Observer061017

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The Observer An IIJnM publication

Vol 17, Issue 7

Transgender activist Jessica Lynn talks about the difficulties she faced before sex change | P 2

@theweeklyobserver On the Web: issuu.com/ theweeklyobserver/docs/ the_observer and theweeklyobserver.in

Unaware of a subway in Majestic, people jump over road dividers to cross the road. | P 2

Our roads better than Mumbai’s, says BBMP Chief engineer: No permanent remedy for city’s potholes

Expert: It’s wrong to think formative assessment is a test Barnana Hemoprava Sarkar barnana.h@iijnm.org

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Arlene Mathew arlene.m@iijnm.org

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otholes have bothered the residents of Bengaluru no end. The number of potholes is on the rise despite BBMP’s attempts to cover them up. According to a newspaper report, the BBMP has determined that the city has 15,935 potholes. In an interview to The Observer, a BBMP chief engineer in charge of infrastructure said there is no long-standing solution to the problem of potholes other than maintaining them. Asked about the rampant problem of potholes, the chief engineer, who didn’t want to be named, claimed that Bengaluru’s potholes are not as bad as those in other cities, like Mumbai. “Bengaluru has a road network of around 14,000 km. When water stays on the roads for more than 50 days, it starts percolating and causes damage,” explained the chief engineer, who manages arterial and sub-arterial roads. There are four main reasons, he said, for the problem: The number of vehicles exceeds the carrying capacity of roads; continuously digging roads destroys them; more than 50% of the potholes form because of water leakage;

Friday, October 6, 2017

The Observer

dAnger On rOAd: Motorcyclists are at maximum risk because of potholes | Courtesy: Sreeram V Krishnan and finally, the incessant rains. “Leakage of water is one of the main reasons for pothole formation,” the chief engineer informed. “The hot bituminous mix that we use to cover the potholes requires the area to be dry during application, and for a long time after.” One of the worst-affected areas is near Kengeri on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway. Because of the ongoing Metro work, roads are often congested and potholeriddled. As BMTC buses struggle over the potholes, people standing inside have to hold tight. Continuous rain has made the situation worse because potholes get filled with water. Several mo-

torcyclists who underestimated the depth of water-filled potholes have met with accidents. Sreeram V Krishnan, a business analyst at Genpact, Electronics City, said he encounters many potholes on his way from office to home. “It is the need of the hour to have good roads. Poor roads cause traffic congestion and numerous accidents. I have seen recently built roads degrade soon after.” Many residents of Bengaluru have formed groups on social medias- like Facebook to complain about potholes. These groups pinpoint many problems, but are the civic agencies paying any heed?

Trash lands at door of Vrishabhavathi bank dwellers As the skies opened up on Thursday, the woes of the 22 persons who live by the highly polluted Vrishabhavathi river off the Bengaluru-Mysuru road mounted. The water level rose so much that the five families had to scurry for cover elsewhere, their hovels under the danger of being submerged. The river carried to their doorstep garbage from other parts of Bengaluru. In its September 5 issue, The Observer had written about these people, who live amid filth and have cats, dogs and rats for company | Credit: Ayushi Singh

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aya Menon, who has worked in the field of education for more than 30 years, tells The Observer what has gone wrong with formative assessment — tests conducted by teachers in the middle of the term to understand the student's position in class. Steps should be taken to provide children better help to improve their education, the founder director of The Teacher Foundation says. Excerpts from a phone interview: Q: Is the formative assessment test helping the student at all? A: First, we need to correct the idea that a formative assessment equals a test, because it is not so. It is done to inform the teacher how much the child has learnt. The CBSE spoils the understanding of formative assessment by making it a test. “Formative” can be likened to a doctor using a thermometer to diagnose a child. This information is for the teacher so he/she can take corrective measures to enhance the child’s development Q: The Teachers’ Association prepares question papers despite instructions by the Department of Public Instruction that respective subject teachers should prepare them. A: This is what the government has to take measures against. It is their teachers; they should make sure the set is set by those who are assigned to do so, and not by the associations. And that is not something which you or I can change. The government knows and should do something about it. Q: Aren’t glitches in the system hampering the student’s state of mind? A: There are lots of glitches…. But children are resilient and have this amazing capacity to overcome all these. But that does not make it OK to do so. A child is forced to cope with all the mess that we create in schools and during examinations. It’s not fair, it’s not right and it’s certainly not

how we raise the youth of our country. We have to put the child’s interest fisrt. Often, decisions at schools are taken based on convenience rather than on what is required for children. We need to get out of this. Q: If the system is hampering children, do you think they should be informed about it? A: Even if we inform them, they are too young to make decisions. By the time they are old enough, they are already out of school, and all those years in school go waste. Who has to make those demands then? It is their parents and teachers. It is a huge responsibil-

Observer interview

Always keep the child’s interest at heart, says educator Maya Menon ity, particularly of teachers and departments of education, to make decisions with the child’s interest at heart. In a country like India where many children are underprivileged , the parents do not have the right means to take proper decisions. Q: Are there alternative ways to help educate the child? A: Of course. There are a lot of tested methods, including our current work in training and supporting teachers. We take in teachers who are already working in a school. Then we do a needs analysis, where we analyze what the school needs and how the teachers teach. Based on that, we work out a list of primary areas that need to be improved. Then we train teachers in methods that help them impart education more efficiently.


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