multiples of street prices. Moreover, public toilets in India’s cricket stadia — as in all public places — are invariably an odiferous mess. Perhaps BCCI bosses don’t care about stadium spectators because the largest audience is in homes worldwide, watching matches on increasingly bigger and better idiot boxes. But BCCI moguls should bear in mind that large crowds watching live matches contribute to the overall experience of television audiences. Empty stands will drive down all-important ad revenue. Therefore, it would be advisable for the plutocrat-bureaucrats of BCCI to cut the world’s largest live cricket audiences a better deal.
That the left hand of the gargantuan 18 million strong neta-babu brotherhood that micro-manages the country through thousands of superfluous laws, rules and regulations, doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, is hardly a national secret. A case in point is schizophrenia about foreign investment in the Indian economy required to increase the number of tax-paying businesses and generate employment. The right hand is begging for incremental FPI (foreign portfolio investment) in the stock market to mobilise capital for domestic companies to expand and grow. Conversely the left hand is hell-bent on subjecting foreign investors to minute scrutiny to which domestic businessmen and investors have become accustomed. Indian bureaucrats seem unaware of the basic principle of company law that corporations are juristic personalities in their own right, and that lifting the corporate veil should be the exception than the rule. According to a front page report in the Economic Times (August 21), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is all set to issue a mandate making it compulsory for FPIs which deploy more than 50 percent of investment in a single corporate group, to reveal their ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs). According to the ET report, this requirement has been prompted by the recent driving down of the prices of equity shares of the Adani Group by the US-based Hindenburg Research. Although because of four decades of socialism native investors in the stock markets have learnt to endure routine lifting of the corporate veil, the premise behind this proposed rule — that all FPIs are crooks out to make a quick buck — is likely to prove offensive. Government and SEBI need to determine whether the economy requires foreign investment. If it does, as it’s plain, it shouldn’t look a gift horse — because clearly investing in India is a high-risk enterprise — so closely in the mouth.
Through their contrasting narratives, two movies compel us to reflect on the condition of K-12 education in India. They force us to confront uncomfortable truths and inspire us to strive for change Dr. Prashant Narang, Senior Fellow (Research & Training Programs) at the Centre for Civil Society, Delhi Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” This quote by W.B. Yeats sets the stage for exploration of two Indian films — Maassab (2018) and Roughbook (2016). These cinematic narratives, while set in the backdrop of classrooms, transcend the confines of K-12 education to reflect larger societal paradoxes. In the heart of rural India, in Khurhand village of Banda district, Bundelkhand, we meet Ashish Kumar, the protagonist of Maassab. A Dalit who has sacrificed the allure of the Indian Administrative Service, Ashish chooses the path less travelled to teach in a government school. His character is a throwback to the patriotic heroes of the 1970s, brimming with idealism. He is the type of teacher who works on Sundays, spends his salary on midday meals, and brings a laptop to the classroom. Yet, his efforts are like a single lamp trying to illuminate a cavernous abyss of systemic corruption and apathy. The government school system, as portrayed in Maassab, is a hollow shell. Funds meant for education are routinely misappropriated, teachers are absent or send proxies, and students are deprived of basic amenities, including midday meals. The system is so broken that it seems beyond repair. It’s a grim picture that leaves viewers with a sense of despair and disillusionment. The transformation of such a system hinges on the arrival of a messianic figure, the exceptional teacher. But reliance on extraordinary individuals is not only unrealistic, but also unsustainable. It’s akin to waiting for a superhero while the city burns. Contrast this with the bustling cityscape of Roughbook, where we encounter Santoshi, a physics teacher in a private school. She is a rebel in her own right, prioritising concept clarity over syllabus completion. Yet, she is caught in the crosshairs of a system that values market demands over education ideals. During her interview, the principal solicits her opinion of the education system and then justifies demand-driven focus on exams and grades. But the question that haunts her — and us — is why parents want what they want. The answer, though not discussed in the movie, ironically, lies in the government’s creation of high stakes board and entrance exams, shaping parental expectations, pressure and perpetuating the cycle of rote learning.The private education system, as depicted in Roughbook, is a well-oiled machine. It functions efficiently, but at the cost of genuine learning. It’s a system that churns out students well-versed in the art of passing exams, but without deep understanding of subjects they study. It’s a system that caters to the demands of the market, but fails to ignite curiosity and creativity in students. However, Roughbook concludes on a hopeful note, with the teacher and students carving…
Haryana-Magic Bus partnership Gurugram, August 9. Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad, implementing agency for Samagra Shiksha (secondary school programme) of the government of Haryana, has partnered with Magic Bus India Foundation to empower government school teachers to deliver life skills education for fostering holistic development of adolescents in Panchkula, Gurugram, and Yamuna Nagar districts. Under its teacher-led program, Magic Bus Foundation will train 1,400 teachers to benefit 80,000 adolescents in 700 government schools. These teachers will impart 21st century life skills including self-awareness, self-management, collaboration, empathy, decision-making, problem-solving, communication, negotiation, assertiveness, and adaptability to adolescents in classes VI-X. “The partnership with Magic Bus is a significant step towards providing life skills education to our adolescents, enabling them to become self-reliant and contributing members of society,” said Sanjay Kumar, consultant, Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad. Internshala-NSDC agreement New Delhi, August 1. Internshala, a Gurugram-based career-tech platform, has signed an agreement with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), under which the latter has authorised Internshala to empower India’s youth with futuristic skills. The partnership will impact 300,000 learners over a period of three years and invest them with practice-based, new-age skilling including data science, electric vehicle, digital marketing, machine learning, programming, web development, UI/UX design, IoT, among others. The partnership will also facilitate paid internships for young learners and will encourage placement-linked skills training at affordable price with the flexibility to learn from anywhere and at any time. On successful completion of training, learners will get prestigious co-branded certification from NSDC and Internshala under the Skill India initiative. “Early exposure to the world of work through internships has empowered students to understand the importance of practical skills early on in their college lives to prepare themselves for enriching careers. Internshala and NSDC share a common vision to encourage career outcomes-based training and skill development in students to help them get the best start to their careers,” said Sarvesh Agrawal, founder-CEO of Internshala, speaking on the occasion. Cambridge-Edureka online courses Chennai, August 22. University of Cambridge Online has signed an agreement with Edureka, a subsidiary of the Chennai-based Veranda Learning Solutions, to bring three higher education online courses, led by Cambridge academics, to India. The three courses uploaded on the Edureka platform are: Human-computer interaction for AI systems design, led by Prof. Per Ola Kristensson, an expert in interactive systems engineering; Leveraging big data for business intelligence, under guidance of Dr. Russell Hunter, professor of computational neuroscience, and senior software engineer at Cambridge; Creativity, problem solving and design thinking, led by Prof. Nathan Crilly, a professor of design, department of engineering at Cambridge. “Upskilling is the real need of the hour. As we offer courses from the University of Cambridge Online in India, it exemplifies how committed we are to offering unparalleled world-class courses that blend academic brilliance with real-world applications,” said Vineet Chaturvedi, CEO of Edureka, speaking on the occasion. Avidii olympiad Mumbai, August 14. Avidii, an on-demand EdTech platform, announced the launch of an Olympiad for marginalised communities in association with…
Reshma Ravishanker (Bangalore) The newly-elected congress government of Karnataka, which won a bitterly fought legislative election against the BJP in May, has discharged its election manifesto promise of scrapping the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 promulgated by the BJP government at the Centre. On August 21, deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar announced that the state government has discontinued implementation of NEP 2020 from this academic year (2023-24), and begun work on framing its own State Education Policy (SEP). However, he said that higher education institutions in the state which had already implemented NEP 2020 in academic years 2021-22 and 2022-23 — the then BJP government of Karnataka was first off the blocks to implement NEP 2020 promulgated after an interval of 34 years — will be permitted to continue with its provisions until current student batches graduate. Within the state’s academia, the dominant sentiment is of dismay that NEP 2020, which was in the works for over four years and finally approved by the Union Cabinet in July 2020 based on the 484-page NEP 2019 draft prepared by a nine-member committee headed by former space scientist Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, has been rejected. NEP 2020 has been widely welcomed by knowledgeable academics for proposing root-and-branch reform of India’s moribund education system from preschool to PhD. In particular for according high importance to early childhood care and education, flexibility in the higher education system through multiple exit and re-entry options and recommending gradual phase out of the system of undergrad colleges affiliating with parent universities. Dr. Chetan Singhai, Bengaluru-based educationist and Chief Consultant, Technical Secretariat, Committee to Draft the NEP 2020, believes that the state government is being “blind-sided” by political animosity towards the BJP. “NEP 2020 is a vision document prepared after prolonged consultation with all stakeholders from national to district levels. All states, except Tamil Nadu and Kerala, participated and presented position papers which have been incorporated into NEP 2020. The impulsive decision of the Congress government to reject NEP 2020 will adversely impact students from Karnataka when they enter higher education and the jobs market. Many universities have restructured their postgraduate programmes in alignment with NEP 2020. Blanket rejection of this democratically and painstakingly devised policy without evaluating its objectives is imprudent,” warns Singhai. This viewpoint is seconded by D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Private Schools of Karnataka (KAMS), which has a membership of over 4,000 schools statewide. “The peremptory rejection of NEP 2020 is autocratic. The policy has incorporated several recommendations made by the Karnataka Knowledge Commission constituted by the previous Congress government. The state government needs to take a mature stand by studying the policy and changing only those proposals they disagree with. It should not reject the policy in toto,” says Shashi Kumar. However, Prof. A.S. Seetharamu, former professor of education, Institute of Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, believes that the newly-elected Congress government is justified in revoking implementation of NEP 2020, and drafting its own SEP. “NEP has numerous flaws and internal…
Autar Nehru (Delhi) On august 23, india began a new progression to ‘decolonise’ its school education system with the release of the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE), more than three years after the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was promulgated on July 29, 2020. The pre-draft and draft NCF-SE presented for public discussion on April 6, 2023 (see EW cover story, August) were quickly formalised into the final NCF-SE 2023 which is a detailed teachers manual to teach, monitor and assess eight major schooling areas/subjects, viz, language education, maths, science, social science, arts education, inter-disciplinary linkages, vocational and physical education for class III-XII children. According to Union education ministry sources, the 13-member Steering Committee chaired by eminent outer space scientist Dr. K. Kasturirangan prepared NCF-SE 2023 after evaluating 1,500 specific and detailed suggestions from over 100 institutions and educators, consultations with boards of school education and higher education institutions. Although this 600-page curriculum framework has been criticised for being too extensive and detailed, it is easy to navigate and contains numerous stage-by-stage curricular goals and illustrative outcomes which makes it easy for teachers to monitor and continuously assess children’s learning attainments. “Since the explicit objective of this NCF-SE is to help improve the practice of education in the reality of our schools, it has attempted to be as relatable as possible to the practitioner — by the use of illustrations, by going into details, and other methods. It is this choice that has made this volume fairly lengthy,” explains the finalised NCF-SE 2023. Although ex-facie a forbidding 600-page curriculum framework, NCF-SE has been widely welcomed by experts as a step-by-step roadmap for teachers to teach the eight core subjects specified by NCF-SE and thereby achieve the broader goal of replacing rote learning with critical thinking, learning by understanding and conceptual clarity. In EW’s comprehensive 11-page cover story (August) your editors welcomed NCF-SE for providing a clear roadmap for teaching eight specified core subjects, although we entertain reservations about implementation of the national curriculum by the country’s largely indifferent and low productivity teachers, especially in government schools. “NCF-FS (NCF for the Foundational Stage) and NCF-SE are comprehensive teachers’ manuals that can enable realisation of the goals set out by NEP 2020. The large number of CGs (curricular goals) and ILOs (illustrative learning outcomes) set out for eight core subjects and classes XI and XII explain the prolixity of NCF-FS and NCF-SE (360 and 684 pages) cf. the single volume NCF 2005 (159 pages),” wrote your editors. Nevertheless, the detailed guidelines provided to school teachers — especially government school teachers who need a lot of hand-holding — is perceived as the infirmity of NCF-SE by some knowledgeable and respected educationists. “Importantly, NCF 2023 is not what a ‘national curriculum framework’ is meant to be — a guiding document, for NCERT and the state nodal institutions to develop their own curricula, syllabi and textbooks. Indeed as NCF 2005 (with 125 pages) had pointed out, the term ‘National Curriculum Framework’ can be…
Nasrin Modak Siddiqi (Mumbai) One of the curious anomalies of India’s higher education system was that until recently, neither Mumbai (nor Delhi) hosted one of the country’s 21 globally famous IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management). The first IIM was established in Calcutta (now Kolkata) way back in 1961 followed by IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Indore and Kozhikode (Kerala). Since then a total of 21 IIMs have been promoted countrywide. However, IIMs A (Ahmedabad), B (Bangalore) and C (Calcutta/Kolkata) rule the roost and are globally recognised for providing global-standard business management education with IIM-Indore and Kozhikode fast closing the gap. With the Central government promoted IIMs conspicuously absent in India’s financial and commercial capital, this space had been captured by the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) and several private B-schools, notably the S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, and the NMIMS B-school ranked #3 and #4 in the EW India Higher Education Rankings 2023-24. However, this oversight has been resolved by an ingenious legislative sleight of hand. The National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) established by the visionary Prof. N.S. Ramaswamy (who also established JBIMS and IIM-B and ceremonially launched EducationWorld in 1999 but died unsung in 2012) as an engineering B-school in 1963, has been transformed into IIM-Mumbai. On July 28, the Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill 2023 was hurriedly passed by a dysfunctional Parliament which amended the Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017 to change the name of NITIE, Mumbai into IIM-Mumbai. “It took a long time coming but we are glad that the efforts of our team have cleared the way. Our efforts and industry will finally get recognition. We have always had programs catering to the emerging needs of Indian industry but despite best quality training, our (NITIE) students used to face challenges with recognition, especially with companies abroad. That will change now. Our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who made this possible including our PM and education minister Dharmendra Pradhan,” says Prof. Manoj Tiwari, former professor of production management at IIT-Kharagpur and founding-director of IIM-Mumbai. Launched in 1963, NITIE’s conversion by legislative fiat has placed IIM-Mumbai on a par with the country’s top-ranked IIMs. It has inherited NITIE’s 63-acre campus in Powai in land-scarce Mumbai in the same suburb as IIT-B, India’s #1 ranked engineering institute. And the new IIM-Mumbai has got off to a good start with #7 B-school ranking in the latest NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) 2023 of the Union education ministry. The consensus of academic opinion is that IIM-Mumbai will do well because the IIM tag apart, it has inherited an engineering tradition from NITIE. This will endow it with a differentiating tradition of engineering and manufacturing management at a time when there’s rising emphasis on increasing the value of manufactures in the country’s production and exports. “Establishment of an IIM-Mumbai has been surprisingly overlooked and was long overdue in Maharashtra, which produces almost 15 percent of India’s industrial output and Mumbai is the commerce and financial capital of…
Delhi Graphic book for well-being New Delhi, August 29. A new graphic illustrations book for adolescents titled Lets Move Forward was launched by Dharmendra Pradhan, Union education minister, to guide adolescents to maintain holistic well-being. The book focuses on interpersonal relationships, gender equality and substance abuse prevention, among other issues. A collaborative effort of NCERT and Unesco, this book is accessible in multiple languages and will be distributed to state education ministries, teacher education colleges, and institutes of advanced study in education, among other educational and health institutions nationwide. Initiated under the Ayushman Bharat campaign of April 2018 launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the School Health & Wellness Programme is being implemented by the Union education and health and family welfare ministries. Assam New open university Guwahati, August 3. The state’s Krishna Kanta Handique State Open University (KKHSOU) has become the country’s only open university to introduce four-year undergraduate courses as mandated by NEP 2020. Moreover, all KKHSOU academic programmes have been restructured according to UGC’s Academic Bank of Credits framework. Currently, KKHSOU offers 44 study programmes at 276 study centres and a regional centre in Jorhat. “The degrees and diplomas of the open university are on a par with other universities offering regular courses, and our government is recognising it for future recruitments,” said Ranoj Pegu, the state’s education minister, addressing the media. The minister also urged students denied admission into college undergraduate courses to register with KKHSOU. Haryana Sapling nurturance scheme Chandigarh, august 3. Kunwar Pal, the state’s education minister, announced that students of government schools, who plant a sapling in class IX and nurture it until class XII, will be awarded additional 15 marks in their class XII school-leaving examination. “A detailed proposal in this connection will soon be notified. Marks will be awarded on the basis of the health of planted trees,” said the minister after a meeting with school education officials. He also directed forest department officers to ensure availability of saplings and education ministry officials to appoint liaison officers in each school to coordinate with forest department officers. Madhya Pradesh Third child penalty Bhind, August 8. The service of a government school teacher of CM Rise School in Bhind district has been terminated for concealing information about his three children while accepting employment in March, in violation of the government’s two-child norm. Addressing the media, school principal Tikam Singh said: “According to the state government’s General Administration Department (GAD) order, a third child should not be born to a government employee after January 26, 2001.” The termination order said a complaint against the teacher was found to be true following an investigation by the district education officer. Uttarakhand Hindi medical education Dehradun, August 11. The state government is all set to introduce professional medical education in Hindi in state medical colleges from September 1. “In a gift to students with Hindi as their medium of instruction, Uttarakhand will be the second state in the country after Madhya Pradesh to introduce such an initiative.…
Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) The DMK government of Tamil Nadu is determined to shift education from the concurrent list of the Constitution — which means that both the Central and state governments can enact legislation on education — to the state list. During his Independence Day address in Chennai, chief minister M.K. Stalin said: “Moving education to the state list from the concurrent list of the Constitution is the way forward to scrap the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)” — the national test which determines admission into all medical colleges (703) countrywide, including public and private medical colleges in Tamil Nadu (pop.68 million). Chief minister Stalin’s remarks came on the back of heart-rending tragedies of a teen and his father, who took their own lives in August, which have shaken the state. The teenager, S. Jagadeeshwaran took his own life on August 12, after he failed to clear NEET. The student’s father, P. Selvasekar committed suicide a day later, unable to bear the loss of his son. Following consistent reports that liberal marking of class XII school-leaving exam papers by the country’s 31 state exam boards were giving their students an advantage over students writing national CBSE, CISCE school-leaving exams and getting relatively easy admission into medical colleges and Central universities, over the past few years, the BJP government has been decreeing common national entrance exams on the highly successful IIT and IIM models. The objective is to provide a “level playing field” for all school leavers. Thus in 2016, the Central government mandated NEET — a common entrance exam — whose toppers in descending order get to choose medical colleges of their choice nationwide. Similarly in May this year, the Union education ministry introduced CUET (Common University Entrance Test) for determining admission into 47 Central government universities. Centralisation of admission into India’s much-too-few institutions of near-global standards (IITs, IIMs, Central universities) has been a sore point with several state governments objecting to national common entrance tests on the ground that test papers are set to standards/syllabi prescribed by the national CBSE and CISCE exam boards which placed students graduating from state boards at a disadvantage, especially when writing NEET. Tamil Nadu’s call to bring education under the state list is not new. On earlier occasions too, the state has demanded transfer of education to exclusively state subjects listed in Seventh Schedule under Article 246 of the Constitution as in the original Constitution document. Only during the height of Emergency declared by prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, when most opposition party members were in jail and Parliament was in disarray, was education transferred to concurrent list. This controversy has elicited mixed response from academics in Tamil Nadu. ATB Bose, general secretary of the Association of Managements of Private Schools of Tamil Nadu, believes education should remain in the concurrent list in the interests of national integration and prevalence of acceptable standards of primary-secondary education countrywide. “As stipulated in NCF-SE 2023 in core subjects — languages, mathematics, science, vocational education…
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) The mysterious death on August 10 of Swapnadip Kundu, a first-year Bengali literature student of Kolkata’s high-ranked Jadavpur University (JU, estb.1905), because of alleged ragging by a group of senior students has once again brought the issue of harassment and ragging into the national spotlight. Thus far, 13 students, including three former students, have been arrested for abetment of suicide. Swapnadip’s death has sent shockwaves across the state because JU is West Bengal’s show-piece university ranked #4 nationally in EducationWorld’s government multidisciplinary universities rankings 2023-24, and #4 by the Union education ministry’s NIRF University Rankings as well. With ragging continuing in Bengal’s top-ranked varsity, it is a clear indicator that the recommendations of the anti-ragging committee constituted in 2009 under the chairmanship of former Central Bureau of Investigation director R.K. Raghavan which inter alia recommended separate hostel accommodation for first-year students and installation of CCTVs, are not being followed in West Bengal’s 26 universities. According to academics in Kolkata, one of the major reasons for persistence of ragging in JU is weak administration. After the nine year tenure of last full-time vice chancellor Suranjan Das ended on May 31, the VC’s office has been vacant because of an ongoing dispute between the state government and the Central government-appointed governor of West Bengal C.V. Ananda Bose, ex officio chancellor of all universities statewide. As reported in June by this correspondent, although this is a ceremonial office, Governor Ananda Bose suo motu appointed interim vice chancellors in 11 state universities (including JU) whose appointments were revoked by the state’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) government. Therefore on August 10 when Swapnadip died, JU didn’t have a VC and the offices of three deans were also vacant. Moreover, student union elections traditionally held annually, have not been held regularly over the past decade after the TMC government’s clampdown on them following incidents of violence. The last student union election at JU was held in 2020. So there wasn’t a students’ governing council at JU when this young scholar met his end, either. Moreover, with the UGC discontinuing its grant of Rs.4 crore per year and the state government also having slashed its budget for JU with dues pending since 2019, JU is experiencing a serious funds crunch. Evidently despite being the show-piece university of Bengal, JU has been floundering in a sea of troubles. Therefore, within the students’ community there is apprehension that the state government is all set to raise tuition fees, which have remained static for 22 years. Tuition fees are a hot potato subject in public higher education countrywide — especially in West Bengal, which was ruled by the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) for 34 uninterrupted years (1977-2011). Currently, monthly tuition fees are Rs.75 for arts stream students, Rs.150 for science, and Rs.200 for engineering. Moreover, the hostel fee has remained frozen at Rs.25 per month since 1970. With teachers and student unions, continuing to be affiliated with the CPM, prospects of their agreeing to fee hikes to…
Valuable feedback Your special coverage of the pre-draft NCF-SE (EW August) is exhaustive and incisive for its value, pertinence and transformatory character in the context of recasting school education. I consider your critical assessment as one of the key check-points so far as the value of our efforts is concerned. I am convinced that it is extremely important to respect the views of EducationWorld, since they are a result of a sustained build up of wisdom about Indian education acquired over 23 years. In your cover story you have provided comprehensive and focused feedback that will further help us refine NCF-SE 2023. I believe this is extremely important as you have discharged an important duty in helping us to refine and enrich NCF-SE. Thank you very much. Dr. K. Kasturirangan Chairman, NCF Steering Committee, Bengaluru India’s best PM I loved reading your review of S. Narendra’s India’s Tipping Point (EW July). I fully agree that in the past 76 years since India attained independence from British rule, P.V. Narasimha Rao was undoubtedly the greatest of India’s 14 prime ministers. Being an economics teacher, I often teach my children about India’s economic crisis of 1991, and how Dr. Manmohan Singh as finance minister and P.V. Narasimha Rao as prime minister, saved the economy from collapsing with timely introduction of the New Economic Policy. Liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation were at the core of the new economic policies of this silent PM, who truly rescued the Indian economy from bankruptcy. Trilok Singh Bist, Principal Brahm Dutt Blue Bells Public School, Sector-10, Gurugram Distressing misinformation I refer to the postscript article in the May issue of EducationWorld (https://www.educationworld.in/musical-chairs/). In this article you have mentioned me without verifying information or checking the facts. There are certain truths I wish to place before you because I think it is important for you to know that I have NEVER ever been disrespected by anyone from the management of Adani International School, Ahmedabad (AISA) as reported by you. Mrs. Priti Adani is a very humble and respectful lady and she has always spoken to me with utmost respect and regard. The reason I accepted the project of setting up AISA was because it was a greenfield project that was challenging and completely different from my previous projects. Earlier, I had been fortunate to work in legacy schools and the greenfield AISA project offered me an opportunity to explore a new skill-set and chart a different course. This was a well-planned break from the Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet at that time. I consider myself fortunate to be able to come back to HPS soon after the extraordinarily successful establishment of the AISA at an inconceivable level and in incredibly quick time. At the core of all that educators do is passion for education which is way beyond the commercials involved. Therefore, it was disheartening to read that you measure the progress of educators on the unidimensional yardstick of remuneration. The use of words like “poach”, for managements, with its…
Great injustice is being meted out to a large number of citizens by several state governments countrywide by demolition of homes and shops — especially of the Muslim minority community — by bulldozers called in at short notice. The flimsy excuse proffered for the heart-rending razing of painfully accumulated property of bottom-of-pyramid citizens is that they have been unauthorizedly constructed on government and/or corporate land. On August 7, the Punjab & Haryana high court restrained the Haryana government from damaging or destroying the property of any citizens in Nuh village which recently witnessed communal clashes, without a high court order. This court judgement was issued after communal clashes erupted on July 31 in Nuh. Immediately thereafter, 250 shops and shanty homes in Muslim majority areas of Nuh were demolished by bulldozers deployed by Haryana’s BJP government because they had allegedly been constructed on railway land. Similarly on earlier occasions, Uttar Pradesh’s BJP government had bulldozed homes and shops of minority citizens in Prayagraj because they allegedly fomented rioting and attacks on Hindu religious processions. Court orders staying these demolitions are invariably too weak and too late. Inexplicably, the legal doctrine of ‘estoppel’, commonly applied in the UK and perhaps all Common Law governed countries of the Commonwealth, is not invoked to stay the demolition of residential and business properties of slum dwellers, the prime targets of bulldozer justice. Simply stated, the doctrine posits that when government or private property is encroached upon, it is the legal duty of the owner thereof to protest and obtain early stage stay orders against further construction. If property owners fail to protest adverse possession of their land and property within reasonable time, their title is forfeit or retainable on below-market value sums which the court may decree. Curiously, this well-established common-sense principle of law seems alien to bench and bar in India. The judiciary and legal profession need to bring themselves up to speed to apply this well-established principle of the law of equity. Moreover, the courts also need to take judicial notice of the common practice of the neta-babu brotherhood issuing fake title papers to ill-educated rural migrants, encouraging them to build homes and business premises on public land in exchange for substantial bribes from meagre savings. Thus bottom-of-pyramid citizens are hit by a double whammy when their homes and shops are bulldozed by unmindful and/or communally prejudiced governments many years — often decades — later. This situation is untenable. The victims of bulldozer injustice are entitled to compensation for destroyed and/or damaged property. Simultaneously, bar and bench in this benighted republic need to wake from their inertia and innovate citizen-friendly legal and procedural laws to protect the property and lives of citizens at the bottom of the country’s iniquitous pyramid.
The conclusion of the 19th meeting of top-level commanders of the Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to discuss confidence building measures after the bloody River Galwan clash of May 2020, concluded in Chushul on August 14 without any apparent progress. On September 9-10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet with premier Li Qiang at the G20 Summit in Delhi. This is a good opportunity to initiate de novo negotiations on resolving the Sino-India border dispute that has bedevilled the relationship between the world’s two most populous and high-potential nations since the early 1950s. It’s also pertinent to note that even as troops of the two nations are squaring off along the 3,488 km undetermined border Sino-India merchandise trade is at an all-time high with India’s trade deficit with China exceeding $100 billion (Rs.84,000 crore). The origins of the Sino-India border dispute can be traced to the early 20th century during the heyday of the British Raj over India. At that time to prevent Russian expansion beyond Afghanistan, the British arbitrarily drew border lines well north of the Aksai Chin plateau which was a territory governed by Imperial China for centuries. Likewise to establish Tibet also governed by Imperial China for centuries, as an independent buffer state between China and India, in 1914 they extended the boundary of British India (Assam) to the north of the river and town of Tawang by concluding a treaty with the Tibet administration, to impose the McMahon line. The proclivity of the British to decree arbitrary border lines all over the world including Africa and the Middle East and indeed between India and Pakistan in 1947, is well-known recorded history. Therefore, it’s inexplicable that the Congress government of newly independent India — and Prime Minister Nehru in particular — insisted on adhering to Sino-India border lines inherited from the British Raj. Especially since Nehruvian socialist India was vehemently anti-imperialist. Nehru’s ‘talk but don’t negotiate’ policy led to the Sino-India border war of 1962 in which the poorly-equipped Indian Army suffered a humiliating defeat. But even as the PLA was poised to sweep across Assam, it declared a unilateral cease-fire and retreated north of Tawang to leave a door open for peaceful negotiations. But fearful of public opinion, successive governments at the Centre have continued with Nehru’s ‘talk but don’t negotiate’ border policy. Although the BJP has always advocated a muscular approach to the boundary question, it would be an act of great statesmanship for prime minister Modi to re-start bona fide negotiations — which means give a little, take a little — towards resolving the highly volatile Sino-Indian border dispute. Our two nations lived in peace and harmony for several millennia until the machinations of the British Raj. That status quo ante needs to be restored between the world’s most populous and high-potential neighbour nations. Also read: Settle Sino-India border through compromise
It’s here! The biggest EW issue of the year. From the blank-eyed stares one gets, there is little awareness or appreciation that since 2007 when the annual Education India School Rankings (EWISR) survey was introduced, it has evolved into the largest, deepest and most comprehensive primary-secondary schools rating and rankings survey worldwide. Unlike most surveys ranking education institutions which are conducted by a jury of eminent educationists over tea and biscuits in a closed room, EWISR is an expansive field-based survey. Given that the total number of schools in India aggregates 1.4 million, selected jurors have little knowledge of the schools beyond their parishes. Your editors have chosen the hard, and more expensive, option of conducting field surveys in which 15,000-18,000 knowledgeable sample respondents — a mix of educationists, principals, teachers, parents and senior students— are persuaded to rate schools in their region (east, west, north and south) on 14 parameters of school education on a scale of 1-100. The scores awarded by sample respondents under each parameter are totalled and schools ranked in their own categories (co-ed day, day-cum-boarding, all boys and all girls etc) to provide an even playing field for comparison. Thus an estimated 4,000 of India’s most admired schools are ranked nationally, in the states and over 400 cities and towns nationwide. It’s a laborious, time-consuming process requiring alignment of scores under 14 parameters to provide readers detailed parameter, city, states and countrywide scores and ranks requiring our partner — the Centre for Forecasting & Research (C fore, estb.2000), the reputed Delhi-based market research and opinion polls company — to deploy field personnel to interview 18,928 sample respondents countrywide. Subsequently our entire editorial team in Bangalore led by Managing Editor Summiya Yasmeen checks, reconciles data and aligns national, state and city/town rankings. Nevertheless, there’s no shortage of cribbers and nitpickers ready to find fault with the annual EWISR. They forget that prior to the launch of EW, schools, principals — and education itself — received minimal media coverage, at best confined to tiny snippets in newspapers. Some schools have written to us expressing the wish to ‘withdraw’ from the survey. This request has been denied because we believe it is our fundamental right to rate and rank education institutions open to the public, in a fair and transparent manner. Be that as it may, EWISR 2023-24 has provoked tremendous enthusiasm as reported in the pages following. Moreover, we look forward to welcoming principals and representatives of all Top 20 ranked schools to our EWISR 2023-24 Awards conclave in Delhi’s Aero City on October 13-14, for which the response from India and abroad has been overwhelming. Please note advance registration (www. educationworld.in) for attendance is necessary. Meanwhile we invite all educators and public-spirited citizens to make common cause with us in our mission to make education the #1 item on the national development agenda.
Internationalising higher education – an external perspective
Philip G. Altbach, research professor and distinguished fellow, Center for International Higher Education, Boston College Indian higher education has suddenly become “hot” with delegations of global university leaders and politicians flocking to the country, the latest from Australia. Governments and universities from around the world are signing memoranda of understanding with Indian counterparts and making ambitious plans for research collaboration, joint degrees and other initiatives. Recent regulations for setting up international branch campuses in Gujarat and the interest expressed by some foreign universities in doing this, is the latest trend. But while there is enthusiasm, little is known about the realities of Indian higher education. It is worth looking at some of the challenges that will confront international partners in India. Populism and politics. Indian higher education exists in a highly toxic political and societal environment — as is the case in many countries — and this has fundamental implications for how academic institutions from other countries should weigh possible collaboration and involvement. A few examples illustrate the point. The ruling BJP government’s hindutva ideology and especially its anti-Muslim rhetoric and activism is a hindrance to global collaboration. Indeed, reports of threats to academic freedom are common. These reports include government interference that led to the resignation of eminent professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta, from the private Ashoka University. Complexity and bureaucracy. India has one of the most complicated higher education systems in the world. Most undergraduate students study in private colleges of diverse quality. Of the 1,057 universities that mostly offer postgrad programs, around 450 are private. Most higher education institutions are under the jurisdiction of India’s 28 state governments. The best quality public universities and research institutes — 7 percent of the total — are Central government institutions. There is also a small recently-established high prestige private universities sector. For quality assurance, there is a complex arrangement through the National Assessment and Accreditation Council and National Board of Accreditation. But only a small minority of institutions have volunteered for accreditation. India is known for its complex bureaucracy — inherited from British colonialism and ingrained in independent India. Rules and regulations, often inconsistently and slowly applied, cover many aspects of higher education. The Constitution of India allows both the Central and state governments to enact laws relating to the higher education sector, often leading to confrontation. Underfunding. Central and state government institutions have been dramatically underfunded for decades. Much of the significant expansion of recent years has been in undergrad colleges that don’t receive direct government funding. The private university sector has been witnessing significant growth in recent years. But most of them are only “big colleges” in terms of student enrolment and physical infrastructure. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 promises a major infusion of funds for higher education and research, but significant allocations haven’t yet been distributed. Good but not great. While India wants to partner with world-class universities in other countries, it cannot claim to have any world-class universities of its own — at least as measured…