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CAS versus cash
Hard lessons for Indian teachers in the US
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CAS versus cash The
University Grants Commission offered the university teachers a sop along with the other things that they got from the fourth Pay Commission. This sop was the Career Advancement Scheme, the introduction of which was like a dream came true. It was one of the long-pending demands of teachers. Many teachers joined the institutions of higher education late in their life and then rotted there for the rest of it without any promotion, which frustrated them, so this seemed to be the only way out to the cash-strapped governments unwilling to fill the few sanctioned positions, even when vacant. Even with the best of the intentions, the way the Scheme has been implemented spells burden for all concerned. A teaching aspirant first joins as a junior lecturer and becomes eligible for senior lecturer’s position after four to six years of service, depending upon research work, refresher/orientation courses etc. The move from senior lecturer to selection-grade lecturer or Reader takes another five years, again depending upon research work and publications. The final stage, Professor’s post, is a summit that is almost unreachable. After having served as Reader for eight long years, the person has to have a minimum of five articles or books published in referred journals in that period. These publications will be subjected to intense scrutiny by a panel of three experts. At times it is difficult to get professors to do this job, as there are only a few of them left. At times, they gang up against applicants out of jealousy and give negative remarks to delay the process. Why should an article published in a referred journal be critically re-examined at all? Does it mean that the recommendation of the first referee or expert is dubious? Then, why have referred journals at all? Isn’t it a farce? It is a Herculean task getting something published in specialised subjects like foreign languages, as there are hardly any publishing houses in this part of the world, but rules don’t change. The Career Advancement Scheme is rather a “Career Regression Scheme”. It is easier for a person to become Professor through open selection than through the CAS. Since beggars can’t be choosers, the majority of the teachers depend on this scheme alone. If all goes well, the candidates waiting for promotion are called for interview, where another panel of three experts will decide their future. It is at this stage that the real cash annihilation is introduced. For conducting interviews, each university has to spend lakhs of rupees. The experts have to be invited from different parts of the country and have to be paid various allowances and fares. It takes a good amount even to just contact them on telephone to get their approval. At times experts choose not to go to disturbed areas and the candidates there have to wait longer than their counterparts for legitimate promotions. Even the experts sometimes end up losing money when they have to readjust their schedules at the last minute. There are some 300 universities in India recognised or funded by the University Grants Commission. In each of these, there are hundreds of teachers. Imagine the amount of money that these institutions would have to spend on conducting interviews for each teacher throughout his or her career from junior lecturer to professor. Imagine three experts flying from different parts of the country for promoting a junior lecturer to senior lecturer. The amount spent on the interview is more than what the candidate would get from the promotion. In most of the government departments, internal promotions are done internally. The some exceptions are the universities. No university has, so far, dared to question the UGC. If the decision-making bodies apply their brain, this scheme can be implemented without wasting money or compromising on merit and standards. Each university can have its own internal committee to weigh the merits and demerits of the candidates. If the person has already served the university for so long, there’s not point in going over this ordeal. To avoid discrimination, publications of candidates can be authenticated at various stages, first by a committee at the department level (with members from allied departments) and, later, by a committee at the university level (comprising the Vice-Chancellor and other members of the governing body). A grievances cell can act as fast track court to settle disputes. An internal system will also speed up the implementation of this scheme and make it more effective. Candidates should not become ineligible just because the universities could not go through the rigorous procedures in time. Promotion delayed is promotion denied. The writer is Reader, Department of French, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
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Hard lessons for Indian teachers in the US Soon after Indian teachers set their foot on the US soil, the initial euphoria dies down and the mammoth differences of culture stare them in the face. Most of the schools are located off the main cities and from here a teacher begins to learn the lessons of life. It takes a few days to zoom in on good apartments. These are usually taken on sharing basis till families get visas and start arriving. For Indian teachers, most of whom are vegetarian, finding the right food is a project. There have actually been gentlemen veggie teachers who ate flakes for breakfast and salad and spinach leaves for lunch and dinner, as they didn’t know how to cook. Even the non-vegetarian category has to do a lot of footwork to fish (and poultry) out what is not beef and pork. It may take weeks to lay your hands on a hand-me-down car and months to attain driving perfection that conforms to the right-centric US road rules. Then starts Operation Driving Licence and it may take numerous rounds of motor vehicle office and up to one year of road practice to get the nod from the driving instructor. Till then, a teacher has to be content with a beginner’s permit, if he or she manages to clear the written test, that is. Simultaneously, the experienced educationist from India has to clear Praxis, a written test in the teaching subject of his or her chosen field, to get a teacher’s licence and prove his or her capabilities. Without Praxis, a teacher’s pay is kept at the basic minimum and his or her services are discontinued from the next academic session. Teaching here ain’t easy. Barely two or three children in a class are properly behaved, unlike India, where a teacher has to cope with just one or two “rogue” students. Teenage pregnancies are common and so is violence and display of “passion”. There are schools that let in students only after they have passed the metal-detector test and even geometry boxes are kept out of the classrooms, as these might contain “lethal” compasses. Teachers are called by name and not addressed as Sir or Ma’am. Indian names are tongue twisters for the US students and most of the educationists are assigned aliases. Devyani becomes Davis and Ventakesh Winks. Teachers are taught to be tolerant and the focus is on classroom management rather than the subject. Students stomping on books and educational CDs to protest and making a paper ball of the weekly test and tossing it off in the bin is a “way of life”. All this comes as cultural shock to Indian teachers, who are so used to the “Class Stand, Good Morning Ma’am” routine and who grow up pressing their foreheads on the books, if they dropped these accidentally. Add to it the pang of separation from the family, as it may take up to one year for the family to get a dependent visa, and by the time the great Indian teacher is able to absorb the shock and accept the American way of teaching, it is time to go home, for the temporary visa expires after three years. A two-year stay in a country outside the US is mandatory for a re-entry and only then does the US-experienced teacher become eligible for round II in Uncle Sam’s territory, which has enacted the No Child Left Behind Act to make education reach the grass-root level.
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Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar Contests at Ice and Flames show The Department of Printing Technology of GJUST recently organised its annual Ice and Flames programme at the university campus. A variety of contests were held in first half of the programme, which included rangoli, face-painting, mehndi, quiz and debate competitions. Ms Usha Bajpai, wife of the Vice-Chancellor, Dr R. P. Bajpai, inaugurated the programme. The second phase of the programme was organised on the same evening, during which solo song, solo dance, group dance, skit and other cultural items were presented. The VC and the Registrar, Dr R. S. Jaglan, congratulated the organisers for smooth and efficient conduct of the programme. They observed that in a technical university, such programmes had a great relevance in bringing out the creative and artistic talent of the students. Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar Exhibition of stylised personal dresses A two-day exhibition on "Stylised functional dresses for women at workplace" began at the College of Home Science of the university. Convenient dresses for working women incorporating additional designing, constructional and decorative features through computer technology were displayed at the exhibition. Ms Meenu Chawla, wife of Hisar SSP Arshinder Singh Chawla, inaugurated the exhibition. The college Dean, Dr Neelam Khetarpal, said the exhibition dresses including kameez-salwar, top-trouser and sarees had been designed under an ad hoc research project
entitled "Value-addition in female-line apparel through computer-aided
technology" funded by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Dr Nirmal Yadav, the Principal Investigator of the project, said through the exhibition, an attempt had been made to create awareness among working women for convenient dresses so that they did not face any problem in selection of their preferred dresses. Canadian fellowship for professor Dr Savita Singal, Professor of Family Resource Management with College of Home Science at Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) here, has been awarded visiting scholar fellowship by the Canadian International Development Agency and International Research and Development Council for a period of six months. Dr Singal would stay at Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, from October 9, 2006 to April 8, 2007. She would also pursue academic activities at the university during the period. Dr Singal said the focus of her study would be "Feministic Perspective of Globalisation and Agriculture". —
Contributed by Sunit Dhawan
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