Education System

IIT-JEE 2012: 12-year-old Bihar Boy Cracks Examination...!!!

2012-05-22T22:06:00.002-07:00

Kota, Rajasthan: Dressed in a bright T-shirt and shorts, at first glance, Satyam Kumar looks like any other ordinary 12-year-old, but his achievement of cracking the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) entrance exam at this tender age is anything but ordinary.

Presently studying at a school in Rajasthan's Kota, Satyam has become a 'wonder boy' not just for his family, but for all his peers and fellow candidates who find it tough to clear the IIT-JEE even at 19 or 20 years of age.

The young boy, who comes from a modest farmer family in Bihar's Bhojpur district, has qualified for IIT admission with an all-India rank of 8,137.

In fact, ever since the IIT results on Friday, Satyam is suddenly the centre of all attention in Kota. As the youngest to qualify through the IIT entrance, perhaps the toughest exam in the country, he's now being fed sweets - especially laddus - by his friends, teachers and everyone he meets in Kota these days. But even as he savours his sweet success, Satyam is a touch disappointed at not getting the high rank he hoped for.

In an exclusive chat with NDTV, Satyam says, "I was thrilled at seeing my name in the IIT list, but I would have been happier if I had got a higher rank in the top 100 or 200."

His incredible achievement sounds even more remarkable when Satyam tells us of his humble origins. Born in a poor farmer family, neither of his parents have even passed high school, and his father flunked his matric exams three times. Given this background, Satyam was not admitted to any formal school till the age of seven, but the child prodigy had by then already memorised the Geeta and Ramayan, by heart.

His family's modest annual income implied that Satyam simply did not have the money to train for IIT at Kota's expensive coaching classes. But seeing his genius, his institute has given him free training for the past five years. Satyam has been living in Kota since 2007 and all his school fees and other expenses are borne by the Resonance Institute and its Director R K Verma.

No wonder Satyam says the main credit for his success goes to his teachers. "I think it is the help and guidance of my teachers and the motivation of my parents that helped me succeed. In particular R K Verma sir helped me financially and emotionally to do my best," said Satyam.

Satyam passed his eighth class from the Rajasthan Board and cleared ninth to twelfth standard from the CBSE-affiliated Modern School in Kota. But even as he waits for his class 12 CBSE result, which is slated to be announced in a few days, Satyam's plans are clearly chalked out. "I will take the IIT exam again so that I get a rank within the Top-100 so that I can become a Computer Engineer from IIT Kanpur," he said.

Besides his IIT course, Satyam has an interesting plan. "I want to develop a social Website like Facebook as Mark Zuckerberg is my favourite idol," he said.

Ask him about his career plans and the bright student has a clear choice. "I want to become an IAS officer as I want to serve poor people in villages. I have seen how most people like my parents suffer in rural areas. But if I join the IAS, I will be able to help the poor in a big way," he said.

And that's a dream, Satyam's grandmother prays and hopes will eventually turn into reality. 70-year-old Kusuma Devi, who lives in Kota to take care of the boy said, ''I pray every day that Satyam will achieve the big success he deserves. If he becomes a big officer, I feel all the problems that our family faces will soon be solved. I'm sure God will listen to our prayers and reward Satyam for his hard work.''

If his feat of qualifying for the IIT is any indication, the child prodigy from Bihar whose talents have been honed at in Rajasthan's Kota - the Mecca for IIT coaching in the country - will definitely turn his dreams into reality.

Clearing the IIT at barely 12 is no less than a miracle. And through his remarkable success this child prodigy has become not just the pride of Kota but also an inspiration for IIT aspirants across the country.

Source: NDTV IIT-JEE 2012: 12-year-old Bihar boy cracks examination

A Dream or a Reality- Affordable Education in India...???

2012-03-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

India is a country with a rich cultural heritage and a country where Goddess Saraswathi, the Goddess of learning, is revered very much by Hindus. Yet affordable education has always been a dream in our country because despite having attained independence in 1947, the gap between rich and poor has only widened over the years. With rising income levels among the middle class and with the increase in the levels of dual incomes, education in India has become an expensive proposition. The lower and upper middle classes do not seem to mind because they perceive any expenditure on education to be an intelligent investment.Which, in any case, is a fact. However, rising costs of education has made it very difficult for the poor and those who live below the poverty line. India is also notorious for engaging child labour which is a direct result of poverty and poor families lacking the wherewithal to educate their children. This is indeed sad because as per our constitutional framework, education is the fundamental right of all Indian citizens.

Today’s children are going be to the citizens of India tomorrow. So, it is important for the authorities to develop the concept of affordable education by engaging experts in the field of education, literary scholars and experts from the education department.

The authorities can bolster their efforts to upgrade the existing infrastructure in Government schools so that teaching in Government schools becomes an attractive proposition for teachers. Subsidised school fees, free distribution of text books and note books and school uniforms can make education more affordable for the children living below poverty line. Philanthropic individuals, software industry and NGOs like Akanksha, Pratha (to name a few) can join hands to sponsor the education of poor children. Sometimes, it is virtually impossible for the Govt to set up schools in every nook and corner.Hence, it is essential to strengthen the hands of NGOs who are doing commendable work in the sphere of education. Children should take to learning as a fish takes to water, so it is vital to revamp the syllabi and course curriculum in such a way that learning becomes less of a mundane affair. At higher levels, vocational education and training must be made compulsory.

Blog.3pundits

Path from Marginalized to Mainstream: Reality behind Indian education system in India

2011-12-24T06:07:00.000-08:00

In Indian society, where everyone aspires to be perfect in all matters, learning disabilities are not discussed, even within families. Where it is socially acceptable and even encouraged to blatantly compare and contrast children’s achievements among parents, social life is very stressful for those who have children with disabilities. Traditionally, individuals with learning disabilities are labeled as dumb, imperfect or inferior. They are typically marginalized, not only by the members of the larger society, but also within their own homes.

After struggling within the social and educational systems in India, my husband and I made the difficult decision to move to the US to provide our daughter with the education that our country could not.

When we talk of India, most people in the West imagine bustling metropolises with booming Information Technology centers. Many attribute India’s impressive 9% growth rate in GDP to its education system assumed to be more rigorous and academically-oriented than the US education system.

However, what escapes the attention of the West is the reality of education available to the common Indian. According to a report on basic public education in India by Anuradha De of the Institute of Human Development in New Delhi, India, only 53% of schools in rural North India were actively engaged in education. Only 11% had working toilets and only 41% had drinking water.

According to a recent census, two thirds of all schools in the slums of Hyderabad in southern India are private. Parents send their children to private schools for quality English instruction, even if it stretches their finances. With their ethos of “education is money,” these schools are extremely reluctant to take up the challenge of educating children with special needs. Even regular schools with Special Education programs like The Cathedral, John Cannon School and Dhirubahi Ambani International charge more than Rs 100,000 annually. With an annual Gross National income of Rs. 21,900, such fees put these services well beyond the reach of the average Indian. According to a study by the Stamford University in 2003, 86% of the population lives on less than $2 per day; 44% lives under $1 per day.

There are many schools in India which cater to the needs of children with various disabilities, but such an education has its own limitations. Aikiya and Alpha to Omega learning centers are well-known schools for disabled students in Chennai, India. But even these excellent institutions face the ignorance and apathy that traditional Indian society shows those with learning disabilities.

Through our own experiences, I’ve come to believe that the kind of change India needs will only come when society fosters sensitivity to the concerns of special-needs individuals by mainstreaming them with typically-learning children of their own age.

Padma, whose child has a congenital anomaly and attends Bronx High School of Science in New York, explains her decision to emigrate from India. “(In India) [t]here is a whole lot of social stigma while looking at people with special needs. Not only children, but even adults stop and stare at special needs people. That makes them become more self-conscious of their disabilities unlike in advanced countries like the US, where my son has never felt that he is a special-needs kid.”

Before taking a similar step, my husband and I decided to try to find solutions within India. In our search for a private tutor, we chanced upon two highly-trained and experienced teachers specializing in special education. Our child did quite well under their tutelage, but being a gregarious individual, needed to interact and socialize with typically-learning kids.

Richard Riser, director of the London-based educational organization was quoted inIndia Together saying, “Special schools are dead-ends for special-needs children. They promote isolation, alienation and social exclusion. It is this dominant attitude of exclusion which needs to be changed to build harmonious and compassionate societies.”

For a well-adjusted and fruitful future for our child, we decided to move to the US in 2001 when our daughter was five years old.

When we arrived in Texas, we found that the US public school system had all the legal mechanisms we were seeking in place. By law, public schools are mandated to educate special-needs people until the age of 21 and prepare them for adulthood. But not all US public schools have good special education programs - much depends on funding. Those schools offering higher teacher pay typically have less turnover and offer more training in the newest techniques in special education than those schools with fewer resources. We discovered after the fact that according to the American Federation of Teachers, out of 50 states, Texas ranked 32nd in the nation for teacher pay in 2004-2005 compared to New Jersey’s 3rd ranking, where we now live after relocating in 2007.

Navigating the Texas school system was frustrating. The school district was reluctant to spend their precious resources on an additional special-needs child. Initially, our daughter was held back a year and was given additional English language instruction through their English as a Second Language (ESL) program, hoping this would be sufficient for her to catch up with typically-learning kids.

When this did not bring the desired results, my child’s pediatrician wrote to the school district, copying the principal and other staff, to address her needs. This was the much-needed push that forced the school district to act.

Yet problems persisted.

Although the senior staff were highly-trained in their subjects, there was a dearth of experienced special education teachers in the elementary school. Every new school year brought a new set of teachers, who took time in getting to know their students and their needs. This lack of experience, combined with high teacher turnover, prompted one parent to move her daughter to an expensive private school for learning difficulties in Dallas, some 20 miles away.

In spite of these challenges, compared to India, this was heaven. Here I found support not only from the school, but also from the community. Though the school was bound by bureaucracy and limited funding, the empathy and awareness people had for special-needs kids was heartwarming, and I believe was the result of mainstreaming.

Compared to Texas, our current school district in New Jersey has been very proactive with our child’s education. Her Individualized Education Plan (IEP) was configured well–ahead of her attending classes. She has a speech therapist and an FM (assistive listening) system to help her hearing, especially in a crowded and noisy classroom setting.

The school also recognizes that children with disabilities should continue with their education during the summer break to avoid regression. Every year, our summer school has a new curriculum topic; last year’s was recycling and saving the environment. My daughter visited the farmer’s market, where she learned to buy a list of fruits and vegetables, use cash and keep her receipt. She learned about recycling by visiting the local recycling center and participated in an exhibition of recycled art.

And we have come across some great success stories. We met a child with cerebral palsy who moved from India where she was studying in a special institution. Since she is now part of the public school system, she has improved her social skills, gained higher self-esteem, and performs better academically.

We know we are fortunate to give our child this education, but there are millions of children who are not so lucky.

India passed The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act in 1995, and was the 19th country to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007. Though the disability act is very detailed - addressing schooling, employment, and accessibility in public places – it has not been implemented rigorously.

Until 2001, individuals with disabilities were not given a separate category in the census. The U.N. Manual for the Development of Statistical Information for Disability Programs and Policies 1996 estimates the percentage of disabled in India could be a double-digit figure, but no concrete figures exist to date.

According to a Commonwealth Foundation and the Leonard Cheshire Disability survey, about 95% of disabled individuals in India do not have access to healthcare services, education or employment opportunities. Despite government regulations, most buildings and public transport are not accessible. In contrast, Padma’s son zips around his New York school and neighborhood in his motorized chair, while it is next to impossible to push a baby stroller down most Indian streets.

A study done by Tata Institute of Social Sciences found that Special Education teachers in New Delhi earn approximately Rs.6000 per month, while another study by Gerald Burke and Phillip McKenzie reveals that regular education teachers earn much more, at Rs. 17,000 per month. This disparity is an area that a growing superpower like India must address.

India has a long journey ahead. A change in attitude towards people with disabilities will only come when more disabled people are included in regular schools and the workforce; they must be given the opportunity to participate in society as individuals of equal standing. Educating them alongside other children is the first step towards a more tolerant and well-adjusted society.

About the Author
Sumukha Ravishankar is a multi-tasking wife and mother originally from India, now living in suburban New Jersey. Thoroughly involved in her children's educational needs, she is also interested in writing, reading, social work and the arts. She is an avid listener and member of WNYC, New York Public Radio.

Steve Jobs' view on education valid for India - The Times of India

2011-12-12T07:43:00.000-08:00

The late Steve Jobs, one of the greatest inventor-entrepreneurs in history, took knowledge and content to the masses. He said quality education was the key to equality of opportunity , and felt this would best be achieved by governments giving educational vouchers to parents, to be used in any accredited school of their choice. India should learn from him.

(see Jobs' views at http:// americanhistory.si. edu/collections/comphist/ sj1.html).

"I'm a very big believer in equal opportunity as opposed to equal outcome. Equal opportunity to me, more than anything, means a great education . Maybe even more important than a great family life. We could make sure that every young child in this country got a great education. We fall far short of that.

I know from my own education that if I hadn't encountered two or three individuals that spent extra time with me, I'm sure I would have been in jail." Clearly, good teachers are vital . But why are they so rare? "The problem there, of course , is the teachers' unions. The unions are the worst thing that ever happened to education because it's not a meritocracy. It turns into a bureaucracy, which is exactly what has happened.

Nobody can be fired. It's terrible." Can the problem be sidestepped by using computers and electronic teaching aids? No, says Jobs. "I've helped with more computers in more schools than anybody else in the world, and I am absolutely convinced that is by no means the most important thing.

The most important thing is a person. Computers are very reactive but they're not proactive; they are not agents." How do we create a system with good, motivated teachers ? Jobs has a clear answer: we need competition between schools in attracting students and teachers, not unaccountable government schools with a lockhold on government funding. Jobs says, "What we need in education is to go to the full voucher system. The customers (in education) are the parents, and the customers went away.

Mothers started working and they didn't have time to spend at PTA meetings and watching their kids' school. Schools became much more institutionalised and parents spent less and less and less time involved in their kids' education. What happens when a customer goes away and a monopoly gets control, which is what happened in our country, is that the service level almost always goes down. I remember seeing a bumper sticker when the telephone company was all one.

I remember seeing a bumper sticker with the Bell Logo on it and it said, "We don't care. We don't have to." And that's what a monopoly is. And that's certainly what the government school system is. They don't have to care." The economics of state education is crazy, says Jobs. The US government spends lots on education: around $4,400 per child per year.

This is double the cost of buying a small car in instalments. But such educational spending is done by the government, and is not within the power of the household. "When you go to buy a car, you have a lot of information available to make a choice. Everybody knows about all these cars, and they keep getting better and better because there's a lot of competition.

And there's a warranty. "But in government schools, people don't feel that they're spending their own money. If you want to put your kid in a private school, you can't take the $4,400 a year (spent per child by the government school system) and use it. If you gave each parent a voucher for $4,400 that they could only spend at any accredited school, several things would happen. "Number one, schools would start marketing themselves like crazy to get students.

Secondly, I think you'd see a lot of new schools starting. You could have 25-year-old students out of college, very idealistic, full of energy. Instead of starting a Silicon Valley company, they'd start a school. I believe that they would do far better than any of our government schools would. Third, the quality of government schools, just as in any competitive marketplace, would start to rise." These conclusions apply to India too. Our educational policies remain with leftist ideologues and cynical politicians who think the state must, to the extent possible, deliver alleducational services.

The leftists hate private schools and colleges. Politicians dare not take on teachers' unions. Teacher absenteeism is horrific , and many students cannot do simple maths or read complete paragraphs after years of schooling. Desperate poor parents are switching their kids from free government schools to private schools with fees.

But chief ministers seeking to discipline teachers' unions have invariably been foiled. If challenged, teachers unions will threaten to strike before the annual exams, imperilling the future of millions of students. So, chief ministers invariably surrender. Instead, they try to recruit teachers as their own political agents.

Besides, teachers man election booths on polling days. Politicians fear antagonising teachers, who might collude with the Opposition in fiddling election results. So, our situation is worse than anything Jobs complains about in the US. Yet, the solutions are similar.

We must use vouchers to give parents the power of choice, and encourage private competition in the educational marketplace. Enthusiastic young entrepreneurs will rush into education, just as they once rushed into information technology. All it needs is the political will to combat the unions.

Reality of Education in India: UNICEF

2011-10-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

The landmark passing of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 marks a historic moment for the children of India. For the first time in India’s history, children will be guaranteed their right to quality elementary education by the state with the help of families and communities.

Few countries in the world have such a national provision to ensure child-centered, child-friendly education to help all children develop to their fullest potential. There were an estimated eight million six to 14-year-olds in India out-of-school in 2009.

The world cannot reach its goal to have every child complete primary school by 2015 without India.
India’s education system over the past few decades has made significant progress. According to India’s Education For All Mid Decade Assessment, in just five years between 2000 and 2005, India increased primary school enrolment overall by 13.7 per cent and by 19.8 per cent for girls, reaching close to universal enrolment in Grade 1.

Even with these commendable efforts, one in four children left school before reaching Grade 5 and almost half before reaching Grade 8 in 2005. Learning assessments show the children who do remain in school are not learning the basics of literacy and numeracy or the additional skills necessary for their overall development.
Fast Facts

Out-of-School Children: The number of out-of-school children has declined from 25 million in 2003 to 8.1 million in mid–2009. The most significant improvements have been in Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur and Chhattisgarh. The percentage of out-of-school children in highly populated states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar remains a cause of concern.
Social Inclusion: Although there have been significant improvements in the proportion of children from socially disadvantaged groups in school, persistence gaps remain. Girls are still less likely to enroll in school than boys; in 2005, for upper primary school (Grades 6-8) girls’ enrolment was still 8.8 points lower than boys, for Scheduled Tribes (ST) the gender gap was 12.6 points and 16 points for Scheduled Castes (SC).

In addition, ST and SC children are less likely to access their right to 8 years of schooling; the drop-out rate for ST children being 62.9% and 55.2% for SC children compared to a national average of 48.8% leaving school before completing Grade 8.
Teachers: Children have the right to have at least 1 qualified and trained teacher for every 30 pupils. Currently, the national average is about 1 teacher to every 34 students, but in states such as Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal 1 teacher works with more than 60 students.

Approximately 1.2 million additional teachers need to be recruited to fill this gap. Currently, about 1 in 5 primary school teachers do not have the requisite minimum academic qualification to ensure children’s right to quality learning.

Sanitation: 84 out of 100 schools have drinking water facilities overall in India. But nearly half the schools in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya do not. Sixty-five out of 100 schools have common toilets in India; however only one out of four schools in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan have this facility.

Fifty-four out of 100 schools have separate toilets for girls. On average, only one in nine schools in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur have separate toilets and one in four schools in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Orissa.
Key Issues
The RTE Act will be in force from 1 April. Draft Model Rules have been shared with states, which are required to formulate their state rules and have them notified as early as possible.

RTE provides a ripe platform to reach the unreached, with specific provisions for disadvantaged groups, such as child labourers, migrant children, children with special needs, or those who have a “disadvantage owing to social, cultural economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or such other factor.”

RTE focuses on the quality of teaching and learning, which requires accelerated efforts and substantial reforms.
Creative and sustained initiatives are crucial to train more than one million new and untrained teachers within the next five years and to reinforce the skills of existing teachers to ensure child-friendly education.

Bringing eight million out-of-school children into classes at the age appropriate level with the support to stay in school and succeed poses a major challenge. Substantial efforts are essential to eliminate disparities and ensure quality with equity. For example, investing in preschool is a key strategy.
Families and communities also have a large role to play to ensure child-friendly education for each and every one of the estimated 190 million girls and boys in India who should be in elementary school today.

School Management Committees, made up of parents, local authorities, teachers and children themselves, will need support to form School Development Plans and monitoring. The inclusion of 50 per cent women and parents of children from disadvantaged groups in these committees should help overcome past disparities.

The Indian Education Problem...???

2011-10-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

He multitude of reservations that a General category student must contend with to secure a college admission is putting-off to say the least. One begins to lament about the sorry state of the Indian education system, cursing the times and even the massive Indian population – the country’s favourite scapegoat. But these problems are only symptomatic of the deeper issue of the lack of focus on the part of the Indian government on the improvement of primary education facilities for underprivileged children. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009 is one of the latest attempts of the government to promote more inclusive development in the country, 80% of elementary education is provided by the government. Concomitantly, the ban on child labour and schemes like the mid-day meal programme are instances of government intervention with the objective of promoting the development and well-being of the lives of the Indian children. But with serious issues such as a severe lack of basic infrastructure, a shortage of qualified and well trained teachers and even a lack of political will, government education falls far short of the need of the day. In such a situation, where only the privileged few gain access to higher education, the current provision for reservations in this area might be justified on the basis of the desirability of equity in a society. An important question that arises in such a situation though, is whether or not the students who gain admission to colleges via reservations are actually capable of undergoing the rigours of their particular course or even university education in general. Since the major proportion of primary educational institutions are provided by the government in our country, the quality of government education is a crucial enabling factor in the sense that it provides the necessary background for students to participate in various fields of academics or work environments after school. As a Delhi University student, the disheartening observations that I have made in this respect imply that these students, not considering those who went to private schools, are severely constrained by factors such as the poor quality of their previous education, their inability to effectively grasp English – the medium of instruction in most cases, relative to students of the ‘general’ category, and other social factors and attitudes that, to a certain extent, restrict interaction between students from different socio-economic backgrounds. Though there have been some improvements in the gross enrolment ratio in the government’s District Primary Education Programme, and a slow trend towards gender parity in primary education, significant improvements are still required to bring these government facilities on par with private providers of education in our country. Indicative of the low quality of government primary education is the recent study showing that class 5 students are not adept at handling basic mathematical and language questions of the class 2 level. The policy of reserving college seats for the underprivileged, therefore, requires serious revision and it can at best act as a temporary leg-up for vulnerable sections of the society with restricted access to educational opportunities. I feel a more concrete system of providing good quality education, perhaps with private sector assistance, especially at the primary stage, would lead to faster and more definite improvements in India’s education situation, thereby minimising the need for reservations and encouraging admissions solely on the basis of academic achievement. Another factor in easing the stress of college admissions, of course, is the urgent requirement for the expansion of facilities for higher education, implying huge investments and involving long periods of time. Shraddha Suresh

No water, dirty toilets in govt schools: RTI Forum Audit

2011-10-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

No water to drink in government school, St Anthony's school,Bosconagar, Karnataka.

Dirty toilets, dry taps and labourers lounging about in school. This is not the condition of a small school in a nondescript corner of the country but that of a number of government run schools in the national capital.

An audit of 60 government schools conducted by 16 NGOs from the Delhi Right to Education Forum, has found that clean toilets and a regular water supply is something that children and teachers have to do without on a daily basis in the schools.

The audit, conducted on Friday as per the Central Information Commission’s order that all relevant information be made available to public on the last working day of every month, has also found that in many schools ongoing construction has become a major problem.

“This problem was seen mainly in schools in east Delhi. In some schools here, work had been going on for the last two years. Labourers had pitched tents and were living on the campus, making the school unsafe for small children,” said Saurabh Sharma, member, JOSH, an NGO working in the field of education.

The audit also highlighted the shortage of cleanliness staff in schools. The report states that most schools have hired sweepers on a contractual basis who are not under the direct control of the schools. Sweepers on contract basis have limited responsibilities, it states.

Another problem faced by various schools was the delayed receipt of funds for books, uniforms and other scholarships.

“If the money is paid to the families after months of the first day of school, the whole idea behind having this provision fails. The parents will have to borrow money for these items still and then pay off the loan at an interest,” said Sharma.

Schools in central Delhi, meanwhile, were found to be suffering due to lack of space. While the Right to Education Act mandates that schools must have a playing ground, most schools in the Jama Masjid area, did not have one.

Delhi education minister, Arvinder Singh, however, said that no such audit was carried out in any school and the toilets in Delhi schools were clean. Hindustan Times, however, is in possession of letters signed and marked by seals of school principals, agreeing to the findings.

According to sources, a letter was also sent to the schools in east Delhi by the office of the deputy director of education forbidding schools from letting such audits happen again.

Mallica Joshi, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, October 03, 2011

DEMOCRACY: AN ACHIEVEMENT OR A BURDEN

2011-10-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Whenever we try to evaluate democracy( more appropriately, the westernized democracy that world has adopted), the evaluation generally proceeds from the comparison between the democracy and other systems and at last we end up endorsing democracy. If you question about the loopholes and weaknesses in democracy others end up pointing finger at you: what do you want another communist Soviet Union? or another Nazi Germany? or Taliban? Democracy is entirely not a wrong concept at all but it has been used(rather misused) by its founding fathers( or western founding fathers) to spread confusion than to deliver what human civilization was expecting it from. Democracy was meant to deliver justice to all( i repeat "to all"), to create a system that would eradicate the anomalies of its predecessors and to deliver to human civilization a sustaining progress. And let us try to count what we have got. "Justice" for all was the first and foremost promise of democracy. Has it been delivered as been promised? No it has not. Rather its inventors have replaced the word "Justice" from the vocabulary of democracy by "Human rights" which seems quite decent at first glance but has been proved to be a very deceptive tool used( or misused) to do exactly opposite of what it was meant to do? An example would help: A mass murderer who has killed and slaughtered 100s of humans, or a convict who has committed heinous crimes against humanity would still not be hung, rather would be granted life imprisonment in any of the democratic system and the argument would be that killing is inhuman. These apply to the so called democratic countries(including mine) where there is no clause of death penalty. Another breed of democratic countries such as India, would run a case against such criminals for years in the name of human rights(sometime even for 10 or more years) during which the convict gets no punishment at all. Then after all the tedious process if a death sentence is ordered by judiciary, the sentence would be suspended. Take example of Afzal Guru, the convict in the 2001 Parliament attack who is still not hung. In either case, Justice is denied and we have been baffled to believe that human right is more important to preserve than justice, which is not the case. Then comes the "sustainable progress available to all" as the 2nd promise of democracy. Had it been delivered?The answer may come "yes" and the argument may be satiated by the huge industrial and economic growth human race has been able to achieve in the democratic countries such as India, the US, western countries and other democratic countries. But can the extravagant and indiscriminate industrial growth and economic boom be considered as growth. The industrial growth has endowed us permanent problems such as global warming and exhaustion of resources, which may eventually be the reason of destruction of human race. Economic growth is more ironical. Economic growth has resulted in a big void between the extremely rich and extremely poor rather than a bridge between them. Riches are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. Drought, famines and starvation have left millions dead in third world countries ( South east Asia and African subcontinent) whereas the ones in western world eat pizzas and hot dogs. So democracy has rather been the opportunity for the ones having money and power to progress at the cost of poor ones. It has been a mean to verify injustice and has been misused to spread impunity. DEMON-CRAZY=DEMOCRACY as one of the placards depicted in protests outside the building where G8 meeting was going on.

Coaching: Boon or Bane???

2011-10-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

The mushrooming of coaching centers all over the cities big or small, metros or districts highlight the growing trend of students opting for coaching classes apart from the regular curriculum. Once upon a time coaching was a rare phenomenon, generally unheard of and only taken by those who were weak in their studies. But now it is a way of life for students, aggressively promoted by the teachers and too some extent by the parents also. But does coaching really help in scoring good marks in school or in competitive examinations? Is it advisable for the school students to opt for coaching? When is the right time to join coaching? Does it take away time of self-study and make student dependent on coaching centre? Or does it give your career the right boost and direction? These are some of the questions which every student and their parents face. The craze for coaching has led to opening of coaching centre in every bylane of Delhi selling dreams of guaranteed success. One can see the newspapers, magazines or roads filled with advertisements like you can 'learn English in 30 days' or 'score 90% in Boards with our guidence' or 'clear PMT/IIT with our two year package'. More and more students are flocking these centers as an alternative or supplement to school teaching. Many experts believe that education is a natural process of learning. For the regular and attentive students coaching is not really required till class twelth.

Mushrooming coaching centers,However for professional courses like entrance examinations of CPMT and IIT professional guidance is required in today's competitive world. A student has no background and idea of the examination he is appearing for. He or she needs proper study material and guidelines on the important topics, exam patterns, and short-cut methods of solving numerical and analytical questions. It is here when the coaching centers play an important role in helping students. They plan each topic methodically and time schedules to complete the modules. The students feel that the tutors know what the important and less important topics are. The minute details like the sections of question paper that need to be solved first are explained by these teachers. The coaching classes also help students prepare for interviews and face group discussions. For those who cannot attend regular classes, correspondence coaching is helpful. They are relatively cheaper also as they charge one fifth of the regular courses. The students can benefit from the study material and model papers that are sent to them regularly. There are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration before selecting a coaching centre. The quality, experience and expertise of the teachers should be the top priority. One should also talk to other students before taking admission. The standard of coaching can best be analyzed by the success rate and academic performance of the students studying there. Whether to join a coaching or not is an individual's decision. If a student is sincere and hardworking with good grasping power he or she can prepare for competitive exams even at home. But if professional help is required then select the coaching centre which offers the best options.

Population Explosion is Growing Concern in India

2011-10-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

India is facing intense problem of population outburst. People are experiencing the crisis such as climate change, shortage of food and also severe energy crisis that are all related to the ever-increasing population. Our civilization is being squeezed between rising population densities. It can be said that if such trends continue, there will be a severe shortage of food supply. The government should impose a population control system upon every person living in the country by limiting them to have one child. The eruption of population has affected the standard of living of the people. The time has come when future citizens while in educational institutions should understand various issues related to the population problem. It has been observed that in some places, there is a shortage of drinking water. Village people started migrating to cities where they can get some water and employment. Today, in some places, people have start fighting for food, water and place to live. The heavy centralization of India's family planning programs often prevents due consideration from being given to regional differences. Centralization is encouraged to a large extent by reliance on central government funding. As a result, many of the goals and assumptions of national population control programs do not correspond exactly with local attitudes toward birth control. In large part of India, people have strong preference for sons which leads to population growth. They have a feeling that sons will assist with farm labour as they are growing up. Son will also serve as their parent’s only security in old age. The government should implement program to reduce unplanned pregnancies, lowering fertility rates to the sun replacement levels and also they should try to provide assistance to people. An important family planning program in India is the Project for Community Action in Family Planning. Located in Karnataka, the project operates in 154 project villages and 255 control villages. All project villages are of sufficient size to have a health sub centre, although this advantage is offset by the fact that those villages are the most distant from the area's primary health centres. The project is much assisted by local voluntary groups, such as the women's clubs. The local voluntary groups either provide or secure sites suitable as distribution depots for condoms and birth control pills and also make arrangements for the operation of sterilization camps. Data provided by the Project for Community Action in Family Planning show that important achievements have been realized in the field of population control. Population control program is essential because of the energy crisis. If this issue is ignored, it will have dangerous consequences. . Many factors are also directly or indirectly associated with over population. People often experience a shortage of employment opportunities, but they should understand that job opportunity is not related to population. Many young men and women do not get employment according to their education therefore they involve in criminal activities and become drug peddler. Most people are not aware of the fact that the environmental problem is associated with population. Many people believe that there is a strong link between the growing global population and climate change. Resources are limited in the environment and if people keep using them all then there will be crisis for future generation. Others believe that unmanaged population growth could lead to catastrophe because of the Earth’s finite resources. Therefore, it can be said that majority of population is concerned about the impact of overpopulation on their lives, the Earth and the future. Global warming is also related to overpopulation. To control global warming, population must be controlled. As the population grows, the demand for the consumption of energy such as electricity, cars and other energy resources increases which in turn affects the nature. If population growth is controlled, people can control the ever increasing of burning energy that might hamper their future. Many countries in the world are global warming polluter, contributing greenhouse gas emissions primarily from transportation, industry and power plant sources. The other thing that people should be concerned about is the infrastructure. All of us should understand that places are getting smaller and smaller as the population grows. Places, which once held beautiful landscape, have been turned into mega complexes to house the increasing number of people. Population also affects on the education system. Today, education is very expensive and few people can afford to attend colleges or even high school. The shortage of seats in the colleges and universities are limited and many parents afford to bear the cost of education of more than two children. Hence this is another reason that people should keep smaller families so that they can afford the better facilities for all of them. Over population can cause many problems that people are not aware. Some issues are relating to nature, other relates to crime growth and also less of employment opportunities. Today, many younger generations understand that having few children can help protect the environment. The disparity that lies here is that many younger people feel that they have the right to have as many children they want. Therefore, the only best thing to do in such a case is to better educate them with the merits of smaller family.

People live a world that has given us an ample of resources to sustain them and it is up to human beings on how they use the same. As the number of people grows, the amount of earth space is reduced. It should be remembered that people live in a world that has three parts water and one part land and if that falls short than they have no other option but to build man made islands to accommodate the ever increasing rise of population. The need to address the family planning scenario has become a very important concern and many countries have joined hand in taking up the matter to educate the general public about the consequences of having a large family. Younger generations today are more concerned about the environment because the way people are continuing, they have no idea what the world will be if the population keeps growing. Therefore, government should impose the law that a family shall not have more than one or two kids so that they can curb the population growth and also save the environment from the misuse of the energy by millions of people. Resources are dying out because human needs are increasing day-by-day. Sea levels are rising due to global warming. People survive on food and water. If stern action is not taken from the government to regulate population control then the country will become unrecognizable slums filled with broken-down housing, bad transportation, and hungry and thirsty people living on the filthy edge of human survival. Population contributes to a vast number of problems however, many countries have adopted family planning which is both successful and unsuccessful but they have managed to put the word across to many about the issues and concerns that they should be aware of and that prevention is better than cure. Population growth is an important issue for any country. If better facilitates are not provided then many young people take up the path of crime just to sustain themselves and this also becomes a major concern of the government as the inmate population also increase and they have to build various other infrastructure to hold them. However, the major concern regarding over population is that of nature and shortage of food and water. Developing countries like India, Pakistan should take better precaution to curb the increasing number of people as many would thing that they might find opportunities in these areas because they are still yet to be developed. The government should therefore be strict with laws to limit over population without hurting the feeling of the general public. Note: This article is just for information purpose. Writer is not responsible for any argument. From : Ragini Sinha

Why Nerds are Unpopular???

2011-10-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

When we were in junior high school, my friend Rich and I made a map of the school lunch tables according to popularity. This was easy to do, because kids only ate lunch with others of about the same popularity. We graded them from A to E. A tables were full of football players and cheerleaders and so on. E tables contained the kids with mild cases of Down's Syndrome, what in the language of the time we called "retards."

A Complete Strategy for U.S Education

2011-10-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

Sourish Bhattacharyya: Mail Today

"Go for the course that’s right for you and not one that’s got the right social cachet, says a top U. S. official". For Indian students aspiring to go to America, a top U.S. official in the city at the head of a delegation of officials from 21 universities has useful advice to offer. “The best part of the U.S. university system is that you have a wide range of courses and pricing options to choose from, so first educate yourself about what you want and what options are best suited to your career goals,” says Suresh Kumar, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Trade Promotion and Director-General, US & Foreign Commercial Service. The U.S. has 14 of the top 20 universities in the world listed across respected independent surveys, so there’s no doubt about the quality of the education you’ll get, but you’ve got to choose right to get the most out of the system. An alumnus of St Columba’s, Delhi University and the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Sciences, Mumbai, and a former journalist, Kumar should know the aspirations of Indian students better than his peers back home in America. His daughter is a Harvard graduate and a Rhodes scholar; his son studied at Stanford. And he has held top executive positions, including president of Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide consumer pharmaceuticals division, as well as done stints in academia, besides being the Thunderbird School of Global Management’s Distinguished Executive in Residence. As you’d expect of a first-generation immigrant success story and father of two highly qualified young people, Kumar chalks out a strategy for applying to U.S. universities. He does it by giving an example from an area he’s familiar with — MBA Programmes . “If you study business, choose a specialisation according to your interest, skill sets and potential,” he says. Of course, everyone dreams of going to Harvard Business School or to Standford, but their intake rate is 13 per cent and 7 per cent respectively of all the applications filed in a particular year, Kumar points out. So, before applying, do your research and find out which programme is best for your area of interest. If you, for instance, are in love with the idea of counting beans for the rest of your life and making piles of money early on in life, it won’t help your career track if you enroll for an MBA programme that’s prepares its students to become marketing whiz kids. Kumar calls it “understanding the price benefit”. He would recommend Thunderbird, which is in Glendale, Arizona, for students interested in the area of global management. But Kumar isn’t in the country to offer free career advice. The delegation of 21 universities he’s leading represents what he describes as the “width of choice” that the American system offers. Their visit coincides with the U.S.- Indian Higher Education Summit in Washington, D.C. between HRD minister Kapil Sibal and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. India students, whose numbers added up to a little less than 105,000 last year, represent 15 per cent of the international student population on American campuses. In 2010, however, they were dislodged from the No. 1 position by their Chinese peers, whose number has gone up to 127,000. To Indian students, Kumar’s message is to check out undergraduate options in the United States; to the government, he points to the impending need gap in higher education — if by 2015 we achieve the 15 per cent gross enrollment ratio target set by Sibal for higher education, then the infrastructure in place can absorb only 28 million of the 33 million students who will seek admission into undergraduate programmes. “We are here to fill up at least a part of the gap,” says Kumar, his words echoing the sentiments of the delegation that’s come here with great expectations. Reproduced From Mail Today. Copyright 2011. MTNPL. All rights reserved.

A teacher with heart in the right place - The Times of India

2011-06-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

NAGPUR: Kumar Dabir's heart was on the wrong side of his chest. It led to quite a few medical complications that finally claimed his life at the age of 69 last week. However, for thousands of his students, Dabir was one teacher with heart in the right place.

He was known to hand out information, newspaper clippings, books, help, and even money to all those in need. He was able to do that thanks to his lifelong hobby of studying every conceivable topic under the sun. That included taking up farming or keeping poultry just to learn more about these trades, getting an MA two years back and aiming for a PhD in psychology next.

Hailing from a family of farmers, Dabir had gone behind his father's back when he started taking an interest in drama and theater at a very young age. He took up a teacher's job at the insistence of his father, but encouraged all students to develop one more facet of their life by participating in theater activities.

He remained a teacher all his life, even after retiring from Pandit Bacchharaj Vyas Vidyalaya some ten years back. He taught children mathematics in school. After school hours, Dabir wrote numerous plays, stories and even folk songs. His writings encompassed everything from freedom fighters to social reformers to environment conservation to female foeticide to the fight against superstition. No stage was too small for him, including the street corner.

Not a very religious person, Dabir did not subscribe to the strict traditions associated with religious texts. But he deconstructed their philosophy into simple rules, all pointing to a better life and society, which he too aimed for every day.

A student once ran away from school, even leaving his bag behind. Dabir asked the boy's friends his whereabouts and then took the bag to the boy at the end of the day. He simply told the boy, "Why did you run away? You could have asked me and left the school any time." The boy was totally disarmed by this nonchalance, and confessed to his problems. Dabir took him under his wings and, like many others before and after him, the boy soon found his calling instead of ending up a school dropout.

For all his seriousness in deftly dealing with such problems, Dabir never took himself seriously. He had instructed his five daughters and relatives long before he died, "Donate my body for study by future doctors. Don't spend anything on my last rites. Instead, sponsor the education of as many children as you can."

So, this winner of a National Ideal Teacher Award continues to teach even after his death.
A teacher with heart in the right place - The Times of India

Improving Teacher Motivation is Key for the Indian Education System...!!!

2011-06-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

There are many issues in education system in India, and one of the big ones is the lack of focus on the quality of education. India has been focused on what we call the inputs to the education system – student enrollment rates, building schools, books/meals, providing teachers etc). Although all these inputs are important, India’s focus has to change from inputs, to outputs of its education system – student outcomes, quality of education.

Although the student enrollment rates have signficantly increased in the India in the past decade, the drop out rates, and repetition rates are also very high. Enrollment doesn’t mean attendance, and attendance does not mean that the students are actually learning in school.

Why is Teacher Motivation Low in India: One of the main reasons for the poor quality of education in India is low teacher motivation. There are a few reasons for this:

Low accountability in the system: The education system in India is very centralized, with very poor monitoring ability. The people who have the power are sitting in their office in urban, while the local community in the rural areas who know what the issues are, and have the monitoring capability, have no power or voice. As a result, issues like teacher absenteeism (rates in India are highest in the world) go unnoticed, or unaddressed. In some instances, the teachers have one or two additional jobs on the side, that they attend to while being absent from school.

Poor incentives / salary structure: The teacher unions are powerful in India. Due to the centralized nature of the education system, and because of the power of the teacher unions, the salary structure is such that neither does a teacher get a raise for a good performance, nor does he/she gets fired for poor performance or for being absent in school. The teacher salaries are based on seniority, years of service. Hence, there is no motivation for the teacher for performing better.

Other: Sometimes, poor school infrastructure make the working conditions difficult for teacher to teach under. Also, the teachers are not being paid on time, and lack of student interest/attendance, only add to the lack of motivation for the teachers in India.
What Needs to be Done:
Incentives for Teachers: The teacher salary structure needs to be changed from a seniority-based to performance based. One idea would be given a base salary to teachers, and a bonus based on their performance which can be measured by either their attendance rates, student achievement levels, or both. Also, it is critical that the teachers are paid well and on time.

Better Environment to Work In: It would be for the benefit of both the teachers and the students that government spend money on improving the school infrastructures, books/materials etc. It is important that the school environment is such that the teachers and the students would want to go to school everyday.

Decentralization of the Indian Education System: The local community needs to be empowered with administrative powers, for a better monitoring system. This will need some legislative changes, but it is required. This is the only way to get rid of corrupt government education inspectors, and add some accountability in the education system.
Conclusion: Improving teacher motivation in India will need a mix of the “carrot approach” (incentives) and “stick approach” (accountability). While teachers take a lot of the flak in India and rightfully so (due to high absenteeism rates, and lack of moral accountability), it is important to learn what the real issues are, and tackle the root cause of those issues. Teachers are key to improving the quality of education. And it is vital that while addressing teacher issues in India or elsewhere, we make them a part of the solution and not the problem.
Pritamkabe

Education System in India: ICTs Cannot Work Their Magic Alone...!!!

2011-06-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

What is the Problem with the Public Education System in India?

The challenges facing the Indian education system are immense, and the need for reform is immediate. The Services sector (mainly Informational Technology) led economic boom in India has really masked the issues in its educational system. Here are some mind-boggling statistics that will give some perspective on the seriousness of this issue:
1. India has 22% of the World’s population and 46% of the global illiterates. Female illiteracy rates in India are higher than even sub-Saharan Africa.
2. Teacher absenteeism rates in India are the highest in the world – 13 percentage points higher than the next highest country.
3. India has a very young demography – 54% of the population is under the age of 25. With 10 million people expected to enter the Indian workforce every year for the next few decades, if the education system is not fixed, there will be huge disgruntled uneducated population in India, and the demographic blessing will soon turn into a curse and a disaster for India.

What are the Main Reasons for the Educational Issues in India?

Poor Quality of Education: Since the 1970s, the Indian government has been focused on quantity, and has ignored the quality of education. Although the student enrollment rates have significantly improved in India in recent years, enrollment does not mean attendance, and attendance does not mean that the students are learning in schools. The repetition and drop-out rates for students is high, due to the lack of trust in the education system, and its poor quality.

Low accountability in the system: One of the biggest reasons for the poor quality of education in India is the lack of accountability. The monitoring of the education system is weak due to the extreme centralization, bureaucracy and corruption. The local community has no power and hence the cannot contribute towards helping the monitoring process. Due to this, the teacher accountability is very low, which has led to high teacher absenteeism rates in India.

Social/Cultural issues: The Indian culture is very rich in its ethnic diversity, and the caste system is still prevalent. One of the drawbacks of this is the lack of interaction between the teachers and parents, due to the difference in their social and economic background. The lack of opportunities of girls and the people belonging to the lower-caste groups in India also has a deep-rooted cultural reasonings behind it.
What Needs to be done?
Need Political Will: Although this sounds obvious, the will of the Indian government is the first and the most important step needed for making any educational reform. The government needs to realize the gravity of the situation and think long-term in terms of sustained equal economic growth and social stability. The Right To Education Act slogan should be changed to the Right to Right Education. Support for equity in education for the females and the disadvantaged groups in India will also be crucial.

Need to Focus on Quality of Education: Although the inputs to the education system (building schools, providing teachers, books etc) are important, India needs to start focusing on the outputs – student outcomes. The first step in this process is to improve accountability in the system. This will require decentralization of the education system by making legislative changes to give more administrative power to the local community, for them to assist in monitoring the local school system. There also needs to be a serious focus on improving teacher accountability, at the same time, improving the motivation for the teachers in India. Currently, the teachers don’t get salary raises if they do a good job, nor do they get fired for doing a bad job in school. Hence, there is no motivation for them to do well in their profession. We can help motivate the teachers by improving the teacher monitoring techniques, and by giving them incentives in the form of bonus salary payments. Studies have shown positive impact that incentives and monitoring can make on not only reducing teacher absenteeism, but on the student achievements. It is also critical to reform the current seniority-based teacher salary structure, and make it a performance-based salary structure.

Need to Monitor, Measure and Assess the Quality of Education: Measuring the quality and the impact of education is always a difficult thing. But it is nevertheless a crucial step. India needs a relentless focus on student outcome results, and to retool its educational strategies based on those results. This needs improving its monitoring and measuring systems. As mentioned in the sections above, technology can play a big role in improving the monitoring capabilities. Internationally comparable tests like the PISA is also a good first step in regard to measuring the student achievement levels. School rating systems can also be very useful in this process and is required in India. Schools can be rated based on not just the inputs to the schools, but also the outputs like student outcomes. This not only helps in creating competition among schools, but it also gives the parents information and helps them in their choice of picking the right school for their children. Having a better monitoring and measurement system in place in the education sector, is also beneficial for justifying the public and/or donor investment in education, for improving the country’s economic performance, and most importantly, for providing a better quality of life for the students in India.
How can ICTs help?
When used in the right context, ICTs can play in important role in supplementing the other structural changes (political, social, economic) required in the Indian education system. Traditionally, ICTs have been used in education by their direct access. But I think there is an untapped potential of the power of indirect access to ICTs that we need to harness, for empowering the administrative side of education system, and local community by getting them more involved. Mobile phone technology will make teacher monitoring, and the concepts such as conditional cash transfer programs, crowdsourcing and crowdvoicing easy to implement. The combination of mobile and radio technologies can be used in implementing Interactive Radio Instructions in school, to improve the student achievement levels. Thus technology will definitely assist in improving the efficiency, and the accountability in the Indian education system, if used the right way.
Conclusion:
The educational issues in India are very complex, and varies from state to state based on the cultural, social and political system of that particular state. But it is not impossible to fix the public education system in India. It will need the political will and a serious civic society involvement for implementing the reforms. Education is a make or break issue for India. And although Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) are not the silver bullet in solving the educational problems, if all the political, social, and economic structures mentioned above are in place, the diffusion of technology will serve as a catalyst for improving transparency and accountability in the system, and providing an improved quality of education to the millions of kids in India.
Pritamkabe

Behind the differential reach of primary education...!!!

2011-06-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

Among other factors, class-related disadvantage and its correlates call for a variety of remedial measures.

Streamlining and simplifying curricular demands at the primary stage of education would worry some people who see ambitious attempts, even if not successful, as good ways to perform better. We are not against anyone trying to do more than what is required from compulsory school curriculum. If intelligently planned, a reduction of curricular load could still leave open the opportunity for better performing students to try more, particularly at home, perhaps with guidance from teachers. What is argued here is that for normal primary education, “home tasks” should be completely unnecessary (but supplementary study at home would not, of course, be “banned” for those who would want to do more). In particular, the students’ success at examinations and school tests should not have to rely on what they have to do at home, outside the school.

This is the way Europe and America have educated their children in primary schools when they were at the same stage of educational development as India is today, and this is how they still do it across the world right now to make basic school education accessible to all, even though the ability of the families themselves to help young children with home work has grown as the overall population has become more and more literate. Home tasks for schoolchildren begin at various ages across the world, but hardly ever at the very basic stages of early primary education, where the concentration has to be on reading, writing and simple arithmetic. This is where the particular issue of curricular overload in early primary education in India is critically important.

IIT View: India’s Education System Should be Revised...!!!

2011-06-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

The Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay requires feedback from students and faculty from the national test scheme.

The school is hoping to gain opinion about their education policies.

The Indian Institute of Technology is an integral school that has built India. It is constructed to produce the highest quality students in India.

A Union Minister recently made a statement that IITs are known for producing world class students. And they are considered to have world class faulty.

However, it seems that today the requirements and standards for IITs are declining and there is a lack of adequate administration and financial autonomy. The demand to get into an ITT is high and therefore there are more students than there is room for.

The engineering system in Indian has become insignificant. About 10 years ago, IITs made up 10% of India’s engineering output. However, today, it makes up less than 2% and it is only declining further.

This means that India must revise the education policies and allow private sectors to “set up innovation universities”. There are currently 3,800 engineering colleges in Indian, with an annual intake of 1.2 million.

Teachers and Teaching....!!!

2011-06-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

Professor P Balram, Director Indian Institute of Science:

“Teachers and mentors are remembered fondly on ‘Teachers Day’, which is observed on 5September. Everybody remembers a favorite or influential teacher, especially as they grow older.Teachers are a diverse community. While primary and secondary school teachers deal with children in their formative years, high school teachers wrestle with the problems of groups of adolescents, in the difficult years when childhood recedes and adulthood beckons. The early undergraduate classes are almost an extension of high school; although college brings with it a sudden loosening of the constraints that sometimes seem so restrictive for teenagers on the verge of a transition. Teachers are to be found all the way up to the level of research degrees. PhD’s are earned under ‘guides’ and‘supervisors’, who must really act as mentors and teachers. By this stage the relationships are more nearly equal,with experienced students transforming into valuable colleagues in research for their supervisors. Teaching is traditionally a term reserved for those who lecture, explain and inform in the confines of a classroom. For teachers,the blackboard and chalk were their traditional instruments; their only other requirement was a sheaf of well-thumbed notes or a prodigious memory, from which facts could be recalled at will. Times have changed in institutions of higher education, where visual aids and computers have invaded classrooms.‘Power-point’ allows instructors to project in rapid fashion reams of information, while the Internet provides an inexhaustible and valuable resource,after class, if used wisely. In the electronic age even teachers may need to change, as they move into a position where they must guide students to learn. In schools little has changed and hundreds of thousands of classrooms across India might well be described in Goldsmith’s vivid verse, penned in the 18th century.............Teaching has never been a financially rewarding profession. In a highly globalized and commercialized world, teaching careers are unattractive and few young and bright college graduates will opt to become teachers. At all levels, from school to the university, there is a growing shortage of trained, committed and enthusiastic teachers. The dramatic expansion of the higher education system, especially in the areas of science and engineering, has suddenly highlighted the great demand for faculty. It has been easy to create IISERs and IITs by decree; it appears harder to recruit faculty who will be both researchers and teachers. As the demand for increasing India’s scientific productivity grows, so too will the demand for scientists in national laboratories where there is no teaching....”
That indeed sets the ball rolling. Very often it is believed, that teaching is either to make illiterate literate only. Or just passing some information in a packaged form, that entitles a person to get a job and earn a livelihood. To become prosperous (successful?) in life. So quite often a teacher follows a curriculum prescribed by the authorities responsible for education. For example Professor Krishna Kumar, a former Director of the apex body for school education in India, NCERT, wrote in a book entitled “What is worth teaching” wrote.
“In our country we do not normally think of curriculum as a 'problem' – in the sense that it involves imperfect choices and decisions made on the basis of defensible, and therefore challenge-able, perceptions. We have an educational culture that is firmly dug into the rock of 'received' knowledge.In such a culture, nobody asks why a certain body of information happens to be equated with education. Under our very different climate and historical circumstance, the influential American curriculum theorist, Tyler, would have been happy to find such a large number of people who are used to accepting the validity of one particular structuring of educational knowledge. Another thing that would have made him happier in India than in this own country is the ease with which dissociation between curriculum and the child's immediate sociocultural and physical milieu is accepted, and the zeal with which 'principles' for curriculum designing, teacher training,and so on, are demanded and applied. My concern is not with 'principles' but rather with the problem of curriculum. Inherent in this declaration is the assumption that there are no principles for developing a curriculum. In the dialogue of education, my agenda is to dispel the notion that there are certain time-honored, proven rules capable of guiding us when we want to prepare a curriculum for Children's education.The position I wish to support is the opposite one – that there is no escape from reflecting on the conditions obtaining in our society and culture if we want to give worthwhile education to our children.The problem of curriculum is related to our perception of what kind of society and people we are,and to our vision of the kind of society we want to be. By taking shelter in the 'received' perspective and the 'principles of curriculum development' that it offers, we merely shun our responsibility and allow ourselves to be governed by choices made long ago or elsewhere under very different circumstances. …...
”I have thought quite a bit about education of science. Very often it is believed, that all that needs Tobe taught in science, is just the age old concepts of physics, chemistry, biology. I do not think so. I wrote:“We have discussed for quite some time about Information. I believe that the education today is highly information centric. Teaching in universities etc. is often construed to be just communicating information to the students by the teachers. But, is that indeed the sole purpose of education?I believe that might have been the case several decades ago, when the channels for information were very limited, the lectures delivered by a teacher and the textbooks. But is that true today?Today, a student gets information through several media besides them, say the electronic media! So,the role of education cannot just be getting/giving information, it must be analyzing and filtering various information that one is exposed to using information one can find otherwise. Education is not just to collect information, rather it is the ability to analyses information intelligently. But somehow the dominant educationalists in our country appears to be of the view that it is enough if students assimilate information, that is included in a course curriculum, passed on to them through the teachers and books, and then evaluating them on this count mainly! I think inclusion of problem solving does not suffice for good education! Problem solving at best encourages one to imbibe the relations between the various components of the curriculum, it does not, most often, encourage out of the box thinking. It does not encourage to seek information from varied other sources. Problem solving, as you have pointed out, has been an important component of science education, hence most text books of science include this component, but then there has been a proliferation of help-books, that give the solutions of those problems as there are websites; students then have the tendency to study their contents and feel satisfied if they can master a particular kind of problems.This becomes very apparent in the tutorial classes for those seeking admission to IIT's or Medical colleges. I remember a conversation with a friend who is a faculty member of IIT-K about the students of IIT, she said the students can answer only such questions that are similar to problems asked in the previous entrance examinations, try asking different kind of questions, you find that most often they are incapable of handling them.....”
Rakesh Mohan Hallen

Thinking About Education = Thinking About Teaching ???

2011-06-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

Often it is presumed that education is the ultimate panacea for all social problems, but we seldom ponder about it. All the readers of this small essay would be educated. They would have attended a school, a college or some sort of university. Most of them would believe, that all that was delivered to them is education. But, is that really true?Let me quote some great persons thoughts, that I compiled while I was the coordinator of Vimarsh an e-forum of the students and teachers of University of Delhi, till about an year ago."Who dares to teach must never cease to learn' -- J.C. Dara
“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” Will Durrant “I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” Albert Einstein "By teaching one learns" An old Latin proverb"
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one" -- Malcolm Forbes Teachers open the door; but you must enter by yourself" -- Chinese proverb"
Education is not a preparation for Life; education is life itself" --John Dewey "learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced"--Mark Twain"
Education is difficult to unlearn" -- Anonymous "Correction does much, but encouragement does more" Goethe “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” W B Yeats“It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.” Alec Bourne “The lecturer should give the audience full reason to believe that all his powers have been exerted for their pleasure and instruction” Michael Faraday“Never stop learning; knowledge doubles every fourteen months.” Anthony J. D'Angelo Now a bit from an article, I read yesterday:“
Education is an amalgamation of life experience, structured study, and critical thinking. From this perspective there are different ways to examine education and the coinciding knowledge that can be obtained. One focal point is the traditional concept of formal education that comes from academic schooling and focused study. The other form of education is based on life experience and informal learning through self-study and personal inquiry. Both formats of learning may provide an equivalent knowledge base, though only one provides the social standard of a conventional degree.On the one hand, formal education provides a focused knowledge base to apply to a specific job,and provides a degree revealing a certain level of formal study and knowledge. One the other hand,formal education has some limitations for real world application and understanding.

It is hard to determine if experience or education is more valuable to prospective employers, or even our own personal competence and wisdom. Regardless, from both we gain knowledge, and as Sir Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power.” When it comes to intelligence, a valuable, but cliché consideration, is the old idea of “book smarts vs. street smarts.” These are two areas of equal importance that provide knowledge and wisdom to initiate growth for future development.So, is one really more valuable than the other?”
So......

What is teaching? Who is a teacher? I have very many times wondered about these questions, while I was engaged withUniversity of Delhi, as the sole coordinator and administrator of an e-forum,Vimarsh, forscience students and teachers of the university. I have also interacted widely with manyschool teachers in various capacities, I in fact my three sisters, all younger to me, teach inschools.But the process develops over time, and today, I feel motivated to write a bit about it.Let me start with the definition of a teacher. I very recently read some thing, that hasimpressed me a lot. It goes as follows:
“The definition of a teacher is to define the indefinable. Almost as wide ranging, yet individualized as asking, what is a parent? A teacher is a guide, a mentor, a confident, afriend, a disciplinarian, an informer, a provider of inspiration and imagination. A teacher issomeone who knows when to intervene, and when to stand back and allow them to try forthemselves.A teacher is more than someone who passes on knowledge. It is the interaction, therelationship, the understanding and encouragement to enable a person or child to reach thefull potential. This should not be merely being able to pass tests or exams but developingfully in all areas as a rounded person who reaches and surpasses their full potential andalso develops a life long love of learning and discovery.Being a great teacher means knowing when to assist, when to stand back and insist onindependence. Doing too much for a learner leads to reliance and lack of perseverance,which will in turn lead to lack of self esteem.
Reaching that goal with encouragement but nophysical help will enable the learner experience the feeling of achievement that inspiresfurther learning.A teacher must therefore, provide the opportunities which allow the leaner to learn forthemselves. Learners do not learn by being told, they learn by finding out for themselves.This may be a toddler playing with water, or a university student doing independent research the principle is the same. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) stated, In order for a child tounderstand something, he must reinvent it. Every time we teach a child something, we keephim from reinventing it himself.' This is not meant to say we must not teach, but we shouldprovide opportunities for children to explore and discover new things themselves. Thisprovides an increased level of understanding than telling them about something.A true teacher teaches as a way of life, they life to teach rather than teach to live. Theynever stop learning themselves as the journey of discovery is ever present. They are not teachers just in school hours, they are constantly looking for ideas to use in the classroomthey often take part in out of school activities, clubs are other ways to support and providefor their learners. They are able to pass this enthusiasm onto their pupils, instilling the joyof discovery.If you enter a classroom of a great teacher you will see learners actively wanting to learn,

interacting with each other and the teacher. You will often see groups workingindependently, on differentiated tasks designed to stretch their individual abilities. You maysee some pupils benefiting from one to one attention from a teaching assistant. They may behaving difficulty in a certain area, or are above the ability of the rest of the class and arecompleting advanced work. It is this
understanding and individual plans of learning that enablelearners to keep on task, never feeling bored or unable to complete work. The balance of beingsupported, yet maintaining independence, is an invaluable skill that separates good teachers fromgreat teachers.We can see then that a teacher is not someone who is knowledgeable they know how to teach.Students taught in an inspiring way want to learn rather than learning for a specific test or reward.They know how to pass on, not just knowledge but love of learning, and most of all the care about the whole person not just exam results. A great teacher is a truly special person and will influencethe lives of their learners for the rest of their lives”
Rakesh Mohan Hallen

India has exam system, not education system...!!!

2011-05-31T08:56:00.000-07:00

In the thick of the entrance exam season, a furious dispatch to the Prime Minister from his own scientific adviser has termed such tests as one big menace.

Strongly recommending an immediate halt to the system of sitting for a pile of exams, C N R Rao, who heads the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (SACPM), said in a letter sent last week that the American method of holding one national exam before joining university is the way.

Putting it bluntly, Rao told the PM that India is said to "have an examination system but not an education system... When will young people stop taking exams and do something worthwhile?"

Referring to the exam overdrive, Rao briefed Manmohan Singh on the various flavours of examinations that dot a student's life: "It is important to relook the entire examination system including the system of final examinations, entrance examinations, qualifying examinations, selection examinations, and so on. Now one hears of a proposal to have a qualifying or accreditation examination for medical graduates and post-graduates."

Students who groan under the pressure of multiple entrance exams will cheer this advice. Citing the example of Joint Entrance Examination conducted by IIT, he said: "IIT entrance exams have the reputation of being difficult and purposeful, but they have also had a negative effect on young minds. Young people suffer so much to succeed in these entrance exams, and in the process lose excitement in education itself."

The lakhs who don't make it across the IIT gates, Rao told the PM, get exhausted and can't perform as well as young people with fresh minds.

Talking about the agony that the Indian higher education sector is in, the SACPM, in a brief document sent to the PM recently â€” accessed by TOI â€” noted, "Today there is not a single educational institution in India which is equal to the best institution in the advanced countries".

In view of the growing number of aspirants for higher education, the SACPM has readied a 10-point checklist of key problems and challenges. It has asked the human resources development ministry to set up a taskforce to come up with an action-oriented document within a year.

"We should seriously consider a possible scenario wherein the young India advantage enables India to emerge as the provider of trained manpower for the entire world in the next 20-30 years. This could be a worthwhile national objective," he told the PM.

Rao's checklist for higher education include:

Raising the bar: Provide all required support to 10 educational institutions to enable them to compete with the best in advanced countries

Look ahead: There's a manpower mismatch in many countries with too many professionals in some subjects. Prepare a vision document which foresees the problems 20 years hence

Inclusivity: Increase the number of fully residential schools up to higher secondary level in rural India to nurture rural talent.

SCRAP THE STATE BOARD EDUCATION SYSTEM

2011-05-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

Uniformity in administration brings about an effectiveness of policy execution in any country, or even in an organisation or an institute. It is this effectiveness which translates into a successful enterprise of governance and leads to stability. If there are double standards, it becomes very difficult for an effective administration to take shape – leading to utter commotion. This is an event which we must steer clear of. Yet, we in India thrive upon chaos, find success in anarchy and cleanse ourselves in a complete mess.
Education is an important pillar of any society. It is of utmost importance that we give it all the privileges it requires to flourish. If education blossoms, it showers us with a lot of effective instruments to progress in this competitive world. For a country like India, education takes prime position. Ours is a knowledge based economy and if we dilute the effectiveness of our educational system by introducing dubious administrative policies, Dr. Kalam’s dream of seeing India as an educational superpower will be drowned in the words of his book.
Our country has seen very many policies which seem to be heading towards some success, but then again for every good policy, there are multiple policies which seem to mar the prospect of a sound educational system. The ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ was a good step towards universal education and was pregnant with good causes and expectant with a hopeful execution. Then again, in its wake came the very unsavoury Reservation Bill and this completely manhandled the purpose of education.
The establishment of a few more IITs is an amazing step, yet the fact remains that they have begun operating in make-shift campuses or in the classrooms of the older IITs. IIM Ahmedabad won’t be allowed an additional campus in Mumbai till there is an excess, unwanted and unnecessary reservation for students of Maharashtra. What can we say about such administrative policies? Is there much to even discuss as to how clueless the babus are when they decide upon educational matters?
One facet of the Indian educational system which I believe is hampering our growth is the allowance given to states to formulate their own educational systems in addition to one existing in the centre, which is the CBSE or ICSE/ISC. With two or maybe three active educational boards existing in every state, there is a very thin line between a possibility of a chaotic environment, as a direct result of the dual board system, and a harmonious existence.
A single unified system is better because it helps us focus on what is important. It also helps the people to completely identify with the system of education prevalent in the country rather than be confused as to its implications. I have traveled a good measure of the country and have studied all around. I cannot even begin to describe the discomfort of fitting into the various systems of education which are in every state. Fitting into the different basics of each state syllabus can take a toll and is not a pleasant experience.
One might argue the presence of Central Schools across the parameter of the country, but how many families constantly on the move would make a choice of this system. Private schools offer more appealing options. Accommodation of students in this environment becomes troublesome with the addition of the state language in the curriculum. It adds to the difficulty. With personal experience I had to learn two state languages with enormous difficulty while I resided in Gujarat and Orissa.
A unified system of examination and education will also help facilitate college admission, especially in the places where prestigious colleges are placed. I have come across instances where good student and more importantly deserving students have failed to apply to the Delhi University admission process because the state board results have failed to come up in the time complying with the admission dates.
Then there is the dilemma of how the colleges and universities evaluate students of different educational background and give them admission into the courses offered. The biggest obstacle is to judge both the capabilities with judicious judgment so as not to discriminate one against the other. Still there are problems in this situation. There are no set guidelines as to how to separately evaluate every students presenting himself/herself from a different educational board. The government has not presented us or has not thought it to be prudent enough to draw up such procedures. It does not also help us when we understand that our admission procedure is all about marks and does not look at the over all student as a person.
With such kind of educational losses, which take place on both sides, it is necessary that the government lead by the HRD Ministry, needs to consolidate the entire process of education in the country thus bringing the entire faculty under one umbrella. It will help us unify the very disarrayed system of education. The problems discussed above will mitigate and help us to create an even more effective knowledge economy in the country

what ails India's education system...!!!

2011-05-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

Amartya Sen is man of many parts -- Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, honorary doctorates from major universities across the world, and author of books including The Argumentative Indian (2005), and Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (2006) besides research in philosophy, welfare economics and the economics of peace and war.

He is the recipient of many awards including "Bharat Ratna" and Nobel Prize in economics. He will be speaking at the Nasscom Summit 2007 in Mumbai on February 7. In an email interview with Leslie D'monte, he explains why he's not satisfied with the current state of India education. Here are the excerpts:
What positives do you see in today's Indian education system?
Positives? First, our higher education system is widespread, and while the quality of it is very mixed, there are still a lot of people getting reasonable higher education.
Second, in some fields, especially in technical education, the quality of what is offered is indeed fairly high. Against these "positives" stand the huge neglect of primary education and also secondary education, and of course - as already mentioned - the highly variable
quality of university education (some of it not worthy of that name).
What are the major pitfalls?
The pitfalls of illiteracy include functional handicap, intellectual deprivation, and social disadvantage. When large groups are systematically neglected, like girls, especially from economic and social underdog families, the social penalties are gigantic.
Is technology is gradually helping in taking education to the masses?
The main causes of our uneven and highly unequal educational system are not technological underdevelopment but political and social neglect.
It is, of course, important for those who are masters of contemporary technology to take deep interest in removing the educational neglects that plague the country, but they have to look for the diverse ways and means of helping, rather than sticking only to their identities as "high technologists"!
Any sector that become as rapidly - and as convincingly - prosperous owes something to the rest of the society as well, but that is not the same thing as looking only to technology to solve all problems.
Technology can certainly help the spreading of education, for example in making the schooling of maths easier and faster, and even in monitoring the attendance and accountability of teachers and of school officials (I remember Ramadorai of Tata Consultancy Services explaining to me the possibility of using smarter technology in that work), or in making communication of elementary maths easier, but it is not the lack of a
"technological magic bullet" that is holding everything up.
We need IIMs and IITs and we simultaneously need to provide for primary and secondary education. What steps should the government take to ensure that neither one is promoted at the expense of the other?
The main "step" to take is to get on with it! The government has to speed things up. However, the government is not the only agency involved. Not only more money is needed in schooling - not just through raising salaries of teachers and officials - but also better organisation of teaching and better practices (not minimal schooling with maximal private tuition!).
For this we need cooperation between many agencies: governments (at different levels), teachers' unions, parent-teacher committees, civil society in general.
We have gone into some of these issues in a few small reports of the Pratichi Trust - a small Trust that I was privileged to set up in 1999 with the help of my Nobel money, one in India and one in Bangladesh.
The Indian Trust is particularly involved in elementary schooling and elementary health care (the Bangladesh Pratichi Trust has tended to concentrate especially on gender equity, including the training of young women journalists from rural background).

Teachers.......LOST.....!!!!

2011-05-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

It has been 61 years since independence, but we still have not been able to achieve 100 ( World Average 84 ) per cent literacy, forget about universal literacy! The quality of education provided is bad.. Lack of teachers, especially the lack of quality teachers is one of the reasons why India is still backward in terms of literacy. Teachers seem to have disappeared. There is a shortage of 25 lakh teachers in the country. With population increasing tremendously, teachers seem to be disappearing even more.
Why have people started taking up other professions and delegated the job of teaching to become their last preference? Teaching used to be a highly respected and well paid job once upon a time. My grandfather decided to be a teacher instead of a district collector around 45 years ago. But now, no one would do this and people are likely to wonder what made him take this decision! A child spends most of his time with his teacher and if he/she doesn’t impart adequate knowledge and values to his/her pupils, the entire future of the child gets destroyed. However, these days, teaching is likened to commercial work.
One of the reasons for this is the low salary packages of teachers. Low salaries make people reluctant to take up this profession. There is also a lack of incentive to impart quality education. Teachers should be given proper incentives and should even be awarded for high performance. Seventy per cent of the 8,000 teachers in DU have seen stagnation in salary and position for the past 10 years. It takes a teacher a minimum of 11 years of research and teaching to attain the position of Reader, the highest position in DU. At present, they get Rs.18, 400. If the recommendations of DUTA are approved, then the average income of a Reader in Delhi University can go up to Rs 60,000.
The need of the hour is that the recruitment process should be in accordance with the students’ needs, and teachers who are more student friendly and have proper educational qualifications should be recruited because along with the quantity, quality also matters.
It has often been said that many teachers in India are lazy and do not wish to work. Working conditions need to be made more stringent and it must be ensured that the work is done properly. The environment should be teacher friendly as well. Government must increase the public expenditure on education as education is a solution to many other problems like poverty, unemployment etc. Better salary packages will attract more and better teachers.
There are millions of young brilliant minds in India but the full potential of the country still needs to be discovered. Millions of people need to be educated. India will be a country with great professionals if people are provided with right opportunities. The future of our country is dependent on teachers. They must feel responsible towards their job and help India shine.
Aparna Vya

What is a Classroom With-Out Lights or Furniture?

2011-05-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

Bring yourself back to the time when you were just seven years old.

Imagine yourself in the classroom, sitting down on the cold hard floor with a book in your hands. You are trying to read the words, but it is hard to see. There isn’t enough light coming in from the window.

You look around, trying to find another source of light. When you look up at the ceiling, a glimmer of hope emerges, as there it is, what you have been looking for – a light bulb.

Eagerly, you stand up and search for the switch. Locating it at the corner of the room, you delightfully try to turn on the lights. But no matter how many times you flick that switch, darkness still surrounds you.

Disappointed, you head back to the cold floor and take your place. With the book in your lap, the only thing you can do now is to squint your eyes as hard as you can.

As you look around, you find slight comfort in knowing that you are not alone, as all the other children in the room are doing exactly the same thing.

But luckily for most of us, we enjoyed the privilege of having lighting and furniture in our classrooms.

Maybe we even took them for granted.

However, this is not the case of the children in Mewat. Lights cannot be turned on, because there is no electricity. Even though the government funds the schools’ electricity, power distribution in the rural area can be unreliable.

In the school campus in Salamba village, some classrooms were lucky enough to have lights installed. However, the village receives only 8 hours of electricity per day as determined by the electrical company, and the school cannot adjust these timings to suit their hours. In other schools, classrooms do not even have lights installed. The only solution for them is to study outside in the corridors; be it during summer, winter, and even the monsoon season.

If the lack of proper lighting isn’t bad enough, these children have no tables and chairs to sit on, either. There isn’t enough to go around for everyone. Furniture, if any, is mostly unusable due to wear and tear. Schools would love to start repairing their broken furniture, but have been unable to do so due to lack of resources.

Ref: http://srffoundation.wordpress.com/

Education System In India: Make A Living or Make A Life?

2011-05-07T10:20:00.000-07:00

By Pallavi Murthy:
Yet again a teacher sent to jail for having slapped a child and yet again a student at IIT attempted a suicide! On one hand is a teacher who threw acid on a girl’s face because she rejected his marriage proposal while on the other hand is a student who falls in love with his teacher because he finds her ‘hot’. On one hand is a student who finds it hard to take the pressure of clearing the examinations while on the other hand a student fails in all his exams but still gets promoted and gets a first class degree because of donation and bribery. These have become an everyday news headline now. So who is to be blamed for all this- the Education system, the teachers, the parents or the children?
First let’s start with the basic meaning of education and its purpose. Education is the process of imparting knowledge. In simple words it involves two main processes i.e. teaching and learning. The main purpose of education is to develop knowledge, skill and the character of a person. It is process of passing information from one person (teacher) to the other (student). We know the basic law of heat transfer. It states that ‘in a system, heat always flows from hot body to the cold body’ to maintain an equilibrium in the system. The same thing goes with education, where the ‘system’ is the ‘society’ we live in, ‘heat’ is ‘knowledge’ and the ‘hot body’ is a person with ‘more knowledge’ and the ‘cold body’ is the person with ‘lesser knowledge’. The need for education is to maintain a balance or equilibrium in the society.

“The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life-by developing his
Mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, i.e.,
Conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to
be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past-and he has to be
Equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort.”
-Ayn Rand