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First, free education from licence raj

The best thing that has happened to Indian education in recent times is for Kapil Sibal to be appointed Minister for Human Resource Development. And, he has hit the ground running. Within weeks of his appointment there is evidence of new thinking, new policies and new energy. So much energy tha ....Read more

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17 Comments |

make solar panelBy: make solar panel | Wednesday , 11 Nov '09 7:08:00 AM Reply | Forward if people like you and those with bank accounts like yours can buy seats then their privileged progeny become doctors, lawyers, engineers or writers, and influence our public and private lives, regardless of their merit. since you so loudly aoppose resrvations.make solar panel

"literacy, then scholarship"By: shereen ratnagar | Sunday , 9 Aug '09 14:07:09 PM Reply | Forward Indian journalists do not read before they venture. Or perhaps, as Anil Sadagopal is not gora, Singh did not bother to read his piece in The Telegraph of 28 July. She would not have written her paean of praise had she bothered to go deep into the primary education act. As usual, she reflects the middle-class view, by definition blinkered and superficial. I read her column to find out what the mindless English-speaking middle classes are thinking. Sometimes it is hilarious, often just distasteful.

money talksBy: gautam | Thursday , 2 Jul '09 20:21:54 PM Reply | Forward "The new Minister of HRD has spoken out strongly against ‘capitation’ fees being charged by private colleges. Why should this be any business of the Government of India? When seats in medical and engineering colleges are in such short supply why should colleges not auction them to the highest bidder and if someone is prepared to pay, so what?"Madame singh, the so what is easily answered, if people like you and those with bank accounts like yours can buy seats then their privileged progeny become doctors, lawyers, engineers or writers, and influence our public and private lives, regardless of their merit. since you so loudly aoppose resrvations that are based on birth, i wonder how u can flaunt the hypocrisy that allows you to advocate education for those with inherited money. As always u display the best and worst of the liberal church with the fervour of a naya mussalaman ;-)

India is becoming a knowledge based colony of foreign corporate houses and universitiesBy: Jay | Monday , 29 Jun '09 21:27:40 PM Reply | Forward As per many published reports in many reputed journals, the quality of original thinkers and scientists are deteriorating very fast since independence despite of increasing funding, and increase in number of institutions of higher education/research. Our so-called “elite” institutes like IITs, IISc are not doing much better in terms of quality research where original talent is needed, as compared to teaching. In reality, it’s very unfortunate situation in knowledge based industries in India (both in IT and Biotech). India is now used more and more by multinational companies to get their routine jobs done. This situation is slowly spreading to public education and research sector as well. It’s a very frightening dream that India is becoming a knowledge based colony of foreign corporate houses and universities. I wish I am wrong! Drastic school education reform is urgently needed to restore our past glory first and then go beyond that, than to cut the root and water on the top.

free education from licence rajBy: satya chatterjee | Monday , 29 Jun '09 15:02:10 PM Reply | Forward Home grown scientific work of excellence that is still unmatched was accomplished during 1920-1930. Names such as Sir J.C. Bose (considered as the father of wireless communication before Marconi), Nobel Laureate Sir C V Raman (Raman effect), scientists of exceptional innovative ability like Prof Satyen Bose (Bose-Einstein theory)and Dr Meghnad Saha rocked the British establishment because these brilliant sons of the soil proved that Indians could think in India and need nor travel overseas. However, all of them educated themselves under British system at that time. India after independence should just have copied the British method and continued unpgrading on a regular basis. Licence Raj method of IAS officer brains was not necessary.

free education from licence rajBy: Rajiv Tewari | Monday , 29 Jun '09 11:42:45 AM Reply | Forward Congratulations Tavleen for raising a fundamental issue. Quality comes through competition and not through license control. One only needs to drive around any town to notice large number of UGC and AICTE approved colleges charging high fees and delivering absolutely poor quality of education just because these two organisations have ensured a demand supply gap. They keep cursing private institutions and refuse to acknowledge a total disaster in the quality by the recognised insitutes. I graduated from the Allahabad University in the seventies when it was still called the Oxford of the EAST. It is shocking to notice its quality standards now. This is just one of the hundreds of examples of the great monitoring done by the UGC stalwarts. The AICTE story is no different on poor quality colleges. Add to that a figure of over 1,60,000 students going abroad for studies and having to spend crores of Indian Rupees just because the best institutes can not come to India.

Kapil SibbalBy: B N Goyal | Monday , 29 Jun '09 8:37:29 AM Reply | Forward Let us congratulate the HRD Minister. He has taken a long overdue step to revamp the education system of the country. May it does not prove a futile exercise or a political gimmick, as our past experience compels us to think differently. In my view, unless and until reform is started from primary level with a dispassionate view, we shall be beating the old beaten track. I feel -1.The status of Primary level education should be elevated. It should not be underestimated or downgraded in any manner. It should be free and compulsory for all the children. No burden of school bags on the child should be there.2.Primary education, presently, is the responsibility of the local civic administration but they are handicapped on so many fronts. They donâ€™t have thinking, resources, know-how, techniques, money, or the vision. They are caught up in several other local problems.3.There should be trained, well equipped and well paid teachers for the primary schools. The standard of Govt. primary

talveens articleBy: Suresh | Monday , 29 Jun '09 2:48:09 AM Reply | Forward Talveen:I disagree with less government on education front: We want to look at Europe and not at the US for some gyan. The US has very best universities-but 2/3rd of american citizens cant afford a college! so the country has to depend on stream of foreign immigrants to pump and keep america running as no.1 country in the world. In same country, 100 percent of population is literate because school education is nearly free here in the US!!So we need to be cautious in opening the doors of education.We want less government strings but as well as some pragmatism..what fits for the US may not be a good solution for us!

Welcome start ,but a long way to goBy: jay | Monday , 29 Jun '09 1:14:29 AM Reply | Forward India must give urgent priority to reform basic school education. You cannot make great professionals/scientist/citizens by promoting private tuition and coaching enabled, mugging-up grade students. In general middle class and elite Indians are hyper-obsessed with higher education and are the main stumbling block for school education reform. One of the main aspects for school education reform is to BAN PRIVATE TUITION AND SO-CALLED (ORGANIZED) COACHING CENTERS, mainly by school teachers and administrators who is directly involved in teaching and/or admin in schools. We must not force a young talented kid from less fortunate background to compete with the parents and teachers (who prepares “notes”, make “suggestions” etc) of another kid. India must ALLOCATE MORE FUNDING AND STRICT ACCOUNTABILITY FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION with more schools with better quality infrastructure; ZERO TOLERANCE AGAINST POLITICAL INTERFERENCE. Anyway,I wish Sibbbal to succeed in his first major reform attempt.

Primary and high school reform for Govt schools must be our top priority By: Jay | Monday , 29 Jun '09 0:49:11 AM Reply | Forward General Indians are hyper obsessed with higher education and research. In reality we urgently need reform our government school system. Only 13% of our “highly educated professionals” are worth employing in blue chip companies, as per Indian Industries Association, CII (which itself have very low quality requirement). Even our elite institutes like IITs may be great for teaching (Bachelors degree) but its research quality is not among the top even in Indian standard. We still depend on foreign technology for almost anything. You do not need much brain to teach why an apple comes down from a tree but it needs original talent to discover gravity. Now we only produce private tuition and coaching enabled, mugging-up grade technicians. We basically discard real talents at the very beginning of schooling and promote mediocrity. Scoring high marks and getting selected in fiercely competitive exams do NOT mean anything in real life to indicate real talents.

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