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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Improve basic infrastructure to boost literacy rate
UK faces slump in varsity applicants |
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Improve basic infrastructure to boost literacy rate
ELEMENTARY education continues to be a matter of concern in our country. The first official recommendation for the inclusion of a fundamental right to education was made in 1990 by the Acharya Ramamurti Committee. Now, the implementation of the Right to Education Act has certainly given a hope to boost the literacy rate in the country. As a majority of schools are run by the government, the functioning of these schools has been in sharp focus due to lack of basic facilities, which forces the common man to look for alternatives. The Central government has tried to address these concerns in the RTE Act, which makes mandatory for every school to have a separate toilet each for girls and boys, a playground, a library with sufficient reading material, computers, electrification of the school building, ramp access for disabled students. The recent judgement of the Supreme Court that schools throughout the country must be provided with toilets and drinking water within six months is a clear reminder in this direction. The court observed that lack of toilets and drinking water “clearly violate the right to free and compulsory education of children”; children need to “study in a clean and healthy environment” and its ruling is applied to state- and privately-run schools. Prevailing of such situation fails to retain students in school. In our schools, the gross enrolment ratio (GER) from Classes I to VIII is 94.9 per cent, while from Classes I to XII, it is 77 per cent. It is reported that only 47 out of 100 children enrolled in Class I reach Class VIII, putting the dropout rate at 52.79 per cent. But the main task beyond the enrolment is to retain students in schools. Government schools still lose 25 per cent of their students by Class V, and 46 per cent by Class VIII. Lack of basic facilities in government-run schools has given rise to the mushrooming of private schools, both in rural and urban areas. These schools charge hefty fees but still parents prefer these schools as most of these boast of English medium. Consequently, the enrolment in government schools is going down. The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), which tracks the progress of states towards providing universal elementary education, has done exhaustive study on the condition of primary education in the country based on the data received from as many as 1.36 million schools spread over 637 districts across 35 states. A study titled “Elementary Education in India: Progress Towards Universal Elementary Education” indicates that there is increased inclination among parents to enrol their wards in private schools. The enrolment in Classes I to V in government schools decreased by 2.2 per cent in 2010-11 in comparison to 2009-10. On the other hand, enrolment at the same level increased by 3.0 per cent during the same period. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2011, of the Pratham Foundation, the overall enrolment in private schools has gone up from 18.84 per cent in 2006 to 26.09 per cent in 2011. The number of children enrolled in government primary schools has dropped by 21 lakh between 2009-10 and 2010-11, while there has been an increase of 11 lakh in enrolment in private schools. There are number of reasons for school dropouts at various levels, and among these poor basic infrastructures of the school is one of the important reasons. A recent survey conducted by some civil society organisations under the banner of the “RTE Forum” indicate that only 4.8 per cent of government schools have all nine facilities stipulated under the RTE Act. In rest of the schools, 8.5 per cent schools lack drinking water facilities, 40 per cent lack a functional common toilet, 40 per cent do not have separate toilets for girls, 60 per cent of the schools are not electrified and only one in every five schools has a computer. The other critical component is the availability of sufficient number of qualified teachers. At least 36 per cent of all sanctioned teaching posts are vacant and among the recruited ones, 6.7 lakh teachers are professionally unqualified and untrained. The professional competence can be gauzed from the fact that high percentage of 91 and 93 per cent of the teacher candidates could not qualify the National Teacher Eligibility Test conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education in 2009-10 and 2010-11, respectively. The report further indicates that 40 per cent of primary schools have a classroom-student ratio of higher than 1:30. Approximately, 10.5 per cent of our schools are manned by a single teacher. Despite of continuous efforts of the Central government, nearly 10 per cent of the country’s elementary schools have only one classroom and nearly 42,000 of government schools across the country function without a building. It is also reported that out of 12.5 lakh schools in the country today, almost a fifth are unrecognised. Teacher absenteeism is another problem that plagues our education sector. It is 25 per cent in India, in comparison to 16 per cent in Bangladesh and 19 per cent in Indonesia. According to estimates, the Centre spends about Rs 3,000 per child per year for primary education. In the 2011-12 Budget, the allocation for elementary education was Rs 29,129.55 crore which has been increased by 61.21 per cent in the last year Budget. However, even two years after the implementation of the RTE Act, some states are yet to form rules to implement it in its true spirit. We must understand that investment in education is the best investment for the development of our country. The writer is Senior Scientist at Dr Y. S.
Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni (Solan) |
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UK faces slump in varsity applicants
UNIVERSITY applications have plummeted for the second year running, prompting a warning that “alarm bells should be ringing” in government over the slump.
The latest figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) reveal an 8 per cent drop in applications to 145,009 compared with last year. This follows an even larger slump last year — when candidates faced tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year for the first time —with overall numbers falling from 140,983 to 119,548. The figures also show a slight drop in applications from international students outside the UK (who often have to pay full-cost fees) of 0.8 per cent to 15,863 and 0.9 per cent from European Union students to 8,952. A slump in applications was forecast last year as thousands of would-be students gave up gap years to start university courses in 2011 to avoid paying higher fees when they were introduced this September. University vice-chancellors and UCAS stressed it was “early days” to read too much into the figures. But Pam Tatlow, chief executive of university think tank million+, warned that “alarm bells should be ringing in government”. She said: “It would be a travesty if students and their families stopped seeing university for what it is —an extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not just to improve career and employment prospects, but for inspiring lifelong interests and experiences.” Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “It is rather concerning that the number of people applying to university appears to be continuing to fall. The bottom line is that hiking fees up to £9,000 a year will put people off.” However, Mary Curnock Cook, chief executive of Ucas, said: “Experience tells us that changes at this point in the cycle are a poor guide to final demand. For example, in the 2012 cycle, the decrease in applications in November was much greater than the final picture in January — possibly because applicants were making more considered decisions about their higher education choices after the tuition fee changes in 2012.”
— The Independent |
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Central University of Punjab, Bathinda PROFESSOR Anil Kumar Jain, former director, SSS-National Institute of Renewable Energy, Kapurthala, has joined the university as Professor and Dean of the School of Environment and Earth Sciences, and Prof. Ram Gopal Saini, former Head, Departments of Genetics, Biotechnology and Plant Breeding, PAU, Ludhiana as Invited Professor and Coordinator Centre for Biosciences. Professor Jain has been Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Director of the School of Energy Studies for Agriculture at PAU, Ludhiana. He developed the course curriculum for the Ph.D programme in Energy Science & Technology, in association with a consultant from Texas A&M, University, USA. He also developed two introductory courses on renewable energy for the B.Tech Agricultural Engineering Programme for the College of Agricultural Engineering, PAU. Professor Saini has been a visiting scientist at the Plant Breeding Institute, University of Sydney, Australia, and National Fellow, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, and has worked in several offices at PAU, Ludhiana. His work on wheat and wheat rusts has been acclaimed world over. Lecture on environmental issues
A special lecture by Dr Babu Ram, Member Secretary of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, on the topic “Environmental Issues and their Management” was organised at the university recently. Discussing in detail the causes of water, air and land pollution, he traced the root of environmental degradation to industrialisation, commercialisation, human activity and excessive use of fertilisers. He highlighted the policies and initiatives undertaken by the pollution board to control and revive the environment in Punjab. He also touched upon the rarely-discussed issues of hazardous waste pollution, for which a plant has been set up at Nimbua village. He asserted that the problem of unethical disposal of biomedical wastes requires immediate attention. Throwing light on the problem of non-biodegradable wastes such as plastic products, he discussed in detail the provisions of the Punjab Plastic Carry Bags Control Ordinance, 2005, which regulates the use and disposal of plastic. He also informed the audience about the existing legal provisions in Punjab to tackle pollution, recent amendments to pollution control laws, surveillance methods and enforcement mechanism of the Board. The lecture was followed by an interactive session during which the faculty and students raised some pertinent issues such as crop residue burning and pollution problems of Bathinda area.
Book exhibition
The university organised its fourth book exhibition on its campus recently. Renowned economist and the first Chancellor of the university, Dr S.S. Johl, inaugurated the book exhibition. More than 30 publishers, distributors and suppliers participated in the book exhibition along with an e-resource vendor. Books on various subjects, including biosciences, chemical and pharmaceutical sciences, comparative literature, computational sciences, environmental science and technology, genetic diseases and molecular medicine, social studies, South and Central Asian studies, computer science and technology, environmental law, Sikh studies, language, linguistics, history, political science, engineering, fine arts, and psychology, were exhibited at the exhibition. Teachers and scholars from other academic institutions also visited the exhibition to order and purchase books for their respective institutions. The university also proposes to start new centres of studies during the next session.
Cultural heritage
Bathinda Mayor Baljit Singh Beerbehman visited the university recently to have a look at the university’s museum. Photographs and cultural artifacts depicting the rich heritage of the Malwa region are on display in the museum. The Mayor appreciated the efforts put in by the university in conserving the cultural heritage by setting up the museum, which is first of its kind in the region. He particularly lauded the contribution of Savita Goel of Barnala who donated many cultural items displayed in the museum. He was quite impressed by the infrastructural set-up in the form of a well-equipped library, high-tech computer lab and laboratories for different schools. He promised to extend all help on the part of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation for the further growth and development of the university. — Contributed by Nikhila Pant Dhawan |
