Governance Today - May 2015

` 60

www.governancetoday.co.in

May 2015 Vol.- 01 Issue - 08

SCHOOL EDUCATION

Done in by a Derelict State

Energy Security: Roadblocks, Bottlenecks and Possibilities Changing Social Mindset is Most Challenging Task

14

Governance Today

May 2015

May 2015

Governance Today

3

May 2015 Vol. 1 No. 8 Editor-in-Chief Ajit Sinha Editor Anand Mishra Senior Copy Editor Ramesh K Raja Reporting Team Ritika Bisht Sagarika Ranjan Graphic Designer Girdhar Chandra Fuloria Web Architect Farhan Khan Guest Writers & Contributors Roselin Kiro Sahaj Palla Ritwajit Das Siddhartha Upadhyay Dr. Ramesh Kumar Avi Roy Rita Singh CORPORATE OFFICE Strategy Head Ajay Kumar Accounts Executive Yogesh Chikara FOR ADVERTISEMENT CONTACT Stuti Bhusan stuti@governancetoday.co.in FOR SUBSCRIPTION CONTACT subscription@governancetoday.co.in ADVISORY BOARD Terry Culver, Associate Dean, SIPA, University of Columbia Vinit Goenka, National Co-Convener, IT Cell, BJP Amod Kanth, General Secretary Prayas JAC Society Pratap Mohanty, Former Dy Educational Advisor, MHRD, GOI Ranjit Walia, Managing Counsel Walia & Co. Published By Ajit Kumar Sinha 713, 3BA - Tower No. -4, River Height, Raj Nagar Extn - Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh-201003 Printed & Published by Ajit Kumar Sinha on behalf of Odyssey Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. Printed at Rama Offset Printers A-43, Sector - 10, Noida - 201301, UP Editor In Chief - Ajit Kumar Sinha @ All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, and mechanical, including photocopy. Or any information storage or retrieval system, without publisher’s permission editorial does not endorse the content of advertisements printed in the magazine

4

Governance Today

May 2015

14

SCHOOL EDUCATION: DONE IN BY A DERELICT STATE The land of Taxila and Nalanda, the most advanced seats of learning in the pre Christ era, presents a sorry picture today as far as education is concerned. While there are centres of excellence such as IITs, IIMs IISc and AIIMS, the overall system leaves much to be desired.

The school system is also facing numerous challenges ranging from poor quality of teaching to lack of practical orientation. To keep growing at a decent rate, the country requires a huge increase in employable graduates and for that, innovative and massive overhauling of both school and tertiary education system is needed.

RTE REQUIRES MORE THAN LIP SERVICE

42

20

Vimala Ramachandran National Fellow and Professor, National University for Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi

24

26 28 30 50

CHANGING SOCIAL MINDSET IS MOST CHALLENGING TASK

32

34

Dr. Shabistan Gaffar President, All India Confederation for Women’s Empowerment Through Education (AICWETE)

36

38 44

46 54

DEMAND FOR ALL TERRAIN VEHICLES INCREASING IN INDIA Pankaj Dubey Managing Director, Polaris India Pvt. Ltd.

69

56

60

65

72 73

HIGHER EDUCATION: ILL EQUIPPED TO CATER TO NATIONAL REQUIREMENTS BOARDS GALORE: LEADING TO NONSTANDARDISATION OF EDUCATION? A POORLY MANAGED SECTOR BURDENED BY PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS ROTTEN FRUITS IN SOCIAL BASKET FALLING STANDARD OF EDUCATION: WHO IS TO BLAME? MONEY MATTERS TIME HAS COME TO INVEST IN TEACHERS: A TEACHER TO GOVT. RTE: THE HOLLOW RIGHT CAKEWALK DEGREES: COMMERCIALIZING THE EDUCATION BUSINESS REAL INTERACTION- NEED OF THE HOUR MODERN-DAY VISHNU SHARMA: INSPIRING STUDENTS THROUGH STORY-TELLING INDIAN SPORTS FAILS TO CLEAR THE POLICY HURDLE INDC: FUTURE OF GLOBAL CARBON SPACE AND THE INDIAN PERSPECTIVE ENERGY SECURITY IN INDIA: ROADBLOCKS BOTTLENECKS AND POSSIBILITIES PECUNIARY POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE BRINGING CHILDHOOD ALIVE ON CANVAS May 2015

Governance Today

5

n

o.i

y.c

da

ceto

an

ern

ov

w.g

www.governancetoday.co.in

ww

etod ay .co. in

` 60

nc

.in

` 60

.co

ay

tod

ce

an

ern

ov

.g ww

www.gove

rnanceto

w.g ov erna

w

April 201

5 Vol.01

Issu

PM

Nov em be

01

LO

Vo

S ES ?

L R E TH WE TRY O P OUN DE

VE

u

Jan

15

20

EN

r 20 14 ,V

e

l.-

ary

4 -0

T

ol.0 1,

Issu e 02

ww

0

`6

e-

5

03

01

A

SE

RE

0 10

SC

IE

NC

E

`

Vo

RC

14

20

GIA INDI NT A’S LEA PS

H

l.-

er

mb

ce

De

Don

e - 08

day.co.in

www

.gov

erna

ncet

oday

.co.in

OL

by a EDUCA D T E erelict StION H ate GT

e in

IN E NT ANC E N INV ER RE GOV

Ou

Ne r e Y E-g d to Doun ev g S o In e dia ve rn lop a cien ’s Eff an ti or ce Visio sts tS n La ud ab le

C

01 Is su

SCHO

NDA Go vernment Brough t Consum Back Hope to ers and Industry

Issu

&

`5

May Issue - 072015 V ol.-

SUBSCRIBE NOW

TIME TO T AKE OFF

Ene rgy Sec Cha urity ngin : Ro g So adb cial Min locks, B dset ottle is M nec ks a ost Cha llen nd Poss ging ibilit Task ies

‘Governance Today’ has no history to look back. But looking at the nomenclature, the magazine is engaged in a broad range of special-interest publishing, relevant to ‘Today’, ultimately, making it a comprehensive and effective resource.

I WOULD I LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE TO GOVERNANCE TODAY MAGAZINE FOR Term

Amount `

You Pay `

You Save `

1 Year

` 660

` 600

` 60

3 Years

` 1980

` 1800

` 180

5 Years

` 3300

` 3000

` 300

I WILL PAY WITH DEMAND DRAFT CHEQUE NO.

CHEQUE

CASH

AMOUNT

DRAWN AT

DATED

Please fill the form in CAPITAL letters and mail it with cheque /DD to the address given below. ( In favour of Odyssey Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. ) NAME : MS/ MR. ADDRESS OFFICE CITY

STATE

MOBILE NO.

PIN PH

E-MAIL

6

Odyssey Infomedia Pvt. Ltd. B-108, 1st Floor, Sector-63, Noida - 201301,UP, U.P. 201301 Phone: +91-120-4234008, | www.governancetoday.co.in Governance Today May 2015 For queries, call 91-120-4234008, or email at subscription@governancetoday.co.in

Editorial

INNOVATIVE THINKING REQUIRED

E

ducation, as we all know, is a basic tool that empowers an individual to take up all challenges of life. Realizing this, the government of India has made right to education a fundamental right. Numerous programs have been started by the center and the states to spread literacy and make children attend school.

However, there are millions and millions of children in both rural and urban India who don’t have the privilege of attending school. To their misfortune, the compulsion of earning daily wages weighs more than the luxury of going to school. This is the reason why so many poor parents chose to not send their children to school despite knowing how important it is to their children’s future. For such parents, each pair of hands is a tool that earns so that each one in family has something on plate. Survival is, we can’t disagree, more important than education for them.

It is very important that these millions of children also have a stake in the overall planning of the government with regard to children and their right to education. And it is just not enough to make schools, put teachers in these schools and have a cook to prepare mid-day meal. Such a system is of just no use for these street urchins. What they need is an innovative process through which education reaches them and not vice versa. It is equally important that the education does not interfere in their work. At the same time, there is a need to incorporate vocational training to these classes so that these children actually learn something that helps them increase their earnings thus bringing them in the economic mainstream. This would be adding a new dimension of the Skill India campaign.

And it is not just for these children who have to work to support their families, it is necessary that education generally has a more practical orientation. It must not produce people with just degrees, and no acumen to apply learned concepts to productive ends. This lack of application has been the single most crucial lacuna of the Indian education system. It is simply not producing employable graduates. Resultantly, it is not just the money spent on the entire education of the person that goes waste, it also robs the country of a person which could have been of useful in nation building.

Needless to say, there is a need for massive overhaul of the entire spectrum of education and this includes regulatory system, teaching standard, curriculum development, faculty development, university structure and private participation in the education sector. It is a crucial service that any elected government owes to the citizens. All our dreams of becoming an economic superpower would remain just that unless there is enough trained manpower to make that dream a reality.

Best regards

Ajit Sinha Editor-in-Chief

May 2015

Governance Today

7

Governance Watch

Naya Raipur the Best Destination for Development of IT Industries: Dr Raman Singh, CM, Chhattisgarh

C

hhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh recently said Naya Raipur, the new Capital city of the state, is the best destination for development of Information Technology (IT)-based industries, as it offers better facilities for such activities than any other state. Claiming a clear policy for the purpose, Singh said his government was well-determined for development of IT sector in the state.

Addressing ‘Opportunity Chhattisgarh 2015’, an event jointly organized by the state’s IT department and industry body NASSCOM late last month, the CM said, “In Naya Raipur, 52 sq km area has been marked only for IT industries. Singlewindow clearance system has been introduced.” He said the state government was making consistent efforts for promoting investments in the sector. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the state government and NASSCOM, wherein the industry body has agreed to provide necessary guidance to the state for promoting IT and skill development of youth in Chhhattisgarh. The Chief Minister released a career guide booklet on the occasion.

Dr Singh addressed the representatives of various IT companies and said that Naya Raipur is the smart city of 21st century that offers a great scope for industries. “Chhattisgarh churns out 30 to 35 thousand engineers every year. Several nationallevel educational institutes, including IIT and IIIT and NIT have been opened here. Besides, a number of youngsters of the state are also being trained through livelihood colleges. Chhattisgarh is the first state of the country to empower youth with legal right to skill development,” he said.

Dr Singh said that Chhattisgarh has no shortage of electricity supply. “The state is rich in mineral resources, but still the opportunities in core-sector are limited. This is why the state government is promoting non-core sector,” he said adding that now “we are heading towards e-panchayat system, under which all the schemes and payments will go online.” He said that Raipur has all the facilities like any other metro city. Plus, it has peaceful environment and better living standard.

I

India to have Own Ranking System

ndia is on the threshold of evolving its own system of ranking of higher educational institutions. Designed with the Indian situation in mind, the new system will emphasize on results and that ranking of institutions should not be confused with accreditation that is already being done by National Assessment and Accreditation Council. Senior HRD officials, directors of IITs, IIMs, NITs and representatives of CII and FICCI met recently to work out the ranking system. “We have got six groupings of outcomes on which institutions will be ranked,” a senior HRD official said. These will be academic performance, teaching-learning, learning resources, graduation outcome, global MoUs and impact/innovation done by institutions. Ranking for science, engineering, liberal arts, social sciences, medicine, law and business administration will be done differently. IITs, IIMs, School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University have been asked to look into outcomes again. Though the weightage for each of the six outcomes will be finalized in the last meeting of the core team, a senior HRD ministry official said, “It will be markedly different from ranking system followed internationally.”

8

Governance Today

May 2015

Governance Watch

INS Visakhapatnam, India’s Largest Warship, Unveiled in Mazgaon

I

ndian Naval Ship (INS) Visakhapatnam, the country’s largest stealth destroyer, was launched recently at Mazgaon dock by Minu Dhowan, the wife of Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral RK Dhowan. The Navy chief said there are 48 different types of vessels such as submarines, aircraft carriers, frigates and destroyers, which are under construction in the various public-private shipyards across India. “The shape of the hull of Visakhapatnam and its radar transparent deck will make very difficult for the enemy to detect the ship,” he said. The officials said the ship is a follow on of Project 15-A of Kolkata class destroyers with enhanced features. Visakhapatnam will be the largest destroyer commissioned in the country and will be equipped with Israeli multi-function surveillance threat alert radar (MF –STAR). This will provide targeting information to 32 Barak 8 long range surface to air missiles onboard warship. This warship will be commissioned into the Indian Navy only in July 2018.

The Visakhapatnam will be armed with a 127 mm main gun, while the INS Kolkata has a 76mm super rapid gun mount (SRGM). Both classes share the AK-630 close-in anti-missile gun system.

Digital Education on a Growth Trajectory

T

he Indian education market is estimated to be worth Rs. 5.9 trillion in 2014-15 against Rs. 3.33 trillion in 2011-12, according to a report by India Ratings and Research Pvt. Ltd. However, there is still a huge market left unexplored. In addition, the Lewis, DE report released on January 4, 2015 forecasted the smart class room market in India to grow at a CAGR of 15.89 per cent over a period of six years. The coaching industry, which is an emerging sector, is making strides in the smart class room sector and the recently announced Digital India initiative is likely to be helpful. However, there are three major hurdles to the digital education ambition — availability of internet, hardware and high cost associated with providing such services. So while the digital India initiative is an ambitious project, yet there are loopholes which need attention, mainly in the education space.

Indian Economy Clearly on Recovery Path: Arun Jaitley

W

ith a 7.4 per cent growth in the first three quarters, Indian economy is on a recovery path, says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. “We are committed to maintain overall macroeconomic conditions on a sustained basis so that the Indian economy is able to achieve and sustain growth of 8 per cent and above,” Jaitley said in his address to the International Monetary and Financial Committee. Advance estimates have also placed the Gross Domestic Product growth for the full year of 2014-15 at 7.4 per cent. Medium-term growth prospects have also improved following recent policy initiatives towards unlocking coal and other mining activity, liberalization of Foreign Direct Investment limits and a renewed thrust on public investment in infrastructure, which would help to improve the investment climate. With India’s treading on the path of fiscal consolidation, he said the GFD of the central government, which was 5.7 per cent of GDP in 2011-12, declined to 4.1 per cent in 2014-15 and is budgeted to decline further to 3.9 per cent in 2015-16.

India current account deficit (CAD) declined sharply from 4.8 per cent of GDP in 2012-13 to 1.7 per cent in 2013-14 and is expected to decline further to 1.3 per cent in 2014-15.

May 2015

Governance Today

9

Governance Watch

Cabinet Approves 100 Smart City Projects

T

he Union Cabinet recently cleared Central government’s spending of nearly Rs. 1,00,000 crore which would include Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream project of building 100 smart cities across the country. This would also include a new urban renewal mission named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee replacing the existing one named as Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). As per the Urban Development Ministry officials, the meeting, chaired

by PM Modi, approved the Smart Cities Mission for development of 100 smart cities and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) of 500 cities, with outlays of Rs. 48,000 crore and Rs. 50,000 crore, respectively. Each selected city under the ambitious scheme would get Central assistance of Rs. 100 crore a year for five years. The mission aims to release funding depending on multi-pronged progress of the projects and makes citizen participation an integral part of the planning of these cities. According to reports, States get the flexibility of designing schemes based on the needs of identified smart cities and in their execution and monitoring.

Australian FM to Enhance Education Ties with India

A

ustralian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop recently expressed her interest in enhancing the cooperation between the two countries in the field of education. Bishop made the remarks while addressing a gathering of students at St. Stephen’s College, on her four day visit to India. “India is the second largest source country of students who wish to study overseas. We look forward to extending the cooperation in the field of education to facilitate more student-exchange programmes between the two countries,” Bishop said.

The Australian minister also briefed students about the ‘New Colombo Plan’ which supports Australian undergraduates to study and undertake internships in the Indo-Pacific region. The new plan involves a scholarship programme for study of up to one year and internships or mentorships, and a flexible mobility grants programme for short- and long-term courses, internships, mentorships, practicums (practical section of a course of study) and research. It intends to encourage two-way flow of students in the region. A letter of intent was also signed between University of Melbourne and St. Stephen’s College to extend mutual support to each other in the academic field.

Centre asks NCR States to Tackle Air Pollution

I

n a move to improve the Capital’s air quality, the Centre has asked Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to commit to a three-month action plan to lower the pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The states have agreed to take time-bound steps to address the problem and come out with a joint medium and long-term strategy in July.

Under the plan, civic agencies in Delhi and three neighboring states will enforce the ban on burning of waste, act against polluting vehicles, set up automatic identification of overloaded vehicles at borders, phase out coalbased units and adhere to upcoming norms on handling of construction waste. In a similar move, Haryana government would stop registration of non-BS IV vehicles in 11 NCR districts while Rajasthan promised to monitor the quality of fuel being used in industrial units in Bhiwadi. Delhi proposed to launch an “online monitoring system to map air polluting activities” in the city by June.

10

Governance Today

May 2015

Governance Watch

Aadhaar Becomes World’s Largest Biometric ID System

W

ith the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) issuing nearly 82 crore cards, the Aadhaar card has emerged as probably the world’s largest biometric identification programmes in the world. As per the available data, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) biometric database is way behind with 15 crore and with more Indians expected to register for Aadhaar, it could emerge as the largest programme of its kind globally. Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of enrolments with 10.48 crore cards while Maharashtra had 9.19 crore and West Bengal 6.12 crore up to April 20.

Data showed that the UIDAI has issued 81.78 crore cards, covering nearly 67% of the population. The unique ID card programme, which was on the brink of being abandoned after the NDA government was swept to power in May last year, has been pursued vigorously by the Modi administration as it pushed to tackle unwieldy subsidies and roll out its massive Jan Dhan financial inclusion drive. The government persisted with Aadhaar after the former chairman of UIDAI Nandan Nilekani detailed the benefits of the Aadhaar card to PM Narendra Modi.

Moody’s Rates India Positive from Stable

G

lobal ratings agency Moody’s has enhanced India’s sovereign rating to positive from stable, expecting positive steps from policy-makers to spur growth and put the country ahead of peers — a development that finance ministry said was significant. In a statement given by Moody’s Investors Service, “Moody’s decision to revise the ratings outlook to positive from stable is based on its view that there is an increasing probability that actions by policy-makers will enhance the country’s economic strength and, in turn, the sovereign’s financial strength over coming years.” On this development, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “Moody’s has changed rating outlook to positive from stable and affirms Baa3 rating. The upgrade in outlook is significant, but we’ve got to do more.” The Baa3 rating incorporates the risk that higher levels of growth and infrastructure development will be accompanied by higher leverage. Sovereign credit improvements over the next 12-18 months will depend on the extent to which growth, policies and buffers can contain risks, it said.

Infra Projects Faltering Results in Bad loans

A

ccording to a new report by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), bad loans are piling up in Indian banks, mainly driven by loans taken by infrastructure and mining sector companies whose projects are stalled or faltering. By December 2014, total bad loans, called non-performing assets, of listed banks had reached a staggering Rs.4.85 lakh cr. This is nearly 14 per cent of total loans given by all banks and equals the total net worth of the sector. The growing financial risk, the report says, is not because of delays in environmental clearances and land acquisition as commonly thought. It is rather due to lax regulation at both the clearance level and the credit giving agency level. As per the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE), between 2007 and 2014 “almost all environmental clearance applications were cleared” while “94 per cent of proposals seeking forest clearance were approved”. Infrastructure, iron and steel, mining, textiles and aviation had 52 per cent of total stressed advances (NPAs and restructured loans) of all scheduled banks, according to Reserve Bank’s Fiscal Stability Report of December 2014. Within infrastructure, electricity, oil and gas constituted around 58 per cent, transport 21 per cent and telecommunications around 10 per cent.

May 2015

Governance Today

11

Global Watch

China Allows US to Use Civilian Facilities in South China Sea

C

hina has said it would allow US and other countries to use civilian facilities China is building in the South China Sea for search and rescue and weather forecasting “when conditions are right.” China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas, with overlapping claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. In a teleconference with the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Jonathan Greenert, China’s navy chief Wu Shengli said China’s building work in the South China Sea would not affect freedom of navigation or overflight.

It is noteworthy that South China Sea has been in news recently over massive land reclamation and construction in Spratly Islands by China which is alleged to be for building military infrastructure. Disputes over how to tackle an increasingly assertive stance by China - an ally of several Southeast Asian states - in the strategic South China Sea make the issue the region’s biggest potential military flashpoint.

Republicans Force Spending Cuts to Hurt Obamacare

M

yanmar peace negotiators have agreed on the draft text of a nationwide ceasefire agreement, as the country edges closer to ending decades of conflict between ethnic minority groups and the government. The draft still needs approval from all of the 16 ethnic armed groups involved in the talks. The tentative deal, which comes as heavy fighting between the military and rebel groups continues to ravage a northern border area, sets out the framework for a countrywide ceasefire - a key target of the government as the nation heads towards crucial elections later this year. Myanmar has been racked by unrest since independence from Britain in 1948 which have been fuelled in part by tussles over the country’s rich resources. The quasicivilian government, which took power after decades of army rule in 2011, has made a peace agreement with an array of rebel groups a cornerstone of its political reforms.

Vietnam Buys Missiles to Counter China

N

early 70 percent of foreign students accepted by the University of Tokyo for undergraduate degrees taught in English declined admission for the 2014 school year. The results are a setback for Japan’s efforts to attract a bigger share of foreign students to boost the international stature of its leading universities.

Foreign students appear to prefer other colleges overseas because the University of Tokyo, known locally as Todai, offers a limited number of classes taught in English. The University of Tokyo launched its Programs in English at its Komaba campus in 2012, and has increased the number of students it accepts from 38 to 49, and then to 61 over the three academic years.

12

Governance Today

May 2015

May 2015

Governance Today

13

Lead Story

School Education

Done in by a Derelict State

14

Governance Today

May 2015

Lead Story

| ANAND MISHRA

I

n the 2009 round of the triennial test of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests the 15-year-old school students’ scholastic performance in math, science and reading, India finished second, from the bottom. It managed to beat only Kyrgyzstan. The test was administered to students from Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, which have decently governed education systems. The results sure were shocking, but not more than the government’s response, according to which, the Indians did not do well on the test as there was a socio-cultural disconnect between the questions and Indian students. The country pulled out of the next round of assessment, held in 2012. Incidentally, China, with whom India intends to compete in global market, finished at the top.

Other key Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan all occupied the top slots, in all three segments. Unfortunately, such unflattering facts don’t evoke as much response in our popular psyche as do the news of IIT and IIM alumni’s appointment at the top of global corporates.

India is a land of contradictions.

A civilization which developed on rigorous analysis and debates on subjects as varied as philosophy to astronomy and number systems, ironically does not feature anywhere in the global education scene. Once represented by some of the world’s most respected universities such as Taxila and Nalanda, Indian universities are today shamefully absent from world rankings. It has one of the top five educational infrastructures in the world, yet has among the worst educational standards. Alumni of institutions such as IITs, IISCs and IIMs are scaling unseen heights in global corporate and academic worlds, but mostly after passing through the corridors of Ivy League universities of the US and Europe. In any case, such institutions are countable on

fingers and acceptance rates in these are lower than even the best in the world. It is way tougher to get into IIM Ahmedabad than to get into Harvard Business School.

Surely not all is well in our massive educational system. In fact, ask parents, teachers, education planners and politicians in private, the common assessment is that hardly anything is really well in our education paradigm.

But how low has our education stooped to? More importantly, how have we landed here? And critically important,

standard two texts and about similar number could not do basic double digit subtractions, again of standard two level. The situation in private schools was only marginally better than government schools. Another report pegged unqualified teachers at the elementary level in government schools at around 20 per cent in the country; as many as 57 per cent and 61 per cent teachers in Bihar and Assam are unqualified. And if we add to this, the quality of even trained teachers and the availability of such teachers in

Primary school enrollments have gone up sharply, but drop out rates remain high

how can we start improving? There are many questions and regardless of whether we go top down or bottoms up, the need is for radical, indeed shocking reforms. No country or society progresses on ill-educated citizens. Whether fighting social evils or realizing economic dreams like Makein-India, the first enabler has to be a vibrant, open minded, evolving and relevant educational system which delivers quality education at the last village on our borders.

Rotten to the Core In the ASER Survey of 2014, it was found that nearly half of class five students in rural India were unable to read the

schools, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the vast government educational system is anything but a knowledge imparting machinery.

Some states are doing better; Kerala and Tamil Nadu have managed to ensure the presence of more than 90 per cent of children in school.

Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and Himachal are also doing OK, but the Hindi heartland comprising of Bihar, UP, MP and Rajasthan suffer from low enrollment ratios as well as from chronic absenteeism. And absenteeism is not confined to students, the absence of teachers at schools is also high, not just in rural areas and at the elementary level, but also at higher education level.

May 2015

Governance Today

15

Lead Story

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

Primary

Upper Primary

Secondary

2013-14(P)

2012-13(P)

2011-12

2010-11

2009-10

2008-09

2007-08

2006-07

2005-06

2000-01

0

Senior Secondary

The number of schools has gone up consistently over last decade

It is very common for elementary school teachers to visit schools once a week and manage attendance, even while remaining absent for the rest of the week. And then there is the issue of non-existing teachers. Only recently a probe by the Punjab Medical Council (PMC) revealed the existence of over 400 ghost faculties in four private medical colleges of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. So, the problem of non-availability of teachers is biting both public and private sector education.

Poor Infra Leading to Poor Results Even as airconditioned schools mushroom across cities, a cursory glance in any government school in any city reveals the tectonic chasm between the learning centers of the aspirational India and the India that barely scrapes by. The situation only deteriorates in tier II and tier III cities.

Schools in small towns and rural areas very often have little infrastructure beyond a couple of dilapidated rooms.

We have all read umpteen stories about how poor kids are unable to study as schools don’t have buildings, toilets, drinking water or for that matter books and teachers. The situation is especially bad for girl children.

The Annual Status of Education Report of 2013-14 released by District 16

Governance Today

May 2015

Information System for Education (DISE) shows the poor state of infrastructure on a broader level. Over 43 per cent of schools in India don’t have electricity.

Over 90 per cent of schools in Bihar and nearly 84 per cent schools in Jharkhand go without electricity. Select BIMARU states of Jharkhand, Bihar and UP also rank very low in average class size and student-teacher ratios, indicating the high burden on teachers. According to a survey conducted in 2009-10, over 95 per cent of schools did not have adequate infrastructure as per RTE guidelines.

Numerous studies have shown major difference in the infrastructure of public and private schools and this difference has resulted in the differential performance of the children studying in the two systems. In an analysis of infrastructural difference between government and private schools, a study published in International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy in 2013 showed that students in both Govt. aided and unaided private schools performed better than government schools in reading as well as basic math, even though other studies have raised questions about the quality of private education in India. A position paper of the Azim Premji Foundation also found in its survey that successful schools had better electricity and drinking water availability and had toilets. The link between basic infrastructure and scholastic performance is, therefore, too strong to dismiss. Unfortunately, the entire Hindi heartland has either refused to pay heed to this basic factor is simply careless or incapable to undertake corrective steps.

Outdated Model of Teaching Better infrastructure in private schools does lead to some improvement in performance as has been seen in studies. By that yardstick, urban private sector schools with higher fees, all

A large number of government schools don’t have basic infrastructure to allow learning

Lead Story

modern facilities, libraries, well supplied labs and internet connectivity should have much better quality of education.

The Quality Education Study (QES), carried out by Wipro and Educational Initiatives (EI), brought to front some very disturbing, counterintuitive facts.

In a study carried out in 89 top schools across the country, it found that about half of the students in classes 4, 6 and 8 thought that the shape of a square object would change if it is tilted. Some 45 per cent of students in these classes also thought that a spider had six legs.

Only a little over a third of students in class 4 knew who among Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi was still alive. Worse still, over 40 per cent of classes 4, 6 and 8 students felt that education for a girl is not as important and about 60 per cent of students showed less acceptance towards immigrants from

is on finishing syllabus, as is also made mandatory by RTE, instead of making kids learn. This push to finish syllabus results in drab teaching and rote learning. There is no effort to enhance conceptual understanding of kids so they could start thinking to apply concepts instead of mugging up lessons and formulae. As methods of evaluations are also getting diluted, there is no way to either find out the learning level of students or the efficacy of teaching. Noted MIT economist, Abhijeet Banerjee encapsulates the problem succinctly when he says that “The public education system is a system for the teachers, by the teachers and in the interest of the teachers.”

Over the last few years, the testing and evaluation has been replaced with automatic promotion from one class to the next. Board examinations are

cramming formulae and robotically generating answers by plugging numbers. And for that the focus of teaching has to shift from finishing the syllabus to teaching the concepts. An experiment that is worth mentioning here is one carried out by the team of Banerjee in Bihar. During summer vacations, the teachers were asked to get the children to learn some basic skills they lacked, whether in reading or in math. For this they were given some training. The results were startling.

At the end of six weeks of learning, the children had closed half the gap between the best performing children and the worst performing children. The study drove home the point that just by changing the focus from the finishing the curriculum to plugging the gaps in learnings of children, radical quality improvement can be derived.

There is a need for reforming the testing and evaluation system for students

other States. This survey drives home the point that rich school children are perhaps only marginally better off, either on academics or on social sensitivity.

That brings us to the critical question.

If poor, rural government schools on one hand and rich urban private schools on the other show similar trend of poor scholastic abilities, something has to be wrong in the way education is imparted in the entire system. So where are we going wrong?

The base problem is the unimaginative and unilateral way of imparting education. The focus

not allowed until class eight. So, for all practical purposes, the kid is getting the reality check only at the end of class eight, which could be a rude shock. As Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze write in their book An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions, “If a large proportion of children learn virtually nothing for years on end in a particular school, it is important to know it well before they are sent for slaughter in the Board Examination.”

Experts say that the key to improved scholastic performance has to come from a greater ability of students in grasping the concepts and not by

Get the Basics Right In a bid to scale up on number game, successive governments have focused on blindly increasing the number of schools to ensure maximum enrollment.

The number of primary schools went up from 638,700 in 2000-01 to 790,600 in 2013-14, a rise of around 24 per cent, as per govt. of India data. More sharp has been the rise in secondary and senior secondary schools whose number went up by about 50 per cent and 168 per cent respectively, during the same period. To teach in those schools, ever larger number of teachers

May 2015

Governance Today

17

Lead Story

are required and as such, multiple B.Ed. granting institutions have mushroomed across the country and so has the teachers’ recruitment drive of various state governments. But since state governments are hard pressed for resources, they have resorted to hiring teachers on contract, as these teachers are paid much less than those on the roll. In this entire rigmarole, the missing link is the quality of education. There is virtually no effort to either make teaching more innovative and concept driven or giving teachers leeway to experiment. Resultantly, the quality of both the teachers and the teaching has gone for a toss.

This vicious cycle of teaching syllabus, cramming notes, blurting out memorized stuff in the exam hall and the tyranny of marks and grades has to break. And the beginning has to be made at the top; the planning of education has to change. In this, we should probably learn from Finland.

Finns are moving away from subject specific teaching to “topic” specific teaching. This would entail teaching an entire set of information and tools relevant to the topic, regardless of the subject they may be coming from. So, a student learning about banking would learn math, economics and accounting, all of which could be relevant to the banking knowledge. While this is the most radical approach of teaching in the world, what lies at the root of this method is realization that the end result of education has to be the capability building in children rather than mark sheet with numbers, which could be completely unrepresentative of the learning of the student. So, the effort should be to create a learning schedule for the students for a session or semester at the end of which, the students should be able to master certain concepts and be able to apply those concepts or ideas to accomplish a given task.

Secondly, the method of evaluation has to change. For far too long, we have tested the ability of kid to memorize things and write them in exam hall, with minimum effort to test thinking ability. That has to change. A big reason 18

Governance Today

May 2015

for a pathetic PISA score, according to a higher secondary Math teacher in a government school, was that the Indian students could not comprehend the questions fully well. Because they are not taught to think and do unstructured problem solving, they cannot interpret and apply concepts.

Third, there has to be a thorough overhauling of how teachers are being taught, trained and tested. Currently, the entire machinery today is geared to accomplish one task, which is to force candidates cram up a select set of coursework, and make them write

solutions today, though a great leap in educational paradigm, leave much to be desired. They are just taking up the load of teachers rather than engaging students to think and apply knowledge.

But the digital media must be utilized to not only facilitate learning, but also to aggregate best teaching methods across the system. This would allow all schools to benefit from the best practices followed in any school.

At the end of the day, the paradigm of educational thinking has to shift from building schools to creating an enabling ecosystem in which children can learn

Digital platforms can play a great role in improving teaching (Image: Sacred Heart School, Ludhiana)

the same in exam. There is an immense need to teach teachers how to engage students, how to encourage students to think and explore and finally, how to break course work in concepts.

Unfortunately, governments have so far been highly unimaginative in this regard.

Technology has endowed planners and educators with unlimited leverage as to how educational content be created and learning enabled at the classroom level. The advancements in animation, graphic user interface and connectivity allows educators to break even the most complex of ideas in easy-to-grasp concepts for students. However, that would require a teaching force which is able to act as a knowledge facilitator instead of course instructor. The digital education

most to maximize their potential. This is much different from the goal of universal education and goes beyond the syllabus. The focus has to be what the children have learned instead of how much of the coursework has been finished. But this requires challenging, innovative and resource consuming educational planning. Can political masters of the country conjure enough courage and conviction to do that?

Time would tell. But failure is hardly a choice. No civilization, society or country has ever scaled the peak with ill-educated citizens. Neither can we.

If we don’t want to compromise on our social and national ambitions, we have to create a facilitative and morally strong education system; we owe it to our future generations.

May 2015

Governance Today

19

Lead Story

Higher Education

Ill-Equipped to Cater to National Requirements | ANAND MISHRA

I

n the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2014-2015, there was no Indian university in top 275. In the top 400 universities, India had four universities. Compared to this, China has two universities in top 50 and twelve in top 400. India’s higher education gross enrollment ratio (GER) stands at around 20 percent compared to around 30 percent in China, and is the lowest in the BRICS countries.

An average IIT faculty publishes one paper per year compared to six that an average MIT faculty publishes and an average IIM Ahmedabad faculty’s teaching workload is over 50 percent more than the international average.

In 2011, 42,000 patents were filed in India, compared to over half a million 20

Governance Today

May 2015

in the US and China in the same year.

Three out of four jobseeker in India is unemployable in IT sector and every second person is unemployable in manufacturing and banking sector.

Indian planners were intelligent enough to create centers of excellence like IITs, IIMs, IISc, etc. But it appears that there is much darkness beyond these islands of intellectual capital.

There surely is a massive need of introspection and rapid action on Indian higher education as it directly feeds into the economic machinery of the country.

Staring at a Large Manpower Deficit By 2020, India is expected to emerge as the third largest economy of the world. This massive growth would

result in swelling of middle class which could reach around 500 million mark by 2025, according to a report

by McKinsey. Further, by 2020, the country would have the youngest population in the world with average age less of than 30 years. As India would slowly overtake China as the largest tertiary age population, there would be a huge demand for tertiary education, especially in light of the fact that the income of the middle class would increase. It is therefore not without reason that the 12th five year plan of the Govt. of India has marked expansion as one of the three central pillars of education.

As per an Ernst & Young study, by 2020 India would require 40 million university seats, which is 14 million seats more than present, if it has

Lead Story

to reach the GER of 30 percent as mandated by the 12th five year plan.

Further, by this time, the country would need 500 million skilled workers. This can be made good only by setting up 800 more universities and roughly 40,000 colleges, the study said. And we have not even uttered the word quality yet. By any yardstick, it would be a tall order for the government, alone or aided by the private sector.

Needless to say, innovative methods are required to expand the higher educational infrastructure rapidly.

Unemployable Lot While making a speech at a conference of vice-chancellors of central universities at Rashtrapati Bhawan in February 2013, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that “too many of our higher educational institutions are simply not up to the mark… still producing graduates in subjects that the job market no longer requires.” There cannot be a more categorical and unambiguous question mark on the quality of higher education in the country. According to former NASSCOM Chairman Kiran Karnik, companies are able to take only 8-9 percent of applicants which is a very low selection ratio. Level of employable graduates in healthcare, manufacturing and financial sectors is around 50 percent; the same for IT and BPO sectors is over 70 percent.

Naturally, our graduates are not good enough. This unemployability is a comment on the quality of people who are entering the tertiary education on the one hand, and on the quality of teachers in our colleges on the other.

For long, the poor quality of faculties in colleges and universities has been a completely unaddressed issue the result of which is visible today.

Additionally, there is a chronic shortage of faculty; different estimates put the faculty shortage at 30-40 percent. This translates into overburdened teachers which is clearly unsustainable if even basic quality has to be delivered.

Further complicating the matter is that most faculty members start teaching with no training in teaching which

limits their ability to engage students and encourage original thinking, which is blighted by rigid, outdated curricula in the first place.

Not Creating Knowledge After independence, great emphasis was laid on putting in place an educational infrastructure that can churn out enough manpower which the nascent industrialization needed.

Research and creation of knowledge was not on the agenda as it was considered highly resource intensive and needed a long gestation period to show the result. Because of this reason, research institutions were segregated from teaching institutions, thus cutting

overall productivity.

Presently, the culture of higher academics and research is completely lacking for all the legacy reasons, and poor faculty quality. Another big problem, according to former UGC Chairman and noted educationist Prof.

Yash Pal is that there is too much focus on marks and grades, which does not give students the freedom to think beyond boundaries. The recent move to allow students to create their own curriculum has also not progressed well, primarily because of lack of capacity of universities to offer choices.

Newer Initiatives Well Intended But not Enough

Unemployability exacerbates the problem of unemployment in the country

teaching faculties and students from contemporary research.

The result of this outdated paradigm is that India has been left much behind in the race of knowledge creation as seen in the patents filed or innovations made. Just about one percent of tertiary students are enrolled as post graduate researchers. It is ironical that even though a larger fraction of students enroll in science in India than in the US, the EU, Germany and the UK, India produces just about 4,500 PhDs in science and engineering each year, compared to 25,000 in the US and 30,000 in China. This lack of focus on research has prevented spillover effects of innovations on the economy, which could ratchet up country’s

According to Prof LS Shashidhara of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, the first round of unlocking of India’s economic potential seen over the last two decades was seeded by some of the excellent engineering schools, agriculture/medical colleges and universities that were created right after independence. However, the contemporary socio economic realities of the country demand creation of an educational architecture that is geared up to take up the twin challenge of creating knowledge and churning out a huge number of good quality graduates.

To be sure, the government has taken some steps which are well thought, May 2015

Governance Today

21

Lead Story

well intended and are in the right direction. Broadly, the government is willing to put in money, thus obviating the perennial resource crunch that was the hallmark of educational planning. It is putting more money for research and has made it easier to tap this funding for any worthwhile research project.

Besides, it has now become possible for small innovation centers to get funding from government. The Universities for Research and Innovations Bill (2012) allows universities to act as educational and research hubs, and be open to all, including foreign institutions.

Institutions such as IISERs and NISER have been created which foster research at undergraduate and higher education levels. These institutions could facilitate building a critical mass of scientists, which according to Prof Shashidhara, is required to build a research base in the country.

However, these steps can’t make good the potential shortfall in the skilled workforce that India is staring at, over the next decade. The private sector, which currently accounts for nearly 60 percent of all tertiary enrollment, has to be tapped into. According to experts, there is a significant number of private sector players that want to get into education sector, but are dithering because of some crucial reasons. First of all, there is no freedom allowed to private universities to create their own curricula which leaves little scope for the emergence of differentiated core competence. Secondly, the imposition of no profit condition forces them to adopt dubious ways to make money. These impediments must be removed in order to attract serious private players to set up universities.

Further, there should not be any strings attached on either the tuition fee or the faculty salaries. With the passage of time, some of these private universities would emerge in world class institutions.

Tackling Multiple Challenges The twelfth five-year plan for higher education focuses on three overarching challenges, namely excellence, expansion and equity. The 22

Governance Today

May 2015

Too Much Division in Education Sector Prof Yash Pal is arguably one of the most respected educationists of the country. A scientist by training, he has made a valuable contribution to the fundamental research and the space program of India. He was the Chairman of the UGC from 1986-91 and the Chancellor of the JNU from 2007-12. He also chaired a Committee on Higher Education set up by the Ministry of HRD which submitted its report in 2009. Anand Mishra and Ramesh Raja spoke to Prof. Yash Pal to elicit his opinion on the status of higher education in the country.

Prof. Yash Pal Former Chairman UGC

W

hat is the biggest problem that you visualize in our education sector today?

There is too much division and compartmentalization in the higher education. The result of this is that students are not able to think freely and in all directions. This freedom is very much required. Only when you are

allowed to think freely that you come up with something new and novel.

Currently, there is too much of focus on marks and grades, which should not be the case. Each student should be encouraged to seek his own interest and work accordingly. Educational programs should be created to enable students to access various curricular areas with mobility.

Lead Story

What is your opinion on the status of research?

Mostly, we are just copying from abroad. We should be focusing on what our requirements are and accordingly focus our energy. This basic approach is missing. If you look at how a large part of our initial scientific programs and research, it all started keeping in mind our specific requirement and needs. We did not copy the west. It was because of our focus on our own unique needs and determination to succeed in catering to our needs that world class research capabilities were created in areas such as fundamental research and space sciences.

But it is equally true that there are good works being done at various institutions in India. These researches and projects don’t get publicity, but these are making a valuable contribution to the creation of knowledge. There should be a concerted effort to bring such works to the fore and reward them.

What should be the management approach for higher education sector?

In a speech at IIM Ahmedabad, I had talked about the management approach of any sector, and it is true for the education sector as well. I said it is important to put in place an optimal mix of control, meandering and streaming. Control of a system is important to keep it from moving in undesired directions and for efficient utilization of resources. Meandering is a crucial element which allows people to experiment, think out of the box and to go beyond boundaries. Freedom to experiment and challenge established thinking is central to innovation and this should be encouraged. However, to ensure that the meandering is taking place in the desired broad direction, it is important to direct the creativity and that is the essence of streaming. If we combine all the three elements well, the potential of each individual could be maximized and good results would follow.

excellence would come only through radical improvement in institutional infrastructure, faculty development and greater interaction with foreign universities and industry. Delivering equity is as much an exercise of capacity building as it is of intent, and in this regard, states have to show resolve by using the powers that the center has recently devolved on them.

The expansion remains a challenge as scaling up of existing structure could still not be able to make good the human resource gap. As such, proper incentives need to be offered to potential private players with enough freedom but strict supervision for

There is a virtual absence of research in university campuses and there is no platform for interaction between researchers, college faculty and students. This needs to be reversed quality. By leveraging the Internet and latest communication technologies, massive open online course (MOOC) should be used as an alternative education delivery mechanism.

But perhaps the biggest challenge is to reform the educational paradigm which focuses too much on structured learning instead of encouraging students to develop critical thinking, fostering interdisciplinary research and promoting the creation of intellectual property at universities. There is a virtual absence of research in university campuses and there is no platform for interaction between researchers, college faculty and students. This needs to be reversed.

A Stanford university research paper of 2006 showed that of all the BRIC countries, China is expanding its higher education system the most rapidly,

and India, the least rapidly. Stating that medium to long term economic development depends on how any country manages its high end human resource, the report mentioned how India has allowed the public higher education system to shrink over the last three decades or so. This has resulted in a massive rise of private sector in professional education. It further said that while there still are many elite public universities that churn out high quality manpower, but in general the public university has ceased to be a place of elite formation.

The challenge for Indian policymakers is to create and educational architecture that generates economic as well as intellectual value. Needless to say, this cannot be achieved in a compartmentalized paradigm that we have followed till now. A synergistic effort has to be made for maximum impact on both. For this, efforts at three levels would be required. First, intellectual lacuna has to be addressed by the development of relevant curricula and quality faculty. Second, physical infrastructure has to be beefed up for ensuring proper facilities, in the classroom and in labs. Third and most importantly, governance of the sector has to be revolutionized so that the intellectual potential is encouraged and not frustrated. Multiple bodies and clashing jurisdictions need to be removed and a lean, but functioning regulatory framework be put in place.

The world is moving from a service based system to a knowledge based system in which intellectual property is the buzzword and idea is the king. This transformation rides the innovation wave which invariably emerges from high end institutions. The second critical aspect of a knowledge economy is a workforce which is highly adaptable to new market realities. India successfully rode the IT wave because of the English language and high school math proficiencies. But if it has to ride this new wave, it would require higher skills and that invariably would come from a thriving, knowledge driven higher education sector.

May 2015

Governance Today

23

Lead Story

Boards Galore

Leading to Non-Standardisation of Education? | RITA SINGH

E

ducation touches every citizen’s life. It deeply impacts upon everything a person does and on a citizens’ general sense of well-being. Lying in the concurrent list of the Constitution of India, education was enlisted as such under List III of the 7th Schedule; and thus lies in the joint domain of both the state governments and the Centre. Consequently, both, the Centre as well as States can legislate on the subject in keeping with the quasifederal nature of our Constitution.

Thus, the Central Government is, in a sense, a permanent partner of state 24

Governance Today

May 2015

governments in seeking to make the delivery of education at various levels more efficient. However, the objective with which this step was taken remains unfulfilled even today.

In India, a number of states have their own education boards. There are 33 boards in India today, including CBSE and ICSE. There is much difference in syllabi. While some boards have a large curriculum, others lack the practicality that CBSE has; whose syllabus, it is said, keeps pace with evolving requirements of time. CBSE has a methodology to regularly update/change curriculum.

Every board needs to take care that there is a progressive upscaling of

difficulty level in the syllabus designed for each subsequent year of education.

The transition from class X to XI, even amongst students of CBSE and ICSE schools, is always a challenge. This first exposure to a larger system of evaluation often reveals that a number of students are not adequately equipped for this promotion. The syllabus also needs to be revised to bridge the disconnect between what is taught in schools in various states and what is expected of students who go on to pursue professional courses.

Hence, the variation lies principally in two aspects, i.e., in curriculum and in evaluation. This has its impact on

Lead Story

several functional areas.

The power that states have on framing policies with respect to education helps ensure that the curriculum focuses on local needs, helps maintain their culture and caters to specific needs of areas and communities. It is well appreciated that a state would know its own issues better and in greater depth than the Centre. However, there is the ever present need to ensure that a student who has studied under one board of education is capable of exercising his or her fundamental right to live and work anywhere in India; besides being relevant in the world. Consequently, there exists an overriding requirement to ensure acceptability of education gained under one education board in the area of functional responsibility of another. This imposes a reality check on the various boards of education.

There exists a lack of standardization of evaluation of students in these board examinations, especially after the 12th standard. This is presently being overcome through a system of normalization using a percentile methodology; which presupposes that all boards of education are equal regardless of their curriculum and subscription. A lack of standardization has resulted in students having to take several entrance examinations for professional/technical colleges after finishing school. Though often not stated as such, the requirement of these entrance examinations stems from the lack of faith that a lot of colleges have in the percentile approach of normalization between the various boards which is presently being adopted. If hypothetically, there were to exist only a single board in India, there would not perhaps be the requirement of so many entrance examinations. It may then perhaps then be possible for students to be admitted to various colleges on the basis of their 12 board exams itself.

There exist several arguments both for and against having diverse boards.

The real question is how diverse can education between the various boards be so as not to inconvenience students or deprive them of their future ability

Different boards make it tough to compare students from different states

to exercise their fundamental right to live and work anywhere in India; and in fact in the world. It is a question that cannot be brushed aside.

While an attempt has been made through issue of National Curriculum Frameworks in 1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005 by the National Council of Educational Research and Training or NCERT, there exists much variation between the syllabi prescribed by various boards. There are several variations in implementation of NCF2005, the last curriculum framed, in terms of structure, working hours, recess periods, teaching of different subjects, evaluation pattern etc. at primary, upper primary and secondary stages in different States/UTs. The methodology presently being adopted of issuing National Curriculum Framework issued

by NCERT is essentially sound. The efforts of the NCERT, an apex national agency for educational reforms, have resulted in 15 state boards besides the CBSE adopting its books; with another 12 or so adopting the basic curriculum with some minor or major variations.

It merits consideration that the very fact that the National Curriculum Framework has been adopted voluntarily rather than compulsorily by various education boards ensures that its acceptance is quite high. Inversely, it imposes an additional responsibility on the shoulders of the issuing authority, i.e., NCERT to ensure that the curriculum advised has wide acceptability; thereby imposing a check on any infringement of the free will of one set of our people over the other. The requirement of the day is to strengthen the existing system;

and to perhaps give greater incentive to states that opt to go with the National Curriculum Framework. In keeping with our democratic norms, this acceptance will have to be voluntary.

There is, however, the issue of arriving at a satisfactory methodology for improving their acceptability of evaluation by one board of education in another. A quick glance at the figures for top 20 percentile for all 12th board examinations in 2013 indicate that the actual percentages scored by students who made it in this category ranged from 56.6% in Assam to 91.8% in Andhra Pradesh; as against 81.6% in the CBSE and 83.2% in ICSE. It will be seen that the numbers of students who took part in examinations conducted by the various boards varied widely. Hence assuming that the best in one board exam was equal to the best in the other would by itself would require greater statistical analysis. All this results in a lack of faith in the normalization methodology and, in turn, in several “entrance� examinations being held. The issue of standardization of evaluation methodology needs to be widely debated and then refined before implementation across India.

To summarize, while it is true that we perhaps have too many boards of education, there is merit in their existence; and there exists scope to further refine and strengthen the existing system rather than abandon it.

The writer is the Principal, Indirapuram Public School, Ghaziabad and Director, Radiant International and Indirapuram Group of Institutions.

May 2015

Governance Today

25

Lead Story

A Poorly Managed Sector Numerically, Indian education system is big at the global level. To regulate the education system and to govern them, there are various regulatory bodies, empowered by legislation to oversee and control the education process and outputs relevant to it. But how do the multiplicity and complexity of the bodies impact the overall education scenario? | ROSELIN KIRO

H

igher education in India is regulated by almost 13 regulatory bodies, include University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). These regulatory bodies are supposed to coordinate university education, decide and maintain education standards, monitor development and also direct the central and state government on how to improve university education.

UGC came into existence in 1956 and AICTE in 1987 via acts of Parliament.

A university in India can be created in two ways; either the central or state government enacts legislation to create a university or the UGC deems an institution of higher education to be a university. The UGC, which is responsible to provide grants to universities, colleges and researchers has got broader directives. However, as the apex body for higher education, the UGC has often being involved in turf wars with technical education regulator AICTE, autonomous institutes like IITs and diploma awarding institutes like IIMs. AICTE regulates more than 11,000 technical institutions in the areas of 26

Governance Today

May 2015

engineering, management, pharmacy, architecture, hotel and catering management, applied arts, town planning and computer applications, etc.

Messy Regulatory Landscape Hurting Education The regulatory role of UGC includes making rules, implementing and enforcing them and also imposing penalties on violations. Unfortunately, the UGC has failed in all these areas. The introduction of four year undergraduate program at the Delhi University is a typical case. In 2013, we witnessed the controversy on how the Commission forced the Delhi University to roll back its newly introduced fouryear undergraduate programme (FYUP) and the public spat between the two.

At the same time it was seen because of the failure of the Commmission to conduct the National Eligibility Test (NET) exams in a hassle free manner, the HRD ministry passed on this responsibility to the CBSE. It was also seen in the year 2013 that UGC shot off a notification to all the IITs asking them to make sure that the degrees they confer are in line with UGC specifications. IITs shot back saying

they were autonomous institution and do not follow regulatory diktats.

In another incidence, the UGC and AICTE got into an argument over the regulation of business schools when it issued guidelines to institutions like IIMs which provide post-graduate diplomas in management. The government intervened to resolve the issue by allowing the UGC to regulate B-school awarding degree and the

Messy regulatory structure preventing emergence of a seamless educational ecosystem • The policies and procedures not streamlined to handle the vast load • Varied admission policies adopted by various institutions • Lack of adequate infrastructure and facilities • Dilapidated research standards • The system restrains innovation • Absence of a world-class faculty AICTE to look after those awarding diplomas.

Likewise, AICTE has also received flak from all quarters for its inability

Lead Story

to regulate technical institution in appropriate manner. Plethora of complains has been coming in from students, parents, teachers, recruiters, media, parliamentarians and society in general about its failure to ensure quality access and equity in technical institutions.

Role of Regulatory Bodies in Improving Quality Education Regulatory bodies should play the role of facilitator and not regulators.

It should be managed by professionals equipped with vast and latest knowledge about the education scenario of the country. Efforts should also be made by these regulatory bodies to establish relationships with the international accreditation bodies like Ivy League etc. There is a major requirement to make a change in the admission policies maintaining uniformity. Focus should be laid on operational, financial and academic autonomy, with suitable accountability.

The education system needs to equip students with the generic skills as well as train them to meet the specific requirement of the industry.

Public private partnership and Institution industry interface should be encouraged and facilitated by regulators. Encouraging Involvement of industry in the curriculum development and also implementation of curriculum would improve the quality of education making students industry ready.

Regulatory bodies should encourage industry to utilize the human resource and infrastructure available in the universities. Emphasis should be laid on the quality assurance system, but it must be independent of political and institutional interaction. In order to bring quality in the education system in our colleges and universities, autonomy should be given to the universities without any interference from the government.

Today, education needs to be viewed as a long term investment for the promotion of social, economic growth and cultural development.

Drafting a relevant education policy and maintaining a unified system to

Checklist for a robust regulatory system • Development of a clear, time relevant education policy • Ensuring adequate fund availability to the universities • Putting in place a single authority for higher education sector • Creation of accreditation system according to the international standards • Providing incentives for R&D programs • Create avenues for introduction of technology in advancing higher learning manage high education are among the crucial requirements of a sound regulatory structure.

There is an urgent requirement to encourage the private universities and the legislation to create them. It is muddled right now with multiple governing bodies having overlapping and often conflicting mandates. Several states in India do not even have a State Private University (SPU) Act. Since universities and institutes are minutely controlled, there is very little scope for managing the state of affairs by universities. For example, innovation in the course curriculum is a huge area in which universities can differentiate themselves, but that is not permitted.

Because of the huge opportunities, many corporate are eager to enter the higher education sector through private university model. The regulatory bodies should come up with policies which can boost private investment in higher education, especially where advanced research is held for want of funds.

The demand for education in India is everlasting and is likely to increase, all it needs is adequate governing bodies who can drive the education system of India to stature of quality and efficiency.

Knowledge is the primary resource which could catapult India’s emergence as a globally competitive country.

Currently there are a hand full of institutions that provide high-quality education while the vast majority

needs significant improvement in terms of quality, access and equity. Though some initiatives have been taken recently to reform the sector including setting up of institutions to foster scientific research, and various bills to

Scrap UGC: HRD Min Committee According to a review committee set up by HRD Ministry came out with the recommendation that the UGC had not only failed to fulfill its mandate but also has not been able to deal with emerging diverse complexities of higher education. The committee, headed by the former UGC chairperson Hari Gautam, said that any reshaping or restructuring of UGC will be a futile exercise. It recommended constituting a national higher education authority to replace the UGC. According to the committee, the Commission “had side-stepped its function of being a sentinel of excellence in education and (instead) embraced the relatively easier function of funding education.” The committee made some scathing remarks about the functioning of the Commission as well. About the membership, it said that at times businessmen, hotel owners and even readers in colleges were made members when eminent educationists or men of eminence in any field should have been the natural choice. The government, however, has rejected the remand of the committee to scrap the UGC. reform the higher education regulation.

A robust education system enhances access to knowledge and provides high quality of education through improved delivery on one hand and encourages and incentivizes research activity. It is the job of the government to put in place a regulatory framework to ensures such an educational system exists and is available to all students of the country without any form of structural discrimination.

May 2015

Governance Today

27

Lead Story

Burdened by Parental Expectations

| RITIKA BISHT

T

ushar Srivastava, a 13 year old boy, a student of eighth standard, lives with his family which dreams of seeing him getting admission into one of the top IITs. However, Tushar loves photography, painting and dreams of getting into a fine arts college. Parents have spent money for tuitions so that he finishes with top grades in all the subjects. But, Tushar manages to achieve average score that has left his parents distraught.

Similar situation can be witnessed in majority of Indian families where parents’ expectations are way too much for kids to achieve.

Increasing pressure from parents to do well in the national board examinations, especially in Class XII, 28

Governance Today

May 2015

is a huge concern. This is because scores in these exams often determine college admissions and subsequent employment opportunities. Students are often subjected to undue pressure at home to succeed in academics and when they fail to live up to the sky high expectations, many succumb, taking extreme measures like suicide we often sadly read in newspapers.

India has the world’s highest suicide rate among 15 to 29 year olds, ahead of even North Korea, according to a September 2014 report by the World Health Organization. Parental pressure and competition for highly paid jobs, psychiatrists say, are prime triggers of suicides among Indian youth.

NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences) study on suicides, carried out in 2014, has revealed that 11 percent of college

students and 7-8 percent of high school students have attempted suicide.

Dr. M Manjula, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry at the institute, who led this study, said that the current adolescent generation is stressed due to academics, relationship with parents, peer groups and romantic relationships.

With increasing suicides among the students, Dr. John Vijay Sagar, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, advises counseling for parents so that children are not driven to suicide under undue pressure of parental expectations.

Difference in Approach Kids are guided by parents to select a particular course because supposedly that course comes with higher chances of getting a high paid reputed job opportunity in future.

Lead Story

It would seem strange to parents that there are courses available for being a librarian, carpenter or a painter. Indian Library Association offers bachelors in library science and similarly Indian Institute of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) provides courses in plumbing.

Majority of parents in India would not think of encouraging their kids to a field of their choice, if it includes plumbing. The point here is not to focus on non-academic careers but to know and support their kids’ choice.

Every individual is different and when it comes to education, not everyone would wish to be a doctor or an engineer. Unfortunately the herd mentality has taken a strong hold over Indian society, prompting parents to ask more from kids than their actual potential.

Majority of Indian students take up courses and careers that are nowhere near their interest. This impacts their learning as it is half-hearted in such cases, leading to unemployability.

quality of education in these institutes that have failed to generate any skilled talent among students. The second reason was the lack of interest among students in courses they were studying.

These students were either pursuing engineering because of parental pressure or because of absence of knowledge or encouragement towards other fields.

The issue is whether we need to concentrate on solving problems faced by students or should we first start counselling parents who offer guidance to their wards without enough knowledge themselves.

The point here is not to insult or mock parents but to make them think from a child’s perspective. They only wish the best for their kids but parents cannot pressurize them for higher marks.

Taking off burden Education is of utmost importance but applying pressure on kids to achieve top grades means ignoring mental health of the child.

Last minute cramming is the defining feature of high grades obsession

According to an article published in a business magazine last year, only about 30 percent graduates in India are job worthy. In case of engineering graduates their employability lies somewhere between 20 to 25 per cent.

Many academicians feel it could be still lower.

The foremost reason, the article mentioned, was the deteriorating

Today, more than ever in the past, student’s perception of life has come to be dominated by the burden of academics and problems they experience in relation to study, their peers, future planning and handling parents’ expectations. Very often, they are forced to accept parents’ decisions without realizing their caliber.

Parents and teachers should know the

ability of a student to sustain pressure of a particular course. What is lacking is the understanding nature of parents to find their kids’ ability and then instil a sense of confidence among them to choose a path of their own choice.

Protective factors for mental wellbeing are linked to cohesion at the community level, family well-being, individual behavior and skills and social services including healthcare services.

Strengthening the protective factors in schools, homes and local communities as well as improving quality of mental health care for adolescents, can make important contributions to improving developmental outcomes of vulnerable young people.

Apart from bringing in innovative ideas to the current education system, the capacity of a student should be understood and he or she should be encouraged to take up a course accordingly. For example, extra-curricular activities have been implemented on greater scale and parents even support the idea of it but still they won’t accept it as a career choice.

Changing thought process is not easy and certainly a great deal of counseling is required for both kids and parents when it concerns matter of choosing education and career. But nothing is more important than one’s life, which in case of adolescents, is depending on career choices they, rather their parents are making.

To be fair to parents, it is understandable that they are spending exorbitant amount of money to assure a secure and bright future of the child.

But is it right to impose a choice that would make parents happy but not the kids?

What parents and society needs to understand is that all kids are not the same when it comes to academic and career choices and there are many choices available to students today other than the higher academic ones.

Evolving society has thrown open many avenues which need talented students and which are rewarding also. Parents need to acknowledge the same.

May 2015

Governance Today

29

Lead Story

“Rottenin Fruits Social Basket”

And of Course We Don’t Discriminate

“…Cannot afford to spoil the future of 60 students for one differently-abled kid.

The class cannot go at snail’s pace because someone cannot catch up.

There is cut-throat competition all over.” | SAGARIKA RANJAN

“S

eventeen years I have crawled through guilt, shame, discrimination and social cohesion,” laments Reena who now is mostly confined to her home if not in school.

She has it all – a tri-cycle from the government, school books, mid-day meal and shoes, though of no use to her.

There is a divide, a painful divide amongst us. It’s everywhere! It has been given the euphemistic cover, the garb of being differently-abled. It’s used all over and out loud but does the real meaning percolate down to these “lesser beings?”

Reena was born disabled or to make her feel better, I can say, differentlyabled but does that help? Reena was 30

Governance Today

May 2015

pushed away at several places and called by many more derogatory names than differently-abled. “They offered help not out of concern but rather out of mercy. I can do all my chores myself.

Yes, I am slow, very slow in fact, and therefore at times when I reach the kitchen with my plates there is nothing left because the government ensures special provision for differently-abled kids,” smirks Reena.

Spending some six hours with her, I could see the shame in her mother’s eyes because she had given birth of a differently-abled child and my God, that too a girl. “I must have committed some sin that I have been tied to this burden for life,” says Reena’s mother while the other members of the family sympathize with her.

The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, has placed responsibility on the government to ensure that every

child with a disability has access to free education in an appropriate environment till he/she attains the age of 18 years. This is being followed but only partially. The “appropriate environment” is found almost nowhere.

As per the rules under the 1995 Act: “The Government and its organizations dealing with the subject matter of education of children with disabilities shall take immediate action for incorporation of facilities mentioned in Section 30 of the Act so that all the barriers and obstructions may be removed and children with disabilities are able to obtain education at par with other children.” But for these 17 years, Reena has, on several occasions, left school before dismissal because she could not control nature’s call.

Yes, there are no toilets for children like her in her school. The principal of the schools beats around the bush

Lead Story

when questioned. “There is a madam who is responsible for such kids. She is from the government and the toilet project is in the pipeline,” says the principal. He flaunts that these kids were given books, shoes and tri-cycles besides hearing aid, as per the need but fumbled to talk about toilets or disable-friendly infrastructure.

Another provision under the Act is transport facilities to the children with disabilities or in the alternative financial incentive to parents or guardians to enable their children with disabilities to attend schools. Here the students and the school staff often differed.

While the schools say the incentives are provided while the children and their parents deny it. When the school authorities were asked for receipts or records of the disbursement, they said the details were not for public.

There are hundreds of provisions, laws and facilities but very few manage to percolate from paper to the kids.

There are provisions for counseling by teachers to boost up the confidence of the kids. Even the family can be counseled, however, only on paper.

Worse still, these teachers, a number of them, say, “padh likh kar kya karogi?

Koi kaam seekh lo, do paisa kama logi.” (What will you get by studying?

Learn some skills so that you will earn something.)

Suitable modification in the examination system and restructuring of curriculum for the benefit of children with disabilities is another provision that has been discussed and well-planned but never executed.

Each school hands out a proper plan and a very convincing explanation, however, the children never receive any. Sometimes it is time crunch, staff crunch, and fund crunch while other times it is ignorance. Yes, there were many schools where the teachers did not know what I was talking about.

Incidentally, this saga is not only limited to the government schools.

There are several small private schools, often in the residential lanes with less that the basic infrastructure, that do not follow any of these provisions and many are not even aware of it.

Kartik Sawhney, denied admission by IITs because of his blindness, was accepted by Stanford University

These were people running schools and they said: “We do not take in such kids. They create disturbance for other kids and also who has the money to provide for their special requirements. ”Article 21 A of the constitution provides a justifiable legal framework that entitles all children between the ages of six to 14 years to an education of reasonable quality, based on principles of equity and nondiscrimination. Again, only on paper for these teachers do not know how to decipher non-discrimination.

Also, as per the Right to Education Act, teacher accountability systems would need to ensure that the children are learning and that their right to learning in an environment that is free from stress and anxiety is not violated.

But here the teachers shrug off their responsibilities and justify it saying they “cannot afford to spoil the future of 60 students for one differently-abled kid. The class cannot go at snail’s pace just because someone cannot catch up. There is cut-throat competition all over.”

After visiting a number of schools,

both private and government, a couple of notions and practices become very clear. If you are handicapped, it’s your fault and you cannot become big and cannot compete with the world. Others will not waste time to keep you in the loop. Teachers have other “genuine” students to cater to and they “do not get anything extra to break their heads in explaining things to the differentlyabled kids.”

It is not just discrimination in the form of a divide but a mental moat that may take generations to be leveled.

Huge claims both by governments and several NGOs have only managed to improve lives of a small fraction of the actual population of disable kids.

The divide is rooted in the minds. Not only are these kids neglected in society but also in their homes. They are given wheelchairs, hearing aid, brail books and tri-cycles but wrapped in disdain, mercy and discouragement at every stage. A gaze that they is negatively different follows them everywhere and that is enough for these tender souls to crumble before they know their worth.

May 2015

Governance Today

31

Falling Standard of Education Who is to Blame?

The number of educational institutions has increased manifold in the country but the standard of education has failed to improve learning skills among majority of students. | RITIKA BISHT

L

ast year, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) report revealed the status of education in India. As per this report, enrolment in elementary education is almost 100 percent. However, when it comes to education outcomes, abilities in reading, writing and other comprehensive skills have deteriorated among children between the ages of six and 14.

Low learning and falling quality of education imparted to kids in India has grave implications for the future of an economy. The country has not been able to improve the learning skills of majority of its primary school children; if anything it has fallen to alarming lows.

32

Governance Today

May 2015

Even with the increasing primary enrolment rates, India has the largest number of out-of-school children in the world which is more than the out of school children in whole of sub-Saharan Africa. There is a huge disparity between the urban and rural education; rich and poor children have radically different schooling experience.

As one delves deeper into the Indian education system, one realizes that the very basic foundation is corrupt and flawed. Biggest problem is the fact that a sector as crucial to nation building as education seems to be getting importance only on surface level and real problems are intentionally being ignored due to deep rooted corruption.

Indian government is unique in respect of how they formulate policies for different set of problems. However,

once the policies are set in place, what happens next, on the field is nobody’s concern.

Challenges From ill formed educational policies of states to inexperienced faculty, each segment in the educational hierarchy is facing some kind of problems which government has failed to address.

To start with, teachers in primary schools in rural areas face an uphill task. Outdated and rigid curriculum combined with the disinterest of principals in teaching results in poor quality of education being imparted to students. Teachers are made to teach multiple classes and textbooks assigned do not sync with the comprehension level of students.

Apart from this, schools are facing the chronic shortage of teachers. According

Lead Story

to the British Council report, around 30-40 percent teaching positions are unfilled. The situation is further deteriorated by high level of teacher absenteeism; It has been found out that teachers do not come to school for most part of the year, which clearly states that there is no mechanism to punish or fine such absent teachers.

Qualified teachers too fail to understand the concept of the subject, resulting in flawed teaching methodology. Rote learning is the trend without any effort to make kids understand the concept. This is also preferred by teachers as this is the only way they can teach the entire syllabus before examination.

Primary school teachers often make students read the lessons without explaining the meaning of the text.

Resultantly, a fifth grader cannot do basic multiplication and division and cannot properly read the text but can effortlessly copy the entire paragraphs from his textbook. This practice stretches till later stages of schooling education. Beyond academics, there is massive lack of extra-curricular activity in schools because of which students fail to develop a wider range of transversal skills, including critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problemsolving and collaborative working.

A highly bureaucratic administrative system is a hurdle that discourages bold decision making and makes implementation of any new idea difficult. Moreover, education in India is highly politicized and complex.

Reforms in education are controlled by political processes and interests at both central and state levels. These political contestations do not allow changes, necessary for improved learning, to take place.

Students are thus left with an ineffective quality assurance system and lack of accountability of teachers and schools. As a result of this, we are generating an army of semi-literate people unable to take advantage of the new opportunities.

Remedy An education system is only as good as

its teachers. Unlocking their potential is essential if we need to enhance the quality of learning. When it comes to improvement of academic quality, teachers cannot do it alone. They will be able to give their best only when well-designed curriculum and assessment strategies are put in place, to improve teaching and learning.

There are a few crucial steps that would be required for improvement in teachers and learning quality. First, teachers must be trained to support the weakest learners, starting from the early grades. Second, to overcome inequalities in learning best teachers need to be placed at most challenging parts of a country. Third, governments

goes with the donors who cannot step back from their funding promises.

Infrastructure in government schools are in requirement of immediate and major uplift and for that large sums of investment would be required.

Equality in access to education and learning must stand at the heart of future education goals. We must ensure that all students are learning the basics and that they have the opportunity to acquire the transferable skills needed to become global citizens. We must also set goals that are clear and measurable, to allow for the tracking and monitoring that is so essential for governments as well as donors to bridge the gaps.

Most rural schools suffer from poor quality because of systemic negligence

must provide teachers with incentives to encourage them to remain loyal to their profession and to make sure all students at all levels are learning, regardless of their circumstances.

Lastly, governments need to work closely with teacher unions to formulate policies and codes of conduct to tackle unprofessional behavior.

In order to bring these policy changes, financial strength is needed. This is why we need to see a dramatic shift in funding. There is need to enhance public investment in education. Same

Nth number of pages can be written to suggest solutions to remove the flaws in Indian education system. In order to be on world map, people responsible for managing the system have to be capable and willing to take bold, decisive steps. Clearly, country’s reputation has been marred by falling learning standards which needs to be immediately addressed. We cannot allow innumerable children to suffer just because authorities cannot get their acts together.

May 2015

Governance Today

33

Lead Story

Money Matters…

Ambiguous RTE, ghost teachers, meager GDP allocation and shifting responsibilities on distribution of funds are the achievements of our age-old education system. A visit to government schools in rural India reveals the rot. | SAGARIKA RANJAN

C

arefully wading through the dung cakes, horned cattle and muddy puddles, I made my way into an open area. Dotted with trees, the area had some well-clad gentlemen seated on chairs reading out from some almost torn books while scores of children in uniform – some brushing off dust, some pulling each other’s hair, some scribbling something in their notebooks did or did not care of the literature piece being read out.

I was feeling irritated at the villager who had sent me to a wrong address when I asked for the village’s government school. Commotion all over I decided to leave when something caught my attention. A dusty-rusty board atop that dying building that said – Government Senior Secondary school.

Disappointed? Yes I was. So here were our future doctors, engineers, scientists pulling hair, playing with dust and receiving inspiration from our respected teachers basking in the sun or merrily knitting away. Curiosity 34

Governance Today

May 2015

however, got better of disappointment and I managed to convince myself to devote some more time for a fair idea of the so called Vidya Mandir -- One of the very foundations of the rural development dream of India.

The Indian Government has been spending somewhere between three to four per cent of the GDP on education.

This apart, education cess has also been introduced to supplement the financial needs. Debates have been on for ages but the boundary of four per cent has seldom been crossed and that too not more than 4.1 to 4.2 per cent of the GDP. Education which is considered the backbone of development doesn’t seem to be in good shape and all for want of funds. So how are these institutions managing? Let us see how this school, where I stand, is managing.

The missing boundary’s story goes that the land allocated for the school is yet to be defined and the authority concerned was expected to be here soon. Till then the kids learn about natural environment from cattle and sheds. They manage as the officials are

too busy to perform their duty on time.

The building walls had enough holes for the entire rat population or for the nests of birds for that matter. The roof resembled a sieve and the downpour situation was not very difficult to imagine. Paint was I guess an unknown entity and wall was on its way to a royal collapse. That was why I guess the classes, now huge ones, were being conducted in the open space. The kids were learning team work and one the most advanced mind boggling teaching methodology.

It tested my senses as it needed special and trained skills to filter out Math from English and Geography from Science and others from all the other subjects that were being taught simultaneously, loudly and indiscriminately, to the whole bunch of uniformed kids.

We often find people blaming teachers but here is what they have to say, “We never get the required funds on time and when we receive it, it is never sufficient. The government expects us to provide books, uniforms and nutritious food to the kids but here

Lead Story

even maintaining the basics is difficult for want of funds.”

There is more. A small room with creaky doors as it seldom opens. This is the school’s kitchen. Months without the mid-day meal and every month there is a different reason. Once it’s the missing cook, next is the missing gas cylinder, next the still to be delivered grains or at times all the entities go missing.

Interestingly, all these unique features were not unique to this set up here in the village; it was unique to all government-funded institutions.

I was pained as the reason for all this mockery of education narrowed down and converged at one point – FUNDS!

while some declined to comment.

Working in the field of education for almost four decades, Vinay Kantha said, “Today’s education system is antidemocratic.” He explains that education being in the concurrent list has put the students in the doldrums.

The Centre at loggerheads with state governments over funds gives rise to a number of complications. There are issues with how much to allocate and to whom, who would be accountable to whom besides the question of authenticity of reports leads to delay in the disbursement of funds to the real beneficiaries.

“The government does not commit funds easily and at the same time they

Abject lack of financing means overcrowded classrooms with little amenities

There was no money to pay the teachers, no money for the cook’s salary and no money for so many other basic requirements, let alone recreational and other co-curricular activities.

The students blame the system while teachers blame principals; a principal pass on the buck on other senior officials and then in the blame line is the government.

There was dearth of funds all over, across all government-funded educational institutions that I visited.

Some were awaiting delayed payments; some were not expecting as they never receive it, some said it wasn’t enough

want full control over the working of the implementing bodies. This intrusive nature of the government along with the non-issuance of funds easily leads to discontent among the staff besides the other issues related to education,” said Kantha. However, he adds that the problem is much more complex and this is just but one of the innumerable strands.

Principal of a government school in rural Bihar, on condition of anonymity said, “We never receive funds as per the allocation. There is never enough money to provide for all that has been recommended by the Right to

Education Act or the RTE. Whenever there is audit or any sort of checks it is the principal and the teachers who are held responsible. They should understand that we are at the receiving end. It’s not in our hands.”

He further adds: “Either the grains fall short or are of inferior quality. The cook is not paid on several occasions as there is nothing left to offer. At times, when the cook is missing the teachers have to take up the cudgel of the mid-day meal work thus, hampering education.”

Fund crunch is the main reason behind the deplorable condition of the public education system. The buildings, boundaries and kitchens do not find enough funds to be of the required level. The good teachers with higher qualification refrain from teaching in the government schools as they are not paid on time. Moreover, those who teach there are mostly on contract with meager salaries and chances of them being confirmed are bleak, which explains lack of commitment.

A retired government teacher said, “How does the government expect these contractual teachers to give their hundred per cent when their families back home sleep empty stomach quiet often. Where are the funds? It’s our money but never reaches us.”

Recent repeated stirs by the government teachers well explains the discontent among them. “No teacher likes to sit on the footpath in this scorching sun. You can imagine the kind of situation we are in. I wonder where the fund goes. Huge numbers appear in the paper but not even one-fourth reaches us,” said one of the teachers on strike.

Several innovations right from ‘Nai taleem’ to the RTE and SSA have been put to test. A number of committees and recommendations have tried improving the education system however, the picture remains the same.

The teachers still strike for salaries, students do not go to school, mid-day meals remains only on paper, uniforms and books elude the children and the great Indian public education system chugs along!

May 2015

Governance Today

35

Agent of Change

Time Has Come to Invest in Teachers: A Teacher to Government The system needs to be pro-poor. For the rich, there will always be plenty of options.

But for the poor, the system will have to think more seriously. | SAGARIKA RANJAN

I

t was a sheer vision born out of personal adversity that the nation is proud of today. In a scenario where the country’s education system is facing innumerable challenges, this one man army has been sieving out gems, shaping and honing them with the same lack of resources which is the hallmark of all the government educational institutions.

This one man army is of Anand Kumar.

A native of Patna, Bihar, Anand today is a noted mathematics teacher. More than being a teacher, he is a man behind a silence social transition “Super 30”. It is an initiative that is ushering Kumar’s idea of revolutionary education.

Fascinated by mathematics since early childhood he formed a Mathematics Club, ‘Ramanujam School of Mathematics’, while he was still in graduation. During the same period, his mathematical problems and articles were being published in several renowned magazines and journals.

In 1994, Anand got an opportunity to pursue higher education at Cambridge University, but could not go due to his poor financial conditions. His father had passed away and his mother made 36

Governance Today

May 2015

papads (Indian snack) to make ends meet.

When his father, who was a low salaried employee in the postal department, suddenly died, the family lost its sole source of income. Having witnessed extreme financial hardships since childhood, he felt the pangs of poverty so much that he decided to do something for the poor students, who invariably fade away without getting right opportunities; and thus Super 30 came into being, inspired by a personal calamity.

In last 12 years, Super 30 has sent a phenomenal 308 students to the Indian Institute of Technology, the gold standard of Indian technical education. What is remarkable about this achievement is that most of the successful candidates have been from most underprivileged sections of the society.

Talking about his experiences, Anand says, “It has been a fascinating journey;

I never dreamt Super 30 to be what it is today. I just had a dream of helping the poor students so that they don’t have to suffer like me due to poverty. By the grace of God, my dream has come true, as I see Super 30 students doing so well in their respective fields.”

Under the Super 30 program, many students from extremely poor background are given an opportunity to hone their talents and make it to the topmost institutions of India and abroad. They live under Kumar’s supervision and are provided with free food, accommodation and above all, free coaching.

Anand Kumar supports the entire exercise all by himself, financially as well as physically. He teaches these kids himself and earmarks a portion of his earning from private tuition for these 30 students. Several institutions from across the world have offered financial help to Kumar but he has declined them all.

Agent of Change

The institute has won a lot of praises and made India proud. Many TV channels, leading newspapers and magazines from around the globe have tried to capture the essence of Super 30. Discovery Channel, which made an hour-long documentary on Anand and Super 30, described it as a “revolutionary experiment to bring about social change”, while Yoichi Itoh, chief economist of STB Research Institute, Japan, which also made a film on Super 30 for the famous channel NHK, dubbed it as a “secret weapon of India”.

Super 30 received praise from United States President Barack Obama’s special envoy Rashad Hussain, who termed it the “best” institute in the country.

Newsweek Magazine has taken note of the initiative of mathematician Anand Kumar’s Super 30 and included his school in the list of four most innovative schools in the world.

The task though was challenging.

Anand Kumar says, “Initially, there were a few disappointing moments when some coaching mafiosi attacked me and my staff, as they felt threatened by Super 30, which offers free mentoring, stay and food to 30 selected students.

Some even tried to start programs under the banner of Super 30 to create confusion. But I had a firm belief in the adage ‘Truth always triumphs’. My commitment and students’ hard work helped me overcome all hiccups.”

Talking about this commitment Anand says that today across streams there is lack of commitment amongst teachers. Teaching has become more of a business. Indeed there are several good and dedicated teachers but the profit-minded lot outnumbers them by a huge margin. “Fortunately, in my case not much has changed. The passion remains the same and this keeps me going,” he adds.

A number of negative issues in the education sector make it to the headlines. Be it the teachers not receiving their salaries, absenteeism, drop outs or other such incidents. To check these as Kumar says, “The system needs to be pro-poor. For the rich, there will always be plenty of options.

But for the poor, the system will have to think more seriously. Education for them needs to have quality. That will add to nation’s progress. Inclusive and quality education is the key to most of the problems.”

A very saddening development in the education sector today is that the youth has been seen refraining from the profession. “That is the biggest tragedy.

Teachers shape all the professionals for varied fields. Without sufficient number of quality teachers, the entire system will crumble sooner or later,” said Anand Kumar.

He rues, “Why are students not opting for teaching as a profession? This is a big question that begs an answer.

will start improving.”

He further adds that funds do not make institutions. Teachers do. Yes, funds are the very basic requirement and important as far as infrastructure is concerned, but we need committed teachers. Funds must be spent on attracting the best of the teachers. Infrastructure can follow.

Kumar, who himself is a teacher says that among the other things that need to be changed to improve the deplorable condition of public schools today is improvement in teaching quality.

“Teaching needs to be improved and for that teachers will have to deliver.

Whenever a student fails, a teacher also fails. Time has come to invest in teachers.”

Teaching will have to be made more respectful and lucrative to attract the best of talent.”

A man who began Super 30 with almost nothing at hand and made lives of so many students worthwhile says that the government schools today have been reduced to a poor man’s school.

Talking on why is it that the government schools, despite having so much funding and facilities, fail to make a difference to the lives of so many, Kumar says, It is the commitment which is lacking. The society’s privileged class doesn’t have stakes in these government schools. Once the society has stake in these public schools, things

Our present government has been emphasizing on vocational education.

However, Anand Kumar differs here. He says, “Vocational-oriented education is a good thing, but it should not be a substitute for higher education. The deserving students must be encouraged to take up pure sciences. It is from there that we will get quality teachers and researchers. Education sector needs serious introspection, for the future of the country depends on that.”

Sharing of his real time experiences, Anand Kumar concludes with a message to all the students of India and the other countries that “Hard work has no substitute.”

May 2015

Governance Today

37

Lead Story

The Hollow Right The Right to Education was enacted with the best of intentions but schools are not yet prepared for such a move. Merely making of a bill and passing it does not solve every problem. Its implementation and recognition by those for whom it has been passed plays a crucial role in deciding whether the Act is acting. Even the basic infrastructure for implementing the program is missing. | SAHAJ PALLA

I

ndia is a country which has the best and the worst of education. On the one hand, you have scientists, engineers, bureaucrats, philosophers, social activists and the crème de la crème of the society, and on the other, you find rag pickers, beggars, child labourers, children doing everything they are not supposed to do. This is the side of India that no one wants to see or talk about. And what is the cause behind this side of India? It is literacy and meaningful relevant education.

To be fair, the government has taken many initiatives to counter the problem of illiteracy, and there have been improvements, bit somehow they have failed to make a transformative change.

The government’s primary weapon to deal with this situation was the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, which was enacted on 4th of August 2009 and came in force on 1st of April 2010, over six decades after independence. The Right to Education (RTE) Act, under the Article 21A of the Indian Constitution has made education a fundamental right, and under it the state governments compulsorily has to provide free education to children between six to 14 years of age

38

Governance Today

May 2015

Lead Story

or up to standard VIII. All states, except Jammu and Kashmir, are covered by the RTE Act.

The Vision The RTE Act has a long story; it would be surprising to know that it was drafted at the time of Independence.

Article 45 which was drafted in the year 1949 stated: “Provision for free and compulsory education for children.

The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years.”

The intentions were good and education along with life became a fundamental right. But unfortunately

The Basic Provisions of the RTE • Every child from 6 to 14 years of age has a right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education.

• 25 percent reservation in private schools • Trained and qualified teachers • Prohibition of physical and mental harassment of the child • Schools should meet specific norms in order to prevent closure

be removed from its ambit.

Although the purpose of the RTE is commendable but it still falls short heavily on a majority of things. The first chink being the age limit, RTE fails to seek education for children below six years and over fourteen years of age.

During the 1950s law makers considered education until 14 years enough, whereas such is not the case as of today. And the same goes for pre-school education, as there was no concept of early childhood education in those times.

The current Act will ignore these age groups unless individual states want to make separate laws extending the limits. It might be possible that the government might look towards extending the age limit from 3 to 16

Tragically, a majority of teachers in government schools don’t take their job seriously and those in private are not paid seriously. A teacher of private unaided school earns Rs 3,500 a month while a municipal school teacher earns around Rs 15,000 per month Most urban child workers are not even aware of their right to education

it took more than 10 years for the Constitution to draft an Act which would fundamentally provide education to children. There were many amendments and after the final amendment, the Article 21A came to pass, and alongside, the RTE act also started taking shape.

Even after it took over 50 years for the RTE act to be implemented, it was not welcomed warmly. In 2005 a rough draft of the RTE was met with much criticism due to a provision which made it mandatory for private schools

to provide 25 percent reservation for disadvantaged children.

The ‘disadvantaged’ children belong to the schedule caste/ tribe, the economically weaker section or the physically handicapped category.

The reserved seats in turn will be reimbursed by the government, based on a formula.

The topic of reservation became a subject of a huge discussion in the political and educational arena. As a result of which, the Supreme Court ruled that minority institutions would

years by 2015.

The armour of RTE further disintegrates by the second blow of reservation. The provision of 25 percent of reservation for disadvantaged children in schools will severely complicate the already complicated issue of education in the country.

The provision to force private schools to provide reservation highlights the inability of the government to provide elementary education despite having a huge network of schools backed by state resources at their hands. According to May 2015

Governance Today

39

Lead Story

the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) conducted by the University of Maryland, out of the 1.2 million schools in India, 80 percent are government run, 5 percent are private aided and 13 percent private unaided schools, which include minority institutions which have been exempted reservation by the Supreme Court.

So, it is now clear that the benefit of 25 percent reservation will only reach a few children, but then there is another catch and it is the word ‘disadvantaged’ used in the Act. As mentioned earlier, it comprises of two sections: the economically backward section and the socially backward section. The government will have to decide which of the two get the benefit. The idea of reservation also fails the Act for providing education to all children.

The third fault with the Act lies in the norms which have been stipulated in it for infrastructure, pupil-teacher ratio, salaries on the basis of which the schools will get recognition in a period of three years.

It is fully known about the type of education being provided to school students in government run schools.

There is no denying that government also runs some top notch schools whose academic quality matches best in private sector, the vast majority are in an indescribable condition. On the other hand, private unaided budget schools provide better education than government schools for a small fee.

The above factor is one of the major

40

Governance Today

May 2015

reasons why poor parents prefer sending their wards to private schools, also the teachers at such institutions are more passionate and dedicated, compared to many government teachers who at most of the times are either absent or even if present, are not involved in teaching activities.

A number of these low budget private schools operate in rural and urban slums and give decent education. But, sadly when these will be evaluated on the basis of the norms stipulated, they will be de-recognised and shut down.

The RTE Act emphasises greatly on the quality of education being provided to students. And one cannot provide good education unless we have suitable teachers for the task. Our schools lack the number of trained, qualified and committed teachers required to provide quality education to children.

A number of low budget private schools operate in rural and urban slums and give decent education.

But sadly, when these will be evaluated on the basis of the norms stipulated

by RTE, they will be derecognised and shut down

Tragically, a majority of teachers present in government schools don’t take their job seriously and those in private are not paid seriously. A teacher of private unaided school earns Rs 3,500 a month while a municipal school teacher earns around Rs 15,000 per month; that is almost five times the salary of a private school teacher, but then the difference can be seen in the quality of education provided by a private unaided school and by a government school. The private school teachers, often less qualified, and always less paid than their government counterparts, manage to provide decent enough education with lesser resources at times. This is a discouraging situation and need to be corrected; teachers should be remunerated accordingly and they should be qualified accordingly as well.

In spite of the RTE being enacted in 2010, it is still not too late to make possible amendments in the education system to suit the Act. It is not that every government school does not pay heed and every private school gives good education. The Act has been the forerunner in planning major changes in the field of education. It might take time before all the points mentioned in the Act be fulfilled and that is because of the variety and diversity of India.

Big changes start small and for the RTE to benefit children, the emphasis on preparing teachers should start outright. As soon as the teachers start meeting the students’ requirements, the learning phase will automatically start running in the cycle it was intended to. It is also necessary to keep a regular check of the working of the education system, so that it does not fall into the net of corrupt practices.

Finally, what needs to be realized that without decent physical infrastructure, all the above would remain a pipedream. What has happened till now in government education system is mostly what must not happen in future.

A humane, relevant and introspective education for all should be the focus of RTE in order to make a positive and lasting impact.

May 2015

Governance Today

41

Interview

RTE Requires More Than Lip Service

Vimala Ramachandran National Fellow and Professor, National University for Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi

42

Governance Today

May 2015

Even though it completed its five years last month, the all-round execution of Right to Education is still far and shrouded in vagueness. Children wandering unattended, a usual scene at every government school in the country exposes how the ambitious Act, aimed at imparting free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighbourhood school, is disorderly on the ground. Ramesh Kumar Raja discussed with Vimala Ramachandran, national fellow and Professor at National University for Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi, a range of issues related to the RTE. Vimala Ramachandran has been working extensively on elementary education, girls’ education and women’s empowerment. She was involved in the conceptualisation of Mahila Samakhya (Education for Women’s Equality) – a pioneering Government of India programme – and served as its first National Project Director from 198893. The eminent educationist is also credited to have established Educational Resource Unit in 1998 as a network of researchers and practitioners working on education. Edited excerpts of the interview:

Interview

H

ow do you look at the current status of RTE? Do you see the fruits of this Act reaching out to the disadvantaged section of the society?

system. It is insensitive and uncaring.

Given that majority of the poor children attend government schools - and given that government schools are yet to conform to the RTE requirements in terms of facilities/ number of teachers/ overall study environment (including absence of corporal punishment) and actual teaching-learning time spent in school - I think that the children of the disadvantaged sections of our society continue to be neglected. They have not yet realised the right to learn and right to be taught in a caring and nondiscriminatory environment.

The main responsibility of implementation is with the state government and not with the central government. So co-ordination between them is not the main hurdle.

Don’t you think there is a lack of coordination and cooperation between the Centre and State governments?

The literacy rate in urban areas is relatively higher but the scene of street urchins is still ugly. Don’t you think awareness for this fundamental right is still too low among urban working children who need it most?

What has literacy rate to do with homeless children and street children?

Most of schools in the country lack the basic infrastructure for RTE. In such situation, does RTE have any chance of success?

wide gap between the urban and rural literacy?

In both rural and urban areas, the government should not only ensure that the children have access to a functioning school but also that they are treated with love and care. In urban areas - given that people migrate from different states / language regions - the school system should reach out to the children, and where necessary, enable them to learn in their own mother tongue.

What according to you is ‘real life’ education and how is it important in encouraging the literacy scene of the country?

Real life education is a combination of basic reading-writing-arithmetic

Well, let me reiterate that RTE is not only about infrastructure. Yes, most schools are yet to conform to the RTE norms. RTE would not have a chance to succeed if the government continues to pay just lip service to it.

What sorts of rules and regulations are required to make RTE more practical?

Rules and regulations alone do not make a system work - it is about enforcing the rules and regulations, ensuring that the school head and teachers adhere to them, that the administrators who oversee the schools adhere to them. India has many rules and regulations - the problem is that they are not observed in letter and spirit.

What should be done to discourage school dropouts which is still a problem area across the country?

Children drop out of schools - because they learn little. Very little teaching and learning happens, the most disadvantaged children are treated shabbily and they experience both physical and verbal abuse/ punishment.

I for one believe that children do not drop out - they are pushed out of the

It is the new migrants into cities, the very poor and distressed who end up being homeless. It is not only that awareness of fundamental rights is low - but more importantly it is the lack of employment / food security / displacement from their homes or villages that lead to this situation. As we all know, the poorest people in India are also the ones who are not literate.

What should be done to bridge the

skills, building self-confidence and selfesteem, acquiring some essential skills for employment / self-employment.

Do you think the involvement of NGOs and corporate foundations can make a difference in enhancing India’s fundamental literacy?

There is an ample space for everyone in India - government, corporates and NGOs. We have so much to do that every little support is important.

May 2015

Governance Today

43

Lead Story

Cakewalk Degrees

Commercializing the Education Business

Teaching has always been known as a noble profession, a profession which serves a great social purpose. A certified teacher is the bedrock of this profession. However, in today’s fast growing world where things turn out to be quick and easy, even getting a degree has become as easy as pie, aided by dubious institutes and colleges. Thanks to these colleges, aspirants are getting teaching degree such as B.Ed. and BTC with ease. Needless to say, such teachers play havoc with education and children’s trust. | ROSELIN KIRO

T

he emphasis being laid on school education by the government has resulted in a great rise in demand for qualified teachers, across country. The rise in demand has also been aided by the parallel rise of the private school network. In turn, this has resulted in a massive increase in students’ interest in teachers’ degrees such as B.Ed. and Basic Teaching Certificate (BTC). And to cater to this huge increase in demand, a large number of shady institutes and study centers have emerged which assure good results, a more innocuous way of saying they basically sell these degrees. And such institutes and study centers have a strong presence in most Tier I and Tier II cities in the country.

Thanks to such entities, today it has become a cakewalk to get a degree in B.Ed. and BTC. The norms mandatory for B.Ed. colleges are barely followed by the colleges, who flout the rules set by the regulatory bodies with incredible impunity. Not surprisingly therefore, thousands of students who graduate from these private B.Ed. and BTC colleges secure unusually high percentage in their examination. The way degrees are awarded to the students through easiest

44

Governance Today

May 2015

Lead Story

possible ways is the best strategy to attract aspirants. One does not have to bother about one’s class attendance or even academic track record if one wants to pursue in these so called educational institutions. In short, these colleges have turned out into money minting machine, putting academic degree on sale.

Fake Degree Menace Several cases of fake degrees and governments trying to deal with the menace have been witnessed in different states over the last few years.

Teachers who were appointed in various government schools were even charged for submitting forged degrees to grab the job. In Bihar, Up to 20,000 teachers were reported to have been hired on forged degrees. There were around 95 other such teachers among the 32,127 appointed by Bihar in March-April 2012, in compliance with the Supreme Court’s 2010 order to appoint 34,540 teachers, who got their B.Ed degrees either before their birth or before the likely age of 21. Similarly, last year, an institute called Odisha Distance Education Centre (ODEA) was raided by the state police as it was offering B.Ed. degrees from some educational institute of Andhra Pradesh. Another strategy which many colleges adopt is to accept twice as many students as they are allowed by the authorities. While this means insufficient infrastructure for all, making the academic quality very low, the profit for the institute increases a lot. And because there is not much supervision by authorities, these institutes don’t face much threat. There is an immediate need to tighten noose around these colleges.

Government’s initiatives There is a bigger role to be played by the government, especially the governing bodies of the education sector to overcome this menace and help raise the quality in institutes providing educational training. The move of the HRD Ministry to introduce National Academic Depository Bill in wake of fake degrees scams is a welcome step in this regard. The bill was initiated in

the year 2011 by Kapil Sibal, the then HRD Minister, but was gathering dust since. This would hopefully curb the frauds and if successful, would help employers access a verified database for all academic degrees in India.

The NAD Bill provides for the establishment of an electronic database of all academic awards. This will help in verifying the awards and their authenticity. It will include passing out certificates, mark sheets from every academic institution. Xth, XIIth, Bachelors, Masters and professional degrees like engineering, law, and medicine will also be included. The bill is waiting for the cabinet nod.

Way out to overcome such loopholes In this digital learning world if degrees like B.Ed. and BTC can be offered online alike Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) which is a new medium for course delivery and learning and without any cost, it can surely be of great help for students. This can be an opportunity for students to participate in the course with high quality content and interactive tools for learning.

This will shake many institutions whose business model are based on distributing degrees by charging hefty fees from the aspirants. But in any case, the governing bodies of the education sector like MHRD, UGC etc. should keep an eye on the education centers who offer degree on these courses so that it is not misused.

The government is taking the initiative to provide jobs to the youth by opening job opportunities in the primary schools to bridge the gap between students and teachers in different states of the country. For example, the UP government has already started the process of appointing over 75,000 teachers in primary schools. The basic qualification required to qualify for the post is graduation with a B.Ed degree. In order to grab opportunities like these people come up with forged B.Ed. degrees. This is a menace that many states are facing now. In places like Bihar, UP, Odisha, Rajasthan and many more, cases were found where the candidates got jobs through fake educational and professional degrees.

Most of the selected candidates had produced degrees from blacklisted institutions that did not confirm to the government norms. The blacklisted institutes included many in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal as well. In most of the cases, candidates had graduated with third division in graduation. However, in their B.Ed. The degrees they had shown remarkable brilliance and all of them had scored over 80 per cent marks.

The urgent need is to make an inquiry into the recruitment made and on the degrees awarded by the universities; it could lead to the unearthing of another major scam in recruitment.

May 2015

Governance Today

45

Interview

Real InteractionNeed of The Hour Varun Yadav

In an era that is dominated by technology usage and where education is taken as stress, the need for real interaction between parents and kids has become even more important than ever. Sandeep Singh spoke to Varun Yadav, Founder Member, Ghaziabad Public School about the current scenario of education in India. Edited excerpts:

T

ell us about the inception of Ghaziabad Public School.

Our institution was established in 1984 with a single room and six students. In the year 1992 and 1994 we got affiliation for class 10th and 12th and since then with the guidance of our Directors Mr and Ms Yadav we are smoothly sailing forward. We have started two more branches in Delhi NCR and there are plans to provide quality education in the rural parts too.

How do you maintain the quality of teaching in academics at your school?

Our school has highly qualified teaching staff and some of them are here from the time when I was a student. Thus, faculty in our school has ample experience when it comes 46

Governance Today

May 2015

to maintaining the quality of teaching.

From the inception Peer to Peer learning is one of the pioneer teaching methods of our school.

We constantly keep an eye on the results of every student through weekly assessment and track the students’ performance on Enterprise Resource Planning to analyze the overall performance. Since the past our major emphasis in on academics and we would like to maintain our good record down the line.

What are the facilities that your school offers for both physical and mental improvements?

Both physical and mental well-being are co-related as healthy mind which resides in a healthy body. For the

physical development, our school has all the sports facilities like Infrastructure and best gears for different games.

The students from our school regularly participate in both inter and intraschool sports competitions.

For mental well-being our school has bring in a very refined system. We have tied up with NIIT for introducing Mind Champions’ Academy which helps the development of young mind on self paced mode. Traditional methods like meditation, Yoga and various mental development activities are being held in school from the past.

How do you rate the performance of your students in academic and extracurricular activities?

I am very proud of our current batch

Interview

of students as well as those students who were part of this school. Our students come from different strata of the society including those who have initially found it difficult to adjust to the school environment. But still, at some point or another, these kids have surprised us with their achievements.

I am proud to tell that in our branches at Shastri Nagar, the daughter of our staff is currently pursuing M.Sc in Microbiology from University of Delhi. These instances inspire us to help such students and their families achieve their dreams, thus proving that education is for all.

There are other similar examples like our student got selected for IIT and last year another student got through in NASA Space Research Program. So, all these achievements by our students during and after their schooling give us immense honor.

Where do you see India’s school education going?

Some good and innovative things have been introduced in the Indian education system. However, I personally feel that we are missing the Gurukul culture that we used to have in the past. The respect, the dignity and the connect that teachers and students had in earlier days cannot be witnessed now. Now days, the usage of technology has increased.

But technology is for humans and we have touse it in a way that does not limit the actual interaction between kids and parents/teachers. We must bring in technology but we do not wish our kids to become robots. At the end of the day they are human beings and they need to have real interaction that would pave way for imparting value-based education. Educational institutions must take in consideration the pros and cons of the technology before introducing them to students.

What should be the role of the government in the Indian education system?

For the government, the best thing would be to send their people on field and find out genuine problems instead discussing the matter at their

chambers.

The government needs to talk to stakeholders; students, parents and school institutions about the issues present in the system. They need to sit with the people, who are working day-in and day-out with the students, and then take decisions accordingly.

Moreover, India is a big country and there are many educational institutions spanning across different regions. A solution for a particular school may not necessarily be effective for another institution. Thus, government should conduct detailed research work for every different area and then provide remedy based on the needs of students for that particular region.

How do you see increasing participation of private schools in Indian education system? What is the role of RTE in this scenario?

After more than 60 years since Independence, school education in India has failed abruptly. Students who can speak and write are termed as literate. This situation poses a serious question which is whether we just want to increase the literacy number or are we really interested in educating our youth.

Private bodies are adding value to the education system and if they are contributing to bring quality education.

I do admit that most of them are opened for profit-making but if this is the case then government can ask them to work as a company and start paying taxes.

I believe RTE will help the students but the policies need to move out of the offices and be discussed with stakeholders.

What should be done to reduce the stress level among students who are burdened with studies and extracurricular activities?

Getting back to our old ways is the best solution. The question is whether parents are more stressed out or students? If we start calling education as a stress then how would we prepare our students for bigger challenges that are waiting ahead?

I feel that it is rather parents who

are so much stressed about each and everything that happens in the society and at times they become overprotective for their child.

These students need to develop their emotional quotient to face-off bigger problems that are much bigger than the academic pressure. Again, I think that teachers and parents need to talk to the students to bridge the communication gap. They need to interact so that they can understand their kids’ situation and then think from their perspective. Rather than pushing students for everything, try to hone their particular set of interest skills.

Parents need to stop putting their unfulfilled expectations into their kids.

Not every kid can be Shahrukh Khan or Sachin Tendulkar; but everyone is different and unique skill sets in their own way. Thus, parents need to put halt to their practice of comparing their kids to another and find out what is best for them.

As a part of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), how can we bring kids coming from socially and financially weaker background into the mainstream education?

As a part of CSR, we devote just one or two hours in a week and make good use of our premises during evening time by educating under-privileged kids. This activity helps those kids in two ways Firstly, they will develop a different perspective about life and secondly, such sessions will gradually make them eligible to be included in same league as ours. I think it is the responsibility of every educational institution to come together and plan such kind of sessions for kids coming from financially weaker background.

China is focusing more on skilled education rather than just imparting regular education. Can India adopt the same model?

I agree that with the help of skilled education, students can find ways to earn extra income but I also believe that education is needed to a certain level that would make them confident enough to know their skill set.

May 2015

Governance Today

47

Interview

Greater Attention Required for Educational Capacity Building Even though India has one of the largest numbers of education institutions in the world, its academic standard is on decline. While the professional education is haphazardly growing, there are very few takers for higher academics, the core of innovation. To discuss the education scenario, Ramesh Kumar Raja talked to Dr Rajvir Sharma, Advisor, Social Sciences, Institute of Life-long Learning, which is an academic research center based in University of Delhi.

A former senior fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, Dr Rajvir Sharma Sharma retired as Senior Associate Advisor, Social Sciences, Institute of Professor at DU. Edited Excerpts: Life-long Learning University of Delhi

H

ow do you look at India’s education sector, particularly the higher education?

Education is the most significant tool of change and progress of a nation, be it social, economic, cultural or political. It is the key to capacity building and to socio-economic reengineering. This fact has been not only accepted but reinforced from time to time. However, there has been an implementation lag. The idea and action have not moved together. For instance, India has seen the expansion of education sector both in school as well as higher education. Still the issue of accessibility, quality, affordability, employability and relevance remain as valid as before. The rural urban divide, the rich poor differentiation, poverty-accessibility issue etc. are the important issues that still need to be addressed.

How do you see the current emphasis on extra curricular

48

Governance Today

May 2015

activities in modern educational system?

Education is a medium of national and social integration. It must meet the aspirations and expectations of the individual and the society, severally and collectively. It must empower people both as human beings and also as part of the global community competing for academic, economic and technological excellence and well being. In this respect, India has been lagging behind the developed world merely because it has been stressing upon the quantitative aspects of education and less concerned with quality in education. It has been more degree oriented instead of skill orientation that could enable people to earn livelihood with pride and dignity of labor. In the process, people with government jobs came to socially recognized on a higher scale than the blue collar employees or self employed. The process need to be revisited and more attention should be given to the vocational and skill aspects at every level of

education. The enabling role is what is needed to put in place equally in the education sector. Moreover, the mad race for marks/grades has killed the inherent potential of the students for excelling in sports and extracurricular activities. These are the most creative and productive capabilities and are important for shaping positive attitudes and approaches to individual and social living. Games and sports should be assigned higher attention and funds to create adequate infrastructure and training. The native games and sports should be given equal focus if not more in promoting them.

We don’t have any academic institution in global top 200. Why are we so backward?

This is so for two reasons. One, there is a lack of freedom to innovate, take initiatives at the school and university level. Our educational institutions have been disseminators of information instead of generators of knowledge. This is particularly so because there

Interview

is absence of infrastructure for research and innovation. Second, there is politicization of the university campuses, more so after the reduction in the voting age to 18 years. The teachers and the students’ along with the karamcharis seem to be more interested in direct or indirect political involvement than in the search for new ideas and knowledge. Institutions are becoming laboratories of politics.

It may not be totally irrelevant in a democratic system to enhance political and social understanding of the seekers of education, but quality of political learning has to be kept in mind instead of promoting practice of politics. Violent campus is another challenge in this direction. The traditional educational system needs to be reoriented and rejuvenated to make educational institutions more attractive and inspiring to learn and research. The expenditure on modern and traditional tools of learning will have to be increased.

India just is not innovating. We are simply going about education by studying curriculum which itself is very outdated. We are not filing enough patents too. What do you think?

The answer to this question can also be had in relation to the above questions. The spirit of competition, excellence and achievement would have to be inculcated and embedded in the teaching community both at the intra and inter university level. The deadwood should be removed after continuous evaluation in terms of internationally established standards of performance.

Don’t you feel the brain drain of intelligent youngsters a threat to our knowledge economy?

There can be a system of compulsory retirement, say after the service of 20 years if the teacher/researcher is not able to perform as per goals or quality. But it should be done with a rider and that is that infrastructure and lab and library of high standards must be provided in the educational

institutions. Further, there should be a stress on developing inquisitorial and critical thinking right from the school level.

Do you think UGC, AICTE or the Govt. of India have any idea as to how to enhance the knowledge quotient of education? Do you see any movement in this regard?

Several steps have been taken by the government of India and the institutions set up for the purpose in the past. However, there is a need to strengthen them in terms of quality and supports. There is a need to introduce good governance indicators at these levels so as to make them the real enhancers of knowledge quotient.

What measures do you suggest to enhance the culture of innovation in the institutes of higher studies?

What challenges do you find in this regard?

The effort should be to ensure participative educational system where in all the stake holders are to be encouraged to think fresh and initiate and own change. The capacity building of the educational institutions should be given increased attention. Lack of accountability, funds and competition are the major challenges towards this end.

Globally, academic excellence has been supplemented by corporate sector. Why is industry’s involvement in academic research virtually absent in India? And who is to blame for this?

There has been traditionally an environment of opposition to the entry of the corporate sector in Higher education; the corporate sector though has established several institutions of very high quality and credibility. The corporate sector is more oriented to profit making ventures rather than in investing in social research or in the fields of science and engineering. There is a need to encourage this sector to enter in the areas of higher learning.

There is also a fear among the people

that corporate sector entry would lead to brain drain from the public sector educational institutions and, therefore, any talk of private sector entry into the field of higher education does not get the requisite public support.

What is your take on the alleged interference of authorities in the functioning of academic institutions in the country?

Though direction, intervention and accountability of the academic institutions should be the domain of the public authorities in a democratic set up, there should depoliticisation of the staffing of these institutions. The political parties should adopt a code of conduct with respect to appointment of persons to all positions with proven merit. The academic institutions should be allowed academic freedom and autonomy in theory and practice.

The state educational institutions are mostly run with too much of political interference. This should stop with the adoption and enforcement of such code of conduct for the political leaders.

How do you view the recommendation of a HRD panel that calls for scrapping of the UGC as it has failed to fulfil its mandate and has not been able to deal with emerging diverse complexities?

Institutions are the alter image of their operators. Therefore, instead of scrapping the UGC, there should be in place the system of social and economic audit of such institutions on regular basis. Any fault lines would have to be removed. The UGC of course should not reduce itself to be merely a fund distribution agency. It has to function as policy tool, quality tool and change agent. It requires the appointment of persons with a vision and with a creative, imaginative and innovative mind. The head of the UGC should be one who is conversant and committed to the cause of education policy determined by the concerned organizations.

May 2015

Governance Today

49

Interview

Changing Social Mindset the Most Challenging Task Upliftment of a community is directly linked to the level of education in that community. In India, minority community is lagging in most socio economic parameters, including education. Even within minority community, education of girls is a big issue. Ritika Bisht and Farhan Khan spoke to Dr. Shabistan Gaffar, President, All India Confederation for Women’s Empowerment Through Education (AICWETE) on various aspects of education among minorities, especially girls. Edited excerpts:

C Dr. Shabistan Gaffar President, All India Confederation for Women’s Empowerment Through Education (AICWETE) 50

Governance Today

May 2015

an you elaborate on your work for minorities’ education?

During my tenure as Chairperson of Girls Education, NCMEI, I have travelled across different regions and communities in India.

Based on my findings, I prepared a document in which I had recommended various steps to encourage imparting education among minority girls. That recommendation was accepted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of HRD, Ministry of Minority Affairs and many more.

Before preparing the recommendation

Interview

document we had conducted more than 300 seminars and workshops.

We then collaborated with local people including representatives of different institutions, field workers, institutions which are established for women education, especially minority education etc.

We just cannot rely on government to take action as this entire process is really slow. So, with the support of my team, we floated an organization that would focus on women empowerment through education. We also published many reports, especially on difficulties faced by women in all walks of life.

Even with the 100 percent literacy rate, Kerala too faced issues when it comes to imparting quality education. We started teachers’ orientation programs that would focus on upgradation of teaching skills. We recommended similar remedies to government to tackle the problem but as mentioned before, the overall process is slow.

According to Sachar Committee Report and few other reports, Muslim community has been lagging behind socially, economically and educationally. In order to improve the conditions among minorities, especially women, we worked with the state and the Central governments, and also with different philanthropists.

The most challenging aspect was to work towards empowerment of women folks in a minority community that is struggling with poverty.

You have been to different parts of India. What kind of problems did you confront and how were you able to tackle the issues.

We have found different problems in different states that range from political to social to economical.

These problems need to be tackled differently. We need to identify the disease and work on the remedy accordingly.

Lack of awareness about constitutional rights is the most

common phenomenon. For solving this, my team not only makes people aware about their rights but also guides them on how they can file the petition incase state government denies them a particular constitutional right.

School drop outs is another menace. NCMEI and NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) have worked in collaboration for imparting non-formal education for Madarsa community. Non-formal education was given importance to tackle the increasing drop-out rates among Muslim community in areas like Surat, Bengal, Assam and other parts of the country.

For strengthening the role of minority educational institutions we

With or without government, we are working for all the deprived and marginalized. Our work towards strengthening women’s education is not limited to minorities but it is for every woman in the country because women in India are minority within the minority.

worked with Maulana Azad National Urdu University, IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University) and NUEPA (National University of Educational Planning and Administration). We also planned an orientation program where we discuss how to strengthen the minority education for secondary and higher education.

Today, more than 20,000 institutions across the country are associated with our team. We have

travelled across India and have organized seminars, workshops and conferences, which include seven regional conferences in Chennai, Lucknow, New Delhi, Mumbai, Guwahati, Madhya Pradesh and Kolkata.

What are the challenges faced by women community in the country.

In 2009-10, we conducted a survey wherein we found that enrolment in primary education is very high.

In the same year, enrollment of minority, especially Muslim students was 1,04,75,000. Out of this figure, 49 percent enrolled were girls. However, after some time, especially after classed 8th, 9th and 10th massive dropouts were recorded. Far away location of the school prompted parents to not send their daughters. For this, Government of India introduced Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, the residential schools for girls.

With our efforts, parents have started to trust us and are now willing to send their girls to schools.

We then suggested government that if people are willing to cooperate and give their land, why can’t the government invest and construct the buildings on the same.

Our team has also worked on the issue of women trafficking that is widely prevalent in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. These women are also facing the similar situation of poverty. They don’t have money to marry their daughters.

To tackle this, our team organized mass marriage ceremony for all the communities. We involved the local community and arranged funds for ceremony. We also provided them with daily needful resources, higher education and job opportunities.

With or without government we are working for all the deprived and marginalized. Our work is not concentrated for only minorities; we serve all under-privileged communities as this part of the population is marginalized. Similarly, our work towards strengthening May 2015

Governance Today

51

Interview

women’s education is not limited to minorities but it is for every woman in the country because women in India are minority within the minority. We need to empower her through education so that she becomes independent and in turn, empower the future generation.

What are the challenges in imparting education to girls coming from Muslim community?

There are two kinds of communities in Islam. One belongs to conservatives who follow Islamic Sharia law and try to suppress women at every front. On the other, we have people who abide by the constitution and Islamic rights that favor women empowerment.

For people to understand the women rights in an easy manner, I have compiled a book stating women’s rights in the constitution and in Islamic law. The book has been designed and published in pointers rather than an elaborative explanation that is easy for everyone to understand. The book has also been included in some Madarsa curriculum.

The major challenge among minorities is to make them think out of the box. Most families do not feel the need to educate their kids after certain grade. For them, higher education means nothing as they feel their kids would later involve in family business.

Secondly, when a girl gets higher education, her family finds it difficult to find a suitable partner. Therefore, parents do not wish to educate girls after a certain grade. So, changing the mindset of the society is one of the most challenging aspects as this issue is something that cannot be solved through financial help. It can only be eliminated once people realize the importance of imparting higher education to all the boys and girls among minorities.

People who are not fully aware of our community blame Islam for the problems that children face when it comes to education. However, 52

Governance Today

May 2015

Islam has stated no such objections against imparting education. Quran has specified that women have equal rights to everything. However, there are some leaders who are interpreting Quran in their own way.

Woman is the backbone of the society. She can transform and make the real changes in the society. We need to provide every woman with the equal opportunity. While our efforts are paying off but still our country has to go a long way.

What are the shortcomings that you have witnessed in the education system?

Gandhi chose western education even though majority over there are Christians. This is because they are focused upon secular and quality education that does not differ on the basis of religion. We need to bring in ‘education with research’ and ‘education with logic’.

If a Muslim goes abroad in a Christian institution, he will learn more about Islam than he would have known in a Muslim institution.

This is because they focus on research work and are not taught within cocoon.

Apart from bringing in secular

In India we need to have institutions that can provide secular education.

Secular education is very important, it should not be pro. We need to learn from American and European education system. There is a reason why students who can afford to go abroad for higher education do not want to continue in here. In India we politicize our religion and thus we have religion based curriculum.

Even our leaders like Mahatma

education, the system needs maximum support from the government. The present ruling government is doing some work but we cannot judge them right now as they have been on ruling seat for only one year. Even the Budget for 2015-16 has not stated anything for minority education and thus we are still waiting for some new things to come up.

May 2015

Governance Today

53

Moral Education

Modern-Day Vishnu Sharma

Inspiring Students Through Story-Telling

| RAMESH KUMAR RAJA

T

he Right to Education Act may have pioneered a sort of revolution across schools in India, but simply bringing an act is not enough in inspiring children to make it a regular practice to attend their classes with utmost zeal. It requires an inspiring teacher like Pandit Vishnu Sharma, the author of the famous Panchatantra, the classic tales through which he used to impart practical and value-based education to the children of the King. As times

54

Governance Today

May 2015

changed, the tradition of teaching changed and slowly the art of teaching through storytelling faded whose space was taken by formal, curriculum based teaching. But the practice of educating through storytelling has still remained alive thanks to one individual.

Shiv Narain Singh, 52, principal of an intermediate college in the nondescript district of Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, is one such exemplary Vishnu Sharma of the modern day, who must have created a record of sorts. Although he has been into practice for over two decades, Singh has been telling his students a story every day for the past

15 years. In the last five years alone, he has told over a thousand narratives to his students. The stories are not new, but each carries a moral value, which is of use to students in their real lives. He is invited to other institutes as well, for story-telling. Sharma, who innovates to make his stories inspirational, is a recipient of a number of awards at the national and state level, including Bharti Ratna Samman by the National Rajbhasha Peeth and the Teachers’ State Award in 2009.

Such is his influence that the students have made it a point to attend the morning-assembly regularly as

Moral Education

they know fully well that they will get to hear an inspirational story from their principal. No wonder, the prayer-hall of the school, which has a strength of over 1,500 students, is always packed to the capacity, when Singh narrates the stories. Thanks to his decadeslong practice of story-telling just before the commencement of classes (first period) that the school (Prestige Intermediate College) is known for its discipline and education all across the UP and some parts of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Interestingly, not only the students,

old traditions and happenings of daily life and include them in my stories to give some concrete message to the students. I also draw inspiration from the ‘vedas’, and ‘upanishads’. All these stories instill a new confidence in us and provide us the guidelines to be followed in the life.”

Born in a modest farming family, the post-graduate in science is peeved at the present education system. Committed to bring a radical change in the system, Singh laments that the modern education does not in any way contribute towards the

the students to ponder over what they want to do in their lives and they also apprise the students about their responsibilities towards society and the environment.

Singh has received hundreds of appreciation letters from the educationists, parents and politicians.

His wife Shiva Singh also is a source of encouragement for him. Till now, ten volumes of his stories have been published, but interestingly, the volumes are not his writings. He says, “Some people, who were inspired by my stories, decided to record whenever

“I pick up the theme from our age-old traditions and happenings of daily life and include them in my stories to give some concrete message to the students. I also draw inspiration from the ‘vedas’, and ‘upanishads’.

All these stories instill a new confidence in us and provide us the guidelines to be followed in the life.”

but the other teachers and staff of the school also listen to Singh in rapt attention during the session. The story narration normally lasts 10 to 12 minutes. The principal is so regular with his story telling that the students and others begin calling his home and sometimes even visit to enquire about his well-being on the rare day when he misses school due to illness or other preoccupation.

In his stories, Singh quotes heavily from the ancient Indian epics and gives numerous examples. He also cites Gautam Buddha, Jesus Christ and Ramkrishna Paramhansa. Says Singh, “I pick up the theme from our age-

moral development of the students.

“Education should make a student a good human being. Hence, my effort is to establish a communication with the students through inspirational messages so that they become good international citizens. I find stories are the best way to communicate with the children,” he opines.

But where did he get this kind of innovation from? Singh said that during his childhood his grandfather used to regularly tell him a story before he retired to bed. “His (grandfather) words used to be in my heart when I woke up in the morning”, he recounts.

Needless to say, Singh’s stories force

I told a story and then compiled them and got them published in the form of books.”

“In fact, I was myself surprised when I heard my own utterances... I could not believe that it was I,” the teacher says.

On whether he makes preparation in advance for telling the stories, Singh says that even he does not know about the subject on which the day’s story will be based. “I only keep one thing in my mind that whatever I say must have a positive impact on the minds of the students,” says the modern-day Vishnu Sharma.

May 2015

Governance Today

55

Sports

Indian Sports Fails to Clear Policy Hurdles

| SIDDHARTHA UPADHYAY

A

state level boxer, winner of gold medal in state level championship in 2014, Rishu Mittal has dreams of becoming an Olympic medal winning boxer like Mary Kom. Reality? She is forced to work as a domestic help in her native town in Haryana in order to pay her school fees. Such is the apathy of the government towards our athletes that a majority of them fade into oblivion due to lack of funds and basic training and amenities. Once the news reached the media, the state quickly arranged for an assistance of Rs 1 lakh that would support both her schooling and her boxing training.

56

Governance Today

May 2015

Rishu is not the only athlete who has to live in such deplorable condition owing to the governments’ indifference towards sportsperson. There are many who are selling golgappas, vegetables, or are working as laborers to support themselves and their families.

For a long time Sports had been accorded the lowest priority by the Government of India. Some analysts are of the view that in India, sports is more of a liability for the government. The apathy towards the sector has resulted in the tragic fading into the oblivion of several promising sports personalities.

India’s record in the Olympics is a glaring example of where we stand as a country in terms of our sporting abilities. In 30 Olympics so far, India

has bagged a mere 26 medals which includes nine gold, six silver and eleven bronze medals.

The recent Union Budget came as a welcome move amidst all the gloom.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports got a hike of around Rs 384 crore in the budget for 2015-16. Out of the total outlay, Rs 886.57 crore has been allocated for Sports and Games - as against Rs 642.68 crore last year Hopefully, the increase in the budgetary allocation will prove to be a major shot in the arm for the sports languishing in the corridors of red tapism and neglect. Even then, a lot is left desired if India truly wants to be recognized as a sporting nation. There are glaring anomalies in the sports

Sports

policy of the country which to a large extent responsible for the pathetic state of sports in India. To improve the situation of sports in the country and to encourage more young people to take up sports, some basic steps should be taken.

Sports should be brought to the concurrent list: This issue of transfer has been under consideration in parliament for more than three decades. If sports gets included in the concurrent list, it will not only shift sports from its present constitutional position where it is clubbed with ‘entertainment’ and ‘amusement’ but will also make sports an instrument of youth development , contributing in the inclusive progress of the nation.

Bring sports on school curriculum in India: In India education is mainly focused on academics and sports is not given the priority that it deserves.

Unlike China, where physical education is a part of the curriculum and a compulsory course from the primarylevel to the second year of graduation, physical education in India is not a part of educational curriculum which must be reversed.

Boost sports infrastructure in the country: The sports infrastructure in India leaves a lot to be desired. Barring few big cities, the availability and condition of the sports infrastructure in the small cities is pathetic. Even a country like Holland, which is miniscule in terms of size when compared to India, has over 200 astro turfs whereas India has only 15.

Industry status to the sports: The government has so far been dithering from giving sports the status of an Industry as the conferment of Industry status on sports will allow private sector participation in the sports, which so far has remained the fiefdom of Government bodies. As long as the policies are not made to encourage investment in sports, the country will be left wanting for necessary funds required for sports infrastructure.

Encourage sports research and education: Today India has close to 250 universities, but none of them is exclusively for sports education. No

university provides even exclusive courses in sports unlike Japan and China where there are exclusive training Institutes dedicated to sports. Sports are part of the curriculum in these countries unlike here in India, where it still remains a free time activity.

Rationalize custom duties on sports equipment: The demand for rationalization of custom duties on sports goods has been there for quite some time. This would provide the necessary impetus to sports manufacturing industry. Today there is no clear cut definition for sports goods

their abilities in sports and physical activities. It is a well-known fact that when differently abled people participate in sports, it helps in improving their quality of life.

Unfortunately in India persons with disability have hardly any access to sporting neither any motivation to do so.

Put sportsman over politicians: Among the many problems which are hampering the growth of sports in India is the presence of ‘officials’ and politicians in the selection committees than veteran sportspersons. This often

Lack of proper facilities prevents emergence of many potential stars

and equipments. In the absence of these guidelines, the import of sports equipments becomes a tricky affair, which impacts the overall development of sports.

Provide sops to domestic manufacturers: Sports manufacturing needs a helping hand from the government in terms of tax holidays and dedicated manufacturing zones for sport equipments to counter competition it is facing from the neighboring countries like China, Pakistan and other Asian countries.

Boost facilities for disability sports in India: In many countries, for people with disability opportunities exist from grassroots level to showcase

turns the selection committees into a political turf leading to the battle of one-upmanship among the selection committee members.

A healthy mind lives in a healthy body and only healthy individuals can contribute towards a healthy society.

The development of sport culture is the responsibility of both the society and the government and until and unless both the stakeholders are on the same page, the nation cannot march forward in the area of sports.

The writer is the Founder and Secretary General of Stairs, an NGO working for the upliftment of sporting talent in the deprived section of the society

May 2015

Governance Today

57

Interview

Educators in India Never Developed Concepts

Dr Jitendra K Das Director, Fore School of Management, New Delhi

Management is a much sought-after area of professional study for Indians and Business schools are mushrooming like never before, but the quality of remains elusive. A number of challenges lie ahead to restore the relevance of management education with the changing times. To discuss different issues related to management education and how it is evolving, Ramesh Kumar Raja talked to Dr Jitendra K Das, Director, Fore School of Management, New Delhi.

Besides being the founder Dean (Noida Campus) of the IIM Lucknow, Das has been associated with teaching at IIM Ahmedabad, Kozhikode and Lucknow, and at Business School of the University of Danube, Austria. Edited excerpts:

H

ow do you see the situation of management education in India?

In the last couple of years, management institutions have increased a lot more in number in the country, but unfortunately quality remains elusive.

Most of the institutions which provide different courses in management education don’t provide quality education and ruin the future of students who have taken admission in respective institutions. Today India has thousands of postgraduate institutions which provide management education and in equivalent management courses, and award MBA degrees and diplomas. It is not that all institutions are lagging behind in delivering quality education, but most of the institutes are not providing quality education and are running only to earn benefits. The proliferation of MBA schools at fast rate is leading to erosion in the quality of the management education and it is all happening because institutions don’t have quality faculties.

Mostly students take admission in these colleges by seeing the physical infrastructure which in turn cost them.

It is significant that curriculum should be delivered in an honest manner so that students could get what they are expecting from college.

There is a dearth of good management 58

Governance Today

May 2015

colleges in India if we want a good economic growth in the country. We need at least 100 to 150 good schools.

How do you think Indian management education is different from the western world?

Management education has a broad concept which lies on universal spirit.

Education system is applied according to the culture and its values. You can easily find the concepts of planning, recruitment, training, financial systems and control, in any culture but their proper implementations and execution are very important.

In western countries, management concepts are developed consequent upon progressive situational analysis which are rooted on altering values system of the people as well as in the political and economic environment which all form the educational and cultural milieu.

However, in our country our educators never developed their own concepts, keeping our country’s management system in view. Instead, they found very much suitable to import management technology just as scientific technology. And as there was no proper planning in the past, we are suffering the outcome which is the confusion in Indian management education.

What are the initiatives your institute has taken to further research and innovation in management field?

We have been providing quality education in management for the past 21 years and over 3000 students have graduated from FORE since its inception in 1992. Currently with two-year full time programs in Management (PGDM) and International Business (PGDM-IB), and a three-year part time program in Management (part-time PGDM) having a total planned student strength of about 750, we are well placed to leave an impact in the society We foster sharpening of skills and enhancement of knowledge base in our students with the help of various extracurricular, co-curricular and curricular activities, delivered through faculty who contribute to the expansion of the body of knowledge in their field of expertise. We have centers of excellence to enhance domain specific research and training among members of faculty and entrepreneurship among students.

We promote industry academic interaction through corporate supported projects undertaken by our students under faculty supervision which provides a hands-on-experience to our students and increased their employability.

May 2015

Governance Today

59

Climate Change

Intended Nationally Determined Contribution Future of Global Carbon Space And the Indian Perspective

| RITWAJIT DAS

clear, quantifiable information patterns unlike national communication.

ntended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) is going to be a unique policy commitment dialogue, which will have equal imperative, weightage, and momentum both in national and international context.

INDCs or National Intensions offer opportunities for individual countries to design effective policies to address the climate change crisis, which could be most suitable to each country’s own condition. It is unique mainly because it gives ample scope and flexibility to national governments to correctly identify bottlenecks associated with their emission intensity and mechanisms to act upon them. National Intensions are directive and can steer national governments to come out with

Structure and Influence

I

60

Governance Today

May 2015

National Intensions seek well placed, categorical and tangible information in a very interesting way. National governments have to come out with a bifurcated yet a cohesive information declaration. As per the decision taken by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1/CP.19 and 1/CP.20, countries need to come up with two fold of information announcement.

The first fold of information announcement with National Intensions will have clear-cut up-front attributes in terms of following seven items.

Quantifiable Information on the Reference Point (Including, as Appropriate, a Base Year) Here, national governments can select a Base Year as per their situational (economic and sustainable development) readiness. Base Year selection will clearly demonstrate the divide between major emitters from developed countries and emerging emitters from developing countries in a common, unified carbon space.

Developed countries like EU, USA, Japan, Canada, and Australia, etc. may tend to go for base year referencing around 1990’s, whereas developing countries like China and India etc. will keep it somewhere around 2005.

National governments will also have

Climate Change

to list choices for Base Year emission from non-forest land and forestland.

Majority of the national governments will go for base year. Base Year emissions from non-forest land (cropland, grassland, wetlands, settlements, other land). Emissions/removals from forestland may not be included in the Base Year, since only the net change in emissions is accounted for this sector.

However, it will be highly likely that developing countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Tanzania, Brazil, Costa Rice etc. will list emissions from forestland in their Base Year referencing because of the fact that deforestation and forest degradation will significantly influence the accountability of emission intensity in these countries.

India’s perspective - It will be wise

if India set up its reference Base Year around 2005, as it will ensure better preparedness, readiness and accountability in terms of Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) measures and can realistically define aspects related to comprehensive inventory submission. It will enhance India’s credibility it terms of limiting emission intensity through a strategically well placed timeline where policies related to energy efficiency, renewable energy mix, industrial process, land use change (forestry and agriculture) and waste management can converge. India’s plans to develop and operate 100 GW of full scale solar energy by 2022 is also expected to be part of this comprehensive package.

Shifting Base Year to 2005 will place India in a favorable position to

anticipate the peaking emission year in a more assertive way, as it will be anchored around inventory submission with respect to the identified Base Year.

Time Frames and or Periods for Implementation The objective of INDCs or National Intensions is to limit a 20C global rise in temperature. Although the scientific community has sketchily reached consensus on the global emissions pathway, allocation of the annual budgets to each individual country remains a fiercely debated topic. The emission gap between developed and developing nations is absolute and stark. As such, developed countries have to deliver more and extensively in terms of fulfillment of emission removals and reduction in the emission May 2015

Governance Today

61

Climate Change

intensity in terms of the annual budgets allocation.

To make the upcoming Paris agreement successful, developed countries would have to step up and demonstrate leadership by setting up upright, ambitious and prehensile time frames and periods for implementation.

Developed countries mainly EU, Australia, Canada and Japan may go for a time frame commitment until the end of 2030, which would be translated through average commitments from beginning of 2017 to the end of 2030.

The achievement will be tracked by information available with national inventories. This information will be dynamic in nature and will be constantly evolving.

To keep the total budget for CO2 emission around 1,000 Gt. of CO2 eq. developed countries must vacate the emission space and budget within the time period of 2030, mainly because countries like India, China, Indonesia,

carbon credits) in light of a unified emission budget approach.

India’s perspective – It will be highly likely that India will go for a time frame commitment until the end of 204050, if it sets up its Base Year around 2005. India as a country is expected to grow at the rate of over 8 per cent over next 9-10 years. India’s GDP Per Capita (Purchasing Power Parity) is expected to reach around USD 7,311 in next 9-10 years, which will directly influence and heighten aggregated emissions from 2.009 Gt. of CO2 eq. to 4.287 Gt. of CO2 eq. If the time frame is expanded for India from 2030 to 2050, the country can definitely find a tradeoff between economic development and sustainability.

Scope and Coverage Gases covered - When it comes to list scope and coverage to greenhouse gases or CO 2 eq. gases, national governments need to be very realistic

Not much attention has been given to environmental damages because of agriculture

South Africa and Brazil may anticipate peak emission years within this time frame. To keep the total emission budget on zero sum mode, it is important for developed countries to vacate the existing carbon space at earliest. It is possible that developed countries can advocate the addition/ subtraction of emission reductions transferred internationally (through 62

Governance Today

May 2015

and scientifically accurate. There are different types of greenhouse gases with different global warming potential associated with it. How national governments identify and list them is going to be critically important because it can directly influence the entire calculations and scientific attributes associated with emission removals commitments. National

government irrespective of developed and developing countries may list CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6 and NF3 as greenhouse gases.

It is interesting to see that few gases which have much greater global warming potential like Tetrafluoroethane (HFC134a), Fluoroform (HFC-23) and Tetrafluoromethane (CF4) are already witnessing a complete phase out processes and interventions due to enforcing Montreal Protocol mainly in developed countries. In this connection developed countries may not list them at all. However, developing countries may include them because the international enforcement factors associated with them are relatively extended with respect to developed countries.

As for sectors covered, both developed and developing countries will list all major thrust sectors like energy; industrial processes and product use; agriculture; land-use, land-use change and forestry and waste.

Some developed countries specially the EU lobby will give favorable consent and support for the inclusion of international aviation and shipping on the bases of future internationally agreed rules applicable to all parties.

However, it may or may not be included in their INDCs or National Intensions submission.

India’s perspective – India have demonstrated quality leadership in the past in providing a very detailed description of greenhouse gasses with its comprehensive national communication submission and is likely to do so in future.

India may list Tetrafluoroethane (HFC134a), Fluoroform (HFC-23) and Tetrafluoromethane (CF4) along with carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) emitted by sources and their removal by sinks.

Indian government will cover sectors that will include: energy, industrial processes, agriculture, land use, land -use change and forestry, and waste.

It can also include emission sources

Climate Change

like Fugitive Fuel Emission (Oil and Natural Gas System and Coal Mining), Agricultural Crop Residues, Emissions from Soils, Emission from Bunker Fuels and Biomass.

Planning Process Planning process and governance aspects for National Intensions is going to be important for national governments. It is going to be the nucleus of the commitment declaration proposed by national governments in their INDCs. Developed as well as developing countries are expected to provide all-inclusive information on national implementation part and longterm strategy associated with their National Intensions to make them more transparent, accountable, effective and credible in an international setting.

National implementation part -When it comes to national implementation part, national governments will propose an effective strategic policy instrument

and directives for their domestic policies related to climate change in a chronological space. They may also formulate indicative goals to reduce emission as per their commitments.

Pro-active governments will also seek room for external transparent reviews, monitoring and evaluation support and foster further collaboration.

India’s perspective – India has set high standards on policy formulation and implementation, and will continue to do so. India’s development plans, while targeting an accelerated economic growth, is guided by the principles of sustainable development with a commitment to a cleaner and greener environment. It emphasizes promotion of participatory institutions and social mobilization, particularly through empowerment of women, for ensuring environmental sustainability of the development process. The country has a well chalked out climate policy called National Action Plan on

Solar power is a prominent source of environment friendly power and needs to be promoted

to make their commitment feasible and tangible. The strategic policy instrument will need to have measurable initiatives and enforce emission reductions to be achieved mainly domestically. National governments will tend to converge existing policies and legal frameworks in this context and enhance the due diligence features associated with monitoring, reporting and verification.

Long-term strategy - National governments may list plans, actions

Climate Change, which is multipronged, long-term and integrated for achieving key goals in context of climate change.

Assumptions and Methodological Approaches Both developed and developing countries are expected to choose directive and action sets available under internationally accepted accounting standards for greenhouse gas emission assessment and reporting. National

Intensions are designed in a way to encourage governments to take strong actions for domestic emission removals and focus on reducing emission potential at national level. However, developed and developing countries may propose different assumption sets and methodological approaches.

Credits from market mechanism – Developed countries especially EU may opt for using carbon credits from international mechanisms, primarily through top-notch quality processes that may deliver real, permanent, additional and verified mitigation outcomes. Developed countries are also expected to support reform of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and New Market Mechanism (NMM).

For non forest (cropland, grassland, wetland, settlements and other lands) and forest land – National governments from developed and developing countries would likely include non forest land and mechanisms to anticipates ways to switch to a comprehensive land based approach.

For forestland, national governments may use methodologies listed under the Kyoto protocol.

National governments may also use various revised IPCC updated guidelines, as per UNFCCC relevant decisions (2/CMP.6 and 2/CMP.7).

Global warming potential values will be used as per UNFCCC decision 24/CP.19.

National governments may further propose to account for all significant anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks.

India’s perspective – It is likely that India may demonstrate high standards with assumption and methodological approaches. India may list assumptions that will be pragmatic and accurate in terms of its economic situation and its liking for sustainable development.

Various scientific assessment studies have identified India as one the most vulnerable countries in the world due to climate change in terms of population displacement, food security, human development and infrastructure loss.

India as a country needs to address the concerns related to economic and social development first and will May 2015

Governance Today

63

Climate Change

Deforestation has led to major ecological problems across the world

definitely seek collaborations and guidance from developed countries in terms of financial and technology assistance.

Consideration on Fairness and Ambition The national governments from developed and developing countries need to accept common and differentiated responsibilities associated with efforts to combat global climate change in a fair and equitable manner. National governments may agree on some high points related to equitable and fair responsibility in context of success of National Intensions submissions, capacity to contribute to solving the climate problem, and cost-efficient mitigation potential.

Developed countries certainly can go ambitious with abatement measures, emission removals and mitigation strategies with respect to emission intensity. However, developing countries need to balance their economic development priorities with emission mitigation strategies.

To ensure fairness considerations, it is important to merit past efforts, rewards early movers and create 64

Governance Today

May 2015

room for financial cooperation. In this regard, policy making assistance and technology transfers related to intellectual property rights from developed countries to developing countries must be encouraged.

India’s perspective – It is important for India to present correct situational information in terms of vulnerability and adaptation needs. India needs to put forward the actual need for financial cooperation and technology transfer aspects on grounds of fairness and equity to demonstrate leadership in context of ambitious emission measures. The per capita emission for India is 1.7 Mt. CO2 eq. which is drastically low if compared with developed nations or even developing nations like China.

How the INDC contributes to Achieving the Ultimate Objective of the Convention In order to limit to a 20C global rise in temperature as prescribed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), the total budget for CO 2 emissions must remain under 1,000 Gt of CO2 eq. In this regard, national governments must mention in their

respective information declarations and commitments, the proposed emission abatements and emission intensity removals in the stipulated time frame.

India’s Perspective - India must go for assessment in over-all global carbon budget allocation as it is going to fit in this allocation landscape. India must propose accurate, pragmatic and tangible abatement targets, which will have strong penchant for achievement of the ultimate objective.

The second set of information announcement with National Intensions will involve country specific information, primarily regarding to comprehensive and updated review on greenhouse gas emission sectors, gross domestic product, economics and population growth etc. Countries can also present narrative information on climate change vulnerability assessment with specific sectors and directives on promised interventions proposed by them.

INDCs or National Intensions would be submitted by the first quarter of 2015 (for those who are in a position to do so) or by 1 October 2015. It will provide an opportunity for developed countries and developing countries to develop their own action plan and act on it. The Paris conference would definitely see deadlocks on commitments and financing issues, but compromises must be made so as to reach an accord to address the pressing climate change issue.

In ultimate analysis, it needs to be realized that there is only a small window of opportunity left for humankind to make amends with nature. For long, man has played with nature and has resultantly reached the precipice. If corrective actions are not taken in right earnest, there may not be much left to salvage and coming generations would inherit a virtually unlivable planet.

The writer is an international consultant working in the area of policy space in climate change mitigation and has worked across a dozen countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Energy Security

Energy Security in India Roadblocks, Bottlenecks and Possibilities

| RITWAJIT DAS

F

or sustainable economic growth and development, energy security of a nation is of the highest importance. Every country wants to be energy secure in order to limit dependency on external factors for its energy consumption. India has been working hard to become an ‘Energy Secure’ nation. The reasons for this effort are mainly inconsistent access to a resource pool to outdated technology to inefficient operations. Over dependence on coal, increasing demand for energy and irresponsible consumption has added to the distresses. As one of the world‘s emerging economies, India has lot to learn from both larger and smaller economies on how to achieve energy security. India has not been able to bring in the best practices, advanced technologies and efficiencies in operations to the energy sector to achieve this goal.

Situational Analysis India is the fifth largest consumer of fossil fuels in the world, but its energy production accounts for just 4% of the global energy production. Despite constant demand, access to energy in India is still May 2015

Governance Today

65

Energy Security

serving mainly a conflated population based in urban space. Almost 312 million people lack basic access to electricity and 816 million people are dependent on undeveloped biomass and traditional energy sources for cooking. This scenario has a direct negative stimulus on economic growth and inhibits poverty alleviation as sustained economic growth depends on energy. India’s energy production portfolio is uneven and lacks strategic directives; for instance use of coal has severe impact on the environment and contributes to global warming.

Moreover, India‘s coal logistics system – including both production and transport – is so starkly inefficient that in some cases it is cheaper to import coal and transmit electricity than to move coal by rail across the country. On the other hand, fossil fuel or oil, which is required to meet India‘s growing demand for automobiles, is increasingly imported, leaving the country with an ever-growing balance of payment deficits and affecting national micro economic environment to a great extent. Recent discoveries of large offshore natural gas fields along India‘s eastern coast doesn‘t provide much consolation, since India has not properly incentivizes domestic exploration and production activity.

Hydropower is becoming harder to develop mainly because of land title disputes, resettlement issues and water usage conflicts. Nuclear energy capacity lifted by a recent cooperation agreement with the United States, France, Australia and Russia is projected to grow substantially over the coming years, but capacity addition in it is very slow and negative spin offs associated with nuclear energy are insurmountable. Wind and solar power will also see growth in near future but financing, technology disbursement and ease of doing business in renewable energy sector is something which government and private players need to look into.

Defining Energy Security To put in simply, energy security means having access to the required 66

Governance Today

May 2015

volumes of energy at affordable prices and provisions. This also implies that sufficient alternative supplies are readily available at reasonable prices.

From the government‘s perspective it also includes the energy policies and standby measures that can be implemented in the event of a supply disruption to mitigate its impact, to the extent possible, at a cost that its citizens consider reasonable. In addition, supply diversification by source, volume and substitutable resources can contribute to an effective energy security program under such definition. Energy security would also encompass government‘s ability to manage macroeconomic effects of major supply disruptions.

Security Pricing remains to persist a crucial disquiet in the India energy sector, both in terms of hydrocarbon and coal sector.

Since domestic energy prices are not fully correlated with the global trends, there is limited signaling mechanism for active demand-side management.

Resource allocation and fuel side concerns bring in another dimension to challenges faced by the Indian energy sector. There is a tenacious need to bring in an independent regulator in the coal sector and create regulations around development of coal blocks at an improved pace. A few of the apprehensions are mostly cutting across the sectors: delays in land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement and obtaining environment and forest

Indian Installed power generation capacity in 2013 Coal remains the largest energy source for India (Image source: Worldcoal.org)

The energy industry directly affects the economy both at micro and macro level by using labor and capital to produce energy. This role is important for economic growth and job creation and further relatively lower and stable energy prices help stimulate the economy.

Factors Influencing India’s Prospects for Energy

clearances have proved to be the prime concern in the development of most energy sector projects.

Financial health of distribution utilities is another element that requires attention of policy makers. Most of the private generating companies perceive increased payment default risk when negotiating Purchasing Power Agreements or PPAs with these utilities. This has a snowballing impact

Energy Security

with commercial banks perceiving higher risks in these projects making cost of financing higher.

Similarly, the investment environment in the oil and gas upstream sector is getting affected due to regulatory uncertainties. At the moment, the Government is engaged in contract administration, monitoring and review of investments and pricing decisions. Pricing of major share of gas supplies in the Indian market is controlled, not market driven, and multiple pricing regimes exist. Controlled pricing may result in disincentivizing investments in the

market in terms of demand. Stable and consistent regulatory environment and need-based intervention from the state are required to attract investment.

India has faced noteworthy challenges in the past in securing international supplies. Till now, India’s crude import from Iran has been constrained because of sanctions on Iran, which should slowly ease moving forward. The Iran- Pakistan-India pipeline project has also been stalled.

In terms of gas supplies from the U.S., rules are not favorable for exporting gas to non-FTA countries. In addition, India has lost out to China for securing

A large part of Indian crude supply comes through volatile region of the gulf

sector in terms of limited participation from foreign players, who have access to technology, much required in deep-water exploration activities. The downstream sector is evolving in terms of policies and powers of the regulatory board, and the bidding framework for gas distribution. Controlled Pricing of certain petroleum products is another key issue faced by the Indian oil and gas sector, and the market is only coming to terms with the freed diesel prices.

Due to policy and regulatory challenges, India may lose on foreign investment, especially in areas like deep-water exploration, shale gas, fuel retailing, etc, despite being an attractive

supplies through a transnational pipeline from Myanmar, and also in securing assets in countries like Khazkhistan, Nigeria, Angola, Russia, and other African Countries etc. All of these developments do not augur well for India.

On the other hand, China has been able to use diplomatic channels to increase its chances of winning the bids. It has sheltered energy acquisition under layers of integrated packages of aid, concessional or low-interest loans as well as direct financing of infrastructure projects. Chinese companies like CNPC, CNOOC, Sinopec, have also focused on makes social and

economic impacts in the region.

Policy Measures and Governance Attributes Decreasing vulnerability to outward shocks: fuel and source diversity Decreasing vulnerability to outward shocks through diversifying fuel types and sources is analogous to the portfolio diversification well known to investors. India thus needs to not only estimate the security of individual supply chains, but also the insecurity of its energy supply portfolio against the vagaries of energy markets and geopolitical risks. Government also needs to evade a false sense of security through ill-advised domestic ventures, such as maintaining incompetent local refineries based on imported oil feedstock in preference to rationalized fuel products procurement in regional markets. The influence of new and renewable resources should also progressively be seen from an energy security perspective.

Curbing end-use e n e rg y requirements: mounting supply and demand-side energy efficiency It is well defined that India will need to spread its energy consumption to meet economic and social development needs. Yet, energy is typically produced, transported, and used inefficiently in countries like India. Globally, it has been valued that the developing countries could increase their energy efficiency by 10– 30%, given the right set of policy and market incentives.

Lessening energy infrastructure vulnerability: distributed energy Centralized energy infrastructure cost-effectively exploits economies of scale in construction and operation.

However, large- scale centralized facilities are also perceived to be vulnerable to large-scale catastrophe and loss. In addition, technological change is redefining the scale at which efficiency and economy can be captured and enhanced. As such, an optimal balance of scale has to be maintained.

Limiting political and social divisions: promoting good May 2015

Governance Today

67

Energy Security

governance and equitable energy sector rent distribution Maladministration of energy resources and their uses is a contributor to impoverishment and inequity that threatens sustainable energy delivery.

This vicious circle takes many forms, including draining of government resources for health, education, and welfare that go instead to subsidize inefficient energy monopolies; capturing of benefits by urban elites at the expense of energy-poor rural populations, and dissipation of energygenerated rents through corruption and diversion for private gains. As such, improved governance of energy sector is paramount.

regulations attract capital for energy infrastructure investment from international environment and private players.

Enhanced R&D Support.

Government ought to set aside funds, which could be in the form of a sovereign wealth fund, to invest in projects involved with development and commercialization of renewable energy technologies and clean tech.

Providing the Opportunity and Equal Playing Ground to Earn Adequate Returns. It is imperative to provide investors with ongoing opportunities to earn an adequate

underlying costs. Attention needed to focus on retail energy prices that are often held below production costs because political concerns trump economic efficiency.

Synchronized Governance. Any positive policy requires the entire system to work in tandem and complement each other. This requires a comprehensive effort that involves all the ministries and institutions to be part of the initiative right from the pilot-test phase to implementation phase. All other considerations, from regulatory and tax policies to infrastructure implications, need to be examined in sync with one another in order

There is requirement for balancing the ecological and power needs

What India Can Do Further In Future to Secure Energy Sufficiency Encouraging a Stable Investment Climate. The energy sector is a capital-intensive industry with long gestation periods. As a result, the stability of the market and corruption free governing rules, tax rebates and decentralized

68

Governance Today

May 2015

return on investment. Policies that avoid adjusting tax and royalty regimes in response to short- run market conditions are more conducive to attracting and maintaining investment.

Sending the Right Price Signal.

Prices provide powerful signals to organize the productive use of energy in the economy. However, to do this, prices need to reflect real

to obviate barriers to the future implementation of pilot programs that prove to be economically, socially, environmentally and even politically viable.

The author is an Independent Research Consultant working in the area of environment and climate change space.

He has worked across a dozen countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Interview

Demand for All Terrain Vehicles Increasing in India

Pankaj Dubey Managing Director, Polaris India Pvt. Ltd.

C

Although they have a long way to go, off-road vehicles hold a strong potential to flourish in India, especially considering the Indian topography – from plain to hills and oceans to mountains.

All-terrain vehicles could also be a future for those loving adventure and power sports. To discuss the opportunities of off-roader vehicles in India and its business dynamics, Ramesh Kumar Raja spoke to Pankaj Dubey, Managing Director of Polaris India Private Limited, Indian subsidiary of Polaris, world’s No.1 off-road vehicle company. Edited excerpts:

ould you let us know about your organization and products you deliver in India?

Polaris is a world leader in the powersports industry with annual 2014 sales of $4.5 billion.

It designs, engineers, manufactures and markets innovative, high quality off-road vehicles, including all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), snowmobiles, motorcycles and on-road electric/hybrid powered vehicles.

Polaris entered the Indian market in 2011 and today the company offers a large range of products covering various applications. Our products in India include ATV, RANGER® and RZR® side-by-side vehicles and snowmobiles and Indian motorcycles.

Other than our line of ATVs, Polaris India also launched the iconic motorcycle brand Indian® in India.

Raking up the past, the company bought in the entire Indian Motorcycle’s Chief range –Indian® Chief® Classic, Indian® Chief® Vintage and Indian® Chieftain™ and Indian Scout to India.

How has been your experience in Indian market so far? How is it different from other markets?

For us, India is a key market and presents numerous opportunities as a company. It is a rapidly growing May 2015

Governance Today

69

Interview

market and we are witnessing good response across the product line. It is different from other markets, in a sense that power sports vehicles as an industry is still in its nascent stage. The biggest challenge for Polaris is not only to create awareness for its vehicles, but also respond to market trends by offering the customers the best off-road experience that the brand promises to its customers. Polaris off-road vehicles are now also part of Indian army and many state police forces in the country.

Creation of Polaris Experience Zone (PEZ) is a step in that direction.

PEZ are places where visitors can get a chance to enjoy an adventurous ride on a range of Polaris ATVs and exploit their full capability in these specially built off-road tracks.

Besides serving the purpose of an “adventure park”, PEZ also allows potential customers to get a handson experience of the vehicles. Today we have 30 PEZ in the country with a few more lined up.

Overall we are seeing a robust demand across our product line, which includes off-road vehicles, all terrain vehicles or quad bike (quadricycle) or dirt bike ranger, snowmobiles and Indian motorcycles.

Defense sector could be a large client for your products. Do you track that segment too?

In order to serve the needs of the Armed forces of United States, Polaris Defense was founded in 2005. Over the years Polaris Defense has steadily developed a range of vehicles to serve the US and allied forces including the MRZR, MV850,

the solution for easy movement of military personnel in tough off-road terrains like hills, forest, snow, water, marshy land, desert, rocky land etc. Built to match the tough working of the Defense and Police, reaching the unreachable, achieving the impossible has become easily attainable with the range of Polaris Vehicles. Polaris “Light Tactical Vehicles” are most suitable for anti-insurgency, antiterrorist & anti-naxal operations for quick movement in guerrilla war operations.

Our off roaders are now an integral part of Gujarat Police, Tamil

How is the off roader market in India growing? Who are major clients?

Demand for all terrain vehicles has been increasing year-on-year and that is why we are tapping this growing market aggressively with new products from our parent table.

Our major clients include sports vehicle aficionados and HNIs. We are also catering to the demands of the defense and police forces as Indian army command forces and state police forces have already included our vehicles in their fleet for various utility use. World over Polaris vehicles are the first choice of adventure sports lovers, a trend which we are seeing in India as well.

We are also seeing demand picking up for mini quad all terrain vehicles (ATVs) for children of different ages. These ATVs with 50 to 90 cc engines are typically designed for children belonging to the age group of six to twelve years.

70

Governance Today

May 2015

and RZR-SW to meet the increasing demand for light off-road mobility platforms. Polaris Defense launches the next generation of ATV and LTATV’s to meet the demanding needs of U.S. and international special operations, expeditionary and light infantry forces. Polaris is awarded several contracts from the US and other allied governments for the MRZR (LT-ATV) and MV850 (ATV) vehicles.

Polaris Military vehicles are

Naidu, Kerala and Jammu Kashmir.

The model is specifically designed to take on off-road terrain and hold tremendous potential to be a dependable and effective force multiplier.

Do you have a manufacturing base in India? Any plans for the same?

As of now, Polaris and Indian Motorcycles are coming in as Completely Built Units (CBU) from the USA. We are watching the market closely in terms of

Interview

market dynamics, consumption matrix etc. Currently, Polaris India has no manufacturing base here.

However, the ATV market in India is witnessing growth and is expected to continue along this trajectory.

Any decision on establishing a manufacturing base in India will be taken after evaluating various factors and continued interest of various customers in the country.

Describe some of the specialized activities that the ATVs can do and where all have they been deployed for such activities?

Polaris vehicles can be deployed in all difficult terrains. These ATVs

can be used in desert, slushy and marshy land, besides snowbound areas. It is particularly useful for helping border forces.

The magnitude of last year’s flash floods of J&K shook all of us.

As a responsible corporate, Polaris joined hands with NDRF (National Disaster Response Force), and helped in the government rescue operations by providing four offroad vehicles (ORVs) to NDRF (National Disaster Response Force), to assist the flood victims.

The volunteered vehicles included Ranger 6x6 800, Ranger Crew 800, RZR XP 4 900, Sportsman MV 700.

These specialized off-road vehicles

helped in accessing the areas cut off due to the floods. Besides this, we also sent modified Ranger 6X6 ambulance. The Polaris ambulances helped in supplying medical help to certain far off areas on the treacherous terrains.

Polaris is reported to have extended similar kind of help during Uttarakhand floods. Can you tell us something about that?

Uttarakhand floods of 2013 were among the worst natural calamities to hit the country ever. A large part of the network of roads in and

around the state got destroyed.

During this hour of crisis, Polaris India donated five Off Road Vehicles such as one Sportsman Big Boss 6X6 800, one Sportsman 550 Hunter EPS, one RZR S 800 EFI and two Ranger 900 Diesel to Uttarakhand Government for carrying out the rescue operations successfully.

Recently there was news that Kerala Police procured four ATVs for anti-Maoist operations. Tell us something about it?

Last year Kerala Police took the delivery of four Polaris all-terrain off-road vehicles (ATVs) to their armory. These ATVs will be used

for the anti-Maoist operations in the northern districts of Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode (rural) and Malappuram. These ATVs will help the police in chasing anti-social elements in difficult terrains, particularly in forest areas. It can also be used for beach patrolling. The vehicles are powerful enough even to pull a heavy load attached to it. It can cruise to a speed of 100 km per hour in just five seconds. We have also trained policeman to familiarize them with driving these vehicles.

You are also into superbikes. Do you think there is a market for such bikes in India?

Indian Motorcycles is an icon and is the first American motorcycle company…. We are happy to have received a great response from the customers. When we acquired Indian Motorcycle in April, 2011, we set out to capture the heart, soul of the bike and legendary heritage of this iconic American brand and then infused it with unparalleled design, engineering and state-of-the-art technology. The entry of other motorcycle brands in the space and the presence and growing popularity of Polaris in India, prompted us to launch the Indian here.

We are very excited with the positive response received by Indian Motorcycle launch in India. The Chief range has already termed by customers as CHIEF of all bikes in India. The newly launched Indian Scout has received tremendous response too. The premium superbike segments have also witnessed a high growth from 2007 onwards. Indian Motorcycles will redefine the cruiser superbike market in India. We give enthusiasts a chance to own a piece of history in a modern package We sell Indian® Chief® Classic, Indian® Chief® Vintage and Indian® Chieftain™ and Indian Scout in India.

We are also planning to launch the Roadmaster and the Dark Horse this year.

May 2015

Governance Today

71

Politics

Pecuniary Politics and Governance | DR. RAMESH KUMAR

T

he penchant for high perks among elected public functionaries has been an issue of debate for long and is becoming prominent again. Recently, UP raised salaries for its MLAs. Nearly at the same time, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly voted to increase salaries by almost 100 per cent. Not to be left behind, Telangna lawmakers decided to increase legislators’ salary up to Rs. 2 lakhs per month. Some other states too are in the process of giving hefty hikes to their legislators’ salaries. All such hikes and demands have been generally under pretext of price rise, costly hospitality, transport, constituency management and to match with the salary and allowances with counterparts in other states and countries. What is ironical here is that the ruling and opposition parties show rare unanimity on this issue. In all the states, legislators and councilors across party lines unanimously and expeditiously pass bills to increase their perks.

Can such high salary and perks be justified in a poor country like India? If yes, will it prove a catalyst in enhancing probity, honesty, transparency and accountability in public life? Can this hike in legislators perk make Indian politics any less corrupt?

Since lawmakers are answerable to electorates and no one else, the issue needs a serious evaluation.

The UP Scenario The demand for pay hike was raised in UP by RLD MLA Dalbir Singh and BJP MLA Suresh Khanna, who both raised the voice for the urgent need to increase the perks since UP legislators are the least paid in comparison to their counterparts in other states of India.

The Congress Legislature Party leader, 72

Governance Today

May 2015

Pradeep Mathur also dittoed and requested treasury bench to consider a package hike on priority basis. Minister Azam Khan also supported the move.

“In foreign countries, legislators get good salaries, well maintained office and efficient staff. Our salary is nothing in comparisons to (legislators of foreign countries) them,” he said. But here he forgot to mention that legislators in foreign countries do not generally found indulged in graft. The pressure worked and Akhilesh Yadav greensignaled substantial hike in salary and other emoluments of over 500 legislators of the state. The net annual outgo of this increase in emolument, salary, entitlements and allowances, including pension would be around Rs. 47.81 crore per annum and that also in a poor state like UP.

Governor’s Concern There was a minor conundrum as the Governor of the state, Ram Naik is reported to be unhappy that he was not consulted on the matter. However, this could be more political than constitutional an issue. The proposed Amendment Bill, 2015 related to hike in the perks of legislators dealt with money and therefore was constitutionally categorized as a Money Bill needing Governor’s assent.

As per Article 199(b) of the Indian constitution, “A Bill shall be deemed to be a Money Bill if amendment contains financial obligation undertaken or to be undertaken by the State. The proposed bill also needs speaker’s certificate as a Money Bill before it is put to pass by the assembly and transmitted to the Legislative Council under article 199. Once passed by both houses, the

passed bill is presented to Governor for his assent under Article 200 of the Constitution of India. The Bill must be duly certified by the Speaker that the particular bill is a money bill that is presented for his kind assent.

Further, under Article 200, it is open to the governor to give his assent, withhold his assent or to reserve it for consideration by the President. But this is not applicable in case of the Money Bill. So Governor’s assent in the case of this Money Bill is implied willingly or howsoever reluctantly. So Ram Naik’s apprehension could just be a good moral warning. Raj Bhavan indeed should have been taken into prior confidence before such major pecuniary proposals by any state government. It would establish a norm of noble political tradition of mutual respect between the office of the Governor and the state government.

The presently passed proposal for increasing the salary and allowance of the legislators can be justified if it helps in serving the public interest or prove as a catalyst in improving quality of governance. But experience shows no correlation between high salary and corruption. There has been a marked deterioration, on the contrary, of the policy making apparatus in various states as diverse set of vested interests have entrenched themselves in the political set up. In such an environment, is it not suitable to devise a mechanism which could vet the pay hike of lawmakers based on their performance?

The writer is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Shyamlal College, University of Delhi.

Art & Culture

Bringing Childhood Alive on Canvas

| AVI ROY

I

have been fascinated by children and childhood. Childhood is an interesting, fun filled and at the same time challenging period; the period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and folly of youth, the stage of cognitive development. It is measured out by sound, smell and sight, before the dark hour of reasons grows. It seems colored by innocence and naivetĂŠ, memories that make the room of a house grander, the shadow near the bed at night more horrifying.

Childhood is a saga full of imagination and virtuousness in spite of a condition like tabula rasa.

It is this fascination of childhood that inspired me to create and entire series on this theme. I planned this series

three years ago and have continued it till now. My whole series is divided in various stages. Each of the stages are arranged in proper sequences in a very viable and scientific manner. The idea of this entire series was to present the simplicity of childhood and its naivetĂŠ in the most realistic matter. I decided not to impose selective activities or superlatives on the concept, but simply to observe normal life and develop my drawings. I am planning to do some documentaries also on this theme, moving forward.

What might be taken for a precocious genius, is the genius of childhood.

When the child grows, it disappears without a trace. It may happen that this boy become a real genius some day or even great human. Jane Yollen

May 2015

Governance Today

73

Art & Culture

once said that literature is a textually transmitted diseases, normally contracted in childhood. The creative mind, innocence and the enthusiasm of a childhood enchant me profoundly.

I have a very happy childhood too. I liked being alone and creating characters and voices. I think that’s

subjects for my paintings on this theme.

Other than observing the children playing in their own world, conversation with children has helped me to observe the imagination power of childhood which is reflected in their body gesture, expressions, playing items, behavioral elements with objects and mindsets.

work with ink, charcoal and acrylic on paper and canvas. I prefer to draw line drawing with charcoal because I want to feel the smoothness of line in the way which a child draws on the wall with crayons. I draw various elements like paper boat, dragonfly, butterfly, zebra, cow, bull, apples etc. on my painting

when is creativity developed, when you are young. I liked the world of imagination because it was an easy place to go to. Through my project I am exploring again the dimensions of the emotion blended fantasy and imagination.

Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning.

But for children, play is itself a serious learning. Play is really the groundwork of childhood and has its own unique essence and patterns. By observing children play I have developed my

These important observation have helped me immensely in developing patterns in my sketching and drawings.

The study and observations of the behavioral expressions and other associated elements of children has gradually moved to a pictorial transformations in my drawings. Slowly, all my observations will percolate to my Canvas and Paper with proper combinations of elements to create a beautiful ambience of the subject “Childhood”.

As for the style, specifically I have

to show the imagination and sensitive mindset of childhood. This elements create my subject more interesting and beautiful. This photographic documentation has added some more beauty to my project. This has also helped me to capture specific situations as a visual reference.

The depiction of childhood has been a journey for me personally which has also made me revisit my own childhood.

It is a very fulfilling experience which is virtually indescribable in words.

74

Governance Today

May 2015

May 2015

Governance Today

75

76

Governance Today

May 2015