Just me

Love, all consuming...

2010-05-13T20:49:00.002+05:30

Mom is here visiting me. I love it when she is around. There is a sense of well-being and no matter how busy I am at work, I am happy.

The other day I caught her in a pensive mood. She looked sad, her thoughts miles away. I probed, prodded and out came the truth.

She missed dad. More than that, she was worried about him. Dad had not been keeping too well lately, his back playing up.

She’s been away from home (Cuttack) for only a month. And she was craving to go back.

I wonder if I will ever feel like that – can I love so deeply that a month away will make me sad?

I mean, of course I love my guy. Can’t imagine life without all the moments enriched by the love and friendship we share.

But I am me. I also enjoy time alone. I like losing myself to books, and the stories they tell, the magic they weave.

I enjoy my independence and my work. I need my moments.

Perhaps that is the new woman. Or a breed of new women who can never completely lose themselves to a man, or a relationship, or anything.

We care about family but still need to be us to be able to do everything else.

Knowing and not knowing what to do with life…

2010-05-12T18:09:00.000+05:30

Often adults don’t know how to behave around kids – other people’s kids. They make mundane conversation when they meet children and among the first things they ask is – What do you want to be when you grow up?

I don’t know if this is common in all cultures or is it just us Indians who are so fiercely competitive. But the point is that even a child is supposed to know what he or she has to do is life.

So when I say today that I don’t know if I want to dabble in journalism anymore, people are surprised.

I say dabble because that’s what I have always done. I have always been at the periphery of news gathering and writing, never emotional, although involved with my work. The hysteria of breaking news, the agony of missing out on routine, the ecstasy of a special front-page story –life still does not revolve around them, although I have lived that life for six years.

Perhaps I always knew that this was not where I wanted to go. Knew that this was one of the chapters, a rich, cauldron of experience that would just add colour to my journey.

“But you always knew what you wanted to do,” said one friend. “If you don’t want to be a journalist, what do you want to do?” asked another.

“All you know is to write. If you stop writing what else will you do?” asked another very dear friend.

Then there were well-wishers. Seniors who said I must think carefully before taking any decision. Hundreds of journalists would kill to be where I am – in the Political Bureau of India’s second largest English newspaper, in Delhi.

I smile. I am already there and so the point is not relevant.

I am also young, confident and willing to walk down the “Road less traveled.”

Perhaps in a few years time, when I am 30 and burdened with “EMI and the need for a stable job” as a senior colleague said, I will not be able to take such a step.

But six years in journalism have failed to dull the ambers of idealism, and I still carve to make a difference where it matters.

Imagine, how boring life would be if you were satisfied; If you got what you wanted and were reluctant to walk down that road which beckoned.

The worst that will happen is failure. But that is a distant thought, million light years away.

I feel enthused with the energy that only change can bring, an excitement that accompanies a new journey, and hope that life will only get better.

Govt aims to end rote learning in schools

2010-02-02T19:49:00.002+05:30

As an engineering student who wanted to learn and innovate rather than pass exams for the sake of a degree, Aamir Khan’s character in the blockbuster Bollywood hit ‘3 Idiots’ seems to have inspired educationists and government officials.

Model Rules under the Right to Education (RTE) Act attempt to replace rote learning in schools with a system of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE).

Under the Model Rules, states have been asked to form guidelines for putting into practice CCE.

Once the Act is notified, students who complete elementary education or Class VIII will be given a certificate. The certificate will include a Pupil Cumulative Record specifying achievements of the child beyond academics, such as music, dance, literature and oratory.

The Act is expected to be notified by April 2010.

The Right to Education up to 14 years of age is a fundamental right and a constitutional provision. So state governments will have to change their respective education acts to implement the RTE and its Model Rules.

States have been given the liberty to formulate their CCE schemes. But most states are likely to use a model of CCE similar to that implemented by the Central Board of Secondary Education across its 10,000 schools.

Under CCE, CBSE looks at how a child performs in scholastic areas such as art, physical and health education. Schools, which have areas like computer science and general knowledge, assess students on these areas.

Students are also evaluated on life skills such as thinking ability and emotional skills, attitude towards teachers and schoolmates and understanding of values.

The changes have huge significance for an education system completely oriented around textbooks and exams, leading to intense competition and stress in students.

But the task of implementing a system of comprehensive evaluation faces the biggest challenge in shortage of trained teachers.

There are more than 7 lakh-untrained teachers in elementary schools across India. Moreover, the country will require an additional 5.10 lakh teachers once RTE Act is notified to maintain a mandated pupil teacher ratio of 30:1.

Government report says schools fail on infrastructure, quality

2010-01-25T17:28:00.002+05:30

DISE 2008-09 Report points at glaring deficiencies including lack of electricity, toilets for girls, and ramps for the disabled and overcrowded classrooms

Almost a decade after the flagship education programme Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched in 2001 the state of school infrastructure in the country leaves a lot to be desired.

A report on elementary education in India released by the Human Resource Development Ministry on Friday shows that primary and upper primary schools lack basic facilities like toilets, drinking water, electricity and adequate teachers and classrooms.

Sample this. Of the 12,85,576 schools covered by the DISE report for 2008-09, a little over 60% schools do not have electricity connection; 46.4% schools do not have toilets for girls and almost 50% don’t have a boundary wall to ensure safety of students.

A little over 80% of the schools covered were government schools.

The report also reveals that 1.2 lakh elementary schools run with a single teacher. Shortage of teachers also means overcrowded classrooms. At least 1.66 lakh schools covered reported a pupil teacher ratio of greater than 60.

The abysmal state of school infrastructure has already led to an increase in the number of out-of-school children in the country. An independent survey commissioned by the government found that 80 lakh (eight million) children, including 1.3 lakh children just in Delhi, were out-of-school.

The Indian Market Research Bureau conducted the survey in 2009. The bureau conducted a similar study in 2005 for the government and found that 1.3 crore children were not going to school.

Government officials take a different view.

“The percentage of schools in India having toilets for girls has gone up from 42.58 percent in 2006-07 to 53.60. That is a huge increase,” said a HRD official. However, the enrolment of girls in the same period has not shown a significant rise. In 2006-07, 48.09 percent girls were enrolled in primary classes and this increased to only 48.38 in 2008-09.

The schools have also failed to perform on parameters of inclusive education. Notably, the recently passed Right to Education Act, which makes education compulsory for all children between 6 to 14 years, will be amended to include all kinds of disability under its ambit. In contrast, the report shows that only 40 percent schools have ramps to enable access to the physically challenged.

While the Right to Education Act demands that the number of students per teacher not exceed 30, at least 51,000 primary schools and 48,000 upper primary schools have reported a teacher pupil ratio of greater than or equal to 100.

Official estimates say India has over 1 million government schools, which mostly cater to children of the disadvantaged: They are short of 500,000 teachers.

If the government aims to universalize elementary education and arrest the 47 per cent drop out rate in schools, it will have to invest more in both infrastructure and teachers – the two pillars of quality education.

BOX:

State of elementary education (2008-09)

Total schools surveyed - 12,85,576 (80.52% were government schools)

Over 60% schools do not have electricity connection
46.4% schools do not have toilets for girls
48.98 % don’t have a boundary wall
60.31% schools don’t have ramps for disabled
Only 14.12 % schools having access to computers

1.2 lakh schools have only a single teacher
1.6 lakh schools have pupil teacher ratio >=60
More than 51,000 primary schools and 48,000 upper primary schools have pupil teacher ratio >=100

AICTE stripped of power

2009-08-01T20:25:00.003+05:30

The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) will no longer have the power to clear proposals by institutes to increase their intake.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has made it clear that engineering institutes will no longer have to wait for clearance from the AICTE before increasing their intake. However, they will have to submit a proposal.

A review committee will visit the institute and clear the proposal. If the institute meets all norms, the added seats will be valid. Else action will be taken against the institute.

This will certainly help good engineering colleges expand rather than waiting endlessly for AICTE approval. Earlier, many colleges had complained that AICTE officials -- both in Delhi and regional offices -- had demanded bribe to allow an increase in seats.

Till next time.

Doctor? Lawyer? Look at IIT

2009-07-31T15:15:00.002+05:30

Well, well. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are finally moving beyond engineering and technology.

Check it out @ http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=d1680b14-6bcd-43d2-8550-5a56ba779b39

Now the question, are you guys happy? Do you think the IITs will be able to achieve in Humanities and Law and medicine, what they did with engineering?

Till next time

One board for the country??

2009-07-30T20:41:00.005+05:30

Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal says he does not want a uniform school board. Rather he wants uniform quality across boards.

India has 41 education boards across the country. And many of them are unhappy with Sibal's suggestion that their quality is not good enough.

Sibal is assuming that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is the highest benchmark, and wants states to reach that benchmark. But many states including Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar think their Math and Science curriculum is far superior to that of the CBSE.

What the states should do is bring together the best practices of all the state boards and frame a broad framework, that can be followed by all the boards.

This will ensure that the quality of education improves and the diversity of states is also maintained.

Till next time.

Time to change the face of education in India

2009-07-26T17:32:00.000+05:30

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal gave an impassioned speech recently, while addressing a gathering of principal secretaries/secretaries of state education departments in the Capital.

Sibal asked all states to submit a vision document for 2020 – on the kind of education states would like to impart – both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Sibal said that if India were to compete with the world then Gross Enrollment Ration should touch 30 by 2020. In order to achieve this near impossible feat, states have to pitch in.

He added that the center could provide a benchmark and would be open to provide all the help it could. But the real work had to be done by the states.

True.

If Sibal is serious about his intent and commitment to revolutionizing the education system in India, then this is a golden opportunity the states must not miss.

India is a federal country and so, we have state lists and concurrent lists so that power is shared by the center and state. Education – so vital to India’s growth – is one such subject.

It is up to the states to ensure that their schools provide quality education; to ensure that higher educational institutions are not just money minting mechanisms but genuine players.

States have to create opportunities for their children and at the same time, bring some standardization into these opportunities. This will ensure mobility within states.

Sibal is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s envoy. He is implementing the PM’s vision and therefore, has the full backing of the establishment. What the states must do is grab this opportunity and change the face of education and knowledge in India.

Till next time.

Nursery blues: Point System leaves parents in a lurch

2009-01-26T19:29:00.003+05:30

“Our fault is that we are happily married (and not single), have a first born boy (not a girl and not a sibling) and both parents and child are healthy (not disabled).”

This is what a disgruntled parent wrote on the online forum www.nurseryadmissions.com. She was amongst the many such parents who have failed to secure a nursery seat for their child for the coming academic session, despite having applied in many schools.

The point system formulated by the Ganguly Committee has ensured that many parents are left high and dry, by not being able to score points on the specified parameters. Here is how the parameters have ensured sleepless nights for parents.

Alumni: Many parents are not alumni of the best schools in Delhi because they were born and brought up in other states. They have settled in Delhi after securing jobs. The Ganguly Committee seems to have forgotten the cosmopolitan nature of Delhi while formulating the rules.

Sibling: Older schools like Springdales, St Columba’s, Mother’s International, etc have given hefty points for sibling and alumni, thus making it impossible for many parents to score.

Girl child: Although schools give 5-10 points only for girls, parents of boys who are first born are furious that they have to lose out for no fault of their own.

Neighbourhood: An oft-repeated complaint is from parents who apply to neighbourhood schools. Despite staying within 5 km from the respective schools, many have not got admission.

Which means that schools are not following the point system strictly. There have also been allegations against many reputed schools by parents. For instance, a parent told me that Modern School, Vasant Vihar asked the couple if they owned a house or were living in a rented accommodation. When would they be buying a house? And other questions to find out the economic status of parents.

Other schools have openly asked in what way parents can contribute to the school’s development.

Clearly, there is no one to regulate if schools are implementing the point system fairly. There is no authority to check backdoor entry or to ensure that parents get a fair deal. It is time parents collectively raise their voice against this system. The point system clearly does not work. So schools, parents and the government should begin work on an alternative.

Like one couple said, “Between both of us, we pay Rs 97,000 as tax every moth. Why the hell are we paying so much tax if we cannot find a decent school for our son?”

Till next time.

To teach or not to teach

2009-01-20T22:32:00.004+05:30

Well that is the question that many IITians ask when they are on the verge of completing their PhDs. Though many would like to opt for a career in academia, the lack of options often makes them look the other way.

Early this week I spoke to a couple of students from across the IITs. Many wanted to be teachers but they were worried about the lack of options. The seven old IITs are where most of the students would like to work. But the IITs follow a rigorous selection procedure for their faculty and how many of them are able to get through is anybody's guess. Now 6 more IITs have opened up, where the infrastructure is still not fully developed. Since they are not fully functional most students would not like to give it the same branding as the older IITs. Students are apprehensive whether they would be able to pursue quality research along with teaching in any other institution other than the IITs.

That the IITs face a faculty crunch is a known fact. That they have brought some serious additional benefits as incentives for people joining as faculty is indeed a welcome move. But again, if the norms of selection of faculty are not relaxed then these measures would just not be sufficient. That the pay commission has hiked the salary of lecturers putting it at par with the bureaucrats is still not a bonus. The need of the hour is to engage students in fruitful engagements as well as to create awareness about the entire system. We need to motivate young minds to enter this noble profession rather than lament the loss of talent to corporate houses.

Wanted: Leaders willing to innovate and engage

2009-01-16T13:25:00.000+05:30

Everyone is increasingly talking about the quality of education in India. The fact that government schools across the country have failed to perform is well known. Moreover, the malaise has spread to higher education too, with many colleges and universities in India scoring an average or less in terms of teaching and infrastructure.

The ASER survey has pointed out how little children going to government and private schools across the country learn. The NCERT survey says the same thing. Data collected by the government also points towards rampant absenteeism by teachers and huge drop out rates.

Accountability:

The biggest problem for Indian government employees, including teachers has been the lack of accountability. Government school teachers are secure in their jobs. They cater to mostly poor families, where illiterate and unaware parents do not question the schools’ performance or the child’s failure to learn.

Moreover, teachers are protected by teacher unions, who oppose to any kind of change in the system --- be it a change of syllabus, compulsory attendance for teachers, pay on account of performance or innovative teaching and learning methods.

The lobby for maintaining status quo is so strong that the handful of teachers who want innovation and change often end up doing things individually or at a smaller level. The first thing the government needs to do is engage teachers’ unions and talk to them. Just as America’s new education secretary-designate Arne Duncan has done with the Chicago Public Schools.

As CEO of the third largest school district in the US (with 400,000 students), Duncan has forged alliances with the local teachers’ union. He took them on board for many of his controversial reforms that the union was wary of, including school choice, pay for performance and a willingness to close down failing schools.

Innovative leadership:

Under Duncan’s leadership, Chaicago’s schools for the past seven years have seen an increase in some state test scores, the graduation rate has risen 6 per cent and 53 new schools have opened (as reported by Time magazine, Dec 16,2008). Duncan has spearheaded merit-pay incentives for both teachers and students and suggested opening the country’s first gay-friendly high school. In each of these endeavors, he has tried to get the backing of Chicago’s often recalcitrant teachers’ union. This effort has earned him praise from both of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions.

The Delhi experiment:

Closer home, the Delhi government schools have vastly improved performance, thanks to an active and interested administration. The state government ahs invested in infrastructure, motivated teachers and given incentives to performing students. Delhi government’s flagship Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas are at par with many public schools, albeit minus the style and the aura. At almost no cost, they take in the best students after Class V, employ the best teachers, provide infrastructure and work on improving a student holistically.

But all this happened because the people at the helm of things took the initiative. Other state governments can take a leaf out of these two examples and begin working on their school education system.

Government schools all over the country have superior infrastructure as compared to the small English medium schools that have come up in town and villages. With the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, the salary of school teachers has also improved vastly. All that is needed is a leadership that engages with the education system.

Till next time.

Enrollment increases, learning decreases: ASER 2008 survey

2009-01-14T19:26:00.003+05:30

India finally has something to be happy about. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2008 on rural India released by NGO Pratham, only 2.7 per cent children in the age group of 7-10 and 6.3 per cent in the 11-14 years group are out-of-school.

The survey covered 564 districts, 16,198 villages and 3.35 lakh households, thus proving the success of the government’s flagship Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in terms of student enrollment.

ASER 2007 had put the proportion of out-of-school children in the 6-14 years age bracket at 4.2 per cent. In 2006, the figure was 6.6 per cent. Although the age bracket has changed and cannot be compared, the trends indicate a decrease in the number of out-of-school children.

State of the States:

Traditionally backward Bihar has done exceptionally well. From 13.1 per cent out-of-school children in the age group of 6-14 in 2005, the state has brought the number down to 5.7 per cent in 2008. Similarly, the proportion of out-of-school girls in the age group of 11-14 in Bihar has dropped from 20.1 per cent to 8.8 per cent.

In comparison, Gujarat, which scores high on the development index, has shown steady decline in most learning indicators. It has fallen below the national average in many parameters, including the percentage of children who can recognize numbers, read text, do subtraction, tell time or do currency tasks.

Learning Abilities:

The report shows that more than 77 per cent children of Class V in Madhya Pradesh can solve a division sum, while in Kerala the same percentage is 43.7 per cent. Kerala,Himachal Pradesh, MP, and Chhattisgarh lead the nation in reading ability.

Chhattisgarh and MP have shown a big jump in learning of basic reading and arithmetic since ASER 2007. This is the first time any states have shown improvement in basic arithmetic learning.

However, the proportion of children not in school has gone up by 1.7 percentage points in UP and 0.6 percentage points in Rajasthan between 2007 and 2008. This increase has nullified the gains made by all other states resulting in the national percentage of children not-in-school remaining steady between 2007 and 2008.

Karnataka and Orissa are among other states where some progress in reading ability has been observed. However, most other states are showing little or no improvement.

Survey Take Away:

The Pratham survey may not be comprehensive and fool proof but it does give a picture of the country's state of education. For instance, it establishes that there are primary schools within 1 km of 92.5 per cent rural habitations while 67.1 per cent villages have government middle schools. There are private schools in 45.6 per cent villages.

In fact, as already established by the more rigorous NUEPA survey, there has been a mushrooming of private schools, which increased from 16.4 per cent in 2005 to 22.5 percent in 2008. Private school enrollment shows a 37.2 per cent increase over the baseline of 2005.

The survey provides indicators to state governments on what policies have worked and what have not. Now it is up to the educationists and government officials to use the study to their benifit.

Till next time.

New IITs still to get heads, infrastructure!

2009-01-13T19:11:00.001+05:30

The HRD Ministry has finally approved Jatni as an ideal location to establish the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar. An area of 935 acres near Jatni in Khurda district of Orissa has been approved by the MHRD to establish the IIT.

Which makes me ask the more important question --- if they took almost a year to decide on a location, when will they begin building infrastructure?

Right now, IIT Bhubaneswar is running from IIT Kharagpur campus. Similarly, IIT Punjab, which has been allotted land in Roopnagar, has been functioning from IIT Delhi. Delhi is a relatively smaller campus and they hardly have space for constructing more hostels for their own students.

IIT Delhi Director Prof Surendra Prasad had clearly said that they could accommodate one batch of students with the limited lecture theatres, classrooms and labs. Add to that the burden of increased seats with the implementation of OBC reservation.

Along with managing IIT Punjab, the infrastructure is under huge duress as is the faculty at IIT Delhi. What’s more, the new institutes are headless, with the Ministry still looking to appoint directors.

Wish the government had shown as much hurry in setting up infrastructure as it had while announcing the new IITs.

Till next time

AICTE looks for student satisfaction before giving accreditation

2009-01-13T18:42:00.001+05:30

Engineering institutes seeking approval for undergraduate engineering programmes will now have to focus on student output. What students learn and how well placed they are after the completion of the course will determine whether an institute gets accreditation from the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

According to officials at the NBA, the emphasis will be on students’ satisfaction levels and the quality of graduates.

This is definitely a welcome move, especially looking at the mushrooming to engineering institutes in every street of India. Delhi itself has hundreds of unrecognized engineering institutes running from single floor buildings and successfully luring innocent students.

In Orissa, engineering institutes have perhaps outnumbered the number of students wanting to study the discipline. As a result, any one and everyone is an engineer today. Industry is also crying foul after taking in students who are neither qualified nor trained.

What the guidelines say:

1. A visiting team from NBA, which comes under the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), would check the overall placement success of the institute and satisfaction and comfort level of students.
2. Institutes will have to maintain proper records of placements for the past few years and also arrange summer trainings and internships for students.
3. Facilities for career guidance and arrangement to assist students suffering from psychological disorders are part of the accreditation procedure.
4. Includes reviewing measures for student safety, especially in laboratories dealing with hazardous materials and chemicals.

Why the revision:

The revised guidelines, applicable from January 1, come as India aims to become a full-fledged member of the Washington Accord — a grouping of ten countries formed for standardising engineering education.

Once India becomes a full-fledged member of the Washington Accord, the membership will facilitate cross-border mobility of India’s engineering graduates. The Washington Accord recommends that the graduates of accredited programmes in any of the signatory countries be recognised by the other countries as having met the academic requirements for entry into the practice of engineering.

The catch:

However, I fear these guidelines may stay only on paper because of the rampant corruption in the AICTE. It is very easy to buy accreditation as has been proved by the pathetic state of institutes already approved by the AICTE.

The only way to ensure that these guidelines are implemented is to increase awareness among students and of course, tighten scrutiny over such fly by night institutes.

Till next time.

The play school: Is it a school or a play area?

2009-01-07T14:51:00.002+05:30

What is the role of a play school ? How important are our play schools for providing kids their first taste to schooling?Are they important enough, for all kids, to attend it? Or is it a farce in the name of education?

There is a prominent, infact the leading, playschool in the capital that has an aggressive marketing team. The moment my sister-in-law's child turned 3 months she got a call from this play school asking her to enrol her child with them and get a 75 percent discount on fees. WOW!
When the baby turned 11 months she got a call again from the same group. This time they were offering her 30 percent discount. I think soon they will have tie-ups with various maternity homes in the city. Or do they have already, how else would they have known we had a baby in the family?

I wonder what to call them? Are they the temples of learning or business establishments who at the end of every month is more keen to know their sales numbers than the numbers that their kids can say without hiccups.

How crucial is a playschool in our education system is still unclear. Parents send their children to fancy playschools so that they can flout big names during the time of nursery admissions in A category schools. How effective they are in getting admission is anybody's guess.

Should we really need a play school? What is the purpose of a play school where kids are taught there can be no blue mangoes? Yes, a prominent playschool sometime back ran an advertisment saying how they teach their kids that mangoes are not blue. Whatever happened to a child's creativity and thinking. Maybe, we send our kids to a playschool to make them stop thinking!!!

Government offers goodies for teaching community!

2009-01-03T20:09:00.000+05:30

Teaching has now become more lucrative than the Indian civil services. With the government announcing the revised pay scales of university and college teachers, new teachers will now join on a higher grade pay than those entering the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

While a fresh IAS recruit will join on a grade pay of Rs 5,400, a teacher will join with a grade pay of Rs 6,000.

For those who are not aware, under the 6th pay commission, grade pay determines the status and seniority. Before this teachers and IAS officers were at par but now teaching has become more lucrative.

What’s more, both teachers and IAS officers are placed in Pay Band 3. But now teachers with a PhD will get promoted to Pay Band 4 in only 12 years, while an IAS officer will get there in 14 years.

Assistant professors will have three different academic pay grades of Rs 6,000, Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000 before being promoted to associate professor with a grade pay of Rs 9,000.

Associate professors have been placed in the pay band of Rs 37,400-67,000.

The HRD ministry has also streamlined the designations in colleges and universities. From now on, there shall be only three designations – assistant professor, associate professor and professor.

The sixth pay commission has introduced professorship in colleges for the first time. So the 10 per cent of the associate professors in colleges can go on to become professors.

In order to give incentives for higher qualifications such as Ph.D and M.Phil advance increments will be given to assistant professors at the time of joining.

Other allowances such as LTA, HRA, deputation allowance, children’s education etc will be at par with central government employees.

It all looks good on paper. However, the notification from the government to the University Grants Commission, sent on January 2, appears very vague. A lot of the paper gives out the goodies with subject to “academic conditions laid down by the UGC”

Delhi University teachers are apprehensive that promotion may depend on conditions like certain number of publications as prescribed by the Chadha Committee. Teachers say that along with a heavy teaching load and administrative responsibilities, college teachers cannot satisfy conditions for research work.

Now that the notification is out, a more comprehensive critic will soon come from the teaching community. Watch the space.

Till next time.

Nursery Admissions -- Whose battle is it?

2009-01-02T18:49:00.000+05:30

Nursery admissions in Delhi are driving parents crazy. Desperate to ensure their kids’ entry into a top private school, parents are willingly putting up with everything – lack of clarity in terms of criteria for admission, overcharging, selling expensive prospectus, demanding donation and any other whim and fancy of schools.

What surprises me is that these are not helpless, uneducated and unaware individuals. Most parents aspiring to give their kids a good education are themselves educated. They are working. Many of them are professionals. They are smart, aware of their rights and also know about the nursery guidelines given out by the Directorate of Education (DoE).

But nobody is complaining. Except for a handful of parents, who have willingly cooperated with the media to bring out wrongdoings, most parents are more than happy to maintain the status quo.

Why? Because they are consumed with the same ailment that most Indians suffer from – as long as I get my job done (in this case get my child admitted), why should I bother?

So on an individual level, they pay development fees up to Rs 25,000 and accept it when the school refuses to give a receipt for it. They take their children for interviews despite knowing that the Supreme Court has banned interview of kids during nursery admissions.

They do not complain to the education department and don’t raise their voices when the department sleeps over complaints made. No one has bothered to question the anomalies in the guidelines themselves. Parents are too consumed with the goal (mission admission) to bother about the means.

For instance, Modern School, Vasant Vihar and Amity International School, Saket have not revealed their admission criteria yet. DPS International has arbitrarily increased its fee. In Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, two children scored 40 marks but only one got through, with no explanation about the other who was rejected.

Which forces me to question: Whose battle are we fighting? At the peak of the nursery hysteria, I felt angry and frustrated. Parents were not willing to come forward and share information. What were they afraid of? And what were we, the media, fighting for? Why did we bother to write pages about the problems faced by parents?

Like the popular saying goes, you have to be a part of the system for it to change. So parents need to be more proactive. They might not see results immediately, but their complaints may help streamline the process next year. Parents of firstborns will benefit some years later when they start the process for their second child.

Schools will also think twice before trying to cheat parents who are aware, active and willing to fight for their rights. No school does a favour by admitting a child. They are dispensing a business, they charge money and provide service.

Moreover, the cost of education will only rise in the coming years, with some private schools charging up to Rs 15,000 per month as tuition fees. This is not media’s battle to fight. It is up to parents now, to join hands and ensure that education is not hijacked by a handful of business houses, whose sole aim is to make a profit.

Till next time.

Just another paper tiger?

2008-12-31T19:33:00.000+05:30

After a series of articles in the media about the Right to Education Bill and the hoopla surrounding its introduction in both Houses of Parliament, I decided on taking a closer look at what the bill offers.

On paper, it is an ideal bill. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill (RTE), 2008, makes education a fundamental right for children. That is big since children have long been denied their rights under the Indian constitution.

The Bill has the following elements:

1. The Bill ensures that all children in the age group of six to 14 years get free and compulsory education
2. Prohibits schools from charging donation from students. A school can be penalised ten times the donation fee charged by it for admission.
3. Screening of both students and parents during admission is prohibited. A school will pay penalty of Rs 25,000 for flouting the rule once and Rs 50,000 for each subsequent breach.
4. A school can be fined up to Rs 1 lakh if it is not recognized from the body concerned.
5. Private schools have reserve 25 per cent seats for poor children in the neighbourhood. The government would reimburse the money at government rate towards these seats.
6. Each school need to maintain a pupil teacher ratio of 40:1
7. It prohibits physical punishment to children and private tuition by teachers.
8. Expulsion or detention of a child, and deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes other than census, election duty and disaster relief.
9. Commissions for Protection of Child Rights at state levels for grievance redressal and monitoring of the Act.
10. Each school will have a committee comprising parents and eminent persons from the local areas who will monitor and ensure the act is implemented properly.

Wow. The Bill looks perfect on paper. It makes all the right noises and strikes the right chords. But has the government taken enough measures to ensure that the Bill is implemented in letter and spirit?

Private school lobby:

I don’t think so. For one, I am doubtful if the private school lobby will let the Bill be cleared by Parliament. Private schools in Delhi have already voiced their displeasure over areas such as not detaining children till Class VIII.

Moreover, many big business houses which are involved in running schools, look at educational institutes as a means of earning money. As complaints by parents applying for nursery admissions in the Capital have shown, almost all schools ask for donation under the garb of development fees and refuse to give receipts.

Private schools will also be unhappy about not being able to put kids and parents through interviews for admission. Moreover, they are bound to oppose the inclusion of 25 per cent reservation for poor kids.

Implementation:

Secondly, there is no clear plan on implementation. The Bill gives emphasis on infrastructure and enrollment but not on the quality of teaching. The ASER survey done by education NGO Pratham in 2007 indicated that 33 per cent of the children surveyed from classes three to five could not read text relevant to class I, while 40 per cent could not subtract numbers. This Bill does not mention learning levels.

Absenteeism:

The biggest problem plaguing government schools in both rural and urban India is teacher absenteeism. With no one to check them, teachers often do not take classes. Even though crores are being spent on Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, government has failed to address this problem.

State responsibility:

Last but not the least, the onus is on states. Each state government has to ensure that the Bill is implemented rather than fighting on grounds of lack of finances. Even in a small area like Delhi, with a radius of not more than 30 km, MCD and government schools have no accountability in terms of quality of education imparted. So states with huge geographical areas have their work cut out.

Looking ahead:

The Bill needs to be tweaked and fitted with stricter measures against non-implementation. It also needs to empower the common man by making him aware of its existence. Else the right to education will become just a topic debated in media for a while and then lost from public memory.

Till next time.

2008 -- Watershed for Indian education system?

2008-12-29T13:10:00.000+05:30

New Year is about to begin. And what better way to start the blog than going over the policies and events in the education sector in 2008. On paper and policy, 2008-09 has probably been a watershed year for the Indian education system. More money for education, emphasis on building infrastructure, improving quality by giving better pay and working condition to teachers -- the government seems to have taken all the right steps.

But as happens in India, it all boils down to implementation. Still, we will focus on what has been done and take one step at a time.

Budget allocation: For a change the education budget saw a 20 per cent increase. It went up from Rs 28,674 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 34,400 crore in 2008-09. Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA)got Rs 13,100crore out of this.

Schemes under SSA:

The government gave Rs 650 cores under SSA to build 6,000 quality model schools. It proposed to build more Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in order to make education accessible to Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe students. To establish JNV in 20 backward districts of the country, Rs 130 crore was allotted.

To encourage education of the girl child, the government proposed to set up 410 additional Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas in 123 districts of the country. Notably, according to government statistics, Balika Vidyalayas have already enrolled 182,000 girls in residential schools, thus helping bridge the gender gap in education.

That is as good as it gets for spending on primary education in India. Actually, it got better with the passing of the Right to Education Bill by the Union Cabinet in November 2008. Once the law is notified, all children in India will be guaranteed education till the age of 14.

Higher education:

Opening of eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in 2008 should itself signify a watershed year for education in India. It is another matter that the older IITs – burdened with the task of making the new ones functional – are struggling to build infrastructure and find quality faculty to run the new institutions.

Sixteen central universities will also come up in states that do not already have a central university. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) are also set to expand under the 11th Five Year Plan. In order to achieve the target of gross enrolment ratio from 11% to 15%, the ministry of human resource development (HRD) proposed to build 370 colleges, a tribal university, 20 Indian Institutes of Information Technology, two new schools of planning and architecture in Bhopal and Vijaywada and 1,000 new polytechnics schools all over the country.

Pay hikes:

In what I would consider a major step towards improving quality of teaching in Indian schools and colleges, the Sixth Pay Commission revised and hiked pay of teachers across government educational institutions. For the first time, a teacher entering a college will earn more than a fresh recruit to the Indian Civil Services.

Last but not the least, 27 per cent quota for other backward classes (OBC) was implemented in central educational institutions. Despite much protest by students and teachers, the HRD ministry managed to have its say and OBC quota was implemented across colleges and universities under the central government.

Ironically, almost half the seats reserved for OBC candidates in Delhi University went empty because there were not enough OBC candidates who qualified for the cut off.

2008-09 was all about creating the right opportunities – for students, teachers, district officials, state governments and the most important of all – India’s civil servants. How all of them take advantage of the opportunities and utilize the funds at their disposal remains to be seen.

Till next time.