The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Think before fiddling with course structures V. S. Chaudhri DELHI University, Delhi, is implementing an increase in the duration of its undergraduate courses from three years to four. If the university sticks to the decision of going ahead with the Four-Year-Undergraduate Programme, other universities may also follow suit in due course of time. Whether the game is worth the candle is anybody’s guess. The history of education system in our country has been a protracted process of experimentation. It is like the story of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Alice loses her way and asks every creature she comes across as to which way she should go. All the animals ask her where she wanted to go. Alice replies, she did not know. Everybody pities her and says if she did not know her destination, it did not matter which way she went. There was a time when graduation meant 10+2+2, i.e., 14 years of study. It was changed to 10+1+3, and then to 10+2+3. There is a move to change it yet again. Earlier, the school-going age used to be five years, which was later raised to six years. It thus took 15 years for a person to acquire a bachelor’s degree at the age of 20-21. Now it will take 22 years to graduate. The age of appearing for the All-India Civil Services and most other competitive examinations is 21 years, which may also have to be raised to 22 years. In the school, at the primary level, we used to carry a slate and a takhti (wooden plank) for writing. There were only a few subjects at the middle level. The bags were also not so heavy. Tables were taught by rote, as there were no calculators, not to talk of tablets. Today every attempt to take off the burden from schoolchildren has increased the weight of their school bags. They can be virtually seen bending forward while carrying the load of books, disproportionate to their age and capacity. The Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and Right to Education Act have also not yielded expected results. Today only 47 out of 100 students enrolled in Class I reach Class VIII, which means a dropout rate of 53 per cent at this level and by Class X, another 50 per cent more drop out. The teacher-student ratio is appalling and much below the ratio prescribed in the Right to Education Act. Now, there are no examinations up to Class X. All students are promoted to the next class as a matter of right, so to say. The result is that Class-III students cannot read Class-I primer, while Class-V students are not able to comprehend books of Class II. A certain degree of stress is necessary to equip a person to bear greater stress later in life. However, the examination system, which was a time-tested instrument to judge the interest taken by students, teachers and parents in studies, has been scrapped with one stroke. No examination up to Class X, a subjective-type test at the plus-two level, an objective-type competitive test after Class XII for professional courses like engineering, law and medicine, cut-off merit list for admission even to undergraduate courses in universities going above 100 per cent, and IITs insisting on an advanced competition examination after JEEE and also taking into account 40 per cent of the score of the Class-XII examination have ended up making a mockery of our education system. If at all any examinations are held by way of internal assessment in schools, marks have been replaced by grades, stifling the spirit of competition. Another interesting concept introduced in school education is that of the Continuous and Cumulative Evaluation (CCE) of students, which is a very impressive tool to keep a watch over the conduct and performance of students in studies during the whole academic year. But it remains to be seen how it works in practice. Most of the steps adopted by CBSE to improve the education system at the school level are claimed to be taken to de-stress students. But these seem to have not succeeded in their mission. A majority of students who want to join professions like engineering, law and medicine remain under continuous stress from the time they reach Class XI. As a result, students resort to taking extra coaching at teaching ‘shops’ that charge exorbitant fees to prepare them for various entrance examinations such as JEEE, CLAT and NEET. They stuff the students with a lot of information which is not actually required. This is done to impress the candidates and justify the fee they charge. If the regular schools have a qualified, trained and experienced faculty and if they perform their duty sincerely in clearing the concepts and holding periodical tests to assess the comprehension of the subject, there is probably no need for extra coaching. These so-called coaching centres have given birth to a new type of schools. These genre schools provide schooling at the plus-two level to absentee students. Students aspiring to take admission to professional courses join these schools, which mark them present in the attendance register throughout the year and forward their names to education boards for the issuance of roll numbers for appearing in the plus-two examination as regular students of a recognised school. They also ensure that students are suitably awarded in practical examinations, whether they are physically present or not before the examiner. It is a pity that all these alleged malpractices are taking place under the nose of the government. Also, our education policy is changed frequently by those at the helm. Earlier, it was decided to lay stress on the ancient subjects of Sanskrit and astrology. Now, it has proposed to introduce law as an elective subject at the plus-two level. Will our policymakers refrain from fiddling with the education system too frequently? The writer is a former Chairman of the Haryana School Education Board
	Free school for Sikhs approved in Leicester LONDON: A free school to cater to members of the Sikh community has been approved in the British city of Leicester. Leicestershire’s Education Department has approved a bid put forward by nine gurdwara leaders for a school, especially for Sikh students, the Leicester Mercury reported. This was the second bid after a similar one was rejected last July on the ground that it was not strong enough. Though the school will be open to students from other two faiths, too, half its seats will be reserved for Sikh students. “The group (of gurdwara leaders) has worked incredibly hard to reach this position and we look forward to working with it as its plans progress,” the report quoted Vi Dempster, Assistant City Mayor for Schools, as saying. “It’s particularly heartening that it is committed to working in partnership with the council and schools across the city in the best interests of all of our children.” Free schools are paid for by the state and are usually set up by charities, parents and teachers and need not follow the national curriculum. The new school will be named Falcon’s Primary and is scheduled to open in September 2014 at a site not announced yet. Only vegetarian food will be served in the school. Leicester is one of the cities in Britain with a very high ethnic minority population. — IANS
	Campus Notes Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak Admission notice MAharshi Dayanand University has issued the admission notice for the session 2013-2014 for admission to UG/PG programmes in university teaching departments, Indira Gandhi PG Regional Centre, Meerpur (Rewari), and University Institute of Law and Management Studies (UILMS), Gurgaon. According to university officials, the online application forms for admission to various UG/PG courses will have to be submitted as per admission schedule available on the university website www.mdurohtak.ac.in. The information brochure (2013-2014) can be downloaded from the university website free of cost. The brochure will also be available on payment basis from the Publication Cell of MDU, Indira Gandhi PG Regional Centre, Meerpur (Rewari), UILMS, Gurgaon and Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal. Commerce education Commerce education in India needs to keep pace with changing times, especially the emerging needs of a globalised world. This view emerged at a one-day national conference on “Contours of Commerce Education in India” organised by the Indian Commerce Association (Haryana Chapter) in association with the Department of Commerce of the university here recently. Professor Balwinder, general secretary, Indian Commerce Association, was the key speaker. He said in the era of e-learning and smart classrooms, commerce teachers must learn various e-techniques and hone their communication skills to impart education efficiently. Professor Balwinder said amidst the deluge of information, managing information and making it relevant to the needs of students is important. He urged upon faculty members and researchers to be the harbingers of change by making commerce education and research relevant to society. Professor Narender Kumar, president, Indian Commerce Association (Haryana Chapter), threw light on the historical background of commerce education in India. Results declared The university has declared the results of B.Ed supplementary examination held in January 2013. According to the Controller of Examinations, candidates who wish to appear in the next examination in July 2013 on the basis of their result may submit their examination form(s) on line. Meanwhile, the results of M.Sc (Genomics) first semester, M.Sc (Bio-Chemistry/ Microbiology/ Microbial Biotech) first and third semester examination(s) held in December 2012 have also been declared. — Contributed by Bijendra Ahlawat
	Studyscape UN report highlights benefits of school meal programmes UNITED NATIONS: A United Nations report has stressed the importance of providing meals for schoolchildren, particularly in times of crisis, and notes that this is still lacking in many developing countries. “School feeding assures that where quality education is available, children are able to take advantage of the opportunity to learn,” said Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Ertharin Cousin. “It’s an investment that pays off in the future with better-educated, stronger and healthier adults and it’s also a critical safety net to prevent the most vulnerable from suffering in times of crisis,” she said. India is among the countries where in most states children from underprivileged sections of the community are provided nutritious noon meals, especially in government and government-aided schools, as part of the popular Midday Meal Scheme, a programme launched in 1960 by the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, K. Kamaraj to prevent school drop-outs and increase attendance. Until then, poor parents considered school-going children as a burden and employed them in menial jobs denying them the right to education. — PTI Adults can learn just like kids LONDON: The old saying that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks may not hold true for everyone. As more and more research has suggested, we never lose the ability to learn like a child. A new study suggests that as adults, we actually lose confidence in our ability to learn as we age and lack of time and self-esteem stand in the way of adults picking up new skills, Daily Mail reported. Children are more open and unembarrassed while learning anything new. As adults, it could be lacking the free time of childhood or getting hampered by our own perfectionism, or simply missing the self-esteem which could preventing us from becoming multilingual or mastering a musical instrument. This week’s edition of New Scientist reviews the evidence. In a study at the University of Minnesota in the US, adults trying to master foreign accents progressed rapidly when given recordings that mimicked the exaggerated baby talk of cooing mothers. In another study, adults, including aged between 60 and 80, turned better at juggling than children aged between five and 10. Researchers believe that adults’ busy lives get in the way of their education. — IANS