Mailbox

The cover story ‘Foreign universities set to storm fortress India’ (EW March) was revealing. I believe this is one of the best things to happen to the Indian education system. I agree with Vinay Rai when he says, "Nobody can stop foreign universities…" I would like to go one step further and suggest that the Union and state governments should invite and welcome reputable foreign universities such as Harvard, Cambridge, Windsor, etc to come and set up campuses in India. This way we can ensure that many more Indian students will be able to afford quality education.

Another welcome result of the arrival of globally respected universities into India would be the beginning of an era of healthy competition in which only the best will survive. This is the last chance for the 300-plus state-owned universities across the country to contemporise their syllabuses, improve pedagogies and introduce new courses. Through your editorial pages I urge you to build a strong case in support of foreign universities setting up base in India. This way we can ensure that thousands of students who are taking crushing loans to pursue studies abroad will be able to enroll in these new-age universities and get the benefit of quality education at a relatively lower price.

Ashish Kumar
Bhopal

I am a visitor to India and a teacher in Israel — a democratic nation which unfortunately does not enjoy a good reputation in India. During my three weeks of travel across south India, I was very charmed by the cheerful and uncomplaining children of India. Though by our standards they are deprived of good housing, clothing, nutrition and even education, they are always smiling and cheerful. Therfore I was horrified to read your special report ‘Ticking child healthcare time bomb’ (EW March) which detailed deprivations children of the poor majority suffer in your country.

After reading that a massive 47 percent of all children under five years of age are underweight and 46 percent are stunted, I am inclined to agree with your assertion that "these statistics arguably represent the greatest national wastage of human resources in global history" — a statement which I initially dismissed as exaggerated. Quite clearly your government needs to take immediate steps to increase its spending on healthcare and nutrition to 3-4 percent of GDP against the paltry 0.9 percent. In Israel too we also spend a high percentage of our GDP on defence. But nevertheless we provide good education and healthcare facilities to our children. Any government which neglected children would fall within a week!

I was happy to read EducationWorld which is strongly advocating the rights of India’s neglected children and wish you success in this very valuable mission.

Miri Bick on e-mail

In the leisure and travel feature on Uttaranchal (April 2004), which I read on your website recently, you have categorised Alpan Hotel as a mid level establishment. Please note it is the best hotel in Haridwar.

Manish Paliwal
Haridwar (Uttaranchal)

Our categorisation is based on tariff, not reputation — Editor

Educationworld is a journal for all. It is an exception to the misperception that a magazine that deals with education should contain information and articles pertaining only to formal education. Any piece of writing, be it on any subject or topic, is meant to be educative because it gives us information on some matter and the transmission of such information is called ‘learning’.

This is precisely what I find in EducationWorld. It draws one’s attention to global issues which are learning experiences for all. It reports on what is taking place on the educational front in every state of the nation and abroad. However I believe EducationWorld needs to be more interactive and cover areas of doubt and confusion in education opportunities, provide necessary information, answer questions. Several newspapers do so. It could be made into a pull-out section that readers could file for future reference.

Chitra Abraham
Bangalore

This refers to your education news report under the title ‘Enrollment mirage’ in the February 2005 issue of Education-World. The report carries a completely wrong description of the scope and design of the Learning Guarantee Programme, a joint initiative of the government of Karnataka and the Azim Premji Foundation. We are disappointed to note that despite the detailed notes and explanations provided by us to your correspondent, Srinidhi Raghavendra, the report conveys completely erroneous information about the Learning Guarantee Programme.

I have been quoted as saying "…under this programme we provide study materials and in-service training to government school teachers… currently we are training teachers in 1,900 government schools in seven districts of the state". This is amazing because we provided a detailed write up on the Learning Guarantee Programme to your correspondent. Each of these describes the objectives, design and criteria of the programme. In fact Raghavendra attended the Learning Conference in 2004, where he also received a copy of the paper that was presented on the programme. If your correspondent had simply referred to any of these documents he could never have put up such a definition and ascribe it to me!

The programme in Karnataka is an output-based programme where schools and communities are motivated through recognition and reward to develop their own process to raise levels of learning. This was reinforced again by me over phone to Raghavendra and in a mail, on January 27 which I sent to him. "The overarching goal of the programme is to create among schools, communities and educational functionaries, a voluntary spirit of accountability towards ensuring learning of children. The programme throws up a challenge to schools encouraging them to come forward and be evaluated on pre-defined criteria of enrollment, attendance and learning achievements. Learning achievement is assessed through competency based tests. Reforms in assessment, from the traditional rote learning tests to compe-tency based tests have the potential to also initiate change in classroom processes."

You can therefore understand our disappointment and frustration at the way the programme’s design and scope have been totally mutilated and wrongly presented, and worse, put in quotes from a member of the Azim Premji Foundation. As a stakeholder in the goal of universal elementary education, it is important that EducationWorld must ensure that they get all the facts right.

We are willing to meet you and Raghavendra and once again take you through the programme and provide any details that you may need to understand the programme better.

S. Giridhar
Head — Advocacy & Research
Azim Premji Foundation, Bangalore

Srinidhi Raghavendra writes: It’s true that I received an e-mail message dated January 27 from Giridhar. However since it was a generalised statement of intent without any numbers, I obtained specific data relating to the ambit and reach of APF’s Learning Guarantee Programme from him over the telephone. Perhaps the only ambiguity in my report is that it conveys that APF provides continuous in-service training to government school teachers to help them upgrade teaching-learning standards. In fact I was being too generous: APF maintains an arm’s length relationship with government schools and its LGP covers only seven (of 27) districts in Karnataka with 9,000 government schools. Of these only 1,900 schools participated in the programme with a mere 82 recording satisfactory learning achievement. Indeed my balanced report was sent to Giridhar for vetting. But he wanted it completely re-written to eulogise the lacklustre participation of government schools in LGP. This proposition was unacceptable.

I came across the letter written by Padmaja Nuvuluru commenting on Gintara pre-primary school in Bangalore (EW March). My daughter is a student of Gintara and I don’t quite agree with Ms. Nuvuluru’s statements. Even more disturbing is that a magazine like yours published the letter without any investigation.

I am not sure if you have checked both sides of the story before publishing Ms. Nuvuluru’s letter. My daughter, one of the first play students of Gintara when it was founded, still continues to adore her school as she completes two years in Gintara. Though we stay almost 8 km from the school she insists on going to this school. We have interacted with the teachers of Gintara and have found them extremely warm and knowledgeable. I honestly believe that my daughter has honed her all-round skills very well which is to a large extent due to the time she spends in her school.

Yes, I do agree that all kids do sometimes fall ill. But attributing this to carelessness of the school is not the right approach. Ms. Nuvuluru’s statements are in poor taste as I can personally vouch for the care Gintara has taken in the past to look after all children.

A letter such as this, especially on the Mailbox page where other serious matters are discussed, looks completely planted. By publishing such reports you spoil your reputation as a media house and even worse tarnish an upcoming school’s image without any proper grounds or proof.

Peter Jacob
Bangalore

I read the letter ‘Practice-precept gap’ by Padmaja Nuvuluru (EW March). It sounds more like filmi gossip... with no evidence to prove the point! I wonder how a reputed magazine like EducationWorld has entertained this mail without proper investigation? Did you know how many schools Ms. Nuvuluru changed before Gintara? Three — Euro, Kidzee and Headstart! Finally who is the sufferer? It’s her child.

My son went to Gintara when he was 18 months of age. My daughter is currently enrolled in Gintara, Koramangala. I appreciate their effort in promoting world class pre-schools right here in Bangalore. Contrary to Ms. Nuvuluru’s contention, they allow parents to be part of the child’s day at any point! I have attended their parents and management meetings and it’s amazing to see how even the smallest things are taken care of.

Mamatha Lakshminarasimhan
Bangalore

When a news publication receives a letter on a matter of public importance which seems plausible, I have the discretion to print it. We are not obliged to investigate its veracity — Editor

The postscript piece (EW March) on the Medical Council of India (MCI) listing the Manipal Group’s medical colleges for derecognition is shocking. MCI’s action clearly highlights the autocratic way in which it functions. Though both KMC Manipal and Mangalore are revered in India and abroad for the high-quality medical education they provide at relatively lower prices than elsewhere in the world, MCI decided to de-recognise the colleges for a small breach i.e "exceeding" its foreign students intake. It’s an irony that can happen only in India. On one side the government provides tax holidays and other sops for 100 percent export oriented units including the multi-billion-rupee software industry and on the other side the same government harasses and troubles education institutions like MAHE for attracting foreign students and earning foreign exchange for the country.

By attracting and enrolling a large number of foreign students, MAHE is actually exporting education from India. Going by the government’s logic, MAHE should also be given a tax holiday. But I don’t think this kind of logic would occur to the bureaucrats in MCI.

Jagadish C.M.
Hubli (Karnataka)

Kudos for your cover feature ‘Springtime for India’s private sector heavyweights’ (EW February). It provides a wealth of data.

The staggering fact that only 6-7 pecent of Indians in the age group 18-24 gain entry into college level education is reflective of the huge under-capacity in higher education. This explains the interminable queues and high cut-offs for admission every year. In the circumstances it is difficult to understand why the Central and state governments impose so many restrictions upon private sector entre-preneurs in education. They insist this is being done to ensure that the public is not cheated by rapacious businessmen offering substandard education. But most people are well aware that the most substandard higher education is provided by government run arts and science colleges where millions of students are cheated of their right to quality education and are doomed to unemployment.

T.S. Swaminanthan
Chennai