E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

EC wins Gujarat case
Anyone who is familiar with the provisions of the Indian Constitution would have accepted that only the Election Commission has the right to draw up the schedule for holding a free and fair poll in any part of the country.

A makeshift compromise
The decision of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference not to expel one of its founding constituents, the People’s Conference, for putting up “dummy” candidates in the forthcoming poll in Jammu and Kashmir was a desperate attempt to paper over the cracks that had surfaced in the Hurriyat ranks soon after the process of filing nominations began last week. 

Victims of apathy
The death of as many as 14 children for want of oxygen at BC Roy Memorial Children’s Hospital in Kolkata is too poignant and shocking for words. It brings to the fore the insensitivity of a system that is least bothered about the precious lives of children and the incalculable loss to the nation in terms of human resource development. 

OPINION

Importance of vocational studies
How to meet the demand of changing times
Kiran Soni Gupta
Secondary education is perhaps the weakest link in the Indian education chain. It has neither a specific character nor does it mark the end of formal education. It is a stepping-stone to higher education drawing one and all into the universities. It is not complete in itself. 

MIDDLE

A moment with Mother
J.L. Gupta
Twenty and more years back I was in Delhi. To attend the Rotary District Conference. Mother Teresa was the guest of honour. She had arrived on the dot. Was received and lead to the dais. She was given a standing ovation.

A POINT OF VIEW

CBSE needs to overhaul exam system
Atma Ram
In 1988, the Central Board of Secondary Education had mooted a proposal of 7-point grading system of evaluation based on comparative performance of children. This placed stress on the relative performance and put students in government schools to great disadvantage. Four per cent were to be awarded A1 grade, four to seven per cent were to get A2, and so on. 

TRENDS & POINTERS

Hypertension linked to women’s fitness
A new study in Washington has found that a woman’s physical fitness level may mitigate the effect of stress on her risk of developing high blood pressure. “We think these initial findings are sufficiently positive to encourage a randomised controlled trial that will provide a better test of the independent effects of cardiorespiratory fitness on...responses during stress”, said author Rod K Dishman, in the journal ‘Psychophysiology’.

• 3-minute test to detect heart attack

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

EC wins Gujarat case

Anyone who is familiar with the provisions of the Indian Constitution would have accepted that only the Election Commission has the right to draw up the schedule for holding a free and fair poll in any part of the country. However, the myopic leadership in Delhi, that gave a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in spite of his perceived role in stoking the fire of violence after the dastardly attack on the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express near Godhra on February 27, thought otherwise. It went along with Mr Modi's flawed reasoning that early assembly elections would help the Bharatiya Janata Party return to power. Attempts were made to browbeat the Election Commission into announcing a poll schedule as dictated by Mr Modi. The BJP leadership forgot that the Chief Minister had the power to recommend the dissolution of the assembly. However, fixing the poll schedule was the constitutional prerogative of the Election Commission. When Chief Election Commissioner J. M. Lyngdoh put his foot down and led a full EC team to Gujarat for assessing the situation, the BJP leadership in Delhi and Ahmedabad was not amused. Mr Lyngdoh and the two Election Commissioners who accompanied him were convinced that early elections were not possible. The Supreme Court on Monday took the correct stand by refusing to interfere with the Election Commission's decision to monitor the situation in Gujarat before announcing the poll schedule.

It is indeed true that the situation in the state that witnessed the worst communal riots since Independence is still not normal. Thousands of victims of the looting, arson and physical assault are still living in ill-equipped camps because they have nowhere to go. Mr Modi has not done much in motivating the administration into providing the help that the victims need. When the Prime Minister and the President, in that order, visited the state, temporary infrastructure was set up to create the impression that the camps were being run efficiently. However, when the CEC stepped out of the official cordon during his visit to Gujarat, he got to see the real picture. All that the caretaker Chief Minister could do was to bring the debate on the timing of the assembly elections to the gutter level. Hurtful things were said about the CEC. The apex court has upheld the right of the EC to decide when to hold elections without any let and hindrance from the political establishment. It has also said that it will not be rushing into giving its opinion on the presidential reference on Article 174, that says that there should not be a gap of six months between two sessions of the legislature, and Article 324, that spells out the powers of the Election Commission. There is another constitutional crisis that will need the urgent attention of the Centre. What will be Mr Modi's status as Chief Minister six months after the dissolution of the state assembly? He may have to step down to pave the way for a spell of President's rule. And that is what the Opposition wants to ensure free and fair elections in Gujarat.

A makeshift compromise

The decision of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference not to expel one of its founding constituents, the People’s Conference (PC), for putting up “dummy” candidates in the forthcoming poll in Jammu and Kashmir was a desperate attempt to paper over the cracks that had surfaced in the Hurriyat ranks soon after the process of filing nominations began last week. That it took the APHC two days to come to this decision shows that there were many voices both for and against participation in the electoral process. The APHC leadership had, therefore, to strike a compromise with each side in order to preserve its umbrella character. The end result of the parleys was that a promise was extracted from the PC that it will not “directly or indirectly” participate in the elections. On its part, the AHPC dropped the move to expel the PC from its platform. Though the AHPC leadership tried to project a united face after the marathon meeting, it is obvious to all concerned that electoral politics is not an anathema to some members of the party. In fact, the PC had clearly stated its intent and purpose when it had put up four “dummy” candidates for the first phase of polling scheduled to be held on September 16. These candidates are still in the fray though the Hurriyat says that the PC will fully participate in its programme to educate the people against the holding of elections. The contradiction in the PC’s pledge and the ground reality that it has created for itself are hard to explain away and it will have to be seen whether its public face is different from the one shown to the amalgam of political outfits under the wing of the APHC.

However, there is no denying the fact that a large section of the Kashmiri population wants a way out of the messy situation that it has been faced with for over a dozen years. The PC’s attempt to put up candidates was seemingly aimed at meeting the people’s aspiration of having their own representatives in place. It is now conceded, even though grudgingly by hardcore elements, that day-to-day problems of the people cannot be wished away or postponed to a later date in the name of the “movement.” They seek redressal, and, as of now, the elections appeared to be the best available option. The PC tried to ride this wave but was rapped on the knuckles by the APHC, and though it has seemingly fallen in line, the hide-and-seek on participation directly or indirectly is likely to continue. In fact, the separatist politics that has dominated the valley for a couple of decades (if not more) faces one of its most tricky tests today. The initial euphoria has gone and fatigue has set in. Though the fear of the gun is still dominant in the minds of the politicians and the people alike, there is also a sincere desire for peace. The APHC, therefore, has to decide carefully and sincerely on the options before it in terms of its proclaimed agenda and the people’s yearning for the restoration of normalcy. The first rumblings from within its own ranks is a sign of the changing times and it would do well to heed them and take concrete steps to give shape to the hopes of the Kashmiris. 

Victims of apathy

The death of as many as 14 children for want of oxygen at BC Roy Memorial Children’s Hospital in Kolkata is too poignant and shocking for words. It brings to the fore the insensitivity of a system that is least bothered about the precious lives of children and the incalculable loss to the nation in terms of human resource development. The incident also highlights the hamhanded attitude and total callousness of the authorities concerned towards these innocent tiny tots who have lost their lives for no fault of theirs. The agony and the pain of parents for the loss of their near and dear ones mainly because of the apathy of the hospital staff is understandable. There is apparently no accountability among the authorities who have become a law unto themselves. Preliminary reports quoting official sources attribute the reason for the deaths to the absence of staff to load oxygen into the cylinders. Shortage of beds and paucity of nurses are said to be the other reasons. A thorough inquiry will help reveal the actual reasons for the deaths. It is, however, surprising how the authorities were so insensitive towards the long-standing problems of this hospital. If such is the state of affairs in a leading government hospital, one can well imagine the condition in other hospitals. Moreover, what is shocking is the fact that deaths have become common in this hospital. While 31 children died here last week, more than 200 lost their lives last month. Yet, no contingency measures were taken to equip the hospital with adequate staff and fresh replenishment of drugs and oxygen cylinders. Amazingly, health department officials have the audacity to describe a situation like this as “normal”. The Kolkata incident is also a chilling reminder of the one reported from Lucknow’s King George Medical College in November, 2001, which claimed the lives of 12 children for the same reason — want of oxygen.

It is time the West Bengal government rose to the occasion and tackled the problem on a war-footing. If funds are the main problem, it should raise them from other sources or divert grants from other sectors. The Centre should also come to the rescue of the state with a view to checking further loss of life. Sadly, government hospitals are in a bad shape almost everywhere in all the states, even though they are visited by the majority of people who cannot afford costly treatment in private nursing homes. The Centre should take the initiative and formulate a comprehensive strategy to rejuvenate these hospitals. There are also instances where the state governments do not make use of the facilities provided by the Centre. Bihar is a classic example. According to a television channel report, 12 new ambulances, sanctioned by Dr C.P. Thakur, when he was the Union Health Minister, have been lying idle in Patna. These ambulances were presented to the Bihar government to provide healthcare facilities to the people living in remote villages. What a pity!

OPINION

Importance of vocational studies
How to meet the demand of changing times
Kiran Soni Gupta

Secondary education is perhaps the weakest link in the Indian education chain. It has neither a specific character nor does it mark the end of formal education. It is a stepping-stone to higher education drawing one and all into the universities. It is not complete in itself. There is a lack of clear perspective and coordinated thinking. Higher secondary schools ought to be more comprehensive and multipurpose covering a variety of courses with an occupational bias. To rectify the defects in the present educational structure, vocational education has been given increased emphasis with every review of the system. Every committee set up to evaluate it has reiterated the need to establish effective linkages between the world of school and the world of work. The aim of transforming education to empower people for work is not to be construed as merely creating marketable skills. There is need to inculcate respect for socially useful work and productive labour in the entire process of education. This will facilitate the development of not merely a more relevant knowledge base but also creative institutions on which one can keep building throughout one’s life.

The crucial role of education is to equip students with the capacity for creative work. There are strong indications that attempts will be made to strengthen vocational education in the next few years and to correlate education and work. The decision of the Government of India in May, 1990, to review the National Policy on Education-1986 by a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of Acharya Ramamurthi (report submitted in December, 1990) reminds us once again of the gaps in the present education policy and system.

Vocational education is intended to equip people for industrial and commercial occupations. It can be imparted either formally in trade schools, technical secondary or on-the-job training programmes or, more informally, by picking up the necessary skills on the job without actual supervision. Vocational education in schools is a relatively modern development. Until the 19th century such education, except for the professionals, was provided only by apprenticeship. It was associated with low social status as opposed to classical curriculum considered necessary for a “gentleman”.

With the growth of industry during the 19th century, several European countries, notably Germany, introduced vocational education in elementary and secondary schools. In Great Britain, however, opposition to vocational education persisted into the 20th century although a few trade and junior technical schools were established by the local authorities before World War-I. By the late 19th century, public and “common” school education in the USA included manual training and practical arts. These programmes were gradually expanded until 1917 when federal aid was provided to public schools for courses to cater to trade, industry, agriculture and home-making.

After World War-II, the demand for trained para-professionals in the relatively new fields of computer science, electronics and medical services led to an increased interest in short-term, post-secondary, specialised training programmes in these areas as an alternative to traditional education.

In India, the need for vocational education was stressed in the Gandhian philosophy of basic education which propounded the principle that education should be work-centred. This emphasis was reiterated by the University Education Commission (1949) chaired by Dr S. Radhakrishnan, the All-India Secondary Education Commission under the chairmanship of Dr A.L. Mudaliar (1953) and the Kothari Commission which advocated work experience. The need to establish operational linkages between the world of school and the world of work was mentioned in the National Policy on Education (1969). Subsequently, vocationalisation of education was propagated by the Central Advisory Board of Education Committee on Education Structure in 1972. It also found a significant place in the review of the education system done by the Janata Party in 1977 and the Dr Easwar Bhai Patel Committee which suggested socially useful productive work (SUPW) and the State Education Ministers’ conference in 1981. The repeated announcements of the protagonists of the scheme seem to have strengthened the idea of vocational education.

The new National Policy on Education (1986) envisages diverting 10 per cent of students at the plus-two level to the vocational stream of education by the end of the Seventh Five-Year Plan and 25 per cent to the vocational stream at the end of Eighth Five-Year Plan, with substantial financial assistance from the Central Government. In accordance with the priority accorded to vocational education in the National Policy on Education, a centrally sponsored scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary Education was launched in February, 1988. The main objective of the scheme was to enhance individual employability, reduce the mismatch between the demand and supply of skilled manpower and to provide an alternative for those pursuing higher education.

The 54th round of NSSO in comparison with the 47th round conducted at the beginning of the reforms era in 1991 shows the overall employment scenario in the country has remained more or less unchanged since then. Under the Ninth Plan the government has envisaged an increase in the labour force up to 450 million. It also plans to provide employment to 443.6 million workforce during the same period. One of the daunting challenges facing the Ninth Plan is to accelerate the growth of employment opportunities to absorb the increase in the labour force. The emerging structure of employment is marked by a high level of underemployment, increasing casualisation, emergence of low productivity jobs and underutilisation of educated persons.

The objective of vocational education is to prepare students for vocations and enable them to enter the world of work with the necessary skills. For this reason, after completing 10 years of general education, the student sets about acquiring new practical knowledge of technical processes, regulating manual operations and also certain knacks and tricks of the trade. Last, but not least, the student must develop civic attitudes.

Vocational training, like all education, facilitates the all-round, harmonious development of the human personality. It is to help all to develop their talents and capacities for the benefit of society as well as for their own selves.

In our country, education is still a privilege. The path each student takes differs depending on the stage of dropping out and individual circumstances. However, most school-leavers should learn a vocation which would open the door to a technical college from which they can go on to institutions of higher education. Others can proceed from 10 years of schooling to two years of supplementary schooling after which they too are qualified to embark on a course of higher education. And should anyone’s studies fail to proceed smoothly, his fate should not be sealed. He should be given an opportunity for making up for the lost time in vocational training institutes of adult education classes. He too should be able to attain the level of education of which he is capable. Partially skilled jobs like domestic helpers, dry cleaners, gardeners, seamstresses, store clerks, assistant cooks, printing workers and skilled jobs like fitters, grinders, electricians, building painters, garage mechanics, post office workers, etc, are among the possibilities. They ensure everyone the chance of a career even when individual circumstances are unfavourable.

The planned development of the national and state economy requires an exact calculation of the demand for skilled workers with various specialisations and for technologists and engineers of various kinds. There is, therefore, an enhanced need for career guidance centres to provide information on various careers available and their importance to the community. There is also need to introduce polytechnical instruction (regular visits to factories) to help in the preparation for a career by giving the pupils an opportunity to become acquainted with individual specialisations.

Theoretical and practical aspects of vocational training are inseparably bound up with each other. There is no contradiction between the two, though it is a well-known fact that with the rapid development of science in recent times, the impact on the theory of vocational training has increased considerably. Today, theoretical subjects account for the greater part of the teaching time. For many young people, this is not easy to accept. They have already spent 10 years in the classroom and perhaps long for the time when they will be able to show what they can do in practice. But a skilled worker who wants to master new techniques, who would like even to try something new for himself and develop it, needs a sound theoretical grounding.

To strengthen vocational education, it is suggested that the core curriculum should include important components. Fragmentation of secondary education into academic and vocational streams should be avoided. Secondly, schools should offer vocational courses in varying combinations with academic subjects. Thirdly, provision should be made for further education in vocational subjects for students taking up vocational courses at the secondary stage, leading to direct job placement or self-employment. Fourthly, vocational courses should be reorganised to make them relevant to the number of vocations in both organised and unorganised sectors, particularly in rural areas.

Vocational courses should be designed to promote transferable skills in order to optimise vertical and horizontal mobility and to cope with the demands of changing technologies. Finally, vocational training and direct experience to students within the production units — working situations — should be encouraged to strengthen operational linkages. Course development and training in skills should be matched with the requirements of user agencies which can be significantly involved in the design of courses and training modules.

The writer, a senior IAS officer, is Secretary, Administrative Reforms Commission, Government of Rajasthan.

MIDDLE

A moment with Mother
J.L. Gupta

Twenty and more years back I was in Delhi. To attend the Rotary District Conference. Mother Teresa was the guest of honour. She had arrived on the dot. Was received and lead to the dais. She was given a standing ovation.

A frail frame. The drooping shoulders. As if, in constant obeisance to the Lord. National anthem was played. Then she was formally introduced to the audience.

Born on August 27, 1910. In the family of a grocer in Albania. In 1928, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu went to Ireland "to join the Institute of the Blessed Mary". Just six weeks later, she had "sailed to India as a teacher".

She studied nursing. Sought permission "to work with the poor of Calcutta". Moved into the slums. Adopted Indian citizenship. Also the Indian sari. White with a thin blue border. Founded the order of the Missionaries of Charity in 1948. In the year 1950 her order received canonical sanction from Pope Pius XII. She opened "numerous centres serving the blind, aged, lepers, cripples, and the dying." Under Mother Teresa’s guidance, the mission built ‘near Asansol, a leper colony called Shanti Nagar. In 1963, the Indian government conferred on Mother Teresa the title —"Padamshree" — Lord of the Lotus—for her services to the people of India. In 1964, on his trip to India, Pope Paul VI, gave her his ceremonial limousine, which she immediately raffled to help finance her leper colony. In 1968, she was summoned to Rome to found a home there, staffed primarily with Indian nuns. On January 6, 1971, Pope awarded her "the first Pope John XXII Peace Prize". And in the year 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for promoting peace.

After the introduction, Mother was requested to bless the gathering.

She had moved to the mike. Delivered her message of love and compassion. Without any notes. In short sentences. In a resonant voice. Her words conveyed what she had professed and practised every day of her life.

While living, she was a symbol of hope to the helpless. Gave shelter to the destitute. Saved and served millions of suffering men and women. She was a mother to everyone. A saint in flesh and blood. In action.

Gentle and caring, she embodied the dignity, grandeur, divine significance and tenderness of motherhood. There was the majesty of mother’s love in her eyes. She was much above the wastes of worldly fortunes. To her, love was the Lord’s livery. A complete religion in itself. She lived and loved. Her love was eternal and infinite. She brightened, filled and warmed human hearts.

Service to the destitute and the downtrodden was to her the stepping-stone to the Saviour. The way to salvation. She was sharp-sighted in searching the sick. Sensitive to the needs of the needy. Instinctively discerning, she served all. She was a perpetual spring from which nothing but love and service flowed. To everyone who was suffering. She had room for everyone. In her heart. Also in her house. Giving happiness was her way to happiness.

At the end of the session, I had a moment with "Mother". It was a moment to remember. She touched me with her hand on the forehead. I felt touched all over. Her rough hands bore testimony to the fact that she served everyone herself. Loving eyes. And a warm heart. “God has given us two hands to serve. A heart to love,” were her words to me.

How true! The few words still ring in the mind. Loud and clear.

Mother had left the land of the dying five years back. To be with the Lord. In the land of the living. Never to die again. To live forever. Today, she seems far to the eye of flesh. She still seems so close to the eye of faith. The moment with mother remains engraved in the mind. Years have not erased it.

A POINT OF VIEW

CBSE needs to overhaul exam system
Atma Ram

In 1988, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had mooted a proposal of 7-point grading system of evaluation based on comparative performance of children. This placed stress on the relative performance and put students in government schools to great disadvantage. Four per cent were to be awarded A1 grade, four to seven per cent were to get A2, and so on. The last 23 per cent were to be graded D1, D2, and E and denied certificate. This was stoutly opposed in government circles as 50 per cent of 1.5 lakh students in government schools fail every year. The standing committee of Parliament on the Human Resource Development Ministry rejected it, so did the Delhi School Education Advisory Board (DSEAB). Members of the Board “unanimously objected to the new scheme of the CBSE and were of the view that the declaration of the gradation instead of awarding of the marks would discourage the students for putting in hard work for obtaining good marks and get through the examination”. The proposal was subsequently shelved.

The CBSE has now announced a 9-point scheme wherein grades correspond direct to the marks secured by students. The 9-point mode, to be first introduced at the class 10 stage, will grade students from A1 to E. A student with a score between 90 to 100 per cent would be given A1 grade, 80 to 90 per cent would get A2, 70 to 79 per cent B1, and so on. The last two D2 and E would be non-qualifying grades. The CBSE is trying to establish links with universities and simultaneously evolve census of (34) school education boards in the country. It has not specified any time for introducing the innovation. The scheme looks better the old one. However, it remains to be seen whether the grading pattern is at all required, or it is an improvement on the existing and familiar system using numerical marks, evaluating students on each examination paper on a scale from 0 to 100.

Education involves teaching-learning process and evaluation, with teaching as the most important aspect. Many posts of teachers in rural area schools often remain vacant and adequate infrastructure facilities are not made available there. Several surveys point to this sorry state of affairs. The Delhi Advisory Board did not approve of the scheme because results in government schools are often very poor. The remedy essentially lies in improving their results, standards of teaching there, not in merely in adopting this or that method of evaluation. If students are taught well, any method of assessment will do. In the new scheme, students would not be goaded to work hard to do better. The 9-point grading may appear easy and practical to be examining authorities, but it is not helpful to the students, for whom alone the bell should toll in education systems. If the question papers are suitably improved, each mark matters, makes a difference. It is absolutely wrong to hold that a student with 95 per cent marks. Marks obtained are quite indicative of one's knowledge and intelligence, and helps in deciding so many things. In practice, some cut-off line has to be there. For example, to allot the only cubical in a hostel, a scholar with 440 marks may easily be preferred to one getting 439 marks.

It is illogical to maintain that since some schools, particularly in the national capital, are following it for the lower classes; we should introduce it in the formal, board exams as well. Lower examinations/tests in CBSE-affiliated and other schools are conducted primarily for internal use; these constitute preparation-exercises for the Board examinations. Otherwise, too, good schools often divide students in each class in four/five categories. This, strictly speaking, is no grading meant for public use. Nor should we impose import models prevalent in advanced countries, because they operate the grading system at all levels of education and have entirely different ethos. We should learn to be practical and pragmatic, to plan what is relevant and useful at the grassroots level. In all this, ordinary schools in the country should be kept in view.

The idea of grading is also not something very new in this country. A 5-point grading model was prominently referred to in ‘University Grants Commission—A plan of action, May 1973’. Then, in January 1976, the Research Cell of Association of Indian Universities came up with a ‘Monograph on Grading for Universities’. It explains in some detail the mechanism and advantages of the grading schedule. However, barring a few professional universities or institutions, where student population is controlled or limited, there are not many takers for the system. Most university institutions are averse to the grading pattern. It is held that the innovation is based on three important considerations and valid criteria: accuracy, familiarity, and simplicity. But the Monograph also mentions several apprehensions and doubt. First, it raises some very significant questions: Should not students be marked on an absolute scale rather than on this vague system? Is it at all wise to change the accepted and familiar marking system for something new? Are grades relative? Relative to what? Since grading is not suitable for a selection situation, how useful can it be in university/ school examination? Are not the procedures of scaling marks and translating them into grades rather too complex, too technical to be workable? Why should we insist on seven or nine categories, while the most commonly used grading-scale in educationally advanced countries (the USA, the UK, Sweden, Germany) comprises just 5? If the last two groups do not purport fail, what else they do?

Indeed, there are several difficulties inherent in the system. To many educationists, grades appear very coarse; these are made an excuse to continue with high degree of subjectivity in judgement. There is a possibility of error in the grading scale. Employers and those who admit students for postgraduate study may find it impossible to choose one amongst many who obtained the same grade. The system does not make for ranking of candidates. It would be difficult to award medals, prizes, etc. As various appointing authorities want grades to be translated into at least percentages, the system adds to the work. Similarly candidates seeking admission to foreign institutions are asked to submit the actual marks secured by them. There are all types of education institutions. In case of grading, good institution and students stand to lose. Thus parents, in general, do not favour grading. The Principal of St. Thomas (Delhi) rightly pointed out: “Parents are very particular about marks. It is very difficult to convince them about the grading system”.

One feels that grading mode is not going to succeed, though as an academic exercise it is interesting and meaningful. The CBSE, as also other agencies, should rather concentrate on more urgent issues like strengthening teaching-learning process and overhauling of conduct of examinations. If students are taught well any system of assessment will do. It is at the teaching stage that marked improvement is needed. In Delhi, the government has recently identified as many as 72 non-government organisations to conduct bridge courses in English, Science and Mathematics for the 10,000-odd students admitted to Class VI in government schools. The academic standard of most students who complete Class V from government/municipal schools is extremely poor. Some of them even cannot write correctly their names or alphabets. The standard of many secondary schools in the government sector is very low. That is why students and parents often seem to prefer privately managed education institutions. It is to be noted that the 10-member committee constituted by the Delhi state government is in the process of identifying schools performing poorly, which can be handed over to private trusts.

In sum, the idea of introducing grading should be shelved. Instead, the CBSE should strive to strengthen teaching and revamp conduct of exams, particularly in KVs and other common schools affiliated to it. The task is stupendous, since the affiliated institutions are spread all over the country, with centres in some foreign countries as well. But this, not shifting to grading, is the urgent need of the hour.

The writer is former Adviser (Education), Himachal Pradesh Government.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Hypertension linked to women’s fitness

A new study in Washington has found that a woman’s physical fitness level may mitigate the effect of stress on her risk of developing high blood pressure. “We think these initial findings are sufficiently positive to encourage a randomised controlled trial that will provide a better test of the independent effects of cardiorespiratory fitness on...responses during stress”, said author Rod K Dishman, in the journal ‘Psychophysiology’.

Dishman and his colleagues recruited 13 women with normal blood pressure whose average age was mid-20s. All subjects reported that they exercised either moderately or vigorously at least three times a week during the past year. Participants’ fitness levels were determined by measuring their oxygen use during stationary biking.

Participants were then given three tests. First, they performed mental arithmetic. In the second test, they placed an ice bag on their forehead for two minutes and another test in which they immersed their right hand in ice water for two minutes. During the tests, researchers measured subjects’ blood pressure, heart rate, breathing frequency and blood flow to the calf muscle. The researchers found that the mental arithmetic test increased both systolic and diastolic blood pressures as well as blood flow to the calf muscle. The hand/ice water test also resulted in increased blood pressure readings but no changes in calf blood flow. The forehead/icebag test increased blood pressure readings only slightly, but decreased calf blood flow. ANI

3-minute test to detect heart attack

A blood test to assess levels of cardiac enzymes takes about 30 minutes nowadays, but researchers at Florida State University believe they can get a result in a tenth of this time. Tiny magnetic particles allow a rapid blood test for a heart attack. The sooner a heart attack is diagnosed, the sooner treatment starts and the better the outcome.

The researchers have developed a test that uses miniature magnetic particles to pull two proteins — myoglobin and fatty acid binding protein — out of a blood sample. The levels of these two proteins in blood elevates soon after a heart attack and then falls off.

Research on the test is still at an early stage, but the idea is to create a portable blood test kit that emergency staff can carry in their pockets at all times. As soon as a patient is admitted with chest pain, a heart attack — if present — could be diagnosed within about three minutes. ANI

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

The guru sums up all that is to be found in evensong.

On this platter you will find three things;

Truth, contentment and contemplation

Also the nectar of the name of the Lord

Which gives sustenance to life He who imbibes and ingests it will be saved.

No one can afford to give it up Preserve it in your hearts foreever and ever.

In the darkness spread over the world,

You will be saved by clasping the feet of the Lord

Says Nanak, for the whole expanse is the Lord’s.

Rehras, Sri Guru Granth Sahib

***

—Gitanjali, Rabindranath Tagore.