Posted by Ninad on July 29, 2009 under All Posts | 
I had earlier blogged on the problem of shortage of teachers.
Here are some possible solutions:
- Para teachers: To tackle the problem of both teacher shortage and teacher absenteeism through these para teachers, a project called the ‘Shiksha Karmi Project’ was implemented in Rajasthan. This has been reasonably successful.Para teachers are generally members of the same community in which they teach, and therefore, share many of the experiences and cultural practices of their students, including their primary languages and cultural practices.
- E-learning: The promise of delivering education through eLearning has received a lot of hype. It has really not delivered as much. However, things have changed now. Technology is cheaper, broadband is reaching all the corners of India and PCs are becoming ubiquitous. This medium can never really replace classroom teaching. However, it can supplement it by using eLearning methods for some expert teaching done in a centralized manner.
- Pooling: Schools in the same vicinity need to collaborate more in terms of sharing of best practices and also possible sharing of teacher resources. Pooling of teachers for a group of schools can help those schools where there are temporary deficiencies.
- Youtube: Many teachers in the US record their lectures and make it available for everyone on Youtube. It is truly an economical medium of spreading knowledge. Why not embrace this in India as well?
- IIT for teachers training: Training for school teachers is done in Teachers training Colleges. Many of them do not have adequate infrastructure and have trainers of poor quality. When we can have IITs for engineers and IIMs for MBA students, why can’t we have an institute of a similar caliber to train teachers?
These are some of my thoughts. Do you have any ideas?
Posted by Ninad on July 27, 2009 under All Posts |
The education sector has received a lot of focus and new schools and colleges are being planned every day. Buildings are being built with good quality classrooms, laboratories and other facilities. But, where are the teachers?
If there is one profession in India which will face an acute shortage, it is this – the teaching profession. About 22 lakh new school teachers are required in the next 3 years. Where will they come from?
Just look at the some of the damning statistics:
- Engineering colleges face a shortage of nearly 30 per cent of teachers
- Nearly 1/5th of the total primary schools are single teacher schools. Only one teacher per school!
- Teacher absence ratio in primary schools ranges from 15 to 40 per cent.
- Kerala has an average of 6 teachers in a primary school. In Jharkhand it is less than 2 and 500 schools in U.P. do not have a single teacher.
Teacher shortage is really a symptom of a larger problem which has not been addressed for a long time. Salaries for teachers have remained stagnant for a long time. In fact, salaries offered by industry and particularly the IT industry have skyrocketed in the past few years.
In a unique solution to the persistent problem of faculty crunch, the batch of 1982 of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) on Monday presented a ‘Legacy Gift’ of Rs 3 lakh to each of the faculty members who recently joined IIT-B. This can be done only by a limited number of institutions.
So, are there any possible solutions to this problem? If you have any thoughts, write in…
Posted by Ninad on July 22, 2009 under All Posts |
Rs. 44,000 crores seems a lot of money. Yes, it is.
But, that is also the amount the Central government spends every year on Education. In spite of all its efforts, there are huge dropouts in schools. More than 60 per cent students who register in government schools do not make it beyond standard 5.
Can this problem be solved with a school voucher? And, what is a school voucher?
It works like this. The government provides school vouchers to families and students who need to attend school. The student has a choice of using these vouchers with a public or private school and does not need to pay fees to that extent. These schools aggregate the vouchers and seek reimbursement from the government.
This system has been successful in many countries. In Chile, the voucher system covers 90 per cent of the school students. The State pays private and municipal schools directly on the basis of student attendance.
It has been tried in India by the Centre for Civil Society in Delhi as well. In a pilot program, vouchers were distributed by them to needy students and the results were inspiring.
So, is the school voucher the panacea to the present problems?
Yes and No.
Yes, it will work in the urban environment where students have a choice of schools. With this choice, they can select whichever school they want to attend.
No, it will certainly not work in the rural areas where students do not have any choice. In many villages, the only choice that students have is the local government school. If there is no choice of schools, how will the voucher system work?
The government needs to spend Rs. 44,000 crores annually on schools. In fact, whatever more they can fund is ideal. At the same time, it is about time that the school voucher system be tried out in a limited manner.
Posted by Ninad on July 20, 2009 under All Posts |
During her visit to Mumbai, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton addressed an audience of Teach India volunteers at the St. Xavier’s College.
She was quoted as saying: “I believe that every child can learn. I think that talent is distributed universally, but opportunity is limited. And that is true in every country to a lesser or greater degree… Education remains the great equalizer and the gateway to opportunity”.
Well said Hillary Clinton!
Teach India is an excellent initiative of the Times group where people volunteer every week to teach poor kids. With Aamir Khan as the brand ambassador, it has received good visibility.
There is a crying need for many more such initiatives. Indeed, there are many NGOs doing similar work across the country. For example, Akansha supplements formal education of poor children with volunteers committing a couple of teaching hours every week.
All these initiatives are great and need to be lauded. However, in the long term, there is really no substitute for a robust formal education system.
In India, around 89 per cent of the students are in the primary sector. This is a large number and if there is one area that needs extreme focus, it is the primary education sector.
The government clearly needs to do a lot more in every field of education. But, if they have to prioritize their efforts, is should be in the primary education space.
Once the quality of primary education is improved, we can clearly say that “Education is a great equaliser”
Posted by Ninad on July 16, 2009 under All Posts |
US President, Barrack Obama has been quoted in today’s papers as saying that he is laying the foundation of an education system that would help America compete with China and India in the 21st century.
In the same paper, Kapil Sibal, Education Minister of India, has been quoted as making a strong pitch for private investment and foreign universities.
What’s happening? The US wants to emulate India and India wants to emulate the US !!!
Both the countries have different needs. India needs huge funds to sustain higher education and the government cannot fund all these needs. They have to look for the PPP model (private public partnership) and also open up the sector for foreign universities. Once this is opened, it will, hopefully, bridge the huge gap between demand and supply and also ensure that the quality of education available to students improves dramatically. With more providers and more facilities, students will have a choice and everyone will benefit. There is still so much gap between demand and supply that India can easily accommodate some foreign universities provided they are willing to set up shop in India.
In US, there is a different problem. The country simply needs more graduates. President Obama is hoping that the reform plan will ensure that an additional five million Americans earn degrees and certificates in the next decade. If this gap for graduates in US is not filled, graduates from China and India will come to the US and take these jobs. Hence, the strong desire to have Americans pursue graduation.
It is really interesting and coincidental that statements by leaders from both countries have come on the same day which seems conflicting. Actually, they are not. They are two sides of the same coin.
Posted by Ninad on July 13, 2009 under All Posts |
I read a news item on 10th July in the Times of India with the headlines “High-Tech B.Sc. courses may be on the way out”.
The article stated that the three top science institutions of the country have sent a joint letter to the HRD minister asking him to wind up all specialization courses offered at the undergraduate level. In the report titled “Re-structuring Post-school Teaching Programs”, the three academicians have recommended that courses in highly specialized subjects like bio-technology, bioinformatics, nanotechnology, etc. should not be allowed at undergraduate levels. Non-specialized B.Sc. courses (“plain vanilla”) have been in existence for a long time.
In the past decade, many colleges and universities have started offering specialized courses at the B.Sc. level. Some of these courses are extremely popular, especially with those students who do not get admission into a recognized medical and engineering college. Mumbai University has around 4000 seats in various colleges offering B.Sc. courses with specializations. Percentage cut-off for entry into colleges like Ruparel (in Mumbai) is usually higher for specialized courses, at around 80% , against around 60% for plain B.Sc. Courses.
The argument in favour of non-specialised B.Sc. (“plain vanilla”) is as follows…
Students need a strong grounding in basic sciences, and specialization at the undergraduate level is too early. This results in a student neither getting a good knowledge of the basic sciences nor being fit in spite of his specialization for the industry. In India, the undergraduate course is for three years unlike many other countries where it is a four year course. A four year course gives sufficient time for the college to give a basic grounding and then also allows specialization for students.
The argument in favour of specialized courses is as follows…
A student is ultimately interested in a degree which will make him job-ready. Specialization ensures that a student learns specific industry-relevant skills. Why should a student need to wade through a general course when he has made up his mind about his specialization? There is a great demand from the industry for students with specialized skills and these courses ensure that this demand is met.
So, what is the right? Should the undergraduate course be converted to a four year course with specialization in the last 2 years? Or, should specialized courses be expanded? Or, will it be correct to move towards a plain vanilla B.Sc. course as recommended by the top academicians?
Well, what do you think? Put up your comment…
Posted by Ninad on July 7, 2009 under All Posts |
The Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, presented the Union Budget in the Parliament on 6th July, 2009. He has twice quoted Kautilya in his Budget speech.
Since the Finance Minister has quoted Kautilya, I am also reproducing Kautilya’s quote on Education:
“Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats beauty and youth.”
For the Education and training industry, there are some positive signals.
This is one of the few Budgets where the Finance Minister has mentioned the Education sector. This was never really mentioned in previous Budgets.
The Finance Minister has mentioned the following points for he Education sector in his Budget:
- National Mission for Female Literacy to be launched , with focus on minorities, SC, ST and other marginalised groups with the aim of reducing the current level of female illiteracy to half, in three years
- A new scheme to be introduced to provide full interest subsidy during the period of moratorium for educational loans for higher education, which will cover 5 lakh students.
- ‘Mission in Education through ICT’ has been substantially increased to Rs.900 crore. Provision for setting up and up-gradation of Polytechnics under the Skill Development Mission has been increased to Rs.495 crore. One Central University will be set up in each uncovered State, for which Rs.827 crore has been allocated. Rs.2,113 crore has been allocated for IITs and NITs, which includes a provision of Rs.450 crore for new IITs and NITs. The overall Plan budget for higher education is proposed to be increased by Rs.2,000 crore over Interim Budget Estimates.
- Section 80E of the Income-tax Act provides for a deduction in respect of interest on loans taken for pursuing higher education in specified fields of study. The Budget has proposed to extend the scope of this provision to cover all fields of study, including vocational studies, pursued after completion of schooling.
There were a lot of expectations of some bold measures for the Education sector. The Finance Minister has touched upon some of them, which are good.
We need to have a stronger financial framework for students who need finance. A meritorious student is not assured of education loans. A capable student who does not have financial means may need to drop out of the education system if he does not get finance for his education. This should hopefully start changing with the new measures mentioned in the Budget.
Also, the Finance Minister has shown the clear intent of the government to ensure that education becomes inclusive and students, who are unable to access the education infrastructure, will now be assisted by the government.
In his Budget speech, the Finance Minister has mentioned that investment in infrastructure is critical for the economy. Wouldn’t it have been nice if the Finance Minister had declared Education as an Infrastructure sector?
Posted by Ninad on July 6, 2009 under All Posts |
Infrastructure industries normally cover ports, roads, bridges, etc. Some of the characteristics of an infrastructure industry are – large upfront investment, long gestation period and long term benefits.
Investment in an Educational institution has similar traits. It requires upfront investment in a property and added facilities as well; returns take a long time and benefits to society range over a long run stretch too.
In the past few months, there has been a lot of debate and discussion over the education sector. The Education Minister, Kapil Sibal, has announced some bold measures in his 100 day plan and the Yash Pal Committee Report has been submitted.
I have been following these developments with close interest. For very long, our governments have been in a “denial” mode. They have refused to acknowledge that there is a massive problem in the Education sector and it needs to be addressed. Well, this seems to have really changed.
Investment in the education sector is really investment in soft infrastructure. It builds and nurtures the minds of the young. It is really an investment in India’s future. Shouldn’t it get the sops and incentives available to other infrastructure industries.
Shouldn’t Education be declared an Infrastructure industry?
