The upholding of the RTE Act by the Supreme Court has been a shot in the arm for the HRD ministry. However, instead of ushering in a 'licence raj' wherein only private institutions are held accountable, the government should do some soul-searching too.
The focus currently appears to be on the responsibility that private schools have to share by admitting 25% of students at the entry level. There are two issues related to this that I wish to bring out.
Firstly, there is ambiguity in the definition of 'entry level'. Most of the schools have their entry at the KG level. Let us assume that they have 4 sections with 40 students each. The intake of students from economically weak sections would be 40 in this case (25% as per RTE).
Schools would be well within the law if they start a pre-school with only one section with say 40 students. Then they would have to admit only 10 students from the poor sections of the society. 4 sections continue to function from the KG level onwards with new admissions. This is a situation wherein pre-school is the de-jure entry level and KG is the de- facto entry level.
The second point that I wish to highlight is that when admitting children from economically weaker backgrounds under the RTE, the government is only making the class rooms and the infrastructure available to these children. But a school is much more. It is an entire socio-economic-academic system. Have we given a thought about what psychological and financial impact will studying in an affluent school have on the child and the parent. The RTE has ensured entry, but who will pay for the school trips or dresses to be bought for annual day or the birthday parties of classmates. A child at the age of 5 or 6 or even 10 is too young to understand the financial implications of these. In trying to keep up with the classmates, the parents of the child are likely to suffer severe financial strain or the child is likely to grow up with a deep sense of inferiority. Where then would the RTE lead us to?
Let us not close our eyes to these practical issues which almost every parent experiences.
Instead of getting into a debate with the private schools and trying to enforce the rules for them, government should examine its own performance on the educational front. The government should focus on improving the facilities in government-aided schools, quality of teachers and act as an enabler for improving the educational environment. The only focus should be on ways to improve the standard of schooling, teaching and learning, not just for the poor and underprivileged children but all children.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Enhancing Employability. Whose baby is it?
An industry-academia interaction was organised by Rajiv Gandhi Technical University, Bhopal on April 10th & 11th.The issue of enhancing the employability of our graduates was addressed from all perspectives. It was aptly called "MANTHAN".
The initiative taken by the University is indeed laudable. The large participation of industry representatives was an indication that the everyone is siezed with this concern and we should hope for some synergetic actions from the industry and the academia.
I happened to attend the inaugural session and found the remarks of one of the key speakers to be a little out of tune. He mentioned that "training is the job of the academia and not the industry". This remark could have evoked a sense of consternation in the minds of the audience, but for the fact that training is considered a critical aspect in the organisation that the speaker heads. Considerable investments are made for training the employees.
Another speaker, head of an infrastructure company was very candid when he said that " it is not only our need to train the employees in order to ensure our own growth,it is also our responsibility". He went on to point out that "there should be greater cross movement of people from the industry to academics and vice-versa". As of now, the academic world is insulated from reality which is evident from our teaching curriculum which has not evolved with time.
The answer to the question ' Enhancing employability. Whose baby is it?' is both, the industry and the academia. The industry has to work more closely with the academia and the latter has to be receptive to the changing needs of the industry and dynamic enough to modify their curriculum as per the needs.
Academic institutions in the US have very strong linkages with the industry and that is perhaps why top quality research leading to product development is the norm there. In order to maintain the growth of the economy, Indian industry will have to collaborate with the academic institutions in order to get the right material at the entry level and will have to continue investing in training the employee in order to enhance his productivity and the growth of the organisation. Statistics show that organisations which have invested in employee-training have sustained their growth while others were like comets.
The step by the HRD ministry to affiliate regional ITIs with the co-located industrial units is a step in the right direction. But a lot more still needs to be done.
The initiative taken by the University is indeed laudable. The large participation of industry representatives was an indication that the everyone is siezed with this concern and we should hope for some synergetic actions from the industry and the academia.
I happened to attend the inaugural session and found the remarks of one of the key speakers to be a little out of tune. He mentioned that "training is the job of the academia and not the industry". This remark could have evoked a sense of consternation in the minds of the audience, but for the fact that training is considered a critical aspect in the organisation that the speaker heads. Considerable investments are made for training the employees.
Another speaker, head of an infrastructure company was very candid when he said that " it is not only our need to train the employees in order to ensure our own growth,it is also our responsibility". He went on to point out that "there should be greater cross movement of people from the industry to academics and vice-versa". As of now, the academic world is insulated from reality which is evident from our teaching curriculum which has not evolved with time.
The answer to the question ' Enhancing employability. Whose baby is it?' is both, the industry and the academia. The industry has to work more closely with the academia and the latter has to be receptive to the changing needs of the industry and dynamic enough to modify their curriculum as per the needs.
Academic institutions in the US have very strong linkages with the industry and that is perhaps why top quality research leading to product development is the norm there. In order to maintain the growth of the economy, Indian industry will have to collaborate with the academic institutions in order to get the right material at the entry level and will have to continue investing in training the employee in order to enhance his productivity and the growth of the organisation. Statistics show that organisations which have invested in employee-training have sustained their growth while others were like comets.
The step by the HRD ministry to affiliate regional ITIs with the co-located industrial units is a step in the right direction. But a lot more still needs to be done.
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