|
|
|
|
| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
|
Raising a balanced child
Role of knowledge in economy
Campus Notes
|
|
|
Raising a balanced child
SOMEONE has rightly said, “Two parents can’t raise a child any more than one. You need a whole community — everybody — to raise a child.” Obviously, today it is just not possible in the little nuclear family paradigm to raise a child, as it should be done. It only means that smaller the family unit, more difficult to raise a child properly, and more important the role of the parents. In today’s world, the market-driven economy shapes our lives more than anything else, and the primary concern for most is to survive by adapting to this new-age necessity. This situation has been pointed out by Mathew Arnold in his book, Dover Beach, where he argues that we have been reduced to the status of ignorant armies fighting by mid-night and we don’t know whose battle we are fighting. In this scenario, one can easily understand why human beings are referred to as commodities whose “price” is decided by market trends. The commercialisation of education is a very serious problem warranting immediate attention of our government, which is committed to the noble Gandhian goals of education. These goals are very close to those of Bertrand Russell who advocated that education must foster four virtues of vitality, courage, sensitivity and intelligence. The present education system fares very poorly on all these four accounts. This brings to focus the very important role of parents. Parents have the most powerful influence, above and beyond any other, on the new lives that bless their homes. If they don’t avail of this God-given opportunity to the best advantage of their children, they are not only failing in their primary duty but are also failing God who gave them this wonderful opportunity. Gandhi had this to say about the role of parents in educating their children, “Children inherit the qualities of their parents no less than their physical features. Environment does play an important part, but the original capital on which a child starts life is inherited from its ancestors. I have always seen children successfully surmounting the effects of evil inheritance that is due to purity being an inherent attribute of the soul.” There are a number of reasons why parents must dedicate themselves to the education of their children. First, every parent has to understand that education does not mean merely learning to read and write. A holistic view of education includes development of character, providing nourishment to mind and soul and helping a student to earn a decent livelihood by the sweat of the brow after passing out of an educational institution. Most of the parents fail to recognise that by leaving their children in the hands of teachers at schools and colleges, they are just abdicating their basic responsibility. Educational institutions of today are no more the centres of learning; they are also centres of many types of vices. How often the parents interact with the teachers and friends of their children and what remedial actions they take on the feedback decide what course the children must pursue during their initial learning period. Most of the religions preach that educating the children is the most solemn obligation of the parents, since they have conferred life on them. In fact, family is the first school of social virtues which every society needs. What Gandhi says about the parents being the best teachers is very true as children can learn far better and in much lesser time from their fathers or mothers at home, which happens to be the cosiest place on earth for them, especially in early years. Unfortunately, no parents can have all the knowledge and skills required for the child to meet the basic objectives of education. If it was possible for parents to become full-time teachers of their children and if they had all the knowledge and skills, no doubt, the children would be much better “educated”. Since no parents can ever have the knowledge and skill required by their children, the best they can do is to lay a good foundation for their sons and daughters for all types of future learning. Parents must put in their best efforts to make them self-reliant, well-balanced good human beings. Most of the educational institutions look at education only from a capital and revenue point of view and, therefore, all their efforts are directed to generate maximum profits. This makes students a mere commodity and the institution a commercial establishment. Parents must not expect from such institutions any development or growth of their children, though admission in such institutions helps a student in passing the examination, which further guarantees a certificate/diploma/degree. In such a scenario, educated and responsible parents can play the role of ideal mentors for their children. They can help in instilling the values in their children by telling them the difference between right and wrong and helping them in practising such values at home. If such value system is integrated with education at the school/college, a conscientious practise of these values will become part of a student’s overall personality. A parent’s role becomes all the more important when the teacher is abdicating his responsibility of being the torch-bearer of values and morals of students. It is unfortunate that the psychological distance between the members of a family is increasing day by day, even though the physical distance may be decreasing, as more and more people are forced to live in lesser open spaces. The parents and children no more share an intimate relationship between themselves. They are also the victims of a cautious and doubtful relationship between different human beings prevailing outside the four walls of the house. It was never more important for parents to accept their responsibility of educating their children than it is today. |
||
|
Role of knowledge in economy
THE past two decades have seen much hype created about knowledge economy. Despite so much having been said and written about it, social scientists have yet to come up with a robust definition of the term ‘knowledge economy’. Moreover, it is a challenge to find suitable metrics to gauge the extent to which society has become dependent on knowledge production, dissemination and its application to produce wealth. A key component of knowledge economy is its reliance on intellectual capabilities or the human capital rather than on physical inputs or natural resources. Thus, knowledge economy is measured by the rise in knowledge management services and the growth in intellectual property. In the light of the above, knowledge economy could be construed as an economy having production and services based on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to an active pace of technological and scientific advance and an equally rapid obsolescence. A closer look at the Indian environment indicates that despite proliferation of a large number of technical institutions, the country lacks the capability to produce engineers and scientist who can create knowledge. In 2008 India produced approximately 350,000 graduate engineers and about 23,000 postgraduates engineers. India’s output for master’s engineering degree holders in 2006 was about 20,000, whereas, the US, with a much lower level of population growth, produced 23,000 master’s degree holders in engineering in 2003. The percentage of engineering masters to bachelors’ output in India was 8.5 per cent, whereas in the US, 50 per cent of the bachelor’s degree holders went on to get master’s degrees. Further, the number of engineering PhDs produced by India per year during the same period was about 1,100 while the US produced more than 3,000. Only 2.9 per cent of the Indian bachelors degree holders in engineering went on to pursue doctoral level studies, whereas the figures for the US were 8.93 per cent. The above figures highlight that India has a lot of ground to cover before it can start claiming a place amongst the community of developed countries. One of the reasons for the above state of affairs is that India is a low technology-based society that is content with import rather than its own research and development achievements. Indian economy started expanding after 1990. Consequently, it needed engineers to keep the processes operative and for repetitive work in the industry. Thus, students were enticed away by the industry the moment they completed their bachelor’s degrees. In fact, the phenomenon of ‘campus placements’ came into being in India at that stage. Short-term profit motives dictated the policies of the industry and the quest for research and development took a back seat. The fact that Indian economy was, and still is, dominated by services sector compounded the problem further. However, as Indian economy develops, it would need engineering and scientific workforce to perform creative work. Going by the present trends, our universities may not be able to meet the demands of the industry. Therefore, technical institutions will have to motivate their students to opt for postgraduate-level studies and research. Moreover, the pedagogy in technical institutions will have to change. At present, their focus is on the content and consequently emphasis is on ‘what to think’. If we have to produce students who can create knowledge, the pedagogy would need to be moulded to teach ‘how to think’ and to learn by ‘doing’ rather than by listening. This change cannot be brought about overnight. It is a long-drawn process and demands a paradigm shift in pedagogy adopted by technical institutions. — The writer is Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara University, Chandigarh |
||
|
Campus Notes THE former students of the Department of School of Social Sciences excelled in the recently declared results of the Punjab Civil Services (preliminary) examination held in December 2010. Professor Sukhdev Singh Sohal, Head of the Department, said out of 20 former students who appeared in the prelims, 16 have qualified. The students who qualified for the prestigious examination include Urvashi Bali, Barjinder Singh, Jatin Chopra, Amit Bamby, Daljit Kaur, Rajmandeep Kaur, Urvashi Bali, Barjinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Simarjeet Singh, Supnandandeep Uppal, Kanwarpreet Kaur Sethi, Rajrishi Mehra, and Ravinderjeet Singh. Regional Campus at
Baba Bakala
The university will establish a Regional Campus at Baba Bakala (Amritsar). The university has already received a grant of Rs 9 crore from the Punjab government. Similarly, a Center for Sri Guru Granth Sahib Studies has also been approved by the Central government. Varsity bags runners-up trophy in youth fest
Guru Nanak Dev University won the Inter-University Youth Festival overall runners-up trophy at Sri Venkateshwra University, Tirupati. The youth festival was organised by the Association of Indian University, New Delhi, recently. D. Puranddeshwari, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, awarded this trophy to Dr Jagjit Kaur, Director, Youth Welfare, Guru Nanak Dev University. About 900 student-artistes from 62 universities took part in the festival. As many as 14 teams from Guru Nanak Dev University participated in the categories of music, theatre, fine arts and literary.
— Contributed by G.S. Paul
|
| HOME PAGE |
Armed Forces Indian Coast Guard,
Recruitment Officer, PO Box No 127, Noida 201301 (UP) 1) Navik (General
Duty) Eligibility:
Indian males with specified physical standards DoB:
For 1: 01 August ’89 - 31 July ’93 Application Form & Details: Website Application Deadline: 21 February 2011 Engineering DOEACC Centre Calicut, PB
No 5, NIT Campus PO, Calicut 673601 (Ker) (M/o Communication & IT,
GoI) PG Diploma in Industrial Automation System Design (6 months) Eligibility: BE / BTech (Electronics / Electrical / Instrumentation / Chemical / Applied Electronics & Instrumentation / Instrumentation & Control / Mechatronics / Computer Sc) / MSc in (Instrumentation / Industrial Electronics / Electronics) Application Form: Send Rs 1000/- by DD favouring "Director, DOEACC Centre Calicut," payable at SBI, NIT Branch, Chathamangalam at the above address / Download from website. Details: Employment News (29 January – 04 February 2011) / Website Course Commencing: 15 March 2011 IT Maulana Azad National
Institute of Technology, Bhopal 462051 (MP) (M/o HRD, GoI) MCA (2
years, Full-Time) Eligibility: Bachelors degree with (Maths / Stats / Business Maths / Discrete Maths / Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science / Business Statistics / Computational Maths / Elementary Maths / Elementary Stats), 60% with Maths in 10+2 Selection: NIMCET2011: 15 May 2011 Application Form & Details: Website Application Deadline: 11 April 2011 Law KIIT Law School, KIIT
University, Bhubaneswar 751024 (Oris) (Deemed University) 1) BA. LLB / BBA LLB /
BSc LLB (5 years, Integrated) Selection: Test (KLSAT): 24 April 2011 Application Form & Details: Website. Application Deadline: 05 March 2011 Management Indian Institute of
Management Lucknow (IIM-L), Prabandh Nagar, Off Sitapur Road, Lucknow
226013 (UP) 1) Senior Management Programme for Global Leadership (1 year) 2) Executive Programme in Sales and Marketing Mgmt (1 year) Eligibility:
For 1: Bachelors degree with minimum 10 years of work-ex Application Deadline: 15 February 2011 Delhi Technological
University, Delhi School of Management, Shahbad Daulatpur, Main Bawana
Road, Delhi 110042 (Govt of NCT) (Formerly Delhi College of Engineering) MBA Programme Eligibility: BE / BTech in any branch of Engg / Tech (60%) / Ist class Masters degree in (Physics / Chemical / Mathematical Sc / Statistics / Computer Application / Electronic Sc / Environmental Sc / Operation Research / Computation / Information Sc / Commerce / Economics) Selection: Valid CAT 2010 score Application Form: Send Rs 1000/- by DD favouring "The Registrar, Delhi Technical University, Delhi" payable at Delhi to the above address / Download from website. Details: Website Application Deadline: 28 March 2011
Indian Institute of
Management Raipur, GEC campus, Old Dhamtari Road, Sejbahar, Raipur
492015 (CG) PG Programme in Management (2 years) Eligibility:
Bachelors degree; CAT scores Application Form & Details: Website. NIIT University, NH 8,
Delhi-Jaipur Highway, Neemrana (Raj) MBA (2 years) Eligibility: Bachelors degree (50%) Selection:
CAT / XAT / MAT / GMAT scores / NUMAT Application Deadline: 31 March 2011 Medicine Central Council for
Research in Ayurveda and Siddha, Room No. 1 & 2, Disaster Management
Centre, Indian Red Cross Society, 1, Red Cross Road, New Delhi 110001 Certificate course in
Ayurveda and Yoga (3 months,
Part Time) Application Form & Details: Website Application Deadline: 10 February 2011
UP Unaided Medical
Colleges Welfare Association, 1st Floor, Anand Ashram
Complex, Rampur Garden, Bareilly 243001 (UP) UPCMET-2011 Eligibility: as per MCI norms Exam: 29 May 2011 Age: 17 years (On 31 December ’11) Application Form & Details: Website Application Deadline: 30 April 2011 Scholarships Postgraduate Scholarships
Office, Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Building, University of Leeds, Leeds
LS2 9JT Commonwealth Shared
Scholarship Scheme Awards (1
year) Eligibility: Nationals of a commonwealth developing country and not currently living or studying in a developed country. Bachelors degree equivalent to a UK first class honour / upper second class honour; must meet university’s English language requirements. Scholarship: Maintenance and other allowances, payment of tuition fees and travel to and fro from the UK. Application Form & Details: Website Application Deadline: 01 March 2011
Postgraduate Scholarships
Office, Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Building, University of Leeds, Leeds
LS2 9JT Tetley and Lupton
Scholarships (1 year) Eligibility: Bachelors degree equivalent to a UK first class honour degree; must meet university’s English language requirements. Scholarship: Cost of academic fees at the full-cost rate for international students. Value of award between £4,000 and £5200. Application Form & Details: Website Application Deadline: 01 March 2011 Sciences – General Raja Ramanna Centre for
Advanced Technology, PO: CAT, Indore 452013 (MP) PhD: Eligibility: For
1: MSc in Physics (60%); candidates who have cleared JEST 2011 Age: born
on or after 01 August, 1985 Application Form:
Send application with required documents by registered post / speed post
with A/D. Details: Employment News (29 January – 04 February 2011) Application Deadline: 15 April 2011 Sciences – Social Indira Gandhi Institute of
Development Research, Filmcity Road, Goregaon (E), Mumbai 400065 (Mah)
(Deemed University) External PhD (Development Studies) Eligibility:
MA / MSc (Economics, 55%) / MStat / MSc (Physics / Maths / Stats /
Environmental Sc / Operations Research) / MBA / MTech / ME / BTech / BE.
55% marks in Economics discipline and 60% for others; with three years
of work-ex Selection: Interview: Last week of June 2011 Application Form & Details: Website Application Deadline: 29 April 2011 Indira Gandhi Institute of
Development Research, Filmcity Road, Goregaon (E), Mumbai 400065 (Mah)
(Deemed University) 1) MSc (Economics), 2 years 2) MPhil (Development
Studies), 2 years Eligibility: For 1:
BA / BSc (Economics) / BCom / BStat / BSc (Physics / Maths) / BTech / BE
with at least 2nd Div in Economics and 1st Div for other
disciplines; Maths in 10+2. Selection: Written Test: 24 April ’11; Interview: Last week of June 2011 Stipend: For MPhil / PhD: Rs 12,000/- pm for 2 years, Rs 18,000/-pm in 3rd year after PhD registration. Application Form & Details: Website Application Deadline: 21 March 2011 University Mahamaya Technical
University, C 22, Sector 62, Noida 201301 (UP) UPSEE 2011 Selection: Exam:
For 1: 16 April 2011 Application Form: Send Rs 1000/- by MICR DD (through speed post or registered post only) favouring "Finance Officer, UP Technical University, Lucknow," with 2 self-addressed stickers to the Registrar at the above address by 28 February 2011 / Download from website. Details: Website. Application Deadline: 04 March 2011
Pervin Malhotra, Director, Career Guidance India (CARING) (www.careerguidanceindia.com)
|
