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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Combating crass commercialisation |
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Combating crass commercialisation One need not quote from the history pages that a large number of foreigners once used to visit India for acquiring education. Until mid-1970s, about 15 per cent of students in Chandigarh used to be from foreign lands. Today, their number is dismally low. On the contrary, now foreign educational institutions have started invading India. While no political party has ever dared to put education on its election agenda, today almost all our educational institutions have become political arenas. No wonder that most of the academic and administrative decisions smack of low-order political interference. All this has led to crass commercialisation of our higher education. Core commercial terms like infrastructure, self-financing, contractual appointments, growth-oriented, market based and value-added skills, are now well-accepted part of our educational glossary. Following the “market” trends faithfully, almost all privately run institutions, local or “imported”, reputed or “raddi”, including even those that get government grants to the tune of 95 per cent of their costs, arbitrarily charge hefty fees and funds. Though our courts often intrude to settle such serious issues, our government always chooses to sleep over them. Rather, it seems that the shady economic interests of these institutions are often protected by the authorities that be. It is common knowledge that basic sciences, mathematics in particular, are the pre-requisites for learning computing. Yet through a “non-science-ical” decision, Panjab University recently allowed students from the non-science streams also to join professional computer courses that its affiliated colleges run. This certainly has augmented a “rewarding” rise in the dwindling number of students in these courses. However, it has resulted in a sharp rise in the number of dropouts and failures. Since fat non-refundable fee for the whole session is charged from gullible students in advance, which keeps the college coffers filled, no one cares for the fate of the fast fading courses. Thanks to our shoddy system of examinations that allows even a below-average student to get a degree without attending even a single class, cheaply available “cheap” notes, unbridled cheating methodologies and private tuitions, which are freely available as “add-on paid services”, are the “mantras” for sure success. “Masti bole to college or university.” Many students seek admissions in colleges/universities just for fun. Rest of them join because attendance is an imposed necessity. Remove the compulsory attendance clause from the university regulations and see how these edifices of higher learning crumble. Since education in government colleges is costs less, often these colleges insist their students to take up courses that remain less preferred. The “open-hearted” private institutes exploit the situation to the hilt. Fat fund-collection sprees, like that from the “clandestine sale” called “condoning” of the shortage of lectures to the “open sale” of heavily priced prospectus are just tips of the iceberg. Some colleges have also started running “job oriented” courses that in fact our ITIs and polytechnics are supposed to run, for the same very reason. Providing unaccounted number of “casual” students with capsule coaching is another hit formula (racket in fact) in these institutions. The huge earnings of such institutions, however, are kept as opaque as unaccounted funds of political parties. These politically clouted institutions function like powerful “autonomous” bodies. The recent allegations of members of the National Accreditation and Assessment Committee accepting gifts during inspections emanated from private colleges alone, for obvious reasons. A wide gap between public and private-colleges fee structure led to a student agitation in Chandigarh last winter. The local administration constituted a broad-based committee (of which I was also a member) comprising bureaucrats, college principals and students to “rationalise” the fee/fund structure of all local colleges. However, the private institutions managed to get the status quo by dragging the administration and the university into an unending debate on who actually controls the finances of these institutions. While the supremacy issue still hangs fire, these institutions are continuing to make hay while the financial sun shines. Perhaps a strong people’s movement alone can combat the crass commercialisation of education in India. Since parents in our country pay for the educational expenses of their wards often with great difficulty, they should see to it that their daughters and sons, while entering colleges and universities, do not play pawns in the hands of power hungry politicians guised as educationists. If education is being presented as a commercial commodity, accept it as such. However, while “buying” an educational package, students should be trained to demand from their teachers and institutions, not just the worth of every penny they pay for, but also some added freebees. It is high time that students sought no relaxation in the number of teaching hours or in the number of daily assignments/projects. They should actually press for their considerable increase, so that they are able to draw maximum from their teachers and the given infrastructure.
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Armed Forces February 7 Indian Navy, Post Box
No. 04, R.K. Puram P.O. (Main), New Delhi 110066 Short Service Commissioned Officers in Naval Arch Cadre-Aug 2005 Elig: Unmarried Indian men; BE/ BTech (Naval Arch/ Mech/ Aero/ Civil/ Metallurgy, 60%); Age: 21 - 25 yrs. Selectn: Psychological Tests, Indv tasks, Group tasks, GD & PI. Details: Website. March 15 Territorial Army, TA Group HQ, Western Command, Bldg no 750, Sec-8B, Chandigarh 160018 www.joinindianarmy.nic.in/arcar.htm/www.indarmy.nic.in Officer in Territorial Army Elig: Employed Indian males and graduate Ex-Serv Officers. Age: 18-42 yrs. Appln F: Civilians: Send Rs 10/- by PO fvg "TA Group Commander" at above add by 15 February. Ex-Service Officers: Send Rs 10/- by PO fvg "ADG TA, Army HQrs" to Addl Directorate General TA, Army HQs, ‘L’ Block, New Delhi 110001 with stamped (Rs 12/-), self-add env (28 x 12 cms) and bio-data by 15 February Engineering Central Tool Room &
Training Centre, B-36 Chandaka Industrial Area, Bhubaneshwar-751024
(M/o SSI GoI) 1) Post Diploma in CAD/CAM (1-yr) 2) Cert Course in CNC Machining (1-yr) Elig:
For 1 Deg/ Dip (Mech/ Prod/ Tool Engg/Auto/ Mould Making/ Appln F: D’load from website. Details: Employment News (8-14 Jan)/ Website. National Institute of
Technology, Rourkela- 769 008 (Ori) MTech/ PhD (Research) Programmes Elig: For MTech: BTech/ MSc in relev areas For PhD: MTech prfd. GATE scores must for non-MTech. Appln F & Details: Website Hotel Management February 10 Indira Gandhi National
Open University (IGNOU), Maidan Garhi, New Delhi 110068 BSc in Hospitality & Hotel Admin (18-mth) Elig: 3-yr NCHMCT Diploma Holders. Appln F: Send Rs 50/- by DD fvg "Indira Gandhi National Open University ", payable at New Delhi to Public Information Unit (PIU) above add/ d’load from website. IT February 28 Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur 721302 PG Diploma in IT (2
sem, FT) Elig: BTech/ BE (60%)/ MSc (Comp Sc/IT/ Electron/ Phy/ Chem/ Maths/ Stats/ Comp Appl with maths in BSc (60%). Selectn: Written Test: April 03 (at 8 centres). Appln F: Send Rs 800/- by DD fvg "IIT, Kharagpur", payable at Kharagpur with 2 self-add slips to Chairman, GATE at above add/ download from web. Details: Employment News (8-14 Jan)/ Website. Law April 18 NALSAR University of
Law, 3-4-761, Barkatpura, Hyderabad 500027 www.nalsarlawuniv.org 1) BA, BL (Hons) (5-yr) Elig: For (1): 10+2 (50%). Age Limit: Below 20 yrs (on 1 Jul ’05). For (2): LLB/ BL deg (55%). Selectn: Entrance Test: 15 May (at 10 centres) Appln F: Send Rs 1000/- by DD fvg "Registrar, Nalsar University", payable at H’bad to the Asst Registrar at above add by 12 Apr/ d’load from the web. Management April 6 Management Development
Institute (MDI), Mehrauli Road, Sukhrali, Gurgaon 122001 (Har) Executive Management Programme (3-yr) Elig: Bachelor’s deg, 3 yrs wk ex/ Engg, CA, CS, CWA, Architects, Doctors. Selectn: Written Test/ Interview Appln F: Send Rs 1200/- by DD fvg "Management Development Institute", payable at Gurgaon/ New Delhi to above add by April 1/ d’load from website. Medicine January 31 National Board of
Examination, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110 029. Screening Test Exam: March 13 ‘05 Appln F: Send Rs 500/- by DD fvg "National Board of Examinations", payable at Delhi to Executive Director at above add/ download from website. Superscribe env "Appln for Screening Test for Indian Nationals with Foreign Med Qualn"/ d’load from website. February 7 Banaras Hindu
University, Institute of Medical Sciences, Varanasi 221005. MD/MS (3
yr) Elig: MBBS with 1 yr Rotating Internship. Selctn: Entrance Test: March 20. Appln F: Send Rs. 100/- by DD fvg "Director, IMS, BHU" payable at Varanasi with a self-add env (24 x 30 cm) to the Director at above add by Jan 28. Superscribe "MD/MS Form Request" on env/ d’load from website February 28 School of Medical
Science & Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
721302 (WB) Masters in Medical Sc & Tech (MMST, 3-yr) Elig: MBBS (60%). Assistantship: Rs 10,000/- pm. Selectn: Written Test: April 03 ‘05. Appln F: Send Rs 1000/- by DD fvg "IIT, Kharagpur" payable at Kharagpur to Chairman, GATE, at above add / d’load from website. Details: Employment News (Jan 8-14)/ website. Recruitment February 15 Railway Recruitment Board, Jammu-Srinagar, Railway Colony (West), Jammu 180012 Recruitment for Goods Guard (13 posts) Elig: Bachelor’s deg, Dip in Rail Transport, RTI, New Delhi (prefd) Details: Employment News (15 Jan-21 Jan). Sports & Leisure January 28 Sports Authority of India, Office of the Exec Director (Teams), J N Stadium, New Delhi Sports Science Research
Fellowship Elig:
For 1, 2, 3, 6 & 7: Master’s deg in relev subj (55%). Age Limit:
30 yrs University June 30 Mody Institute of
Education & Research (Deemed Univ), Lakshmangarh, Sikar 332311 (Raj) 1) BTech (Electron & Comm Engg/ Comp Sc & Engg/ IT) 2) MCA 3) MBA Elig: For 1: AIEEE ’05 For 2: AIMCET ’05 For 3: MAT (AIMA) Details: Website. February 28 U.P. Technical
University, IET Campus, Sitapur Road, Lucknow 226021 State Entrance
Examination 2005 Elig: For
1 & BHMCT: 10+2 Exam: For 1: April 23 ‘05; For 2: April 24 ‘05 (centres at 21 cities of UP, also Del, D’dun, Roorkee) Appln F: Send Rs 550 by DD fvg "Finance Officer, UP Technical University, Lucknow" with 2 self-add stickers to Registrar at above add February 18/ d’load from website. Distance Education February 28 Madurai Kamaraj
University, Directorate of Distance Education, Palkalainagar, Madurai
625021 (TN) Bachelor’s/ Master’s Deg/ Professional/ MPhil/ OUS/ PG Diploma/ Diploma Cert Courses in Various Fields Details: Website. — Pervin Malhotra |
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