Padakshep Blog

Question Time at Padakshep with Dr. Suman Chakraborty

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 20:22:00 -0600

Padakshep's seventh episode of the online event "Question Time at Padakshep" was with Dr. Suman Chakraborty. Professor Chakraborty is the recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in mechanical engineering for the year 2013.

Prof. Suman Chakraborty is, a Professor in IIT Kharagpur, working primarily in the area of fluid dynamics. He is among the 2013 recipients of prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award. Padakshep had a nice interactive session with him, discussing aspects of research, science as a career option and also touching upon the issues of grave importance to a student.

My experience as a volunteer of Padakshep

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 18:02:00 -0600

Padakshep - a step towards education

by Payel Goswami

Someone asked me recently why I am spending so much time and attention on Padakshep’s work—what I will achieve in return—what other people, the workforce of Padakshep, hope to gain after a few years, when the scholars, now supported by Padakshep, will be self-sufficient to fight their own battles in life. I tried to explain that it simply does not work like that. This organization is not a company that demands something from its beneficiaries—be it the scholars or the volunteers. The volunteers, including me, surely consider themselves as beneficiaries, otherwise they could not have accomplished anything worthwhile over the years. Undoubtedly we are continuously gaining something through our volunteering , but the reward is abstract –it is not quantifiable in material terms.

Though many of you may have heard about Padakshep, let me give a brief introduction for the uninitiated. Padakshep is a non-profit organization which supports underprivileged yet meritorious students of West Bengal. Though the volunteers hail from West Bengal, they are currently working in different parts of the world. The organization has managed to shape itself very systematically to execute the duty it has undertaken. The management is efficiently handled from fund collection to disbursement, from scholar selection to monitoring and from monitoring scholars to planning their next career path. All tasks are performed with utmost care and professionalism. At the end of the day, it expects nothing but the success of the students who were almost compelled to dropout, in spite of their exceptional result in Madhyamik or Higher Secondary, just because of the terrible and unavoidable poverty in their family.

I came to know about Padakshep 3 years back, from Trisha and Upayan, two of my friends who were working for the organization in their spare time, after handling the huge workload of PhD life. I was fortunate enough to meet them at that time. At first, I was assigned a task of monitoring a student, which at a first glance, me being a full-time school teacher and all, seemed pretty easy. Surprisingly, at the very first effort, I faced trouble. After the initial process of selection, the student assigned to me, denied to take help from Padakshep. I realized that this happened due to the sheer apprehension from the student’s family. Due to logistical limitations, in most of the cases we cannot meet the student personally. We rather try to continue monitoring over phone and some students and their families hardly believe in our words. In this world of fraud and feud, an unexpected help from some unknown organization seems unreliable and an old wives’ tale to those disillusioned by poverty. In some such cases, we have had to drop our project with that particular student and had to find a new and deserving candidate.

I was a little surprised, though confused and demoralized at the same time after that rejection. Thanks to the senior members, I was immediately assigned another student to monitor. I was monitoring Manowar Hossain, an extremely meritorious boy whose father is a beggar and mother a housewife. I started interacting with him and found him to be a very methodical, studious and hard-working pupil. He was very interested to talk to me, took my advice and followed them willingly. When he gave me the good news of his success after every test and exam, I became overwhelmed. I felt as if my own brother was sharing his success-story with me. What would have happened if Padakshep could not track him and support him to pursue his education? I shudder to even think about it.

Manowar has now completed his 1st year of Bachelor of Arts with English Honors in a reputed college in Cochbehar , after passing the Higher Secondary with flying colors. Padakshep is still providing all the expenses of his education. I am still his monitor and expect him to be not only a successful person but also a good human being. This is just one story. There are more students like Manowar, who are involved with us and are in excellent care of their respective monitors.

This is the uniqueness of Padakshep. It not only offers financial support to deserving underprivileged meritorious students, but also provides good guidance to them. We have noticed that many students do not know the proper way of applying for a scholarship or getting admission in a college or planning about career in this fast paced and web-connected world. We help the scholars in such cases. In the process, we end up making a bond with our scholars, which is essential to do such work. As each and every volunteer of Padakshep has their own independent professional life, it needs a truckload of passion, dedication, and love for the work to carry out the tasks appropriately.

To conclude, I am going back to the starting point of this discussion. After three years of working as a volunteer in Padakshep, what did I achieve from all this? I now realize that I may have walked a few steps towards becoming a responsible social person. I grew up in a small town in West Bengal. I worked as a school-teacher in a remote village of that same district. I met students struggling with worst forms of poverty. Some of them hardly got two meals per day. Higher education for them was too expensive a task to undertake. There were students who faced huge anxiety, depression and insecurity due to death, separation or sickness in the family, along with financial troubles. How many of them have had to stop pursuing their dreams mid-track? How many felt defeated? We may not be able to abolish these problems, but we certainly can make strides towards alleviating some of them. It is not a promise, rather a hope, a dream that Padakshep is working for, a singular hope for a better future.

Question Time At Padakshep with Dr. Rajesh Gopakumar

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:37:00 -0600

Padakshep's sixth episode of the online event "Question Time at Padakshep" was with Prof Rajesh Gopakumar. Prof Gopakumar is a young Indian string theorist, presently a professor at Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad. He is also a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhantnagar Award for Physical Sciences in the year 2009.

This event was LIVE
on 20th April, 2013 at 9:00 pm in Kolkata
on 20th April at 11:30 am in New York

on 20th April at 4:30 pm in London
on 20th April at 5:30 pm in Berlin
on 20th April at 8:30 pm in Los Angeles

Topics: Physics, String theory & education in india

Question Time with Dr. Brian Schmidt

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Tue, 5 Mar 2013 01:57:00 -0700

Padakshep's fifth episode of the online event "Question Time at Padakshep" featured Dr. Brian Schmidt, Nobel laureate in Physics in 2011 with Dr. Saul Perlmutter and Dr. Adam Reiss.

This event was LIVE
on 15th March, 2013 at 9:30 am in Kolkata
on 15th March at 00:00 am in New York

on 15th March at 4:00 am in London
on 15th March at 5:00 am in Berlin
on 15th March at 3:00 pm in Canberra

Topics: Astronomy, science research around the globe

Question Time with Dr. Brian Schmidt

Question Time at Padakshep with Dr. Somak Raychaudhury

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:56:00 -0700

Padakshep's fourth episode of the online event "Question Time at Padakshep" featured Dr. Somak Raychaudhury. Dr. Raychaudhury is the head of the physics department of Presidency University, Kolkata.

He was seen LIVE on 2nd March, 2013 at 9:00 pm in Kolkata (10:30 am, 2nd March in New York, 3:30 pm, 2nd March in London) right here.

Topics: astronomy, education in India.

LIVE at http://blog.padakshep.org/ and www.youtube.com/padakshep

Question Time at Padakshep with Dr. Somak Raychaudhury

Question Time with Dr. Pranab Bardhan

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:35:00 -0600

Padakshep's third episode of the online event "Question Time at Padakshep" featured Dr. Pranab Bardhan. Dr. Bardhan is a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Watch this video recorded LIVE for his answers to your questions on 17th November, 9:00 pm US pacific time (10:30 am, 18th november in Kolkata, 3:30 PM, 18th November in Adelaide).

Dr. Bardhan on his role in faculty search committee of Presidency University:

Dr. Bardhan on why we should focus on building few centers of excellence in Indian education system:

Question Time at Padakshep with Dr. Pranab Bardhan

Question time with Dr. Ashoke Sen

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:40:00 -0600

Question time at Padakshep with Dr. Ashoke Sen

Padakshep conducted an informal and interactive interview of Dr. Ashoke Sen from Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, India. He is highly acclaimed for his work in string theory which many argue is the only hope to reconcile quantum theory and gravity. This interview was broadcast on 26th August, 2012 at 10:00 PM LIVE right here !!!

Dr. Ashoke Sen's hobbies:

On whether students should pursue basic science or applied science:

On whether the universities should publicize their research activities:

Question Time with Anita Sengupta

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 18:25:00 -0600

This event was LIVE on July 19th, 7:00 PM US pacific time, 4:00 AM, 20th July in Berlin and 7:30 AM, 20th July in Kolkata. Dr. Anita Sengupta answered your questions about the upcoming Curiosity Rover landing on Mars. Share with everyone you know.

Question Time with Anita Sengupta

YouTube Video on Curiosity landing

Ragging and Popular Indian Culture

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Mon, 28 May 2012 19:40:00 -0600

by Sudipto Banerjee

Ragging at educational institutions in India (particularly in the residential campuses) is a very common phenomenon. Many students go through this humiliating and often physically abusing experience at the beginning of their college days. This is, without a doubt, a widespread social menace. And adding regional, cultural and socio-economic differences in student backgrounds only make things worse. Sometimes, I hear arguments (in defense of ragging) which claim ragging to be an ice-breaker between the old and new students. This is a ridiculous defense of a ridiculous practice. If humiliation and abuse are the essential ingredients of a conversation starter then we are not living in a civilized society. One cannot imagine similar practices at the workplace. Then why does it exist in colleges?

But the one development that disturbs me more than the act of ragging itself is its acceptance in our popular culture. Recently, I was watching an Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match which was airing on prime time Indian television. These matches generally garner high TRPs and are watched by millions and millions of Indians. And, when I watched an apparently innocuous advertisement of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate I was shocked. The ad used a stage of ragging to promote its product. It shows the ragging victim distributing chocolates to his tormenting seniors and their hearts melt so much so that they forget ragging and return hugs to him. This was not the first time I observed such callous depiction of ragging in front of millions. I have seen ragging stages used as comedic backdrops in blockbuster Bollywood movies as well. “Munnabhai MBBS” and “3 Idiots” are the ones that immediately come to my mind. Not surprisingly, in all three instances the victim of ragging comes out “victorious”. Such is the demand of our popular culture! But in my experience as a student, I have never heard of or seen anyone who came out “victorious” from their ragging. The truth is, if you try to be a “hero” in front of your seniors on a ragging stage, you are only making your college days more miserable. And the pain, anguish, humiliation and abuse that follows is never portrayed in a culture which is used to see actors as “heroes”.

The way the Cadbury ad depicted ragging, it looked more like an innocent fun act than ragging. True, not every ragging episode goes to extreme ends. But some do. And certainly most of them are neither innocent nor fun and very few of them end with hugs. Ragging is a criminally punishable offense and it would be better for the society if our popular culture depicts it that way. I imagine it would be absolutely wonderful for parents if they could send their kids to colleges with bags full of sweets and chocolates and not worry about their son or daughter getting ragged. Until that day comes, why not treat ragging as what it is?

Author's website: http://web.econ.ohio-state.edu/~sudipto

Sun story: Annular eclipse of 20th May, 2012

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:09:00 -0600

by Team Padakshep

The mighty Sun

Ball of fire

The Sun has been a huge source of inspiration since the dawn of human civilization. It is probably the first celestial object to be given the status of “God”. The sense of awe that the Sun generates just by its looks seems to fall short when we come to know what our Sun is in reality. You can imagine what went on in the minds of ancient people from China, Egypt, Assyria or India when they saw the awe-inspiring Sun suddenly being covered by a dark disk. Solar eclipse as we call it, was a mysterious and sometimes terrifying event for ancient people of this planet. Little did they know that it is actually caused by our very own moon coming in between the earth and the Sun.

The fear factor

Ring of fire --- annular eclipse

How big was the fear of something baleful might happen? There is a legend in ancient chinese texts that king Zhong Kang executed two royal astronomers Hsi and Ho as they failed to predict the solar eclipse of 2136 BC. A story on them is available here. In India, many still believe their sins bring solar eclipses and a dip in the “holy” river Ganges will wash away all their sins and free them from the never-ending cycle of life and death. The Egyptians and the Mayans had their versions of scary stories too. Many such stories are available here.

Historical records of solar eclipses

Egyptians, Chinese, Assyrians, Babylonians and Greeks were the first to record solar eclipses in a systematic manner. Indian records were often shrouded in religious and mythological contexts and are not verifiable directly. Some believe that solar eclipses were mentioned in Rigveda and in the epic Mahabharata while many dispute those claims. The first scientific approach in India to this celestial event came probably from Aryabhata in 498 AD when he tried to explain the solar eclipse as due to the shadow of moon on the earth. A detailed study on historical records of solar eclipses in India can be found here.

May 20th, 2012

May 20th, 2012 was a special day as people from East Asia and North America observed a rare annular solar eclipse. A small, sleepy town of Kannaraville in Utah became a tourist destination for people from around the world as the path of maximum annularity went right over it. Below is a composite image of several phases of the eclipse as observed by a team from Padakshep. This is what you would have seen if you were somewhere in southwestern Utah on May 20th, 2012.

Transit of moon

A video made from the still photographs is here:

Photographs taken by Arnab Rudra and Kusumika Mukherjee from Padakshep. Please give credit to them if you reuse these photographs.

Pratham – IIT Bombay’s journey into Space!

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:34:00 -0600

(Padakshep thanks Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay for arranging this article)

by Jhonny Santosh Jha

Pratham Team at IIT, Bombay

Have you ever imagined how it would feel to send something into space? What a wonderful feeling it would be to have a satellite circling the planet and beeping your name aloud every time it crossed your hometown! It all started with a bunch of students dreaming exactly this. Pratham, the first student satellite project of IIT Bombay, started 4 years ago as the brainchild of a few space technology enthusiasts at IIT Bombay.

The idea was to build a small satellite from scratch, learn the basics of space technology, and in the process make IIT Bombay a centre respected for Space Research. We started off in a small classroom with zero funding! Five years down the line we have created a specialized lab replete with clean room facilities to assemble an entire satellite and Pratham has become the largest technical student project that IIT Bombay has witnessed till date.

Pratham: IITB's first student satellite project

My role at Pratham when I first joined was as a team member of the communication subsystem. I was responsible to ensure that the satellite was heard (remember the beep that I talked about!). However, as the project grew, so did my responsibilities. I was soon made the team leader of the communication subsystem and later the Project Manager. The technical complexity of the project can be gauged from the fact that it took 40 IITians 4 years to get the perfect design for the satellite. During this time, we created 30 versions of the satellite model, over 100 versions of the functional modules, visited Europe and Africa to represent Pratham in 6 international conferences and created almost 20000 pages of documentation! And the beauty is we started from scratch and did it all by ourselves.

Exploded view of Pratham

However, Pratham for me has gone beyond a college project. We started with what we call our social goal. We wanted to share all the knowledge that we had gathered among universities across the globe. We made our documents available in public domain and conducted workshops to help people get acquainted with satellite technology. Currently, we have 10 universities across India and 1 university in France participating in that social goal. In fact, two are from Bhopal and some others have started their own social goals.

Pratham for me was an opportunity of a lifetime and it taught me a great deal, however, if there is one thing you could take away from this, it should be, “You can engineer great things if you dream big”.

Author Jhonny Santosh Jha is the project manager (along with Sanyam Suhas Mulay) of Pratham, IITB's first student satellite project. Pratham website can be found at http://www.aero.iitb.ac.in/pratham/

Indian Roots of Modern Mathematics - Contributions of a Pioneer

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 18:57:00 -0600

by Krishnamurthi Ramasubramanian

Mathematics in India has a very long and hallowed history. Sulvasutras, the oldest extant texts (prior to 800 BCE) that deal with mathematics, explicitly state and make use of the so-called Pythagorean theorem apart from giving various interesting approximations to surds, in connection with the construction of altars and fire-places of different sizes and shapes. By the time of Aryabhata (c.499 CE), the Indian mathematicians were fully conversant with most of the mathematics that we currently teach in our schools, which includes the methods for extracting square root, cube root, and so on. Among other things, Aryabhata also presented the differential equation of sine function in its finite-difference form and a method for solving linear indeterminate equation. The `bhavana' law of Brahmagupta (c.628) and the `cakravala' algorithm described by Jayadeva and Bhaskaracarya (12th cent.) for solving quadratic indeterminate equation are some of the important landmarks in the evolution of algebra in India.

The Kerala School of Astronomy pioneered by Madhava (c.1340--1420) extends well into the 19th century. The mathematicians and astronomers residing on the banks of the river Nila in the south Malabar region of Kerala -- stumbling upon the problem of finding the exact relationship between the arc and the corresponding chord of a circle, and problems associated with that -- came very close to inventing what goes by the name of infinitesimal calculus today. Particularly, Madhava of Sangamagrama, around the end of 14th century, seems to have blazed a trail in the study of a specific branch of mathematics that goes by the name of analysis today. He enunciated the infinite series for pi/4 (the so-called Gregory-Leibniz series) and other trigonometric functions. The series for pi/4 being an excruciatingly slowly converging series, Madhava had also given several fast convergent approximations to it. Interesting proofs of these results are presented in the famous Malayalam text Ganita-Yuktibhasa (c.1530) of Jyesthadeva as well as in the works of Sankara Variyar, who was a contemporary of Jyesthadeva.

Though Madhava's works containing these series are not extant today, by way of the abundant citations that are to be found in the later works, we come to know that it was Madhava who was responsible for the efflorescence of the galaxy of brilliant astronomers and mathematicians that the Kerala School was to produce over the next three centuries. The works of the later astronomers and mathematicians of the Madhava school contain several interesting results that include the derivative of inverse trigonometric functions as well as the ratio of two trigonometric functions.

There is a perception that mathematics in India has just been a handmaiden to astronomy which in turn has been a handmaiden employed in fixing the appropriate times of religious rites. Though it had its modest beginning that way, if the purpose of mathematics is not broadened to include sheer intellectual excitement, it may be difficult to explain as to why Nilakantha cogitated on the irrationality of pi -- a beautiful discussion of which is to be found in his Aryabhatiya-bhasya -- and Madhava evolved elegant methods to obtain the value of pi correct to almost 14 decimal places.

It is quite interesting to note that almost all these discoveries are succinctly coded in the form of metrical compositions in Sanskrit. To the present day reader, having got so much accustomed to the use of symbols, it may be rather difficult to imagine a recursion relation, or an infinite series, or the derivative of a function being expressed in the form of terse verses. But astonishingly, that is how it has been presented to us at least from the time of Aryabhata (5th cent.) till late 19th century. It is truly remarkable that all the different branches of mathematics in India, including the sophisticated infinitesimal calculus, have been developed ingeniously without `formal' notation in a completely indigenous way!

Vivekananda's thoughts on education

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:35:00 -0700

An editorial post

Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)

Swami Vivekananda's interest in contemporary science education in India is well known. He was one of the influential figures behind Indian Institute of Science (or "Tata Institute" to the local people in Bangalore). In a letter to Swami Vivekananda, dated 23rd November, 1898, the industrialist and nationalist Mr. Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata shared his idea of building a science research institute¹:

"Dear Swami Vivekananda,

I trust, you remember me as a fellow traveller on your voyage from Japan to Chicago. I very much recall at this moment your view on the growth of the ascetic spirit in India and the duty, not of destroying, but of diverting it into useful channels.

I recall these ideas in connection with my scheme of Research Institute of Science for India, of which you have doubtless heard or read. It seems to me that no better use can be made of the ascetic spirit than the establishment of monasteries or residential halls for men dominated by this spirit, where they should live with ordinary decency and devote their lives to the cultivation of science, natural and humanistic. I am of the opinion that, if such a crusade in favour of an asceticism of this kind were undertaken by a competent leader, it would greatly help asceticism, science, and the good name of our common country; and I know not who would make a more fitting general of such a campaign than Vivekananda. Do you think you would care to apply yourself to the mission of galvanizing into life our ancient traditions in this respect? Perhaps, you had better begin with a fiery pamphlet rousing our people in this matter. I should cheerfully defray all the expenses of publication.

With kind regards, I am, dear Swami

Yours faithfully,

Jamshetji Tata”

The original letter

Although there is no account of Swami Vivekananda’s response to this letter, we know Swami Vivekananda was interested in such endeavors. The official journal “Prabuddha Bharata” from Ramakrishna Math and Mission expressed the support for this effort of Mr. Tata in its editorial of April, 1899.²However, neither Swami Vivekananda nor Mr. Tata were alive when the institute actually came into existence in 1909 with the tremendous efforts from the Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, William Ramsay, Dorabji Tata, the elder son of J. N. Tata and Sister Nivedita.

Vivekananda’s excitement with Indian science was also evident in his interactions with Professor Jagadish Chandra Bose. In his memoirs of European travel he mentioned how thrilled he was to see Dr. J. C. Bose giving his lecture in front of the western audience explaining his research.³

Apart from his interests in India’s scientific achievements, Swami Vivekananda rightly realized the urgent need for education to alleviate people from abject poverty and distress. In numerous letters and essays he expressed that only education was the solution to the problems of India. He stressed on the education, which can bring confidence and self-reliance among the people. In a letter to the Maharaja of Mysore in 1894, he wrote⁴:

“Priest-power and foreign conquest have trodden them down for centuries, and at last the poor of India have forgotten that they are human beings. They are to be given ideas; their eyes are to be opened to what is going on in the world around them; and then they will work out their own salvation. Every nation, every man and every woman must work out their own salvation. Give them ideas — that is the only help they require, and then the rest must follow as the effect. Ours is to put the chemicals together, the crystallization comes in the law of nature. Our duty is to put ideas into their heads, they will do the rest. This is what is to be done in India. It is this idea that has been in my mind for a long time. I could not accomplish it in India, and that was the reason of my coming to this country. The great difficulty in the way of educating the poor is this. Supposing even your Highness opens a free school in every village, still it would do no good, for the poverty in India is such, that the poor boys would rather go to help their fathers in the fields, or otherwise try to make a living, than come to the school. Now if the mountain does not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain. If the poor boy cannot come to education, education must go to him. There are thousands of single-minded, self-sacrificing Sannyâsins in our own country, going from village to village, teaching religion. If some of them can be organised as teachers of secular things also, they will go from place to place, from door to door, not only preaching, but teaching also. Suppose two of these men go to a village in the evening with a camera, a globe, some maps, etc. They can teach a great deal of astronomy and geography to the ignorant. By telling stories about different nations, they can give the poor a hundred times more information through the ear than they can get in a lifetime through books.* This requires an organization, which again means money. Men enough there are in India to work out this plan, but alas! they have no money.”

In another letter to Shrimati Sarala Ghosal, he wrote⁵:

“Education, education, education alone! Travelling through many cities of Europe and observing in them the comforts and education of even the poor people, there was brought to my mind the state of our own poor people, and I used to shed tears. What made the difference? Education was the answer I got. Through education comes faith in one's own Self, and through faith in one's own Self the inherent Brahman is waking up in them, while the Brahman in us is gradually becoming dormant.”

After almost hundred and ten years of Swami Vivekananda’s demise, the situation has not improved as he would have liked to. Today, almost one third of the total number of malnourished children live in India.⁶ About 12% of the Indian males are not literate and after 65 years of independence, female literacy rate is only 65%.⁷

We know from various studies that education and specially girls’ education is essential for improving many of the development indices.^8,9 While the government of India has already implemented the right to education bill¹⁰, it is also important to ensure that the benefits of this bill are realized urgently. According to a recommendation to the government of West Bengal, we will need 1557 additional primary schools and almost 15000 new or upgraded upper primary schools in West Bengal alone to ensure the enrolment of all the students in schools.¹¹ These massive targets can only be reached with the synchronized active participation of NGOs, private sectors and the government. We, who are fortunate in our lives to receive the fruits of the economic growth of India, need to stop awhile and look back if we have left anyone behind in the journey towards progress. Swami Vivekananda’s ideas on education still remain relevant and we have to keep ourselves motivated until the goal of universal education is achieved.¹²

* Interestingly enough his thoughts on teaching went well beyond the contemporary standards in schools. The use of visual methods and story telling approaches in teaching are now well recognized as efficient methods.

References:

1. http://apc.iisc.ernet.in/iisc_tata_vivek_kalam.htm

2. http://www.rkmvu.ac.in/?q=content/school-mathematical-sciences-0

3-5. http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/complete_works.htm

6. http://hungamaforchange.org/

7. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/indiaatglance.html

8. a) http://www.littlemag.com/hunger/aks.html

b) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xytH0FveYA

9. a) http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/4501_5112.html

b) “What Works in Girls’ Education: Evidence and policies from the developing world” by Barbara Herz and Gene B. Sperling

10. http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementary.asp

11. http://www.wbsed.gov.in/wbsed/welcome.html

12. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education.shtml

A note by author, educator and environmentalist Bill McKibben.

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Tue, 4 Oct 2011 20:51:00 -0600

It's been many years since I visited Kerala last, and I'm sure a great deal has changed, but I hope the thing that struck me most strongly is still true: that of all the places I've ever been on earth, it was the one where the highest percentage of people were really engaged in thinking about their place and its future.

Of all the statistics about Kerala--low birth rate, low death rate, and so on--the one that always struck me was that more people read a daily newspaper there than any spot on earth. Malayalam was one of the world's great languages for thinking about how the world needed to change! And people didn't just read, they acted--in those days, anyway, the Kerala People's Science Movement was a real model for how ordinary people could come together to make change, and for how academic experts could both guide and learn from people whose expertise came from a lifetime of work.

I've tried to take some of that spirit to other places around the world. It was one of the inspirations for founding 350.org. People told me that it would be hard to get people in poorer parts of the world concerned with big issues like global warming, but I knew from having spent time in Kerala that that simply wasn't true. And so it has proven to be, in India and around the planet!

Official site: http://www.billmckibben.com

Iswarchandra Vidyasagar: A Champion of Female Education in Bengal*

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:53:00 -0600

by Saikat Rudra

Portrait by B. Hudson (c.1851-c.1852)

The nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of a galaxy of pioneers in various aspects of life - in thoughts and ideas, in science, art, literature, social reforms and religion. It was the dawn of the age of reason, an age of transition from the medieval darkness to the enlightenment of modern age, often endearingly termed as “Bengal Renaissance”. Iswarchandra Bandyopadhyay, popularly known as Iswarchandra Vidyasagar as the honorific title “Vidyasagar”replaced the surname (he often preferred to sign in English as Eshwar Chunder Sharma), was one of the great reformers and architects of Bengal who fought relentlessly and unflinchingly on various fronts of the inert, stagnant and orthodox society. The title was awarded to him by Sanskrit College for his outstanding accomplishments in Sanskrit language, literature and philosophy.

Born of obscure parents in a more obscure village in Medinipur District on 26 September, 1820, Vidyasagar started his teaching career at the age of 21 with Fort William College, Calcutta, and later joined Sanskrit College as its principal but career was never important to him. His eyes were set beyond.

Vidyasagar felt that mass education, irrespective of caste, creed and sex, was the necessity of the day to bring about a real change in the society. And to ensure it, spread of education among women was very much essential. The Bengali society was still holding on to medievalism. Besides the commoners, many highly educated men too were averse to any change in women’s status, particularly to their education. Prior to 1850 the government was not too keen on education of Indian women. Memoirs of Rassundari Devi, born circa 1809, depicts the plight of women which is full of pathos: “ I was so immersed in the sea of housework that I was not conscious of what I was going through day and night. After sometime a desire to learn how to read properly grew very strong in me. I was angry with myself for wanting to read books. Girls did not read…That was one of the bad aspects of the old system. …. People used to despise women of learning…..In fact, older women used to show a great deal of displeasure if they saw a piece of paper in the hands of a woman.” Again, Haimavati Sen (born c.1866) recalled: “ It is a popular superstition in our country that women, if educated, have to suffer widowhood.” In her Hindu Mahilaganer Heenabastha, Kailasbashini Devi recalled that although she had initially become literate at the behest of her husband, it had to be kept secret from her parents-in-law. In his Report on The State of Education in Bengal (1836) William Adam wrote : “ A superstitious feeling is alleged to exist in the majority of Hindu families, principally cherished by the women and not discouraged by the men, that a girl taught to read and write will soon after marriage become a widow.”

Indeed, some respectable men like Raja Radhakanta Deb and the Christian Mission moved in that direction. While, on the one hand, Vidyasagar devoted himself to the restructuring of the prevailing system of education with unfailing zeal and determination, on the other hand, he kept his focus on the need for spreading education among women. In 1849, a day school for girls named Hindu Female School, later renamed Bethune Female School, was opened in Calcutta by John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune, a barrister and law member of the Governor General’s Council. As the president of the Council of Education, Bethune had known the highly talented and untiring Vidyasagar. Now he inducted him into the school as its honorary secretary. In 1856, Vidyasagar was elected secretary of the school committee. Bethune persuaded a number of prominent families to extend their support to the running of the school. By 1850 the school enrolled 80 pupils.

The arena of Vidyasagar was, however, much larger than that of Bethune School. He was convinced that mass education could not exclude female education. So he planned to open more schools for the females. He discussed the matter with the lieutenant-governor of Bengal Sir Frederick James Halliday(1854-1859). He was verbally assured by Halliday that if “…the inhabitants would provide suitable school houses, the expenses for maintaining the schools would be met by the government.” So Vidyasagar went ahead with opening 35 female schools in 4 districts namely, Hughly, Burdwan, Medinipur and Nadia, in a brief space of time between November 1857 and May 1858. His plan was to set up the female schools in the same fashion as he had done for Model Vernacular schools for boys because the government’s stance on the female education appeared to him to be encouraging. “The average total attendance” of girls in the schools was 1300. Perhaps it was too hasty, considering the complex character of the administration. In the next year the government refused sanction to the establishment of the schools. Vidyasagar lamented, “My labours have thus become fruitless and the interesting little schools will have to be closed immediately.” He had incurred a huge expense for opening and running the female schools. Now he was put into a great trouble. In disgust he resigned from the post of principal of Sanskrit College as well as all other official posts in November 1858.

But the little man had an unshakable courage, vigour and determination. In the wake of his resignation he lost his monthly income of Rs 500, and the government withdrew all financial support. With a view to keeping the female schools running he opened a “Female School Fund” and many distinguished Indians, including Raja Pratap Chandra Singh of Paikpara, came forward to contribute to that fund. Even lieutenant-governor Sir Cecil Beadon contributed Rs 330. A happy undertone of Vidyasagar marks his letter to Sir Bartle Frere, who had contributed to the cause, “… the Mofussil Female Schools…are progressing satisfactorily. Female education has begun to be gradually appreciated by the people of districts contiguous to Calcutta, and schools are being opened from time to time.” At the same time Vidyasagar took great care of the welfare of Bethune School.

Throughout his life Vidyasagar championed the cause of female education in Bengal. After he passed away on 29 July 1891, the Ladies’ Vidyasagar Memorial Committee paid a tribute to him: “It is, therefore, a source of great gratification to the Committee to find that a body of Hindu ladies in Calcutta should have interested themselves in this manner to perpetuate the memory of the late Pandit Vidyasagar who, during his lifetime, in addition to the philanthropic work to which he devoted his whole life, had done so much to promote Female Education in Bengal.”

References:

Woman and Social Reform in India: A Reader by Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar
Iswarchandra Vidyasagar as a Promoter of Female Education of Bengal by Brajendranath Banerji
Iswarchandra Vidyasagar and the Changing Status of Women in Bengal by Rubi Maloni

*This post was contributed by the author on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Pandit Iswarchandra Vidyasagar.

Education in India - Doing the numbers

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:45:00 -0600

by Dilip Chabria

Photograph by Bernard Gagnon

Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on an average approximately six steps away from any other person on the surface of Earth. However, this theory does not account for the fact that the "last mile connect" will in all likelihood be over a digital medium, and as a majority of all personal communication is now non-voice - we email, tweet, scribble, and share much more than we talk on any given day - there's a good chance you wont be able to reach out to nearly 300M of India's population. Unfortunately, this would be not because they aren't covered by "the network", but due to the fact that they simply cannot read or write. In fact, one may be able to connect with someone millions of miles away on topics of international importance, but connecting with an unlettered person just a few miles away on seemingly mundane issues may prove to be surprisingly difficult.

The inability to connect, to interact, and to understand the world around us in some ways denies an individual a basic human right. This state of affairs takes a dangerous turn when viewed in the context of the universal adult franchise - when more than 30% of the electorate cannot read and comprehend a candidate's manifesto. How, then, is the individual expected to "cast his or her vote out of free will"? Wouldn't the "free will" always be influenced by the will of someone else?

As an interesting statistic, the number of unlettered people in India is very similar to the number of people living below the poverty line. Having stated that, I would immediately caution the reader against theorizing any causation. It is not the case that only the unlettered are below the poverty line, or somehow by becoming lettered, one automatically graduates above the poverty line. Although, one would imagine that the chances of "graduating" above the line are likely to increase in such a case.

Let's try doing the numbers on these 300M people - lets also modify the worst case law of averages to apply as 1 in 10 instead of 1 in 8, as it is easier to measure:

- so let's say 1 in 10 people given primary education actually "get it",

- then 1 in 10 of those actually go on to high schools,

- then 1 in 10 of those actually go on to get a college degree,

- then 1 in 10 of those get the opportunity to do scientific research

- then 1 in 10 of those actually figure out something real, new, and exciting that makes this world a better place to live in.

Despite using this worst case scenario, it appears that we have a hidden "Super 3000" in the unlettered crowd without really stretching the assumptions too far. This truly is a demographic dividend that we are yet to tap into.

Dilip manages the branding, education outreach efforts of Team Indus, India’s only entry into the Google Lunar X Prize.

Website: http://www.teamindus.in/

and http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

One Laptop per Child – A doomed ambition for palsy India

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:29:00 -0600

by Ipsita Shome

I was reading a paper by the Harvard Kennedy School which focuses on the world’s most ambitious projects, their causes, outcomes, deficits et al. While the paper mainly revolved around environmental, infrastructural and scientific domains, there was one brief mention of a whopping educational pursuit that allegedly acquired its due success. Now with macro-budget projects success is an incongruous relative. But this certain program is said to have achieved heights of unexpected objectives despite anticipated shortcomings and is spreading like a virus.

The docket goes by the name One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program. The program has developed a radically new low cost laptop computer and aggressively promoted its plans to put the computer in the hands of hundreds of millions of children around the world, including the most impoverished nations. That said, if the critique of Sir Francis Bacon had a say on this, he would comment – “There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.” Following suit, it should be mentioned that, the provision of individual laptops is a utopian vision for the children in the poorest countries, whose educational and social futures could be more effectively improved if the same investments were instead made on more sustainable and proven interventions. Middle- and high-income countries may have a stronger rationale for providing individual laptops to children, but will still want to eschew OLPC’s technocentric vision. This is because, when policy wonks will dive in to scrutinize the blueprint, the first thing that will strike them is, this program represents the latest in a long line of technologically chimerical development schemes that have unsuccessfully attempted to solve complex social problems with overly simplistic solutions.

In India, this program has been widely pursued more as an interactive exchange programme than the elsewhere ‘only education’ undertaking. While Satish Jha’s (President and CEO of the OLPC India Foundation) endeavours are highly commendable, considering the unending chase (of NGOs, governments, corporations and international bodies) for funds commenced – it should be duly noted that, as a functioning policy, the fuel to channelize resources which makes a difference in tender lives is not at the least adequate. Of course, Mr Jha is not at fault here. The creek lies in the basement.

The OLPC program represents a marriage of Negroponte’s (Founder – MIT Media Lab) digital utopianism and the constructionist learning theory of Seymour Papert, Negroponte’s long-time colleague at MIT. Their inference being, having several students share a computer is as inadvisable as having multiple students share a single pencil. Whereas this sort of idealism works fine in the cosiness of the MIT Action Labs and America’s affluence, the contours of the likes of the OLPC program hit an abrupt halt when faced with the many economic and social challenges of countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, etc.

Unlike Negroponte’s approach of simply handing computers to children and walking away, there needs to be integrated education improvement efforts. No one pondered over this, sadly. Without the basis of elementary education, a computer is as good as a pestle and mortar to children, with no utility other than the amusement of funny keys and a magic touchpad. Papert’s hypothesis also falters for a nation whose literacy rate is as good as the number of healthy eaters in Indonesia. He says, “In the end, [students] will teach themselves [how to use the laptop]. They’ll teach one another. There are many millions, tens of millions of people in the world who bought computers and learned how to use them without anybody teaching them. I have confidence in kids’ ability to learn.”

OLPC Program in Nigeria

This amplification of pre-existing differences through computer access stem from two main factors. First, students from high socioeconomic status backgrounds are more likely to have family members and peers who can support and guide them in learning more sophisticated new technologies. This kind of support is referred to as the social envelope of educational computing. In other words, it is not the computer itself that brings benefit, but rather the social and technical support that surrounds the computer that makes the difference. Second, students who already have strong language and literacy skills, as well as background knowledge on topics at hand, benefit most from unstructured learning environments. For underprivileged India, this is where the OLPC falters and the exercise becomes completely futile.

Constructionist theories require a proper skeleton to be built upon. But in the case of this country, there is only a carcass, or rather, nothing at all. There are important differences between a research-oriented development effort and a large-scale international campaign involving the production, distribution and use of millions of educational computers. For an effort of that sort to be successful, it requires an understanding of how to organize large-scale social improvement efforts involving technology and how best to support learning in diverse contexts. Racing ahead without this understanding can waste precious resources required for development and divert attention from more promising approaches to educational and social reform. Regrettably, there is no magic laptop that can solve the educational problems of the world’s poor. A genuine effort to curtail that will require the talents of a wide array of policymakers, practitioners, scholars and designers, including the kinds of technology innovators that have been drawn to OLPC.

Author's website: http://ipsita7shome.wordpress.com

Reproduced from: The Broad Mind - Opinions from the Takshashila community (http://broadmind.nationalinterest.in)

To Sir With Love

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:11:00 -0600

by Saikat Rudra

The lessons were too hard. In computer jargon -''Access Denied.''

''You did not study, I think. Why?'' He asked softly.

''Yes, I did.''

''Then come to me after the classes are over.''

He had a serene look. He spoke gently and clearly, and his baritone voice was awe-inspiring. But for a child of twelve he was a distant man.

The teachers’ room was upstairs. As soon as I was at the door he called me in and sat me beside.

''Feeling hungry?''

I nodded.

''Well, let's have some refreshment. Oh, before that inform your parents that you will be a little late today.''

He dialed the number and talked to my mother.

The refreshment was sumptuous. And then instead of giving and taking lessons we chatted away for more than an hour, and lo and behold, the hard lessons turned so soft that even after so many years I remember them vividly.

After two years Sunil Babu (Sunil Bhattacharya) left our school for a better job.

I remember Mr. Pravat Sarkar, Mr. Milan Bhattacharya and Mr. Sukumar Das who were more friends than teachers.

Why?

Besides giving lessons they taught me to see the world in a positive way, to have respect for human values, to love the society we live in, to build my self-esteem.

''अज्ञान तिमिरान्ध्यस्य ज्ञानाञ्जनशलाकया

चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरबे नमः''

''I BOW DOWN TO THE VENERABLE TEACHER WHO HAS EMANCIPATED ME FROM THE DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE, WHO HAS OPENED MY EYES TO KNOWLEDGE.''

One may bawl at me: ''Hey, these are old ideas. A teacher is a man who needs money to live. Like other professionals he too sells his knowledge and labour to earn his living.''

He is right if only the buyers and sellers can make the world livable.

Sunil Babu passed away a couple of years back. Pravat Babu and Milan Babu are away now. Yet they are with me forever as they were not sellers.

Website: http://ptolemy.sulekha.com

A tribute to the Teacher éternelle

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Sat, 7 May 2011 18:20:00 -0600

by Ipsita Shome

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

150 years ago we saw light on earth. The light of literary revolution, social evolution and elemental perspective. The Nobel Prize is an understatement for his works- the knighthood thrown into anonymity with his own hands. It is surprising how little we know of the man extraordinaire. It is even more perturbing how a comparative less we utilise his theorems of life to make a statement in the same. Just a reminder – Rabindranath Tagore was a man of outstanding literary merit and social standing, even so, his endeavours in radicalising generations after generations with the subtlety of his pen and the evenness of his thinking, not only makes him an immortal icon but also the wishful teacher every nation, every institution yearns for.

Let’s not go into his galore of excellence in written and illustrative art. Much has been said about that already. What needs to be defined and redefined is his ability to be that ideal teacher that preserves the minor nuances of a generation that sets them apart, educate them in the distinctive correct and incorrect, and pave the way for creative insight without posing to be both the rock and the hard place.

‘The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-distrust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciple’, said Amos Bronson Alcott. And quite truly so. Ask any student Tagore had taught. They’ll refer to him as the father figure that they desired for, the educator that led to the contouring of this nation, the selfless sage who sheltered the homeless from the raging August storms in his own abode when Bolpur was devoid of concrete structures other than the Shantiniketan Bari. Godliness came much later, when his gold framed pictures made to the walls of the Writers’ Building, police stations (even outside Calcutta) and other judicial houses.

Teaching is leaving a vestige of oneself in the development of another. And surely the student is a bank where you can deposit your most precious treasures. His institution churned out titans like Gayatri Devi, Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, Abdul Ghani Khan and Amartya Sen. They are products of the fact that they’ve been discovered and nurtured by teachers and by Tagore himself to outshine their contemporaries in their fields of expertise. The sage showed that the objective of teaching is to enable an individual to get along without his teacher in his years ahead. And for the wonder of God, how so! His 150 years of contribution to the society and more is not only symbolic of his undying code of principles, but also the finesse of a man India had the fortune to witness and own – an emblem of virtue, spirit, lull and good sense.

Author's personal blog: http://ipsita7shome.wordpress.com/

I-P-C: The Indian Penal Code of Modern India

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Tue, 3 May 2011 08:36:00 -0600

by Rajabrata Banerjee

Social liability in India can be defined as an integral part of Indian Penal Code (IPC): Illiteracy, Poverty, and Corruption (I-P-C). Interestingly, although there is an explicit ‘punishment’ for every criminal activity under the IPC: murder, rape or even common burglaries, there is no written cure for I-P-C. Is it something that is incurable? Then why have these factors received serious attention from development economists over the past several decades? Or is it something that we take as granted in India – one of the fastest growing countries in the world? The fact is, the more we take them as granted, the larger will be our inability to think scientifically about these issues.

The cure that I can think will simultaneously reduce I-P-C for any developing country is: ‘Education’. Education comes in three forms: subjective literacy, moral education and self-consciousness. The first step is subjective literacy – the knowledge that can help a country to achieve higher economic growth in the long run. Simple macroeconomics tells us that higher average years of schooling will increase the number of students pursuing tertiary education and this in turn will improve the number of skilled labors in the economy. The net effect is simple: higher skilled labors will generate greater pool of labor force in Research and Development (R&D) and in turn will produce higher rate of innovations and technological progress. The net result is higher economic growth.

The next form of education is moral – the power of knowledge that helps one distinguish between right and wrong, rational and irrational and to achieve ‘growth with development’. However, moral education becomes more effective only when one has some degree of subjective literacy. The lack of moral education creates superstitions, blind beliefs and other kinds of irrational behavior in our daily lives, which has both political and social ramifications. How can we achieve moral education? Indeed, here the learning in early childhood becomes important. The environment of one’s schooling, the role played by one’s family, and finally, the society we live in. This process is self-emerging. Once you find yourself in the middle of a society where everyone else is progressing, you will have an automatic incentive to catch-up.

The final form of education is self-consciousness. In this form of education, one realizes that he or she has an identity in this world, and also that one can play an important role by contributing positively to the society. However small the role may be, it is still likely to be significant. It is hard to find a formal institution that provides the knowledge of self-consciousness. However, this is knowledge that heavily depends on the other two forms of education. The fulfillment of education lies in this form.

Many of us complete the first form of education with flying colors, a few pass the second form to some extent, and only few lucky ones reach the third form of self-consciousness. It is in this stage when one shares one’s beliefs with others and finds a way to contribute to the society to make it a better place to live in: an economy achieving both growth and development.

It is our responsibility to educate people in all three forms. Each of our examples will lead others to pay the virtue forward. Collectively, all our contributions will help India become developed, both economically and morally. These are the questions one must find answers to: is one contributing anything other than tax money to his or her nation? Is one’s identity worth remembering? It is only by answering these questions we can eliminate illiteracy, poverty and corruption (I-P-C).

Author's website: http://unisa.academia.edu/RajabrataBanerjee/About

Education Vs. Employment Training

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:54:00 -0600

by Sudipto Banerjee

Education holds the key to success. We have been reminded of this truth time and again. So, right from our childhood days we have tried hard to do well in school. We have memorized as many questions as possible, solved years of past exams, written long answers, aced the clock in our CAT exams. Lot of us either have good jobs or are poised for one. So, can we call ourselves educated? Probably not.

What most of us have received in school or college is training for the labor market. It helps us to make the right decisions in our workplace or perform our jobs efficiently. If a manager figures out what is the cheapest way to increase sales revenue, or if a hardware engineer figures out a cost effective way of storing data then it’s a good application of the training acquired for the job. Education does not figure in this context.

Education is something that enables us to think and judge on issues of (social) equity, (social) justice and helps us to fight the deep rooted evil beliefs which are unconsciously planted in our belief systems through our socialization. Many of us scored an ‘A’ when we were asked to write an essay on Science and Superstition, but still we carry our lucky charm when we go for our most important meetings or exams. We have read a lot about Religion and Tolerance, but when it comes to cricket, we are the happiest souls when India beats Pakistan. Why? Most importantly, we are not bothered when the government distributes land to corporations displacing thousands of starving poor, but we become extremely annoyed when the homeless beggars take the shine out of ‘shining’ India’s streets. The thriving urban middle class of India hates to believe that India is still a poor country and they have successfully immunized themselves from the poor . This is not only selfishness, but lack of education as well. Our academic training has failed to build our notions of a just society. Everyone does not need to wear the cap of a social activist, but they must try to promote equity and justice through their individual actions. So, it’s a long way till we call ourselves educated, but we must remain hopeful.

Author's website: http://web.econ.ohio-state.edu/~sudipto

The E word

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Fri, 4 Feb 2011 16:50:00 -0700

by Dr. Abirlal Sanyal

This time a year back my 'long lost friend' from RKM Vidyapith, Purulia introduced me to a non-profit organization (NPO) called ‘Padakshep’. That was my re-introduction to something very close to my heart - doing good for the 'economically less-bestowed brilliant young students'. Poverty is the biggest enemy of education. I mean poverty of money. The then learning oncologist in me found this 'cancer' more 'invasive and destructing' than the real disease. I started chatting with 'my yet to be seen eager-minded-brilliant-born topper-junior- wannabe- doctor', a resident of Bankura district of West Bengal, whose father is mentally unstable and mother is the only earning member in the family.

The person I am talking to is Tapas Sen.

Gradually I started talking to Tapas more often, but that too not more frequent than a fortnight. Let me not bypass the fact that I too am a student or a learner or an aspirant, whatever you wish to call me, so I know where the E word pinches, when you are in the middle of a journey, with a known destination, but a fluid plan. Since you are born human and wish to fulfill your Ophiuchian dreams, there is need to join the band-wagon, contrary to whatever great thinkers have told. Hell, there was no OMR at the times of Einsteins, Newtons etcetera. So be practical. Stop thinking from the heart. Start using your brains. Be as robotic as humanly possible. Study, even if your neighbour is dying a painful death- you wish to become a doctor-no? Here again comes the E-word.

In this era of multiple choice questions (MCQ) and computer-readable OMRs, nature has kept very little room for emotions. If you blacken one circle wrongly - you might be summarily out of any sort of evaluation. Brilliance lies in blackening the right circle? One word answer is NO and a big one.

Padakshep, the concept is just opposite to what I have written above. In a single sentence the organization helps the ‘brilliant needy’ to pursue their dreams and secure fulfillment of the same. How can this be done without the E word? This organization is an amalgamation of thoughts and efforts from people all around the globe-someone from Utah, someone from Calcutta or someone from Chicago - all like-minded coming under the same roof with the same goal and with the same E-word. As the simplified version of the Game theory suggests ‘the best results are achieved when every individual thinks best of him/herself and the group’- thus the flight-path is ready. Now it is the take-off time. Miles to go…

What does talking do? Transference and counter-transference..not only that..Can it inspire somebody to achieve higher standards? - yes, it can. Can it reduce pressure? - yes it can. Can it be fruitful for both? - yes, it can. Then why silence is considered golden? - I know, but cannot tell it here. Silence at right places is golden. Talking is animal instinct-the most basic. All animals talk.Humans talk more. The fairer sex the most, nothing sexist..

So, what did I perform for Padakshep? - I talked…

By this time - I presume, you readers are intelligent enough to comprehend what’s on Earth is the E word?

Yes, E stands for Education, Economics, Emotion and Empathy.

I am thankful to my teachers for teaching me the thin cribriform difference between a ‘mistake’ and an ‘error’, between ‘sympathy’ and ‘empathy’. I welcome all readers to empathise with the ‘real-brilliant and the real needy’, not sympathise.

I am doing this for myself, my selfish me, as I believe in an after-life. Those who do not, still help.

Education is not a fancy product. Education is not something your father buys you from the nearest shopping mall. Education is our birth-right. Be it institutional or otherwise. But our poor human world, with commodification of everything under the Sun, education is gradually getting into clutches of the refriegerator-corporate. You can buy any qualification if your forefathers have saved enough in your family coffers. And he, the father, coughs it out on time. Not to forget the fact that life is ruthless. Those who buy education get caught in their own web, because anything bought comes with an expiry date, anything acquired is eternal. Some would still take on to crutches, even if their legs are intact and some would walk with heads held high. Did I say Tapas? Then I say it again.

May Team-Padakshep grow from yards to miles. I would remain a bolt, as always, never a thorn, in the whole machinery.

Pause…for now, till my next write-up.

Author's website: http://www.docndoc.com/docabir

Purpose of education

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Tue, 1 Feb 2011 17:20:00 -0700

by Sudipto Banerjee

Why do we study? To earn a better life for ourselves. So what does a better life mean? Is it a big house, nice car, good clothes, flashy gadgets, expensive meals or is it something more than that? At this point, I must say I am not against having any of the above. But is that all we want from our education? Perhaps not.

I use my education to decide what is good for me and my family. I can always stretch a little further and think about what is good for us as a society. This does not mean I have to be a benevolent member of the society and act out of sheer altruism. But what’s the harm in thinking a little bit about the common good and build informed opinion about social equity? If we look around we will find plenty of unfortunate people who are living on the edge and deserve a better life. Little do we realize that their sweaty palms bring comfort to our lives. We justify ourselves thinking we have paid for our comfort. But we buy our comfort rather cheaply. So, what do we do? Renounce our comforts? No, because then these people will die of hunger. We can pay a little more. Not necessarily in monetary terms. We can help them educate.

The essence of education lies in giving or perhaps in giving back. I didn’t learn only from my teachers or my peers. I learnt from all sorts of people around me. They contributed to my learning in different ways. Now, its my turn to help someone else learn. That’s how the cycle continues. That’s how I give back and make my education successful.

Author's website: http://web.econ.ohio-state.edu/~sudipto

A Pilgrimage

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 12:42:00 -0700

by Saikat Rudra

The smile was clumsy and awkward, though the eyes glinted, signifying joy of success. The autumn sun was blazing hot. We sat in a sling of rope 'charpoi' in the deep and dark shadow cast by the mud hut. An emaciated goat was munching grass while her kid was prancing around.

'What do you want to do now?'

The shy, gawky teenager looked up, groping for an answer.

'I wish to continue my study.' His voice faltered.

His name was Bipul Das. The eldest son of an agricultural labourer had won through the Secondary Examination this year in first division, obtaining an average of 91%. But now the road ahead appears to be a blind alley that stops before him.

His father, a bony, prematurely old person, wiped his perspiring face with a napkin hung over his shoulder, and muttered phlegmatically, 'Where is the money, sir? I have five family members to feed and we don't have our daily fill.'

The man paused a little and, waving his hand to the son, said, ' None in my family has ever gone to school, and he has brought glory to us. But...'

It was an unending 'but'. The old man looked blank.

The success story came out in major dailies and news channels. He did not know whether any good Samaritan would ever come his way. Did he expect any ?

The man got to his feet and said, ' Sir, I will sell the small piece of land I have, and I wish to see him walking down a thoroughfare, as far as he can...I will not commit the sin of truncating a growing tree.'

Tears rolled down his cheeks.

Artwork by Kusumika Mukherjee

Abhijit Dutta's thoughts

padakshep@gmail.com (Padakshep Blog) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:19:00 -0700

by Dr. Abhijit Dutta

Teachers are considered to be the guardian angels of society. This was a paradigm of yesteryear. With the progress of time, sincerity has taken a backseat so far as teachers are concerned. The spirit of austerity has vanished amongst them with their increased salaries coupled with the rising crescendo of private tuition. Comfort has inhibited the lifestyle of the teaching community with very few exceptions theses days. Better floor space is offered by luxurious shopping malls than libraries, while the craze for consumerism proliferates among almost all and sundry in their class. Plain living and high thinking is no longer their credo as of yesteryear and the phrase, according to most of them, represents anachronism and self-contradiction of the worst of sorts.

Added to this is the rampant politicization of the teaching community.
This feature is manifest chiefly in West Bengal which witnesses large- scale polarization of teachers on political lines. The result is disastrous. Inefficient and effete cadres of the ruling party have been inducted into important schools, colleges or universities. Merit has thus taken a backseat in the groves of academe and chaos and disorder rules the roost. Centers of excellence have been staffed with political prodigies of inferior merit who make a mockery of learning in classrooms and ignorance steals a march over composite wisdom. Institutions of academic renown and proficiency have lost all their previous flair where bastardized mediocrity is easily perceptible amongst teachers and percolates downward to the ranks of students. It will be useless to seek a solution to these maladies stalking teachers today.

The effects of globalization and filthy lucre have already done much mischief and this mischief can never be undone. There is no question of change of hearts for today's 'mastermoshais'. It would be highly Utopian to expect anything better from their ranks nowadays. There are many exceptions no doubt.... but the rank and file will remain unfazed and unchanged in the present. With the gargantuan rise in their pay and perks , thanks to the ardors of numerous commissions, the spirit of foppishness has permeated the ranks of teachers particularly in colleges and universities. The craze for consumerism among teachers was well manifest when a teacher of a prominent English- medium school in Kolkata asked an affluent student of his to gift him a laptop upon pains of withholding his promotion if the request was not complied with.

Quaint behavioral patterns are noticed. Humility has been largely replaced by arrogance. The behavior of teachers with students nowadays leaves much to be desired causing much tension to brew in the groves of academe. The filthy behavior of a university professor towards physically challenged students created a flutter when flashed in the print media. The teacher concerned had categorically stated openly that handicapped students were unfit for higher education in prestigious universities as their fate in the world was already sealed. He openly characterized them as redundant numskulls in society. Character assassination of colleagues has become almost a daily feature in centers of higher education today. One professor at a preeminent university in Kolkata belittled the academic potentials of his teaching colleagues before his students in class. This same besotted individual arranged his own felicitation immediately on retirement rendering him a laughing stock among his students and disgruntled colleagues. Craze for foreign degrees have permeated the ranks of teachers today. Degrees from universities in the West are rated far above indigenous ones and constitute passports for entry into the upper echelons of society and hence this prevailing craze. The result is disastrous. Teachers become bereft of national prestige while a colonial hangover continues to color their minds with contempt for anything native. Thus their abject disregard for colleagues sporting purely local degrees. The yardstick of learning in very many Indian universities today is a foreign degree.

Author: Abhijit Dutta is a UGC Professor of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.