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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Focus on primary education
Invest more, expect more
CAMPUS NOTES
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Focus on primary education Though we are aware of the importance of quality education, how to achieve it and with what kind of structure has been the main problem. In the past, hundreds of committees and commissions were set up, their recommendations received and considered, implementations done in varying degrees in various states, targets reviewed, but soon the plans were abandoned as a routine matter. The things that plague the whole issue are policy makers' frequent indecisiveness about the division of public and private education, and the primary and higher education, which result in unbridled mushrooming of schools, with private and foreign funding, and the deterioration of higher education. Though the HRD Ministry is aware of the problem, it has failed to find a way out of it. According to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, the problem is caused by the corporate India which is looking at education as an investment opportunity. Expansion of private schools is what he most blatantly condemns as they are accountable to nobody. Businessmen who invest money in education look at children as labour force for their future projects. Though there is no harm in allowing private money to play a limited role, the main responsibility for imparting quality education should be taken by the government only. Recently, at a CII meeting on 'Right to Education', Prof Sen quoted the example of Japan, saying that its Fundamental Code of Education lays great stress on the role of the state. Japan's aim is to see that that the country becomes fully literate by 1910. As a result, it is publishing more books than the UK and the US. According to Prof Sen, our reliance on government schools, as opposed to private, is central to good education. Unfortunately, our government lacks investment-oriented educational system because most of the schools don't have adequate infrastructure. It should also introduce schemes like the mid-day meal scheme to attract poor children. It needs to carry out organisational reforms to ensure accountability in the delivery system. The other major problem is absenteeism among teachers, particularly in government schools. This can be checked by introducing a better inspection system involving responsible social groups. Many children have a poor learning ability. The NCERT has done a survey in this regard and has suggested various steps to improve the learning ability. As for private schools, their interests are different. By taking advantage of poor quality of teaching and dismal performance of government schools, they create exclusiveness which is antagonistic to our policy of universalisation of education. Though they can co-exist, as other countries have done, the challenge posed by them has to be met with money and conviction. Education is our fundamental right, so illiteracy should be completely obliterated from the country to reduce gender discrimination in society. To achieve the desired goals, the Centre has increased the allocation of funds to education almost twice that of the 10th Plan. The major spending will be done on primary education. According to the Planning Commission, which met in New Delhi in December 2007, the total public spending on education has to be much more. This is an indication of good intention on the part of the government. Let us hope that it materialises.
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Invest more, expect more GLOBALISATION has accentuated the divide between ‘Lower India’ and ‘Upper India’, with all benefits of liberalised economy falling in the lap of the latter. Now, employment patterns have changed drastically. Almost all lucrative jobs with hefty pay packages are being offered by those companies that serve Western economies. Today, young men and women are not opting for science-related government jobs because of low salaries. No matter what the government pays the global market will pay more. The children of 'Upper India' may not opt for a career in science because the material comforts they have enjoyed so far, the social aspirations they have built for themselves, the consumptive lifestyle they aspire for-all disqualify them for a nation-building career. A Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) functionary has recently said that many serving scientists are leaving the organisation to go abroad or take up jobs in the private sector. This has created a serious human resource crunch. As a result, many vital projects are suffering. The question is: who will then join the DRDO or other government organisations? Maybe only those who still think a government job will be a big step up the social ladder. Unfortunately, globalisation has given India a pretext for abdicating its responsibility in the vital education sector. Funds-starved state universities have become coaching centres for ‘Multiplex India’. The recent example is Panjab University, Chandigarh, which announced that it would soon start an integrated BE/MBA course to meet the requirements of the global market and to rake in some desperately needed cash. During the 1960s and 1970s, it was customary for the cinema hall management in Chandigarh to allot a number of tickets for the shows of a new release to their lower staff, so that they could sell them in black and make some money. A similar phenomenon prevailed in sate universities which sold part of their NRI quota in the domestic market. Though the practice has since been discontinued on court orders, the universities’ quest for cash continues. Paradoxically, while the youth at large are complaining that they are not getting jobs, employers have a grouse that they are not getting suitable candidates. Obviously, our education system is at fault. The world economy today is far more dependent on science and technology than ever before. However, the cost of manpower training has gone up. As a result, technical education has largely become bookish. Automobile and pharmaceutical are the two sectors in the country that require well-trained manpower in large numbers. Even in the software-driven services sector, there is need to train people at various levels. In the absence of proper training at the low and middle levels, many candidates, attracted by good salaries, are seeking employment beneath their intellect and training. This underemployment does not seem to have raised the concerns it should have. There is need to bring in more intellectual people into the educational fold, for which funds should be raised and utilised keeping in mind national interests. University should create a corpus of Rs 500 crore or more and invest in government securities. Only the interest earned thereon should be expended. There would be need to work out a detailed plan in consultation with financial experts. To raise the funds, NRIs, religious institutions, industrialists and renowned artists of the region can be approached. Universities should be sufficiently well endowed, so that these can think of the next generation rather than the next fiscal year.
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Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak THE modern means of communication technology are playing a crucial role in
continuing the process of evolution of human beings. By the virtue of being truth-loving, affordable and user-friendly, these modern technologies are all set to break the geographical as well as man-made barriers across the globe. These views were expressed by Prof B. K. Kuthiala, Director, Institute of Mass Communication and Media Technology at Kurukshetra University, while delivering an extension lecture on “Convergence of Communication Technologies”, organised by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication on the university campus recently. Addressing the students and faculty, the communication expert observed that the modern means of communication might be considered as the building blocks of an emerging egalitarian society. The Head of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at MDU, Dr Harish Kumar, briefed the students about the topic and its relevance.
Seminar on aesthetics Prof S. P. S. Dahiya, Head, Department of English and Foreign Languages, and Dean, Faculty of Humanities, MDU, chaired a session during an international seminar on “Margins and Nation Spaces: The Aesthetics of Cultural Expression”. Nearly 100 delegates from the country and abroad participated in this international event organised by the Department of English, Rajasthan University, Jaipur, recently. Chaudhry Devi Lal University, Sirsa The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the Journalism and Mass Communication department of Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU) for establishing a Community Radio Station (CRS), according to Virender Singh Chauhan , chairperson of the department. Chauhan said this was an important step towards setting up a radio station to train journalism students. He said CDLU would be the first university in Haryana to run a CRS.Vice-Chancellor Dr K.C. Bhardwaj has directed the department to apply for allotment of frequency within the stipulated period of 30 days.
— Contributed by Sunit Dhawan and
Raman Mohan
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Art & DesignNational
Institute of Jewellery Design & Technology, HTVTC Building, Shrima
Anandmayee Marg, Okhla Phase II, New Delhi 110020 (promoted by Delhi
State Industrial Development Corpn Ltd, GoI undertaking)
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INDIA’s policy on primary education seems to have been permanently jinxed. As the government at the Centre come and go, its form and content change, too. While the outlays are increased or decreased and readjusted to suit the bosses and the masses, the biggest casualty is various initiatives that are delayed in the process. As a result, the literacy rate is slower than expected, barring a few states where the Centre's interference is the least and the autonomy of institutions is guarded strictly.