Aiming High

Source:Frontline

INDIA strives to be a knowledge economy. Recognising the need for higher level of skills and competencies in order to make this possible and keeping in mind the objectives of the 11th Five-Year Plan, the Central government has made sure that enough funds are available for primary, secondary and higher education.

Kerala may be the most literate State in the country, but Maharashtra has the highest number of student enrolment in higher education. A recent report, titled ‘Building Blocks - Infrastructure in Education - Edge 2010 Report', released by the professional services firm Ernst & Young, points out that around 15 lakh students were enrolled in the State's colleges and institutes during 2005-06, the highest in the country, followed by Uttar Pradesh (14 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (9 lakh) and Tamil Nadu (8 lakh).

In Maharashtra, Pune is a top destination for education in India. Other districts in the State that are home to the best educational institutions are Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Kolhapur and Ahmednagar. The State boasts a literacy rate of 77.27 per cent (Census 2001).

In the realm of higher education, the State has the largest number of institutions in the country. Topping the list are University of Mumbai, Pune University, SNDT Women's University, the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (Mumbai) and the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (Pune). These offer graduate, postgraduate, diploma and research programmes in several disciplines.

Besides Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, there are several engineering institutes in the State that offer quality training. Among them are the Army Institute of Technology (Pune), Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Technology (Vashi) and the A.C. Patil College of Engineering (Navi Mumbai).

The State also has institutes such as the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and the IIT Bombay–Monash Research Academy and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

The TIFR, funded by the Government of India, was set up as a national centre for research in nuclear science and mathematics. “Today, its scope of research has extended to subjects such as astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computer science,” said Deepak Dhar, Dean, Graduate Studies, and Professor of Theoretical Physics, TIFR. Today, the TIFR has centres in Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore. “Over 300 scientists and 500 research scholars work in the institute,” added Dhar.

In Maharashtra, the boost to education has been powered by some focussed thinking. For one, the government is preparing to tighten its policy of liberally granting permission for new colleges. Mushrooming educational institutions have overwhelmed universities and have resulted in a fall in the quality of higher education.

“We will be making it very strict this year. Colleges without infrastructure and facilities will not be granted permission even if they have political recommendation,” Minister for Higher and Technical Education Rajesh Tope told the media recently.

The Minister said the government had come up with new norms for the setting up of engineering and medical colleges. “The proposals will be scrutinised thoroughly and eligible ones alone would qualify,” Tope added. Only if they meet the requisite criteria would the letter of approval be awarded.

Maharashtra recently hosted an all-India conference that focussed on issues that affect higher education directly. Organised jointly by the Association of Indian Universities, the apex body of universities in the country, and the University Grants Commission (UGC), the three-day meet in Pune tackled issues such as emerging models of governance in higher education, administrative and financial management, autonomy and accountability of the university system, and the role of regulatory authorities including the UGC.

Universities in Maharashtra plan to introduce measures to maintain high standards in their affiliated institutions and to grade them on the basis of key performance indicators (KPIs), drawn up by the State higher education department. These include curriculum upgrade, research, evaluation, attendance, teaching and grading.

To rise up the rungs, varsities will have to lay emphasis on innovation. The adoption of KPIs will involve, among other things, updating the curriculum on a regular basis, maintaining a website and utilising grants efficiently. The ability to attract grants is also important.

Nothing for children in their budgets

Even as the middle class and politicians are gloating over US President Barack Obama’s remark that “India has emerged”, it comes as a rude shock that one of the fastest growing economies spends only 4.45 paise, on an average, per child every year. This is not a mere conjecture, but the finding of an analysis of the Union Budget and Budgets of six State Governments conducted over a five-year period. According to the ‘Budget for Children’ analysis, conducted by Haq: Centre for Child Rights, a non-profit organisation, of every Rs 100 allocated in the Union Budget, education programmes get Rs 2.90, while health and development programmes receive less than one rupee each — this after the Budget allocation for children went up by 40 per cent from Rs 21,033 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 29,518 crore in 2006-07 under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Integrated Child Development Scheme programmes. What is startling to note is that while the Budget allocation has increased, in actual spending, children’s share has come down to 4.12 paise per child — clearly bringing to the fore a wide chasm that exists between policy planning and capacity utilisation in India.

A pertinent question that could be asked is why do children get a raw deal. Guided by reapolitik, one would say because children do not constitute vote-banks. However, in reality the problem lies in the fact that there is a growing gap between public spending and its intended beneficieries. A case in point is the reaction of the Planning Commission to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s announcement regarding the opening of 6,000 Navodaya schools. The Planning Commission decided that 3,500 schools would be in the public sector and 2,500 in the private sector. It is common knowledge that education in the private sector has emerged as a profitable business with little room for philanthropy and hence the 2,500 schools would hardly serve the purpose envisaged in the Right to Education Act. Ideally, providing easy access to quality school education and healthcare should be a responsibility of the Union and State Governments, but the unobliging attitude of a section of politicians and bureaucrats, in effect, reduces the scope of the benefit. Sure, investing in children would augur well for a nation sprinting away to economic prosperity because they are the social capital. Lack of investment in social capital would result in negative outcomes such as early school drop-out, substance abuse, poor labour market entry, and crime and violence, which in turn would lead to substantial economic, social and political costs. In fact, in Latin America and the Caribbean, negative youth behaviours reduce economic growth by up to two per cent annually. If the Government wants to gloss over such facts, it would do so at the country’s peril. Definitely, children demand more commitment from policy-makers, in case the Government wants a stable, vibrant India.

Tamil Nadu government’s anti-Hindi standing had whipped out The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas(JNVs)in the state

 Source: Express Buzz
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government’s anti-Hindi standing had whipped out The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas(JNVs)in the state, thereby denying high quality free education to the rural students.Despite several requests from the Union government, the state government is opposed to opening of these schools, because Hindi is a compulsory subject and it is against the policy of Tamil Nadu government!A few school principals of JNVs of southern states, who spoke to Express on Saturday, said the state government’s (irrespective of DMK or AIADMK) fear over the imposition of Hindi through these “modern Schools’’ are unwarranted. “It’s a misnomer. Even though the JNVs follow the three-language system, in which English is the medium of instruction, mother tongue as second language and a third language as an additional language, it is not compulsory that Hindi should be taken up at the 10th standard,’’ P Ravi, JNV principal of Shimoga, Karanataka, said.“Hindi will be taught till the 10th standard as an additional language. If a student wishes, he can take the CBSE board examination on the subject also. But the results (fail or pass) achieved will not in any way affect his final results, ’’ Anasuya, JNV principal of Karaikal, revealed.“Likewise, in Hindi-speaking states, students can take any of the national languages as an additional language,’’Ravi informed.He said the Union government is spending Rs 2 crore per school per year and the majority of students benefited are from rural areas. “The State’s students are deprived of getting benefited from the high quality education and Central government is keen to start JNVs in the state also.”R Srinivasan, Assistant Commissioner, JNV, Hyderabad, said the political parties of Tamil Nadu should show the will to allow to set up JNVs in the state instead of blindly opposing it.He pointed out to the example of Kerala, which initially opposed the setting up of the schools, but the political leaders, after learning the advantages allowed the schools to start functioning there.Srinivasan said the JNV schools, which follows a transparent reservation policy, are highly beneficial to students of rural areas.The principals were unanimous in saying that “political” will is what is needed for the entry of JNVs in the state. Educationist SS Rajagopalan pointed out that it is high time for the Tamil Nadu government to bring in the JNVs to the state.“Earlier, the government had opposed idea because they were against the three language formula, which had made Hindi compulsory. But today, most of the schools in the state, especially the metric schools, are promoting the same concept. So, there is no reason for the government to oppose the JNVs (in the fear of three-language formula).”The principals, who hail from Tamil Nadu and worked in various JNV schools, including some in the Hindi-speaking states, are in Chennai city to organise the conduct of Regional Cultural Integration Meet and Art Exhibition being held at Kamarajar Arangam on Monday and Tuesday. They justified the holding of the meet in TN, which did not have a single JNV, by saying that it was part of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samithi’s efforts to promote national integration.

All India Navodaya Vidyalaya Staff Association sent the copies of its memorandum to the secretary of the government of India’s Department of School Education & Literacy and to the commissioner of the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti.

Source: People's Democracy
THROUGH a memorandum recently submitted to the prime minister, the All India Navodaya Vidyalaya Staff Association (AINVSA) has drawn his attention to certain anomalies in the allowances and leaves due to the Navodaya Vidyalaya teachers and non-teaching staff all over the country.

The AINVSA has sent the copies of its memorandum to the secretary of the government of India’s Department of School Education & Literacy and to the New Delhi based commissioner of the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti.

The AINVSA memorandum points out that the Department of Personnel & Training had, through an office memorandum (OM) issued on November 11, 2008, restored the facility of 20 days’ half-pay leave to the teachers, principals, headmasters, librarians, laboratory assistants and watermen working in these schools with effect from September 1, 2008. In this regard, the said OM superseded the Office Memorandum dated September 3, 1981 (regarding leave) and the notification dated July 28, 1984. However, as a consequence, the recent OM withdraws with effect from September 1, 2008 the facility of 10 days’ full-pay earned leave provided to the teachers vide the earlier notifications.

The AINVSA memorandum, submitted to the prime minister by its president Jagdish Rai and general secretary L B Reddy, pointed out that prior to September 1, 1981, these affected categories were entitled to 20 days half-pay leave in a year. But they were facing many hardships while availing this leave; for example, they had to produce a medical certificate each time they wanted to avail this leave on full pay. Also, it was not possible to attend to studies, examination and going on outstation tours etc on full pay. They, therefore, demanded earned leave like that available to college and university teachers. However, instead of granting the facility of earned leave in addition to half-pay leave, the central government, after the personal intervention of former prime minister Mrs Indira Gandhi, converted the 20 days of half-pay leave to 10 days of earned leave on full pay with effect from September 1, 1981, as a special case.

The NV teachers are thus deeply anguished over the loss of 10 days earned leave, a facility gained after much deliberations, agitation and only after the personal intervention of late Mrs Indira Gandhi in 1981. The present government has undone the beneficial decision of Mrs Gandhi’s government, while implementing the recommendation of the sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC). The AINVSA memorandum clearly pointed out that the teachers’ demand was for the restoration of half-pay leave on the analogy of university and college teachers in addition to earned leave, and not at the cost of earned leave.

It is also notable that the sixth Central Pay Commission has nowhere recommended a conversion of earned leave into half-pay leave. It is therefore unfortunate and arbitrary that while implementing the recommendation of the sixth CPC, the Department of Personnel & Training did not examine the issue in its right perspective. On the contrary, the department drew its own conclusions and acted in a manner which is against the true spirit behind the recommendation.

Since the department is now in the process of amending the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, the teachers’ demand is that it must withdraw the OM dated November 11, 2008 and also desist from abolishing the earned leave by amending the CCS (Leave) Rules. It is in this matter that the AINVSA has sought the prime minister’s intervention to get the wrong remedied.

PSUs urged to share 2% of profit to boost education

The government wants large public sector companies to share the burden of boosting expenditure on education.
The human resource development (HRD) ministry has written to India’s largest public sector units (PSUs), proposing that they part with a portion of their annual profit to raise the standard of school education, particularly in rural areas and urban slums.
“Initially, we have written to top 100 PSUs, including leading government banks, for giving nearly 2% of their profit for improving school education as part of their social responsibility,” a ministry official said. “We are in consultation with private industry lobbies and will soon write to private companies on this.”
Another HRD official said the ministry was hopeful the companies would cooperate. “Diverting a small portion of the substantial profit towards school education would help in achieving the objective of providing affordable yet quality schooling to children of rural areas and urban slums...”
Both officials asked not to be named.
Total net profit of all PSUs in 2007-08 was Rs.90,000 crore, according to the HRD ministry. India’s top 500 companies earned a net profit of Rs.250,000 in the same year.
The Congress-led Union government plans to boost public expenditure on education from around 4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) today to 6% in the next few years, according to the HRD ministry.
Around 237 million students are currently pursuing school education in India. But quality of schooling and high dropout rates are major worries. Of every 100 students that enter class I, more than 55 drop out by the time they reach class X.
Currently, the cost of setting up a quality school is Rs.3 crore, but this may increase to Rs.5 crore if better facilities are provided, according to HRD ministry estimates.
Companies that accept the government’s proposal will be asked to fund the setting up of a school as well as its recurring cost for a decade, or a total of Rs.15 crore. In return, the school may be named after the company and around 10% of its seats may be reserved for children of the company’s employees.
“While up to 10% can go as discretionary quota, the remaining seats will be filled by the government,” said the second official cited above.
Having schools named after them will serve as publicity for the companies.
The companies can also play an active role in the management and evaluation of the schools they finance. If they don’t want to, the government will hand over the task to the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, which runs Central Schools, and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, another HRD ministry-run schooling body. After 10 years, the company can either continue running the school or hand it over to the government.
U.D. Choubey, director general of Standing Conference of Public Enterprises, an umbrella body of PSUs, said PSUs should contribute to school education as a social responsibility.
“They are (already) doing various activities, including those in the education sector,” he said. “HRD ministry should enter into specific agreements with individual PSUs for this.”