O P I N I O N S

PERSPECTIVE

A Tribune Special
Challenge of education
Commitment needed to make the right to education a reality, says Sudhamahi Regunathan
It may be interesting to note that most of the opposition to the Right to Education legislation has come from educationists. There must be some reason based on experience which is propelling them to protest. What could they be?

Suicidal tendency among teenagers
by Harleen Bahga and T.K. Gill
WHENEVER a school or college student ends his/her life, a pall of gloom descends on the town and the news is received with shock and disbelief. It is particularly difficult for parents to face the grim reality that their child is showing the suicidal tendency. They need to muster a lot of courage to tackle this painful situation.

OPED

Fighting the Taliban
Odds stacked against the Pakistan Army
by Gurmeet Kanwal
Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan of South Waziristan, has been killed by a US missile launched from an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) and a bitter succession war has broken out in the TTP.

On Record
XI Plan will enhance support to colleges: Thorat
by Akhila Singh
With the Union Human Resource Development Ministry’s initiative of introducing widespread reforms in higher education, the role of the University Grants Commission (UGC) has come under scanner. On one hand, the regulatory body’s agenda of the Eleventh Plan aims at taking the higher education to a different high. And on the other, the Yashpal Committee’s report on “Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education” has questioned their relevance.

Profile
Jaswant not new to controversies
by Harihar Swarup
The Jinn of Jinnah has taken another toll four years after L.K. Advani praised Pakistan’s founder and was forced to quit the party president’s post. Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh has now been summarily expelled from the party. What irked the BJP leadership was his attempt to fault Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel along with Jawaharlal Nehru for causing India’s partition in his latest book, Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence.

PERSPECTIVE

A Tribune Special
Challenge of education
Commitment needed to make the right to education a reality, says Sudhamahi Regunathan

It may be interesting to note that most of the opposition to the Right to Education legislation has come from educationists. There must be some reason based on experience which is propelling them to protest. What could they be?

The Right to Education Act sounds excellent. It spells out the government’s sentiments and intentions very clearly and, therefore, makes one feel a concerned government is leading the nation towards the knowledge economy. But on a closer look one wonders why the legislation is at all necessary.

Is there no demand for education that makes it necessary for the government to make education a legal compulsion? Is there unwillingness on the part of the providers so that the government has to take legal recourse?

The figures thrown up by different agencies working in the field of education all point to one single path: the enrolment in primary schools has increased hugely and that the gender difference in enrolment has narrowed, that is to say almost as many girls as boys are being sent to school.

According to the International Development Association: “The social gap has also narrowed with an increase in the Scheduled Caste enrollment at primary level from 18.9 per cent in 2002 to 21.3 per cent in 2006 which reflects parity with their share in the overall population (16.2 per cent). Similarly, the Scheduled Tribe enrollment has also increased from 10.3 per cent in 2002 to 11 per cent in 2006.” The Demographic and Health Survey says the enrolment in 2006 was 83 per cent.

Is this Right to Education legislation aimed at the 17-20 per cent who are not enrolled in school? Or does it in some way address the regional disparity — while the enrolment ratio in Kerala is 98 per cent, in Bihar it is less than 63 per cent. What role will this play in the observation supported by statistics provided by the National Health Survey that the enrolment ratio is directly related to the income levels? With falling incomes, the enrolment percentage falls as low as 69 per cent.

While most problems are best solved by going back to the beginning, the challenges faced by India as of now in the field of education has long outgrown the need for a Right to Education Act. The little legal push that was required should have been given enough by the law against child labour.

Today the problems are: to keep the children enrolled in school that is to prevent drop outs; to impart teaching to them so that they are not illiterate with a fifth class certificate in hand; and to support those children who for monetary or other social reasons are not able to join school to do so. How will the law be able to ensure any of the above?

The Act suggests that 25 per cent of the seats in every private school be allocated to the needy. Who will pick up the tab for that? Already parents are struggling to educate their children and private schools are filling the gap in quality that is left by the government schools. By increasing the burden on them, are we just passing the buck?

Today the challenge faced by India could be looked at from the other end: It is estimated that by 2020 India will have in excess of 47 million work force and the world will fall short by 56 million, just in terms of the 16 to 60 year olds who have been considered part of the work force. Add to this the fact that the most liberal estimates say that only 20 per cent of the graduates are employable. So the rest, even though with a degree of sorts and being grouped under the category of literates in the census are barely so.

In the next 10 years if we are not able to step up the standard and quality, not to mention reach of education, the nation will be left out of the race in progress. In each age cohort it is estimated that there are 20 million. In the next 10 years it is mandatory that we focus upon the children already in the 6-12 age group and by providing them quality education, rope them in to make the population advantage a demographic dividend.

The possible ways of bringing this about may be to encourage more public-private partnerships so that where the government schools are not able to deliver an NGO or corporate house partner with the government and enters into a MOU with the local school. The curriculum instead of being made less rigorous should address the need to develop a skill which finds employment. Class VIII can be the finishing line where many vocational skills are taught intensely and in full rigor. Time is of essence and regular methods beginning with expression of intent cannot take us far. When regular teaching takes place in school and with these children finding their education useful, 100 per cent enrolment would be only a step away.

A legislation cannot change the fact that many schools do not have classrooms, many schools do not have teachers and those which have all of them do not conduct teaching. Other amenities like drinking water and toilet facilities are also dismal. And in many areas where enrolment is poor there are not many standard private schools. Even if there were, they are already delivering yeoman service by working in backward areas. To overburden them would be defeating the very purpose with which we set out.

A law without the requisite social and political commitment becomes a mockery of the judiciary. What is needed today is unambiguous commitment both in terms of education being the priority in every political party’s agenda as well as attracting adequate investments. In other developing nations, every political party gives priority to education, but in India we are still playing to the gallery. If the youth are not equipped with the required skill sets to make them global professionals, they will be left out.

Figures show that among the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, in reality, India is at the bottom of the pile. Russia has a score of eight, Brazil has a score of seven, China has a score of six and India has a score of four. So Jim Money, father of the BRIC report says that actually the real talent potential in the future lies with Russia and China and not with India and China, as it is widely believed.

Illiteracy is like an epidemic and we have to fight it as one. It is now time for action and unless the state governments are given targets and teachers, teacher trainees and parents made use of in an innovative ways, unless adequate investment is made in infrastructure and teachers and their training, we are unlikely to get to the root of a problem that has gone far beyond the inability to send children to school.

The Right to Education Act can be an ornament, so worded, so as to simply decorate the achievements or intentions of the government and to claim our noble intentions.

The writer is a former Vice-Chancellor, Jain Vishva Bharati University, Rajasthan

Suicidal tendency among teenagers
by Harleen Bahga and T.K. Gill

WHENEVER a school or college student ends his/her life, a pall of gloom descends on the town and the news is received with shock and disbelief.

It is particularly difficult for parents to face the grim reality that their child is showing the suicidal tendency. They need to muster a lot of courage to tackle this painful situation.

At the outset, they will have to educate themselves about what to look for and how to intervene or seek timely professional help. Their knowledge of their child is very important when he/she shows suicidal tendency.

What can the parents do? They can educate themselves about what factors contribute to their child showing this disturbing tendency. Essentially, there are three important risk factors. These are mental and physical illnesses such as depression and physical illness or disability; stressful life circumstances such as actual, threatened, perceived loss as death, parental illness; experiencing or witnessing violence or abuse or alcohol or drug problems in the family, separation from loved ones, rejection by the boy or girl friend, conflict with family, high expectations by the parents, school failure, identity issues; and environmental factors such as the easy availability of things to end one’s life such as the presence of a firearm or poison at home.

The parents must know the warning signs of suicide. Once the issue is out in the open, they must consider the child’s recent behaviour in a new light and understand the warning signs of suicide risk in their child. These warning signs may be direct or obvious; subtle or hidden.

The common warning signs include preoccupation with death sometimes revealed in such verbal statements as “I want to die” and sometimes in writing or drawing or music or special interests; self-destructive behaviour as deliberate self-harm and putting oneself in high-risk situations without caring for one’s safety; signs of depression; disturbed sleep, change in appetite, eating, lack of energy, fatigue and problem of digestion.

One can also see changes in behaviour, appearance, mood, emotions, lack of interest in future plans, substance abuse, physical state, giving away prized possessions, writing notes or letters to friends for posterity.

The parents’ knowledge of their child’s typical state and behaviour is especially important. Depression and hopelessness are often associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviour. It is very common among adolescents which often goes undiagnosed. Becoming aware of the signs of depression and how it may show itself in their own adolescent child is one of the most important ways by which the parents can prepare to keep keep their child safe.

The parents should know the basic do’s and don’ts to tackle the crisis. Talk to the child to reduce the risk and take necessary steps in helping the child. Know the warning signs and act calmly with a soothing voice and offer comfort.

The parents should try to help the child in a less serious situation. Even a small difference in approach will work wonders. Because suicidal individuals often don’t think clearly and are very negatively focused, concrete reminders of positive relationships and events are recommended. Block the exits to suicide and eliminate the access to the intended means of suicide such as firearms, poisons, knives, etc.

At the same time, parents should avoid being panicky, waiting, leaving the child alone, debating the morality of suicide, telling him to be grateful for what he has and so on. This is guaranteed to convince the children that the parents cannot understand their pain and that everything will be all right.

Treatment or medication to treat the diagnosed illness should be started as early as possible. Individual and family therapy for the suicidal crisis is also recommended. Parents may be confused as to why they are being asked to participate when it is the teenager who has the problem. They may even feel that a recommendation for family therapy is an indication that the family is seen as responsible for the problems.

Indeed, one reason for recommending family therapy is that it is a way of enlisting the most powerful allies in a teenager’s life recovery and ensuring teamwork to make positive changes. Also, in some cases, the young child is not motivated to participate in individual treatment.

In such cases, the involvement of family is more helpful. The best situation is one that facilitates partnership between the parents and professionals.n

Dr Bahga is a retired Rural Health Officer and Dr Gill is Associate Professor, Educational Psychology, Dept of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana

OPED

Fighting the Taliban
Odds stacked against the Pakistan Army
by Gurmeet Kanwal

Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan of South Waziristan, has been killed by a US missile launched from an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) and a bitter succession war has broken out in the TTP.

Pakistan’s north-west is now so deeply embroiled in insurgency that, for a change, no one has made even a token statement of disapproval against yet another violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty by US forces deployed in Afghanistan. Perhaps the government and the Pakistan army are grateful to the US for helping them to get rid of an iconic symbol of defiance.

After the partially successful Operation Rah-e-Rast (the Right Path) in Buner-Swat Valley and the long-drawn Operation Mizan in South Waziristan, which has failed to meet its objectives so far, it has clearly emerged that the Pakistan army is finding it difficult to effectively subdue the Taliban, leave aside rooting them out.

Also, some elements in its higher echelons are not seriously inclined to do so as they see in this fight against the Pushtuns portents of an impending mutiny. The army comprises over 20 per cent Pushtuns and they are bound to be disenchanted if it kills their fellow Pushtuns in large numbers.

The army created the original Afghan Taliban and considers it a strategic asset. Hence, the army is still following the duplicitous policy of running with the (Afghan) Taliban hare and hunting (the Pakistan Taliban) with the US hounds. Inevitably, it is failing in both endeavours and has antagonised both the protagonists. On April 22, 2009, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Pakistan of “abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists.”

Insurgency in the NWFP and FATA is proving difficult for the Pakistan army to handle primarily because its tactics, techniques and procedures are more suited to conventional conflict. Its policy of placing the Frontier Corps, a border guarding force, in the vanguard while the regular army provides support and trains and equips itself for surgical counter-insurgency interventions has been unsuccessful and casualties have been mounting.

The use of fighter jets and helicopter gunships for air-to-ground strikes and heavy artillery bombardments to attack terrorist hideouts is proving to be completely counter-productive and is rapidly alienating the tribal people. It is also compelling people to leave their homes. Unless it engages in close combat with the Taliban and systematically destroys armed resistance, the Pakistan army will be unable to gain control over and hold the areas that it has lost to them.

Approximately 1,00,000 army troops are now deployed for counter-insurgency operations. The Peshawar-based 11 Corps, comprising 7 and 9 Infantry Divisions, is responsible for counter-insurgency operations in the NWFP. It is stretched thin on ground whereas the Taliban are well prepared to launch high-profile hit-and-run attacks and melt away into the mountainous terrain.

The Okara-based 14 Infantry Division is deployed in the area Bannu-Mir Ali-Dera Ismail Khan in South Waziristan (Operation Mizan) since early-2007. It is finding it difficult to come to grips with the situation as the TTP has the initiative on its home turf.

Besides 14 Infantry Division, a large number of troops from the corps and divisions which are traditionally responsible for operations on the eastern front with India were inducted into the area of Buner and Swat Valley for Operation Rah-e-Rast.

According to the usually well informed Pakistan analyst Brian Cloughley, who is occasionally briefed by the Pakistan Army, these included “two brigades of the Mangla-based 19 Infantry Division (10 Corps)… two brigades of the Gujranwala-based 37 Infantry Division (1 Corps), two brigades of 23 Infantry Division (10 corps) under the command of HQ 19 Infantry Division and the Sialkot-based 54 Independent infantry Brigade (30 Corps). Two integral armoured units and two or three artillery regiments were also deployed… units of 11 Corps took positions in Lower Dir, Buner and along the Sawt Valley to the south of Mingora securing ground for the formations from the east…” (‘Swat Team’, Jane’s Intelligence Review, August 2009).

The operation was launched with 20,000 troops backed by massive air force and artillery support. While many militants were killed – the army claims that it killed 1,592 militants, many others fled the area to live to fight another day despite a tight cordon. The extremist elements are bound to return when the army moves out of the area. The operation resulted in a mass exodus of people from Dir, Swat, Malakand and Buner, the largest internal displacement of population since the great exodus of 1947.

Over two million refugees streamed into Peshawar and other towns in the NWFP, presenting a complex humanitarian challenge for a weak and financially insecure government and for the international relief agencies. The army is now in the process of engaging the TTP in South Waziristan in Operation Rah-e-Nijat (Road to Deliverance).

Brian Cloughley has estimated that up to five brigades have been deployed for this operation that is expected to last much longer than the Buner-Swat Valley operation. The TTP is fighting back with ferocity and is likely to further escalate its hit-and-run raids, ambushes and IED attacks after the death of its leader Baitullah Mehsud. Though the army might wish to launch surgical strikes against suspected hideouts and disengage quickly so as not to alienate the tribal population, it will be unable to do so.

The Pakistan army lacks counter-insurgency weaponry and equipment. Despite uncontrollable internal instability, the army has been investing in upgrading its war fighting capability for conventional war with India – at worst a distant threat. The army has also not yet succeeded in acquiring basic infantry skills that are necessary for dealing with internal security challenges. At a conservative estimate, it will take at least another two to three years to upgrade its capabilities to the level necessary to face the new challenges provided it begins in earnest immediately and makes a determined effort to succeed.

The writer is Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi

On Record
XI Plan will enhance support to colleges: Thorat
by Akhila Singh

Sukhdeo Thorat

With the Union Human Resource Development Ministry’s initiative of introducing widespread reforms in higher education, the role of the University Grants Commission (UGC) has come under scanner. On one hand, the regulatory body’s agenda of the Eleventh Plan aims at taking the higher education to a different high. And on the other, the Yashpal Committee’s report on “Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education” has questioned their relevance.

Sukhdeo Thorat, UGC Chairman, has been at the helm of the organisation since 2006. In an interview with The Tribune, he discusses emerging issues in higher education, strategy and the body’s action plan.

Excerpts:

Q: What has the UGC achieved in all these years?

A: The last two to three years have been an important period for the UGC. Two major things that we have been able to achieve in these years are the Eleventh Plan and the allocation of funds for the university teachers in the Sixth Pay Commission.

Q: Why is the XI Plan important for higher education?

A: The level of higher education is determined by the size of institutional capacity of higher education system in a country. In the Tenth Plan, Rs 3,800 crore were allocated for higher education while in the Eleventh Plan Rs 4,700 crore have been put for the same. The Prime Minister has described this Plan as an education plan and termed it as “second wave” in higher education.

Q: What is the focus of the the XI Plan?

A: As part of this Plan, mainly four issues were looked at. The Plan aims at increasing the enrolment ratio in higher education. The estimate based on Selected Education Statistics (SES) indicated that the access to higher education measured in terms of gross enrolment ratio was about 11 per cent in 2006-07. The Plan kept an interim target of taking the enrolment rate to 15 per cent by 2012. The end of the Twelfth Plan would take the rate to 21 per cent. The world average enrolment rate is 23 per cent.

The second important issue taken up by the XI Plan is of inclusiveness focusing on education in the backward regions. The Plan proposes to support universities and colleges located in 373 districts having low enrolment rate. The Plan also aims to enhance support to universities and colleges with high concentration of students belonging to the SC, ST, OBC and Muslim population. The third issue is of increasing quality and excellence in education.

Q: Indian universities are facing a major staff crunch. How does the UGC plan to address this issue?

A: We have recognised the problem of shortage of teachers in universities due to the ban on recruitment by state universities. Attracting talent and retaining talent are two things we have to concentrate on. The government has accepted the recommendations of the Pay Commission under which teachers get better pay. Now at the entry level a teacher gets more salary than an IAS officer.

Q: What kind of education reforms are being taken up by the UGC?

A: The UGC has suggested academic reforms under which universities and colleges have been asked to adopt semester system, grading system, credit system, credit accumulation, and examination reforms putting more emphasis on internal evaluation.

Q: What steps will the UGC take to regulate the deemed universities?

A: Regulations have been formulated which would take care of equality in the deemed universities. Admissions and fee regulations would be regulated. These have been sent to the HRD Ministry for consideration.

Q: What about commercialisation of education?

A: We have accepted the role of private sector in education. One has to understand the nature of private sector. There are private and aided institutes in which the admissions are regulated by the UGC. Quality and equality are taken care of in these institutes.

The second category is of self-financing institutes. Here the admissions are taken care of by the common tests. Fees are regulated through committees at the state level.

It is necessary to regulate admissions and fees in private deemed universities and private state universities. More important, the Supreme Court has made it clear that education cannot be used for commercial purposes.

Profile
Jaswant not new to controversies
by Harihar Swarup

The Jinn of Jinnah has taken another toll four years after L.K. Advani praised Pakistan’s founder and was forced to quit the party president’s post. Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh has now been summarily expelled from the party. What irked the BJP leadership was his attempt to fault Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel along with Jawaharlal Nehru for causing India’s partition in his latest book, Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence.

It took Jaswant Singh five years to write the book. He took upon himself the task of writing the biography of Jinnah, who was one of the tallest and controversial leaders of pre-partition India. Jaswant Singh is knowledgeable, articulate but never claims to be a scholar. Why then he strayed into the realm of a scholar, knowing well his party’s apathy towards Jinnah?

Jaswant Singh is not the type of man who creates controversies and thrives on them. Yet, controversies chase him. In 2006, there was an uproar when in his book, A Call to Honour: In Service of Emergent India, he alleged that a mole in the Prime Minister’s office during the late P.V. Narasimha Rao’s tenure leaked nuclear secret to American sources. In 2008, he landed in another controversy when he defended the decision to free terrorists during the 1999 Kandahar hijack when he was the External Affairs Minister. In June 2009, he annoyed the BJP leadership by criticising the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections.

Jaswant was really Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Hanuman when he was the Prime Minister and sent on difficult missions. He was deputed to Chennai to persuade Jayalalithaa to support the NDA government.

While participating in the debate on the motion seeking vote of confidence tabled by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mr Somnath Chatterjee said, “For 3-4 days, the AIADMK having 18 members, refused to send the letter of support while Vajpayee kept on repeating Chitthi aati hai, Chitthi aati hai”. “Then Jaswant Singh did the trick. Of course, that was all inside the room; we do not know...we are humble mortals. We do not know what happened there...”

Somnath Babu had stretched what was an apt description of Jaswant Singh’s personality a bit too far. He had to face the wrath of lady members.

Jaswant Singh did the trick again during a visit to Chennai. The meeting with unpredictable Jayalalithaa did not take place in private but in the sylvan surroundings of her farm house, 50 km from Chennai. Jaswant Singh again won her heart. She agreed to participate in the NDA co-ordination committee but held her fire against the Union ministers on her hit-list.

The burly BJP leader has something magnetic in his personality. People, particularly of the opposite sex, get attracted to him almost instinctively. A booming and firm voice, with good command over English and Hindi, clarity of thinking and expression had made Jaswant Singh the BJP’s popular spokesman for a few years. Whenever the BJP had to defend the indefensible, he was there facing a barrage of questions from Delhi’s press corps.

Like many senior BJP leaders, Jaswant Singh does not have RSS orientation. Having come from the Army, discipline has been inculcated in his actions. He says his wife, more out of disgust than admiration, often says: Fauz chode varshon beet gaya, Aadat nahin chuti (You have left the Army years back, but your habits have not changed).

Having been educated at Ajmer’s Mayo College, Jaswant Singh underwent rigorous military training at Joint Services Wing, Clement Town, Dehradun, NDA, Khandakavasala and the Indian Military Academy. “The army training has left an indelible mark on my personality; it shaped me in a particular mould”, he says.

Jaswant Singh has been quoted as saying repeatedly: “I have taken to politics and writing on my own volition”. His political “guru” has, however, been former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who persuaded him to join the BJP. Once he jumped into the hurly-burly of politics, there was no looking back for him. He has now realised that the ground rules of the battle in politics are different than the real battle field.